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Total revenues for Russia’s largest oil and gas exporters plunged by 41% between January and September compared to the same period last year, due to lower commodity prices and lower exports, Russia’s central bank said on Thursday.

Oil and gas production and exports have dropped this year, the Bank of Russia said in a financial stability review on Thursday. Re-directing oil and gas exports requires significant investment, and changes in the nature of transactions are raising the lead times for receipt of payments.

“The process of moving away from the use of the U.S dollar and other “toxic” currencies in international payments continues,” the central bank said.

The move away from the dollar has impacted the supply and demand of currencies on the domestic market, the bank noted.

Over the first nine months of the year, the share of Chinese yuan in payments for Russia’s oil and gas exports jumped from 13% in January to 35% in September. The share of the exports in Russian rubles also remains significant – at 39% in September 2023, the Bank of Russia said.

Due to the significantly lower Russian natural gas exports to the EU, Russia’s natural gas production fell by 11.4% year-over-year between January and September.

Similarly, due to the EU embargo on Russian oil and fuels, the volume of oil exports via the system of pipeline monopoly Transneft declined by 8% annually in the first nine months of 2023, the central bank said.

During the same period, the average price of the flagship Russian crude grade, Urals, slumped by 26% compared to January-September 2022.

While Russia’s companies are feeling the pinch from lower commodity prices and lower exports, the Russian state continues to see a steady income from oil and gas exports.

Russia’s oil and gas revenues jumped in October, due to a cyclical surge in the profit-based tax, and more than doubled from September to $18.3 billion (1.635 trillion Russian rubles), data from the Russian finance ministry showed early this month.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Environmental groups filed an appeal Thursday, challenging recent decisions by an Ohio regulatory commission to allow drilling under a state park and two state wildlife areas.

Those decisions currently call for sections of Salt Fork State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area and Valley Run Wildlife Area to be leased to the highest and best bidder, with the bidding period set to start in January.

Among other things, the groups say the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission failed to consider all of the factors it was required to weigh under state law. The groups also allege that the commission failed to provide an opportunity for public hearing under state law.

Plans to drill under Ohio state parks and wildlife areas were jump-started earlier this year by House Bill 507, which began as a two-page bill about poultry regulations and grew to more than 80 pages when lawmakers heaped in provisions about natural gas and other unrelated topics last December. Environmental groups challenged the constitutionality of the law earlier this year, and that case is still pending.

The new case appealing the commission’s decisions was filed on Nov. 30 with the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. A notice of appeal was also filed with the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission.

Parties to the appeal include Save Ohio Parks, the Ohio Environmental Council, the Buckeye Environmental Network and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Lawyers at Earthjustice are acting as counsel, and the Ohio Environmental Council also has its own attorneys on the complaint.

HB 507 would have required approval of drilling under state-owned lands until the commission adopted a standard lease form and other rules to allow drilling on different parcels.

Now, under the law, Ohio statutory law calls for the commission to consider nine factors, including environmental impacts, effects on visitors or users of state-owned lands, public comments or objections, economic benefits and more. Commission Chair Ryan Richardson also recited those factors in an affidavit filed in the constitutional challenge case.

The opponents’ appeal alleges that the commission failed to duly consider all those factors. The commission also did not allow people attending the meetings to present testimony in opposition to particular proposals.

Even after the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission adopted rules this spring, comments by its members indicated they still viewed HB 507 as a legislative mandate preventing them from rejecting parcel nominations outright.

“We’ve been directed to open these lands up,” Richardson said at a Sept. 18 commission meeting.

In a similar vein, commission member Jim McGregor told the Energy News Network this summer, “we have a mandate from the legislature that says we shall lease public lands for fracking.”

The commission did not discuss all the statutory factors for voting either yes or no at its Nov. 15 meeting. Yet it voted to allow opening up lands under the state park and wildlife areas for bid next quarter. No written opinion explaining the decisions has been posted on the commission’s website.

“The commission is not required to submit a written opinion, and they are not expecting to write one,” said Andy Chow, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, in response to a question by the Energy News Network the next day. “And there is no appeals procedure.”

“The Commission’s refusal to issue a written decision, failure to engage in meaningful discussion of the statutory criteria, and its belief that decisions are not appealable, show a concerning disregard for the process and rigor contemplated by their statutory mandates,” said Megan Hunter, a lawyer for Earthjustice who is representing opponents in the appeal and in the constitutional challenge case.

“As seen in the Commission’s meetings, the Commission did not publicly consider all nine statutory factors prior to opening up Salt Fork State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area for oil and gas development. The Commission should be held accountable for this failing,” she added.

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A unit of ConocoPhillips is working to resume production at the Australia Pacific LNG plant on Curtis Island after the 174,100-cbm Cesi Qingdao was moved from the terminal early Friday morning.

ConocoPhillips Australia confirmed in a statement on Friday that the 2017-buitl LNG vessel was moved from the facility following approval from Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

Earlier this week, the loaded LNG tanker owned by a joint venture of MOL, Cosco Shipping, and Sinopec had lost power at the terminal’s jetty and was unable to leave.

“The ship has been moved to outer anchorage from Gladstone Harbour for further repairs by the ship owner in accordance with regulators’ safety orders,” ConocoPhillips Australia said.

ConocoPhillips as downstream operator will now focus on safely bringing the LNG facility back into operation to resume LNG production, it said.

Shareholder and upstream APLNG operator, Origin Energy, said in a separate statement that it will start ramping up production to return the flow of gas to the LNG facility to normal levels.

Origin, which is subject to a takeover offer from a consortium consisting of Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and a unit of US-based energy investor EIG, expects the LNG facility to recommence loading operations overnight.

“In total, three LNG cargoes were unable to be loaded during this event,” the company said.

Origin currently owns a 22.5 percent in the APLNG project, while Sinopec owns a 25 percent share in the project.

US energy giant ConocoPhillips has a 47.5 percent share in the APLNG project and operates the 9 mtpa LNG export facility on Curtis Island near Gladstone.

However, ConocoPhillips revealed plans in March to become upstream operator of APLNG following the closing of EIG’s transaction with Origin, and it has also agreed to purchase up to an additional 2.49 percent shareholding interest in APLNG for $0.5 billion.

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A presidential decree has transferred stakes in St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo to a domestic entity

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Spot liquefied natural gas freight rates and European LNG prices fell this week when compared to the week before, according to Spark Commodities.

Last week, LNG freight rates were almost flat.

The Spark30S Atlantic decreased by $500 to $160,250 per day, whilst the Spark25S Pacific increased by $250 to $152,000 per day.

“LNG Atlantic freight rates fell again week, with a 3 percent week-on-week decrease,” Qasim Afghan, Spark’s commercial analyst told LNG Prime on Friday.

Afghan said that the Atlantic rate decreased by $5,000 to $155,250 per day, while the Pacific decreased by $11,000 to $141,000 per day.

As per European LNG pricing, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month also declined from the last week.

The NWE DES LNG for December was assessed at $14.175/MMBtu and at a $0.800/MMBtu discount to the Dutch TTF.

“The SparkNWE DES LNG price for January delivery is assessed at $12.689/MMBtu and at a $0.770/MMBtu discount to the TTF,” Afghan said on Friday.

“This is the lowest reported SparkNWE DES LNG front month price in 8 weeks,” he said.

According to Platts data, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia, dropped from the last week.

JKM for January settled at $16.135/MMBtu on Thursday.

Oman’s state-owned firm OQ Trading recently submitted the lowest bid in a tender to supply Pakistan with one spot LNG shipment in January.

Four companies took part in the tender, and OQ Trading submitted the most competitive bid for the January 8-9 delivery and the firm offered a price of $18.4600/MMBtu.

Vitol Bahrain offered a price of $18.5800/MMBtu, QatarEnergy Trading offered a price of $19.4300/MMBtu, and Trafigura offered a price of $19.6400/MMBtu.

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