One Year Into New OPEC Era, You Made 12% Buying These Oil Bonds
- Glut of oil coincided with drought of Russian bond issuance
- Rosneft mystery benefactor's $15 billion solves debt dilemma
An employee inspects pressure gauges at an oil plant operated by Salym Petroleum in Salym, Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, Russia, on Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Gazprom Neft and Shell have begun exploring for tight oil in Siberia within their Salym Petroleum Development project, while state-run competitor OAO Rosneft has brought in Exxon Mobil Corp., Statoil ASA and Eni SpA to develop shale and offshore projects.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergIn the year since OPEC ushered in a new era of depressed crude, Siberian oil fields are proving to be a refuge for bond investors.
Rosneft OJSC and Lukoil PJSC, Russia’s biggest producers, handed 12 percent to bondholders since the Saudi-led group abandoned its role as a swing producer on Nov. 27, 2014. Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes tracking global oil-company debt suffered losses as the price of oil fell 40 percent.