6 NeWS – MIDDLe eASt, AFRICA, ASIA & eURoPe NeWS – MIDDLe eASt Sasol output and supply on track Sasol Ltd.’s production and supply of all fuel variants from its South African refineries are on track, spokeswoman Jacqui O’Sullivan said in an e-mailed statement from Johannesburg. Chevron Corp.’s South African unit, which operates Caltex fuel stations throughout the country, said the nation’s “inland refineries”, which aren’t operated by Chevron, are experiencing production problems. Libya builds economy beyond oil Libya’s new regime wants to move quickly to reshape a Libyan economy almost completely dependent on oil and gas. “We have had our political revolution. Now we need an economic revolution”, interim Economy Minister Tahar Sharkass has said. Petrol in Libya remains king, counting for more than 98 percent of export receipts. With oil companies, both national and international, hard at work to reopen the taps, oil production reached 700 000 barrels a day by the end of 2011, still only a fraction of the 1.6 million barrels per day that pumped out of Libya before the uprising. Government wants discount gas stations South Korea has been waging an uphill battle to bring down the prices of retail petroleum products. Its efforts have culminated with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy announcing a plan to convert 10 percent of Korea’s gas stations, 1 300 outlets, into discount gas stations by 2015. The scheme is aimed at infusing competition in the domestic market, which the ministry thinks is being dominated by a cartel of four refiners, SK Energy, GS-Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oilbank. These discount gas stations, ministry officials hope, would be able to pull down gas prices at the pump by up to 100 won per litre. To offer such a large price cut, the new stations will feature self-serve pumps and provide no promotional gifts. oMv appoints Deutsche bank Among other tasks, this includes the assess - ment of the divestment potential and the initiation of discussions with prospective buyers. In line with the OMV strategy, the possible sale of the 45 percent stake in the Bayernoil refinery network will also be evaluated. This would involve a reduction in the annual refining capacity by 4.6 to 17.7 million tones. The OMV strategy aims to sharpen and simplify the company portfolio. This includes gradu- Lotos to open more economyclass stations Polish retailer, Lotus fuel group plans to open another 50 economy-class stations known Romania antitrust body fines oil firms “Romania’s competition watchdog levied fines totalling 880 million lei (US $ 257 million) on oil companies including the country’s largest firm Petrom for breaking anti-trust rules”, the Agency’s Director has said. The watchdog also fined local units of OMV (Petrom’s owner) and Rompetrol Downstream, along with MOL, Lukoil and ENI, for having an understanding to withdraw a Ukraine fuel prices brought into line with europe Prices of petrol in Ukraine, not taking into account tax, are comparable to European prices, TNK-BP Commerce’s Vice President for Sales, Trading and Logistics Olena Alekseyeva has said. Alekseyeva said that the average price of A-95 petrol in Ukraine, not taking into account tax, is 0.58 euros per litre, while in most European countries it is Statoil expands network in Russia Statoil Nefto, a subsidiary of Statoil Fuel & Retail, has signed a purchase agreement to acquire seven strategically located service stations, strengthening its presence in northwest Russia. Following the purchase, Statoil Fuel & Retail now has 26 Statoil stations in Russia. “The acquisition offers us the opportunity to expand our existing network of well-maintained, new concept stores delivering best-in-class customer service in the north-west part of Russia”, says Sandis Steins, Business Unit Leader for Statoil Fuel & Retail in Russia. The stations will LAteSt NeWS, eveNtS, JobS oNLINe – WWW.PetRoLPLAzA.CoM ally shifting the portfolio away from R&M towards Exploration and Production and Gas and Power. In this context, OMV’s Turkish subsidiary, OMV Petrol Ofisi, already sold its 52 percent stake in the Cypriot retail company Kibris Türk Petrolleri Limited Sirketi at the end of November 2011. Furthermore, a release issued on 6th December, 2011 announced the intention to sell the subsidiary companies in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. as Lotos Optima in 2012, after launching the initial 50 in 2011, deputy CEO Maciej Szozda told a press conference. “We intend to double the number of Lotos Optima stations in 2012, we want to have 100 of them”, Szozda said. “We are also developing the premium chain and in 2011 opened 26 new stations. At the end of 2011 the group had altogether 362 stations with the Lotos’ share of the wholesale market at 33 percent”. certain type of fuel from the market in 2008. The fines amount to roughly 3 percent of the companies’ combined turnover in 2010, competition watchdog director Bogdan Chiritoiu has said. OMV has issued a statement saying that fines imposed on OMV Petrom SA and OMV Petrom Marketing SRL were unjustified and will therefore challenge the Competition Council’s decision in the courts. around 0.62 – 063 euros per litre. The level of tax for A-95 petrol in Ukraine reaches 0.36 euros per litre and in Europe it is 0.60 – 0.90 euros per litre and higher. “The pace of fuel prices in Ukrainian retail is following European trends. If we take the price of fuel without taxes in our country and in Europe, it would not be much lower.” be rebranded to Statoil. The agreement is subject to the approval of Russian competition authorities (FAS). Statoil Fuel & Retail launched its service station operations in Russia in 1993. It currently has a network of 19 full-service stations in north-west Russia.
LAteSt NeWS, eveNtS, JobS oNLINe – WWW.PetRoLPLAzA.CoM 7