(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Elena Mazneva, Brian Parkin, Ewa Krukowska – May 31, 2014) Russia and Ukraine moved closer to a deal that would keep gas flowing between the countries even as they spar over Russian support for separatists seeking to break away from the government in Kiev. After talks brokered by the European Union in Berlin, Ukraine made its […]
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MOSCOW, May 30 (RIA Novosti) – Officials from Russia, Ukraine and the EU are set to hold talks in Berlin on Friday, a third attempt to resolve the gas dispute caused by Ukraine’s $4 billion outstanding gas debt. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak is also scheduled to meet with EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger on Friday. AND SO IT BEGINS […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Tim Ash, Standard Bank – May 29, 2014) I guess that is the $2.5bn for the period to the end of March, another $1bn for April/May, and then $1.7bn in pre-payment for June, as previously demanded by Moscow. EU officials have suggested though that $4bn is owed to date, and under a provisional deal […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – May 29, 2014) Gazprom, which earlier sent a prepayment bill to Ukraine, will limit gas supplies on June 3 if Kiev does not pay the advance bill for June, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Wednesday at a meeting of President Vladimir Putin with the government, Prime reported. According to Miller, Ukraine purchased 3.5 billion […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – INVISIBLE HAND – Liam Halligan in London, Editor-at-Large of BNE – May 28, 2014) The St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), now in its 18th year, was less well attended than usual. The absence of various US and Western Europe CEOs, responding to pressure from their governments following sanctions on Russia, was heavily commented […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 28, 2014) Rosneft head Igor Sechin has filed a lawsuit against journalists and publishers of the Russian edition of Forbes and Komsomolskaya Pravda for an article he says threatens to damage his business reputation. The lawsuit, filed on May 15, demands that the journalists and publishers behind a November report describing him as the […]
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MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s known oil reserves are enough to provide a yearly extraction of 600 million tons of oil for the next 30 years, Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoi told lawmakers on Wednesday, reaffirming the country may continue to heavily rely on natural resources to sustain its economy. “The Russian Federation has a substantial potential to […]
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(Oilprice.com – Robert Bensh – May 27, 2014) Kiev is feeling emboldened by the successful election of a new Ukrainian president and a bloody surge against separatists in the east, but in just a few days, Russia says it will twist the gas spigot, and there’s very little Kiev can do to stop that. On June 3, Russia plans to […]
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ST. PETERSBURG, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is working on the development of promising new energy sources, but in the next 30 years while power consumption is growing existing sources of energy will essentially re main the same, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. “Of course, we are already thinking about promising sources of energy: renewable energy, hydrogen energetics, […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ryan Chilcote, Olga Tanas and Henry Meyer – May 20, 2014) Ukraine should settle a substantial part of its natural-gas debt and set a payment schedule before Russia will start price negotiations amid a dispute that may affect Europe, according to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It should be a substantial sum that would clearly indicate their […]
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MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti), Nadia Koulikova – There is every possibility that Russia will turn off gas flows to Ukraine should the country not pay its outstanding debts, William Powell, senior managing editor for Platts International Gas Report, told RIA Novosti Tuesday. “To do otherwise would set a dangerous precedent that bills are optional. No other consumer is entitled […]
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BERLIN, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is prepared to discuss energy discounts after Kiev pays its April 1 bill for Russian natural gas, which Ukraine and the European Commission have confirmed stands at $2.2 billion, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Monday. “Ukraine needs to show its readiness, at least partially, to pay its debt,” Novak said. Because of […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Halia Pavliva and Ksenia Galouchko – May 19, 2014) President Vladimir Putin’s planned China visit this week is helping spark the longest rally in OAO Gazprom since 2006 as speculation mounts the Russian leader will return with a long-sought gas supply agreement. Gazprom, the world’s largest natural-gas producer, has climbed for nine days, rallying 16 percent […]
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(Oilprice.com – Daniel J. Graeber – May 14, 2014) Russian gas monopoly Gazprom says that despite the ongoing turmoil in Ukraine, the risk to disruption of European energy supplies is “insignificant” because demand is expected to be low during the spring and summer months. In its quarterly report, the company said, “At the moment due to the worsening political situation […]
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MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow doubts Kiev will be able to pay for Russian gas supplies even if provided discounts because of the economic crisis in the country, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday. “We do not have any guarantees that even with a price of $100 [per thousand cubic meters] … for example, the Ukrainian side […]
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BRUSSELS. May 14 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to adapt long-term gas supply contracts and make them more flexible, said Pavel Zavalny, president of the Russian Gas Society. “Keeping relations with traditional consumers of Russian energy resources stable is a foreign energy policy priority. Russia is ready adapt the system of its own contracts to today’s tendencies for the market’s […]
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WASHINGTON, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – A complete European embargo on Russian gas imports would lead to an energy catastrophe in eastern European countries, an expert from San-Francisco based Nexant told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovakia, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina could be completely cut off by Western countries if they no longer serve as gas transits, Nexant’s Global […]
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BRUSSELS, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s state-run Naftogaz has not paid any part of its gas debt to Russia, despite Kiev’s announcement that it is ready to cover the debt at a reduced price, a Gazprom official said Wednesday. “They have not paid even at the old reduced price, the debt remains unpaid,” said Dmitry Khandoga, Head of Gazprom’s […]
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It is commonly assumed that the main economic challenge facing Ukraine is its dependence on energy supplies, especially natural gas, imported from Russia. But that is only half the story (opendemocracy.net – Margarita Balmaceda and Peter Rutland – May 8, 2014) Peter Rutland is professor of government at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA. Margarita Balmaceda is Professor of Diplomacy and […]
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(RIA Novosti – KIEV, May 8, 2014) Ukraine does not acknowledge the $3.5 billion debt for Russian gas deliveries earlier announced by Russian energy giant Gazprom, acting Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said Thursday. “We cannot accept the figure mentioned by Gazprom because Gazprom includes in this total some calculations that are based on an economically unsound price offered to […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Charles Recknagel – May 7, 2014) The European Union gets about one-third of its natural gas from Russia, and about half of that gas arrives in Europe via pipelines passing through Ukraine. Moscow is threatening to cut off natural-gas deliveries to Ukraine unless Kyiv promptly pays its outstanding bills. And that means the EU could potentially be caught in the […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – May 7, 2014) Russia will be ready to consider a discount for natural gas to Ukraine on the second round of negotiations on the gas issue where EU Commission representatives should also be present, Russian Izvestia reported on May 7 citing its source in the government. The “second round” of negotiations […]
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MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union has hardened its stance on the construction of the South Stream natural gas pipeline amid the Ukrainian crisis, the EU commissioner for energy said in an interview with the Financial Times Tuesday. “These days, with Ukraine, we are more and more defensive related to Russian pipelines than one year ago … […]
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(Interfax – May 5, 2014) Russia filed a suit with the World Trade Organization on April 30 to begin judicial hearings on the application of the European Union’s Third Energy Package, a source close to the WTO told Interfax. The chief trade negotiator at the Economic Development Ministry, Maxim Medvedkov confirmed that the suit has been filed. He said that […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines/Interfax – rbth.ru – May 5, 2014) Ahead is a heavy schedule of negotiations aimed at resolving the problem by June, otherwise Europe will be left without the Russian gas it gets through Ukraine. The first round of trilateral gas negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union were limited to setting out initial, high negotiating positions. […]
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WARSAW. May 2 (Interfax) – Russia expects that Ukraine will spend part of the loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) toward clearing its debts for Russian gas already supplied to it, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. Speaking in Warsaw on Friday, Novak pointed out that Ukraine had received the first tranche of an IMF loan in an amount […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman – April 29, 2014) Exxon Mobil (XOM) Corp.’s dream of drilling in the Russian Arctic may risk running aground on the politics of Ukraine. The company plans to start drilling in August in the Arctic’s remote Kara Sea — the centerpiece of Exxon’s global alliance with Russian state-controlled OAO Rosneft. (ROSN) The partnership, which […]
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BEREZHANY, Ternopol region. April 27 (Interfax) – Ukraine will start receiving reverse gas as early as October 2014, and will stop importing Russian gas after 2015, said independent parliamentary deputy and presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko. “We have negotiated an agreement and we will start receiving reverse gas from Slovakia in October, giving up Russian gas,” he told residents of the […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – April 24, 2014) The Russian Energy Ministry has offered EU Energy Commissioner GYnther Oettinger to convene negotiations with EU and Ukraine on “natural gas issues” in Moscow on April 28, Interfax reported on April 23 citing a ministry representative. “We are ready to discuss with partners the place and time of […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Joe Carroll, Nicole Gaouette and Julianna Goldman – April 23, 2014) Ukraine’s best hope for keeping furnaces and factories running through next winter is to store as much natural gas as it can after a U.S. aid pledge fell far short of the nation’s needs. Energy supplies have given Russian leader Vladimir Putin powerful economic leverage […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – April 15, 2014) After seeing its gas discounts canceled by the Russian gas giant, Kyiv is seeking alternatives to purchasing gas directly from Russia. Ukraine has proposed obtaining more than 50 percent of its gas by reversing gas flows from the EU, but Gazprom is blocking the move. After […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Tatyana Zykova, special to RBTH – April 10, 2014) Despite talk in Europe of reducing dependence on Russian fuel and promises of help from the U.S., for the foreseeable future Russia remains the only country that can supply the EU with an increasing supply of cheap gas. The European Commission in Brussels is again […]
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MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) – US and EU energy companies would not tolerate the delays in payment by Ukraine that Russia has faced, an economist at the London Vanguard investment firm told the Voice of Russia radio station Friday. “Historically, since the end of the USSR, Ukraine has repeatedly failed to pay for its Russian gas. This is an […]
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(RIA Novosti – Beijing, April 0, 2014) Russia does not intend to switch energy exports from the western to the eastern direction because of an escalation of tension over Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Arkadiy Dvorkovich said on Wednesday [9 April] after a meeting with the co-chairs of the Russia-China energy cooperation committee . “At the moment we have no intention […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – April 9, 2014) As the EU presses on with sanctions against Russia for seizing Crimea, the $50 billion South Stream pipeline, meant to bring Russian gas through the Black Sea to Europe, may be frozen in favor of other projects. The European Union is close to freezing the progress of South Stream […]
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BRUSSELS, April 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s set price on gas for Ukraine is unfairly high and is creating a threat of transiting Russian gas to Europe, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said Tuesday. “In this situation, the threat of cutting gas deliveries to Ukraine arises, as well as the threat of cutting transit gas to Europe because Ukraine’s ability […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – April 8, 2014) As the worst standoff since the Cold War emerges, energy and economic diplomacy are the tools the West applies to contain Russia, expecting them to be more effective than military confrontation. Business executives and energy industry analysts, however, were doubtful that these tools had any commercial value added to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – April 7, 2014) While Russia’s standoff with the West over Ukraine may have caused Italian energy group Eni to distance itself from the huge South Stream gas pipeline project linking Russia to Central Europe, partners from Germany, which is highly dependent on Russian gas, have stayed faithful. On Friday, German engineering conglomerate […]
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MOSCOW, April 7 (RIA Novosti) – American gas cannot become an alternative to the Russian fuel in Ukraine for the lack of “vacant export objects” in the foreseeable future, said Sergey Kupriyanov an official spokesperson for Gazprom in his interview with TV-channel Rossiya 24 Saturday. He stressed that the claims of Ukranian authorities about possibly importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) […]
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(Interfax – March 5, 2014) Ukraine must pay its debt for gas supplied by Russia based on the contracts signed in 2009, Aleksey Miller, the head of Russian gas giant Gazprom, has said, as reported by privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax on 5 April. Meanwhile, Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov has said Ukraine has no grounds to take Russia to international […]
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MOSCOW, April 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s natural gas supplies to the European Union have no practical alternative, a senior energy analyst at the Colorado-based IHS company said Thusday. “The EU’s reliance on Russia to meet approximately 30 percent of its total gas demand means that there is no realistic alternative to European dependence on Russian energy supplies,” Andrew Neff […]
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MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) – It would be difficult for Europe to give up Russian energy resources, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya 24. He recalled that statements have been made about reducing the dependence on Russia in future. “And such work is being done in the European Union, in the United States. There […]
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(Interfax – April 3, 2014) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has announced the cancellation of the zero customs export duty on gas for Ukraine. The budget deficit of Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy will increase by UAH8.2 billion, or around $750 million at the current exchange rate, to UAH56.254 billion due to Russia resuming its duty on […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Halia Pavliva and Ksenia Galouchko – April 3, 2014) Back in April 2007, in the midst of the greatest commodities rally on record, OAO Gazprom’s (OGZD) deputy chief executive officer, Alexander Medvedev, was talking big. Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly aspired to be the world’s largest company, he said while offering up a prediction: its market value […]
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(Interfax – Minsk, March 26, 2014) OAO [open joint-stock company] Gazprom is not yet ready to say whether the discount on gas for Ukraine that was introduced at the beginning of the year would remain in effect in the second quarter of 2014. “Concerning the price of gas for Ukraine, it will be determined starting from the second quarter of […]
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MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) – Fuel deliveries to atomic stations in Ukraine are continuing with no interruptions, the head of Rosatom said on Thursday. “Today is probably not the simplest time in cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, but there has been no interruption in fuel deliveries to Ukraine’s atomic stations,” company head Sergei Kirienko said, adding: “We always fulfill […]
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(Interfax – March 21, 2014) Ukraine’s debt to Russia stands at $16 billion, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told President Vladimir Putin at a session of the country’s Security Council on Friday. “Ukraine has quite a significant debt to the Russian Federation, both state and corporate,” he said. “In my opinion, we cannot afford to lose this money since our […]
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KYIV. March 9 (Interfax) – The price of Russian gas exported to Ukraine could stand at $368.5 per 1,000 cubic meters in the second quarter of 2014, said Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan. “We expect Russia to export gas to us at $368.5 per 1,000 cubic meters,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Sunday. Ukraine continues repaying […]
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GORKI, March 4 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday that it will annul its discount on natural gas sales to Ukraine from April, a move that will further stretch Kiev’s teetering finances. Alexei Miller, who made the announcement while meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev outside Moscow, motivated the decision by pointing out […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 19, 2014) State-owned gas giant Gazprom captured its largest-ever share of the European and Turkish gas market last year, supplying 30 percent of the continent’s needs, as compared to 26 percent in 2012. The Russian export monopoly sent 162.7 billion cubic meters of gas westward in 2013, and beat the record market share of […]
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