Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked its ministries to work on a report about the pros and

cons of starting an oil hedge program to protect oil&gas from the price crash.

According to Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, it is likely that the money for the oil hedge will

be provided by Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the National Wealth Fund (NWF).

Peskov told reporter that “Responsible agencies are really discussing different hedging

mechanisms, the possibility to resort to this method, which some countries use, in order to hedge

risks of unstable pricing environment … The president has ordered elaborating this possibility.”.

The webinar of Confindustria Energia concerning infrastructures and investments was held on July

22nd.

The energy infrastructures can make a major contribution to the economic recovery. This is why

Bruxelles should extend the energy cooperation to the southern and eastern regions.

This according to vice-president of Confindustria Energia, Roberto Potì, who has also said that Italy

plays an important role thanks to its geographic position both for the renewables and for gas.

Furthermore, authorisations are crucial in order to promote private investments. Definite times

and defined rules between the regions and the government are essential.

Eduardo Bacellar Leal Ferreira has been re-elected as chairman of the Brazilian state-controlled oil

company Petrobras. Ferreira had joined the oil giant in January 2019.

The Brazilian firm has revealed that it has achieved a new monthly record in April for the use of

natural gas from its producing fields of 97.7%.

However, working with a restricted number of employers on board facilities and operating only

essential services due to the pandemic, led Petrobras to postpone the commissioning of new

production units, which will be resumed in September.

Sinopec (China Petrochemical Corporation) has announced that a well was successfully drilled at
the Shunbei oil and gas field, creating a record for directional drilling on land at a depth of 8,725
meters.
An ultra-deep world-class technology drilling technology has been used in almost 40 wells with a
depth of more than 8,000 meters.

Shell is checking the market to sell its Convent refinery in Texas.
The sale of the 240,000-barrels-per-day refinery would include the company’s products truck
terminal, marine docks, the Sorrento salt cavern for liquefied petroleum gas storage and rights for
its Bengal Pipeline.
Shell’s supermajor’s spokesman Curtis Smith said in a statement that “the process could take
several months” and that the plan is to “narrow down its ownership to a smaller, optimal core set
of uniquely positioned refineries by 2025.”
Shell became the sole owner and operator of the Convent refinery in 2017.

Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), who has amassed $105 billion in financial debt during the
past years, is now working on a swap offer of $22.4 billion debt in long-term bonds.
The Mexican state-owned oil giant is asking some of its contractors to be paid for their services in
2021.
Some months ago, Pemex was downgraded by Fitch and by Moody’s because of its huge debt.
Also, according to reports, the company had not paid hundreds of employees for months and was
behind in payments to contractors before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 105 km long offshore section of the TAP pipeline across the Adriatic Sea was
successfully completed.
According to TAP Managing Director Luca Schieppati, the completion marks another important
milestone towards the end of the entire project.
TAP it is meant to bring a new source of natural gas from the huge Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan
to the European countries.
According to schedule, TAP will deliver first gas to Europe by the end of 2020.
Furthermore, due to Covid-19 pandemic, TAP has implemented a wide range of measures to
protect all people involved in the project.

Energy major Eni has announced a new gas discovery in Egypt’s Nile Delta. According to the
company, the newly discovered prospect “Bashrush”, located 22 meters deep, encountered a
single 498-foot thick gas column with “excellent petrophysical properties”.
Eni has outlined in a statement: “The discovery of Bashrush demonstrates the significant gas and
condensate potential of the Messinian formations in this sector of the Egyptian offshore shallow
waters.”
Eni will begin screening the production options of the discovery soon together with its partners BP
and Total.

According to the International Energy Agency Global, the demand of natural gas is going to drop as
never before this year. The reasons are the spread of Covid-19 and the mild climate which has
spread all over the world.
Consumption is set to slump by 4% in 2020, while global demand is expected to rise by just 1.5%
annually to 2025, compared with a previous forecast of 1.8%.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said “Natural gas has so far experienced a less severe impact
than oil and coal, but it is far from immune from the current crisis.”