Gas Monopoly News

Mexican state oil giant Pemex expects to meet its 2015 output target of 646,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the oil-producing region where a platform exploded last week, killing four people and leaving three more missing, a top executive said on Sunday. The fire broke out on Pemex's Abkatun Permanente processing platform in the oil-rich Bay of Campeche at 3.40 a.m. local time on Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of 302 people. The blaze was not extinguished until 7.30 p.m that evening. Speaking in a televised conference from Ciudad del Carmen, on the Gulf of Mexico, Gustavo Hernandez, Pemex's head of exploration and production, said the incident had led Pemex to shutter production of about 220,000 bpd, with some 170,000 bpd coming back online between Sunday and Monday.

Committees in Mexico's lower house on Saturday approved laws fleshing out a landmark energy reform that seeks to drive private investment into the long-shuttered sector. The so-called secondary laws, which detail the implementation of the constitutional energy reform passed last year, will head to the floor of the lower house, where lawmakers will debate them beginning on Monday. If they are fully approved in the lower house, some of the secondary laws will head to the Senate for final approval. The laws passed in committees on Saturday create a new tax framework for Pemex, guidelines for contracts and tax benefits for states where extraction occurs, among other things.

Mexican Lawmakers aim to set higher than first Planned Minimum requirements for Materials, How much local labor and companies investing in the Oil and Gas Industry must use, According to a Revised Draft of pending Legislation. Mexico 's Congress is in the Process of Approving so-called secondary laws to Implement the Government's December 2013 Energy reform, which the Forms of President Enrique Pena Nieto Cornerstone's Economic Growth Strategy to boost flagging. The laws, which Establish the Fine Print of the reform Ending the Oil and Gas Monopoly Granted to State Oil giant Pemex in 1938, are being Closely watched by Oil Majors Such as BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp..

The European Union must create an energy union to secure its gas supply because the current dependence on Russian energy makes Europe weak, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in an article in the Financial Times. Russia, which provides around one third of the EU's oil and gas, sent shockwaves through the international community with its military intervention and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March. The action prompted the United States and its European allies to begin imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin's inner circle and to threaten to penalise key sectors of Russia's economy if Russia escalates tensions with Ukraine.

Europe should avoid more sanctions against Russiaover its role in Ukraine and continue to pursue dialogue with Moscow, the chief executive of OMV , the longest-standing Western trade partner of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, said. The Austrian energy group signed its first long-term supply contract with the Soviet Union in 1968 and is a major importer of Russian gas. "None of us can estimate what it would mean if no gas came from Russia to Europe, and if we can't calculate the consequences we shouldn't threaten it," Gerhard Roiss told Austrian ORF radio in an interview aired on Saturday. The European Union is dependent on Russia for about a third of its oil and gas, and about 40 percent of the gas is shipped through Ukraine.

Moscow stocks fall 10 pct, rouble down 2.5 pct over war jitters. Ukraine border guards say build-up of Russian armoured vehicles near Crimea. EU ministers meet but no immediate sanctions expected. Russia took a financial hit over its military intervention in neighbouring Ukraine, with its markets and currency plunging on Monday as President Vladimir Putin's forces tightened their grip on the Russian-speaking Crimea region. The Moscow stock market fell by 10 percent and the central bank spent $10 billion of its reserves to prop up the rouble as investors took fright at escalating tensions with the West over the former Soviet republic.

Mexican authorities are reportedly investigating alleged inefficiency and financial irregularities in building a multibillion-dollar offshore project by oil and gas monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos.

The chief executives of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom and U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips met recently to discuss prospects for the development of the Shtokman gas field and the supply of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to markets in North America, according to an RIA Novosti report. The meeting was held as part of consultations with companies interested in being involved in the first leg of the Shtokman project. The deposit, located off Russia's Arctic coast, contains an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic m. of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate. Source: RIA Novosti

Gdansk Shiprepair Yard Remontowa has expanded its formidable reputation with the completion of two RoRo to cableship conversions. Located in Poland, the yard took on its premiere job within this niche in December 2000 when it converted the vessel Prerow, followed by Lodbrog in January 2001. The sisterships, which measure 459 x 66 ft. (140 x 20 m), were built at BEB Mathias - Thesen - Werft in Wiesmar, Germany in 1983 and 1985, respectively. Presently Lodbrog is property of the Danish company, Alcatel Submarine Networks Marine, and Pretow to Luxshipping Co., France. Both vessels will be delivered to the shipowner in October 2001, at which time they will conform their purpose…