Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 04 2020

FSUOGM
FSUOGM
EASTERN EUROPE
Azerbaijan’s Socar
‘considering Odessa-Brody
pipeline for supplying
Belarus with oil’
Safmar, the Russian group that controls the assets of tycoon Mikhail Gutseriyev, will supply less oil Belarus this month than originally agreed, three industry sources told Reuters on January 23.
TSafmar has been the sole Russian oil supplier to refineries in Belarus this month, as Moscow and Minsk have failed to agree on terms of sales for 2020. According to the sources, Safmar’s Russneft and Neftisa units are now set to supply up to 560,000 tonnes of Urals oil (4.1mn barrels) to Belarus this month, including 100,000 tonnes by rail.
Belarus faces shortages of Russian oil
for its two refineries, as Moscow halted crude supply to Belarus on January 1 after 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 solution on shipment from Gutseriev’s companies, without paying a premium. In past years Belarus bought
oil on terms similar to those for Russian independent refineries, which involved a small premium.
bne IntelliNews, January 24 2020
Belarus to seek diverse oil
supply amid conflict with
Russia: Lukashenko
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has 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.
“As you can see, we have to stand on our knees and beg for these oil products every year on New Year’s eve,” state news agency BELTA quoted Lukashenko as saying on January 24.
He added that he did not bluff while talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin
about what Belarus would do if the Russian side kept insisting on its own terms.
“The 18% customs duty they have yet to take away from us and cheaper Russian oil will be out of the question then. This is why we have to act now whether we like it or not. We cannot afford being dependent on one country, one enterprise. It is monopolism. It is our problem,” he said.
Lukashenko said that Belarus was making deals with all players on the global market: Americans, Saudi Arabia, Emirates. “I have excellent relations with them. They promise to supply as much oil as we need. Certainly, at the global price. But the quality of their oil is better,” the president added.
Belarus faces shortages of Russian oil
for its two refineries, as Moscow halted crude supply to Belarus on January 1 after a contract expired, and the two countries are in negotiations over a new agreement.
Minsk said later in January that it
had secured a temporarily solution on a shipment from oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev’s companies, without paying a premium. Over the past years, Belarus has bought
oil on terms similar to those for Russian independent refineries, which has involved a small premium.
bne IntelliNews, January 27 2020
CENTRAL ASIA & SOUTH CAUSASUS
KazTransOil oil cuts off China’s CNPC Aktobemunaigas completely from oil shipments
CNPC Aktobemunaigas, a Kazakh subsidiary of the Chinese energy company CNPC, has been cut off from Kazakhstan’s oil pipelines since January 16 due to the contamination of Kazakhstan’s crude oil, pipeline operator KazTransOil said in a statement on January 22.
The statement confirmed earlier reports that Kazakh oil exports to China have been reduced due to the contamination. CNPC
Aktobemunaigas is working on resuming pipeline shipments, KazTransOil said. KazTransOil has also changed shipment plans for the Shymkent and Pavlodar oil refineries
- the company did not provide any details on volumes.
Anonymous sources told Reuters earlier that organic chloride found in Kazakh oil varied between 70 parts per million (ppm) and 120 ppm, which far surpasses the limit of 6 ppm allowed in Russia and Kazakhstan.
Russian oil company Transneft said on January 22 oil supplies to and from Kazakhstan were running as normal, Interfax news agency reported.
CNPC Aktobemunaigas stood as Kazakhstan’s sixth-largest producer in 2018 with a total output of 4.9mn tonnes, making up around 4.3% of the country’s oil output.
bne IntelliNews, January 23 2020
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Week 04 29•January•2020