Page 16 - AsianOil Week 34

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its finances. The company is seeking to raise expensive ever drilled in modern Russia.
$530mn from its investors as part of a $2.9bn There are also doubts about whether Rosneft
refinancing move. It also wants to raise a further has the expertise to carry out Arctic offshore
$230mn to fund its takeover of some of BP’s oil- drilling effectively without a foreign partner such
fields in the North Sea. as Exxon.
In other news, Gazprom Neft has reported its
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping second-quarter results, with both EBITDA and
Europe’s oil and gas sector then please click here for net income arriving in line with expectations.
NewsBase’s EurOil Monitor. But investors were disappointed by the compa-
ny’s negative free cash flow (FCF) of $1.1bn.
FSU: Rosneft returns to the Arctic offshore Gazprom Neft has also announced the launch
Given low prices and the unpredictable market of the next phase of the Novoportovskoye oilfield
outlook, it is somewhat surprising that Rosneft in the Arctic – one of its main greenfield projects.
has chosen this moment to resume costly drilling The company is now drilling for oil at the field’s
in the offshore Arctic. northern section, in order to keep output stable.
In a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Novoportovskoye is expected to flow 160,000
Putin, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin revealed last barrels per day (bpd) of crude in 2021.
week that the company was drilling two more
wells in the Kara Sea. These sites are not far from If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
where Rosneft and ExxonMobil made the 2014 the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please
Pobeda oil discovery, estimated to exceed 900mn click here for NewsBase’s FSU Monitor.
barrels in size.
Exxon was forced to exit the project because GLNG: Setbacks for Chevron, Sempra
of US sanctions against Russia, and all work was LNG projects in different parts of the world –
halted. Rosneft’s decision to resume drilling on and at different stages of development – have
the shelf is oddly timed. Like its peers across the suffered setbacks in recent days.
world, the company has been forced to make Significantly, Chevron has confirmed spec-
deep spending cuts in response to the coronavi- ulation that it will need to shut Trains 1 and 3
rus (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting price at its Gorgon LNG project in Australia in order
collapse. to carry out maintenance. This comes as Train
Russia’s offshore Arctic zone is thought to 2 remains offline for repairs after weld quality
contain many billions of barrels of oil, along with issues were found on propane heat exchangers,
trillions of cubic metres of gas. But the region’s prompting fears that the other trains may also
remoteness and harsh operational conditions make be affected.
development extremely costly. The well that found However, the 15.6mn tonne per year (tpy)
Pobeda cost around $700mn, making it the most Gorgon project will not need to be taken offline

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 27•August•2020