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News from Russia & Cis<br />
Opposition to Rosneft<br />
buying into tNk-BP<br />
Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich,<br />
who coordinates energy policy in the world’s<br />
largest oil producing nation, said the government<br />
had not yet discussed the details of a<br />
possible deal with Rosneft CEo igor Sechin.<br />
“overall, it serves no useful purpose for any state<br />
company to expand its role in the economy”,<br />
Dvorkovich told the newspaper in an interview.<br />
Dvorkovich, previously the top economic<br />
official in the Kremlin, took over the role of<br />
deputy prime minister responsible for energy<br />
from Sechin after Vladimir Putin returned<br />
to the presidency in May. Dvorkovich and<br />
Sechin have publicly clashed over numerous<br />
issues including privatisation, where Sechin<br />
has been seeking to consolidate energy assets<br />
under state control. The deputy premier said<br />
Rosneft would not be able to buy a stake in<br />
TNK-BP, Russia’s third-largest oil firm, without<br />
government permission. He also questioned<br />
how Rosneft might be able to raise the estimated<br />
uS $ 30 billion that could be required<br />
to complete a transaction.<br />
tNk-BP plan<br />
us $ 2 billion tender<br />
TNK-BP is planning to hold a uS $ 2 billion<br />
tender by the end of the year for the supply of<br />
steel pipes from overseas suppliers. TNK-BP<br />
which previously spent an average of uS $500<br />
million a year on pipes from domestic producers,<br />
has decided to import tubes from China<br />
and Japan in the next five years, making use<br />
of Russia’s accession to the World Trade organisation<br />
Vice President olga Malyshkina<br />
said. She said that “We are ready to acquire<br />
the whole volume of pipes from abroad, if the<br />
prices are lower, the quality is higher and the<br />
logistics are more acceptable.<br />
Gazprom strikes back<br />
Russian gas giant Gazprom has released a<br />
statement responding to news that the European<br />
Commission has launched an anti-trust<br />
investigation against the company. Gazprom<br />
stresses that it strictly abides by all national<br />
and European regulations in the territory it<br />
operates, something it argues is of top priority.<br />
The company says that it learned about<br />
the probe from the EC’s website, rather than<br />
being officially informed, and said it hoped it<br />
legal interests and rights will be safeguarded.<br />
kazakhstan retailers operate at a loss<br />
Fuel retailers in Kazakhstan have appealed<br />
to the Ministry of oil and Gas to revise the<br />
maximum retail price of fuel, or to set the<br />
threshold price for wholesalers. The Pavlodar<br />
Petrochemical Plant said that it suffers losses<br />
20<br />
LatEst NEws, LatEst EvENts, RussIa NEws jOBs ONLINE – www.PEtROLPLaza.COM<br />
– www.PEtROLPLaza.COM<br />
due to a high prices of Russian oil and may<br />
soon be forced to raise their wholesale prices.<br />
“Since August we are working at a 20 percent<br />
loss said General Director of the plant Surat<br />
Danbay”.<br />
Construction in Belarus by Russian companies<br />
Russian companies are building fuel stations,<br />
in Belarus, constructing about 30 percent of all<br />
fuel stations being built there including stations<br />
for Gazprom Neft, TNK-BP, and Tatneft. The<br />
funding for the new builds is provided mainly<br />
by private investors. Much attention is being<br />
given to the renovation of highways linking the<br />
metropolitan city using modern construction<br />
and architectural solutions. The retail trade of<br />
roadside service facilities exceeded uS $ 500<br />
million in 2011. The trade expands by at least<br />
20 percent every year.<br />
vitol signs partnership to invest in ukraine<br />
Swiss-based Vitol has signed an agreement with<br />
london-based investment group Eastone to<br />
develop gas fields in the ukraine, the companies<br />
said in a statement, as the energy trader seeks to<br />
increase its stake in the world’s fastest growing<br />
fuel. The latest deal was signed between Vitol’s<br />
subsidiary Arawak and Eastone’s ukraine-based<br />
independent gas producer Geo Alliance which<br />
has permits in the country’s eastern Dnieper-<br />
Donets basin, the firms informed. Vitol, the<br />
world’s top oil trader, has been expanding its<br />
portfolio of natural gas assets and said last month<br />
it had signed a Memorandum of understanding<br />
alongside italy’s ENi to develop an offshore gas<br />
block in Ghana. Vitol already has natural gas<br />
assets in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan<br />
and is seeking other growth opportunities in<br />
the former Soviet union.<br />
Estonian diesel fuel production may end<br />
The future of Estonian-produced diesel fuel<br />
is endangered by a tough Co 2 norm of the<br />
European Climate Directorate. The car fuel<br />
produced by Viru Keemia Grupp and Eesti<br />
Energia from oil shale cannot be sold even in<br />
Estonia if the European Climate Directorate<br />
manages to implement an environmental<br />
restriction based on an arbitrary ratio. Estonian<br />
chemical industries will thus have to hope<br />
for the benevolence of international large<br />
companies. “Production will be launched by<br />
us but we will lose a lot of money if we cannot<br />
come to the market freely with our diesel fuel<br />
and sales scheme becomes costly”, said Viru<br />
Keemia Grupp (VKG) Board Chairman Priit<br />
Rohumaa. Kiviõli Keemiatööstus and Alexela<br />
petrol station chain co-owner Heiti Hääl was not<br />
that optimistic. “Considering the development<br />
phases of shale oil refining projects, certainly<br />
no one intends to build a plant, the sale of<br />
production of which would be complicated or<br />
economically ineffective”, said Hääl.<br />
Exxon CEO says Russia deal a model for the rest<br />
The head of ExxonMobil held up a partnership<br />
with Russia’s Rosneft as a model for<br />
the rest of the world, lending international<br />
credibility to President Vladimir Putin at a<br />
time when his authoritarian style faces mounting<br />
criticism. ExxonMobil’s Rex Tillerson,<br />
flanked by Rosneft CEo igor Sechin, was<br />
the first foreign CEo to greet Putin ahead<br />
of the Asia-Pacific economic summit. Putin<br />
presided over ExxonMobil’s deal to join forces<br />
with state-controlled Rosneft to drill for oil<br />
in Russia’s offshore zones and tap “tight” oil<br />
reserves in Siberia. ExxonMobil and Rosneft<br />
unveiled the offshore exploration partnership<br />
that could invest up to uS $ 500 billion in<br />
developing Russia’s vast energy reserves in<br />
the Arctic and Black seas. “For the world, the<br />
political leadership, policy partnerships that<br />
have made our relationship possible serve<br />
as a model illuminating the path to a better<br />
future”, Tillerson told Putin. “For Russia<br />
this relationship is already bearing fruit in<br />
terms of new investment, innovations, new<br />
possibilities”, Tillerson said.
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