Russia 110811 Basic Political Developments
Polarcus signs strategic agreement with Russian OAO Sovcomflot
Download 299.65 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Gazprom
- Option or plan
- Pressure to unbundle
- Kandalaksha hopes for Shtokman contract
- Russia Gazprombank secures $1.2 bln syndicated loan
Polarcus signs strategic agreement with Russian OAO Sovcomflothttp://www.cisionwire.com/polarcus-limited-ob/r/polarcus-signs-strategic-agreement-with-russian-oao-sovcomflot,e251194 Polarcus Limited (OAX: PLCS) is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a five year Bareboat Charter Party Agreement (BBCP) with OAO Sovcomflot (SCF) of Russia. Under the terms of the BBCP Sovcomflot will charter POLARCUS SELMA, inclusive of an 8 streamer seismic equipment package, from Polarcus at a rate of USD 69,500 per day. The BBCP, viewed by both parties as the first step towards a larger strategic business alliance to serve the growing Russian seismic market, will commence in August 2011. The BBCP terms include a purchase option of the vessel commencing after the third anniversary of the BBCP. In conjunction with the BBCP, Polarcus has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with SCF for the provision of certain specialist onboard crew and shore-based services and systems support. The provision of the services, to be charged in addition to the BBCP, is subject to a final agreement between the parties expected to be signed in the latter part of August 2011.
important agreement will afford Polarcus and Sovcomflot unparalleled access to the Russian market and most significantly to possibly the world's last and largest oil frontier, the Arctic. There is very good synergy between our companies, with our own strategic focus on the Arctic frontier and investment into Arctic-ready technologies, and Sovcomflot's leadership in key Russian oil and gas development projects in harsh ice environments. We believe the BBCP and the LOI for support services will be just the beginning of a long and successful relationship with Russia's largest shipping company as they aspire to broaden their focus from energy transportation to energy supply."
ultra-modern and Arctic-ready 3D seismic vessel of the ULSTEIN SX133 X-BOW design capable of towing both conventional and wide tow spreads. The vessel has an overall length of 84.2m and a beam of 17m. POLARCUS SELMA has a maximum speed of 17 knots and will be capable of deploying up to 8 streamers each of 6,000m length, or 6 streamers each of 8,000m length, with lateral streamer separations of between 25 and 200 meters.
Contacts Rolf Ronningen, CEO Polarcus +971 4 436 0800 / +971 50 459 6982 Peter Zickerman, EVP Polarcus +971 4 436 0800 / +971 50 551 9160 About Polarcus
geophysical company with a pioneering environmental agenda, specializing in high-end towed streamer data acquisition from Pole to Pole. Polarcus operates a fleet of high performance 3D seismic vessels incorporating an innovative design and advanced maritime technologies for improved safety and efficiency. Polarcus offers contract seismic surveys and multi-client projects worldwide and employs over 500 professionals. The Company's principal office is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For more information, visit www.polarcus.com About SCF Group (Sovcomflot)
companies, specializing in petroleum products and liquefied gas transportation. The fleet includes 156 vessels with a total deadweight of 11.8 million tonnes. The company is registered in St. Petersburg with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk, Vladivostok, London, Limassol, Madrid and Singapore. The Group offers a wide range of vessels and a powerful grouping of vessels, in the market segments most demanded by major Russian oil and gas companies. With its own technical development and unique approach to advanced technologies, Sovcomflot has the ability to meet the most demanding customer requirements, providing effective transportation for oil & gas companies. For more information, visit www.scf-group.ru This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act
http://www.bne.eu/storyf2838/Central_Asian_fuel_crisis_eases
Clare Nuttall in Almaty August 11, 2011 Russian gas deliveries to Kyrgyzstan and a cut in export duties for Tajikistan are bringing to an end the price hikes and fuel shortages that have crippled parts of Central Asia over the past few months. Deliveries of fuel from Russia to Kyrgyzstan are scheduled to continue in August after Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev returned from Moscow on July 22 having secured an agreement that brought the country's two-month fuel crisis to an end. Under the agreement with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, gasoline deliveries to Kyrgyzstan have resumed, allowing rationing to be lifted. As of July 25, 4,000 tonnes of Al-92 and Al-95 grade fuel had already arrived from refineries in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. Kyrgyzstan's fuel shortages began in late May when Kazakhstan, which was concerned over its own supplies, cut exports of refined petroleum products. The crisis deepened in July when Gazprom Neft-Aziya's Omsk refinery stopped supplying fuel to countries outside the three Customs Union countries – Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. This was a shock for Kyrgyzstan since Gazprom Neft-Aziya accounts for around 70% of the country's gasoline imports, although shipments from refineries in Astrakhan, Kazan, and Salavat continued. By late July, many petrol stations in the country were deserted, while drivers queued at Gazprom stations that sell their petrol on average 4-5 som ($0.09-11) per litre cheaper than other companies. Drivers in the Batken region in Kyrgyzstan's remote south-western tip told bne they had seen queues of up to 200 motorists at Gazprom stations. In the face of dwindling stocks of petrol, Gazprom started rationing its customers to just 10 litres each. While oil prices most likely played a part in Russia's cut in exports, there is speculation that Moscow was also trying to put pressure on a wavering Kyrgyzstan to join the Customs Union. Cutting off energy supplies through state-owned Gazprom has been one of Russia's favourite ways of persuading its neighbours to fall in with its plans. The other trigger for the cuts is understood to be the need to punish Kyrgyz traders for illegally selling on Russian imported fuel to Tajikistan. Smuggling through the porous Kyrgyz-Tajik border increased when Russia upped its fuel excise duties for Tajikistan in March.
The hike in excise duties was a shock for the Tajik economy, which in the last year had been recovering rapidly from the crisis. Combined with rising global food prices, the increase in fuel costs pushed food prices within Tajikistan up to record levels, says a report from the World Food Programme (WFP). In June, retail food prices reached their highest level since the WFP started monitoring in 2002. "High fuel prices were one of the main influences on inflation, with an especially strong impact on the services, industrial production and agricultural sectors," Jamshed Yusufiyon, first deputy chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan, says in an interview with bne. People have cut back as much as possible on fuel use, and petrol stations are virtually empty – it's more common to see the owner and his friends lounging on a tapchan (traditional Tajik bed) under the shade of the forecourt than any customers. In rural areas, the few cars on the roads are outnumbered by donkey carts. "This isn't Dushanbe. People here are poor, they don't have the money to be driving around all day," explains Rustam, resident of a village outside the southern town of Qurgonteppa. Prices vary widely within the country, and are considerably lower in the north near the Kyrgyz border than in the south. In the capital Dushanbe prices for higher grade gasoline were pushing 6.5 somoni ($1.38) a litre. There is an active black market on the main roads out of Dushanbe, where police turn a blind eye to the tankers lined up along the roadside, traders poised with hoses and funnels to supply passing motorists. Other Tajiks have in recent years converted their cars to use highly flammable but much cheaper gas rather than petrol. The airline industry is also suffering; Tajik Air recently announced it would be refuelling Russia-bound planes in Kazakhstan rather than at home since the costs of jet fuel in Tajikistan were prohibitively high. Prices reached their peak in June following Russia's decision to increase export duties for petrol by 1.8% as of June 1. However, the situation has since been alleviated, as Moscow reduced export tariffs by 3.7% on July 1. And on August 1, duties on gasoline were lowered from $400.50 to $394.40 per tonne. Kazakh cap Unlike its southern neighbours, Kazakhstan has its own reserves of oil and gas. But Kazakhstan too has been struggling with high fuel prices. Throughout July, petrol station operators complained to the government that they were making losses due to high wholesale prices. Helios executives told an Almaty press conference that they were being forced to temporarily close down some petrol stations to avoid losing money. On July 27, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Oil and Gas announced it had increased the maximum retail prices for fuel, which were set in July. They have upped the cap on AI-92 and AI-93 gasoline from 102 ($0.69) to 106 tenge ($0.72) per one litre, lower grade AI 80 petrol from 84 to 86 tenge, and diesel fuel from 87 to 90 tenge. Oil and Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev also assured journalists that there would be no fuel shortage in Kazakhstan, and stressed that infringements of the price ceilings would be punished. Mynbayev attributed the high prices to the rising cost of oil and an increase in the price of Brent crude oil in Russia. Although Kazakhstan is a producer of oil, the country does not yet have sufficient processing capacity so it has to export crude oil to Russia and re-import gasoline, aviation fuel and other fuels. Kazakhstan has launched a multi-billion dollar overhaul of its processing industry and is rebuilding the three main refineries at Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar to increase quality, quantity and range of fuels, but these have not yet been completed. GazpromRWE sends mixed messages on Czech gas network salehttp://www.ceskapozice.cz/en/business/companies/rwe-sends-mixed-messages-czech-gas-network-sale On Wednesday, a spokesman for RWE Czech Republic said the German parent company RWE has decided to sell a stake in Net4Gas to Gazprom. Tom Jones | 10.08.2011 - 20:42 RWE Czech Republic announced on Wednesday that due to the German government’s resolution to phase out nuclear power, EU unbundling legislation, and challenging economic conditions, the German energy giant had decided to sell off more assets than previously planned including daughter company Net4Gas, which owns and operates the Czech gas pipeline network. A spokesman for RWE Group, however, said the sale was only being considered and no definite decision had been made. Option or plan?“The decision by the German government to speed up the phase out of nuclear power plants has completely changed the economic ‘To be more precise, the decision was taken to look into the possibilities for the sale of the Net4Gas’conditions for RWE’s business. This political decision, together with the difficult conditions in the European energy market and EU pressure for ownership unbundling, are the main reasons why RWE is preparing to sell off several of the concerns assets, including its stake in Net4Gas,” RWE’s spokesman in the Czech Republic, Martin Chalupský, was cited as saying by the Czech news agency ČTK on Wednesday. However, RWE’s head of group communications, Volker Heck, told Czech Position that Net4Gas, previously named RWE Transgas, is among assets the energy group is considering selling. “No definite decision has been made,” Heck stressed. Chalupský later confirmed his earlier statement that RWE had indeed decided to sell Net4Gas. However, when informed about the response to the same question from the group’s headquarters in Germany, he revised the wording. “To be more precise, the decision was taken to look into the possibilities for the sale of the Net4Gas,” he said, adding that the sale would probably not take place before 2013 after the completion of the transformation of Net4Gas into an independent transmission operator (ITO) in line with EU energy regulations. Pressure to unbundleAs part of the EU’s initiative to liberalize the European energy market, energy producers are obliged to relinquish their majority stakes in the distribution networks they currently own so as to allow multiple producers to use the same networks — a process known as unbundling. Both RWE spokesmen refused to say what percentage of its 100 percent stake in Net4Gas RWE is considering on selling. Chalupský said that as far as he is aware, the EU energy regulator has not set any deadlines for RWE to relinquish its majority stakes in European energy distribution networks, including Net4Gas. On Tuesday, RWE reported that its trading and gas midstream division recorded an operating loss of €598 million in the first half of 2011, compared with a profit of €278 million a year earlier. The company says the disadvantageous long-term fixed-price contracts for gas deliveries from Gazprom were a major reason behind the loss. The company announced in April that it intends to launch arbitration proceedings against the Russian state-controlled gas giant over the pricing issue, but at the same time stressed negotiations were continuing. The RWE Group reported total revenue for the first half of 2011 revenue at €27 billion, almost the same level as in H1 2010, but EBITDA fell by 25 percent to €4.6 billion. The company says this was caused by almost €900 million expenses incurred as a result of inspections of all German nuclear facilities ordered by the government following the Fukishima disaster in Japan. In addition to the potential sale of Net4Gas, the company said this week that it is considering the sale or partial sale of its gas and oil exploration operation RWE Dea, and stakes in water company Berlinwasser and several coal and gas-fired power plants.
Gazprom?On July 14, RWE and Gazprom’s CEOs, Jürgen Großmann and Alexei Miller, signed a memorandum of understanding on a RWE Group spokesman categorically dismissed the suggestion that the two companies may be discussing the sale of Net4Gas to Gazprom.partnership to develop joint coal and gas fired electricity generation in Western Europe, suggesting that an agreement on gas prices may be in sight. RWE spokesman Volker Heck categorically dismissed the suggestion that the two companies may be discussing the sale of Net4Gas to Gazprom. “This is definitely not a subject of the negotiations with Gazprom,” Heck told Czech Position. Net4Gas owns and operates 2,640 kilometers of trunk and branch gas pipelines in the Czech Republic, which are also major routes for transit shipments of gas from the CIS to Western Europe. The company is also building the Gazela pipeline from Hora Svaté Kateřiny in the Czech Republic to join up with the OPAL pipeline in Germany to connect the Czech gas network with supplies from Russia delivered by the partially completed submarine Nord Stream pipeline. One of the major contractors constructing the Gazela pipeline is the Russian firm Stroytransgaz, which is 80 percent owned by Gennady Timchenko, a close and long-time associate of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Timchenko, who made his fortune in oil trading, co-founded the company Gunvor, which is now the fourth-largest crude oil trading company in the world. Rumors persist that Putin and top officials in his government have stakes in the private company.
The delegation was joined by Roman Trotsenko, President of the United Shipbuilding Company, Nikolai Kalistratov, Director General of the Sevmash Production Association as well as representatives from design and contracting companies. It was emphasized at the meeting moderated by Alexander Ananenkov that the platform was almost ready. The main and auxiliary power generators providing the platform with electricity have been installed, the startup operations are underway. The electric work is nearing completion at the drilling equipment. Final assembling and testing of the oil spill response system are underway. Startup operations are being carried out at the personnel life support system. The evacuation and fire fighting systems are ready for service. The meeting paid special attention to the platform delivery to the Prirazlomnoye field. Based on the meeting results, Gazprom's structural units and contracting companies were given the tasks aimed at prompt completion of the platform and its preparation for towing.
Gazpromshelf is considering the town of Kandalaksha as location for a plant for concrete coating of pipes to the Shtokman project. Gazpromshelf is looking for a 50 hectare large area to build a plant for concrete coating of the large amounts of pipes that will be need for the giant Shtokman gas project in the Barents Sea. Recently a group of officials led by General Director Alexander Mandel visited Kandalaksha on the Kola Peninsula to consider the possibilities for building the plant there, B-port writes, citing the newspaper Niva. Among the competitors for the location are Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and several places in Norway. Kandalaksha has a good chance of winning, as the region already has a well-developed infrastructure like harbors, railway and machine building capacities. In addition, Gazpromshelf is ”categorically against the location of this kind of plant outside of Russia”, the web-site writes. Text: Trude Pettersen Gazprom Neft completes secondary offering of series 04 bonds for RUB6.13bn http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336 Alfa Bank August 10, 2011 During bookbuilding the demand volume was ~RUB14bn. The offer price was in the range of 102.0-102.5% of face value, which corresponds to a yield of 7.86-7.96% p.a. until the put option in April 2018. Ekaterina Leonova
MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Gazprombank, Russia's third biggest lender by assets, has secured a $1.2 billion three-year syndicated loan from a group of international banks, the lender said on Thursday. The loan is secured under LIBOR plus 1.5 percent rate and will be used to repay a $900 million syndicated loan, raised in September 2010 under LIBOR plus 2.5 percent, Gazprombank said in a statement. Part of the funds will be used for general corporate purposes. Gazprombank, in which the world's biggest gas producer Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) holds a 41.7 percent stake, plans to borrow up to $2 billion on external markets in 2011, its deputy chief executive said in March. [ID:nLDE72O10B] (Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Lidia Kelly) Directory: gifiles -> attach attach -> British Forces – Akrioti, Greece Griffin Fighter Squadron (84 Squadron raf) MoD announced possible Typhoon and Tornado arrivals to the base France attach -> Russia 110204 Basic Political Developments attach -> Unclassified//for official use only attach -> Adaptability Sustainment attach -> Pop-up 1 ("C" Chechnya) Header Text: Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov Image attach -> Russia and Islam are not Separate attach -> Chapter 13: The Northern Caucasus attach -> Russia 100209 Basic Political Developments attach -> The evolution attach -> The devolution Download 299.65 Kb. Share with your friends:
|