Page 10 - FSUOGM Week 07 2022

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Kazakhstan pressures IOCs to send

more oil to domestic market

KAZAKHSTAN KAZAKHSTAN’S government is putting pres- at the Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak
sure on international oil companies that work in fields. The three fields are Kazakhstan’s largest
The government wants the country to supply more crude to the domes- sources of oil production and are operated by
to divert supplies tic market to help tackle rising fuel prices. international consortia.
from Karachaganak, Kazakhstan was rocked by its worst unrest A source close to one of the consortia said
Kashagan and Tengiz. since independence last month, when a hike the energy ministry was seeking supplies in the
in the cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) next two to three years, but expressed doubt that
sparked nationwide protests and rioting. Since operators would respond favourably.
then the government has rolled back energy “We look into it, but I doubt it can be prof-
reforms to avoid a repeat of such events. Among itable,” the source said, estimating that export
the new measures, it has proposed freezing the prices were currently two or three times higher
price of LPG until 2024. than domestic prices in Kazakhstan.
Energy Minister Bolat Akchkulakov said As part of the minister’s plan, capacity at the
last week that Kazakhstan could not increase Shymkent refinery is set to be doubled from the
domestic oil refining throughput without current 120,000 barrels per day. In a presenta-
diverting some supply to the internal mar- tion, he said this plan was only feasible with
ket that is currently exported, according to added supply from Tengiz, Kashagan and Kara-
Reuters. It wants to ring-fence extra supply chaganak. ™

EU to gather more intel on Gazprom's

European businesses

EUROPE EU antitrust regulators are expected to intensify However, some analysts have said Gazprom is
information gathering on Gazprom’s European likely producing at or near to its full production
Vestager is yet to business, a source told Retuers on February 14, capacity.
take a decision on amid accusations that the company has been International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol
the next stage of the driving up gas prices by withholding supply. has also weighed in, claiming in mid-January
investigation. European Commission (EC) Competition that Gazprom could boost supply by a third if
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in Jan- it wanted.
uary that she had asked Gazprom and other gas Gazprom was embroiled in a long-running
suppliers about the reasons behind gas supply. antitrust case brought against it by the EC that
The EC has faced pressure from some member finally ended in 2018, when the company agreed
states, mainly in Eastern Europe, to investigate to reform its sales practises in exchange for
Gazprom for alleged market abuses. avoiding a fine. ™
Vestager is yet to take a decision on the next
stage of the investigation, the source told Reu-
ters, although a fact-finding exercise might help
build a case against Gazprom.
For its part, the Russian gas giant has repeat-
edly denied withholding gas supply, either to
drive up prices or for political reasons against a
backdrop of heightened tensions between Russia
and Europe over Ukraine. The company says it
is complying with its gas supply contracts and
there is no evidence suggesting this is not the
case. But it has been withholding gas from the
spot market.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 07 16•February•2022