Industry Focus
Sergei Bogdanchikov, the president of Rosneft, Russia's state-controlled oil giant, has denied a media report that he will soon resign."I will certainly not resign, I am a Rosneft shareholder, I am Rosneft president, a member of the board of directors, I feel devotion towards it," he said on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Vedomosti business daily quoted a banking source saying that Bogdanchikov may quit in the near future. Rumors about his resignation have appeared previously.
TNK-BP Reports 21% Increase in Net Income and continuing production growth in First Half 2010
TNK-BP today reported its results for the six months ended June 30th 2010 with impressive results. Oil and gas production in 1H 2010 increased by 4.5% to 1.743 million boe/d compared to 1H 2009 (excluding Slavneft). Production in 2Q increased by 0.7% on the previous quarter, marking 11 consecutive quarters of production growth.
TNK-BP establishes Council to interact with suppliers
To improve the system of relationships with contractors and make the activities of the company more transparent, the management of TNK-BP decided to create a Council for interaction with suppliers and contractors. TNK-BP is one of the major players on the Russian market of goods and services with an annual contracting budget of approximately 180 billion rubles. The council will be established at the convention of contractors of the company, which will be held in late September 2010.
The main goals of the council will be creation of forums for direct dialogs of TNK-BP with suppliers and contractors, improvement of the contracting efficiency, explanation of the interaction principles and practice to contractors, and detection and prevention of violations of these principles and rules.
The council will consist of a corporate council, regional councils, and grievance commissions. German Khan, Executive Director of TNK-BP, will take the position of corporate council chairman.
Between July 19 and August 9, the company website will be providing a questionnaire for company contractors, most of which will participate in the convention of TNK-BP suppliers and contractors.
“TNK-BP was always committed to high standards of business conduct, which imply development of competition, improvement of the quality of product, and integration of innovative technologies. Now TNK-BP is starting a new three-year stage of business planning, which requires development of the existing standards and procedures. We are going to improve our interaction with contractors and hope for openness, trust and professionalism from our suppliers and contractors,” said German Khan.
Bulgaria to go ahead with South Stream Pipeline
Bulgaria will push ahead with the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline and sign a roadmap agreement for the project after Moscow sweetened its offer, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Tuesday. Bulgaria and Russia have agreed on ownership of the pipelines on Bulgarian territory and on the usage of existing pipes, Borisov said after talks with Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.
Putin givesthumbs up for Total's Yamal plan
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has endorsed a proposal by French giant Total to invite Qatar to join major gas projects on Russia's Yamal, Total's chief Christophe de Margerie said.
Last year, Total signed a deal to partner Russia's top independent gas producer Novatek to invest $1 billion in Termokarstovoye gas condensate field in the far northern region of Yamal-Nenets.
Israel doesn't need Russian gas: Putin
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Israel may be excluded from the Blue Stream-2 gas pipeline project as it has uncovered its own gas deposits.
Russia and Turkey agreed last March to build the second leg of the Blue Stream pipeline, linking the two countries via the Black Sea, to pump Russian gas to Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus.
Putin said that there was information that Israel has found gas shelves on its territory and therefore "it is unlikely to need this [Russian] gas".
"The Blue Stream gas pipeline is unlikely to be laid through Israel," Putin said, adding there was no connection with the recent Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid convoy.
The premier rejected the possibility of sanctions against Israel.
Last week, Turkish media said Turkey could exclude Israel from the Blue Stream-2 gas pipeline project if relations between the countries continue to deteriorate.
Turkey, whose nationals were killed during last week's raid by Israeli commandos on pro-Palestinian activists in the Mediterranean Sea, has harshly condemned the attack.
Blue Stream-2 "live" project
Meanwhile, after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said that since the construction of Blue Stream-2 project has been provided with sufficient resources, it is a "live" project
He said that during the talks with Erdogan, they had discussed the possible construction of an additional Black Sea leg of the pipeline from Russia to Turkey with the supplies to third countries.
Turkish-Azerbaijani Shah Deniz-2 gas deal does not affect Blue Stream-2
Following the bilateral talks in Istanbul, Erdogan said a Turkish-Azerbaijani agreement on gas supplies from the Shah Deniz-2 gas field in Azerbaijan will not affect Russia's Blue Stream-2 project.
"This will no hinder Russian natural gas supplies - it will not affect Blue Stream," Erdogan said.
Currently, Azerbaijan annually supplies Turkey with 6 billion cubic meters of gas from Shakh Deniz-1, which produces 9-10 billion cu m a year. Turkey wants to buy another 6-7 billion cu m from Shakh Deniz-2. The field is due to go on stream by 2014-2017 and is expected to produce up to 16 billion cu m a year.
Putin said he was glad Turkey had expanded its sources for supplies. He said Turkey had signed contracts on gas supplies to cover its growing needs for energy resources.
Putin arrived in Turkey on Tuesday to attend the third summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and hold bilateral talks with top officials from Turkey and other countries.
Rosneft and Crescent Petroleum start drilling
A partnership between Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum and Russia's Rosneft Oil Company commenced drilling Saturday on the first of four possible wells for natural gas in the Sharjah Onshore Concession (SOC) near Al Madam with an initial outlay of Dh220 million.
The two companies have signed a farm-out agreement for the SOC under which they will together develop the concession comprising 1,243 square kilometres in Sharjah, adjacent to the Saja'a gas field.
This is the first international investment in the Middle East for Rosneft, which is Russia's largest oil producer with more than $50 billion (Dh183 billion) in revenues. "We are quite confident there are going to be substantial reserves in this area. We estimate about 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas," Crescent Operations Director Abdullah Al Qadi told Gulf News.
"Seismic interpretation has identified two prospects in the southern part of the SOC and two leads in the centre and north," he said. "If we're lucky we'll also get some oil."
Earlier Saturday, the farm-out agreement was signed by Badr Jafar, Executive Director of Crescent Petroleum Group, and Sergey Bogdanchikov, President of Rosneft, in the presence of Igor Sechin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of Rosneft, and Omar Gobash, the UAE Ambassador to the Russian Federation.
Rosneft has 49 per cent of the concession, with Crescent holding the remaining 51 per cent. The initial investment of Dh220 million will go principally towards exploration, including the drilling of two wells to an approximate depth of 14,800 feet.
Agreement
The two companies signed a strategic cooperation agreement on May 19 to jointly develop oil and gas opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa.
The SOC-1 well on which spudding commenced yesterday will "hopefully be the first of many joint projects together across the region", said Crescent's Jafar.
Excellent partners
Rosneft is open to a partnership with Crescent in developing other oil and gas fields in the region, including Iraq, where the Sharjah-based company already operates. "Crescent is an excellent partner for Rosneft in the region. If a proposal regarding Iraq is made, certainly we will consider it," Rosneft Chairman Igor Stechin told reporters. Apart from Northern Iraq, Crescent operates in numerous countries, including Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen, Canada, Yugoslavia, Tunisia, Argentina and, of course, the UAE.
(Gulf News)
