Page 14 - AsianOil Week 43 2020

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Cartagena. Steep declines in demand caused by Meanwhile, Russia’s Tatneft is weighing up
coronavirus (COVID-19) have left many refin- its options after losing billions of dollars in tax
eries in Europe facing closure. But closing refin- relief in the country’s latest overhaul of oil indus-
eries is expensive, requiring the dismantling of try taxation. The company needs to update its
heavy equipment and pipelines along with land investment programme, and is yet to decide
remediation. Converting sites to biofuel offers an whether to move some of the highly viscous and
alternative option. nearly depleted fields affected by the changes
to Russia’s excess profit tax (EPT) system. Until
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping Tatneft decides how to response to the loss of
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for tax breaks, it will not invest in any new heavy
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. oil-containing fields.

Rosneft’s rising ambitions If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Rosneft has scaled up plans for its already ambi- the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
tious Vostok Oil project in the Russian Arctic. click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor.
Vostok Oil was originally conceived as an
oil-only venture. Rosneft earlier predicted it US, Qatar push for LNG dominance
could supply up to 500,000 barrels per day of oil Various US LNG developers and their support-
to global markets by 2024, rising to 1mn bpd in ers – including the federal government – con-
2027 and 2.3mn bpd by 2030. This crude would tinue to push forward with plans that will help to
all be shipped via tankers along the Northern Sea solidify the country’s dominance in the increas-
Route (NSR) from a new terminal on the shore of ingly competitive global market for the super-
the Taymyr Peninsula. chilled fuel. In the Middle East, meanwhile,
Rosneft now wants to add LNG and even coal Qatar is doing the same to drive forward its own
exports to the project. In addition to crude, it is LNG expansion plans.
looking into options for shipping up to 35-50mn Last week, the government of US President
tonnes per year of LNG and 50mn tpy of coal Donald Trump extended the terms of seven
from the terminal it intends to build in Sever Bay. long-term LNG export authorisations until
It is unclear whether Rosneft would produce the 2050. The move came as no surprise, following
coal itself or export third-party supplies. on from the US Department of Energy’s (DoE)
Rosneft is also set to obtain two gas fields for policy statement in July that it would permit
Vostok Oil, after Russia’s government confirmed LNG export authorisations to be extended.
that the company would be the only one authorised The US has only been exporting LNG since
to participate in a tender for the Deryabinskoye and 2016, but has rapidly gained market share as new
Kazantsevskoye fields. These resources will under- liquefaction capacity has come online, mainly on
pin its LNG production plans. the Gulf Coast.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 43 29•October•2020