Wetlands International supports Mongolia’s battle to save its peatland www.dutchwatersector.com

Wetlands International developed a Strategic Plan for peatland restoration and sustainable management in Mongolia, funded by the Asian Development Bank. The development of the plan include a rapid assessment study and a demonstration pilot project on peatlands management and restoration.

Mongolia receives 5th tranche of IMF loan www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has received the fifth tranche of funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), equivalent to around 36.22 million U.S. dollars, local media reported on Tuesday, citing the country's central bank.

Oyu Tolgoi: Past, present, future report www.ot.mn

This is a pioneering project, built on the foundation of an agreement between the Government of Mongolia, Turquoise Hill Resources and Rio Tinto that is going to be the third largest copper producer in the world. It is a business that has already made a significant economic contribution to Mongolia, with approximately US$8 billion already directly spent in country, of which over US$1.6billion in taxes, royalties and other payments directly to the state. This has made Oyu Tolgoi one of the largest tax payers in the country, something we are very proud of.
In addition, Oyu Tolgoi – with its contractors – today employs over 16,000 people of whom over 94% are Mongolian nationals. Add to this over 1,200 Mongolian companies that we work with, and a total workforce of over 45,000 people contributing to our progress everyday.
Even as a very young business, we have excelled – meeting and exceeding global standards. Our environmental record is second to none, with a best in class water usage performance and recycling. Oyu Tolgoi’s community development efforts – from water, roads, health, animal health and much more are recognised as among the best in the world and a true partnership with our community.
The project is the largest industrial undertaking in Mongolia today, and will be the foundation of economic development for the country for decades to come. Each member of the Oyu Tolgoi family is proud of the contribution we make, and eager to tell our story to the world.
This book is our effort to tell the Oyu Tolgoi story, from the pioneering beginning, to the exceptional business we are today – and the future we are building for generations to come.
We hope that this book will address any question you may have about Oyu Tolgoi, and equip you to be an ambassador in our pursuit to fulfil our mission: ‘Together deliver a safe and globally competitive copper business that contributes to the prosperity of Mongolia.’

Mongolia-China border checkpoints to be closed on November 8 and 26 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ There are two public holidays this month in Mongolia: on November 8 and 26. The birth anniversary of Chinggis Khaan is marked on the first day of first month of winter according to the lunar calendar. This year, it falls on November 8. As for November 26, the country will mark Proclamation Day.

Mongolia’s first three-level interchange opens www.news.mn

Mongolia’s first three-level interchange, the new Yarmag Overpass opened to traffic in Ulaanbaatar on Friday. The 4,312-meter three-level interchange is the main route to from the city centre to Chinggis Khaan International Airport and the development zone of the Mongolian capital.

DP caucus asks President to veto 2019 Budget Bill www.zgm.mn

Following the ratification of the draft bill on 2019 State Budget last friday, the President may put a veto on the decision as he previously requested the Parliament to cut expenditure. Although some of his requests, such as allocation to child protection activities, were fulfilled, the Parliament approved MNT 47 billion allocation for Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Development Fund, which drew public attention as several parliament members (MPs) allegedly tapped high-sum loans at low interest rate. Another key request addressed by the President during the budget discussion last month was to cut budget expenditure by around 15 percent; however, the Parliament adopted the bill without any significant change at MNT 1.9 trillion in deficit. As for revenue, several MPs and experts criticized that the budget has an optimistic assumption. For instance, coal export, one of the key export items was forecasted at 42 million tons in 2019. Parliament members, including the Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry Sumiyabazar Dolgorsuren explained that the amount is attainable with the completion of infrastructure projects currently being implemented in the main coal export route. “The full repayment of the bonds will begin in 2021.

Copper, gold mines now likely cheaper to construct than to buy-research www.mining.com

LONDON, Nov 5 – The cost of building a copper or gold mine is likely to be cheaper than buying an existing one, dampening the prospect of big merger activity in the mining sector, S&P Global Market Intelligence said, citing in-house research.

Data shared with Reuters support comments from major miners, including BHP and Rio Tinto , which say their strategy is to build or to "smart buy", if they can possibly find a suitable mine for sale at the right price or acquire part of a promising prospect.

Keval Dhokia, copper analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the research provider had analysed the expense of building new mines based on reserves found through exploration.

Research suggests that exploration and building is still the riskier but potentially more cost-effective alternative
S&P Global Market Intelligence compared the decade 2007-2016 with 1997-2006 for copper and found the cost of acquired reserves increased by $742.15 per metric tonne, while the average unit cost of exploration-derived reserves rose $54.93 per tonne.

For gold, comparing the periods 2008-2017 and 1999-2008, the average unit cost in acquired reserves rose by $121.93 per troy ounce, much more than the $41.74 per troy ounce increase in the average unit cost of gold in reserves derived from exploration.

At the same time, the share of gold reserves growth attributable to acquisitions dropped to 30.4 percent in the decade ending 2017 from 51.3 percent in the previous decade.

Growth in copper reserves from big buys fell to 33.8 percent between 2007-2016 from 43.8 percent between 1997-2006.

Copper, one of the most effective electrical conductors, is in focus as miners see good demand prospects from both traditional consumers and from increased use in electric vehicles and global improvements in grid infrastructure.

Although on paper building projects is the better option and for majors offers the chance of tailoring them to maximise returns, finding reserves is harder as the more obvious ore bodies in politically stable countries have been depleted.

The declines in copper prices and exploration budgets that marked 2013 to 2016 had little impact on copper discoveries, which had already sunk to record low levels, S&P Global Market Intelligence said.

One of the few stand-out development projects is SolGold's copper-gold project in Ecuador.

Major BHP in September and October bought shares in SolGold, amounting to an 11.2 percent stake in two stages.

It paid a 32 percent premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average London Stock Exchange price for the second stake and 20 percent for the first in a total spend of around $95 million.

That compared with a previous offer SolGold rejected of $30 million for a 10 percent stake in the company in October 2016.

Dhokia, like other analysts, expects a copper shortfall to deepen over time and boost prices. This year the copper market has fallen nearly 15 percent as trade tensions between the U.S. and China have raised the prospect of reduced Chinese demand.

(REUTERS: By Barbara Lewis and Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Exploration in Egypt, Ecuador, Russia, and Mongolia pushes boundaries www.ogj.com

Oil and gas companies are exploring in disparate parts of the world to add more reserves to fulfill growing world energy demand. Egypt intensified oil and gas exploration efforts in the Mediterranean and Red Sea while Ecuador recently opened more onshore blocks to international investors.

Tharwa Petroleum Co. of Egypt partnered with Eni SPA of Italy to spud their first exploratory well at Noor offshore gas field along the North Sinai coast in late September. Eni is exploring in about 25 countries to find more reserves, Eni Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi said.

Descalzi believes Eni can add oil and natural gas reserves through disciplined exploration spending at lower cost than it can through acquiring producing properties. He estimates 400-500 million bbl has been added to Eni’s reserves in 6 years at about $2/bbl.

Meanwhile, various Latin American governments have revised oil and gas investment incentives. Colombia used tax credits to attract more exploration while Mexico and Argentina sought to attract investment in onshore conventional plays, Wood Mackenzie Ltd. analysts report.

In September, Ecuador launched its 2018 Intracampos Round for eight onshore blocks in the oil-prone northwestern Oriente basin. Ecuador Presidential Decree No. 449, dated July 12, changed the structure of investments from service contracts to a new petroleum sharing contract.

International companies actively explored in Ecuador during in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but they had scaled back, saying earlier effects failed to meet expectations.

In Russia, Gazprom OAO has steadily replenished its annual production volumes and built up its reserves through exploration. The gas giant is accelerating exploration around the Yamal Peninsula and Russia’s Far East.

Mongolia begin issuing oil and gas licenses in 1992 but interest by exploration companies has been low. A UK company is actively exploring in Mongolia.

EGYPT
Companies other than Tharwa and Eni also are exploring in Egypt. IPR Energy Group Inc. (IPR) of Irving, Tex., in August discovered a field in the Alamein lease of Egypt’s Western Desert. IPR is executing a large drilling program and workovers covering the Western Desert, Nile Delta, and Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt.

In the Western Desert, the Southeast Alamein-1X (SEAL-1X) exploration well encountered 97 ft of pay from Razzak sand, Basal Middle and Upper Bahariya sands, and Abu Roash G dolomite (Fig 1). Testing and evaluation of various zones are under way.

IPR drilled two new production wells in Alamein field (A-42, AL44), bringing another 580 bbl of oil on stream.

Exploration well AL45X discovered Dahab sand, extending IPR’s knowledge of channel sands. Initial tests exceeded 850 b/d of naturally flowing 30° API gravity crude.

The independent’s horizontal well NEAL-19H targets the Upper A-R G Dolomite of the Northeast Alamein (NEAL) field in the Western Desert.

In the North Ras Qattara (NRQ) concession in the Western Desert, IPR’s exploration well NRQ-12X discovered oil, which tested 1,458 b/d from the Lower Bahariya formation. Two appraisal wells, NRQ 255-18 and NRQ-9-7, brought an additional 820 b/d.

Exploration well Ibn Yunis-1X found gas in the South Disouq concession of the Nile Delta. It flowed 26.9 MMcfd on test.

IPR said appraisal well, SD-4X flowed 28.7 MMcfd on test from the Abu El Maadi (AEM) formation. The SD-3X discovery showed hydrocarbons in both AEM and Kafr El Sheikh (KES) formations. Gas flowed 16 MMcfd on test from AEM.

The independent plans a seismic survey covering 170 sq km in the concession’s southern territory.

IPR has focused on Egypt since 1993. It also has gas production in Pakistan and some mineral rights ownership in the Permian basin of Texas. The company acquired offshore Egyptian holdings through its 2003 acquisition of Devon Energy International’s Gulf of Suez assets.

Separately in Egypt, Eni announced an August gas discovery on the Faramid South prospect in the East Obayed concession, 30 km northwest of the Melehia concession. Both concessions are in Egypt’s Western Desert where Eni is working to develop gas reserves.

The Faramid South well, which reached its 17,000 ft target, flowed 25 MMscfd, confirming the East Obayed.

Through its joint-venture operating company with Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (Agiba), Eni currently produces 55,000 boed from the Western Desert. Agiba owns 100% of East Obayed concession.

ECUADOR
The Ministry of Energy and Non-renewable Resources in Ecuador announced a licensing round for eight blocks onshore Ecuador (Fig. 2). Ecuador officials say they designed the round to attract international investors based on production sharing contracts (PSCs) and updated tax, fiscal, and legal terms.

Northwest Oriente basin reservoirs involve the Cretaceous Hollin and Napo formations, which comprise successions of sand-rich fluvial and deltaic deposits, WoodMac reports. The blocks are near existing pipelines and other infrastructure.

Ecuador officials talked with oil and gas executives in Houston on Sept. 25 during a road show on the licensing round. Carlos Perez, Ecuador’s Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, told reporters he anticipates the round could attract $1 billion in investment.

A lingering issue for oil and gas investors is dispute resolution. Ecuador withdrew from the World Bank arbitration court in 2009. For the latest licensing round, Ecuador’s government agreed to arbitration by Colombian courts if any dispute resolution is needed.

Colombia has established petroleum laws and represents a Latin America perspective, said Noble Pendergrass, WoodMac principal petroleum economist for the Americas.

The PSCs have no cost provisions or royalty, but full production value is placed into a profit-sharing pool. The profit-sharing pool is split between the company and Ecuador’s government based on a percentage involving a production component and a biddable price component.

The production component is calculated using a tier-based system that increases with increased daily production. The biddable component increases as the oil price increases.

Pendergrass said a sovereignty adjustment can be applied to the profit share. Each year, the cumulative cash flows, including all taxes and costs, are calculated for the government and contractor. If the government share is less than 51%, the difference will be added into the government’s profit share the next year.

In addition, Ecuador cancelled its windfall tax. Two production taxes, called Ley 10 and Ley 40, will provide revenues for ecological redevelopment and provincial income. Two income taxes also apply. They are the labor participation tax and the corporate income tax, which together apply at a 36.25% rate to profits.

RUSSIA
Rosneft announced plans to spend almost $2.5 billion in oil exploration in Russia’s Far East and offshore its eastern Arctic during 2017-22.

Gazprom recently outlined its exploration efforts in Russia’s Far East as well as the Nadym-Pur-Taz region, the Yamal Peninsula, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and the Irkutsk Region.

The company reported estimated gas reserves of 35.4 trillion cubic m as of Dec. 31, 2017. The company is reviewing its estimates following adoption of a new Russian Classification of Reserves and Forecast Resources of Oil and Flammable Gases.

Gazprom expects to complete its reserves estimate review by 2021. Meanwhile, it is working to add gas reserve through exploration.

Gazprom drilled two exploratory wells in Kovyktinskoye field in the Irkutsk Region in 2017 and plans to drill more wells in that area (Fig. 3). It acquired 3D seismic surveys covering 2,400 sq km. It also drilled an exploration well in Tas-Yuryakhskoye field last year.

Gazprom drills exploration wells in Irkutsk Region in ongoing efforts to increase its natural gas reserves (Fig. 3). Photo from Gazprom.

During 2018–21, Gazprom plans 20 exploratory wells and 3D seismic surveys covering 3,800 sq km. In Yakutia, efforts are under way to explore Chayandinskoye, Tas-Yuryakhskoye, Verkhnevilyuchanskoye, Sobolokh-Nedzhelinskoye and Srednetyungskoye fields.

Gazprom executives believe the Nadym-Pur-Taz production region has more resources. Petroleum engineers are studying deposits lying under and above the Cenomanian horizon.

Experts estimate resource potential of the above-Cenomanian deposits in Gazprom’s fields across the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area to be 4 trillion cu m. Gazprom continues to explore that area, both onshore and offshore the Yamal Peninsula shelf (Fig. 4).

The Nanhai VIII semisubmersible transited under tow earlier this year from the Port of Murmansk to drill a well at Gazprom’s Rusanovsky license area in the Kara Sea. (Fig. 4). Photo from Gazprom.

Gazprom is developing giant Kharasaveyskoye gas-and-condensate field on the Yamal Peninsula in arctic Russia. Kharasaveyskoye straddles the Kara Sea coast north of Bovanenskovskoye gas-and-condensate field, which will reach design capacity of 115 billion cu m/year of gas with the 2018 launch of a third 5.5-million tonne/year liquefaction train at the Yamal LNG plant.

Gazprom estimates Kharasaveyskoye holds explored and preliminary estimated (C1+C2) reserves of 2 trillion cu m of gas. Initial development will target Cenomanian-Aptian deposits, from which production is scheduled to start in 2023 at an estimated 32 billion cu m/year.

MONGOLIA
Petro Matad Ltd. plugged and abandoned the Snow Leopard-1 well in the Valley of the Lakes complex’s Taats basin of Block V in Mongolia. Snow Leopard 1 was the first exploration well drilled in the Valley of the Lakes complex, said Petro Matad, which holds 100% interest. It reached 2,930 m MD in granitic basement.

Snow Leopard 1 encountered no sands at the shallower of the two primary targets. No oil or gas shows were observed in the well’s deeper objectives. Snow Leopard-1 operations stopped in September.

“Data and samples gathered during the drilling of the well are now under evaluation to determine the implications of the well results for the surrounding prospectivity,” Petro Matad said in a news release.

“The presence of thick shales and oil and gas shows in the well highlight the potential prospectivity of the Taats basin in which a number of other prospects and leads have been mapped.”

The UK independent moved the rig from Snow Leopard-1 to Wild Horse 1 well where drilling was expected to start by Nov. 1.

The company expected Wild Horse drilling to take 30-45 days to reach a target depth of 2,200 m. The target is the Baatsagaan basin in Petro Matad’s Block IV.

By

Paula Dittrick Senior Staff Writer
Paula Dittrick has covered oil and gas from Houston for more than 20 years. Starting in May 2007, she developed a health, safety, and environment beat for Oil & Gas Journal. Dittrick is familiar with the industry’s financial aspects. She also monitors issues associated with carbon sequestration and renewable energy.

Dittrick joined OGJ in February 2001. Previously, she worked for Dow Jones and United Press International. She began writing about oil and gas as UPI’s West Texas bureau chief during the 1980s. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska in 1974.

Mongolia says it can fully secure domestic demand for wheat, potato www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia can now fully secure its domestic demand for wheat and potatoes, the country's Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry said Monday.

Oldest evidence of dairying on the East Asian Steppe www.sciencedaily.com

Although dairy pastoralism once made Mongolian steppe herders successful enough to conquer most of Asia and Europe, the origins of this way of life on the East Asian steppe are still unclear. Now an international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History has uncovered evidence that dairying arrived in Mongolia as early as 1300 BC through a process of cultural transmission rather than population replacement or migration.

Two thousand years before the armies of Ghengis Khan, populations in Mongolia were already living a pastoralist, dairying lifestyle -- similar to that which would enable future populations to conquer most of Asia and Europe. Although pastoralism has long been the primary means of subsistence on the East Asian steppe, the origins of this tradition have been unclear. Now, an international team of researchers has uncovered the earliest direct evidence to date of dairying in Mongolia -- around 1300 BC -- by tracking milk proteins preserved in tooth tartar. The livestock that were milked -- cattle, sheep and goats -- are not native to the region and were likely introduced by Western Steppe herders. However, ancient DNA evidence from Bronze Age Mongolians indicates minimal genetic contributions from Western Steppe herders, suggesting that the livestock and dairying technologies were transferred by cultural processes rather than a major population migration, in contrast to the pattern seen in Europe. The findings are published in PNAS.

Cultural and technological transfer without population replacement

Researchers analyzed human remains from six sites in northern Mongolia associated with the Deer Stone-Khirigsuur Complex (DSKC). "The DSKC is well-known for their monumental architecture, including upright stones with deer and other motifs, and large stone mounds, often associated with one or more human burials," explains co-first author Shevan Wilkin of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "In some locations, these structures are highly conspicuous and visible from great distances." The DSKC is the earliest culture associated archaeologically with pastoralism in Mongolia, with sites containing bones of sheep, goat, cattle and horse as early as the 13th century BC. However, to date no direct observations of dairy consumption had been made in this area.

The researchers conducted genome-wide analyses on 22 Bronze Age individuals, whose remains were radiocarbon dated to the late Bronze Age, ca. 1300-900 BC. Whole genome sequencing was further performed on two of these individuals. The results of these analyses showed that these Bronze Age Mongolians were genetically distinct from Western steppe herders of the same time period, indicating that the appearance of dairying in Mongolia was not the result of population migration and replacement.

"These findings suggest that neighboring Western steppe herders directly or indirectly introduced dairy pastoralism to local indigenous populations primarily through a process of cultural exchange," explains Choongwon Jeong, co-first and co-senior author, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "We don't see evidence for the kind of large-scale population replacement by Western Steppe herders that has been observed in Bronze Age Europe or in the nearby Altai-Sayan region."

Analysis of dental calculus shows clear evidence of dairy consumption

The researchers also analyzed the dental calculus of nine individuals using proteomics. Milk proteins were found in the calculus of seven individuals, confirming that dairy products were consumed as early as 1300 BC. Both whey and curd proteins were recovered, and could be identified as coming from sheep, goats and cattle. Interestingly, none of the individuals was lactase persistent -- genetically capable of digesting the milk sugar lactose. Most Mongolians today are also not lactase persistent, despite consuming a large proportion of their diet as dairy products.

"The 3,000-year legacy of dairy pastoralism in Mongolia poses challenging questions to grand narratives of human adaptation and natural selection," explains Christina Warinner, senior author, of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "As a non-lactase persistent dairying society with a rich prehistory, Mongolia can serve as a model for understanding how other adaptations, such as cultural practices or microbiome alterations, may be involved in enabling and maintaining dairy-based cuisines around the world."

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Materials provided by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.