Page 6 - MEOG Week 42 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Lawmaker suggests Iran could

serve as hub for Russian oil, gas

IRAN AN Iranian lawmaker has suggested that the Kazakh swap resumption
country could serve as a hub for the transit of Meanwhile, Iran and Kazakhstan have agreed to
Russian gas, as Russia’s existing options for resume an oil swap some 10 years after the deal
pumping gas to markets become more limited. stalled due to technical difficulties and disagree-
“As one of the largest exporters of oil and gas ments over the division of proceeds, Iranian offi-
in the world, [Russia] is a strategic partner of Iran cial media reported on October 15.
in various energy sectors,” Alireza Varnaseri, a The resumption was agreed during Iranian
member of the Iranian parliament’s commission President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit last week to
for energy, told the state-owned Shana news Astana to attend the 6th summit of the Confer-
agency. “Cooperation between Iran and Russia ence on Interaction and Confidence Building
helps in the development of Iranian oil and gas Measures in Asia (CICA).
fields … Iran can be a hub for transiting Russian In the local media reports on the agreement,
oil and gas products to other countries.” there was no discussion of how US sanctions
Russia is scrambling to find other markets for might affect it.
its oil and gas supply amid severing energy ties The Iranian government halted swap ship-
with Europe. The suggestion from Iran comes ments under the deal 10 years ago, reportedly
days after Russian President Vladimir Putin pro- because the contracts did not allow Tehran to
posed establishing Turkey as a hub for delivering benefit proportionally from rising oil prices.
gas supply to Europe, following the demise of the In late September, Iran and Russia agreed to
Nord Stream pipelines at the end of September. implement a gas swap arrangement which would
Moscow and Tehran have sought to bolster see the former take 15mn cubic metres (mcm)
their energy ties, with Gazprom recently signing per day from the latter. Iran also has a gas swap
a $40bn deal to invest in Iran’s oil and gas indus- deal with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
try. The two sides have also discussed a gas swap Energy swap deals help the participating
arrangement that would see Iran take around 15 countries gain from geographical advantages by
mcm per day of Russian gas. cutting energy transit fees.™

High Russian fuel flows to Gulf persist

MIDDLE EAST RUSSIA continued to deliver higher than usual the Middle East had reached 268,000 tonnes in
volumes of petroleum products to buyers in the September, up by 84.8% on the August figure of
Middle East in September, even though deliver- 145,000 tonnes.
ies dropped month on month, according to Vor- However, deliveries of high-sulphur fuel oil
texa data cited by Argus Media on October 19. (HSFO) dropped to more than 498,000 tonnes,
Argus Media explained that Russian sellers down by nearly 33.6% on the August figure of
had been sending about 250,000-450,000 tonnes 750,000 tonnes.
per month of refined fuel to the Middle East Argus Media also cited Vortexa data as saying
prior to the outbreak of war in Ukraine in late that Russian sellers had delivered 170,000 tonnes
February. Since the start of the conflict, though, of gasoline and 119,600 tonnes of naphtha to
Russian deliveries to the region have gone up, the Middle East in September but did not pro-
as sellers have needed to find outlets for their vide any comparative figures from the previous
inventory. month.
In September, Russian petroleum product It went on to say that the top three destina-
shipments to the Middle East amounted to tions for Russian gasoil in September had been
1.06mn tonnes, the Vortexa data showed. This the UAE, Yemen and Iraq, which had absorbed
was 24.3% down from the record monthly high 198,000 tonnes, 38,000 tonnes and 26,000 tonnes
of 1.4mn tonnes posted in August but still con- respectively.
siderably above the figures usually posted for the Overall, it added, the top two destina-
same month in previous years. tions for Russian petroleum products were
The month-on-month decline was not con- the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which had taken
sistent for all types of products. Argus Media delivery of 574,000 tonnes and 412,000 tonnes
noted that Russian gasoil (diesel) shipments to respectively.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 19•October•2022