Gazprom subsidiary buys Norwegian gas for reselling
Gazprom Marketing & Trading, a unit of Russian natural gas behemoth Gazprom, said last Wednesday it has agreed to purchase 500 million cubic meters of gas from Norway's Norsk Hydro ASA for selling on the U.K. market.
Gazprom wants to deliver the gas to the southern section of the Langeled gas pipeline and delivered to its subsidiary for more than one year as of Oct. 1, Gazprom Marketing & Trading said in a statement.
Norwegian gas network operator Gassco, the pipeline's operator, plans conduct a study on the integrity of the pipeline and its compressors by pumping 10 million cubic meters of gas daily during the commissioning phase, which starts on Sept 11 and is expected to last 15 to 20 days.
Russian news agency Prime-Tass said Gas shippers obtained contracts to supply gas once the pipeline becomes fully operational.
The United Kingdom has three pipeline projects under way and one liquefied natural gas project that are expected to start operation by the end of the year. The four gas import infrastructure projects are expected to come online by this winter in time to help the U.K. meet a potential surge in winter gas demand as the country shifts from being a net exporter of gas to being a net importer, Prime-Tass reported.
Moscow to boost energy exports to Asian markets
Russia wants to increase the scale of its exports of oil and gas to Asia tenfold as it aims to expand its political and economic role as a global energy supplier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Russia intends to increase its oil and gas exports to Asia to 30 percent in 10-15 years compared with 3 percent today, the Financial Times reported.
The Russian president said Russia will remain a stable energy supplier and would continue to "behave in a responsible way" in the market. But European consumers, the largest importers of Russian energy, are increasingly concerned that Russian oil and gas supplies delivered to Asia could result in a drop in supplies to Europe.
Industry experts debate whether Russia will be able to find sufficient new reserves to meet growing demand and attract new customers in Asia.
"I have never stated Russia is an energy superpower but we have more reserves than almost anybody else. We have always behaved, and we will continue to behave, in a responsible way," Putin said. "We intend to participate in the elaboration of common rules in the energy sector and to abide by rules that are developed together. But these should be fair rules that include the production of energy, the transport of energy and the consumption of energy."
Russia asks Sakhalin partners for spending plan
The supervisory council of Russia's Sakhalin-2 oil and gas development project has asked Sakhalin Energy, the project's operator, to submit amendments addressing the doubling of the spending plan for the project's second stage to the Central Commission for Hydrocarbon Resources Development, Prime-Tass Thursday.
The Central Commission for Hydrocarbon Resources Development is part of the Federal Mineral Resources Agency.
The project's supervisory board is made up of representatives of Sakhalin Energy's shareholders, the Russian federal government and the Sakhalin Region's government.
Last year, Shell Sakhalin Holdings BV, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell and a majority shareholder in the Sakhalin-2 project, said it wanted to revise the spending plan to $20 billion from $12 billion.
The move prompted Gazprom, which was in talks on swapping 50 percent in its Neokomskoye gas deposit for 25 percent plus one share in Sakhalin Energy, to suspend the talks as Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said then that the increased costs would decrease the value of a 25 percent plus one share stake in the project.
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Closing oil prices, Sept. 11, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $64.44
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $65.34
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