06 1 News BBJ
energy
WWW.BBJ.HU
Budapest Business Journal | Sept 07 – Sept 20
NEWS FOR THIS SECTION IS TAKEN FROM THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL’S DAILY BRIEFING, ENERGY TODAY NEWSLETTER AT WWW.BBJ.HU/STORE/NEWSLETTER-PACKAGE
RUSSIA SAYS IRAN’S NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FULLY OPERATIONAL Iran’s first atomic power plant, a symbol of what the Islamic Republic says is its peaceful nuclear ambition, is now operating at full capacity, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on August 31. The Russian-built 1,000-megawatt reactor near the Gulf city of Bushehr was plugged into Iran’s national grid last September, ending years of delays and suspicions that Moscow was using the project as a diplomatic lever. The United States has long urged Russia to abandon the project, fearing it could help Tehran develop nuclear weapons. Iran says electricity generation is the main motivation, though others are skeptical of that. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept 2 urged the international community to get tougher with Iran, saying that without a “clear red line” Tehran will not halt its nuclear program, USA Today reported. The States says sanctions and international diplomacy must be given more time to work. Russia has warned Israel and America against attacking Iran and said it opposes further
regional SERBIA TO CAP MANAGERS’ WAGES, MERGE AGENCIES Serbia will limit the wages of managers in state-run companies, streamline dozens of government agencies and tighten control over their spending, even for institutions that have their own source of income, Bloomberg has reported. The measures are part of a “fiscal consolidation” that will include a supplementary budget for 2012 set for adoption by Sept. 15, Bloomberg quoted Deputy Finance Minister Vlajko Senic as telling reporters on August 31. Serbia is trying to reduce a budget gap that reached 7.2% of GDP at the end of June.
TYMOSHENKO LOSES APPEAL, STAYS IN JAIL A Ukrainian high court has rejected an appeal by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her conviction for abuse of office, upholding a seven-year prison sentence that has opened
sanctions beyond the measures approved in four UN Security Council resolutions, the most recent in 2010.
GERMANY BACKS CHARGING CONSUMERS TO CUT OFFSHORE WIND RISKS Germany backed measures to charge consumers and grid operators for risks linked to installing sea-based wind farms in an effort to support investments from developers, the media has reported. The draft bill endorsed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet would make power consumers pay as much as 0.25 euro cents a kilowatt-hour if wind farm owners can’t sell their electricity because of delays in connecting turbines to the grid. Originally, grid firms responsible for building cables from the wind parks to the mainland were supposed to compensate plant operators for failures in the connections. “With this regulation, the likelihood that liability losses will arise is now minimized,” Bloomberg quoted Economy Minister Philipp Roesler as saying to reporters.
SAN LEON ENERGY FINDS OIL IN POLAND San Leon Energy Plc, a hy-
drocarbon exploration company with projects in Europe and North African, has found conventional oil in an area of western Poland abandoned decades earlier by the country’s state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG SA. San Leon said that its LelechowSL1 well, the first of a two-well exploration program on the Nowa Sol Concession in Poland near the German border, found oil and will be completed for near-term commercial production. The company will now begin testing to determine how many barrels of crude can be produced a day, said John Buggenhagen, San Leon’s exploration director.
VITOL SIGNS PARTNERSHIP TO INVEST IN UKRAINE’S GAS Swiss-based Vitol, the world’s top oil trader, has signed an agreement with London-based investment group EastOne to develop gas fields in Ukraine, the companies said in a statement, as the energy trader seeks to increase its stake in the world’s fastest growing fuel. The latest deal was signed between Vitol’s subsidiary Arawak and Eastone’s Ukrainebased independent gas pro-
ducer Geo Alliance, whichhas permits in the country’s eastern Dnieper-Donets basin, the firms said.
FILASA INTERNATIONAL PLANS TO INVEST IN WIND PROJECTS IN ROMANIA French company Filasa International plans to invest €3 billion in wind capacities over 2,000 megawatt through to 2013 and is also looking to develop a 300 megawatt photovoltaic park in Romania, state news agency Agerpres has reported. Filasa International will put up €1.35 billion for 10 wind parks in the Braila-Buzau area, in southeast Romania, and will develop other parks in the east and southwest of the country. “In 2013 we hope to have all the construction permits for Braila-Buzau,” Agerpres quoted Bernard Esquirol, general director of Filasa International as saying. The company estimates full capacity production in 2017.
BULGARIA SIGNS CONTRACTS TO START DEEPWATER GAS DRILLING Bulgaria signed a five-year contract with France’s Total, Austria’s OMV and Spain’s Repsol on August 29 to start exploration near a site in Romanian
waters where a successful gas discovery was made. The 14,440 square kilometer Khan Asparuh block is only 15 km from OMV’s Neptun block, which the Austrian company has said could produce up to 84 billion cubic meters of gas. Bulgaria receives more than 90% of its gas from Russia’s Gazprom and is seeking ways to diversify routes and sources to cuts costs and boost its energy security. According to Bulgaria’s Energy Minister, Delyan Dobrev, gas production could start in six years, provided that the exploration points to substantial gas reserves.
ENERGY SERVICE PROVIDERS IN HUNGARY COULD BECOME PARTLY NON-PROFIT Energy provision could be converted into a non-profit service for some retail consumers through the introduction of a consumption-based tariff system, Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet said on August 24. Earlier Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told an annual meeting of diplomats that his government wanted to transform energy distribution into a “non-profit activity”. The paper has learnt that energy service providers have suggested to
divide the centrally regulated unified tariff into three ranges: low-income households with low energy consumption could even pay less for energy than they currently do, consumers using an average amount of energy would make up the second group, while consumers with higher-than average consumption could be charged a higher tariff. Non-profit operation could thus be implemented in the first tariff range, the paper said.
GAZPROM NEFT STARTS ARCTIC FIELD’S FIRST OIL OUTPUT Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s state gas export monopoly, has started the first production well at a new Arctic field, Reuters reported. Novoportovskoye, north of Gazprom’s main gas producing fields, is due to start commercial production in 2014 and hit its peak of 250,000 barrels per day in 2020. In addition to the new, 2,200 meter deviated well, Gazprom Neft plans to drill three new production wells and re-activate a production well this year, with plans to conduct hydraulic fracturing of several wells during the winter. ■
NEWS FOR THIS SECTION IS TAKEN FROM THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL’S DAILY BRIEFING, REGIONAL TODAY NEWSLETTER AT WWW.BBJ.HU/STORE/NEWSLETTER-PACKAGE
a rift between the former Soviet republic and the West. Tymoshenko’s defense lawyer said the ruling by a three-judge panel had been steered by President Viktor Yanukovich for political reasons. “These findings have no relation to justice,” Serhiy Vlasenko told journalists after judge Olexander Yelfimov ruled that lower courts had delivered “correct decisions on the crimes of Tymoshenko”. The abuse of office conviction relates to a gas deal that Tymoshenko brokered with Russia in 2009 when she was prime minister. The Yanukovich government says the agreement was reckless and saddled Ukraine with an enormous price for strategic supplies of gas which is taking a toll on the stressed economy.
SALES TURNOVER IN GREECE DROPS 40% WITHIN TWO YEARS The state of retail trade in Greece is continuing to deteriorate with no sign of any letup, as indicated
by the current summer sales, which have seen a contraction in volume totaling more than a third within just two years, Greek daily broadsheet I Kathimerini reported. Retail turnover in the sales period that started in mid-July and ends on August 31 is not expected to top €4 billion this year, compared to €5 bln in the same period last year and €65 bln in the summer sales of 2010, according to the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce. A recent survey by the General Confederation of Greek Small Businesses and Traders suggested that in the next couple of months some 11,000 small- and medium-sized trade and manufacturing enterprises would shut down.
ROMANIA’S PARLIAMENT CLEARS PRESIDENT’S RETURN TO OFFICE Romania’s Parliament recognized on August 27 a court decision that the country’s suspended president should return
to office, drawing a line under a political row that has brought criticism from the European Union and the United States. The Constitutional Court ruled that a referendum to oust President Basescu was invalid because turnout was less than half the electorate, even though 88% of those who voted wanted the president removed from office. The government had threatened to remove court judges or limit its powers, before backing down under pressure from Brussels, and also tried to prove the electorate was smaller, in an attempt to show the turnout requirement had been met.
POLES’ SAVINGS FALL Poles’ savings diminished by PLN 300 million (€73.3 mln) in the first quarter, since they needed to use the money for everyday spending. This is the first time Poles have faced such a situation since 2000, according to a report by the National Bank of Poland,
wyborcza.pl reported. According to a 2011 study by pollster TNS OBOP, almost half of surveyed Poles do not have savings. Poles aren’t able to save for the simple reason that they aren’t earning enough, and prices are high. Although wages are growing, they are not keeping up with inf lation, which is now at 4%, it said.
WTO ADMITS RUSSIA AS 156TH MEMBER Russia became the 156th member of the World Trade Organization after completing almost two decades of negotiations, bolstering President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to gain greater inf luence in global affairs, media reported on August 22. Russia’s entry into the organization will add about $162 bln each year to economic output over the long-term by improving market access and luring foreign investment, the World Bank said in March. WTO members carry out 97% of global
trade, according to the Washington-based lender.
FRANCE TO CONSIDER OPENING JOB MARKET TO BULGARIANS, ROMANIANS France will make it easier for Roma immigrants from Eastern Europe to obtain work and residence rights, the government said on August 22, after years of expulsions and more police raids on makeshift campsites where they often live in squalor. Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, under pressure to break with a practice the left condemned when conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy was in charge, announced the policy shift after meetings with leading ministers and representatives of the estimated 1520,000 Roma people living in France. One of the main changes is a pledge to waive a heft y tax French employers must pay to the immigration office if they hire a Romanian or Bulgarian worker - a levy that can run as high as €1,800 ($2,200), government figures show. ■