Eurotec wins tender for use of Yamal hydrocarbon resources
The French Eurotec Co. is broadening its hydrocarbon resource base on the Yamal Peninsula, Itar-Tass reported.
The company has won a tender for the right to use the subsoil resources of the Vladimirsky and East Terrace hydrocarbon fuel-bearing areas in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.
Eurotec acquired both areas, an official in the territorial agency for the management of subsoil resources told Itar-Tass.
Eurotec, which was founded in May 2004, actively participates in tenders and has already gained rights to the use of subsoil resources in promising areas in Yamal, Krasnoselkup and Beryozovsky Districts.
The first exploratory well, 4,000 meters deep, is to be drilled this year at the Yalyatinsky gas-bearing area in Tazovsky District. Terms for its development have been sealed by a 2007-2011 General Agreement on Cooperation, signed by Nikolai Kharyuchi, head of Tazovsky District, and Hirsch Charles Henri, chairman of the Eurotec board of directors.
Charles Henri said the purpose of the company is to become a big independent producer of gas that will supply fuel to the domestic market of Russia.
Eurotec intends to operate mainly on the Yamal and in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area (commonly known as Yugra).
It plans to produce 15,000 million cubic meters of gas a year. For the time being, the company produces about 15 million cu m of gas, developing a sector of the Mys Kamenny (Cape Stone) deposit and supplying gas for the needs of Cape Kamenny settlement.
Turkey, Netherlands to cooperate in energy projects
Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler said Thursday Turkey and the Netherlands could develop joint projects regarding renewable energy resources and energy efficiency, Anatolia reported.
"We will set up a working group to this end," he told reporters after meeting Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Maria Van Der Hoeven in Ankara.
Guler said he discussed with Hoeven Turkey's position on the Nabucco project.
"Mrs. Minister has understood our position, and we think she will make significant contributions to speed up the project."
The Nabucco pipeline is a planned natural gas pipeline that will carry natural gas from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
It will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria. Some consider the pipeline as a diversion from the current methods of importing natural gas solely from Russia. The project is backed by the European Union and the United States. The Nabucco pipeline may be supplied with gas from Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Egypt and Syria.
Also on the same project, Guler said Turkey has invited Josias Van Aartsen, EU's coordinator for natural gas projects in Southern Europe, to discuss this matter.
Hoeven qualified Nabucco as a significant project, and said Turkey and Europe should act together and find a solution to problems in order to implement the project.
KazMunaiGas estimates Pavlodar refinery reconstruction to cost $500M
The Kazakh national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, which is seeking to gain control of the Pavlodar oil refinery, estimates its reconstruction will cost $500 million, KazMunaiGas deputy oil refining department head Arman Kairdenov said Thursday.
"The Pavlodar refinery's production currently meets Euro-2 standards, but to bring the quality to Euro-3 and Euro-4 standards, it requires reconstruction," Kairdenov said.
"We can assume that this project at the Pavlodar refinery will cost around $500 million," he said.
KazMunaiGas is also negotiating with China on financing the reconstruction of the Chimkent oil refinery, Kairdenov said. "At the present time, financing of the reconstruction project is being discussed with the Chinese side. But there is no final decision on this issue yet," Kairdenov said, adding that this project was also estimated at $500 million.
Kairdenov said the second and the third phases of the Atyrau oil refinery's reconstruction will cost $1.7 billion. The reconstruction will be financed "partially by the KazMunaiGas Trading House and partially by loans" he said.
Kazakhstan has three oil refineries, i.e. those in Atyrau (owned by KazMunaiGas), in Chimkent (owned by the Chinese-Kazakh company PetroKazakhstan), and in Pavlodar (the key owner is the private company Mangistaumunaigas). Kazakhstan's own oil demand is more than 10 million tons a year.
KazMunaiGas plans to acquire more than 70 percent in Mangistaumunaigas.
