Translated material
Gazprom and "Non -Courage"
In the economy
Gazprom and "Non -Courage"
February 25, 2013 Vladimir Volkov
The government continues to discuss the possibility of liberalizing the exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and decides on this issue in the near future, Vice Prime Minister Dvorkovich said this Friday.
If in the end this decision is positive, then another sensitive blow will be delivered to Gazprom.
Dvorkovich specified that the issue of LIBERALISE OF SPG exports is discussed for projects on Shelf, Yamal and the Gydan Peninsula. In fact, the question is whether or not the export monopoly of Gazprom, operating since 2006, will be canceled.
Let me remind you that the initiator of the export of LNG was the company Novatek, which sent the relevant proposals to the government in November. Soon the Ministry of Energy and the FAS, on behalf of President Putin, prepared a report in which, having dispersed in separate details, they generally supported the idea of canceling the Gazprom monopoly.
And on February 13, the issue was discussed at the presidential commission on the development strategy of the fuel and energy system, on which Novatek’s proposal “unexpectedly” supported Sechin, although earlier, when an official, he categorically opposed such innovations. And once he even drove a heavy critical rink according to the co -owner of Novatek Timchenko, who stuttered about the “logicality” of the abolition of the Gazprom monopoly.
“I believe that people who are raising the question so are wrong,” the Deputy Prime Minister said then, Having ranked Timchenko to those Who "wants to receive superprofits, exporting gas, without special investments."
But time, as you know, changes people. Transfer to the responsible chair of the head of Rosneft, Igor Ivanovich himself is now settled to receive the notorious superprofits. It is understandable. After an impressive series of absorptions of recent years, including the recent purchase of TNK-BP, Rosneft turned into a large gas producer.
In the future, the company will only grow the volume of its production, given the colossal reserves in the sections of the shelf handed over to it - more than 20 trillion cubic meters. By the way, in order to acquire this farm, no special investments of Rosneft were also required - there was enough administrative resource of its many years of curator.
The company is already preparing for their development for their development. So, the other day it became known that Rosneft with its strategic partner Exxon Mobil can build a LNG production plant in the Far East.
They plan to sell it primarily in the Asia-Pacific region, where Gazprom’s pipes have not yet reached. On it, the Yamal-SSG project of Novatek is also aimed at him. The export of gas produced here-15 million tons of a year-should only begin in 2016, but the first contracts with foreign buyers have already been concluded. For this, Timchenko had to sign an agent agreement with Gazprom, which in these transactions acts as an official exporter, receiving commission, in fact imposed services.
One way or another, in the success of their lobbying efforts, apparently, they have no doubt in the success of their lobbying efforts. Otherwise, the company hardly began to register its own trader in Singapore, who will trade the Gazaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaao.
Considering the fact that Igor Ivanovich himself joined the process, you can fearlessly give a hand to the elimination for the abolition of the Gazprom monopoly on LNG is a matter of time. And not the most distant.
Actually, or not in the government, too, it seems no longer should be canceled dilemmas. The main problem that officials are now racking their heads now - so that after liberalization of gas exports, Russian manufacturers do not push each other with elbows, knocking down prices. “The main thing is to ensure guarantees of non -competing in the same LNG markets. How to ensure non -competing is a big question, ”Dvorkovich explains.
The production of the agenda itself - “On ensuring non -competing” - is quite in the spirit of the Russian authorities. The paternal desire to protect Gazprom from new problems is the very personification of “non -competing” - and the income of persons affiliated with it is also clear.
And here Dvorogokovich really will not envy.
Even if it is possible to dilute Russian gas producers in different angles, ensuring “non-competing” in the Asian LNG market, which has every chance in the near future, after four to five years, to become one of the most competitive in the world (see the head of the “Slantsy Revolution in the United States”) is a work that requires self-denial.
It would be much more productive to direct the mental resources of the Cabinet of Ministers in another channel. Finally, to decide how to turn Gazprom from what it is today is an unnatural monopoly, a feeding trough for participles, a club of a gas war, a sponsor of football clubs, etc. - In an effective commercial company that can earn profit to its shareholders in the competitive global market. Then, you look, and the question of the need to ensure “non -competing” will resolve by itself.