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Viewing cable 08TIRANA345, REVIVING ALBANIAN OIL INDUSTRY MAY BE ATTRACTING RUSSIAN

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08TIRANA345 2008-04-29 16:07 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Tirana
VZCZCXRO0980
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBW RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTI #0345/01 1201607
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291607Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7046
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE (ERIN KOTHEIMER AND YOULIANA IVANOVA) 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: ECON ENRG EPET EINV AL
SUBJECT: REVIVING ALBANIAN OIL INDUSTRY MAY BE ATTRACTING RUSSIAN 
INTEREST 
 
REF: A) TIRANA 186, B) TIRANA 308 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (SBU) Albania, which possesses one of continental Europe's 
largest oil fields and has seen promising new finds for additional 
oil and gas reserves, is substantially expanding its oil production 
through Western investment.  Increased interest by foreign investors 
in Albania's oil sector is marked by Western oil companies' moving 
aggressively to revitalize Albania's once-declining production.  It 
has also brought renewed speculation that Russian interests may be 
attracted to the upcoming privatization of the state-owned refining 
company. End Summary. 
 
Albania's Once and Future Oil Industry 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U)   Albania is endowed with considerable oil reserves which 
have been tapped for extraction for the last ninety years.  The 
country's first oil well was drilled in 1918 near Vlore. In the 
1920s, predictions that Albania was one of the best destinations for 
oil exploration after the Middle East led several prominent oil 
companies of the day to explore for oil in Albania, including 
Standard Oil, Rusthon and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.  The oil 
industry received substantial investment during the communist regime 
and, although the technology employed was not the most up-to-date, 
production expanded to more than 2 million tons per year in the 
1970s, turning Albania into a net oil exporter.  In the late 1980s, 
despite production's dropping to 1.3 million tons per year, foreign 
interest in exploring for oil in Albania was renewed.  In 1990, 
Albania was the first former communist country in Europe to open 
itself to Western oil companies.  A total of 105 companies applied 
for off-shore concessions, including Chevron, Occidental, AGIP, OMW 
and Shell Petroleum.  However, exploration results were 
disappointing, despite investments for both off- and on-shore that 
amounted to almost USD 300 million.  Political turmoil in Albania 
and Kosovo in the 1990s, falling oil prices and the 
then-less-desirable heavy crude quality of oil found in the country 
all contributed to retard further investment.  By 2000, oil 
production had dropped to half a million tons per year, covering 
only 25 percent of domestic demand. 
 
A Small Company Prospers Where the Majors Failed 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
3.  (U) A total of six petroleum agreements have been signed over 
the last four years for the rehabilitation of existing fields, 
development and new exploration.  Unlike before, most of these 
companies are small to medium sized firms.  However, they are 
generally more aggressive risk-takers than the major oil companies 
and also possess expertise in the development of small oilfields. 
Work in the Albanian oil sector means dealing with an industry that 
suffers from decaying conditions, is a source of staggering 
pollution and is in desperate need of investment. 
 
4.  (U) One success story stands out.  In 2004, Bankers Petroleum, a 
Canadian oil company, was granted a 25-year Petroleum Agreement (PA) 
for the development of the Patos Marinez oilfield in southern 
Albania, which with 2 billion barrels of reserves is one of the 
largest in continental Europe.  The PA provides for equal production 
sharing between Bankers and the state oil producer Albpetrol, once 
the initial capital investment has been recovered.  After a two-year 
study phase, Bankers started production using modern technology and 
extraction methods its Canadian engineers honed in Alberta's heavy 
crude oil fields. 
5.  (SBU) According to Bankers, it has invested more than USD 70 
million over the past three years to reactivate 160 existing wells. 
By December 2007 the company had increased production to more than 
5,300 Barrels Per Day (BPD) from 700 BPD when it arrived in 2006. 
Bankers plans to invest up to USD 300 million to reactivate 
additional wells and to develop new ones with the goal of eventually 
increasing production to 25,000 BPD in the next two to three years. 
Employing new production technology, Bankers aims to increase 
commercially extractable oil reserves in Patos from 10 percent today 
to 40 percent.  The company has also set an impressive example for 
environmental standards in its drilling operations.  (Note: Embassy 
representatives have visited the Patos field where Bankers' modern 
drilling rigs operate side-by-side with Albpetrol's aging, 1930s-era 
derricks.  The contrast is startling and surreal.  Bankers' rigs are 
spotless and operate surrounded by gravel painted white to highlight 
oil spills, of which none were in evidence.  Albpetrol's derricks 
are a dystopian vision of creaking, antiquated equipment in 
tar-covered fields connected by six-foot deep canals filled with the 
overflow of past oil spills.) 
An Albanian Oil Boom? 
--------------------- 
6.  (U) Albania has estimated oil reserves of 429 million tons.  In 
2007, two new petroleum agreements were signed with the Canadian 
 
TIRANA 00000345  002 OF 002 
 
 
company Sherwood International and the Greek company Stream Oil and 
Gas, Ltd. for the development of another five oilfields in southern 
Albania.  It is expected that these investments will further 
increase domestic production, although there are no production 
projections available at this time.  Both companies are expected to 
start full operations by 2009. 
7.  (SBU) Last year Manas Petroleum Corporation, a Swiss-based oil 
and gas exploration company, was awarded a license to explore for 
oil and gas reserves in a four-block area covering approximately 
780,000 acres, located along a geological fold in northwestern 
Albania.  In January a report prepared by Gustavson Associates, LLC 
of Colorado was picked up by local media regarding the potential for 
vast new reserves of oil and gas in the north of Albania.  According 
to the report's findings, unproven reserves hold up to 3 billion 
barrels of oil, including more commercially valuable lighter grades 
of crude, and 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.  While the 
report discussed potential, not proven, reserves and assessed only 
preliminary data, expectations for further oil discoveries and 
greater production in the future remain high. (Ref A) 
 
Private Investment Leading Oil Sector Development 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
8.  (U) Albpetrol, through existing Petroleum Agreements with 
various foreign oil companies, has farmed out almost 90 percent of 
the country's oil extraction industry.  This is part of an overall 
government strategy to privatize the entire oil sector as the most 
critical step for the development of the industry.  The recent soar 
in global oil prices is also increasing foreign interest in 
Albania's hydrocarbon resources and facilitating the adoption of 
advanced production technology to extract Albania's lower quality of 
crude oil in greater volumes than was possible in prior decades. 
 
9.  (U) The increase of domestic oil production will improve the 
economic viability of Albania's oil processing industry.  After a 
failed privatization attempt in 2004 due to a lack of investor 
interest, the GOA has again launched an international tender for the 
sale of 85 percent of the shares of the state-owned oil-refining 
company ARMO and its primary assets of two outdated heavy crude 
refineries and the country's wholesale oil distribution network. 
The GOA is optimistic for a successful privatization of ARMO this 
time.  Fifteen potential buyers have expressed interest in 
purchasing ARMO, due in part to the fact that ARMO's refineries are 
uniquely suited to process heavy crude oil, which is increasingly 
attractive to international refiners as lower grades of crude grow 
more expensive and scarce on world markets. 
 
Hungarian Proxy for Russian Lukoil? 
----------------------------------- 
 
10.  (SBU) Among the 15 companies which have expressed interest in 
ARMO's privatization is the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL. 
MOL's interest has raised eyebrows due to its reportedly close ties 
to the Russian oil and gas company Lukoil.  (Note: Citing Hungarian 
media sources, an Albanian daily has reported that MOL formed a 
50-50 joint venture several years ago with Lukoil (which has since 
sold its share to Rosneft) in the Russian oil region of 
Zapadno-Malobalik.)  There is speculation that MOL enjoys the favor 
of Energy Minister Ruli, a rumor that gained some credibility when 
Ruli, who has long been dogged by unverified corruption rumors, 
singled out MOL for public praise several weeks ago in connection 
with the ARMO privatization.  A prominent Albanian oil importer who, 
in partnership with a U.S. refining company, will participate in the 
ARMO bid joined the speculation.  This Albanian oilman suggested 
Ruli had already struck a deal with MOL, a deal he claimed has the 
Prime Minister's blessing although not his fingerprints.  He noted 
that MOL is already in the Balkans, having sold its recently 
acquired share in Croatia's INA refining company to Lukoil.  Post 
will closely track signs of Russian interest in ARMO's privatization 
and whether the GOA is committed to a fair and transparent tender in 
the sale of one of its last remaining state-owned enterprises.  (See 
also Ref B.) 
 
CRISTINA