ZAGREB, Feb 19 (Hina) - The Croatian Oil Company (INA) confirmed on Tuesday it was closing down the White Nights oil fields in West Siberia after Russia's Sibnjeftprovod blocked access to an oil pipeline linking the fields with the
terminal on the Black Sea, and was resuming talks on their sale. Due to the oil pipeline blockade and insufficient container capacity in the fields, INA was forced to stop production and started closing the oil fields yesterday. The media have quoted Russian sources as saying the oil pipeline was closed because INA was not fulfilling its obligations from the contract on the purchase of the oil fields. INA officials responded by saying the Russian company was only looking for reasons to worsen INA's position in negotiations on the sale of "White Nights". They also claim that business problems in the Russian Federation were not only affecting INA but other foreig
ZAGREB, Feb 19 (Hina) - The Croatian Oil Company (INA) confirmed on
Tuesday it was closing down the White Nights oil fields in West
Siberia after Russia's Sibnjeftprovod blocked access to an oil
pipeline linking the fields with the terminal on the Black Sea, and
was resuming talks on their sale.
Due to the oil pipeline blockade and insufficient container
capacity in the fields, INA was forced to stop production and
started closing the oil fields yesterday.
The media have quoted Russian sources as saying the oil pipeline was
closed because INA was not fulfilling its obligations from the
contract on the purchase of the oil fields.
INA officials responded by saying the Russian company was only
looking for reasons to worsen INA's position in negotiations on the
sale of "White Nights".
They also claim that business problems in the Russian Federation
were not only affecting INA but other foreign companies as well.
"There is a dozen strong, rich Russian oil companies which, like
other multinational companies in the world, do not hesitate to use
pressure when dealing with smaller independent producers in order
to take them over and strengthen their position on the Russian oil
market. Another problem with 'White Nights' is that it is not a
vertically integrated company and does not have guaranteed crude
oil sales on Russian territory but directly depends on offer and
demand every month. It is a fact that "White Nights" is a member of
an association of small oil producers in the Russian Federation but
that is an increasingly unreliable institution, INA officials
say.
These are the reasons which made INA decide several months ago to
sell "White Nights", which proved to be anything but an easy and
short process.
Media have been speculating that INA is negotiating the sale of
"White Nights" with Slavneft, but the possibility of negotiations
with other interested buyers is not excluded due to an
unsatisfactory price and some other elements of a possible
contract.
INA bought the oil fields "White Nights" in late 1998 at a price of
US$18 million.
(hina) sb rml