FSUOGM - Former Soviet Union Oil & Gas

Russia rules out further tax breaks for hard-to-recover reserves

The Russian budget has felt a squeeze this year from falling oil and gas prices as well as from the impact of Western embargoes and sanctions. As a result, the finance ministry has taken several steps to extract more revenue from the sector.

Shell takes criticism for ongoing Russian LNG sales

Shell has come under fire for its continued trade of Russian LNG, following an investigation by Global Witness which showed that the UK major was the fifth-biggest trader of the country’s super-cooled fuel in March to December last year.

Kazakhstan takes aim at the IOCs with multi-billion claims

Having found itself a minority shareholder in its own resources due to past investment policy, Kazakhstan is now pushing hard to protect its national interests, launching arbitration claims worth billions of dollars against the IOCs.

German regional head urges an eventual return to Russian gas

Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer of Germany’s Central Democratic Union has added to calls among German politicians that Russian gas must not be abandoned forever, despite the EU’s push to eliminate imports for good.

Novatek’s LNG floating transfer hub arrives in Murmansk

Russian natural gas producer Novatek has revealed that its first floating LNG transfer hub, Saam floating storage unit, arrived at the inlet of Ura Guba, 70km north-west of Murmansk, in northern Russia’s Kola Peninsula on June 27.

Kazakhstan exports 290,000 tonnes of oil to Germany

Russian oil majors mixed on 2022 dividend policy

Among Russia’s leading oil and gas companies, only Rosneft, Gazprom Neft Surgutneftegaz and Transneft have approved final dividends for 2022, amid market uncertainty that has been exacerbated by recent changes in the tax code.

SOCAR sees 53.8% surge in revenue in 2022

Gas supplies from Azerbaijan via TAP have reached 25 bcm

SOFAZ's assets reach $49bn, despite $3.1bn net loss in 2022

Shell brand officially launched in Armenia

FSUOGM: Swedish investigators may hold back intel from Nord Stream probe

Kazakhstan accelerates construction plans for gas processing plant to keep workers employed

French foreign minister visits Mongolia with potential uranium deal a high priority

Kazakhstan urges Gazprom to finalise plans for gas supply

Subsidiaries of Russia’s Rosneft could be hit by windfall tax

This month the Russian Ministry of Justice and the cabinet approved the draft law proposed by the Ministry of Finance "On tax on excess profits of previous years", or the so-called one-time “voluntary” windfall tax on the real sector.

Turkey remains top destination for Russian diesel exports

Turkey is set to be the top destination for Russian diesel exports again this month, with trader comments and Refinitiv Eikon data also showing the country’s own shipments will increase following the completion of seasonal refinery maintenance.

European gas traders turn to Ukraine's massive underground storage facilities as EU inventories fill up

European gas traders are looking to Ukraine’s 10bn cubic metres of underground storage facilities as EU inventories are currently filling up, Ukraine Business News reported on June 28.

Swedish investigators may hold back intel from Nord Stream probe

Authorities in Sweden have said that some materials from their investigation into the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last autumn may be kept secret, Russian media reported last week.

Kazakhstan plans to boost oil output by 7% y/y to 90.5mn tonnes in 2023

Kazakhstan strikes deal to expand oil supplies to German refinery

The agreement was reached between Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil company KazMunayGas (KMG) and Rosneft Deutschland, the former subsidiary of Russia’s Rosneft that holds refining assets in Germany now under the control of the Federal Network Agency.

Bill for Novatek’s Arctic LNG-2 grows to $25bn

The cost of Russia’s gas major Novatek Arctic LNG-2 project has risen to around $25bn, or by 17% from the originally announced $21.3bn, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed sources.

Russia’s FinMin considers Dubai oil price peg

Russia’s Finance Ministry is considering the idea of using Dubai oil blend as the reference for Urals blend fiscal calculations instead of Brent, Vedomosti daily reported citing the deputy FinMin Alexei Sazanov.

Naftogaz takes Russia to court in US over lost Crimean assets

Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz announced on June 23 that it had launched legal proceedings in the US with the aim of recovering $5bn from Russia to cover compensation for damages and lost property in Crimea.

Putin extends decree on measures to punish compliance with Western price caps

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree extending measures to punish entities that abide by Western price caps on the country’s crude oil and petroleum product exports.

Former Rosneft president's company applies for Western Siberian licence

Russian oil firm Nyaganneft, a subsidiary of former Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov’s NNK group, was the only company to take part in an auction for rights to the Lebyazhy oil block in Russia’s Khanty-Mansiysk region.

Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan see surge in gas swap volumes

The three-way gas swap agreement between Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan will see a 70% increase in volumes this year, the head of Iran’s national gas company Majid Chegeni has said.