Page 10 - AsianOil Week 11 2022

AsianOil SOUTH ASIA AsianOil

Pakistan, Russia reportedly close

to agreement on Pakistan Stream

PIPELINES & PAKISTAN and Russia are close to final- alternative for us or we’ll go ahead with this deal
TRANSPORT ising a plan to build the Pakistan Stream … This is the best alternative as of now, and this
pipeline, media reported this week. How- was obviously done before Ukraine.”
ever, the South Asian country will have to The pipeline would be built by a collection of
proceed with caution, given the severity of Russian companies and is expected to cost more
current sanctions against Russia as its war on than $2bn – and potentially $3bn by some esti-
Ukraine continues. mates. Media have cited government officials as
Pakistani Minister for Finance and Reve- attributing the project’s escalating costs to the
nues Shaukat Tarin told various media outlets rising price of steel and other products in the
The pipeline would in recent days that Islamabad and Moscow had international market.
carry gas that arrives in broadly agreed to move forward with Pakistan Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has
Karachi on the southern Stream, which is also known as the North-South said he wants to remain neutral when it comes
coast as LNG to power project. The pipeline would actually run in the to the war in Ukraine, and visited Russia on the
plants in Punjab opposite direction from what the name suggests, same day the invasion started in February. Tarin
Province. transporting gas that arrives in Karachi on the said he hoped Russian officials would soon visit
southern coast as LNG to power plants in Punjab Pakistan to finalise the deal for the pipeline fol-
Province in the country’s north-east. lowing Khan’s visit to Moscow.
“We need a gas pipeline to transport LNG However, international pressure to isolate
from south to north. That’ll become almost Moscow economically means that Pakistan
essential for us in the next two or three years,” risks straining its relationship with Western
Tarin told the Financial Times. “Either there’s an countries.™

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Malaysia’s Kimanis crude exports

to fall in May on maintenance

PERFORMANCE A preliminary loading schedule has shown that published by Reuters, Shell is due to load one
exports of Malaysia’s Kimanis crude are set to fall 600,000-barrel cargo of the crude over May 6-10,
to six cargoes in May, from eight in April. This and another over May 25-29.
has been attributed to maintenance at oilfields The schedule suggests that the SOGT will
offshore Sabah State. be out of action between May 15 and May 21.
Neither Shell – the operator of the fields that ConocoPhillips and PetroBrunei are each sched-
produce Kimanis – nor partner Petronas have uled to load a 600,000-barrel cargo of Kimanis at
The Sabah Oil and Gas commented publicly on the planned mainte- the SOGT in May, while state-owned Petronas
Terminal will reportedly nance and its impact. However, a source familiar is scheduled to load two cargoes over the course
go offline briefly in mid- with the matter told Reuters that the Sabah Oil of the month.
May for maintenance. and Gas Terminal (SOGT), which processes oil The reduction in Kimanis cargoes comes as
and gas from the region’s offshore fields, would the crude is in higher demand, with refiners in
be shut in mid-May for brief maintenance. Northeast Asia seeking alternatives to oil from
Subsequently, maintenance would be carried Russia. Malaysia’s light, sweet Kimanis grade
out at the Gumusut-Kakap field in the second has been identified as an attractive alternative,
half of May, said the source, adding that the work along with US oil. Traders have told media that
could also reduce supplies in June. Japanese refiners, for example, could target pur-
Shell operates two offshore fields in the chases of Kimanis crude to replace feedstock that
region – Gumusut-Kakap and Malikai – which has typically come from Russia.
have a combined capacity of up to 170,000 bar- Traders expect regional sweet crude cash pre-
rels per day (bpd) of Kimanis crude. According miums for May-loading barrels to rise in March,
to the preliminary loading schedule, which was compared with February.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 11 18•March•2022