Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 01 2020

FSUOGM
FSUOGM
EASTERN EUROPE
Ukraine produces 20 bcm of gas in 2019
Dragged down by the state gas producer, Ukraine’s gas production decreased by 1% in 2019, to 20.7 bcm, according to Ukrtransgaz.
Production by UkrGazVydobuvannia dropped by 3.4% to 14.9 bcm. Responsible for 72% of Ukraine’s gas output, the state company is missing the Poroshenko government’s target of producing 20 bcm in 2020. Despite its lacklustre performance, UGV won most of last year’s public oil and gas block auctions.
Due to a mild start to the winter, Ukraine has drawn down its gas reserves by only 13%, reports Ukrtransgaz. With the heating season almost half over, Ukraine has 19 bcm in its underground reservoirs.
In 2019, 36-year high temperature records were broken in Kyiv, reports the Central Geophysical Observatory. Last year, the average annual temperature in Kyiv rose to 10.6 °C (51F), which is 2.9 °C higher than the norm and the highest since 1881. On December 15, the temperature in Kyiv hit a new record: 15.2C (59F).
bne IntelliNews, January 6 2020
CENTRAL ASIA & SOUTH CAUSASUS
Rig for Karabakh field arrives
Caspian Drilling Co.’s Dada Gorgud semi- submersible drilling rig has arrived at the
Karabakh field in Azerbaijan’s zone of the Caspian Sea to drill the KPS-4 well, the company said in a statement in December.
The field is a joint project between Equinor and SOCAR. CDC was hired to drill KPS-4 and another well at the site by Equinor in March.
Karabakh was identified as a potential field in the late 1950s, but drilling is needed to confirm its commercial value.
January 1 2020
Transneft finalises compensation for 38 Kazakh companies over spoiled oil
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has signed an agreement with KazTransOil that finalises compensation for 38 Kazakh oil companies in relation to issues caused by tainted oil, KazTransOil announced
on December 30. The total sum of compensation being paid by Transneft was not mentioned.
Russia has agreed to provide Kazakhstan with $15 per barrel in compensation for contaminating Kazakh crude shipped through Russia earlier this year. In late April it was discovered that almost 37mn barrels of oil in Russia’s pipeline system had been contaminated with organic chlorides, chemicals used to boost oil recovery that cause damage to refining equipment if not removed. This volume included 700,000 tonnes (5.1mn barrels) of Kazakh crude, bought mostly by commodities trader Vitol. As such, the total compensation payment
to Kazakhstan should amount to almost $77mn.
Russia has also discussed compensation with Belarus, the worst affected among
its customers in Europe by the so-called dirty oil crisis. Not only did Belarus
receive tainted oil, but it had already begun processing the supplies by the time the contamination was discovered. Its two refineries sustained damage and had to scale down production.
Negotiations for compensation were complicated by the fact that Moscow and Minsk are locked in a separate dispute over changes in Russia’s tax code that have driven up the cost of oil for Belarus. In addition, the two sides are trying to agree on a price for Russian gas supplies next year, with Belarus wanting parity with domestic prices in Russia.
bne IntelliNews, January 6 2020
Makhachkala resumes
handling of Turkmen oil
products
The Makhachkala port on Russia’s Caspian Sea coast has resumed transhipment of oil products from Turkmenistan after a five- year hiatus, the port said on December 26.
The first tanker loaded with the products, Baltflot-15, arrived at the port on December 25. The goods will be unloaded onto rail carts and delivered to consumers.
The transhipment of Turkmen oil products via Makhachkala was halted in September 2014 because of quality issues and issues with management at the port, including charges of corruption.
December 26 2019
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