Page 15 - FSUOGM Week 21 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Gazprom consolidates control

of contractors

RUSSIA RUSSIA’S Gazprom has consolidated control of its founder Ziyad Manasir in 2018, followed by
its main contractors, in a move expected to help Stroygazmontazh in 2019 from Russian billion-
The contractors the company keep a handle on its costs. aire and Kremlin ally Arkady Rotenberg and his
benefitted hugely from Gazstroyprom is now Gazprom’s sole con- partners. It has since added Stroytransneftegaz
Gazprom's major export struction contractor, having acquired Stroygaz- from another influential businessman, Gennady
projects in recent consulting (SGK), Stroygazmontazh (SGM) and Timchenko, and his partners.
years, but there are Stroytransneftegaz over the course of the last few Gazprom’s contractors have benefited enor-
fewer such projects years, Gazprom deputy chairman Oleg Aksyutin mously in recent years from contracts for the
upcoming. said in a presentation earlier this month. construction of costly export pipelines, namely
Under the 49% control of Gazprom, Nord Stream 2, Power of Siberia and Turk-
Gazstroyprom is now one of the biggest contrac- Stream. But their future revenue outlook is
tors for projects involving the production, pro- unclear, as Gazprom now has fewer such pro-
cessing and transport of gas in Russia. It earned jects in the pipeline. It wants to build the 50bn
some RUB249.3bn ($3.4bn) in revenues last year, cubic metre per year Power of Siberia 2 pipeline
which is comparable to the RUB242bn earned by to bring Yamal gas to China via Mongolia. But
Sibur subsidiary Nipigaz, another major player the project is still at the study phase and it could
in the market. But unlike Nipigaz it is unprofita- be many years before construction begins.
ble, suffering a RUB1bn loss last year, according Analysts have said before that by acquiring its
to Vedomosti, against a profit of RUB3.8bn in contractors, Gazprom will have a better handle
2019. on its costs, boosting margins and its investment
Gazprom began acquiring its contractors in appeal. But a lot will depend on how much work
2018. First it bought Stroygazconsulting from there is available. ™

Uzbekistan near to completing

GTL project

UZBEKISTAN CONSTRUCTION of Uzbekistan's first gas-to- of naphtha and 53,000 tonnes of liquefied gas.
liquids (GTL) plant has almost been completed, These petroleum products will substitute $1bn of
The plant will create operator Uzbekneftegaz (UNG) has announced annual imports, Uzbek officials have said. Offi-
products to substitute Some 1,015 of the 1,045 units of equipment cials have said that petroleum products delivered
$1bn of imports that will be installed as part of the $3.6bn project by the project will substitute for $1bn worth of
annually. have arrived on site in the Kashkadarya region, imports annually.
according to UNG. 8,000 workers and engi- Central Asia is seen as an optimal loca-
neers and 522 units of special equipment were tion for GTL technology, given the region’s
deployed in the construction and installation abundance of gas and geographical difficulty
work. in monetising these resources. Uzbekistan is
In February, the flare system and steam boil- endowed with some 1.2 trillion cubic metres
ers were put into operation. The plant began of proven gas reserves, according to BP data,
receiving fuel gas in March. It is due to start com- but its only significant customers for this gas
mercial operations in the third quarter. abroad are Russia and China. Russia only
Korean companies Hyundai Engineering, buys Central Asian gas when it is competitive
Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Enter against its low-cost domestic supplies, whereas
Engineering (Singapore) are the general contrac- China has many import options, enabling it to
tors of the project. drive down prices.
The GTL plant will have an annual capacity Uzbekistan's government has said it wants to
to process 3.6bn cubic metres of gas and pro- bring gas exports down to zero by 2025, instead
duce 1.5mn tonnes of high-quality synthetic using the gas domestically to create higher-value
liquid fuel, more than 307,000 tonnes of jet fuel, products. The GTL plant is among a number of
724,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, 437,000 tonnes projects that aims to achieve this.™

Week 21 26•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15