russia · web viewlower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for...
TRANSCRIPT
Russia 091007
Basic Political DevelopmentsReuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7RBC Russian and Czech presidents to meet in Moscow on October 14 2009Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military basePeoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talksISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pausesBSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialogueItar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierRFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to ArmeniaThe Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationsItar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S OssetiaRIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talksThe Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council sessionVostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir VladimirovichTroika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialogue - Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern EuropeIndiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchInterfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with PopeReuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperAvionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipeRIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercisesItar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far EastThe Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian MilitaryEuro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatingsRussia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyThe Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackoutRussia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadeRSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderReuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectsRIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
National Economic Trends Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrel Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116 Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster - The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil
group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for
Polypropylene Project in Tobolsk Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Gazprom Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aires Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplies WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010 Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and
Risk Management Solution Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7httpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL749293220091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1245pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russias newspapers on Wednesday Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy
KOMMERSANT
wwwkommersantru
- Russias tax police have filed a tax evasion claim against Austrias Strabag AG construction company and raided the companys offices in Moscow on Tuesday in search of relevant documents the daily reports
- Russian troubled carmaker GAZ (GAZARTS Quote Profile Research) has agreed on the restructuring of its loan worth 33 billion roubles with Alfa-Bank who is the last creditor to not have accepted the debt restructuring programme the daily reports
- Prosecutors in Volgograd have launched probes into the legality of high salaries of top managers at local companies to quell social tension caused by the economic crisis
VEDOMOSTI
wwwvedomostiru
- Russian state-run telecom holding company Svyazinvest may obtain a controlling stake in regional cellular operator SMARTS the daily reported
- Transneft (TRNF_pMM Quote Profile Research) independent director Oleg Vyugin is urging the firms board of directors to make transparent the companys spendings on charity Russias oil pipeline monopoly has already spent 136 million roubles in the first three months of the year the daily says
- Russia has received an extra $100 million to continue its refurbishment of the Soviet-era Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for Indias navy according to Nikolai Kalistratov head of Sevmash shipmaker
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
wwwrgru
- Russias financial officials have dismissed rumors that they have engaged in talks to replace the US dollar as a global currency the daily reports
- Next year the government will have to divert its investments to create enough facilities to store harvested crops and to increase grain exports the daily says in connection with reports that this year will have a high grain production
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
wwwvremyaru
- Russia plans to make up to 70 billion instead of the expected 7 billion through the privatization of state assets
- Russias oil firms produced a record 41 million tonnes of oil in September and are forecasting 500 million tonnes production in the next few years the daily reports
IZVESTIA
wwwizvestiaru
- The number of state officials has doubled in the last ten years and budget expenditure for support grew by 30 percent the daily says quoting local officials
RBC Russian and Czech presidents to meet in Moscow
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007114509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 114509President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus is scheduled to appear in Moscow for an official visit on October 14 2009 According to the Russian leaders press office the visit will be held at Dmitry Medvedevs initiative The two presidents are expected to hold high-level talks on the same day
Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military basehttpeng24kgcis200910079249html
0710-2009 0810 Bishkek ndash News Agency ldquo24kgrdquo President of Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Presidential Chief-of-Staff Sergei Naryshkin have discussed possible opening of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan Russian mass media reported
Naryshkin reportedly arrived in Bishkek this Tuesday Negotiations between Kurmanbek Bakiev and the Russian high-ranking official have been held behind closed doors Thereafter Naryshkin stepped out to answer journalistsrsquo questions ldquoMilitary and political cooperation between the two countries is an important element of stability and security not only in Kyrgyzstan but in Central Asian region as a wholerdquo the official said Russia is also interested in relations with Kyrgyzstan attracting labor migrants Naryshkin outlined ldquoSocial security of migrants is an important issue for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan Both sides are interested in legalization of migrantsrsquo stay on Russian territory Migration services of our two states should jointly work to provide legality for labor migrantsrdquo the Russian official said
Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talkshttpenglishpeoplecomcn9000190777908536777302html
1313 October 07 2009Russia welcomes the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue an official said Tuesday
We support the intention of the DPRK and the United States to hold a bilateral dialogue as a prelude and a preparatory stage for resuming the six-party talks Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying
They will finalize the dates (of the bilateral meeting) themselves This is more likely a technical issue than a political one he said
Russia is ready to resume the six-party talks Borodavkin said
While meeting with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il said his country was willing to attend multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks
Launched in 2003 the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue involved China the DPRK the United States the Republic of Korea Russia and Japan
The talks have been stalled since the last round in Beijing last December
Source Xinhua
ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement httpwwwisriacompages7_October_2009_8php
The Special Envoys for Sudan of China the European Union France Russia the United Kingdom and the United States (the E6) met in Moscow on 6 October 2009 under the chairmanship of Mikhail Margelov Special Envoy for Sudan of the President of the Russian Federation
The E6 reviewed developments in Sudan since their first meeting in Doha in May They welcomed signs of progress including over Abyei and towards full deployment of UNAMID but noted the fundamental challenges remaining They underlined the need for further efforts and stronger political commitment by all parties in Sudan to build lasting peace stability and prosperity and confirmed their readiness to support these efforts and called on all regional and international partners to do the same
The E6 particularly underlined the urgency of progress to further efforts for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement They welcomed the work undertaken with the parties in this regard by US Special Envoy Scott Gration the Assessment and Evaluation Commission and the United Nations and between the parties themselves They urged the parties to reach agreement as soon as possible on arrangements for free and fair national elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum as well as on a work-plan to address issues of shared interest that will arise after 2011
The E6 expressed their strong concern over current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan and their readiness to support efforts by the authorities there to tackle these
The E6 received an update on efforts by the UNAU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole to engage with rebel factions and Darfuri civil society as part of a broader effort to restart peace talks in Doha by the end of October They strongly supported this objective They called on the Government of Sudan to do everything possible to facilitate such efforts and for all Darfuri leaders to engage urgently in the peace talks including those based elsewhere in the region and in Europe Any further delay would be unacceptable They strongly supported the renewed efforts by all sides to ensure peaceful cooperative relations across the region particularly between Sudan and Chad and to improve levels of humanitarian access and reduce insecurity In this regard they welcomed the expansion of the High-level Committee on Darfur to allow participation by interested countries the Arab League and the African Union
The E6 looked forward to forthcoming report on Peace Justice and Reconciliation in Darfur by the AU High-Level Panel led by former President Mbeki They expressed their common hope that its recommendations and follow-up action by all concerned in Sudan could contribute positively to resolution of the complex challenges facing Darfur Sudan as a whole and the region
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
National Economic Trends Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrel Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116 Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster - The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil
group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for
Polypropylene Project in Tobolsk Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Gazprom Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aires Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplies WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010 Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and
Risk Management Solution Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7httpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL749293220091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1245pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russias newspapers on Wednesday Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy
KOMMERSANT
wwwkommersantru
- Russias tax police have filed a tax evasion claim against Austrias Strabag AG construction company and raided the companys offices in Moscow on Tuesday in search of relevant documents the daily reports
- Russian troubled carmaker GAZ (GAZARTS Quote Profile Research) has agreed on the restructuring of its loan worth 33 billion roubles with Alfa-Bank who is the last creditor to not have accepted the debt restructuring programme the daily reports
- Prosecutors in Volgograd have launched probes into the legality of high salaries of top managers at local companies to quell social tension caused by the economic crisis
VEDOMOSTI
wwwvedomostiru
- Russian state-run telecom holding company Svyazinvest may obtain a controlling stake in regional cellular operator SMARTS the daily reported
- Transneft (TRNF_pMM Quote Profile Research) independent director Oleg Vyugin is urging the firms board of directors to make transparent the companys spendings on charity Russias oil pipeline monopoly has already spent 136 million roubles in the first three months of the year the daily says
- Russia has received an extra $100 million to continue its refurbishment of the Soviet-era Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for Indias navy according to Nikolai Kalistratov head of Sevmash shipmaker
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
wwwrgru
- Russias financial officials have dismissed rumors that they have engaged in talks to replace the US dollar as a global currency the daily reports
- Next year the government will have to divert its investments to create enough facilities to store harvested crops and to increase grain exports the daily says in connection with reports that this year will have a high grain production
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
wwwvremyaru
- Russia plans to make up to 70 billion instead of the expected 7 billion through the privatization of state assets
- Russias oil firms produced a record 41 million tonnes of oil in September and are forecasting 500 million tonnes production in the next few years the daily reports
IZVESTIA
wwwizvestiaru
- The number of state officials has doubled in the last ten years and budget expenditure for support grew by 30 percent the daily says quoting local officials
RBC Russian and Czech presidents to meet in Moscow
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007114509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 114509President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus is scheduled to appear in Moscow for an official visit on October 14 2009 According to the Russian leaders press office the visit will be held at Dmitry Medvedevs initiative The two presidents are expected to hold high-level talks on the same day
Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military basehttpeng24kgcis200910079249html
0710-2009 0810 Bishkek ndash News Agency ldquo24kgrdquo President of Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Presidential Chief-of-Staff Sergei Naryshkin have discussed possible opening of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan Russian mass media reported
Naryshkin reportedly arrived in Bishkek this Tuesday Negotiations between Kurmanbek Bakiev and the Russian high-ranking official have been held behind closed doors Thereafter Naryshkin stepped out to answer journalistsrsquo questions ldquoMilitary and political cooperation between the two countries is an important element of stability and security not only in Kyrgyzstan but in Central Asian region as a wholerdquo the official said Russia is also interested in relations with Kyrgyzstan attracting labor migrants Naryshkin outlined ldquoSocial security of migrants is an important issue for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan Both sides are interested in legalization of migrantsrsquo stay on Russian territory Migration services of our two states should jointly work to provide legality for labor migrantsrdquo the Russian official said
Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talkshttpenglishpeoplecomcn9000190777908536777302html
1313 October 07 2009Russia welcomes the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue an official said Tuesday
We support the intention of the DPRK and the United States to hold a bilateral dialogue as a prelude and a preparatory stage for resuming the six-party talks Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying
They will finalize the dates (of the bilateral meeting) themselves This is more likely a technical issue than a political one he said
Russia is ready to resume the six-party talks Borodavkin said
While meeting with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il said his country was willing to attend multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks
Launched in 2003 the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue involved China the DPRK the United States the Republic of Korea Russia and Japan
The talks have been stalled since the last round in Beijing last December
Source Xinhua
ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement httpwwwisriacompages7_October_2009_8php
The Special Envoys for Sudan of China the European Union France Russia the United Kingdom and the United States (the E6) met in Moscow on 6 October 2009 under the chairmanship of Mikhail Margelov Special Envoy for Sudan of the President of the Russian Federation
The E6 reviewed developments in Sudan since their first meeting in Doha in May They welcomed signs of progress including over Abyei and towards full deployment of UNAMID but noted the fundamental challenges remaining They underlined the need for further efforts and stronger political commitment by all parties in Sudan to build lasting peace stability and prosperity and confirmed their readiness to support these efforts and called on all regional and international partners to do the same
The E6 particularly underlined the urgency of progress to further efforts for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement They welcomed the work undertaken with the parties in this regard by US Special Envoy Scott Gration the Assessment and Evaluation Commission and the United Nations and between the parties themselves They urged the parties to reach agreement as soon as possible on arrangements for free and fair national elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum as well as on a work-plan to address issues of shared interest that will arise after 2011
The E6 expressed their strong concern over current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan and their readiness to support efforts by the authorities there to tackle these
The E6 received an update on efforts by the UNAU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole to engage with rebel factions and Darfuri civil society as part of a broader effort to restart peace talks in Doha by the end of October They strongly supported this objective They called on the Government of Sudan to do everything possible to facilitate such efforts and for all Darfuri leaders to engage urgently in the peace talks including those based elsewhere in the region and in Europe Any further delay would be unacceptable They strongly supported the renewed efforts by all sides to ensure peaceful cooperative relations across the region particularly between Sudan and Chad and to improve levels of humanitarian access and reduce insecurity In this regard they welcomed the expansion of the High-level Committee on Darfur to allow participation by interested countries the Arab League and the African Union
The E6 looked forward to forthcoming report on Peace Justice and Reconciliation in Darfur by the AU High-Level Panel led by former President Mbeki They expressed their common hope that its recommendations and follow-up action by all concerned in Sudan could contribute positively to resolution of the complex challenges facing Darfur Sudan as a whole and the region
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7httpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL749293220091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1245pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russias newspapers on Wednesday Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy
KOMMERSANT
wwwkommersantru
- Russias tax police have filed a tax evasion claim against Austrias Strabag AG construction company and raided the companys offices in Moscow on Tuesday in search of relevant documents the daily reports
- Russian troubled carmaker GAZ (GAZARTS Quote Profile Research) has agreed on the restructuring of its loan worth 33 billion roubles with Alfa-Bank who is the last creditor to not have accepted the debt restructuring programme the daily reports
- Prosecutors in Volgograd have launched probes into the legality of high salaries of top managers at local companies to quell social tension caused by the economic crisis
VEDOMOSTI
wwwvedomostiru
- Russian state-run telecom holding company Svyazinvest may obtain a controlling stake in regional cellular operator SMARTS the daily reported
- Transneft (TRNF_pMM Quote Profile Research) independent director Oleg Vyugin is urging the firms board of directors to make transparent the companys spendings on charity Russias oil pipeline monopoly has already spent 136 million roubles in the first three months of the year the daily says
- Russia has received an extra $100 million to continue its refurbishment of the Soviet-era Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for Indias navy according to Nikolai Kalistratov head of Sevmash shipmaker
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
wwwrgru
- Russias financial officials have dismissed rumors that they have engaged in talks to replace the US dollar as a global currency the daily reports
- Next year the government will have to divert its investments to create enough facilities to store harvested crops and to increase grain exports the daily says in connection with reports that this year will have a high grain production
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
wwwvremyaru
- Russia plans to make up to 70 billion instead of the expected 7 billion through the privatization of state assets
- Russias oil firms produced a record 41 million tonnes of oil in September and are forecasting 500 million tonnes production in the next few years the daily reports
IZVESTIA
wwwizvestiaru
- The number of state officials has doubled in the last ten years and budget expenditure for support grew by 30 percent the daily says quoting local officials
RBC Russian and Czech presidents to meet in Moscow
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007114509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 114509President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus is scheduled to appear in Moscow for an official visit on October 14 2009 According to the Russian leaders press office the visit will be held at Dmitry Medvedevs initiative The two presidents are expected to hold high-level talks on the same day
Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military basehttpeng24kgcis200910079249html
0710-2009 0810 Bishkek ndash News Agency ldquo24kgrdquo President of Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Presidential Chief-of-Staff Sergei Naryshkin have discussed possible opening of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan Russian mass media reported
Naryshkin reportedly arrived in Bishkek this Tuesday Negotiations between Kurmanbek Bakiev and the Russian high-ranking official have been held behind closed doors Thereafter Naryshkin stepped out to answer journalistsrsquo questions ldquoMilitary and political cooperation between the two countries is an important element of stability and security not only in Kyrgyzstan but in Central Asian region as a wholerdquo the official said Russia is also interested in relations with Kyrgyzstan attracting labor migrants Naryshkin outlined ldquoSocial security of migrants is an important issue for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan Both sides are interested in legalization of migrantsrsquo stay on Russian territory Migration services of our two states should jointly work to provide legality for labor migrantsrdquo the Russian official said
Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talkshttpenglishpeoplecomcn9000190777908536777302html
1313 October 07 2009Russia welcomes the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue an official said Tuesday
We support the intention of the DPRK and the United States to hold a bilateral dialogue as a prelude and a preparatory stage for resuming the six-party talks Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying
They will finalize the dates (of the bilateral meeting) themselves This is more likely a technical issue than a political one he said
Russia is ready to resume the six-party talks Borodavkin said
While meeting with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il said his country was willing to attend multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks
Launched in 2003 the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue involved China the DPRK the United States the Republic of Korea Russia and Japan
The talks have been stalled since the last round in Beijing last December
Source Xinhua
ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement httpwwwisriacompages7_October_2009_8php
The Special Envoys for Sudan of China the European Union France Russia the United Kingdom and the United States (the E6) met in Moscow on 6 October 2009 under the chairmanship of Mikhail Margelov Special Envoy for Sudan of the President of the Russian Federation
The E6 reviewed developments in Sudan since their first meeting in Doha in May They welcomed signs of progress including over Abyei and towards full deployment of UNAMID but noted the fundamental challenges remaining They underlined the need for further efforts and stronger political commitment by all parties in Sudan to build lasting peace stability and prosperity and confirmed their readiness to support these efforts and called on all regional and international partners to do the same
The E6 particularly underlined the urgency of progress to further efforts for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement They welcomed the work undertaken with the parties in this regard by US Special Envoy Scott Gration the Assessment and Evaluation Commission and the United Nations and between the parties themselves They urged the parties to reach agreement as soon as possible on arrangements for free and fair national elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum as well as on a work-plan to address issues of shared interest that will arise after 2011
The E6 expressed their strong concern over current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan and their readiness to support efforts by the authorities there to tackle these
The E6 received an update on efforts by the UNAU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole to engage with rebel factions and Darfuri civil society as part of a broader effort to restart peace talks in Doha by the end of October They strongly supported this objective They called on the Government of Sudan to do everything possible to facilitate such efforts and for all Darfuri leaders to engage urgently in the peace talks including those based elsewhere in the region and in Europe Any further delay would be unacceptable They strongly supported the renewed efforts by all sides to ensure peaceful cooperative relations across the region particularly between Sudan and Chad and to improve levels of humanitarian access and reduce insecurity In this regard they welcomed the expansion of the High-level Committee on Darfur to allow participation by interested countries the Arab League and the African Union
The E6 looked forward to forthcoming report on Peace Justice and Reconciliation in Darfur by the AU High-Level Panel led by former President Mbeki They expressed their common hope that its recommendations and follow-up action by all concerned in Sudan could contribute positively to resolution of the complex challenges facing Darfur Sudan as a whole and the region
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
wwwrgru
- Russias financial officials have dismissed rumors that they have engaged in talks to replace the US dollar as a global currency the daily reports
- Next year the government will have to divert its investments to create enough facilities to store harvested crops and to increase grain exports the daily says in connection with reports that this year will have a high grain production
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
wwwvremyaru
- Russia plans to make up to 70 billion instead of the expected 7 billion through the privatization of state assets
- Russias oil firms produced a record 41 million tonnes of oil in September and are forecasting 500 million tonnes production in the next few years the daily reports
IZVESTIA
wwwizvestiaru
- The number of state officials has doubled in the last ten years and budget expenditure for support grew by 30 percent the daily says quoting local officials
RBC Russian and Czech presidents to meet in Moscow
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007114509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 114509President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus is scheduled to appear in Moscow for an official visit on October 14 2009 According to the Russian leaders press office the visit will be held at Dmitry Medvedevs initiative The two presidents are expected to hold high-level talks on the same day
Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military basehttpeng24kgcis200910079249html
0710-2009 0810 Bishkek ndash News Agency ldquo24kgrdquo President of Kyrgyzstan and the Russian Presidential Chief-of-Staff Sergei Naryshkin have discussed possible opening of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan Russian mass media reported
Naryshkin reportedly arrived in Bishkek this Tuesday Negotiations between Kurmanbek Bakiev and the Russian high-ranking official have been held behind closed doors Thereafter Naryshkin stepped out to answer journalistsrsquo questions ldquoMilitary and political cooperation between the two countries is an important element of stability and security not only in Kyrgyzstan but in Central Asian region as a wholerdquo the official said Russia is also interested in relations with Kyrgyzstan attracting labor migrants Naryshkin outlined ldquoSocial security of migrants is an important issue for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan Both sides are interested in legalization of migrantsrsquo stay on Russian territory Migration services of our two states should jointly work to provide legality for labor migrantsrdquo the Russian official said
Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talkshttpenglishpeoplecomcn9000190777908536777302html
1313 October 07 2009Russia welcomes the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue an official said Tuesday
We support the intention of the DPRK and the United States to hold a bilateral dialogue as a prelude and a preparatory stage for resuming the six-party talks Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying
They will finalize the dates (of the bilateral meeting) themselves This is more likely a technical issue than a political one he said
Russia is ready to resume the six-party talks Borodavkin said
While meeting with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il said his country was willing to attend multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks
Launched in 2003 the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue involved China the DPRK the United States the Republic of Korea Russia and Japan
The talks have been stalled since the last round in Beijing last December
Source Xinhua
ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement httpwwwisriacompages7_October_2009_8php
The Special Envoys for Sudan of China the European Union France Russia the United Kingdom and the United States (the E6) met in Moscow on 6 October 2009 under the chairmanship of Mikhail Margelov Special Envoy for Sudan of the President of the Russian Federation
The E6 reviewed developments in Sudan since their first meeting in Doha in May They welcomed signs of progress including over Abyei and towards full deployment of UNAMID but noted the fundamental challenges remaining They underlined the need for further efforts and stronger political commitment by all parties in Sudan to build lasting peace stability and prosperity and confirmed their readiness to support these efforts and called on all regional and international partners to do the same
The E6 particularly underlined the urgency of progress to further efforts for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement They welcomed the work undertaken with the parties in this regard by US Special Envoy Scott Gration the Assessment and Evaluation Commission and the United Nations and between the parties themselves They urged the parties to reach agreement as soon as possible on arrangements for free and fair national elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum as well as on a work-plan to address issues of shared interest that will arise after 2011
The E6 expressed their strong concern over current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan and their readiness to support efforts by the authorities there to tackle these
The E6 received an update on efforts by the UNAU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole to engage with rebel factions and Darfuri civil society as part of a broader effort to restart peace talks in Doha by the end of October They strongly supported this objective They called on the Government of Sudan to do everything possible to facilitate such efforts and for all Darfuri leaders to engage urgently in the peace talks including those based elsewhere in the region and in Europe Any further delay would be unacceptable They strongly supported the renewed efforts by all sides to ensure peaceful cooperative relations across the region particularly between Sudan and Chad and to improve levels of humanitarian access and reduce insecurity In this regard they welcomed the expansion of the High-level Committee on Darfur to allow participation by interested countries the Arab League and the African Union
The E6 looked forward to forthcoming report on Peace Justice and Reconciliation in Darfur by the AU High-Level Panel led by former President Mbeki They expressed their common hope that its recommendations and follow-up action by all concerned in Sudan could contribute positively to resolution of the complex challenges facing Darfur Sudan as a whole and the region
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Naryshkin reportedly arrived in Bishkek this Tuesday Negotiations between Kurmanbek Bakiev and the Russian high-ranking official have been held behind closed doors Thereafter Naryshkin stepped out to answer journalistsrsquo questions ldquoMilitary and political cooperation between the two countries is an important element of stability and security not only in Kyrgyzstan but in Central Asian region as a wholerdquo the official said Russia is also interested in relations with Kyrgyzstan attracting labor migrants Naryshkin outlined ldquoSocial security of migrants is an important issue for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan Both sides are interested in legalization of migrantsrsquo stay on Russian territory Migration services of our two states should jointly work to provide legality for labor migrantsrdquo the Russian official said
Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talkshttpenglishpeoplecomcn9000190777908536777302html
1313 October 07 2009Russia welcomes the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)s willingness to return to the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue an official said Tuesday
We support the intention of the DPRK and the United States to hold a bilateral dialogue as a prelude and a preparatory stage for resuming the six-party talks Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying
They will finalize the dates (of the bilateral meeting) themselves This is more likely a technical issue than a political one he said
Russia is ready to resume the six-party talks Borodavkin said
While meeting with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il said his country was willing to attend multilateral talks including the six-party talks depending on the outcome of the DPRK-US talks
Launched in 2003 the six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue involved China the DPRK the United States the Republic of Korea Russia and Japan
The talks have been stalled since the last round in Beijing last December
Source Xinhua
ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement httpwwwisriacompages7_October_2009_8php
The Special Envoys for Sudan of China the European Union France Russia the United Kingdom and the United States (the E6) met in Moscow on 6 October 2009 under the chairmanship of Mikhail Margelov Special Envoy for Sudan of the President of the Russian Federation
The E6 reviewed developments in Sudan since their first meeting in Doha in May They welcomed signs of progress including over Abyei and towards full deployment of UNAMID but noted the fundamental challenges remaining They underlined the need for further efforts and stronger political commitment by all parties in Sudan to build lasting peace stability and prosperity and confirmed their readiness to support these efforts and called on all regional and international partners to do the same
The E6 particularly underlined the urgency of progress to further efforts for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement They welcomed the work undertaken with the parties in this regard by US Special Envoy Scott Gration the Assessment and Evaluation Commission and the United Nations and between the parties themselves They urged the parties to reach agreement as soon as possible on arrangements for free and fair national elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum as well as on a work-plan to address issues of shared interest that will arise after 2011
The E6 expressed their strong concern over current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan and their readiness to support efforts by the authorities there to tackle these
The E6 received an update on efforts by the UNAU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole to engage with rebel factions and Darfuri civil society as part of a broader effort to restart peace talks in Doha by the end of October They strongly supported this objective They called on the Government of Sudan to do everything possible to facilitate such efforts and for all Darfuri leaders to engage urgently in the peace talks including those based elsewhere in the region and in Europe Any further delay would be unacceptable They strongly supported the renewed efforts by all sides to ensure peaceful cooperative relations across the region particularly between Sudan and Chad and to improve levels of humanitarian access and reduce insecurity In this regard they welcomed the expansion of the High-level Committee on Darfur to allow participation by interested countries the Arab League and the African Union
The E6 looked forward to forthcoming report on Peace Justice and Reconciliation in Darfur by the AU High-Level Panel led by former President Mbeki They expressed their common hope that its recommendations and follow-up action by all concerned in Sudan could contribute positively to resolution of the complex challenges facing Darfur Sudan as a whole and the region
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement httpwwwisriacompages7_October_2009_8php
The Special Envoys for Sudan of China the European Union France Russia the United Kingdom and the United States (the E6) met in Moscow on 6 October 2009 under the chairmanship of Mikhail Margelov Special Envoy for Sudan of the President of the Russian Federation
The E6 reviewed developments in Sudan since their first meeting in Doha in May They welcomed signs of progress including over Abyei and towards full deployment of UNAMID but noted the fundamental challenges remaining They underlined the need for further efforts and stronger political commitment by all parties in Sudan to build lasting peace stability and prosperity and confirmed their readiness to support these efforts and called on all regional and international partners to do the same
The E6 particularly underlined the urgency of progress to further efforts for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement They welcomed the work undertaken with the parties in this regard by US Special Envoy Scott Gration the Assessment and Evaluation Commission and the United Nations and between the parties themselves They urged the parties to reach agreement as soon as possible on arrangements for free and fair national elections in 2010 and the 2011 referendum as well as on a work-plan to address issues of shared interest that will arise after 2011
The E6 expressed their strong concern over current security and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan and their readiness to support efforts by the authorities there to tackle these
The E6 received an update on efforts by the UNAU Joint Chief Mediator Djibril Bassole to engage with rebel factions and Darfuri civil society as part of a broader effort to restart peace talks in Doha by the end of October They strongly supported this objective They called on the Government of Sudan to do everything possible to facilitate such efforts and for all Darfuri leaders to engage urgently in the peace talks including those based elsewhere in the region and in Europe Any further delay would be unacceptable They strongly supported the renewed efforts by all sides to ensure peaceful cooperative relations across the region particularly between Sudan and Chad and to improve levels of humanitarian access and reduce insecurity In this regard they welcomed the expansion of the High-level Committee on Darfur to allow participation by interested countries the Arab League and the African Union
The E6 looked forward to forthcoming report on Peace Justice and Reconciliation in Darfur by the AU High-Level Panel led by former President Mbeki They expressed their common hope that its recommendations and follow-up action by all concerned in Sudan could contribute positively to resolution of the complex challenges facing Darfur Sudan as a whole and the region
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
The E6 underlined the essential role of the United Nations and African Union as well as other regional organizations and neighboring states in supporting the parties to work through the urgent remaining challenges to peace They called for particular attention in forthcoming international appointments to ensuring full coherence and coordination in UNAU efforts and for stronger and more concerted leadership at all levels
The E6 resolved to meet again as necessary to exchange views on the situation in Sudan and how they could work together and with others to support the parties to build peace
Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauseshttpwwwkyivpostcomnation50200
Today 1000 | Interfax-UkraineContacts between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will continue without any pauses said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Contacts between the two countries foreign ministries are being maintained permanently We have a concrete job to do which we are doing and this work is proceeding without significant pauses As regards contacts at other levels it is for relevant executive agencies of other branches of government to agree on this Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
Asked whether any of the two presidents may pay a state visit to his counterparts country Lavrov said If youve read the address [Russian President Dmitry Medvedevs open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko] you should have some understanding of the situation
We did not associate todays meeting with any events or any situations Lavrov said
Khandohiy suggested that the Ukrainian and Russian presidents may meet at a CIS summit in Chisinau on October 9 The two presidents will take part in the same session at the same conference hall he said
BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations httpbsanna-newsukrinformuanewsitemphpid=10596amplang=en
KYIV October 7 UKRINFORM A number of consultations on Black Sea settlement will be held between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia the two countries MFA heads agreed during their meeting in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine)
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Ukraines Acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy says the pattern of the meetings was coordinated at the level of deputy ministers and sub-commissions ldquoWe have outlined real moves that may change the situation over the Black Sea settlement The current dialogue inspires real optimismrdquo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also pointed out the positive spirit of the negotiations and stressed that the future dialogue must proceed in a constructive mode without any politicizing ldquoThe main thing is to follow the agreements reached The adjustment must solve problems involved in both countries navigation in the first placerdquo
The Georgian Times Lavrov sceptical about ukraine`s mediation in Georgia-Russia dialoguehttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18624
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is sceptical about the proposal of the Ukrainian authorities to mediate in the process of resuming dialogue between Russia and Georgia Lavrov responded to the proposal of the Ukraine`s foreign minister`s designate who said Ukraine was prepared to contribute to the improvement of Georgia-Russia relations during his visit to UkraineHe said neither Georgia nor Ukraine has addressed Russia with the proposalUkrainian foreign ministry authorities defined that Georgia had not addressed Ukraine with the demand however Ukraine was prepared to mediate in this conflict in order to solve the conflict between Georgia and Russia
Rustavi2 20091007 1025
Itar-Tass Lavrov favors more checkpoints on Russia-Ukraine frontierhttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406015ampPageNum=0
06102009 2311
MOSCOW October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for enlarging the number of checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border and their modernization to European standards
ldquoCheckpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border is a very sensitive subjectrdquo he said after Tuesday negotiations with Ukrainian Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Khandogiy ldquoThis is our concern because it is directly related to the life of our citizens We would like to have a sufficient number of checkpoints so that people could maintain normal family cultural and humanitarian contacts The checkpoints must meet European standardsrdquo the minister said
Lavrov indicated the financial aspect of the problem
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
In the opinion of the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers the problem should be resolved between agencies of both countries with due account of the opinion of authorities in border regions
Lavrov said the issue would be discussed at the Wednesday meeting of the two foreign ministers with heads of border regions ldquoI hope additional measures will be taken on results of tomorrowrsquos consultationsrdquo he said
RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill httpwwwrferlorgcontentUkraine_Says_Paid_September_Russian_Gas_Bill1845326html
October 07 2009 KYIV (Reuters) -- Ukraine has paid in full and on time its September bill for Russian gas imports state energy company Naftogaz said on October 6
Naftogazs previous delays in paying for gas bills led to rows with Moscow and disruption of gas supplies to Europe which receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia running through Ukrainian territory
Earlier government officials had said that the September bill amounted to $400 million The money is in Gazproms account a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters referring to Russias state export gas monopoly
RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armeniahttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156378845html
113707102009
YEREVAN October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has resumed transit of Russian natural gas to Armenia after a break for pipeline repairs a spokesman for the Armenian gas pipeline operator ArmRosgazprom said on Wednesday
Natural gas transit was halted last Thursday and resumed on Tuesday evening the spokesman said
Georgia earlier announced that gas transit to Russia would be suspended on October 1-5 due to repairs and maintenance work on the North Caucasus-South Caucasus trunk pipeline to prepare for the winter season
During the repairs Armenia used natural gas from an underground storage facility the spokesman said
Armenian-Russian joint gas venture ArmRosgazprom has a monopoly on Russian gas supplies and distribution in Armenia
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Russian energy giant Gazprom controls 7555 in the joint venture the Armenian government holds a 20 stake and Russias Itera company another 444
The Georgian Times Differences on Georgia topical in NATO-Russia relationshttpwwwgeotimesgeindexphpm=homeampnewsid=18622
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen could pay a visit to Russia in December Hwever a date for Rasmussen`s possible trip has not yet been selected NATO spokesman James Appathurai said during a video link-up from Brussels
Such a visit could take place before the end of the year possibly in December Appathurai said
Addressing problems facing NATO-Russia relations the alliance`s spokesman said that key disagreements are related to Georgia
Russia has recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states but no NATO member-states have agreed to recognize the republics` independence he said
Commenting on relations between Russia and Ukraine Appathurai said that NATO would not like to see an escalation in these relations Mlitary cooperation between these two countries is their bilateral issue he added
Itar-Tass US radio mouthpiece to launch programs for Akbkhazia S Ossetiahttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405290ampPageNum=0
07102009 0324
WASHINGTON October 7 (Itar-Tass) ndash Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty (RFERL) a broadcasting organization sponsored by the US Administration plans launching programs for the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia Martins Zvaners the associate director for communications of the Prague-based station told Itar-Tass in Washington
A 60-minutes-long daily program targeted at the two former regions of Georgia is due to go on the air as of November 2 It will be co-produced by the Russian and Georgian boards of the station in Prague
According to Zvaners RFERL plans to attract reporters from Abkhazia South Ossetia Georgia and Russia to providing stories for the broadcasts
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Earlier an Internet portal in Prague said RFERL staff member Andrei Babitsky who has made his name notorious in the past by interviewing the terrorist Shamil Basayev will coordinate the new program
Zvaners confirmed on his part that Babitsky has a position in this program but it is an open question yet whether he will chair the whole project
Zvaners also claimed that the broadcasts for Abkhazia and South Ossetia will have a classical format consisting of newscasts with account of the listenersrsquo interests
The objective of this programming is reconciliation and the bridging of different viewpoints expressed by the parties to the processes that are unfolding in the region the executive claimed
Doubts over the latter postulation arise however from the fact that the stance of the US Administration of the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains one-sided and prejudiced
The new project per se testifies to the validity of apprehensions about its nature
Following the end of the Cold War and the loss of the previous ideological platform of their existence US propaganda mouthpieces have been waging a fight for survival which means the preserving of budget allocations
This prompts RFERL and other ldquoradio voicesrdquo to seek out hotbeds of tensions in the post-Soviet space where the White House might need the application of their efforts
The slogan waved in these situations suggests that the target audiences in ldquostrainedrdquo areas thus get information free from censorship although quite naturally all the reporting reflects the US position to a big degree
RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talkshttpenrianruexsoviet20091007156376625html
071807102009
VIENNA October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Mediators and observers in the conflict over Moldovas breakaway region of Transdnestr have urged the parties to the conflict to resume talks to find a just and long-term solution the OSCE said
Russia Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are mediators in the conflict and the European Union and the United States are observers Their representatives met in Vienna on Tuesday
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
The Russian-speaking province of Transdnestr has maintained de facto independence from Moldova since a brief war in 1992 which was the culmination of tensions following the breakup of the Soviet Union
Russia has had peacekeepers in the region since July 1992 and the negotiation process has been frozen since February 2006
Alexander Kuzhba Moldovas envoy to the United Nations said earlier that the new Moldovan government which has openly supported unification with Romania and closer ties with the West would demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Transdnestr
The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency httpwwwthemoscowtimescombusinessarticle384928html
06 October 2009Vedomosti
President Dmitry Medvedev has eliminated the Federal Agency for Special Economic Zones just four years after its creation and handed its duties over to the Economic Development Ministry
The agency was created at the initiative of German Gref who served as economic development minister from 2000 to 2007 Medvedev signed an order Monday eliminating the body which had reported to the ministry the Kremlin press service said
Kirill Yankov a deputy head of the service said he knew that it would be eliminated and that the move was to help streamline the government The agencys central office had about 200 employees he said
A source in the Economic Development Ministry said work with the zones would continue We intend to develop them actively and a special department within the ministry will be formed the source said
A second source in the ministry said Deputy Economic Development Minister Oleg Savelyev would oversee the special economic zones
Russian legislation allows for the creation of four types of economic zones industrialproduction (four exist) technicalinnovation (four) touristrecreation (seven) and ports (a tender has been held for the creation of three zones)
The special economic zones in the Kaliningrad and Magadan regions are not included because of their separate tax regimes
One of the ministry sources said the regions roles would increase
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
We need to push our colleagues the regional leaders to look for investors themselves and to invest their own money to develop tourism Medvedev said at a meeting Monday with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina according to comments posted on the Kremlin web site
The majority of the zones didnt turn out so well said Bulat Stolyarov director of the Institute of Regional Politics The state acted as the zones lead developer and as a result hardly any private investors were found
Itar-Tass Patrushev to hold visiting RF Security Council session
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406463ampPageNum=0
07102009 0753
NOVOSIBIRSK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold in Novosibirsk on Wednesday a visiting session of the Council It will be held together with a meeting of the Council under the RF presidentrsquos plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District with the participation of governors of Siberian territories and regions Itar-Tass was told at the presidential representativersquos staff
The agenda includes the discussion of threats to national security with the implementation of strategic priorities in the territory of the Siberian Federal District and measures aimed at the threatsrsquo neutralisation in the financial-economic crisis conditions
Such meetings have already been held in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts
The Security Council of the Russian Federation is a consultative body of the Russian President that works out the Presidentrsquos decisions on national security affairs Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy
Since its formation it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centres in the presidential administration However the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organisationrsquos standing In July 1996 a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions The decreersquos description of the Security Councilrsquos consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president As had been the case previously the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month
The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia) if necessary the Council can hold
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
extraordinary meetings The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council The Chairman presides over meetings while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis
It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020 published in May 2009 represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolai Patrushev
Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovichhttpwwwvostokmediacomn56913html
0857 07102009Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrates his 57th birthday
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 VOSTOK-MEDIA ndash Today Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated his 57th birthday
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) on October 7 1952 In 1975 he graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation from university From 1985 to 1990 the KGB stationed him in Dresden East Germany
In June 1991 he assumed a position with the International Affairs section of Leningrad State University Putin then became advisor to the then-chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak On 28 June 1991 he was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayors Office In March 1994 he became first deputy head of the administration of the city of Saint Petersburg
In June 1996 assumed position of a Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department On 26 March 1997 Vladimir Putin was appointed deputy chief of Presidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Management Department On May 1998 he was appointed First Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff On 25 July 1998 Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin head of the FSB He became a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 1 October 1998 and its Secretary on 29 March 1999 In August 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
On 31 December 1999 Yeltsin resigned and according to the constitution Putin became Acting President of the Russian Federation On 14 March 2004 Putin was re-elected to
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
the presidency for a second term Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008
In 2007 Vladimir Putin established a lead in the list of candidates for the United Russia party in elections for the State Duma He was the only candidate in the federal list of the party Vladimir Putin was appointed Prime Minister of Russia on May 8 2008 He has a Candidate Degree in Economics speaks two foreign languages ndash English and German Vladimir Putin is married to Lyudmila Alexandrovna Putina and has two daughters Katya (1985) and Masha (1986)
Troika COMMENT Russian government ready for dialoguehttpwwwbusinessneweuropeeustoryf1813COMMENT_Russian_government_ready_for_dialogue
By Anon Troika Russia October 7 2009
Everything comes if a man will only wait Benjamin Disraeli
It looks as though political and economic activity in Russia has enlivened across the board after the August lull Not only has the Russian market been growing and showing the first signs of economic recovery but the countryrsquos political life seems much more vibrant than it had in the previous several months A slight hint of liberal values can even be noted in the political arena ndash or at the very least officialsrsquo rhetoric has suddenly become more pragmatic and investor friendly
Russia appears more willing to cooperate with the West in efforts aimed at limiting Iranrsquos nuclear program most likely a concession won by the USrsquo decision to suspend developing its anti missile shield in Eastern Europe More indications of the improvements in Russia US relations were seen during the G 20 meeting Russiarsquos interactions with NATO have also become somewhat warmer and more cooperative The Western press seems increasingly balanced in evaluating the causes of last yearrsquos conflict between Russia and Georgia after the European Commission released its report on its origins blaming Georgia for starting the war and Russia for responding disproportionately A resulting disagreement within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) nearly ended in Russia being stripped of its voting rights in the organization though this initiative was ultimately rejected by the assembly when put to a vote
Meanwhile President Dmitri Medvedev in early September published an article on the internet with the very symbolic title ldquoGo Russiardquo in which he gave an extended list of problems that face the country This piece is a clear reminiscence of what then President Vladimir Putin used to speak (and write) about in 2000 04 ie when oil was cheap and the country desperately needed to find new growth drivers His annual addresses to the
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Federation Council and other speeches were full of calls to strengthen institutions ndash starting with the legal system ndash and fight corruption among others The fact that Medvedev is still talking about the same issues today says a lot But if one re reads what Russiarsquos liberal press was writing in the mid 19th century one might learn that even then the countryrsquos reformers were discussion potential solutions to these very same problems
It is rather telling that only a small minority of Russians were aware of Medvedevrsquos publication the Levada Center insists that only 3 have read it This is probably only slightly higher than theage of those who read the liberal press 150 years ago
That less than half of those who read the ldquoGo Russiardquo article liked it is also quite informative ndash it illustrates that Russian society as a whole remains as conservative and paternalistic as centuries ago
So Western politicians and journalists instead of blaming the countryrsquos leadership on an authoritarian governance and lack of democracy in the country should perhaps look at the entire nation which feels quite comfortable with the political system it has
The nation remains quite conservative and paternalistic in many aspects and more time and greater openness in the country will be required to change the habits and mentality of the entire society
Here we are referring not only to a sort of nihilism and a tendency to ignore pure legal issues but a widespread disrespect of all basic rules including for instance those related to traffic regulation It is not only the drivers who serve top Russian officials (escorted by security services) who ignore rules but the majority of Russians as well This is why the death toll on Russiarsquos roads and the number of traffic accidents is still so big compared with many other countries
Despite this paternalism there is enough common sense and people understand that social support cannot come from nowhere That said it is economic growth that is crucial for the country
Indeed opinion polls indicate that the situation is gradually developing in a rather positive direction overall (not on the roads alone but in a broader sense including minor changes in politics as well) and the trend will continue amid economic growth even though a minority of Russians expect those changes to come ndash a quite cynical point of view
One key point to keep in mind is that Russians do not believe that Russia is a backward country with a primitive economy based on national resources
Where the Russians are united is in their attitude toward corruption Fewer than 10 believe that corruption is not an issue
We have continually reiterated that economic growth which is impossible without
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
greater openness in the country will keep gradually transforming society and social and political systems This is what most Russians would like to see and support even though what democracy means for Russians is not entirely clear Polls indicate that Russians would like to have a sort of democracy that would be different from what is traditionally seen as democracy in the West What this could mean is not clear but we are not sure that all Russians have a clear understanding themselves of how democratic institutions operate in the West Polls indicate that there is no clear vision of how democracy needs to evolve in the country In particular what is clearly seen is that Russians are not very much in favor of political parties Where people are united is in their belief that the country needs growth and the wealthier Russia become the more freedom and democracy will develop It is hard to disagree with that Most Russians would like to live in a democratic country even though theage of citizens who think so is much lower than in other countries
As seen from the polls confusion about where and how fast Russia needs to go is strong As citizens disagree that their country is a backward state with a primitive economy based on natural resources there is no need to rush reforms Life is good as it is and the sort of stability that the county currently enjoys is more important than anything else ndash a clear sign that people would like to see a more natural evolutionary development rather than another painful shock similar to that of the 1990s Politicians need to take this into account and none of those who would like to stay in power will talk about reforms as their primary agenda
Where we may see a real change and what the political leadership will try to clean up is certain transformation of the legal system and law enforcement structures which is seemingly an agenda of Medvedevrsquos administration Some action has been taken and that is what the Russians would like to see changing
Despite the fact that Russians reject Western democratic values half of the population would like to have closer cultural and economic integration with the West
That said we will most likely see a rather gradual transformation of Russiarsquos social and political system politicians will keep responding to the fact that the electorate does not want shocks and reforms any more but the entire nation is interested in economic growth How to achieve this goal of growing fast without transforming the institutions is a puzzle that politicians have to solve but we are not sure that there is a solution
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Indiaservercom Two European Satellites To Be Launched From Russia On Nov 2httpwwwindia-servercomnewstwo-european-satellites-to-be-launched-13380html
Last Updated 2009-10-07T103505+0530Two European satellites will be launched on Nov 2 from the Plesetsk space centre in northwest Russia The dry run for launching the satellites kicked off during the intial days of October at the Plesetsk space centre The launch is scheduled for Nov 2 A deal to launch Rockot with the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) spacecraft [primary payload] and the Proba-2 mini-satellite was concluded between the ESA (European Space Agency) and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (a joint venture of the Khrunichev center and EADS Astrium) a Khrunichev center report said SMOS which weighs about 685 kg will be transferred into the orbit at about 756 km from earthrsquos orbit These satellites will focus on providing global high resolution maps which will help in identifying the levels of variations in the moisture and saline level of soil in the oceans The 130-kg Proba-2 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) research satellite will test new technologies for autonomous space missions The launch vehicle is a modified version of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian ChurchhttpenrianruReligion20091007156375598html
043607102009
MOSCOW October 6 (RIA Novosti) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external church relations department has denied reports that a Vatican meeting of the Russian Church leader and the pope is being prepared
There is no preparation for the patriarchs trip to the Vatican or his meeting with the pope in any specific place at any specific time now Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an audience of young people in a Moscow museum
The goal is not in holding a meeting but for us to drastically improve our relations and overcome the existing problems he said
However Hilarion said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Benedict XVI could theoretically meet on neutral territory but added that this was not being discussed yet
As a result of the Great Schism Christianity split in 1054 AD into the Eastern branch (the Orthodox Church) and the Western branch (the Roman Catholic Church) They have a number of theological and political differences
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in July that Moscow planned to improve ties with the Vatican which have been strained in recent years over claims the Roman Catholic Church was trying to convert believers and spread its influence in former Soviet states following the collapse of the USSR
The late Patriarch Alexy II refused to meet with then Pope John Paul II and said outstanding disputes needed to be resolved before any meeting could go ahead with the current Catholic Church leader Benedict XVI
When Alexy II died in December at the age of 79 the enthronement of Russias new church leader Patriarch Kirill who was seen as a liberal in the largely traditionalist church was welcomed by the Vatican
As head of the Russian Orthodox Churchs external relations for more than a decade Kirill had led dialogue with the Vatican and other churches
07 October 2009 1113
Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Popehttpwwwinterfax-religioncomact=newsampdiv=6522
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Moscow October 7 Interfax - Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia might visit the Vatican in the near future
No preparations are being made for the Patriarchs trip to the Vatican and his meeting with the Pope at any particular place or at any particular time Archbishop Hilarion said while taking questions from journalists in Moscow
The possibility of the Popes visit to Russia in the near future is not being discussed either he said
The matter may imply a meeting on neutral ground as they say now he said
Archbishop Hilarion insisted that the main purpose of a dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church is not so much a meeting between their heads as such as radical improvement in our relations and the overcoming of the existing problems
He mentioned among such problems proselytism a too aggressive missionary policy on the part of the Roman Catholic Church in the traditional Orthodox territory in the 1990s and the expansion of the Uniates in Ukraine
Rustavi2 20091007 1023
Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaperhttpwwwreuterscomarticlerbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNewsidUSL750291820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 238am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russian investigators have searched the Moscow office of Austrian construction company Strabag (STRVVI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) as part of a tax evasion probe into building subcontractors a Russian newspaper reported on Wednesday
Kommersant business daily said investigators were suspicious that unidentified persons had evaded 1082 million roubles ($36 million) in tax payments between 2004 and 2006
The newspaper quoted the head of Strabags representative office in Russia Alexander Ortenberg as confirming the search took place
But Ortenberg said the suspicions were related not to Strabag itself but to two subcontractors with which the firm had worked Investigators were interested only in documents relating to Strabags activities with these firms he said
A spokeswoman for Strabag declined immediate comment when contacted by Reuters
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Strabag was contracted for the reconstruction and development of the Moskva hotel 100 metres from Red Square Kommersant said the case was connected with work subcontracted by the Austrian builder as a part of this project plus a separate luxury housing development
Strabag is one of the largest players in Russias construction industry and is carrying out projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian city of Sochi which together are worth up to 1 billion euros ($146 billion) [IDnLU535522] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev editing by Simon Jessop)
Military Aviation 1159 am - Wednesday Avionews Russia confident on Brazilian fighters tender httpwwwavionewscomindexphpcorpo=see_news_homephpampnews_id=1109837amppagina_chiamante=corpo3Dindexphp
Moscow Russia - Moscow accepted to sell technology to the south-American country(WAPA) - Following Sweden with the Saab Gripen NG (see AVIONEWS) also Russia is confident on the tender for the sale of 36 fighter jets to Brazils Air Force with the Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft a race in which everything seemed to make France the ideal candidate with the Dassault Rafale (see AVIONEWS)
Like France and Sweden also Russia agreed to the key request of the south American country the transfer of technology to build the fighters in its own facilities Our offer has a broad program of technology transfer -Anatoly Isaikin head of Rosoboronexport the Russian company managing military exports told the news agency Interfax- a full cycle of work on technical service repairs all the way to organizing the manufacture of Su-35s in Brazil
The value of the contract would be around US$4 to US$7 billion which makes it one of the most important currently active in the world together with the Indian one (see AVIONEWS) As in that case also the USA is present with the Boeing FA-18 Super Hornet (Avionews)
(009) 091006115921-1109837 (World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2009-10-06 1159 am)
Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipehttpwwwbarentsobservercomfourth-borey-class-sub-in-pipe4640296-58932html
2009-10-06 The construction of the yet-unnamed submarine will start at the Sevmash yard on December 22nd
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
The first of Russiarsquos new strategic submarines named Yury Dolgoruky is currently passing sea trails and is expected to be delivered to the fleet sometime in 2010
Two other of the 170 meter long nuclear powered submarines are under construction at the Sevmash naval yard on the banks of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk region
The keel-laying ceremony for the yet-unnamed new Borey-class submarine will start at December 22nd reports RIA Novosti That is the same day as Sevmash marks its 70th anniversary
The Borey class submarines will first replace the Delta-III class submarines in Russiarsquos Pacific fleet and later on replace the Delta-IV class submarines in the Northern fleet with bases on the Kola Peninsula
Sevmash has so far built 128 nuclear powered submarines according to the yardrsquos website
RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exerciseshttpenrianrurussia20091007156375963html
053107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias Emergency Situations Ministry will hold on Wednesday and Thursday drills to deal with radiation chemical and biological accidents in Primorye in the Russian Far East the ministry said
The preparedness of Primorye rescuers to react to such emergencies will be checked and interaction of authorities when organizing temporary accommodation of affected population from contaminated areas will be practiced the ministry said
The Russian Far East has seen chemical contamination of rivers several times The biggest accident occurred in November 2005 when a blast at a Chinese petrochemicals factory led to about 100 metric tons of benzene and other toxic substances spewing in the Songhua River which feeds into Russias Amur
According to Russian data as many as 20 million people in northeastern China suffered from the hazardous effects of the explosion and the nine million residents of the city of Harbin had their taps turned off for five days
The ensuing 130-mile toxic slick from the blast passed several Russian cities including the regional center of Khabarovsk which is home to 600000 people before falling into the Sea of Okhotsk
Itar-Tass Large-scale exercise of rescuers begins in Russias Far East
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
httpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14405591ampPageNum=0
07102009 0840
VLADIVOSTOK October 7 (Itar-Tass) - A large-scale exercise of rescuers has begun in the Russian Primorsky Maritime territory
Over a period of two days the participating rescuers will be expected to simulate actions they might need in the course of liquidation of emergency situations involving nuclear radiation as well as chemical and biological contaminants and to drill evacuation of residents from the zones of contamination and their provisional placement in shelters
Federal and territorial organizations and departments are taking part in the exercise
Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet and the Center for Disaster Response Medicine have also delegated their workers to the exercise
Sources at the press service at the territorial branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Response and Civil Defense EMERCOM told Itar-Tass the exercise aims to lubricate cooperation between various agencies of executive power and the territorial administration especially when it comes accommodation of the people evacuated from the zone of a natural or technogene origin
For instance an evacuation station will be provisionally deployed near an airdrome in the suburbs Vladivostok where the evacuated population will be placed
EMERCOM experts from Moscow and Khabarovsk will assess the rescuersrsquo activity
Earlier in the day a naval exercise involving diverse units and forces of Russiarsquos Pacific Fleet has begun off the shores of the Far-Eastern Primorsky Maritime territory
Officials at the Pacific Fleetrsquos press service said the maneuvers engage eight warships submarines and auxiliary seacraft as well as aircraft and helicopters of the Air Force and the Fleetrsquos air defenses
Over the three days that the ships will spend in the sea their crews will simulate a search operation track down a submarine of the potential enemy and destroy it with the aid of deepwater bombs and torpedoes
ldquoThe submarine crew playing the role of the enemy will be expected to break through a triple ring of antisubmarine forces in the conditions of a virtually duel situation and to deliver a strike at the main enemy targets in the groupings of shipsrdquo a spokesman for the press service said
All in all the scenario of the maneuvers envisions more than a dozen combat exercises
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Apart from the search operation the Pacific Fleet units will do artillery firing at surface targets launch missile at imagined aerial targets and drill anti-subversion measures
This exercise marks the last phase of the 2009 summer war games
The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Militaryhttpwwwjamestownorgsingleno_cache=1amptx_ttnews[tt_news]=35582amptx_ttnews[backPid]=7ampcHash=6b632ca54b
Publication Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume 6 Issue 183October 6 2009 0524 PM Age 11 hrsCategory Eurasia Daily Monitor Home Page MilitarySecurity Russia By Roger McDermott
On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its ldquoserious reorganization of the enlistment offices systemrdquo while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271000 The scale of this change is staggering which has provoked many to question whether the targets for the draft will be met The number of military commissariats (enlistment offices) has been drastically cut in the spring of this year there were 1647 now there are only 81 Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov the Chief of the Main Organization and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff noted that all military posts in these offices were abolished on October 1 and replaced with civilians Its aim is to improve control over record keeping streamline the administrative structure and ensure its efficient use of budget allocations However some officers have expressed doubts over the restructuring of the enlistment offices ranging from questioning their ability to organize training for reservists to whether having civilians overseeing the draft will result in any improvement (RIA Novosti October 1)
Nevertheless Smirnov was in no doubt that the draft faces serious challenges which the reorganization is partly designed to tackle For instance he estimated that more 100000 citizens temporarily move their place of residence in order to evade the draft He was unclear about how the new system will address such problems but his near farcical threat to hunt down draft dodgers hiding with their babushkarsquos in the dacha in the countryside was unconvincing many young men will prefer to take their chances with their grandmother protecting them from military service (Interfax September 30)
The defense ministry is convinced that after reducing the term of service to twelve months that dedovshchina or institutionalized bullying within the armed forces is now in decline and offers statistics to support this assertion Smirnov claimed that the recorded instances of bullying had declined over the past year by 93 percent Nonetheless the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergey Fridinskiy said that more than 800 servicemen had been convicted of such breaches of regulations in 2009 Violent crime is gradually declining which offers little comfort to those petrified by the prospect of conscription In the first eight months of 2009 compared to the same period last year there were 13 percent fewer cases related to bullying and an 115 percent drop involving violence According to the
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
chief military prosecutorrsquos office the share of crimes against young conscripts in the army ldquois not too highrdquo accounting for 15 percent of all recorded crimes (Interfax September 30)
More than 30 percent of those who presented at enlistment offices in the spring 2009 draft were deemed unfit for military service or were granted deferments on health grounds The former chief of the defense ministryrsquos Main Military Medical Directorate Vladimir Shappo said that more than 340000 people were given deferments for health reasons in the fall of 2008 and 334000 in the fall of 2007 10000 recruits were told to gain weight which cost the state 75 million rubles ($25 million) Efforts to address these issues include improving the quality of medical examinations with the numbers of military doctors more than doubling to around 700 (compared with this yearrsquos spring draft) present at draft commissions Smirnov said that conscripts drafted in Chechnya would continue to serve only in that republic despite earlier claims by Russian authorities that no conscripts served in Chechnya any future resumption of counter-terrorist operations in the region will likely involve conscripts Moreover he confirmed that conscripts will serve in the new bases in the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia alongside Kontraktniki or those serving on a contract basis (Interfax September 30)
The recruits in this draft cycle will experience something previously unknown since on December 1 all units in the Russian armed forces will transfer to permanent readiness status Maintaining these units at their wartime strength will above all allow the military to organize proper combat training (ITAR-TASS September 30) Nonetheless they are unlikely to notice any significant improvement in the use of modern weaponry According to Nikolay Tabachkov an auditor in the Audit Chamber the current proportion of modern weaponry in the inventory does not exceed more than 6 percent (ITAR-TASS September 23)
The new command structure will likely escape their attention On September 7 Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye accurately predicted that strategic-operational commands will be formed on the basis of the existing military districts The Moscow-based defense journalist Viktor Litovkin later interpreted the confirmation of this latest reform as a return to an earlier abortive plan He noted that Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces had recently said that President Dmitry Medvedev will sign a decree in December to make each military district simultaneously into a strategic-operational command (Nezavisimaya Gazeta September 30) Boldyrev said that groups of troops will be subordinate to the strategic level commander ldquoprimarily in the operational planning as well as in the general planning of the use of the group and its trainingrdquo This initiative resembles a failed attempt by the former Chief of the General Staff Army-General Yury Baluyevskiy who proposed creating strategic-operational commands in theaters of operations though not on the basis of individual districts but by unifying several districts and fleets under the new command However this never received adequate support among the generals or district commanders who apparently feared losing power and influence Crucially it now appears that support for implementing this reform emerged from deep within the
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
structures and consequently it gained sufficient backing higher up the chain of command
The precise role of the future reserve remains unclear which will only be clarified once a new military doctrine is passed later this year As much as the defense ministry emphasizes the ldquonew lookrdquo armed forces these conscripts will be trained on the basis of combat training manuals which are currently being re-written and will take time to introduce many of these recruits will finish their service before the combat training system is overhauled They will be among the first conscripts however to experience the new structures as well as serving in permanent readiness units The speed of implementing these changes is undoubtedly causing significant upheaval throughout the structures which the defense ministry hopes will prove to be temporary (Vremya Novostei September 25)
Euro News 16 hurt in Russia army beatings
httpwwweuronewsnet2009100716-hurt-in-russian-army-beatings
0710 0715 CET
New reports have surfaced about the brutal conditions endured by young soldiers in the Russian army 16 recruits needed hospital treatment after what officers said was a road crash But two of them have deserted their base near St Petersburg because they can no longer bear the violence inflicted by their drunken sergeants
ldquoThey woke us at four in the morning and started to beat usrdquo said deserter Vladimir Romanov ldquoFirst me then all the others It went on til nine orsquoclock Then they told me to bring them 3000 roubles or theyrsquod kill merdquo
An inquiryrsquos been launched and the prosecutorrsquos office is yet to decide whether to start criminal action Investigators say the sergeants could be dismissed from the army if found guilty
Casual violence is rife in the Russian military The paper Pravda estimates that 16 per cent of new recruits ndash 3000 young men ndash die or commit suicide in their first year In 2006 one soldier was so badly injured his legs and genitals were amputated
Copyright copy 2009 euronews
Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agencyhttpenrianrusociety20091007156376296html
062107102009
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
MOSCOW October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias judiciary is not yet ready for introduction of the death penalty for drug dealers the head of the countrys antidrug agency told a government daily
It is not ruled out that with our judicial practice still far from perfect death penalty will be used in regard to a large percentage of people who are not drug dealers Viktor Ivanov director of the Federal Drug Control Service told Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Ivanov said many young people could fall victim to provocations on the part of dishonest law enforcers should the moratorium on the death penalty be abolished adding that there are cases when people are arrested on false accusations of being drug dealers
They are just drug addicts but are made drug pushers for better reporting he said
He also said special courts for drug addicts should be established in Russia In America when minor crimes are committed drug addicts are offered an alternative compulsory treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail he said
The use of drug courts will help withdraw a huge number of addicts here from the criminal environment Ivanov said
Ivanov earlier cited statistics in line with which there are about 550000 officially registered drug addicts in Russia However the real figures are believed to be at least five times higher
The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth httpwwwthemoscowtimescomnewsarticle384868html
06 October 2009By Alexandra Odynova
Nashi members picketing outside the home of journalist and human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek are violating at least five articles of the Constitution and inciting hatred the Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Monday
The watchdog led by Ella Pamfilova called the protests ldquoa persecution campaign hellip organized by irresponsible adventurists from Nashirdquo and said the activists were showing open signs of extremism
The pro-Kremlin youth group enlisted about 100 veterans to continue their protest Monday which began Sept 29 after Podrabinek published an article criticizing the Moscow Union of Veterans
Podrabinek suggested that the veterans grouprsquos members were former ldquocamp guardsrdquo and ldquoexecutionersrdquo for demanding that a Moscow restaurant change its name from Antisovetskaya or Anti-Soviet to Sovetskaya The restaurantrsquos owner said he was forced
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
to change the name under pressure from Oleg Mitvol prefect for the Northern Administrative District The veterans group had complained to Mitvol
The Kremlinrsquos human rights council said Nashi was in violation of Articles 23 24 25 27 and 29 of the Constitution Among other things the articles guarantee the inviolability of personal life and home that a citizenrsquos personal information will not be spread without his consent the right to choose onersquos residence and the rights to freedom of thought and conscience including a freedom from pressure to retract or alter onersquos beliefs
Those who disagree with Podrabinek should answer his article in kind and if they feel that his criticism infringed on anyonersquos rights or broke the law they should turn to the courts the council said in a statement
ldquoThe council expresses its deep regret and disturbance over Nashirsquos actions which not only recall the shameful Soviet persecution campaigns against dissenters hellip They also give Russiarsquos young people an unabashed example of legal nihilismrdquo it said using President Dmitry Medvedevrsquos term for widespread disregard for the law
It also called on the authorities to investigate Nashirsquos actions for extremism and to protect Podrabinek
Podrabinek went into hiding writing on his blog Sept 28 that he had received ldquoinformation from credible sources that a decision has been made at quite a high level to dispose of me in any possible wayrdquo The harassment campaign has drawn international attention including from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said he raised the issue during a visit to Moscow on Thursday
Podrabinek a human rights activist since the 1970s and head of the Prima-News news agency also works for publications such as the Russian-language service of Radio France International and Novaya Gazeta
Nashi which has maintained close ties to founder Vasily Yakemenko now head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs has been known to hound opponents in the past including opposition politicians and foreign dignitaries
Nashi leader Nikita Borovikov defended the picket as part of an attempt to hold journalists and human rights activists responsible for their perceived misdeeds in the media
ldquoRespect for old age and the trials these people went through are natural for any decent person and when he loses it he ceases to be a person The Nashi movement is a patriotic organization and one of its tasks hellip is to defend the honor and dignity of veteransrdquo Borovikov said in a statement on the grouprsquos web site ldquoWe wonrsquot let Podrabinek continue posing as a victimrdquo
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
The grouprsquos statement also included an Associated Press photo showing Nashi activists videotaping the delivery of a letter from the veterans in Podrabinekrsquos mailbox which appeared to be open The activists will continue to place the letter in his mailbox every day the statement said
At Mondayrsquos rally activists dressed in trademark red jackets and veterans rallied with posters carrying World War II symbols and posters saying ldquoThe freedom of the press doesnrsquot mean lawlessness in journalismrdquo
Municipal authorities have authorized the ongoing rally
Tatyana Lokshina a researcher with Human Rights Watch said she couldnrsquot recall any other case where Nashi had campaigned against a journalist ldquoHopefully the [Kremlin] watchdogrsquos appeal will draw more attention to the problem in the governmentrdquo Lokshina said
Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackouthttpwwwbroadbandtvnewscom20091006foreign-channels-face-russian-blackout
By Chris DziadulOctober 6 2009 0956 UK
Foreign channels are facing the real prospect of losing distribution on cable networks in Russia
Kommersant reports that the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications IT and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) have met with representatives of at least one international broadcaster to discuss how they could align their activities with Russian legislation
It was first announced last May that Roskomnadzor plans to bring some order into a market in which foreign channels with apparently the exception of the BBC and euronews apparently operate without a Russian licence
Roskomnadzorrsquos actions have received support from the Russian cable association AKTR which believes that the legalisation of foreign channels will ultimately be resolved by amendments to the media and communications legislation
These might possibly be discussed by the State Duma before the end of this year
Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fadehttpwwwrussiatodaycomTop_News2009-10-07chances-finding-politkovskaya-killershtmlprint
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
07 October 2009 1033
Three years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder her killers are still at large A fresh inquiry has been ordered but Politkovskayarsquos family say the chances of finding those responsible are fading
Since that dark afternoon three years ago Annas children have learned how to live without their mother Her son has hurled himself into work Her daughter has become a mother herself They are still campaigning for a fair trial but quite aware that time is playing against them
ldquoOur family is starting to lose hope that all those involved in this crime will be found and brought to justicerdquo says Vera Politkovskaya daughter of Anna Politkovskaya ldquoTime is passing by and with it our chances of finding those responsiblerdquo
The men charged with assisting Politkovskayas killers are about the same age as her children The Makhmudov brothers have already stood trial and been found not guilty by a jury Theyre about to face the same charges again after higher courts ordered a new hearing and launched an additional probe into the murder But for Politkovskayas family and friends this is not good enough
ldquoEven if a new trial delivers a guilty verdict based on the same charges and the same evidence as in the first trial ndash of course we wonrsquot be satisfiedrdquo says Ilya Politkovsky son of Anna Politkovskaya
ldquoNone of us could be satisfied until not only the executioners but also the masterminds of this crime are in the dockrdquo says Sergei Sokolov deputy editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta where Politkovskaya worked
Yet its the masterminds whove yet to be identified This was one of many question-marks in the investigation that many including Politkovskayarsquos family criticized as flawed A charge the chief investigator refuses to accept
ldquoThe not-guilty verdict in the first trial was a result of several factors Jury trials in Russia are a relatively new institution that cannot always provide for the isolation of jurors ndash so they are not prevented from contacts with defendantsrsquo friends and familyrdquo Petros Gariyan senior investigator in Politkovskayarsquos case said on 12 March
In the office of Novaya Gazeta where Anna Politkovskaya worked as a special correspondent her desk still stands empty Since Politkovskayas murder two more of the newspapers contributors have been killed As a result the newspaper has consciously curtailed its coverage of the North Caucuses
ldquoWe will be following news in Chechnya but we no longer want to have reporters on the ground We donrsquot want to risk their livesrdquo says Sergei Sokolov
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Yet it doesnrsquot mean that Russian journalists no longer have a taste for risky stories Elena is 22 She also works for Novaya Gazeta It was Politkovskayarsquos coverage of Chechnya that inspired her to become a journalist
ldquoWe could talk a lot about what a great writer she was but for me her most striking quality was that she was never ignorant She always took human suffering close to her heartrdquo says Elena Kostyuchenko Novaya Gazeta reporter
While Politkovskaya was often the last hope for those who lost faith in justice its now her own family struggling to sustain their trust in the law
RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murderhttpwwwrsforgspipphppage=articleampid_article=34650
Published on 6 October 2009
By not giving them visas the Russian authorities prevented two Reporters Without Borders representatives including secretary-general Jean-Franccedilois Julliard from travelling to Moscow to hold a news conference there today on the eve of the third anniversary of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
The press freedom organisation is nonetheless going ahead with the news conference and the screening of a film about Politkovskaya in Moscow both of which will be attended by her children Ilya and Vera and by Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitri Muratov ldquoIt was extremely important for us to be in Russia alongside Anna Politkovskayarsquos colleagues and family on the third anniversary of her murderrdquo Julliard said ldquoWe wanted to be there all the more this year as it has been a terrible one for journalists and human rights activists with the surge of violence in the North Caucasus a region that Anna knew particularly well
ldquoWe are shocked by this decision especially as we have always acted openly with the Russian authorities They decided to prevent us from expressing our solidarity with Russian journalists and human rights activists Moscow does not want us to address the Russians directly But we will not give uprdquo
Julliard added ldquoWe take this opportunity to reaffirm our support for Russian journalists and free speech activists and to express our admiration for their courage and perseverance as well as our determination to remain at their siderdquo
Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projectshttpwwwreuterscomarticlelatestCrisisidUSL5640617
Tue Oct 6 2009 1045am EDT
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Nenets tribe in Arctic fear livelihood as Gazprom expands
Experts say compensation insufficient demands must be met
Tundra reindeer herders say gas find catastrophic
By Amie Ferris-Rotman
67 N LATITUDE 71 E LONGITUDE Russia Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Nenets tribespeople of Russias frozen Yamal peninsula have survived the age of the Tsars the Bolshevik revolution and the chaotic 1990s but now confront their biggest challenge -- under their fur-bundled feet is enough gas to heat the world for five years
For them it is fortune for us terror said 20-year-old herder Andrei Yezgini dressed from head to toe in reindeer skin referring to ambitious plans by state gas giant Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) to drill the region Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has described as the worlds storehouse of gas and oil
Putin jetted into the sparsely populated region within the Arctic circle 2000 km (1250 miles) northeast of Moscow in late September to woo foreign partners to develop a quarter of the worlds known gas reserves [IDnLO729481]
Experts and the Nenets say industry will damage and pollute the tundra whose flat marshy terrain switches from marigold russets in summer to thick winter snow and is peppered with disc-like thermokarst lakes and crystal blue waterways
Nenets migrate north to south over 150 km every year spending only a few days in one place living off reindeer and fish and lugging their chums or tents kerosene lamps and wood-fired stoves on reindeer-pulled sleighs
The fact theyve found deposits here is catastrophic said Slava Vanuito 34 his Asiatic eyes narrowing as a gust of Arctic wind sweeps over a tundra bouncy from the thick carpet of springy moss that feeds the reindeer
Like many young Nenets men Vanuito served in the Russian army -- he fought against Chechens in the first separatist war -- and decided to return to his nomadic life in Yamal which means worlds end in Nenets a distant relative of Finnish
Numbering around 42000 the Nenets are entirely dependent on reindeer which appear on the Yamal regions crest and are animists Their strict code of superstitions and gender divisions has been virtually untouched for at least a millennium
BROKEN DEER LEGS
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
From a Soviet-made helicopter a bright blue train with 20 wagons can be seen snaking through the tundra part of a newly-opened railway which experts say heralds severe damage
Opened by Putin last month it will serve Russias biggest gas field Bovanenkovo at the top of Yamal which will feed the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from 2012 and runs around two-thirds of the 700-km-long peninsula
Yezgini said it is breaking the legs of the deer Theres debris and gravel around the tracks frightening and hurting them He added pastures around the track have lost shrubbery
Bruce Forbes research professor in global change at the University of Lapland in Finland said the railway is only the beginning We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of destruction he told Reuters by telephone
The government is keen to develop the Yamalo-Nenets region as soon as possible Last month it proposed tax breaks to entice foreign firms to drill the frozen mass of land which has field reserves of 16 trillion cubic metres
Already Russias main gas-producing region Gazprom said it gives Yamal 20 billion roubles ($665 million) every year but declined to comment on how the money is distributed
Yamal accounts for more than 90 percent of Gazproms gas output and total revenues last year stood at 35 trillion roubles
Vanuito sharpening a saw for antler trimming dismissed such claims by Gazprom as rubbish He said they received a pittance of a monthly state stipend of 2000 roubles ($66)
In January Forbes sent a research report to the firms urging the coexistence of oil and gas activities with the Nenets by asking companies to respect their demands such as no illegal hunting by gas workers and the burying of pipelines
Citing herders and administration officials he said compensations for pasture degradation and land withdrawals tended to be absorbed by local government and did not reach the Nenets
The European Union needs to be more responsible ethically and morally when considering where they want to buy their gas from he said adding Western firms had responded positively to the report
It is not the first time Russian indigenous people have come under threat from industry Rights groups say energy firms do not fully respect the culture of the Khanty in Russias oil-producing region of Khanty-Mansiysk in west Siberia
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Moscow has offered the Nenets free houses in Yamals capital Salekhard but Forbes said that was missing the point Their animals and their space in the tundra give them complete freedom
Some state benefits are welcomed by the Nenets -- helicopters take them to towns of several hundred people an hours flight away and children from age seven are sent to Russian-language schools in towns where they live with other Nenets families
I just pray Gazprom wont change us said Yezginis mother Valentina 52 I want my grandchildren to see our land as it is beautiful fresh full of berries and deer (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreakhttpenrianrurussia20091007156378408html
104507102009
ROSTOV-ON-DON October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russias emergencies ministry has put farms in Russias southern Rostov Region under quarantine following confirmation of an outbreak of swine fever the ministry said in a statement
Since September 27 a total of 24 pigs have died of African swine fever in one of the regions farms where there were more than 6700 swine
The decision to impose a quarantine and emergency regime was taken at a meeting of the commission on emergency situations the statement said
African swine fever or Montgomerys disease was first reported in Africa in 1903 Both domestic and wild animals can become infected when they come into contact with sick animals The virus does not affect humans but can causes large economic losses
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg Ruble Gains for Third Day as Oil Climbs Above $71 per Barrelhttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=auIW3y5iwJNw
By Denis Maternovsky
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble gained against the dollar for a third day as oil Russiarsquos chief export traded above $71
The Russian currency gained as much as 02 percent to 297703 per dollar by 1123 am in Moscow its strongest level since Dec 30 It added 02 percent to 438270 per euro
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Oil prices have doubled since February boosting the earnings outlook for the worldrsquos biggest energy exporter Crude for November delivery rose for a third day gaining 12 percent to $7176 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a US report showed a drop in stockpiles
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361005 the strongest level since January against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band the central bank pledged Jan 22 to defend
To contact the reporter on this story Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0359 EDT
Bloomberg Bank Rossii Bought $700 Million to Halt Rublersquos Rise (Update1)httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=20601085ampsid=ajR9TemLaAWc
By Paul Abelsky and Denis Maternovsky
Oct 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russiarsquos central bank probably bought $700 million of foreign currency on the market today as policy makers move to cap ruble gains analysts said citing trading flows
Bank Rossii intervened as the Russian currency touched 3620 against the target dollar-euro basket Kirill Grishanov head of foreign-currency trading at ZAO Promsvyazbank Russiarsquos third-biggest private lender said in a phone interview today The interventions may have reached about $700 million today said Evgeniy Nadorshin an economist in Moscow at Trust Investment Bank
The regulator is ldquoso far not buyingrdquo at the 3615 level Grishanov said Since August Bank Rossii has moved the corridor within which it intervenes by 5 kopeks for each $700 million it spends The central bank doesnrsquot comment on daily or weekly interventions as a matter of policy
With ruble swings still tracking shifts in the price of oil the central bank says it wonrsquot abandon foreign-currency interventions in the ldquonext few yearsrdquo though it will buy and sell currency only to ldquosmooth outrdquo the rublersquos volatility Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sept 11 that preventing the appreciation of the Russian currency remains a government objective
Stabilized
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
ldquoFrom what we are seeing now the ruble has stabilized but the long-term outlook for the currency depends on external marketsrdquo said Alexey Borichev head of foreign-currency trading at ING Groep NV in Moscow who estimates todayrsquos interventions at about $700 million
The ruble may reach or break the 36 level against the basket if ldquoeverything is as positive as it was yesterdayrdquo on commodities and equity markets Borichev said
Luis Costa an emerging markets debt strategist at Commerzbank AG in London said currency purchases may have reached about $500 million today at 3620 against the basket
The ruble today gained to the strongest level against the dollar this year after oil prices advanced and Britainrsquos Independent newspaper reported Arab states were planning to stop using the US currency for oil trading That report has since been rejected as ldquoabsolutely incorrectrdquo by Saudi Arabia Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser while Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii at a news conference in Tokyo also denied its validity
Ruble Gains
The Russian currency added 08 percent the biggest jump in two weeks to 298096 per dollar at 157 pm in Moscow The ruble was little changed against the euro weakening less than 01 percent to 439221
The movements against the dollar and the euro left the ruble at 361632 the strongest level since Jan 13 against the central bankrsquos target currency basket which is used to manage swings that hurt Russian exporters
The basket is calculated by multiplying the dollarrsquos rate to the ruble by 055 the euro to ruble rate by 045 then adding them together The ruble remains within the 26 to 41 band that the central bank on Jan 22 pledged to defend
Russiarsquos September inflation rate fell to 107 percent the lowest in two years from 116 percent in August as the cost of food slipped and the economic decline depressed consumer demand the Federal Statistics Service said in an e-mailed statement today From August consumer prices were unchanged for a second month
lsquoGloomy Forecastsrsquo
ldquoThere have been a lot of gloomy forecasts in the market that the fiscal expansion in Russia would prove to be inflationary and negative for the ruble but clearly the data does not support that argumentrdquo said Manik Narain a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Bank Rossii bought $26 billion of foreign currency on the market during the last two days of September to stem the rublersquos appreciation Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said last week Trust Investment Bank estimates the bankrsquos interventions reached about $3 billion last week the biggest sum purchased since May
To contact the reporter on this story Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelskybloombergnet
Last Updated October 6 2009 0631 EDT
Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisishttpwwwbarentsobservercomputin-saves-sevmash-from-economic-crisis4640470-58932html
2009-10-06 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sign a decree on a 4 billion rubles allocation to Sevmash in Severodvinsk outside Arkhangelsk to help the shipyard overcome economic difficulties
According to Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko the money is transferred to the shipyard as contribution to the plantrsquos capital stock Rosbaltru reports
In addition to the immediate allocation the Russian Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs will probably give a five year prolongation of a 6 billion rubles credit the shipyard has received earlier Khristenko said
Sevmash is Russiarsquos largest shipbuilding complex and the only one whorsquos main mission is to build nuclear submarines The shipyard has about 75 percent military orders and 25 percent civilian orders ARMS-TASS writes
The civilian side of production at Sevmash is focused on projects for oil and gas exploration on the Arctic shelf
Amongst the most important civilian orders for the moment is the ice-protected drilling platform ldquoPrirazlomnayardquo which is on the stage of completion As BarentsObserver reported the Prirazlomnaya platform is planned to be handed over to Gazprom in 2010 after which testing platform will start in the Barents Sea
OCTOBER 7 2009
WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ httponlinewsjcomarticleSB125486811328169001htmlmod=googlenews_wsj
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
MOSCOW -- French auto maker Renault SA agreed to help support OAO AvtoVAZ the indebted Russian car maker that has asked the government for extra funds a Russian government official said Tuesday
Renault said however that the support wouldnt necessarily come in the form of cash
The head of Renaults Russian operations met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on Monday to discuss a new strategy for AvtoVAZ Russias largest car maker The meeting came after Mr Putin warned Friday that Renaults 25 stake in AvtoVAZ could be diluted unless the French company contributes to the bailout
Renault is prepared to invest in the growth of AvtoVAZ Mr Shuvalov told journalists adding that the extent of that investment wont be determined until the Russian car makers new strategy has been agreed on Mr Shuvalovs spokesman said this was unlikely to happen before November Mr Shuvalov also said Renault was ready to share more technology with AvtoVAZ
We are keen to help in AvtoVAZs recovery and are reviewing a range of options without necessarily considering a cash injection a Renault spokeswoman said These could involve contributing more of our know-how and technical expertise and possibly using AvtoVAZ capacity for production [of Renault models] in Togliatti The discussions are still at a very early stage
Renault paid $1 billion for its blocking stake in AvtoVAZ last year but its business has deteriorated since then and the company has drawn euro3 billion ($44 billion) in loans from the French government
When Renault bought its AvtoVAZ stake last year the Russian car market was one of the worlds fastest-growing
AvtoVAZ maker of the boxy Lada sedan made almost a quarter of the cars sold in Russia in 2008 and the slump has pushed the company toward insolvency This has forced management to address long-standing inefficiencies -- chiefly its bloated work force and outdated product range
mdashDavid Pearson in Paris contributed to this article
Write to Will Bland at williamblanddowjonescom
Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNHhttpwwwreuterscomarticlemarketsNewsidUSL755442820091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 430am EDT
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Kamaz (KMAZMM Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) Russias largest truck maker said on Wednesday it plans to set up two joint ventures with US company Case New Holland Inc (CNHN Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz)
Kamaz in which Germanys Daimler (DAIGnDE Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) owns a 10 percent stake said in a statement the ventures would produce and sell agricultural and construction equipment
CHN is a majority-owned subsidiary of Italian carmaker Fiat (FIAMI Quote Profile Research Stock Buzz) (Writing by Maria Kiselyova editing by Simon Jessop)
RBC Vnesheconombank posts greater net profit
httpwwwrbcnewscomfree20091007123509shtml
RBC 07102009 Moscow 123509Vnesheconombanks net profit under RAS surged 4 times to RUB 18945bn (approx USD 636m) in the third quarter of 2009 compared to RUB 4597bn (approx USD 154m) in the previous quarter the Russian lending institution announced in official documents today
The bank attributes the significant increase in net profit to the rise in net interest income due to the development of credit transactions as well as net income from transactions with securities
Meanwhile Vnesheconombank reported a 266-percent jump in net profit to RUB 5719bn (approx USD 192m) in the first half of 2009 compared to H1 2008
Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116httppraguemonitorcom20091007generali-ppf-ups-h1-profit-russia-116
ČTK | 7 October 2009
Moscow Oct 6 (CTK) - Italian-Czech insurer Generali PPF raised net profit by 116 percent year-on-year to RUB1177bn (around Kc682m) in Russia in H1 2009 the firm said at a press conference in Moscow Tuesday
The firm at the press conference also presented Jaromir Kohout 35 as a new head of Generali PPFs Russian office
The firm has been active on the Russian market since 2002 as Ceska pojistovna changing its name to Generali PPF in spring this year The insurer has branches in 39 Russian cities Last year it raised net profit by 168 percent to RUB1094bn
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Generali PPF raised sales of life insurance policies by 45 percent on the year to RUB242bn in H1 this year although the Russian market in this segment shrank by nearly a fifth due to the crisis The insurers assets total RUB4647bn reserves RUB585m
I can understand that journalists view good news with a degree of mistrust but our results confirm good business performance Kohout said
Kohout himself is originally a journalist by profession
The strategy remains the same but we want to develop new products Kohout said
Insurance against losing ones job sold mainly to clients of the Eldorado chain when getting a consumer loan from the PPFs hire-purchase company Home Credit totalled RUB500m in H1 Sales are expected to reach RUB15b by the end of this year
Pension insurance counts 60000 clients with deposits reaching nearly RUB108m (almost Kc63m)
New products are to include insurance of debit cards against loss and fraud and insurance cover for goods
According to the agency Expert RA Generali PPF ranks fourth among life insurance providers and 20th among Russian insurance companies
Russia was the fastest growing market for Generali PPF last year but in terms of sales of life insurance policies the Russian branch lagged behind Czech Polish Hungarian and Slovak branches at end-2008 Life insurance in Russia is still in its infancy compared to Central Europe with the total volume of billed premiums reaching less than 10 percent
According to data provided by Generali PPF earlier an average Russian client is between 35 and 40 years old and is ready to pay RUB30000 a year (some Kc17400) for an insurance policy However this figure is likely to decrease this year as the insurer expands into less well-off regions of Russia
Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas linkhttpinreuterscomarticleoilRptidINL753470620091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1257pm IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - TMK (TRMKMM Quote Profile Research) Russias biggest producer of steel pipes for the energy sector has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being constructed by Gazprom (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July [IDnLV71398]
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around the Pacific island of Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok Its 1350 km (844 mile) first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 mm
TMK shipped more than 32 million tonnes of steel pipe last year to customers in more than 65 countries (Reporting by Robin Paxton editing by Dmitry Sergeyev)
Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mlnhttpinreuterscomarticlerbssHealthcareNewsidINL562611120091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1032am IST
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Reuters) - Russias Stem Cell Institute said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to 165 million roubles ($553 million) in what will be the countrys first initial public offering since the financial crisis erupted last year
If the IPO goes ahead as expected Stem Cell Institute would have an implied market capitalisation of 825 million roubles
Stem Cell Institute set an indicative price range of the IPO at between 9 and 11 roubles per ordinary share and the offering will comprise approximately 15 million ordinary shares
The company sees a free float at around 20 percent
Investors who look beyond Russias main stock market and private equity investors remain keen on technology companies which often capitalise on Soviet-era scientific prowess
The institute which was founded in 2003 has its own bank of stem cells and develops its own medicines Cash raised from the IPO will be spent on new projects in Russia and the ex-Soviet Union and on the development of new products
The institute expects profits rising 30-40 percent a year and sales at a similar pace [IDnLP563803] ($1=2983 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev Editing by Lincoln Feast)
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russiahttpwwwantaracoidennews1254898894samsung-electronics-to-expand-its-wimax-supply-to-russia
Wednesday October 7 2009 1401 WIB | Economic amp Business | | Viewed 63 time(s)Seoul (ANTARA NewsAsia Pulse) - South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (KSE005930) said Wednesday it has signed a deal with a Russian company to expand its supply of high-speed wireless Internet technology across Russia
The deal with Yota a provider of the WiMAX service would facilitate the expansion of wireless Internet connections to 38 additional Russian cities the South Korean company said in a statement
According to Samsung it has provided equipment and technology for mobile WiMAX in Russia since September 2008
Samsungs WiMAX service subscribers reached 200000 in Russia as of October 1 We plan to extend the mobile WiMAX networks to 180 cities in Russia by 2012 Denis Sverdlov CEO of Yota was quoted as saying by Samsung
Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTShttpfinanceyahoocomnewsAcision-Deploys-Desktop-prnews-2753403537htmlx=0ampv=52
Press Release
Source Acision UK Ltd
On 401 am EDT Wednesday October 7 2009
READING England October 7 PRNewswire --
- Desktop Messaging Provides Easy Access to Mobile Messaging From the Desktop and Laptop Environment
Acision the worlds leading messaging company today announces the successful launch of Desktop Messaging at MTS the largest mobile operator in Russia and the CIS The innovative new Desktop Messaging service is the result of collaboration between Acision and its partner Mobispine as part of the Acision Innovation Network Mobispines Desktop Messaging enables MTS customers to send and receive messages from their computer through a dedicated desktop application plug-in for Microsoft Outlook Internet Explorer and Firefox web browsers
The high-volume solution has been deployed by MTS in Russia and is integrated with the Acision messaging infrastructure already powering MTS messaging In addition
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Mobispine has developed a Lotus Notes application for MTS Desktop Messaging specifically for the Russian market
With Desktop Messaging we are enabling MTS to extend the reach of its mobile services and brand to the desktop and laptop environment By providing easy access to mobile messaging on multiple devices MTS subscribers now have mobile messaging at their fingertips while on the move at home and in the office said David Frail global market development director at Acision
Pavel Roytberg director of product development at MTS commented We are offering our customers the ability to send and receive text messages directly from their computers as Internet penetration is growing rapidly in Russia By becoming the first operator in Russia to offer desktop messaging we continue to deliver the most innovative solutions to our customers
Joakim Hilj CEO at Mobispine said Desktop Messaging is rapidly becoming a must have service for operators We are delighted that MTS selected Acision and Mobispine to provide this service This confirms our market leadership in converged messaging and helping operators deliver mobile services across different devices
MTS is the largest operator in Russia with 68m subscribers and one of the top 10 mobile operators in the world with 96m subscribers across the MTS Group (according to Informa Telecoms amp Media based on proportionate subscribers)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
No agreement on price yet for Turkmen gas
Gas flows have been halted since April
(Adds details background)
ALMATY Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkmenistan hopes to renew gas supplies to Russia by the end of this month the head of the Central Asian states geological institute said on Wednesday
Supplies from Turkmenistan Russian gas company Gazproms (GAZPMM Quote Profile Research) main source of natural gas in Central Asia were suspended in April after an explosion damaged the pipeline connecting the two countries
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Analysts estimate that Turkmenistan is losing up to $1 billion every month due to the halt in the gas exports
We hope to renew supplies by the end of October said Torye Yagshymuradov the head of Turkmengeologia the government body that controls the use of natural resources in the country
He added that there was no final agreement yet on the gas price
Earlier this week VTB Capital investment bank said Gazprom was likely to resume gas purchases from Turkmenistan this or next month The bank said it drew the conclusion after meeting with officials of the company [IDnL5675723]
Gazprom was not immediately available to comment
The blast and the flow suspension came at a time when Gazprom was facing lower demand in Europe and at home due to the economic crisis
Pipeline blasts happen frequently on the territory of the former Soviet Union due to the age of the equipment but it rarely takes more than a week to restore flows
Before the explosion Gazprom used to import about 50 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas a year but due to the economic downturn it was unlikely to return to such volumes
A market source told Reuters Gazprom was likely to buy up to 30 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas next year (Reporting by Katya Golubkova writing by Dmitry Sergeyev and Vladimir Soldatkin editing by Anthony Barker)
Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes boosterhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195152ece
News wires
The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil group plans to raise its oil output to between 36 million and 42 million tonnes per year (778000 barrels per day to 906000 bpd) by 2016 the ventures general director said today
We are looking at 2016 timeframe We are targeting the oil output to be at between 36 million to 42 million tonnes a year by 2016 Reuters quoted Todd Levy as saying
Tengizchevroil owned by Chevron ExxonMobil Lukoil and KazMunaiGaz is developing the giant Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan
It produced 102 million tonnes of oil (805 million barrels) in the first half of this year and is forecast to produce 225 million tonnes (177 million barrels) this year up from last years total of 173 million tonnes (136 million barrels)
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
Bloomber Sakhalin Energy Says Secured Extra $14 Billion in Financing httpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aomis3jfjTAQ
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd said it secured an additional $14 billion in project financing taking the total Phase 2 project financing to $67 billion
The additional debt was provided by a group of international banks and was insured by an export credit agency owned by the Japanese government the venture said in an e- mailed statement today
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0207 EDT
Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steelhttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195148ece
News wires
Russian pipe giant TMK has made its first delivery to a major gas pipeline being built by Gazprom in the Russian Far East the company said
TMK controlled by billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky said on Wednesday it shipped 8000 tonnes of large-diameter pipe last month to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline which Gazprom started welding in July
The trunk pipeline will link offshore gas fields around Sakhalin with the port city of Vladivostok a Reuters report said
The pipelines 1350 kilometre first phase is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2011
TMK expects to supply more than 70000 tonnes for the pipeline by the end of this year
The longitudinal-weld pipes produced at a mill commissioned last year by TMK at its Volzhsky plant have wall thickness of between 178 and 212 millimetres
Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinocohttpwwwupstreamonlinecomlivearticle195136ece
News wires
A Russian oil consortium will only have to pay $600 million not the $1 billion Venezuela previously said as a down payment for its participation in exploiting Venezuelas Orinoco oilfields a top lawmaker said today
A group of five Russian companies --Rosneft Lukoil Gazprom TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- are planning a joint venture with state-run PDVSA to develop the Junin 6 Block in eastern Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez and other administration officials said last month the Russian companies already paid a $1 billion bond to have access to the oil block which officials say has huge proven reserves and could produce 450000 barrels of crude per day Dow Jones reported
But in a statement today Angel Rodriguez a senior Venezuelan lawmaker and head of the congressional energy commission said the $1 billion bond will be paid 10 days after the joint venture is finalised
He also said Venezuela would shoulder $400 million of that with the Russians paying the other $600 million
Officials have estimated an overall investment of anywhere between $14 billion and $26 billion will be needed to develop the Junin 6 Block
Rodriguez did not indicate when the joint venture deal would be finalised
The $1 billion would go toward the building of highways schools housing and other social or infrastructure projects he said
PDVSA would control 60 of the joint venture with the Russians owning the other 40
The Chavez-led government has talked about plans for nearly $70 billion in oil investments over the coming years as the nation seeks to ramp up dwindling production numbers and boost its sagging economy
But so far nearly all those plans are based only on memorandums of understanding with no solid investment commitments from foreign oil companies
Lower global oil prices amid a weak worldwide economy may be one reason for less-enthusiastic foreign oil investment in Venezuela
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
An uncertain regulatory environment in this Socialist-leaning country is seen as another cause
Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521508newsaspx
ALMATY Oct 7 (Interfax) - Development of the Khvalynskoye gasfield in Kazakhstans Caspian sector will cost $5 billion in the firstphase KazMunayGas (KMG) CEO Kairgeldy Kabyldin said at the KIOGE-2009conference in Almaty on Wednesday First phase development of the field will cost approximately $5billion Kabyldin said In May 2002 Kazakhstan and Russia signed a protocol to the 1998agreement on demarcation of their Caspian sectors The protocol definesthe coordinates of the line separating their two sectors The agreementputs the Kurmangazy structure on the Kazakh side and the Centralnaya andKhvalynskoye structures on the Russian side The two nations agreed todevelop those fields on a 50-50 basis Lukoil (RTS LKOH) and KMG set up a joint venture in 2005 CaspianOil and Gas Company to develop Khvalynskoye KMG is selling a 25 stake in the project to French Total and GDFSuez Post-sale KMG will have 25 interest in the project Total andGDF - 25 and Lukoil - 50 Khvalynskoye was discovered in 2002 It is located 260 kilometersfrom Astrkhan in waters 25-30 meters deep 3D seismic surveying and drilling of two exploration wellsidentified five horizons four with gas condensate and one with oil TheNatural Resources and Ecology Ministry has registered C1+C2 reservestotaling 332 billion cubic meters of natural gas 17 million tonnes ofcondensate and 36 million tonnes of oil
Industrial Info Resources Russias Sibur Secures $153 Million Line of Credit for Polypropylene Project in TobolskhttpwwwindustrialinfocomshowAbstractjspnewsitemID=150938
GALWAY IRELAND--October 7 2009--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land Texas)--Russian petrochemical major OJSC Sibur Holding (Moscow) has secured initial funding of $153 million (100 million euros) for the companys latest propylene and polypropylene venture in Tobolsk The proposed petrochemical complex will house a polypropylene plant with a production capacity of 500000 tons per year The plant equipment is likely to be delivered to the site during the next year and construction and other pre-commissioning tasks are expected to continue until mid-2012
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Sibur which is aiming to capture a large share in the growing plastics sector of the region is expected to benefit from this new polypropylene venture which to some extent will offset the volume of Russias imports of polypropylene end products
Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sourceshttpwwwforbescomfeedsafx20091006afx6972056html
100609 0231 PM EDT
By Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW Oct 6 (Reuters) - Oil major BP ( BP - news - people ) is resigned to leaving management control of its key Russian venture TNK-BP in the hands of its oligarch partners to avoid a new corporate war sources close to the company said
It is most likely that current interim Chief Executive Mikhail Fridman one of the key Russian co-owners will retain his position and would keep his ally German Khan TNK-BPs co-owner and executive director to run the day-to-day operations into the new year the sources said
The sources told Reuters that BP had no chance in the foreseeable future to promote its protege to CEO leaving the day-to-day decisions at the firm which generates a quarter of BPs worldwide oil output to the oligarchs
The void at the helm of TKN-BP which generated $53 billion in profit last year is the result of a dispute that erupted last year when the oligarchs said they were unhappy with BPs management and its unwillingness to allow the venture to expand abroad
BP accused the oligarchs of using administrative resources to force their man CEO Bob Dudley out of the country along with a number of other expatriate workers
Fridmans appointment as interim CEO was perceived as the final step by BP to cede much of its influence at TNK-BP It followed months of bureaucratic red tape imposed by the government on BPs Russian operations in heavy contrast with statements by the Kremlin that it would not get involved in the conflict
TNK-BP said in May that it hoped to select a new CEO by the end of the year Two newly appointed executives are in the running for the top job -- BP nominee Pavel Skitovich and the Russian partners candidate Mikhail Barsky who came from small oil firm West Siberian Resources
One source said that Skitovich would be pushed aside
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
There is a broad belief that work is under way to find a place for Skitovich from which he will never be able to escape again some sort of corporate grave said one source close to TKN-BP and BP
NOMINEES GREEN
Keeping Fridman Russias fourth-richest man with personal wealth of $63 billion estimated by Forbes magazine in May in charge as interim chief appears the most realistic option according to another source close to the two companies
Both guys (Skitovich and Barsky) are still very green as managers said the second source
Skitovich 44 ran Polyus Gold Russias largest gold miner for five months in 2007 Barsky a 35-year-old executive has previously worked at investment bank Troika Dialog and a unit of gas giant Gazprom
TNK-BP said it was not wise to talk about who controlled management
We are not talking about people representing the interests of one or another group of owners We are one team and many of us have worked here since the beginning TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva said
BP spokesman Vladimir Buyanov said talks were still under way to choose a new chief
We want to make sure we have the right person to lead this very successful company he said
BP still has its person in the position of chief operating officer COO Tim Summers is due to be replaced by another BP veteran the head of BP Azerbaijan Bill Schrader later this month
Still in the TNK-BP ranks the COO is not necessarily the second in command
We dont see Fridman very often here So if you want a decision you must go to Khan said a third source close to the companies
(Editing by Karen Foster) Keywords BP RUSSIA
(dmitrizhdannikovreuterscom + 7 495 775 12 42)
Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlookhttpwwwnasdaqcomaspxstock-market-news-storyaspxstoryid=200910062151dowjonesdjonline000533amptitle=natural-gas-executives-put-faith-in-industrys-long-term-outlook
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
By Matthew Cowley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- The global financial and economic crisis has taken its toll on the natural gas industry with sharp declines in prices and consumption but industry executives on Tuesday expressed their faith in the long-term outlook
Primary gas consumptions share in the energy matrix is expected to be stable or rising in the next 25 years at around 22 historically that share in the matrix has never stopped increasing said Antonio Brufau chairman and chief executive of Spains Repsol YPF (REP) in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Emerging countries are going to be the main drivers of future natural gas demand especially as incomes start to rise in places such as China or India he said
If we believe in the economic health of these countries then we must believe in the health of natural gas demand Brufau said
Brufau said he has doubts about the consensus forecast that points to an excess of natural gas supplies through 2013
In my opinion this view is subject to a high degree of uncertainty Brufau said Although I admit it is the most likely outcome we must bear in mind that the market is now more complex
In Europe a major center for demand consumption will likely fall 7 in 2009 compared with 2008 according to Bernhard Reutersberg chief executive of German gas company Ruhrgas a subsidiary of EON AG (EOANXE)
Demand should start to pick up again from next year although its still too early to know the full impact of the crisis he said
There will be a slight recovery in 2010 and present decreases will likely be overcome in two or three years Reutersberg said
Whether the slide represents a change in the long-term trend for growth in natural gas use is still unclear the executive said
Alexei Miller chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZPRS) also pointed to countries such as China and India which are undergoing an impetuous process of industrialization urbanization and other mobilization
Energy demand will be growing but there will be limited contributions from oil and nuclear power while alternative energies will be insignificant he said in a speech
The case of Gazprom highlights the fact that just as with the oil industry geopolitics also play a significant role in natural gas markets A dispute between Russia and Ukraine has
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
seen gas deliveries to a swath of European countries cut off intermittently over recent years
Seeking to allay some of those fears Miller said that Gazprom is committed to fulfill its long term obligations and that its necessary to dispel ideological and political prejudices
For now the world wont be able to live without fossil fuels and natural gas is the most environmentally-friendly he said echoing calls by a number of the executives to brand natural gas as the cleanest of fossil fuels and one which can help bridge the gap to a world of alternative fuels
A study by the International Gas Union projects that global demand for natural gas will likely rise a third to 4 trillion cubic meters by 2030 up from around 3 trillion cubic meters currently as global economic growth and the desire for cleaner fuels pushes sales of natural gas to new limits
The study claimed that greater use of natural gas will necessarily underpin any push for stricter environmental standards and lower carbon dioxide emissions
The study finds that the share of natural gas in the global fuel mix could rise to 28 from 21 by 2030 if governments continue pushing for cleaner fuels
Colin Lyle the studys coordinator said that increasing the worlds dependence on natural gas isnt as risky as it may seem
There is no peak oil problem for gas he said
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference Lyle said new technologies are constantly providing gas producers with more efficient ways to extract gas
As a result the world now has two to three times more natural gas than it did decades ago when experts said the world was on the verge of running out of gas he said
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowley dowjonescom
(Taos Turner and Jeff Fick contributed to this report)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-092151ET Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones amp Company Inc
Gazprom
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Bloomberg Gazprom Repsol Discuss Asset Swaps Yamal LNG in Buenos Aireshttpwwwbloombergcomappsnewspid=newsarchiveampsid=aMnp5fiZVPns
By Stephen Bierman
Oct 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may invite Repsol YPF SA to help develop gas deposits and a liquefied natural gas plant on Russiarsquos Yamal peninsula as part of talks on global asset swaps the Moscow-based company said
Gazprom and Repsol will continue talks in December Gazprom said in an e-mailed statement today after company executives met in Buenos Aires
To contact the reporter on this story Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1bloombergnet
Last Updated October 7 2009 0234 EDT
Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNGhttpwwwinterfaxcom3521490newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) CEO Alexei Millerand the CEO of Spanish Repsol Antonio Brufau Niubo discussed theoutlook for wide-ranging bilateral cooperation under agreementsconcluded previously including on asset swaps at a meeting held inconjunction with the World Gas Congress in Buenos Aires The talks included a discussion of opportunities to implement jointprojects on global energy markets specifically the Yamal LNG projectGazprom said in a statement Agreements were reached to conduct the next round of talks at thelevel of company heads in December this year the statement says
Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sourceshttpwwwinterfaxcom3521478newsaspx
MOSCOW Oct 7 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS GAZP) will conduct aseries of meetings with Asian investors sources in banking circles toldInterfax on Tuesday This is a non-deal road show one source said There is a rumor that Gazprom plans to issue commercial paper butthat is an unconfirmed rumor a source at a major Western investmentbank said Another source said Gazprom might be looking at the outlook forraising capital They want to talk with the exchanges whether there is
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
liquidity to get acquainted with investors the source said sayingthere were no plans for a listing Another source said Hong Kong was the exchange concerned However a source familiar with the itinerary of Gazprom officialsin Asia denied there would be meetings with the exchanges Gazprom has declined to comment Market insiders surveyed by Interfax said the Hong Kong exchange isthe most convenient Asian exchange for listing Russia shares It alreadyhas experience listing non-Chinese shares unlike the Shanghai exchangeand the investor base is broader than in Singapore Shanghai doesnthave regular legislation [for foreign issuers] and Singapore has afairly narrow base of investors Everything is at the initial level butif there is going to be something it will be in Hong Kong one marketinsider told Interfax Investor interest in alternative exchanges has risen due to theexpanding capabilities of regional investors they said
Itar-Tass Naftogaz Ukrainy pays to Gazprom for Sept gas supplieshttpwwwitar-tasscomenglevel2htmlNewsID=14406003ampPageNum=0
07102009 0902
KIEV October 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Ukrainian company Naftogaz Ukrainy has on time and in full volume paid to Russiarsquos natural gas monopoly Gazprom for gas imported in September the press centre of the Ukrainian enterprise reported
ldquoNaftogaz Ukrainy has once again confirmed its reputation of a reliable and predictable partnerrdquo the company noted ldquoDespite all internal economic and political difficulties as well as the uneasy process of restructuring of foreign loan obligations the company in the future will fulfil its strategic tasks to supply sufficient natural gas volumes to Ukrainian consumers and ensure uninterrupted transit of natural gas via the Ukrainian territoryrdquo the statement stresses
Ukrainersquos gas transportation system is ready to ensure Russian gas transit to Europe in the autumn and winter 2009-2010 first deputy chairman of the Ukrainy Naftogaz board Igor Didenko said earlier Speaking at a telephone conference devoted to preparations for the heating season Didenko said ldquoUkrainersquos gas transportations system is fully ready to supply gas to consumers and ensure Russian gas transit to European consumersrdquo
He said a total of 540 kilometres of main gas pipelines had been repaired in autumn and over 9000 kilometres of gas pipelines had been checked Earlier presidential representative for international energy security Bogdan Sokolovsky said over 26 billion cubic metres of gas had been stockpiled in underground storage facilities ldquoThis is enough to supply gas to all consumers ndash both to internal and external onesrdquo he noted
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
The national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy or Naftogaz of Ukraine is the state company of Ukraine concerned with extraction transportation and refinement of natural gas and crude oil The company is also active in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates
In September 2009 the Fitch Ratings of the company dropped from lsquoCCrsquo to lsquoCrsquo
In 2005 the company became embroiled in a dispute over the natural gas prices with Russian state company Gazprom which was ended on 4 January 2006 In January 2009 the company was the centre of a similar conflict
On October 24 2008 Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a long-term cooperation deal in which it was decided that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas
Deliveries of 90 million cubic meters of natural gas per day designed for Naftogaz were fully cut by Gazprom on 1 January 2009 at 1000 MSK and were restored only on 13 January 2009 at 1000 MSK after long-term agreements for gas transit and supply for 2009-2019 were signed
On March 4 2009 Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the companyrsquos headquarters in a case against officials of Naftogaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 63 billion cubic meters of transit natural gasThe same day the Shevchenko District Court of Kiev banned the Security Service to investigate this case The next day Bloc Yulia Timoshenko deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) prevented a second raid According to Valery Khoroshkovsky first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Radarsquos deputies filed in a claim against Naftogaz Ukrainy Also on March 5 2009 Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko awarded the chairman of the State Customs Service Anatoly Makarenko deputy chief of the Energy Regional Customs department Taras Shepitko deputy chief accountant of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Maria Kushnyr and director of the Judicial Department of Naftogaz Ukrainy NJSC Sergei Davydenko with decoration and honorary documents of the government of Ukraine On March 17 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftogaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU
OCTOBER 6 2009 147 PM ET
WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability httponlinewsjcomarticleBT-CO-20091006-710084html
BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--The stability of long-term natural gas contracts is a significant competitive advantage for Russian natural gas giant Gazprom OAO (GAZPRS) the companys top executive said Tuesday
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Given the need to finance during investment cycles the work under long-term arrangements gives us an advantage which is stability Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a speech to the World Gas Conference
Gazprom has the worlds largest portfolio of long-term gas supply contracts Miller said The company has committed to supplying around 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas in contracts which in some cases last through 2035 he said
Gazprom produces 17 of global gas production and is the worlds largest natural gas exporter he said The company invests enough to fulfill its long-term obligations he said
The company will invest around $255 billion this year which despite the global economic crisis is above its yearly average investment level laid down in its three-year outlook he said
Miller stressed the reliability of Gazproms natural gas supplies throughout the speech and said its important to dispel ideological and political prejudices
It should be noted that the issue of gas security including the security of gas supply has in recent years been the focus of debate at the highest level Miller said
Gazproms exploration and production progress helps ensure the company will reliably fulfill all our gas supply contracts Miller said
Miller promoted natural gas as the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel in a world that cant survive without fossil fuels
If the 20th Century was the century of oil the 21st century will be a century of natural gas Miller said
With regards to liquefied natural gas or LNG Miller said that by 2020 the company will produce 80 to 90 million tons per year which will amount to up to 25 of the global market
-By Matthew Cowley Dow Jones Newswires +54 11 4103 6740 matthewcowleydowjonescom
10062009 0550 PM
Lawby Belarus urges Gazprom not to allow gas price hike in 2010
httplawbyworkEnglPortalnsf008B07F69E60FED54C225764700518EC1OpenDocument
YEKATERINBURG 6 October (BelTA) ndash Belarus is holding the negotiations with
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
Gazprom to ensure the gas price does not spike in 2010 First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko told a press conference on 6 October
Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky ordered Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets to hold talks with Gazprom The point is to ensure that the 2010 gas price should be based on the formula and agreement signed by Belarus and Russia in 2007 ldquoIt is necessary to fix the prices now to prevent their surge in 2010rdquo said Vladimir Semashko The Energy Ministry of Belarus has already started the negotiations
The fuel and energy balance of Belarus and Russia was adjusted long ago Vladimir Semashko said In 2010 it will be a bit bigger in terms of the volume than in 2009 because the economy keeps growing and Belarus needs more resources But owing to the warm winter the balance was not used in full this year The oil consumption balance of Belarus will be up 4 in 2009 as against the previous year Vladimir Semashko said
Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution httpwwwbusinesswirecomportalsitegooglendmViewId=news_viewampnewsId=20091006005907ampnewsLang=en
October 06 2009 0955 AM Eastern Daylight Tim
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SolArc a global provider of commodity supply trading and risk management software and services has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading GmbH an international marketing and trading company based in Vienna Austria to implement SolArcrsquos RightAngle integrated application suite for its crude and refined products trading operations accounting and risk management requirements
SolArcrsquos RightAngle solution which is used by more than 60 industry-leading companies around the world has been selected by Gazprom Neft Trading to provide a single comprehensive solution to support Gazprom Neft Tradingrsquos current and future operations Areas supported will include Crude Oil and Refined Products Deal Capture Scheduling and Movement Inventory Risk and Credit Management and Accounting By integrating all of these critical capabilities into a shared organizational view Gazprom Neft Trading ensures greater insight and control of its diverse trading and risk management operations
ldquoWith SolArcrsquos expertise and exclusive focus on commodity and risk trading and after a detailed evaluation process based on our business requirements we felt that SolArc RightAngle was the right system to support our current and future operations for this critical part of our growing businessrdquo said Claudia Leissner Head of Administration department at Gazprom Neft Trading ldquoSolArc has earned a positive reputation in the industry for its years of experience in the ETRM arena successful implementations and proactive customer engagements We will rely on SolArc and the RightAngle solution to help us accurately handle both the physical and financial activities of our international
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-
crude and refined product marketing business and provide much more comprehensive risk management tools to enhance profitability and operational effectivenessrdquo
ldquoSince 1991 wersquove provided industry-leading companies like Gazprom Neft Trading a focused software solution to gain greater insight and control over their commodities supply and trading transactionsrdquo said SolArc CEO Brad Anderson ldquoWersquore excited about this opportunity to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading because we know that its requirements and our offering are exceptionally well aligned As we do for every client wersquore going to work closely with Gazprom Neft Trading through the implementation process and work hard to make sure the project is a complete success and that this of sense teamwork is maintained for years to comerdquo
Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drillinghttpwwwbarentsobservercomlate-payment-for-pechora-drilling4640202-16178html
2009-10-06 Drilling company Northern Offshore finally got paid for last yearrsquos drilling in the Pechora Sea
Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot has agreed to pay about 18 million USD for last yearrsquos drilling with the Energy Exerter a jack-up rig owned by Northern Offshore newspaper Dagens Naeligringsliv reports with reference to TDN Finans The rig last fall operated at Dolginskoe an oil fiel in the Pechora Sea owned by Gazprom
The Energy Exerter is built for harsh northern environments It can operated in water depths of up to 915 m with an available leg length below of 112 m
The rig was after last yearrsquos operations in the Pechora Sea stationed in Kirkenes Arctic Norway for service and maintenance You can read more about the rigs Kirkenes visit at BarentsObserver
- Russia 091007
- Basic Political Developments
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Gazprom
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text Articles
- Basic Political Developments
- Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 7
- Kyrgyzstan Russia negotiate over 2nd Russian military base
- Peoplersquos Daily Online Russia welcomes DPRKs willingness to return to six-party talks
-
- 1313 October 07 2009
- ISRIA US Dept of State - Moscow E6 Statement
-
- Kyiv Post Lavrov contacts between Russian Ukrainian foreign ministries to continue without pauses
- BSANNA News Ukraine Russia to hold Black Sea settlement consultations
- RFERL Ukraine Says Paid September Russian Gas Bill
- RIA Georgia resumes Russian natural gas transit to Armenia
- RIA Transdnestr conflict mediators urge resumption of talks
- The Moscow Times Mevedev Eliminates Economic Zones Agency
- Vostok Media Happy Birthday Vladimir Vladimirovich
- RIA Patriarch Kirill Pope Benedict not to meet yet - Russian Church
-
- Interfax Moscow Patriarchate denies Patriarch Kirills plans to meet with Pope
-
- Reuters Investigators search Strabags Moscow office ndashpaper
- Barentsobserver Fourth Borey-class sub in pipe
- RIA Russian emergencies ministry to hold anti-chemical exercises
-
- The Jamestown Foundation Bi-Annual Draft Begins in the Russian Military
-
- Russia unready for death penalty for pushers - antidrug agency
- The Moscow Times Kremlin Advisers Warn Nashi Youth
- Broadband TV News Foreign channels face Russian blackout
- Russia Today Chances of finding Politkovskaya killers fade
-
- RSF Reporters Without Borders prevented from going to Moscow for third anniversary of Anna Politkovskayarsquos murder
-
- Reuters FEATURE-Russian Arctic tribe at risk from Yamal gas projects
- RIA Pigs quarantined in south Russia over swine fever outbreak
- National Economic Trends
- Business Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
- Barentsobserver Putin saves Sevmash from economic crisis
- WSJ Renault to Offer Some Aid to AvtoVAZ
-
- By WILL BLAND and JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN
-
- Reuters Russias Kamaz plans joint ventures with CNH
- Prague Daily Monitor Generali PPF ups H1 profit in Russia by 116
- Reuters Russias TMK ships steel pipe to Far East gas link
- Reuters Russia stem cell firm sees post-IPO market cap at $28mln
- ANTARA News Samsung Electronics to expand its WiMAX supply to Russia
- Yahoo Finance Acision Deploys Desktop Messaging at Russian Operator MTS
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Reuters UPDATE 1-Turkmenistan aims to flow gas to Russia this month
- httpinreuterscomarticlerbssEnergyNewsidINL715294420091007
- Wed Oct 7 2009 1254pm IST
- Upstreamonline Tengizchevroil eyes booster
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0853 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline TMK delivers Sakhalin steel
-
- News wires
- Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT | last updated Wednesday 07 October 2009 0809 GMT
-
- Upstreamonline Russia pays $600m not $1bn for Orinoco
-
- News wires
- Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT | last updated Tuesday 06 October 2009 2243 GMT
- Interfax Khvalynskoye field development to cost $5 bln ndash KMG
-
- Reuters BP resigned to letting oligarchs run TNK-BP-sources
- Nasdaqcom Natural Gas Executives Put Faith In Industrys Long-Term Outlook
- Gazprom
-
- Interfax Gazprom Repsol chiefs meet discuss stake in Yamal LNG
- Interfax Gazprom to hold non-deal road show in Asia ndash sources
-
- WSJ Gazprom CEO Long-Term Nat Gas Contracts Provide Stability
- Business Wire Gazprom Neft Trading Selects SolArc to Provide Trading and Risk Management Solution
- Barentsobserver Late payment for Pechora drilling
-