Oil & gas news

Initial accord for Gas de France part in Baku-Erzurum

(AssA-Irada, April 24) - Azeri minister for fuel and energy Majid Karimov and French State Secretary for Industry Christian Perre focused on participation of French companies in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipe during the Azeri minister's recent visit to France.

"French oil majors have invested $60 million in the oil sector of Azerbaijan, where the government's oil strategy opens up immense opportunities for developing bilateral economic ties", the French secretary said.

M. Karimov also met with presidents of TotalFina, Gas de France and Electrosity de France. Initial agreement was reached with Gas de France President on the company's participation in the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline.

Swiss Rosco joins South-Western Gobustan project

(AssA-Irada, April 26) - Swiss oil company Rosco has become one of the shareholders in the Production Sharing Agreement of the South-Western Gobustan oil field after buying into a 59.26% stake by Commonwealth, a subsidiary of British-Canadian E&B. It is expected to invest $20 million in the development of the field.

The contract on the project was signed on June 2, 1998 in Baku between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, Commonwealth and US Union Texas Petroleum. Initially, SOCAR had a 20% stake in it, while the other two parties possessed 40% each. In the same year, Union Texas yielded its stake to Commonwealth.

The British Canadian affiliate is planning to drill 7 exploratory wells on the field that is believed to contain up to 115 million barrels of crude. The capital investments in its development are estimated at $470 million.

Putin eyes oil development problems

(AssA-Irada, April 26) - President Vladimir Putin of Russia met with oilmen from the Russian city of Astrakhan on the northern Caspian on board the Astara buoyant rig Friday to focus on opportunities of oil production with oil workers from other Caspian nations, especially tapping of borderline deposits and ecological friendliness of Caspian drillings, according to a Russian source.

President Putin noted that Russia's priority interest in the Caspian would be oil production. Special emphasis will be laid on development of new fields. The Caspian has immense prospects for tapping hydrocarbons, he indicated.

"Azerbaijan" crane barge poised to work for Phase-1

(AssA-Irada, April 29) - The "Azerbaijan "crane barge of the Caspian Fleet, which was rented from the AIOC to conduct large-scale operations as part of Phase 1, is now being reconstructed into a self sufficient vessel, a source from the Caspian Fleet told AssA-Irada Monday.

"Azerbaijan" is the most powerful crane barge with a lifting capacity of 2500 tons. It had been lifted by means of strong towing aids before the reconstruction.

Dock operations, inspection, purification and painting of the lower part of the vessel, etc. have been over. The work is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Itera puts off gas pipe purification on SOCAR plea

(AssA-Irada, April 25) - SOCAR has convinced Russian Itera, a gas supplying company, of putting off its plans to purify the Mozdok-Baku pipeline, which provides gas to Azerbaijan, due to cold weather conditions in the country. The Russian gas major was earlier planning to suspend gas supplies.

Azerbaijan is expected to get 4 billion cubic meters of gas through the conduit this year to supply 33 provinces and power generating facilities.

China to free petrol prices by 2004

(BBC, April 26) - China has said it will be ready for full oil price deregulation by 2004, exposing consumers to fluctuations on the global markets.

Beijing commited itself to abolishing quotas on oil imports and freeing the retail market to foreign competition when it joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last December.

"We believe prices will eventually be dictated by the market. That's the final objective," Liu Zhenqiu, director of the energy pricing department of the State Development Planning Commission said.

"By 2004 we will be in a position to liberalise diesel and petrol prices because import quotas will be abolished. The retail market will be opened."

China has already liberalised domestic prices to some degree, after linking them to the oil markets in Singapore, Rotterdam and New York.

State-owned PetroChina and Sinopec both have exclusive rights to build more petrol stations before deregulation brings foreign competition.

"From our point of view, we want more competition... the two oil giants want to maintain the status quo," Mr Liu told an oil conference in Shanghai.

Some oil traders associated with the state companies opposed deregulation because it would cut their premiums over government-fixed prices, he said.

BP, ExxonMobil and Shell are already in talks with Chinese oil traders to set up petrol station joint ventures.