Page 19 - FSUOGM Week 41

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Gazprom reports fourth Kara Sea

gas find in two years

RUSSIA GAZPROM has reported its fourth gas discov- Rusanovskoye, thought to hold several more
ery in the space of two years in the Kara Sea off trillion cubic metres of gas.
The find was made at Russia’s Arctic coast. Gazprom dispatched the Chinese-built Nan-
the Leningradskoye The find was made at the Leningradskoye gas hai VIII semi-submersible rig from the port of
field. field, situated under waters 50-100 metres deep Murmansk to drill the Leningradskoye well, the
off the shore of the Yamal Peninsula. A well sunk field’s fifth, to a depth of 2,700 metres. The last
by Gazprom achieved a daily flow rate of 600,000 borehole at the site was sunk last year.
cubic metres, the company said, noting that the The company is yet to disclose development
discovery “significantly increases the field’s plans for Leningradskoye. The field is situated
industrial value.” approximately 90 km north from the onshore
Leningradskoye’s recoverable reserves are Kharasaveyskoye field, where Gazprom began
already estimated 1.9 trillion cubic metres, mak- production drilling in June. Kharasaveyskoye is
ing it one of Russia’s largest offshore gas deposits. due on stream in 2023 and will flow 32 bcm per
They will be reassessed in light of the new discov- year of gas at its peak. The gas will be shipped via
ery, Gazprom said. a 106-km pipeline to Bovanenkovskoye, where
Despite weaker market conditions since it can be pumped in Russia’s main gas grid for
2014, Gazprom has continued to explore the supply to Europe.
high-cost offshore Arctic, chalking up several Gazprom recently started development of
successes. Last year it reported two new Kara its first offshore Arctic gas project, Kamen-
Sea discoveries, Dinkova and Nyarmeiskoye, nomysskoye-More, situated in shallow waters
containing 390bn cubic metres and 121 bcm in the Gulf of Ob, near to shore and existing
of recoverable gas respectively. It made another infrastructure. That field is scheduled for
find, 75 Let Pobedy, earlier this year, assessing its launch in 2025. But the company is holding off
resources at 202 bcm. on developing deeper-sea fields until the mar-
Its other major deposit in the area is ket outlook improves.™

NEWS IN BRIEF

RUSSIA BCS GM notes, seeing the news as positive Interfax.
for Gazprom shareholders as long as this As followed by bne IntelliNews,
Gazprom mulls issuing route is not used to materially increase Transneft's tariffs came under pressure
from oil major Rosneft, adding uncertainty
leverage.
perpetual bonds would partially be accounted as equity together with the dividend policy.
As the bonds would be perpetual, they
"By extending Transneft’s existing oil
Russian state-controlled natural gas giant rather than debt, lowering the company’s pipeline tariff-setting mechanism for a
Gazprom is preparing to issue perpetual official Net Debt/Ebitda ratio and taking the decade, FAS has removed the risk of a radical
eurobonds denominated in euros and US pressure off the leverage and dividends. reduction in earnings power from a roll-
dollars, Interfax reported citing the CFO of bne IntelliNews reported that Gazprom’s back in pipeline charges (as requested by
the company, Famil Sadygov. new dividend policy is sensitive to leverage, Rosneft)," BCS Global Markets commented
The issue by Gazprom of an undisclosed as should Net Debt/Ebitda ratio exceed 2.5x, on October 7, seeing the news as positive.
amount would seek to take advantage of low the management has the option to ignore the While BCS GM never expected Rosneft’s
financing rates on global debt markets at this targeted payout ratio. suggestion to be implemented in full, the
time, according to Sadygov. The issue would company is a powerful lobbyist, and even a
be an addition to the previously announced partial roll-back could have had significant
issue of RUB150bn ($1.92bn) of ruble- Tariffs of Russian pipeline implications for Transneft’s earnings and
denominated perpetual bonds to finance dividend-paying power, the analysts argue.
regional gasification. operator Transneft extended As for the dividends, most recently
The yields could be tied to Russia’s Transneft delivered a positive surprise by
sovereign rates, with the initial spread for 10 years recommending the payment of a RUB11,612
to expand by 25bp in 10.25 years and by ($150) dividend per share for 2019, in line
100bp in 25.25 years, BCS Global Market The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has with the 50% net profit guidance previously
commented on October 7. extended the tariff structure of Russian state- outlined by the government.
"By issuing perpetual bonds, Gazprom controlled pipeline operator Transneft for 10 However, the net profit of the pipeline
can both lower borrowing costs and improve years, reiterating the policy of the "inflation operator dropped 76% year on year and
its official leverage ratio at the same time," - 0.1%" indexation scheme, according to quarter on quarter in 2Q20 under IFRS, as a

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