Russian Oil and Gas Industry: News #2

AlfaT8 wrote:You know, it's honestly hilarious when i look at the situation.
Russia is in effect being placed in a position where it has to do little to nothing for the West to tear itself apart.

In the case of Europe, all Russia has to do is wait for German and French Imperial ambitions to collide, along with Britain's interference, and any pseudo alliance within Europe to fall.

In America's case, immigration has pretty much doomed the 2-party system that has been in place for so long, and will finally turn the U.S into a true 1-party state.
Democracy is the illusion of the peoples power, eventually the majority will rule over the minority, and with a 1-party rule, authoritarianism and civil conflict becomes inevitable.
This is why the Fore-Fathers restricted the "Privilege" to vote, it's was not just the 3-branches of government that needed to be kept in check, but the people themselves needed to also be kept in check.
But, Women, that didn't want to serve wanted to vote, so now everything has to burn.
The Electoral College could only delay this for so long.

BTW, Russia is also vulnerable to this Democracy problem, but they still have time to correct course, since their immigration was kept in check.
Fingers cross on those upcoming constitutional reforms.

PapaDragon wrote:
Russia Is Quickly Becoming The Most Dominant Force In Energy

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Russia-Is-Quickly-Becoming-The-Most-Dominant-Force-In-Energy.html

Amid increasing Iranian aggression and U.S. disengagement from the region, Saudi Arabia’s longterm oil export capabilities are under threat.

As one of the world’s foremost military powers, Russia can not only defend its networks but attack those of others; such as in the 2008 Georgia War where its aircraft damaged Georgian oil pipelines.

U.S. companies are directed by profit margins instead of geopolitical outreach, and often require human rights agreements before deals are inked.

For example, since the early 1990s, the Kremlin has repeatedly cut off gas to Ukraine to draw concessions from its leadership (and to ensure payment of overdue bills).

As LNG helps propel natural gas to a truly global commodity, Russia is already beating the U.S. at this pricing war in Europe, and future gas developments in Russia’s Arctic are promising for its LNG prospects around the world.

Leonid Mikhelson: En route towards 70 million tons of LNG from Arctic fields

As this year’s first shiploads of LNG are making it across the Northern Sea Route, the Novatek leader reiterates his grand plans for massive growth in the remote region. By year 2030, a total of 70 million tons of liquefied natural gas will be produced in the company’s Arctic projects, he underlines.

The carrier “Christophe de Margerie” on the 18th May set out from Sabetta in the Yamal Peninsula and on the 30th May reached the Bering Strait.

It was the earliest voyage of the kind ever across the eastern part of the Russian Arctic shipping route. The “Christophe de Margerie” is followed by the “Vladimir Voronin” that is expected to reach the strait that mark the end of the NSR by the middle of this week. Both carriers proceed towards the Chinese port of Jingtang.

While the “Christophe de Margerie” was escorted by nuclear powered icebreaker “Yamal”, the “Vladimir Voronin” sailed most of the way without icebreaker assistance.

“This unique voyage is a result of Novatek’s carefully elaborated logistical decisions, the extraordinary ice characteristics of our Arctic tankers and the smooth work of our teams,” Leonid Mikhelson says in a comment.

He underlines that his company now is actively working with the extension of shipments across the eastern sector of the shipping route and that he expects further support from the Russian state.

“This support will allow us to significantly contribute to the boost of shipping volumes on the Northern Sea Route by developing major projects on production of up to 70 million tons of LNG by year 2030,” Mikhelson says.

Novatek today is the main driver in Russia’s development of Arctic shipping. The company’s Yamal LNG has the capacity to produce 16,5 million tons per year. The upcoming Arctic LNG 2 project will increase that volume with almost another 20 million tons.

In addition comes an extension of the Yamal LNG and the Ob LNG project. Both of the latter two projects are however delayed. According to news agency Prime, the Ob LNG will not come into production before 2024 or 2025.

The mentioned projects will have a total annual production of about 45 million tons. The company is likely to launch its projected Arctic LNG 3 or Arctic LNG 1 to reach the target 70 million.

Shipping on the Northern Sea Route in 2019 reached 31,5 million tons. In the course of the first five months of 2020, the shipping volumes on the route amounted to 12,25 million tons, the Russian Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport informs at Instagram. That is an increase of almost 3 percent from the same period in 2019.

As Arctic Ice Melts Russia Conducts Record-Breaking Delivery of LNG to China

Senators to announce sanctions bill on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

owais.usmani wrote:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sanctions-nord-stream-2/senators-to-announce-sanctions-bill-on-russias-nord-stream-2-gas-pipeline-idUSKBN23A349

Senators to announce sanctions bill on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

I don't understand why do these senators think any sanction can prevent a ship owned by Gazprom from laying the remaining pipes.

JohninMK wrote:

owais.usmani wrote:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sanctions-nord-stream-2/senators-to-announce-sanctions-bill-on-russias-nord-stream-2-gas-pipeline-idUSKBN23A349

Senators to announce sanctions bill on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

I don't understand why do these senators think any sanction can prevent a ship owned by Gazprom from laying the remaining pipes.

More fundamental than that, why do they think they have the right to be "Protecting Europe’s Energy Security" in the first place?

slasher wrote:The specific areas to be targeted according to this article:

A draft of the measure obtained by Bloomberg spells out that previously enacted sanctions apply to all pipe-laying activities and insurance. It expands sanctions to companies that provide “underwriting services or insurance or reinsurance” for vessels working on the pipeline as well as those that provide “services or facilities for technology upgrades or installation of welding equipment for, or retrofitting or tethering” of vessels.

The bill, which is expected to be introduced Thursday, would extend sanctions to anyone who provides port facilities to pipe-laying vessels and tethering services.

Senators to Back Expanding Nord Stream 2 Sanctions to Insurers

Clearly intended to frighten away European and particularly German companies directly involved in providing basic services to the project. Would be interesting to see if their governments move to shield them at all. Either way, more hurdles ahead for Russia to overcome.

At least 10 tankers with Russian oil will arrive on the shores of the United States in June.

owais.usmani wrote:This is for the lulz!
https://www.vpk-news.ru/news/57296

At least 10 tankers with Russian oil will arrive on the shores of the United States in June.

New U.S. Sanctions Unlikely To Derail Nord Stream 2

It is difficult to surprise anyone in today’s world with another set of sanction-slapping. A bipartisan group of US senators has expressed its intent to put another spoke in the wheel of Gazprom’s 55 BCm per year Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The new bill would amend the 2019 Protecting Europe’s Energy Security law by extending its force to entities that provide “underwriting services or insurance or reinsurance” relating to the construction of Nord Stream 2 as well as provide “services or facilities for technology upgrades or installation of welding equipment for, or retrofitting or tethering of vessels”. In a nutshell, wary of antagonizing European partners even further, Washington is seeking to implement a strategy of legislative precision strikes. Yet the chances of such sanctions derailing Europe’s prime pipeline-construction project remain pale, as we will see below. The new anti-Nord Stream 2 bill is sponsored among others by Ted Cruz and Jeanne Shaheen, senators who were instrumental in drafting previous legislation against the gas conduit which purportedly threatens “Ukraine, Europe’s energy independence” (Shaheen) and “poses a critical threat to America’s national security” (Cruz). As can be seen from the senators’ comments, the encompassing narrative to buttress the bill’s prospects is a thin line to be walked – were the senators to publicly present the new measures as further attempts to use non-market measures to achieve the objective of higher US LNG exports to Europe, their case could be easily taken to arbitration courts. Yet some of the phrasings involved certainly do insinuate this – why else would a Russian subsea pipeline to Germany (which as of 2020 has no LNG terminal) threaten US’ national security?

The difficulty of maintaining a healthy enough US-German tandem also transpires from the bill’s reported aim to sanction any entity that would “provide services for the testing, inspection or certification necessary for or associated with the operation” of Nord Stream 2. This is a direct jab at the German energy regulator Bnetza as it would be them who provide official approvals for the constructed pipeline. Bnetza has already been in the crosshairs of intra-European decision-making, rejecting Nord Stream’s application to have the pipeline exempt from the EU’s 3rd Energy Directive. This need not be the final decision on the matter (notwithstanding the decision Brussels can still grant a more lenient set of conditions to Nord Stream 2 if both parties manage to find common language) yet has already stirred up too much attention around the regulator.

The new set of US sanctions pit Washington against the European Union, concurrently upending its delicate balancing act vis-à-vis Russia. Ambassador Grenell’s sudden departure and President Trump’s decision to cut the size of US troops in Germany has complicated matters even further. In the meantime, Germany’s Baltic port of Mukran has seen a flurry of activity around the two Russian pipe-laying vessels assumed to complete Nord Stream 2. Akademik Cherskiy, the one which received significantly more media coverage due to its dynamic positioning capability, has moved out of the Far Eastern port of Nakhodka in February 2020 and carried out a prolonged (and oftentimes untraceable) 4-month voyage around Africa all the way to Mukran. It seems that the vessel is currently being retrofitted for the upcoming pipe-laying works and getting loaded with pipes to be laid.

The second vessel, Fortuna, lacks dynamic positioning equipment – a precondition for pipe-laying in Danish territorial waters – but might carry out all the necessary works in the shallow waters of Germany’s Baltic waters. The Danish authorities have also barred pipelaying works in July-August around the Baltic island of Bornholm due to cod spawning season, adding another prohibitive layer to this summer’s construction developments. Since every single vessel associated with Nord Stream 2 is under immediate threat of ending up sanctioned by the US government, the supply vessels required to assist the pipe-laying ones will also be Russian – according to Russian media reports 2 such vessels have already departed from Vladivostok.

Inasmuch as the constant sanctions threats keep on unnerving Gazprom’s management, the Russian gas export monopoly has found a seemingly simple yet effective way to complicate matters further for US senators. As Russian media reports have discerned, Akademik Cherskiy no longer belongs to Gazprom’s shipping subsidiary Gazprom Flot (which had owned it for 4 years, since 2016) – the vessel’s owner is a largely unknown Russia-based property investment fund STIF. What is adding another twist to the story is the fact that it seems almost impossible to understand who owns the investment fund and why it bought the pipelaying vessel. In effect, such a lack of clarity renders it quite difficult for US authorities to sanction STIF – it can hardly allow itself to initiate a lengthy and very risky legal dispute with Gazprom, stabbing in the dark in its pursuit of any Gazprom trace.

Derisking the day-to-day operations of Gazprom Flot was a good enough reason to sell Akademik Cherskiy as the company has already been subjected to sectoral sanctions, meaning that it is forbidden to provide US equipment and technology to the Arctic, offshore and shale projects that the company might be participating in. According to recent reports, the STIF investment fund was co-owned by two Gazprom subsidiaries before April 2020, however, given its private character has decided to conceal its current ownership structure. Theoretically, with its acquisition of Akademik Cherskiy, it might have concurrently switched owners yet there is no way of telling whether this has in fact happened.

Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipe asks to use anchored pipelayers

Denmark to make decision on Nord Stream 2 permit request 'within four weeks'

Nord Stream 2: Germany unhappy with new US sanctions