Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 08 2020

FSUOGM
FSUOGM
Trading.
However, some of the buyers of Rosneft
have reportedly requested to immediately remove Rosneft Trading from all logistical chains, according to Reuters. “This is
a huge headache in terms of logistics. [Rosneft] will have to redraft many contracts,” one of the sources said.
Rosneft Trading was used as the trading unit for some of the oil and oil products supplies to largest Rosneft clients, such as British Petroleum, Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil, and all major traders Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura.
Venezuela was said to secretly export millions of barrels of oil to Rosneft. It
is estimated that since 2006 Russia and Rosneft have granted Venezuela $17bn of loans, which is being repaid by state oil company PDVSA.
February 24 2020
EASTERN EUROPE
Belarus imports Russian oil via Lithuania
Belarus will import 160,000 tonnes of Russian oil via Lithuania’s Baltic Sea port Klaipeda in March, despite Minsk’s attempts to switch to purchases of crude oil form America, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the two countries remain locked in an energy dispute over prices.
The state-owned petrochemical conglomerate Belneftekhim said on February 20 that Belarus will receive two cargoes of Russian crude oil, 80,000 tonnes each. “We bought Russian oil from traders,” a Belneftekhim spokesman told Reuters.
The spokesman didn’t specify the crude oil grade the company bought, but Belarus refineries normally work with the Russian produced Urals blend. Belarus imported 80,000 tonnes of crude from Norway’s Johan Sverdrup field via Lithuania’s Klaipeda port in January to reduce dependence on Russian oil supplies.
The purchase of Norway’s oil seems to be the nation’s PR campaign with the aim to put pressure on Russia with the aim to secure oil supplies on Minsk’s own terms, because, according to news agency Agrus, the 80,000 tonne shipment will be enough only for three days of processing at Belarus’ Naftan refinery.
Major Russian oil companies – Rosneft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz, Gazprom Neft
and Tatneft - have suspended pipeline oil supplies to Belarus since January 1, 2020 as they disagreed on delivery terms.
Belarus faces a severe shortage of Russian oil for its two refineries, as Moscow halted crude supplies to Belarus on January 1 after
P14
a contract expired, and the two countries are in negotiations over a new agreement. Minsk said later in January that it had secured a temporary limited solution on shipment from Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev’s company Safmar, without paying a premium. In past years Belarus bought
oil on terms similar to those for Russian independent refineries, which involved a small premium.
On January 24, Lukashenko pledged
to purchase crude oil “in Americas, Saudi Arabia, UAE” following Moscow’s refusal to deliver oil to the post-Soviet nation in 2020 on Minsk’s terms.
In February, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pledged to siphon off Russia’s transit oil from the Russia-EU oil pipeline Druzhba, if Moscow fails to supply the “necessary volume” of oil in February.
“If Russia fails to deliver the necessary amount of oil [...] we start taking oil from the transit pipeline, too,” Lukashenko’s media office quoted him as saying on February 14. He added that Russia had supplied only 0.5mn tonnes in January, or 1.5mn tonnes less than expected
The Druzhba pipeline splits into two routes in Belarus - a northern leg runs to Poland and Germany, and a southern leg to Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
February 21 2020
JKX Oil & Gas repays its last debt tranche
UK-based JKX Oil & Gas, which operates in Ukraine and Russia, has fully repaid its $5.82mn bond together with a $0.38mn interest, the company reported on February 20.
Following the repayment, JKX becomes debt-free, the company said. It also reported that the group’s CFO Ben Fraser decided to leave the company and will be replaced by Dmitry Poddubniy, who acted as CFO in 2017.
JKX had a strong year in 2019 reporting record high income after a new well proved to hold more reserves than the company initially believed.
Alexander Paraschiy at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital wrote in a note on February 20 that taking into account JKX’s end-2019 cash balance of $20.5mn, the company faced no challenge with the smooth repayment of its latest debt tranche. “Therefore, this news is neutral for the company, as well as news about the CFO replacement,’ he added.
February 21 2020
CENTRAL ASIA & SOUTH CAUSASUS
SOCAR-backed JV to build equopment plant
Naturelgaz has signed an agreement to purchase 100% of SOCAR Turkey LNG, Global Yatirim Holding announced on February 6.
After the share transfer, Naturelgaz and Azerbaijani state-controlled company SOCAR Turkey LNG will be merged under Naturelgaz, Global Yatirim Holding, parent company to the enterprise set to be acquired, said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.
Naturelgaz, a 95.5%-owned subsidiary
of Global Holdings, is one of the leading CNG (compressed natural gas) suppliers and distributors in Turkey and Europe.
The acquisition will further strengthen the position of Naturelgaz in the LNG, bulk CNG, and auto-CNG businesses, increasing volume and geographical coverage while diversifying the product portfolio, Global said.
Currently, the infrastructure of Naturelgaz consists of 10 bulk CNG plants, three auto- CNG stations, 296 CNG road tankers and 47 industrial-scale compressors.
“Post-acquisition the infrastructure will enlarge to 12 bulk CNG plants, 11 auto-CNG stations, 345 CNG road tankers and 67 CNG compressors, with expansion coming from new regions,” Global added.
In 2019, Naturelgaz distributed 167mn
Sm3 of CNG, while SOCAR Turkey LNG distributed 35.4mn Sm3 of CNG and LNG, according to Global.
February 20 2020
SOCAR to form JV with Turkmen concerny
SOCAR Deputy Vice President for Investments and Marketing Adnan Ahmadzade on February 24 met with the CEO of the National Oil and Gas Company of Turkmenistan (NAPECO) Maksat Pirliyev at the Oil and Gas Turkmenistan international roadshow in Dubai, the UAE.
At the meeting, SOCAR offered to create
a joint venture on trading of the Turkmen
oil. Moreover, the sides discussed the transportation of oil and oil products through Azerbaijan at the meeting.
NAPECO was established on January 8 2016.
February 24 2020
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Week 08 26•February•2020