Output at Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field grows
Annual oil production at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan is expected to increase by up to 18.7 million tons, David O' Reilly, Chevron chief executive Chevron, said Monday.
O'Reilly told the Kazakh president about the implementation of a project aimed at the enlargement of Tengizchevroil operations, the presidential news service said.
He said the first stage of the project has been completed, which led to the increase of oil output by 4 million tons.
The company plans to produce 18.7 million tons of crude, O'Reilly said, adding the end of the second stage is expected to see an increase of oil production to 24 million tons a year.
Tengizchevroil is a joint venture developing Tengiz and Korolev oil fields in Kazakhstan's Atyrau Region. The company began to use a plant of the second generation and went over to the recycling of casing head gas. Those projects were completed at the end of 2007.
Gazprom-Iranian venture seen as foundation for "Gas OPEC"
Gazprom is rushing to complete a draft agreement on the formation of one or several joint enterprises with Iranian state-owned companies, Gazeta reported.
The signing of a document between the Russian holding company and the Iranian Oil Ministry could take place within the next few weeks.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hoseyn Noghrehkar Shirazi said that a Russian delegation is expected to visit Tehran in May.
"During our meeting with representatives of the Russian holding company we will discuss a broad range of topics, including aspects of the development of the 19th, 20th, and 21st phases of the South Pars field," he said. "It will become clear after this visit how far along we are in our talks with Gazprom."
Vladimir Putin announced the plan for Gazprom to form a joint venture in Iran back in 2006, but the two sides were only able to reach a definite understanding two years later.
Polish energy firms warn government of electricity shortage
Poland may face a power shortage, energy firms in Poland are warning the government, the Gazeta Wyborcza reported.
"Unless the government does something quickly, we will meet the same fate as the Republic of South Africa, where 'planned outages' are commonplace," energy firms said.
Power cuts were regular in communist-era Poland.
Warsaw ran the risk of a blackout in the summer of 2006; in order to save the system, Vattenfall activated the co-generation plant in Warsaw.
At that time, energy companies began to warn the government and in recent weeks, they have written new reports on the issue.
The first report is titled "The most important issues in the functioning of the electric power sector in Poland." It was written by executives and managers from Poland's main state-owned enterprises: PSE-Operator, Zespol Elektrowni Patnow-Adamow-Konin (power plant), Polska Grupa Energetyczna (Polish energy group) together with its subsidiary BOT as well as Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny (energy concern), which is part of Tauron. In the report, they warn the government that in the next few years Poland may face the worst-case scenario, namely the lack of electricity.
Poland's economy is growing fast, but the system's capacity is not growing.
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Closing oil prices, Apr. 15, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $111.10
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $112.84
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