Russia, Gazprom Should Take Care of Crimea’s Oil, Gas Production

Russian companies such as Gazprom should be involved in Crimea’s oil and gas production, the speaker of Crimea’s Moscow-backed parliament told Russia’s RIA news agency on Thursday.

Vladimir Konstantinov also said the Ukrainian region, which wants to join Russia, was guarding oilfields and rigs.

“Russia, and Gazprom, should take care of the oil and gas production. It’s not our issue,” Konstantinov said.

He added: “These are our oilfields and we will fight for them.”

On Wednesday, Crimea’s first deputy prime minister said the region would take ownership of Ukrainian state companies on its territory, including the region’s Black Sea natural gas fields.

RIGZONE

17 Comments on "Russia, Gazprom Should Take Care of Crimea’s Oil, Gas Production"

Makati1 on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 2:12 am 



And it continues…

rockman on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 11:29 am 



Crimean Oil/NG has been one of the focal points that the MSM is finally recognizing. A little background on this aspect:

Without Crimea, Ukraine looks set to lose an important piece of its economic and energy future: valuable undersea oil and gas fields that lie just offshore the Crimean peninsula. Exploiting those Black Sea fields could help reduce Ukraine’s dependence on Russian gas imports.

And Big Oil had been interested: Before the overthrow of former President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine was on the verge of signing a deal with a group, including Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B), that was prepared to spend $735 million to drill two wells off Crimea’s southwest coast. “Exxon and Shell are now in a legal limbo. The area is part of an undersea field that extends westward along the Black Sea coastline to Romania. Within the area now under Ukrainian jurisdiction, however, the most interesting exploration areas are all effectively under Crimean waters. Losing control of those areas would be a significant loss for Ukraine.

Ukraine has estimated that oil and gas production from this area, along with another Crimean offshore area known as Foros, could reach the energy equivalent of up to 7 million tons (about 40 million bbls) of oil annually. That’s less than 10 percent of the oil and gas Norway extracts annually from beneath the North Sea. Still, it totals about 20 percent of Ukraine’s current annual gas imports.

And now it’s no longer a hypothetical question of who will control the area. Perhaps the scuttling of those Russian ships to trap the Ukrainian navy is better understood now:

Crimean authorities took control of Ukraine’s Black Sea and Sea of Azov oil and gas fields off the coast of the peninsula. The speaker of Crimea’s parliament has said the Russian companies should be involved in extracting the resources. “These fields and platforms will pass into the ownership of the Crimean Republic, “ Konstantinov said. We are already guarding them. These are our fields and we will fight for them. ”In 2013 the company Chernomorgazneft extracted 1.65 B cubic meters gas (about 15 bcf), most of which was in the Black Sea and in the Sea of Azov. According to estimates, the total gas reserves off the Crimean coast are nearly two trillion cubic meters (18 trillion cu ft) and the oil reserves are around 430 M tons (about 2.5 billion bbls).

Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 12:01 pm 



Great info Rock, funny how MSM didn’t mention this. It is funny how it is always the energy deposits that complicate and maximize tension.

Northwest Resident on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 2:25 pm 



I think it is safe to say that behind every major event taking place in the world today, oil — or lack thereof — or the potential to extract it — or the goal to control it — is the driving catalyst, whether that appears obvious on the surface or not. The POVs expressed on this site by commenters and seen all over the internet that blame the Ukraine situation on Obama wanting to retaliate against Russia due to supposed humiliation in Syria, or America wanting to weaken Russia so that it can become the world’s only super power are just pure bunk. No, it is about oil, it has been about nothing but oil for a long time, and going forward, everything everywhere will be about oil, or lack thereof, or the goal to control it, or… etc…

Arthur on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 3:41 pm 



This weekend there will be the referendum and the Crimeans will overwhelmingly vote to return to Russia and before the month is over, the Crimea will be Russian again.

The West to Putin: you, you, you, usurpator, you, you, you… Hitler!

Putin to West: Crimea river

Northwest Resident on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 4:04 pm 



“Putin to West: Crimea river”

Now THAT is clever.

Don’t be too surprised if, before it is all over, the Eastern half of Ukraine gets absorbed into Russia too, with the Western “non-Russian” half of Ukraine allowed to go the European/NATO route. That’s a far-fetched possibility, I admit, but something to keep an eye out for.

Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 4:34 pm 



IMO let Russia have the Crimea. It is historically theirs. It was a bad move giving Crimea to Ukraine in the first place. It is not worth the pain and sacrifice of the global world if this crisis spirals out of control. The Russians need to stay out of Ukraine proper and the Ukrainians need to respect the rights of the ethnic Russians out of respect and the Reality of a Big Russian Bear to the east. The US needs to get the hell out of a region it has no real national interest being in. We don’t have the money to dump into this region now nor should we have ever meddled in this region in the first place. We have bigger fish to fry and little money to buy fry oil. Russia will pay her price in lost confidence in their economy. Putin will be all pumped up for now until he starts paying the bills that come due for his macho muscle flexing. One should not fight a historic fact. One last point, if, you were a resident of the Crimea would you want to be part of a basket case Ukraine or a much better off Russia. Pretty obvious what that decision will be!

Arthur on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 5:15 pm 



One of my absolute favorite top podcasters, Greg Hunter, today about the situation in the Ukraine:

http://usawatchdog.com/weekly-news-wrap-up-3-14-14/

He suggests that Russia could start to sell it’s oil and gas to China for Yuan, India for Rupee, and for the West and it’s allies… in gold!

In Europe AND in the US, the majority of the public is not interested in a conflict with Russia over the Crimea. The Western elite is overplaying it’s hand and Putin (backed by China) knows this.

The sun sets in the West. Russia is twenty years ahead of us when it comes to embracing a political vision that is more compatible with the emerging reality of resource depletion; Russia is post-globalism, where the West still tries to peddle their one world global empire idea. If the western elite is going to escalate, don’t be surprised to find parts of Europe unwilling to cooperate, which could lead to a premature break-up of the West. The elite could not motivate Germany and France to fight in Iraq in 2003. They definitely will be unable to mobilize support in Europe for a major conflict with Russia.

Northwest Resident on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 5:38 pm 



“We have bigger fish to fry and little money to buy fry oil.” — Nicely put!

Arthur — Russia has risen and fallen a number of times in their bloody history. They have a historical sense of dealing with the “downs” and a historical sense of how fleeting the “ups” can be. Psychologically, they are much better prepared for where this world is heading than the USofA is. USofA has experienced one long trajectory up, up and up — so when that first cataclysmic fall comes, it is going to be a belly flop and a face plant of epic proportions.

Davey on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 6:27 pm 



Arthur, agree, Russia is ahead with post globalization ideology with the Russian Customs Union. Not in agreement they have decoupled from the global economic grip and therefor the west. China will soon turn in on itself from its huge financial problems. China will not be the factor you think it will be. The US does not buy much oil from Russia so the Russian oil card is mute.

N/R, thought you would like that being the big fish eater you are .

andya on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 7:02 pm 



Interesting Rockman, I’m sure the estimates are ‘over.’ As is generally the case. Normally only about 10% of it makes it into proven reserve category.
Would the situation be much different if the oil wasn’t there? I doubt it.

rockman on Fri, 14th Mar 2014 8:34 pm 



andya – I suspect you’re correct. But oil/NG reserves do add another layer of political support to Putin internally. At the very least it’s a huge gain for the Crimean govt to take away the production from the Ukrainian govt which has no ability to stop them. If you’re going to start a breakaway country it’s great to get a nice cash flow in the process.

Makati1 on Sat, 15th Mar 2014 12:10 pm 



If, somehow the West doesn’t push Putin into WW3, I see the Ukraine splitting and the Crimea and East Ukraine going to Russia, and the poorer West Ukraine going to the already poor/broke EU. That is, IF Germany wants to take in another beggar country.

rockman on Sat, 15th Mar 2014 12:39 pm 



M – Good point. I wonder if part of them motivation of the EU remaining rather quiet over the Ukraine situation is the possibility of having to “adopt” them in the future. Dealing with the PIIGS has been difficult enough without taking on another crippled economy.

Northwest Resident on Sat, 15th Mar 2014 3:03 pm 



Makati — That’s what I think is happening in Ukraine too. In fact, I tend to believe that it is a sophisticated and well-thought out plan that is being implemented to achieve just exactly the result that you mention. In my delirious and conspiracy-oriented mind, the reasoning behind all this is that TPTB know for a fact that the world is heading toward economic collapse in the near-term future, and they want to stabilize borders and zones of control before that collapse in an attempt to minimize social conflict and to divide up the remaining oil/gas assets so that once collapse hits, the governments of the world will know what energy they’ve got left to work with. It makes total sense to split Ukraine — the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are pro-Russian, Russian speaking and are in fact Russians for the most part, while Western Ukraine is chomping at the bit to get out of the Russian sphere of influence and join the Europeans. It is just guessing on my part obviously.

rockman on Sat, 15th Mar 2014 5:01 pm 



And in the context of MADOR (Mutual Distribution Of Resources) it makes sense that if folks start drawing new borders ff resources should come into play. Such as I’ll take my slice of pie ala mode will oil sauce. Consider South Sudan. And the prospect of the Kurds drawing what might effectively function as a new Iraq border across the northern reaches. And there’s still that lingering possibility of Canada becoming the 51st state. Sans Quebec, of course. We got enough Cajuns…don’t need no more frogs. LOL.

Northwest Resident on Sat, 15th Mar 2014 7:33 pm 



“That is, IF Germany wants to take in another beggar country.”

Like I mentioned, I believe that Western Ukraine will end up in the NATO/European sphere of influence. The only question I had was, why in the world would Europe be willing to take that beggar portion of the country in along with all the debt? But then I realized, Ukraine has some of the hottest babes in the world. Are you kidding!? There aren’t a lot of guys in this world who wouldn’t go into debt (or who haven’t already) to get close to one of those Ukraine babes. I can testify from experience, because I blew my entire savings and a few years of earnings on getting as close as I could to some equally hot Russian babes, who are of the same hot ethnic breed. I’m sure that in the upper echelons of the European elite, they are licking their chops in anticipation. Oh, and maybe they’ll be able to squeeze a few drops of oil out of their portion of Ukraine too, but that’s a mere second thought.