Page 11 - FSUOGM Week 02 2020

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM
exports of oil products in January. “The resump- tion of [exports of oil products] is expected in January. [...] [The resumption of exports] depends on how rhythmically and quickly the contracts are concluded. We expect that all possi- ble restrictions will be lifted by the end of January - at least this is an optimistic scenario”.
Oil companies controlled by Mikhail Gutseriev, a Russian billionaire and Lukashen- ko’s close associate, plan to supply 750,000 tonnes of crude to Belarus in January, a source familiar with the matter told BelaPAN.
The source, who asked not to be named, said that the Safmar group’s companies planned to deliver to Belarus 650,000 tonnes of oil by
pipeline and 100,000 more tonnes by rail before the end of this month. As a result, the compa- nies will use up their entire quarterly quota for exports to Belarus in January, said the source.
Gutseriev will reportedly need permission from the Russian energy ministry to supply more oil to the country in February and March. “But the issue may be resolved at the level of presi- dents and governments [after January],” said the source.
When reached by BelaPAN, the press office of Safmar said that its companies’ overall annual oil production totalled 18mn tonnes, which made it possible to :satisfy the Russian market’s needs and fulfil the obligations to Belarus”. ™
Uzbekistan changes national gas firm head for third time in 1.5 yrs
UZBEKISTAN
By putting someone with an economic background in charge, Uzbekistan hopes
to speed up the process of reforming Uzbekneftegaz.
UZBEKISTAN has swapped the head of its national gas company Uzbekneftegaz (UNG) for the third time in less than a year and a half, as efforts to reform the state giant show signs of stalling.
Chairman Bakhodir Sidikov has stepped down to take on a new role elsewhere, UNG said in a statement on January 8. He has been replaced by Mehridden Abdullaev, who formerly served as deputy chairman at Uzbekistan’s Chamber of Accounts.
Sidikov only took the company’s helm in Feb- ruary last year. Aged 40, he made his career in the Uzbek oil industry. Before Sidikov, the company was led by Bakhrom Ashrafkhanov, who is now Uzbekistan’s deputy finance minister. He in turn replaced in September 2018 Alisher Sultanov, now the head of Uzbekistan’s newly-created energy ministry.
Sultanov too was a veteran of the oil industry, while Ashrafkhanov – whose appointment was only seen as temporary – came from the finance ministry. In contrast, Abdullaev has worked in private banks as well as economic roles in the government.
By putting someone with an economic back- ground in charge, the Uzbek government hopes to speed the process of UNG’s restructuring. Under decrees issued by President Shavkat Mir- ziyoyev last year, the company is due to spin off its various production, transportation and refin- ing operations into separate entities, in order to boost the competitiveness and transparency of the Uzbek energy market.
Some of these entities will be partially or fully privatised, in order to bring in extra investment. Tashkent is yet to disclose a clear timeframe for when these reforms will be completed,
however. The process has been delayed by con- cerns about the social impact of UNG’s restruc- turing, given its status as the country’s largest employer. Getting approvals from UNG’s cred- itors has also held back proceedings.
These steps should prepare UNG for an even- tual initial public offering (IPO), which Tashkent aims to hold no later than 2024.
Abdullaev’s other main challenge will be negotiating new production-sharing agreements (PSAs) with foreign investors, as part of plans to revive exploration and production – a sector that stagnated under Mirziyoyev’s predecessor Islam Karimov, who died in 2016.
In September, Sidikov said the country planned to sign at least three upstream deals with large foreign energy companies in 2019, and a further five in 2020. But so far none of these agreements have materialised. Among the investors involved in talks are BP, France’s Total, Azerbaijan’s SOCAR and Russian companies Rosneft and Novatek.™
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