BRICS summit and China’s trip to Moscow marks a new era

File Photo of Flags of BRICS Nations and BRICS Logo from Past Summit

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – March 28, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin was in South Africa on March 27 at the opening of the BRICS summit to highlight the growing importance of the emerging markets club that are increasingly taking the lead when it comes to global growth. “Work in the BRICS group is one of Russia’s foreign policy […]

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Russia Lets China Into Arctic Rush as Energy Giants Embrace

Map of Barents Sea and Polar Environs

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Rakteem Katakey & Will Kennedy – March 25, 2013) Russia’s decision to give China a share of prized Arctic exploration licenses as part of a “breakthrough” deal signals how the world’s largest oil and gas producer and the biggest energy consumer are redrawing the global energy map. Under agreements signed during President Xi Jinping’s first state […]

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Russian rejects Cyprus to embrace China

Cyprus Map

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – March 25, 2013) The news images on Friday were dripping with symbolism. A Cypriot delegation lead by Finance minister Michael Sarris was on its way out to the airport having failed to secure a 10bn rescue package from the Kremlin, while newly anointed Chinese premier Xi Jinping was on his way in from the […]

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Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia

Oil Well file photo

(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Mackensie Knorr – February 19, 2013) Meeting Report As Russia’s Soviet-era oil legacy gradually runs down, the Russian oil industry will face new challenges and higher costs. “This will result in a lower flow of revenue to the Russian government at a time when the Russian state budget has become more dependent on oil than […]

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Oil and Gas to Dominate Xi’s Visit

China Map

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle and Anatoly Medetsky – March 22, 2013) Newly minted Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to push for increased oil and gas supplies from Russia and reaffirm warm bilateral ties on a three-day visit to Moscow beginning on Friday. The trip, Xi’s first international stop as president, will include meetings with President Vladimir […]

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Bright Days for Putin’s Dark Knight

Igor Sechin file photo

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Donald Jensen – March 19, 2013) Despite rumors of his waning influence, Rosneft chief Igor Sechin remains one of the most powerful members of Russia’s ruling establishment. Donald N. Jensen, Resident Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, discusses Sechin’s latest “string of triumphs.” […]

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China Predicts Energy Talks Breakthrough in Xi’s Visit to Russia

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Bloomberg News – bloomberg.com –  March 20, 2013) China anticipates a breakthrough in energy talks during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow this week, an achievement that may strengthen ties between neighbors wary of U.S. motives on issues from Iran to Asia policy. China wants to sign an agreement on a natural-gas pipeline during Xi’s three-day trip this week, Vice […]

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Can EU Face Russia Down Over Energy Policy?

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Agnia Grigas – March 18, 2013) Agnia Grigas is a development and political risk consultant to corporations and governments. She works in business and academia. Dr Agnia Grigas is the author of The Politics of Energy and Memory between the Baltic State and Russia (Ashgate Publishing, January 2013) Moscow uses energy as a geopolitical weapon and is thus […]

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Medvedev’s $30bn giveaway

Map of Barents Sea and Polar Environs

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – March 19, 2013) The big dollop of egg on Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s face since it emerged a strip of water in the Barents Sea ceded by the then-president to Norway contains more than $30bn worth of oil and gas spells trouble for the already weakened premier. Russia and Norway had been negotiating […]

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Russia Adopts Texas Drilling to Revive Soviet Oil Fields

Oil Worker file photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman – March 18, 2013) Fracking isn’t just for shale. In Russia, producers are importing techniques from the U.S. to squeeze billions of dollars of extra oil from Soviet-era fields. TNK-BP, Russia’s third-largest producer, will use hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling in almost half the wells it sinks this year, a sixfold increase in […]

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China’s Xi Jinping to Talk Energy in Russia

China Map

MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti) ­ China’s new president, Xi Jinping, will discuss energy partnership during his March 22-24 visit to Russia, his first overseas trip as leader of the world’s most populous country, the Kremlin said on Monday. The Chinese president will meet with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 23. The talks will focus on trade and […]

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Market Watchers Contemplate a Gazprom Reshuffle

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – March 15, 2013) A new executive at the head of Gazprom could give a mighty boost to the stock price of the world’s biggest gas producer, especially if the replacement came with a policy change, according to managers that run funds with Russian assets. The belief comes even as there is understanding […]

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Gazprom Belies State-Run Tag as Russia Can’t Get Answers

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Scott Rose – March 11, 2013) OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly, is thwarting efforts to boost oversight of its $28.9 billion in capital spending as the state seeks to improve investment, Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Belyakov said. “Despite the fact that it’s a state company, even we, to put it mildly, can’t always see […]

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Putin Pipeline to Send 25% of Russia’s Oil Exports East

Oil Well file photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Jake Rudnitsky – March 7, 2013) Russia is on course to send an unprecedented 25 percent of its crude exports to eastern markets by 2015 as rising demand from China and other Asian consumers attracts sales at the expense of Europe. The country sent 1.1 million barrels a day east in February, or 22 percent of […]

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Russia Seeks Closer Energy Partnership with China

China Map

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 42 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Sergei Blagov – March 6, 2013) On February 25, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich traveled to China to attend a first meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission on energy cooperation. The commission was formed in December 2012 to replace the bilateral Russia-China energy dialogue. Dvorkovich held […]

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Russia’s nonconventional reserves seen more promising than Arctic in next decade

Russian Gas Facility file photo

MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) – The development of nonconventional reserves of oil and gas in Russia in the next decade holds more promise than the Arctic, Gazprom Neft (RTS: SIBN) first deputy CEO Vadim Yakovlev told reporters. He said nontraditional reserves will be developed before the Arctic. “They are no less important than Arctic reserves, but are now the priority […]

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Russian Natural Resources Ministry to study shale gas

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Interfax – February 27, 2013) The Russian Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will carry out an analysis and geological study of resources and reserves in non-traditional gas deposits, including shale gas. There is a lot of focus on extraction of shale oil and gas in the mineral material base preservation program, which was drafted by the Natural Resources Ministry. The […]

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Be Careful: Russia is Back to Stay in the Middle East

Middle East Map

(Oilprice.com – Felix Imonti – February 25, 2013) Russia is back.  President Vladimir Putin wants the world to acknowledge that Russia remains a global power.  He is making his stand in Syria. The Soviet Union acquired the Tardus Naval Port in Syria in 1971 without any real purpose for it.  With their ships welcomed in Algeria, Cuba or Vietnam, Tardus […]

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Russia may create Arctic oil and gas field reserve

Map of Barents Sea and Polar Environs

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) – Russia would form a reserve of oil and gas fields in its Arctic zone under a proposal contained in the Strategy for Development of Russia’s Arctic Zone and Ensuring National Security to 2020 published on the government website on Wednesday. The fund would help guarantee the nation’s energy security and ensure the steady development of […]

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Rosneft revenues threaten Gazprom’s top spot; Rosneft is preparing to steal Gazprom’s crown as Russia’s largest company.

Igor Sechin file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – www.rbth.ru – Galina Starinskaya, special to RBTH- February 14, 2013) CEO Igor Sechin directed massive growth for state-owned Rosneft in 2012, developing international partnerships in offshore projects, a merger with TNK-BP and a move toward direct long-term contracts. If Gazprom loses its monopoly on exports of liquefied natural gas, as Rosneft expects, the latter will […]

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Assault on Gazprom’s monopoly heats up

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – February 14, 2013) The writing is on the wall for Gazprom’s long-held monopoly over Russia’s gas business. State-owned oil major Rosneft fired the latest volley in the growing assault on the gas giant’s priviledged position by calling for an end to Gazprom’s export monopoly on liquefied natural gas (LNG) on February 13. Rosneft chief […]

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Greek Privatization a Test Case for Russian Popularity

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – February 12, 2013) Natural gas assets being sold by crisis-ridden Greece are at the center of an escalating battle between Russian companies with ready cash and European officials reluctant to facilitate the growth of Moscow’s influence in their backyard. One of the juiciest prizes of Greece’s privatization program, gas company DEPA and […]

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Russian Cabinet spars over oil profit investment

Oil Well file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Irina Granik, Moskovskiye Novosti – February 11, 2013) Old arguments have risen again in the government, after the publication of the “Five Years of Effectiveness” economic program earlier this month. The themes, as before, are how much money should remain in the state reserve in case of a crisis, and how to finance investment projects […]

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The Past, Present and Future of Russian Energy Strategy

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Strategic Forecasting/STRATFOR – Geopolitical Weekly – Lauren Goodrich and Marc Lanthemann – stratfor.com – February 12, 2013) The future of Russia’s ability to remain a global energy supplier and the strength the Russian energy sector gives the Kremlin are increasingly in question. After a decade of robust energy exports and revenues, Russia is cutting natural gas prices to Europe while […]

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Russia to soon present UN with scientific research on continental shelf

Map of Northern Japan, Kurill Islands, Sea of Okhotsk, Portions of Russian Far East

MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) – Russia will soon present the UN with the results of its research on the extent of the continental shelf in the central Sea of Okhotsk, and later in the Arctic Ocean more than 200 miles from the shore, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said at a Thursday briefing. “Russia has long […]

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No Gas Price Deal With Ukraine Yet – Kremlin

Russian Gas Facility file photo

SOCHI, February 4 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russia and Ukraine have not yet agreed on ways to lower the price of Russian gas regardless of whether Ukraine joins the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “At present, we cannot officially confirm that any agreement has been reached,” Peskov said. Russia’s Ambassador to […]

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$60 Oil Price Will Eat up Russia’s Oil Fund ­ Survey

Oil Well file photo

MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russia’s Oil Wealth Fund will be totally consumed if world oil prices plunge to $60 per barrel and stay at that level for a year, experts from the Russian School of Economics (VSE) said on Tuesday. That scenario presents “a shock not only for the budget system but also for the economy as a […]

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Russia’s Medvedev Says Gazprom May Lose Gas-Export Monopoly

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ryan Chilcote, Anna Shiryaevskaya & Lyubov Pronina – January 23, 2013) OAO Gazprom (GAZP) may lose its monopoly on natural gas exports to domestic competitors as long as the move doesn’t cut prices and damage Russia’s economic interests, according to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It is possible, because there are other, independent gas producers,” Medvedev said […]

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Russia to Submit Arctic Claims by Year’s End

Map of Barents Sea and Polar Environs

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Roland Oliphant – January 24, 2013) The federal government will submit its final Arctic territorial claims with the United Nations by the end of the year, the country’s leading Arctic scientist said. Artur Chilingarov, the veteran explorer who led the expedition to plant a Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole in 2007, […]

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Global Oil Market Slump Key Threat to Russia – Medvedev

Oil Well file photo

DAVOS, January 23 (RIA Novosti) ­ The danger of a global slump in the raw material markets remains a key threat to the Russian economy, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. That means the Russian economy remains vulnerable to negative changes in global markets, the premier told the World Economic Forum in Davos. “That is why we continue to […]

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Whatever happened to Russia’s economic miracle?

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Dmitry Travin – www.opendemocracy.net – January 7, 2013) Dmitry Travin is Research Director at the European University in St. Petersburg’s Centre of Modernization Studies. The first eight years of the last decade were incredibly successful for Russia’s economy, but the crisis of 2008 hit hard and growth remains decidedly sluggish. Dmitry Travin wonders whether the country’s economy will ever be […]

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Electricity sector between a rock and a hard place: Year in Review

Electrical Yard file photo

MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) – Russia’s electricity sector in 2012 became a kind of blanket that was pulled in opposite directions by two opposing forces, which were personified by the government’s former and current tsars of the sector, Igor Sechin and Arkady Dvorkovich. They pulled on two, very large, corners – RusHydro and the combination of Federal Grid Company (FGC) […]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Cold war – state and private companies lock horns over Arctic shelf

Polar Map Showing Permafrost Areas, Adapted From NOAA.gov Graphic

MOSCOW. Dec 31 (Interfax) – The standoff between state and private oil companies over access to Russia’s continental shelf over the past year recalled the cold war of the early 1980s. It was also a combination of clashing ideologies and ambitions, coalitions of allies, war on the periphery, scare tactics, a search for compromises and absurdity. As in the cold […]

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YEAR IN REVIEW: Gas comedy

Russian Gas Facility file photo

MOSCOW. Dec 29 (Interfax) – A classic situation comedy is where a snarl of ridiculous situations flow from one small lie that the hero says is only from good motives. For the justification of one untruth another is offered, then anothera(euro) and that is how a house of cards is built only to collapse amid uproarious off-screen laughter. FIRST STEP […]

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YEAR’S RESULTS: Modest results and record demand for Gazprom this year

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

MOSCOW. Dec 29 (Interfax) – The gas sector in 2012 will be noted for peak demand, which gas companies dealt with honorably. It was also characterized but modest results, which only slightly topped the daily results posted during the first wave of the financial crisis. PRODUCTION According to Interfax’s calculations based on the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and […]

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Poor State of Housing Services Could Be Next Rallying Point

File Photo of Water Facet with Drop of Water Coming Out

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – December 27, 2012) Calls for honest elections and President Vladimir Putin’s removal might attract the urban middle class to rallies, but it is rusty pipes and the poor state of the utilities sector that might persuade thousands of disgruntled citizens of all classes to march in the streets. The possibility that higher […]

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Gazprom Facing Challenges at Home and Abroad

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – December 26, 2012) A landmark gas-supply agreement with Germany signed late last month by Norway’s Statoil put the challenges facing Gazprom’s business model in the spotlight and prompted a quick response from the Russian gas giant’s executives. It is just one of many recent setbacks for the country’s largest company that experts […]

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Scramble for the Arctic to Dominate Environmental Agenda

Map of Barents Sea and Polar Environs

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Roland Oliphant – December 20, 2012) 2012 saw the climate-change-fueled dash for the Arctic’s riches dominate the environmental agenda. The debate over the high north, the annual nightmare of forest fires and continuing battles between activists and developers over roads, mines and the Sochi Olympics are only likely to intensify next year. Greenpeace activists stormed […]

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Utilities to go up as industry on brink of catastrophe

File Photo of Water Facet with Drop of Water Coming Out

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Evgeniya Chaykovskaya – December 19, 2012) Russia’s Federal Tariff Services asked the government to raise tariffs for heating (by 11.5 percent instead of 9.5 percent proposed by the Economic Development Ministry) and water supply (11-13 percent instead of 5-6 percent). If their wish is granted, households will face a 15 percent increase in utility payments, […]

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Minister Seeks Exemption From EU Energy Package for South Stream

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Howard Amos – Dec, 17, 2012) Gazprom’s $12.7 billion South Stream gas pipeline should be exempted from the European Union’s third energy package, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday. An updated Russian proposal arguing that the functioning Nord Stream pipeline and the planned South Stream pipeline should receive special treatment because they straddle both […]

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Russia Faces Economy Trap as Oil Decline Looms, EBRD Says

Oil Well file photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer and Agnes Lovasz – Dec. 14, 2012) Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, is becoming increasingly dependent on commodities and failing to prepare for falling oil output in 20 years, the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development said. Corruption, poor education, immigration barriers and state dominance in the economy, which curbs private innovation, all […]

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World’s Largest Profit at Gazprom Pays for Putin’s Pipes

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman & Anna Shiryaevskaya – Dec. 12, 2012) The world’s most profitable energy company is being punished by investors who are concerned it’s also the biggest spendthrift. OAO Gazprom (OGZD), Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly, will beat Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to earn $37.9 billion in 2012, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Yet its shares […]

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Putin Kicks Off South Stream Construction

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – Dec. 10, 2012) VARVAROVKA, Krasnodar Region ­ President Vladimir Putin on Friday kicked off construction for the route to deliver Russian gas to Europe. A ceremony in which two pipes were welded together marked the South Stream pipeline’s graduation from the phase of talks between governments and corporations ­ and drew the […]

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Gazprom sends first LNG tanker via Northern Sea Route

Map of Barents Sea and Polar Environs

MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – The Ob River liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, chartered by the Gazprom Group (RTS: GAZP), successfully completed the world’s first LNG shipment via the Northern Sea Route on Wednesday, the Russian gas giant reported. The tanker, which departed from Norway’s Hammerfest Port on November 7, has arrived at the regasification terminal at Tobata Port in […]

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NEWSLINK: Russian Oil Industry at a Crossroads as Infrastructure Ages

Oil Well file photo

[Russian Oil Industry at a Crossroads as Infrastructure Ages – International Herald Tribune – Thane Gustafson –  Dec. 5, 2012 – Thane Gustafson is a professor of government at Georgetown University and a senior director at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. His latest book is “Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia.” – Click here for […]

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Gazprom Tops Russian ‘Dream Job’ List – Poll

Russian Gas Facility file photo

MOSCOW, December 3 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russian state-controlled energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft, and state-run savings bank Sberbank top the list of where Russians most want to work, according to a poll published by the VTsIOM pollster on Monday. “Gazprom remains the most attractive employer for Russians. If respondents could choose a job in any large company operating on the […]

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Russia could try hand at shale gas production

File Photo of Blue Flame from Natural Gas

MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) – The Russian Energy Ministry proposes taking the first steps towards developing the country’s shale gas resources, staring with licensing and incentives to produce this sort of gas. The proposals are in a protocol resolution for a meeting to be chaired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and planned for Thursday, but which has been put […]

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EU warned against relying on shale gas, urged to invest in Russian project

Russian Gas Facility file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, 20 November) The European Commission’s investigation makes one wonder whether Brussels wants to be receiving Russian gas in increasing amounts, the deputy chairman of Gazprom’s board, Aleksandr Medvedev, told the Russia’s Gas forum. “The European Commission recently began an investigation in relation to Gazprom group (RTS: GAZP) and some of its partners, which makes one wonder whether […]

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No reasons for state to increase ownership of Russian oil sector – Dvorkovich

Arkady Dvorkovich file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) – Deputy Russian Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said he saw no reasons for growth in state ownership of the Russian oil industry. “We see no reasons for the state’s ownership in the oil sector to increase. There’s good competition between companies, companies are working well, with good profitability and substantial investments,” Dvorkovich said at a conference […]

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Khodorkovsky Criticizes Rosneft Takeover of TNK-BP

Mikhail Khodorkovsky file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 21, 2012) Jailed businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky has criticized Rosneft’s deal to take over British-Russian joint venture TNK-BP, saying President Vladimir Putin is leading the country toward “state capitalism” in an interview published Wednesday. Commenting on the deal, which Putin approved Oct. 22, the former Yukos head told Forbes magazine that the deal raises concerns […]

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