UPI Energy Watch

Iran's oil revenues hit $63B

Iran's oil revenues are expected to reach $63 billion by March 19, the state-run Press TV channel reported.

Iran's oil sales have reached $55 billion last year, Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said.

"If crude prices stand at the current level, next year's oil revenues will be the same as this year," he added.

He said the oil market's situation would be reviewed in the summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on March 5.

He said that he predicted that the economic growth of countries such as China and India could result in a continuous surge in oil prices.

Nozari said Iran's crude oil production had reached 4.184 million barrels per day, the highest level since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Russia's oil production grows 2 percent

Russia's oil production increased by 2.1 percent in 2007, as compared to 2006, and reached 490.7 million tons, Prime Tass economic news agency reported.

In December 2007, the country's oil production made up 41.6 million tons or 0.7 percent more than in December 2006 and 3.5 percent more than in November 2007, Prime Tass said.

The last year's oil exports increased by 4 percent as compared to 2006, and reached 258.4 million tons, Prime Tass said.

In December 2007, the oil exports amounted to 20.7 million tons, which is 1.4 percent smaller than in the same month of 2006 and 4.6 percent smaller than in November 2007, Prime Tass said.

The oil share in the total Russian exports amounted to 34.4 percent in 2007 as compared to 34.0 percent in 2006, Prime Tass said.

The oil share in the total amount of the country's exports of fuel-and-energy products totaled 53.8 percent in 2007 as compared to 52.0 percent in 2006, Prime Tass said.

Gazprom to start laying Shtokman pipeline in 2010

Russian gas giant Gazprom plans to starting construction on the Teriberka-Volkhov gas pipeline in 2010, the governmental news service of the Republic of Karelia, where the pipeline will run, said in a statement.

According to Interfax, Gazprom will deliver gas through the pipeline from a plant producing liquefied natural gas in the Murmansk region village of Teriberka and moved on to a unified gas supply system, including to Nord Stream.

The pipeline will run through 704.5 kilometers of the republic, and two compressor stations will be built in Karelia for the pipeline.

The rough date for the start of construction on the Teriberka-Volkhov gas pipeline is 2010, while natural gas will start being supplied to the unified network at the end of 2013.

Sevmorneftegaz, a 100 percent subsidiary of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, in December 2007 chose Teriberka as the site for an LNG plant as part of the Shtokman project.

Sevmorneftegaz plans to finish drawing up all the technical documentation for the project in the first half of 2009, launch construction on the LNG plant in 2010 and complete the plant in January 2014 so that the first batch of gas from the Shtokman field can be received in July 2014.

The Shtokman offshore gas condensate field is located in the Barents Sea and has estimated resources of 3.7 trillion cubic meters of gas and 31 million tons of condensate.

Gazprom has selected France's Total and Norway's StatoilHydro as its partners in the Shtokman project.

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Closing oil prices, Feb. 19, 3 p.m. London

Brent crude oil: $96.79

West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $97.35

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(e-mail: energy@upi.com)