“Naturally, no-one from the government would seek an agreement for a majority stake sale,” he said in minutes from a cabinet meeting, published by the government’s press office.
Sofia plans to keep Bulgargaz and Bulgartransgaz as BEH’s units, which is in line with EU energy rules.
The country is working to diversify its gas routes and suppliers. It also wants to build a new pipeline that is likely to transport mainly Russian gas from the TurkStream pipeline to central Europe, bypassing Ukraine.
3-Canada Gives Struggling Oil Sector Big Boost
The Canadian government said that it would spend C$1.6 billion ($1.19 billion), mostly through loans, to assist the country’s oil and gas industry, which has struggled to move energy to U.S. markets due to full pipelines.
Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi said in Edmonton, Alberta, that the aid package would include C$1 billion for energy exporters to invest in new technologies, boost working capital or find new markets.
Canada is producing a record 4.9 million barrels of oil per day this month, according to National Energy Board estimates, but pipeline capacity has not expanded as quickly to move crude to U.S. refineries. The bottlenecks have resulted in steep price discounts.
The federal aid package also includes C$500 million in commercial financing spread over three years to help high-risk oil and gas companies weather current market conditions, Sohi said. Another C$100 million will go toward energy projects through an innovation fund, and C$50 million will fund projects that involve reducing environmental damage from resource extraction.
The funds will stabilize struggling oil companies, but they really need greater access to markets, said Mark Scholz, president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors.
The struggles of the oil sector, concentrated in the western province of Alberta, have generated rallies in the past month demanding that Ottawa do more to help. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline in the summer with plans to expand it, but a Canadian court quashed government approval of the project.
4-Colombia Cancels 2 Oil Exploration Auctions
Colombia has canceled two auctions of rights to explore for oil in dozens of areas of the Andean nation and plans to relaunch bidding early next year, the government said.
The Sinu-San Jacinto round of bidding on 15 blocks in northern Colombia was scrapped after interested companies withdrew, and a round known as the Permanent Competitive Procedure was canceled because of a judicial ruling, the National Hydrocarbons Agency said in a statement on its website.
It plans to relaunch bidding in February.
Colombia last held auctions in 2012 and 2014, when it awarded 76 blocks. The government subsequently held off further auctions because of low international oil prices.
Under the Permanent Competitive Procedure, companies can apply for exploration in areas that have not been offered by the government, but a ruling by the Constitutional Court forced the government to define areas for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons.
Colombia needs to boost foreign investment to revive its stagnant crude and gas production. The nation has 1.78 billion barrels of reserves, equivalent to about 5.7 years of consumption but wants to increase that to at least 10 years of consumption.
It produces some 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, half for export. The government expects to increase output to 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day this year.
In the past, Colombia used auctions in which it defined exploration blocks and assigned them every two or three years in a tender process in which the company that made the best economic offer was awarded them. If a block was not delivered it was waiting for a new tender
5-Dutch Energy Company to Be Sold in Auction
Dutch energy company Eneco will be privatized via an auction next year, the company and its shareholders said.
The decision marks the end of a heated battle between the 53 municipalities that own Eneco and the company’s board.
The shareholders voted by a large majority to sell the company in October last year, but the board said it would prefer a stock market listing or partial sale that would ensure continuity as a renewables-oriented company.
The dispute led to the dismissal of both, the company’s CEO and chairman as well as an investigation into board decisions.
The decision to opt for an auction, however, was finally supported by all parties, spokesman Edwin van der Haar said, with a final decision on the sale expected by the end of next year.
Eneco, estimated by analysts to be worth about 3 billion Euros ($3.4 billion), is heavily invested in sustainable energy projects and could appeal to energy companies that want to increase exposure to renewable energy production.
6-Russia Crude Exports Set to Fall
Russia’s crude oil exports and transit volumes from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are set to fall to 61.7 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2019 from 63.8 million in the final quarter of this year, a quarterly schedule issued by the Energy Ministry seen by Reuters showed.
OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing nations have agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in January to help clear inventories and support prices.
On a daily basis, January-March exports will fall by 1.1 percent compared to the October-December quarter, Reuters calculations show.
Crude oil export schedules from Russia include transit volumes of oil from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
Exports and transit of Urals crude oil via Russia’s Baltic ports are set at 18.9 million tonnes compared to 19 million tonnes for the last quarter of 2018, the schedule showed.
January-March Urals crude oil exports from the port of Primorsk have been set at 10 million tonnes. Exports from the port of Ust-Luga have been set at 8.86 million tonnes including 2.5 million tonnes of transit crude from Kazakhstan.
Urals and Siberian Light crude oil exports and transit from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk are seen at 8.6 million tonnes in January-March, down from 8.8 million tonnes in October-December 2018, the schedule showed.
That includes 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh transit crude and 325,000 tonnes of Azeri transit crude.
Russia’s ESPO Blend crude oil exports via the Far East port of Kozmino are set at 7.5 million tonnes for the first quarter of 2019.
Russia’s ESPO Blend crude oil exports to China via the Skovorodino-Mohe pipeline are set at 7.4 million tonnes for January-March 2019.
Russia will supply China with 30 million tonnes of ESPO Blend via the route, according to a Russian-Chinese state agreement.
Russia’s crude oil supplies to China via Kazakhstan through the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline have been set at 2.5 million tonnes for the next quarter. Russia supplies 10 million tonnes per year to China via the route under a bilateral state agreement.
7-Lithuania to Import LNG Until 2044
Lithuania has given the go ahead to state-owned Klaipedos Nafta to purchase a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage vessel by late 2024, as it shores up energy supplies and reduces its reliance on Russian natural gas.
Klaipedos Nafta is currently leasing a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), called Independence, from Norway’s Hoegh LNG.
The use of the vessel has allowed Lithuania to import LNG since 2014, breaking the monopoly Russia’s Gazprom had on natural gas supply to the country as well as neighboring Latvia and Estonia.
“This will keep us able, beyond 2024, to strengthen our energy security and ensure pricing pressure for the Russian gas,” Lithuania energy minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas said, as parliament voted to operate the country’s LNG import facility until at least 2044.
Natural gas use has been dwindling in Lithuania, partly in response to high gas prices before 2014. The government said use of LNG had forced Russia to cut its natural gas prices by a third, removing its ability to use fuel costs as a means of political pressure.
Klaipedos Nafta will run an international tender for a FSRU between 2021 and 2024, its CEO Mindaugas Jusius told Reuters. The current 10-year lease on Independence runs out at the end of 2024 but one option is to purchase the leased vessel.
The state will guarantee a loan to Klaipedos Nafta of up to 160 million euros to finance the purchase or replacement of the FSRU, Lithuania’s government said in a submission to the parliament.
Lithuania currently pays 66 million Euros a year to lease and operate Independence, and up to 30 million Euros to support it.
Lithuania’s state-owned energy company Lietuvos Energija, through subsidiaries, has a contract with Norway’s Equinor to import LNG until 2024.
Klaipedos Nafta launched a 27 million-euro LNG reloading station last year to pump the gas into LNG-powered vessels and onto road-going trucks.
8-Spain Firm to Design Plant in Abu Dhabi
State energy giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and oil firm Cepsa have awarded a contract to design a linear alkylbenzene plant in Abu Dhabi to Spanish engineering company Tecnicas Reunidas, ADNOC said.
The plant, to be built in the Ruwais Derivatives Park, will be the first derivative unit developed under ADNOC’s 165 billion dirham ($45 billion) Ruwais downstream investment program.
ADNOC’s statement did not give the value of the front-end engineering design contract.
The plant making linear alkylbenzene - used to make detergents - will be jointly operated by ADNOC and Cepsa, a Spain-based energy company owned by Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala.
When it comes on-stream, the plant will produce 225,000 tonnes of normal paraffins per year and 150,000 tonnes of linear alkylbenzene per year, the statement said.
9-Pemex Aims for Splash in Shallow Waters
Mexican state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos will focus on existing shallow water assets and refining next year at the expense of riskier, deepwater projects under a new government that has vowed to turn around the ailing company.
The 2019 budget blueprint presented by officials of leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador calls for some $23 billion (465 billion pesos) in discretionary spending for the company known as Pemex, up about 14 percent from this year.
Almost half the Pemex budget is earmarked for exploration and production, mostly in shallow water and some onshore areas.
Setting out his plans, Pemex Chief Executive Octavio Romero said two previous governments had little to show for putting 41 percent of exploration funding into deep waters: “At best we’d have the first drop of oil by 2025,” he said.
Mexican crude output has fallen for 14 straight years. Pemex aims to increase production by almost 50 percent by the end of the six-year term of Lopez Obrador, who wants to reduce Mexico’s dependence on imported fuels.
To that end, the budget projects Pemex spending almost $2.5 billion on an oil refinery Lopez Obrador is building at the southern Gulf coast port of Dos Bocas. The facility aims to be able to process 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy crude.
“Pemex’s E&P unit and refining will total 98 percent of all capital expenditures. All other subsidiaries will get scraps,” said Gonzalo Monroy, a Mexico City-based oil analyst.
Another $245 million in funding is planned for upgrades to Pemex’s six existing domestic refineries.
The plan cuts funding for units focused on fertilizers, ethylene, drilling services and its corporate offices.
The budget also provides for about $6.2 billion in so-called non-discretionary spending to cover costs like debt servicing. Pemex has financial debts of some $106 billion, among other hefty obligations, fueling concern over its credit rating.
Pemex is state-owned and the senior management is hand-picked by the president, including the chief executive and the chairman of the board, who is also the energy minister.
10-Qatar Petroleum to Invest $20bn in US
Qatar Petroleum (QP) is looking to invest at least $20 billion in the United States over the coming few years, its chief executive told Reuters, after the Persian Gulf Arab state unexpectedly quit OPEC.
Saad al-Kaabi, who holds the energy portfolio of the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier, also said the company aimed to announce foreign partners for new LNG trains needed for an ambitious domestic scale-up by the middle of next year, but was keeping open the possibility of going it alone.
Qatar, a tiny but wealthy country is one of the most influential players in the LNG market due to its annual production of 77 million tonnes. It plans to boost capacity 43 percent by 2023-2024 and will be building four liquefaction trains for the LNG expansion.
As part of its more than $20 billion investment push in the U.S. QP is looking “at gas and oil, conventional and non-conventional,” Kaabi said.
Qatar Petroleum is majority owner of the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas, with Exxon and ConocoPhillips holding smaller stakes.
Kaabi said he expected to make a final decision on that investment and whether to move ahead with the project “by the end of the year, if not January.”
Qatar is a relatively small oil producer compared to its massive gas production. Its decision to quit OPEC this month was seen as a swipe at the group’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, which along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, has imposed a political and economic boycott on Qatar since June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.
Kaabi said that proposed U.S. legislation known as “NOPEC”, or No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, which could open the OPEC group up to anti-trust lawsuits, was among the reasons for quitting the oil exporting club.
Qatar Petroleum announced separately it was partnering with Italian oil major Eni on three oil fields in Mexico, taking a 35 percent stake in deposits that will begin production in mid-2019 and ramp up to about 90,000 barrels per day by 2021.
The company is in talks with international oil firms about the LNG expansion project at home, including Eni, Kaabi said. Other partners already operating in Qatar include Exxon Mobil Corp, Total, Royal Dutch Shell and ENI.
QP said it will self-finance the LNG expansion rather than borrow a shift from previous practices where it used lenders to fund up to 70 percent of project costs.
Kaabi said it could carry out the expansion alone if no good offers from foreign firms were made.
“We are looking for a lot of things (in our partners) including asset swaps, things that will help me in my international expansion,” he said.
“If I don’t get good deals, nobody will come.”
The company currently pumps 4.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and aims to boost its output to 6.5 million boe/d in the next 8 years by expanding its upstream business abroad.