Page 11 - FSUOGM Week 33 2022

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Moldovagaz gets limited aid from state

to pay debt to Gazprom

MOLDOVA THE government of Moldova has allowed Mol- md, reveals that the VAT exemption, which
dovagaz, the natural gas transport and distribu- amounts to around MDL165mn (€8.3mn),
Gazprom has warned tion company in the country, to defer its VAT would only be enough to cover payments for a
again it may cut off gas payments owed to the state budget for its April- single month. This would not save the company
supply to the former July sales until the end of September. from its financial difficulties.
Soviet country. The move is aimed at preventing non-pay- Alexandru Șevciuc, a member of the Mol-
ment of Moldovagaz’ gas bills to Gazprom, after dovagaz board of directors, claims that the tar-
the Moldovan gas company announced that iff approved by market regulator ANRE is not
such a scenario is imminent. high enough to cover the financial deviations,
However, this is only a temporary solution which currently, just from the purchase of gas,
that does not diminish the losses incurred by amount to MDL959mn, but are expected to
Moldovagaz as a result of the regulated end-user reach MDL3.9bn by the end of the year.
prices lagging behind the rising import prices. However, the import price will be calculated
Thus, Moldovagaz will pay $1,692 per 1,000 starting in October based on the crude oil price
cubic metres in September, up from $1,459 in benchmarks — as opposed to spot natural gas
August. The end-user prices are calculated for prices during the summer months — and con-
an import price of $899 per 1,000 cubic metres. sequently, it might decrease during the winter
An estimated calculation, carried out by Bani. months. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Germany's Schwedt refinery samples

US sour crude

GERMANY GERMANY’S Schwedt refinery is reportedly Reuters, Mars has a higher distillate content than
procuring a cargo of sour crude from the US, as the US WTI and Eagle Ford grades, which will
Meanwhile, the German the plant scrambles for alternatives to Russian enable Schwedt to turn out more diesel, jet fuel
government continues crude ahead of the German government’s target and gasoil. This is key, as Russia is a major sup-
its effort to wressle to halt purchases from its main oil supplier at the plier of diesel to Germany.
control of the plant end of this year. While the EU’s embargo on Russian oil due
away from Rosneft. Refinitiv ship-tracking data cited by Reu- to come into force in December this year only
ters showed that the Capricorn Sun tanker was affects seaborne shipments and not deliveries
loaded with the 570,000-barrel batch of Mars via the Druzhba system, the German govern-
Sour crude off the Louisiana coast and unloaded ment has committed to ceasing all Russian oil
it at the German port of Rostock on August 3. purchases by the end of the year.
The tanker was chartered by Shell, a shareholder Meanwhile, German authorities are strug-
in the 233,000-barrel per day (bpd) Schwedt gling to wrest control of Schwedt from Rosneft,
plant, which is under the majority control of given the plant’s strategic importance as the sup-
Russia’s state-owned Rosneft. plier of 90% of the capital Berlin’s fuel needs. Shell
Both Schwedt and the Leuna refinery con- has offered to step in to run the plant, according
tinue to receive Russia’s Urals medium sour oil to past Reuters reports, and Poland’s PKN Orlen
blend via the Druzhba pipeline system, but both has also been approached to be an operator.
are also connected to the Rostok oil terminal via Germany could expropriate the refinery, cit-
pipeline, making it possible for them to access ing national security grounds, having updated
alternative supplies from Norway, Saudi Arabia, its national security laws recently to allow such
the UK and the US. a move. But the fear is that this will provoke the
Germany is a relatively small buyer of US Kremlin to respond by further reducing gas sup-
crude, importing only about 77,000 bpd from ply to Germany, or expropriating German assets
the country last year, while overall US exports in Russia. These include major upstream assets
amounted to almost 3mn bpd. According to held by Germany’s Wintershall Dea. ™

Week 33 17•August•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11