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Argentina has awarded exploration permits in 18 offshore areas, located in the South Atlantic, near the Malvinas Island controlled by the United Kingdom but claimed by Argentina. The winning companies and consortia, including BP, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Mitsui, Pluspetrol, Qatar Petroleum, Shell, Tecpetrol, Total, Tullow Oil, Wintershall, and YPF, offered bids totalling US$724m.

Argentina is seeking to raise its energy reserves and production, and to attract investors, which have been discouraged by government regulations and by the expropriation of a 51% stake in YPF held by Repsol in April 2012. Oil production fell by more than 38% between 2000 (40 Mt) and 2017 (25 Mt); according to preliminary statistics, it remained stable in 2018.

The canton of Thurgau (Switzerland), which owns 12.25% in the Swiss energy supplier Axpo (the remainder is shared between other Swiss cantons and local utilities), has proposed to update rules governing Axpo’s ownership structure, that were adopted in 1914.

Kazakhstan sovereign fund Samruk-Kazyna is considering selling another stake in Kazakhstan’s state-held uranium producer Kazatomprom, depending on market conditions and on the fund’s budget. Approximately 15% of the company’s share capital was listed in an initial public offering (IPO) in Astana and on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in November 2018; Samruk-Kazyna retained the remaining 85%. …

Swiss power group Alpiq has decided to sell its two coal-fired power plants in the Czech Republic, Kladno and Zlín, with a combined capacity of 580 MW, to the Czech coal mining group Sev.en Energy for €280m.

Italian energy group Eni has signed agreements with Algerian state-owned oil and gas group Sonatrach to renew their gas supply contract until 2027 (plus two additional optional years). The agreement also includes transportation arrangements through the 37 bcm/year Enrico Mattei gas pipeline crossing the Mediterranean Sea since 2008. Eni has been importing gas from Algeria for more than 40 years.

Uzbekistan’s nuclear development agency UzAtom and the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom have signed an agreement to start engineering surveys for the site of the first nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan. UzAtom has already started the site selection process and aims to grant a site licence in September 2020.

The Ministry of Oil of Iraq has announced plans to commission the Kerbala refinery in 2022. The construction was awarded to a South Korean consortium led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction and it started in 2014. However, works have been stalled due to a lack of finance. The refinery would have a capacity of 150,000 bbl/d, slightly higher than initially planned (140,000 bbl/d). …

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has allowed Freeport LNG to site, build and operate a fourth LNG train at its LNG export terminal project near Freeport, Texas (United States). Freeport LNG expects to secure the US Department of Energy approval to export LNG from the fourth train to non-Free Trade Agreement countries by late June 2019. …