Oil Chronicles
Oil Chronicles. July 2022
July
July 1, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium resumed the shipment of oil from two Single Point Moorings (SPM) out of three after the downtime of SPM-1 and SPM-2 in connection with the seabed inspection of the CPC marine terminal for the presence of explosive objects.
"Currently, the three available CPC SPMs are in working condition and ready for regular operation. The operation and oil lifting are carried out following the actual weather from two of three SPM depending on the conditions of the ongoing seabed inspection as part of the mandatory set of activities for the detection and elimination of explosive objects," the consortium said in a statement.
Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov held a regular meeting of the Economy Demonopolization Commission, which considered the proposals of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition.
In particular, to increase the number of participants and improve the overall situation in the oil and petroleum products market, it is proposed to provide the possibility for refineries to buy oil directly from subsoil users, introduce oil exchange trading, and increase the volume of oil products trading.
In terms of reforming the commercial gas market, the issues of introducing exchange trading and adopting rules for access to commercial gas of subsoil users were considered, which will provide supply organizations with direct and competitive access to gas. The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Energy and interested government agencies to analyze these measures further, considering their impact on the country's economy.
July 5, the Primorsky District Court of Novorossiysk suspended the activities of the CPC-R for 30 days for documentary violations under the oil spill response plan. The CPC press service reported this. On May 6, the Federal Service for Supervision of Transport conducted an unscheduled on-site inspection of CPC-R JSC, resulting in several documentary violations under the oil spill response plan. An order to eliminate the detected violations by November 30 was issued to the company. However, without waiting, the agency filed a lawsuit to suspend the consortium's activities for 90 days.
Considering the continuous production cycle, CPC-R applied to the court with a request to suspend the execution of the court order. The report says that the consortium is already working with the relevant state bodies and departments of the Russian Federation to eliminate documentary violations specified in the agency's regulation.
July 5, the Chairman of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition signed the order "On the introduction of temporary state price regulation for the sale of liquefied petroleum gas." The document provides the temporary state price regulation for the retail sale of liquefied petroleum gas for refueling vehicles at gas stations in Kazakhstan until January 1, 2023.
July 7, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with the participation of government members, heads of relevant ministries and departments, and national companies for the development of the country's transport and transit potential.
Among the critical tasks, the Head of State called the diversification of oil supplies. "The priority direction is the Trans-Caspian route. I instruct KazMunayGas to work out the best option for its implementation, including the possibility of attracting investors to the Tengiz project. The Government, together with Samruk-Kazyna, should take measures to increase the capacity of the Atyrau-Kenkiyak and Kenkiyak-Kumkol oil pipelines," the President said.
Nurlan Abdrasulov has been appointed the new Chairman of the Board of KazRosGas LLP. Candidate of Economic Sciences, a graduate of Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School, Karaganda University of Economics.
Since 2000, he has worked in the KazMunayGas system as the head of structural divisions of its subsidiaries. From the day of the formation of KazRosGas, he headed the Marketing and Transport Logistics Department. He held managerial positions in KazMunayGas and the national company QazaqGaz.
July 8, NCOC, the operator of the North Caspian Project, informed about the completion of scheduled preventive maintenance work at offshore and onshore production facilities. During the complete shutdown of production, the company performed the necessary maintenance and inspections and implemented several projects to improve the safety and reliability of production operations. Repair work was started on June 1.
July 11, a new General Director of Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant LLP was appointed. It was Kuanysh Bishimov. He was born in 1972 in the Karaganda region. He has two higher educations – technical (mechanical engineer) and legal. He worked as Chairman of the Board of the national company Kazakhstan Engineering from 2020 to July 7, 2022 – General Director of the Republican state enterprise Reserve of the Committee on State Material Reserves of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan.
July 11, the Krasnodar Court overturned the decision to suspend the work of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. According to the press service of the Krasnodar Territory courts, the company was fined 200 thous. rubles (about 1.5 mln tenge). "The resolution has entered into legal force," the press service noted.
July 12, a joint order of the Ministers of Energy, Internal Affairs, Finance, and the Chairman of the National Security Committee on the introduction of a 6-month ban on the export of gasoline, diesel fuel, and certain types of petroleum products by road outside Kazakhstan came into force. It is possible to export petroleum products in the factory gas tank of the car and containers with a volume of no more than 20 liters. A similar order was in effect from November 2021 to May 2022.
July 14, the orders of the Minister of Energy on the approval of the list of petroleum products and the establishment of marginal prices for the retail sale of petroleum products came into force.
According to the orders, in Kostanay and North Kazakhstan regions, the marginal prices for 92 RON and 93 RON gasoline will amount to 187 tenge per liter. In other regions of Kazakhstan, prices will remain at the same level of 182 tenge per liter. The price adjustment in two areas is associated with logistical costs due to the remoteness of retail sellers from petroleum products manufacturing plants.
The state regulation of prices for 95 RON gasoline has been excluded from the list of petroleum products. According to the order, the marginal prices for diesel fuel do not change in all regions of Kazakhstan. The orders will be valid for 180 calendar days.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Tamara Duissenova, Akim of Atyrau region Serik Shapkenov and General Director of Tengizchevroil Kevin Lyon signed in Atyrau a Roadmap of measures to monitor planned release and ensure employment of released employees of the TCO's Future Growth Project-Wellhead Pressure Management Project for 2022-2023. To date, more than 7.6 thous. employees have been released from the project, of which 1.1 thous. are employed inside the TCO and 449 outside the company.