Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 03 2020

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM
Malaysia’s Reach secures Kazakh production contracts
KAZAKHSTAN
The new contracts allow the two fields to ramp up to commercial production.
MALAYSIAN oil producer Reach Energy has secured long-awaited production contracts for two fields in western Kazakhstan.
The contracts for the North Kariman and Yes- sen fields came into force on January 1, 2020 and are valid for 16 and 25 years respectively, Reach said in a Malaysian stock filing this week.
“This achievement is significant to Emir- Oil’s master development plan to integrate the Kariman and North Kariman fields as one large hydrocarbon-bearing structure in the near future,” Reach explained. “Yessen has also shown good productivity in its wells from past well tests, and the company plans to exploit this new com- mercial field with best-in-class reservoir man- agement practices.”
North Kariman and Yessen are located within the Emir oil concession, which Reach operates through its 60%-owned subsidiary Emir-Oil. The remaining 40% interest is held by Chinese firm MIE Holdings. North Kariman and Yessen currently flow oil on a trial basis only, but the new contracts will enable them to ramp up to commercial production.
Reach and MIE already produce oil commer- cially from four other Emir oilfields: Dolinnoe, Aksaz, Emir and Kariman.
The Malaysian firm also said it had secured a three-year extension on its exploration contract for the Emir concession, which had expired on January 9.
“This extension consists of eight exploration projects that cover the entire exploration acre- age, and Emir-Oil has strategically selected three low-risk exploration well targets as part of Emir- Oil’s commitment to this extension,” it said. “In addition, Emir-Oil plans to conduct further seis- mic reinterpretation that would improve geo- logical understanding of the acreage and further unearth additional prospects for discovery. The company is confident that this extension repre- sents a great opportunity to increase the reserves of the company within the next three years.”
Reach announced in late December it had started drilling a fourth well appraising the Yes- sen field, which should take 120 days to com- plete. Its three previous wells at the site all struck oil. ™
RUSSIA
Gazprom Neft to produce
100mn tonnes of
hydrocarbons in 2020
Russian oil company Gazprom Neft will raise production of hydrocarbons to more than 100mn tonnes in 2020 if OPEC
and non-OPEC states decide against prolongation of their oil output reduction deal, CEO Alexander Dyukov told reporters on January 16.
“I can definitely say that we will raise out production. But how high we will raise it would depend on the decision they make... The level of our production increase will be clear when we see whether they prolong the OPEC+ deal and at what conditions they will prolong it...If there is no prolongation, we will produce more than 100 million (tonnes of hydrocarbons),” he said.
In November 2016, OPEC and non- OPEC states including Russia first decided
NEWS IN BRIEF
to reduce their oil output to rebalance the market, and agreed on an additional reduction in December 2018. In July, they prolonged the deal until April 2020. According to the latest amendments, the agreement stipulates a production cut by 2.1mn barrels per day.
Dyukov also said that the company expected stable taxation despite Wednesday’s resignation of the Russian government.
“The president talked about...stability of the taxation system, right? Did he say that yesterday? Yes, he did. So we see no risks,” he said.
January 16 2020
Novatek head sells €257mn worth of shares
The chairman of the board of directors
of Russia’s Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson, sold 0.7375% of the personal shares in the company for €257mn, RBC business portal
reported citing an information disclosure by the company.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, in 2019 in Novatek maintained its position as Russia’s second-largest natural gas producer and global liquefied natural gas (LNG) runner-up.
It is believed that Mikhelson indirectly controls about 25% in Novatek. After the company was allowed by the Kremlin
to export LNG, it adopted an ambitious development plan and had its capitalisation soar, making Mikhelson Russia’s richest man according to Forbes with a $27bn fortune.
After the greenlight for LNG exports and other valuable concessions such as possible extraction on offshore shelf (off limits to private hydrocarbon companies) and softer terms on LNG transportation, Novatek was generally seen as in being in the Kremlin’s favour.
However, in the end of 2019 unconfirmed reports claimed that Novatek will be cut off from the federal budget support for transportation of LNG via the
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