Oil & gas news

Romanian companies keen on Azeri oil

Romanian State Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Resources, Andrey Grigorescu and President of the Romanian State Oil Company Petrom, Fiorin Chakonele visited Baku on June 3.

The two met with Azeri Premier Rasizadeh, SOCAR President Natig Aliyev and Vice-President Ilham Aliyev and other officials, according to Romanian ambassador to Azerbaijan Tassin Jamil. The participation of Romanian companies in development of Azeri oil fields was in the limelight.

Foreign investments to reach $9 bn

Inflation in Azerbaijan has decreased by 2 % over the past seven years, SOCAR deputy chairman Ilham Aliyev has said in a meeting of the Committee on Economic Issues and Development of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

According to him, Azerbaijan takes first place among CIS and Eastern European countries for purposeful investments. Foreign oil companies has invested $5 billion in the country, while the figure is expected to reach $9 billion in 2-3 years, said Mr. Aliyev.

Baku-Ceyhan construction to be sanctioned in July

The construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline will be sanctioned in July this year, SOCAR President Natig Aliyev told AssA-Irada Thursday.

Projecting work for the construction has been completed and financial problems resolved. The tentative cost of the pipeline is $2.5 billion.

All companies participating in the project are expected to hold a meeting in late June - early July to make a final decision on sanctioning the construction.

TotalFina may join Baku-Ceyhan Sponsor Group

SOCAR President Natig Aliyev told AssA-Irada Tuesday the Sponsor Group would sanction the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline this month, with simultaneous construction activities starting in Turkey. The Main Export Pipeline (MEP) amounts to $2,9 billion, thus insignificant hesitations are possible, Mr. Aliyev said.

The Sponsor Group is negotiating with French TotalFina, which is likely to join the group. LUKoil and Chevron/Texaco still have chances to participate in the MEP construction.

SOCAR, Greek experts mull gas sales, transport

Experts from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Greek Energy Ministry are expected to meet in Athens in the first half of June to focus on issues of purchase and transportation of Azeri gas, Greek ambassador to Azerbaijan Mercourisos Carafotias told journalists Saturday.

Initial agreement on the meeting was reached during the recent visit by Greek Energy Minister Akis Tsokhodzopolos to Baku, where he discussed with the Azeri government tariffs for gas transportation from the Shahdaniz field. "Greece is interested in taking Azeri gas to Europe", the Greek ambassador noted.

bp vows to slash discharges by 2012

bp is planning to slash the level of discharges from its operating installations by 10 per cent in the coming 10 years, bp's Technical Safety and Environmental Co-Director Faig Askerov told the sixth international Energy, Ecology and Economy Congress in Baku.

Part of the reduction in discharges will be achieved through upgrade of the effective energy use system, while the other part will be put to work with application of the company's market mechanisms. As compensation, the company will continue contributing to projects aimed at changing forest stripes for better.

bp has chosen the Caspian region for development of a regional biodiversity program, which will enable to draw resources to the region to resolve environmental and biodiversity concerns. This is in conformity with bp requirements for influence on biodiversity.

In 1997 bp came with an objective of cutting discharges by 10% for 10 years. But, the goal was attained in March 2002, according to bp Chief Executive John Browne.

SOCAR fulfills oil plan, unlike gas

In May of 2002, SOCAR produced 760,000 tons of oil against 751,000 tons, over-fulfilling the plan by 1.2%, as 628,000 tons (100.6% of the plan) were extracted offshore and 67,700 tons (103.4%) onshore.

But, the gas production target was failed in May, with 439,600,000 cubic meters of gas produced instead of 440,600,000, or 99.8% of the projection. 338,500,000 cubic meters of gas (97.7%) were extracted offshore and 12,600,000 (103.3%) onshore.

The AIOC produced 80,300,000 cubic meters of gas (106.1% of the plan).

Joint ventures extracted 64,100 tons of oil (104.9%) and 8,200,000 cubic meters of gas (134.4%) onshore.

Rig modules shipped from Singapore

The first phase of shipment of main modules for the semi submersible drilling rig DSS-20 has been completed with organizational support from the Azeri branch of British transportation major, Merfy.

The pontoons supplied to Baku are 90 meters long and 15 meter high, with each weighing 2500 tons and costing $16 million. They were manufactured by Singapore's Kappel Fels on the order from Danish Maersk. The rig will be fabricated by US Caspian Shipyard for ExxonMobil.

The phase was completed on schedule. The second phase involving delivery of the rig's equipment drew an end on June 3, according to Merfy's Baku branch.

SOCAR exports 74,007 tons of oil products in May

SOCAR's Department for Foreign Economic Relations dispatched 74,007 tons of oil products in May, including 17,901 tons of automobile petrol, 38,973 tons of diesel, 11,709 tons of aviation gasoline, 196 tons of butane and 5,299 tons of coke.

358,517 tons of oil outputs were exported from Azerbaijan over the five months of 2002. SOCAR'S department shipped 218,751 tons of crude from the Novorossiysk port in May, while the figure has made up 1,355,864 tons of oil this year.