Russ Oil-Gas

07/06/2009 - PennEnergy - YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK -- Exploration drilling is under way on the Gazprom-operated Kirinskoye gas-condensate field offshore Sakhalin Island. Gazprom views this campaign as a key step towards creating a new gas production area offshore Sakhalin, serving Russia’s Eastern Gas program. It will also be the first project in the Sakhalin region performed solely by Russian companies. Gazprom plans to maximize resources of Russian shipbuilding and machine-building companies for the development. From 2014, Kirinskoye will provide gas for the Sakhalin – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas transmission trunkline system, under construction to supply consumers in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais and Sakhalin Oblast regions. In 2007, Gazprom was designated program execution coordinator by the Russian government. Kirinskoye, discovered in 1992, is in the Kirinsky Block of the Sakhalin III license area in the Sea of Okhotsk. Gazprom was granted the subsurface license in May 2008. Reserves are currently estimated at 75.4 bcm of gas and 8.6 million tons (7.8 million metric tons) of gas condensate. The company holds 45 licenses for subsurface resources in eastern Russia, including parts of the Bering Sea. Its latest four awards were issued last month, including Kirinsky and two other Sakhalin III blocks, Vostochno-Odoptinksy and Ayashky.

MOSCOW, July 6, 2009 - (UPI) - Excessive spending on reserves and acquisitions in a poor economic climate could overextend Russian energy giant Gazprom beyond profitability, trends suggest. Despite modest energy prices and a lingering economic recession, Gazprom last week moved on a deal with Azerbaijan to tap the massive Shah Deniz field that has more immediate political ramifications than energy benefits. Europe eyes Shah Deniz as a major source for its Nabucco gas pipeline, which sidelines Russia. The Gazprom deal could undermine Nabucco and European efforts to diversify the regional energy sector, though Baku said it has a diverse client portfolio. At a rate of roughly three acquisitions per month, Gazprom has spent close to $70 billion on mergers, ranging from Russian newspapers to rival energy targets. Gazprom through its various operations and global ventures holds more gas than its customer base supports. The company in 2008, meanwhile, requested $1 billion in government loans to refinance its debts while expressing concerns over the ability to attract new loans. Its bullish behavior in a bear market has prompted minority shareholders, for their part, to express concerns over any decisions that could result in minimal payoffs, The Wall Street Journal reports.

July 3, 2009 -- MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) produced 998.3 million cubic meters of gas on July 1, up 48 million cu m or 5% from the end of the second quarter of this year but still 23% lower than average daily production in July last year, the Fuel and Energy Central Dispatch Center said. Daily output fell below 1 billion cubic meters for the first time this year on May 10. Daily output had averaged at less than 900 mcm since the beginning of June. The lowest volume so far this year was 891.7 mcm on June 21. But the Russian gas giant recorded 952.2 mcm a day on June 25- 26, 955.2 mcm on June 27 and 950 mcm on June 30 after production had dipped to 940.6 mcm on June 30.