Shell in talks to buy BP stake in North Sea gas field
Royal Dutch Shell is in talks to buy BP’s stake in the Shearwater oil and gas field in the British North Sea for around $250 million, three industry sources told Reuters. Shell, the field’s operator, announced plans last year to expand a gas hub around Shearwater, including the construction of a new pipeline. Shell has a 28 percent stake in Shearwater, BP holds 27.5 percent and Exxon Mobil has the remaining 44.5 percent. For BP, a sale would mark a step towards its target of selling $5 to $6 billion of assets following its $10.5 billion purchase of BHP’s shale oil and gas portfolio in the United States last year. Shell and BP, which both declined to comment, have held talks in recent weeks and are close to an agreement although the deal could still fall through, two of the sources said. Both Shell and BP have sold a large number of assets in the ageing North Sea basin in recent years. But at the same time they are investing heavily in new projects in the region, particularly in the West of Shetlands area, as technology and cost cuts open new opportunities that were once considered too expensive. Shearwater, located 225 kilometres (140 miles) east of Aberdeen, was discovered in 1988 and first developed in 2000. At peak production, the gas export capacity of the Shearwater hub is expected to be around 400 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, or roughly 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to Shell.
Greek J&P AVAX files lowest bid to build Bulgaria-Greece gas link
Greece’s J&P AVAX filed the lowest offer in a tender to design and build a gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece, project manager ICGB said on Tuesday. The company offered 144.85 million euros ($162.94 million) to build 182 km (113 mile) pipeline which Sofia hopes will become operational in 2020 to transport Azeri gas to Bulgaria and end its almost complete dependence on Russian gas supplies. A consortium of two Bulgarian companies and Italy’s Bonatti, which also submitted an offer in the tender, offered 229.3 million euros.
Haldia Petrochem to invest Rs 62,714 crore to set up 12 MTPA refinery complex in Andhra
Kolkata-based Haldia Petrochemicals is planning to invest Rs 62,714 crore in setting up a 12 Million Tonne Per Annum (MTPA) refinery-cum-petrochemical complex near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. The proposed crude-to-chemical complex will produce refinery derivatives and petrochemicals for domestic sale and exports. It will also help in meeting the company’s primary feedstock requirement of Naphtha as well as Paraxylene, the company said in an application seeking clearance from the environment ministry. The project is expected to be set-up in A V Nagaram village, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. The complex is likely to be commissioned in 60 months from zero date. It will employ 5,000 personnel during the construction phase and its peak manpower requirement would be in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 personnel. The refinery will be integrated with a downstream petrochemical complex with a 12 MTPA petroleum refinery and 1.6 MTPA of Ethylene equivalent petrochemical complex. “The proposed project has been conceptualized considering the integration with demand of PX and Naphtha within the group company and demand supply scenario of the downstream products,” HPL said. The product focus of the refinery will be production of petrochemical feedstock, different from a conventional refinery where main products produced are fuel-based. The company is looking at producing High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Mono-ethylene Glycol (MGE) and Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) among other petrochemical products. “The main product of the proposed refinery will be LPG, Naphtha, Paraxylene etc catering to the feedstock requirement of the petrochemical units and fuel generation from the refinery will be limited to the extent it can be sold in domestic market. However, depending on the volume, some amount of diesel may have to be exported considering low demand growth rate in domestic market,” HPL said. HPL manufactures commodity polymers like HDPE, linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), and polypropylene (PP) and other chemicals like benzene, butadiene among other polymers and chemicals. The company serves packaging, consumer durables, houseware, automobiles, furniture, container, and luggage manufacturers. HPL claims to be the third-largest player in the domestic polyolefins market after Reliance Industries and Indian Oil. India is a net importer of all petrochemical products, except Polypropylene. The demand for various petrochemical products is growing at a rate of 8-10 per cent with the bulk of the demand being met through imports.
U.S. making a mistake politicising oil -Iran oil minister
The United States has made a bad mistake by politicizing oil and using it as a weapon, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in a parliamentary session on Tuesday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. “America has made a bad mistake by politicizing oil and using it as a weapon in the fragile state of the market,” Zanganeh said, according to IRNA. Oil prices on Tuesday hit their highest level since November after Washington announced all waivers on imports of sanctions-hit Iranian oil would end next week, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran and further tightening global supply. Zanganeh added that the United States will not be able to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero. “With all our power, we will work toward breaking America’s sanctions,” Zanganeh said in parliament, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA). The United States on Monday demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers, most of them in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes. The White House said after its Iran move it was working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure oil markets were “adequately supplied” but traders worried about tight supplies. Zanganeh said the oil market is unpredictable and the announcement by the United States and its regional supporters intended to keep oil prices stable is a sign of their concern, ISNA reported. “You can’t be assured that enough oil can be produced to meet demand,” Zanganeh said, according to IRNA. “Because some regional countries announce production capacities higher than their real levels.”
Global oil markets adequately supplied: IEA
Global oil markets are adequately supplied and spare production capacity remained at comfortable levels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, while highlighting the need to avoid higher oil prices amid fragile global economic growth. The agency’s comments come against the backdrop of the United States tightening its sanctions on leading oil producer Iran. “Further tightening of sanctions on Iran will have an impact on its export capacity,” the Paris-based IEA said, adding Iranian shipments of crude and condensates are running around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd), 300,000 bpd lower than March, and 1.7 million bpd lower than May 2018. The agency, which coordinates the energy policies of industrialised nations, said global spare production capacity has risen to 3.3 million bpd due to high compliance rate with the agreed supply cuts among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. OECD oil inventories at the end-February were at 2.871 billion barrels, above the five-year average, IEA said, adding total oil supplies from the United States are expected to increase by 1.6 million bpd this year.
Greek J&P AVAX files lowest bid to build Bulgaria-Greece gas link
Greece’s J&P AVAX filed the lowest offer in a tender to design and build a gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece, project manager ICGB said on Tuesday. The company offered 144.85 million euros ($162.94 million) to build 182 km (113 mile) pipeline which Sofia hopes will become operational in 2020 to transport Azeri gas to Bulgaria and end its almost complete dependence on Russian gas supplies. A consortium of two Bulgarian companies and Italy’s Bonatti, which also submitted an offer in the tender, offered 229.3 million euros.