Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
FILL: Novatek Acquires 100% Of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Chelyabinsk For $48.8 Million
http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=1344307
MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Novatek (NVTK.RS) has, through its subsidiaries, acquired a 100% stake in OOO Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk for a total of RUB1.5 Bln ($48.8 million), Novatek said Thursday.
Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk sells natural gas to industrial and residential customers in the Chelyabinsk Region. In the first nine months of 2011, the company supplied the region with 7.4 bcm of natural gas.
-By Ira Iosebashvili, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232-9192, ira.iosebashvili@dowjones.com
Novatek snaps up regional gas distributor
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20111201112042.shtml
RBC, 01.12.2011, Moscow 11:20:42.Novatek has acquired a 100% stake in Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk for RUB 1.55bn (approx. USD 49.3m), Russia's second-largest natural gas company said in a statement.
This company is the largest gas distributor in the Chelyabinsk region of the Urals Federal District, selling gas to industrial and socially important facilities. In the first nine months of 2011, it delivered 7.4bcm of gas.
The acquisition is in line with Novatek's strategy to ratchet up its presence in major sales markets, the company's chairman Leonid Mikhelson said.
December 01, 2011 12:44
Other foreign cos besides Total interested in Val Shatsky offshore project
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=291469
MINERALNYE VODY. Dec 1 (Interfax) - France's Total is not the only foreign company interested in the Val Shatsky (Shatsky Ridge) offshore project in the Black Sea, Rosneft (RTS: ROSN) head Eduard Khudainatov said.
"Total has serious competitors, several companies are working in the data room," Khudainatov told reporters.
"Therefore, we are not making a decision yet. We want to make the best decision for the company. It will depend on the conditions, the technology that they offer for exploration, on investment, their experience, their qualifications," Khudainatov said.
He said the project to develop the Val Shatsky field is quite difficult, including in terms of geology. "There are difficult structures of geological deposits their very serious work is needed," Khudainatov said.
He said Rosneft might soon decide on a partner for Val Shatsky.
"We still have time. But I think that we will decide in the near future," Khudainatov said.
Rosneft and Chevron reached an agreement on the joint development of Val Shatsky in June 2010, but in March 2011 there were reports that the U.S. company might pull out of the project over differences concerning the geology of the field and assessment of reserves.
Val Shatsky LLC, which Rosneft acquired in 2007 among other former assets of the bankrupt Yukos, holds the license to the Zapadno-Chyornomorskaya section. There have been ten or so structures identified at the license block, the biggest of which are Severo-Chyornomorskaya, Mariya, and Sklonovaya. Water depth at the sections is 1.2-2 kilometers. The Zapadno-Chyornomorskaya section borders Rosneft's Tuapsinksy section.
Overall resources are estimated at 6.3 billion barrels of oil. Projected D2 hydrocarbon reserves at Val Shatsky are 1.456 billion tonnes of oil and 433 billion cubic meters of gas.
Total CEO Christophe de Margerie said recently that Total is considering joining Rosneft in the Val Shatsky project. Total and Rosneft are looking at various options for geological prospecting projects, and Val Shatsky is one of them, de Margerie said.
Vp pr cf
(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)
TNK-BP lays out Vietnam strategy
http://www.bsr-russia.com/en/oil-gas/item/1993-tnk-bp-lays-out-vietnam-strategy.html
Posted by Editor on Thursday, 01 December 2011 06:11 | Published in Oil & Gas
TNK Vietnam (a 100% subsidiary of TNK-BP Group) haas outlined its development strategy for Vietnam operations and underscored its commitment to make a positive impact in Vietnam. The development strategy for the Vietnam assets will involve safe and efficient operations of offshore gas production, making it a center for offshore technical expertise within TNK-BP Group, as well as a vigorous approach to new growth opportunities in the Southeast Asian nation.
Following the official amendment of the investment license for Block 06.1 in October 2011, TNK Vietnam has assumed operatorship of the Lan Tay platform and the Company is now seeking new organic and inorganic growth opportunities and form strategic partnerships for the development of new opportunities in Vietnam’s energy sector.
As a next step, TNK Vietnam will participate in the current licensing rounds for offshore blocks being auctioned by PetroVietnam.
Chris Einchcomb, Vice-President of International Projects and Upstream commented: “Vietnam is an attractive place to do business and TNK-BP is here for the long term. As we focus on integrating these assets into the TNK-BP portfolio, we are also seeking new opportunities to deepen our presence in the country and play a greater role in providing safe and reliable energy to the people of Vietnam.”
The Company will drill two sub-sea wells in the coming month in Lan Do field development project and first gas is scheduled to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2012. Gas production from Lan Do, which helps to fulfill the company’s gas sales and purchase agreement obligations with the Government of Vietnam, is expected to bring additional 2 billion cubic metres of gas annually to Block 06.1’s current production of 5 billion cubic metres.
Hugh McIntosh, General Director of TNK Vietnam added: “I am confident that with strong talent and capability, we will sustain an enviable reputation for TNK in Vietnam, whilst creating a new chapter of business growth.”
Einchcomb also announced that the company would contribute a state-of-the-art, fully equipped ambulance vehicle to the Le Loi General Hospital in Ba Ria Vung Tau. The coastal province of Ba Ria Vung Tau is home to TNK Vietnam’s major operations, including the Lan Tay Platform, where natural gas and condensate are produced, the Nam Con Son pipeline and terminal, and the Phu My 3 power plant.
Gazprom
Gazprom Expects to Sign Gas Agreement With Ukraine This Year
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/gazprom-expects-to-sign-gas-agreement-with-ukraine-this-year.html
Q
By Stephen Bierman - Dec 1, 2011 6:02 AM GMT+0100
OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas exporter, said it made “significant progress” in talks with Ukraine and plans to sign a cooperation accord with the country this year.
Gazprom made the statement in an e-mail today after talks between Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller and Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Yuriy Boyko. Gazprom didn’t give details of the agreement it expects to sign.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brad Cook at bcook7@bloomberg.net
Gazprom and Japan in talks over LNG project
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text18082
bne
Deputy CEO of Russian gas giant OJSC Gazprom, Alexander Ananenkov, and Minister of Japan's Embassy to Russia, Manabu Miyagawa, have discussed a liquefied natural gas partnership, Gazprom said in a statement. The statement said that the meeting, discussed an LNG plant near Vladivostok, according to Interfax.
"Highlighted was Russia's great potential as a source for possible LNG supply to Japan both from the Vladivostok area and through exchange operations between European and Asian markets," the statement said, as quoted by Interfax.
Gazprom signed an agreement in April 2011 with JAPAN FAR EAST GAS Co., Ltd for joint feasibility studies for building a LNG plant in the Vladivostok region, according to the newswire.
Gazprom sees shale gas as risky
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/11/30/Gazprom-sees-shale-gas-as-risky/UPI-24541322655302/
Published: Nov. 30, 2011 at 7:15 AM
MOSCOW, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Executives at Russian natural gas company Gazprom said certain aspects regarding production of shale gas made it a pricey commodity to exploit.
Gazprom executives during their latest meeting said there were no major breakthroughs in technology used to exploit shale gas that made it cheaper than conventional gas to produce.
"More stringent environmental requirements for the companies developing shale gas may raise the shale gas production costs," Gazprom noted in a statement.
Executives added there was "significant" environmental risk associated with production of shale gas. Critics of shale gas production believe the chemicals used in so-called fracking fluid could contaminate groundwater supplies, though companies involved in the practice note those chemicals make up only a tiny fraction of the overall composition.
Shale gas production is banned in France though Poland and Ukraine, other countries rich on shale, are exploring their options.
Nevertheless, Gazprom said shale gas production was too costly for the European energy sector.
"Non-conventional gas including shale gas has been increasingly attracting public attention worldwide, but it is no news for the gas industry," the company said.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/11/30/Gazprom-sees-shale-gas-as-risky/UPI-24541322655302/#ixzz1fGdIHNdG
Gazprom draws up training needs for arctic projects
http://www.pennenergy.com/index/petroleum/display/7532940592/articles/offshore/regional-reports/russia/2011/november/gazprom-draws_up_training.html
Offshore staff
MURMANSK, Russia – A Gazprom delegation has visited the Murmansk Oblast to discuss support requirements for offshore projects in arctic regions.
One of the main subjects for discussion is Gazprom's plan to construct a training center in Murmansk, specialized in offshore fields prospecting, exploration, pre-development and operation, and subsea and cargo transportation of produced hydrocarbons.
This facility will likely be built on the southeast coast of Lake Sredneye.
The delegation also visited the projected locations of this and onshore infrastructure facilities near Teriberka for the Shtokman and condensate field development project in the Barents Sea.
Gazprom’s 2010–2013 personnel skills development program for its subsidiary companies stipulates that the training center should focus on:
• Theoretical and practical preparation of personnel to work at offshore hydrocarbon fields, pre-development facilities, subsea production complexes, offshore processing platforms, offshore mobile drilling rigs, offshore gas trunklines, onshore LNG plants, hydrocarbons storage tank fleets, and facilities for hydrocarbons loading on tankers and LNG carriers
• Retraining of professionals operating offshore field pre-development facilities
• Research of methods to increase the effectiveness and reliability of offshore fields pre-development.
11/30/2011
Source:
Offshore
Gazprom ADRs Rise Most in Month After Credit Suisse Upgrade
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-30/gazprom-adrs-rise-most-in-month-after-credit-suisse-upgrade.html
November 30, 2011, 4:41 PM EST
By Ksenia Galouchko
(Updates with closing prices in second paragraph.)
Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas export monopoly, rose the most in more than a month in New York after Credit Suisse Group AG upgraded the company’s stock.
Gazprom’s American depositary receipts climbed 5.3 percent to $11.50 at the close of trading in New York, after earlier gaining as much as 5.8 percent to $11.55, the biggest gain since Oct. 27.
Credit Suisse raised Moscow-based Gazprom to “neutral” from “underperform” and lifted the target price for the ADRs to $5.70, from $5.30. Investors have already “priced in” the company’s increased capital expenditure and the slowdown in growth of gas tariffs, analysts led by Andrey Ovchinnikov at Credit Suisse in Moscow wrote in a research note e-mailed today.
“The negative news flow has ended, we don’t see a big downside in the near term,” Ovchinnikov said by phone from London.
Gazprom added 2.8 percent to close at 175.39 rubles on Russia’s Micex index, the highest level since Nov. 18. One Gazprom ADR is equal to two ordinary shares.
--Editors: Emma O’Brien, Glenn J. Kalinoski
To contact the reporter on this story: Ksenia Galouchko in New York at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net
November 30, 2011 8:24 pm
How Gazprom lost control of Gazprombank
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a1bf9fc4-1aba-11e1-ae14-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1fGer0dHF
By Catherine Belton
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a1bf9fc4-1aba-11e1-ae14-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1fGetq4S8
When Gazprom transferred control in 2007 of Gazprombank, its banking arm and the country’s third biggest lender, to Gazfond, the gas giant’s $6bn pension fund, the deal was seen as so incremental that the investor community barely noticed.
But Gazfond was closely linked to Bank Rossiya – which owned Lider Asset Management, the company that managed Gazfond’s assets and held most of the latter’s stake in Gazprombank as a nominee shareholder.
In a sign of the closeness of the two companies, Gazfond and Lider until recently shared the same office building and as, this correspondent found on a recent visit to the pension fund, the walls of Gazfond’s conference room bore Lider’s logo.
Bank Rossiya had used Sogaz, the former Gazprom insurance arm that was by then a subsidiary, to buy 75 per cent of Lider in August 2006 for an undisclosed sum, giving it access to Gazfond’s pot of cash. But there were already family links. Yuri Shamalov, son of Nikolai Shamalov – a Bank Rossiya shareholder – had been appointed head of Gazfond in August 2003. According to his official biography, he had no previous insurance industry experience – but he had worked with Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg’s foreign economic relations committee.
Gazprom’s board then cleared the way for Gazfond to acquire 50 per cent plus one share of Gazprombank, suddenly rejecting a previous initiative to sell 33 per cent of the bank to Gazfond for $1.3bn. Instead, directors allowed Gazfond to swap nearly 20 per cent it held of Mosenergo, a Moscow power generator, for 49.9 per cent of Gazprombank, and buy a further 0.07 per cent for $2.65m.
Gazfond then handed most of its Gazprombank holding to Lider after legislative changes barred pension funds from holding more than 10 per cent of non-traded assets. “[Gazprom] gave it away for nothing just like that,” says Vladimir Milov, a former deputy energy minister, referring to the transfer of the controlling stake in Gazprombank to Gazfond. Mr Milov has published an investigation into Gazprom’s various asset transfers, alleging the loss of billions of dollars in value from Gazprom.
Gazprom’s spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov, however, claims the gas monopoly received full value for its bank stake. Mosenergo’s value reached $9bn in 2006, the year of the transaction, he says. He adds that allowing Gazfond to take control meant Gazprom could lower its debt burden by no longer having to consolidate Gazprombank into its accounts. “We acquired a strategic asset that we needed for a value in line with what was being offered by Dresdner Bank,” he says, referring to an earlier $800m bid by the German bank for one-third of Gazprombank. Just months after the deal, Gazprombank’s deputy chairman, Alexander Sobol, valued Gazprombank at $8bn.
Gazprom and Bank Rossiya say Lider only manages the Gazprombank stake on behalf of Gazfond, and does not have direct ownership of it. But by 2008, Gazprom had relinquished its majority on the Gazprombank board. Today, Gazfond’s Yuri Shamalov, as well as Anatoly Gavrilenko, head of Lider, are both on the board. So too is the head of Sogaz – Sergei Ivanov junior, son of deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov, a close Putin ally and former KGB colleague.
Turkmenistan: China Export Deal Undercuts Gazprom’s Leverage
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64609
November 30, 2011 - 11:56am, by Tom Balmforth
China is challenging Russia as Turkmenistan’s main buyer of natural gas. Ashgabat’s shift could put the Kremlin in a precarious position.
During a state visit to China on November 23, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said he signed an agreement with Chinese President Hu Jintao to beef up an existing gas accord by exporting 65 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year to China “in the near future.” This new projected volume would total over half of the 2010 gas consumption of China, the largest energy consumer in the world and a market that Russia, the world’s most resource-rich nation, has long been looking to penetrate.
Alexei Miller, head of the Kremlin-controlled conglomerate Gazprom, was quoted by local media as saying that Turkmenistan's intentions "will not affect our plans." But analysts did not seem reassured by Miller’s words.
“Gazprom is reacting to this [deal] with alarm,” said Alexei Kokin, a senior oil and gas analyst at UralSib Capital. “It undermines its bargaining position with China. The question is how much gas China actually needs, and how this market is going to be split between Russia and Turkmenistan. It goes without saying that the more Turkmen gas going there, the less Russian is needed.”
In a single stroke, Turkmenistan may have dashed a decade-long effort by Gazprom to ship 68 billion cubic meters per year of Russian gas to China. Up to now, the price for Russian gas has been a sticking point for a Chinese export deal. Yet, as recently as October, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Moscow was "close" to sealing a deal.
But Kokin questioned how much demand there will now be for Russian gas -- except at a knock-down price -- as China seeks to diversify its energy dependence by expanding cooperation with Turkmenistan, and increasing deliveries of liquefied natural gas from Myanmar.
Speaking to EurasiaNet.org on condition of anonymity, a former senior Turkmen energy official said that the Turkmenistan is engaging in “an old political game,” trying to play China, Europe and Russia off against each other in order to “strengthen its own position” and “maintain its regime.”
Alexander Rahr, director of Germany’s Berthold Beitz Center for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asia, said Turkmenistan is partly trying to maximize the amount of foreign investment it can attract for infrastructure. The Turkmen government aims to treble natural gas output by 2030.
The announcement between Ashgabat and Beijing came shortly after Turkmenistan and Russia exchanged barbed words over the Turkmen government’s ambitions to diversify its gas supplies to Asia and Europe. Ashgabat’s export ambitions have grown in the wake of an audit that found Turkmenistan to have colossal untapped reserves of gas. British-based auditor Gaffney, Cline & Associates estimated Turkmenistan’s South Yolotan gas reserves, situated 350 kilometers south east of the Turkmen capital, to be the world’s second largest gas field, holding a volume of up to roughly 21 trillion cubic meters.
In an interview with Russia’s Vesti 24 news channel on November 18, Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev dismissed the Gaffney estimate, saying it contradicts geological studies of the desert nation of 5 million conducted during the Soviet era. Medvedev's comments strike at the heart of what Rahr called one of Turkmenistan’s “main challenges in playing its game” – the paucity of reliable information in the highly secretive Central Asian state, and the fact that government statements cannot be verified by would-be investors.
Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry hit back at what it called a “clumsy attempt to distort the real situation.” It accused Gazprom officials of being "disrespectful of partnership relations in the energy sphere” and promised to up its efforts to diversify its gas supply routes.
Earlier in November, Amanali Khanalyev, chairman of state gas firm Turkmengaz, said he has been in talks to discuss a possible Turkmen role in the construction of an “East-West” Trans-Caspian pipeline that would pump a potential 30 bcm of Turkmen gas to Europe, bypassing Russia.
Turkmen gas is crucial for the European Union-backed “Nabucco” pipeline project that would deliver Central Asian gas to Europe, circumventing Russia. The project has consistently rankled the Kremlin. Kokin said Russia would not up pressure on Turkmenistan, saying that its levers to influence the situation are weaker than they previously were. He added that the Kremlin’s influence should continue to weaken as the reclusive Central Asian state shakes off its post-Soviet dependence on Russia.
Turkmenistan’s energy-driven diplomacy and extensive untapped resources have seen it develop relations not only with Europe and China, but also Iran and Afghanistan, while courting the United States over a possible pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India that has stalled over security problems.
Ashgabat continues to ship gas to Russia for resale in Europe, although these European-bound supplies have declined precipitously since an explosion on the pipeline from Turkmenistan to Russia in 2009.
Analysts say that Russia’s Gazprom has been forced to change its strategy of trying keep Central Asian countries under Russian energy domination. Rahr said: “Over time it was clear that countries like Turkmenistan would get out of this isolation and would be in a position to play their own game in the oil and gas business. Here I think Gazprom certainly overplayed its hand.”
Editor's note:
Tom Balmforth is a freelance journalist who writes about Russia and the Caucasus.
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