NEFTE Compass articles from April 2005

NEFTE Compass archives from April 2005

Tough Call: PetroKazakhstan On The Rack As Disputes Escalate.
April 5, 2005... PetroKazakhstan, long regarded as a bellwether stock for oil producers in Kazakhstan, is having a torrid time in what could prove to be a test case for investors who argue that it pays to play by the rules in the Central Asian republic. In...

In The Dock: Rompetrol Boss Faces Flak Over Refinery Sell-Off.(Dinu Patriciu)
April 5, 2005... Dinu Patriciu, the president and chief executive of the Rompetrol Group, Romania's biggest privately owned oil and gas company, has been charged by the General Prosecutor's Office in Bucharest with offenses related to the privatization and...

Big Thaw: Floating Storage Season Set To Start.(oil exports through melting Volga River)
April 5, 2005... With spring weather slowly but surely descending on Russia, the Volga River has been melting, which can mean only one thing -- floating storage season will soon be here. Just when that will be has not been set, but traders estimate it will...

Shopping Spree: Gutseriev Buys Another Producer.(Russneft acquired Tomskaya Neft)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Russneft, a private company set up some three years ago by Slavneft's former president Mikhail Gutseriev, is to add another producer to its list of its subsidiaries, raising the number to 26. The latest acquisition is 2,000 b/d Tomskaya...

Spreading Out: Rosneft Diversifies Yugansk Crude Sales.(Yuganskneftegas)
April 5, 2005... Rosneft is branching out in its sales of Yuganskneftegas crude. It has begun selling off some of the producer's pipeline allocations to other companies to export its crude. At the same time, Rosneft is consolidating the number of offtakers,...

Special Reserve: Lukoil Remains Top Reserves Holder.(OAO Lukoil's oil and gas reserves)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Lukoil has completed an audit of its oil and gas reserves, keeping them about flat on the year, but nevertheless maintaining its position as Russia's largest crude reserves holder. Lukoil has released the results of a Miller and Lents...

Taps On: Shell Offshoot Salym Petroleum Starts Oil Exports.(Salym Petroleum Development)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Salym Petroleum Development (SPD), a Royal Dutch/Shell joint venture with Sibir Energy-controlled Evikhon, has entered a transitional phase that will allow it to greatly increase its oil exports. SPD had earlier been selling the bulk of its...

Sailing: Navy To Lend A Hand To Gazprom's LNG Program.(OAO Gazprom's liquefied natural gas plant)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Gazprom is teaming up with the Russian navy to implement its ambitious plan to get into the LNG business. Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ananenkov and the commander-in-chief of the navy, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, have agreed to...

Eyeing Mol: Gazprom Eyes Stake In Hungary's Mol.(MOL Rt, OAO Gazprom)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... For the second time in the last six months, Russia's Gazprom has expressed an interest in picking up a stake in Hungary's Mol, the biggest importer of Russian natural gas in Eastern Europe. On a trip to Hungary last week, Gazprom Chief...

Eastern Allure: Majors Mull East Siberian Infrastructure.(petroleum pipeline construction plans by Surgutneftegaz Industrial Association and TNK-BP )(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Russia's oil companies are starting to work out plans to build pipelines from their fields in remote East Siberia, where transport infrastructure is sorely lacking. Surgutneftegas last week presented a plan to build a 500,000 b/d crude...

Norwegian Wood: Norway To Transship Russian Crude.(Kirkenes Transnef's planning)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... A newly set up Norwegian company, Kirkenes Transnef, is planning to start transshipping Russian crude from the Norwegian port of Kirkenes from June. The Norwegian government has already given its approval to the project, which initially...

Trading Places: Gazprom To Build Pipeline To Sakhalin.(OAO Gazprom)
April 5, 2005... Gazprom appears poised to replace Rosneft in the project to build a natural gas pipeline from Sakhalin Island to Khabarovsk in Russia's Far East. The project topped the agenda of the recent talks between Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei...

Freeloading: Gazprom Wins Support For Price Liberalization.(Vladimir Putin backs OAO Gazprom)
April 5, 2005... Gazprom has won guarded support from President Vladimir Putin for the liberalization of gas prices charged to domestic industrial consumers. Any substantial movement in this direction would be a major boon not only to Gazprom, but also to the...

Events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 5, 2005... OGU -- Uzbekistan Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, Tashkent, May 17-19, ITE, tel: +44 (0) 207 596 5233, www.ite-exhibitions.com CIS Oil and Gas Summit, Paris, Jun. 1-3, The Energy Exchange, tel: +44 (0)20 7067 1800,...

Caspian Merger: Chevron Broadens Caspian Reach With Unocal Buy.
April 5, 2005... ChevronTexaco's purchase of US rival Unocal for $18.4 billion has some interesting ramifications for the Caspian oil business, boosting Chevron's reserves and providing timely access to an important export pipeline. Unocal owns 10.3% of...

Caspian Swaps: Iran May Sweeten Swap Terms To Protect Trade.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Shipments of Kazakh, Russian and Turkmen crude to Iran's Caspian port of Neka in the first quarter are more than 50% down from the corresponding period last year, mostly due to continuing poor price differentials in the Mideast Gulf. But...

Kazakhstan: PetroKazakhstan Weighs Up Iran Swap Deal.
April 5, 2005... PetroKazakhstan says it is in negotiations with Iran's Naftiran Intertrade Co. to find a solution to the problem over its swap deal with the Tehran refinery. Among the many problems facing PetroKazakhstan, the company has been in a...

Kazakhstan: BG Completes Kashagan Sale.(BG Group PLC)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... BG said Apr. 6 that it had completed the sale of its 16.67% interest in the North Caspian Production Sharing Agreement (NCPSA) and has received an aggregate pretax cash consideration of approximately $1.8 billion. The sale to five of BG's...

Cookie Jar: Moscow Dips Into Stabilization Fund.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... Moscow is finding it hard to resist the urge to spend and is dipping even further into its stabilization fund from windfall oil revenues. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has approved a plan to raise the cutoff price at which oil revenues go...

Battered: Claimants Settle Old Scores With Yukos.(Brief Article)
April 5, 2005... As Yukos continues to unravel, old enemies are reentering the fray. Russia's Sandheights oil company, formerly East Petroleum, is suing Yukos' Tomskneft unit for $222 million. The claim, originally sent to the Moscow Arbitration Court last...

Equities and Currencies.
April 5, 2005... Share Prices Closing On April 5, 2005

Crude Oil: Urals Prices Ride Up On Futures Rally.
April 5, 2005... Russian Urals prices were pulled up by the rally in futures prices, although the release of bearish US inventories data took a bite out of these gains at the end of the reporting period. Rising crude futures were attributed to strong demand for...

Products: Warmer Weather Cools Heating Oil Prices.
April 5, 2005... Russian oil products prices soared with rising crude and gas oil futures. However, with the onslaught of warm weather, demand for heating oil has weakened slightly in Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean, and activity in both markets remains...

Bosporus Bypass Pipeline Faces Financial Hurdle.
April 13, 2005... The long-running race to build an oil pipeline bypassing Turkey's congested Bosporus Strait took a new turn this week with the signing of an agreement between the Greek, Bulgarian and Russian governments for a 285 kilometer line from Bourgas on...

Germany Secures Key Role In Russia's European Expansion.
April 13, 2005... Russia is stepping up its cooperation with Germany as a gateway to Europe's important natural gas markets. New deals between Gazprom and its longtime German partners have laid more groundwork for the two countries to be connected by a gas...

Moscow Is Plugged In To Power Reform But Has Much To Do.
April 13, 2005... Reform of Russia's power sector is inching forward, although a date has still not been set for the privatization of the new swathe of companies to emerge from the unbundling of state-controlled United Energy Systems (UES). The energy...

Lobbyist: Trader Lobbies For Urals Bourse.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... A prominent Russian oil trader is lobbying to set up a domestic bourse for trading futures contracts for Urals blend crude. Alfa Eco, the trading unit of Alfa Group, has sent a proposal to the Russian government to set up an exchange for a...

Barging In: Russia Kicks Off Floating Storage Season.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... Russia's oil products exporters are gearing up for the river navigation season, which officially kicks off Apr. 25. Companies are chartering floating storage vessels to rehandle fuel oil and other dark oil products delivered to the ports by...

Tax Man: TNK-BP Faces Massive Tax Bill.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... The government sent shock waves through the investment community when Russian tax authorities informed TNK-BP that it owes 26 billion rubles ($935 million) in back taxes for 2001. The move provoked some serious criticism about Russia's...

Splitting Up: Yukos Might Lose East Siberian Unit.
April 13, 2005... East Siberian Oil and Gas Co. (VSNK) may be the next asset to be wrested from Yukos' grasp -- or so Boris Zolotarev, governor of Siberia's Evenk autonomous district and a former Yukos vice president, would like to hope. Zolotarev said last...

Wingmen: Alliance Expands Into Aviation.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... Moscow-based Alliance Group has revealed ambitious plans to get into the aviation business, in a move that would strengthen its position in the Khabarovsk region in the Russian Far East. The company is considering taking managerial control...

Manifesto: Khodorkovsky Ends Defense With Political Attack.
April 13, 2005... The defense of Yukos core shareholders Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev ended this week after Khodorkovsky gave a 39-minute speech addressing the court. The verdict will not be delivered until Apr. 27. In his speech, Khodorkovsky...

Bondsman: Transneft To Finance Eastern Line With Bonds.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... Transneft will most likely build its East Siberian pipeline with a link going to China and finance the construction by issuing bonds, the Russian state pipeline operator's president, Semyon Vainshtok, said. Vainshtok said the planned...

Friendship: Gazprom, Wintershall Advance At Urengoi.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... Gazprom and Germany's Wintershall, which agreed this week to expand bilateral cooperation, are pushing ahead with plans to develop the Achimovsk reservoir of the Urengoi gas field in West Siberia. Achimgas, a joint venture between Gazprom's...

Events.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 13, 2005... OGU -- Uzbekistan Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, Tashkent, May 17-19, ITE, tel: +44 (0) 207 596 5233, www.ite-exhibitions.com CIS Oil and Gas Summit, Paris, Jun. 1-3, The Energy Exchange, tel: +44 (0) 207 067 1800,...

Ukraine: TNK-BP Increases Downstream Investment.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... TNK-BP is pressing ahead with ambitious plans to strengthen its downstream presence in Ukraine. This year TNK-BP plans to increase its investment on new technology for its 320,000 b/d Lisichansk refinery to $33 million, up 22% from 2004....

Romania: Rompetrol Says Results Exceed Expectations.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... Rompetrol Rafinare, the Romanian refiner whose boss is under investigation, said 2004 results "exceeded expectations" with gross revenue of $1.44 billion, compared with $1.1 billion in 2003, and net profits of $11.8 million. It said the results...

Top Notch: Lukoil Cements Role As Top Blue Chip.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... The demise of Yukos has solidified oil rival Lukoil's position as Russia's primary blue chip stock. Lukoil accounts for one-third of the RTS, Russia's benchmark stock exchange, and is among the country's most liquid stocks. Like the...

Extra Credit: Ritek Raises Credits For Investment.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2005... Lukoil's 64%-owned production unit Ritek has announced its profits shot up 200% to 2.5 billion rubles ($90 million) in 2004, compared to the previous year. Revenues rose 71% to 12.8 billion rubles ($460 million) over the same period, which the...

Equities and Currencies.
April 13, 2005... Share Prices Closing On April 12, 2005

Products: Russian Roulette.
April 13, 2005... Russian gas oil prices in Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean have been intensely volatile, sinking earlier in the week, firming up, and then edging back down over the last day. On Apr. 12, prices rose on the back of tightening supply and...

Crude Oil: Cash Crash.
April 13, 2005... Cash crude values took a hammering during the past reporting period with Brent futures crashing almost $6.00, or 10.4%, to a new six-week low. Prices earlier had soared to new record highs following a prediction by bankers Goldman Sachs that a...

Blocked Artery: Russia Turns The Screw On Caspian Pipeline.
April 18, 2005... Russia is putting the squeeze on a key oil pipeline from Kazakhstan at a time when Caspian crude exports are rising sharply. A long-planned expansion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) export route is being blocked by the refusal of...

Turkmenistan: Trans-Afghan Gas Line Revival Prods Gazprom Into Compromise.
April 18, 2005... US-backed moves to revive proposals for a trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and potentially India look to have jolted Russia's Gazprom into resolving a lingering dispute with the Turkmens over gas prices. The US...

Hungary Jack: Nymex Plans Urals Bourse In Budapest.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The prospects of Russia's export blend Urals becoming a benchmark in its own right are looking up. The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) has agreed with the Budapest stock exchange to develop trading in Urals futures contracts. The two...

No Way: Transneft Will Not Finance Bourgas-Alexandroupolis.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Russia's Transneft is not likely to participate in construction of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, as the company has too many projects on its plate at the moment, Transneft President Semyon Vainshtock said last week -- adding that...

Fortress Moscow: Moscow Refinery Remains Intact.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Partly dispelling worries that Moscow Oil Refinery -- which is weighed down by heavy back tax claims -- might be facing insolvency, one of its core shareholders, UK-based Sibir Energy, has announced that the 240,000 b/d will be paying dividends...

Coughing Up: Rosneft May Have to Pay Yugansk's Debts.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The hapless banks that granted loans to Yuganskneftegas before the unit was renationalized and bought by Rosneft may not be as out of luck as originally thought. Although Rosneft has reportedly refused to pay Yugansk's debts, banks could...

Slow March: Crude Production Stays Flat in March.
April 18, 2005... BP's landmark Russian venture TNK-BP is expected to see production grow by just 5% this year, down from a blistering 14% last year, BP Chief Executive John Browne said last week at the supermajor's annual general meeting in London. TNK-BP...

Finnish Line: Lukoil To Invest In Finnish Retail.(OAO Lukoil, Suomen Petrooli Oy, Teboil)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov plans to invest over C120 million ($155 million) in the development of Finnish gasoline retail companies Teboil and Suomen Petrooli over the next 10 years. The bulk of the funds would be invested into...

Fire Sale: Yukos May Sell Sakha Unit.(OAO NK Yukos, Sakhaneftegas, Lenaneftegas, Surgutneftegaz Industrial Association)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... A push is on for Yukos to unload some assets, despite the fact that they remain frozen by a court order. The board of directors of the 50.6% Yukos-owned company Sakhaneftegas has voted to sell Lenaneftegas, owner of the giant Talakanskoye oil...

New Suit: Nevzlin Lashes Out At Kremlin.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Yukos' controlling shareholder Leonid Nevzlin has lashed out at top Kremlin officials for the attack against the Russian oil company, threatening to sue them for billions of dollars in damages. Nevzlin fingered the head of the presidential...

Sweet And Sour: Russia Boosts Rail Export Capacity To China.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Russia is investing to increase its rail capacity for crude shipments to China, amid the Russian government's stalled initiative to build a pipeline to Pacific markets. Rail monopoly Russian Railways says it will invest over 300 million...

Liquid Courage: Gazprom Promotes Itself As LNG Supplier To US.
April 18, 2005... Persistent market rumors that Russia's Gazprom has obtained LNG cargoes and is seeking to place them in North American markets look to be premature -- but perhaps not by much. Gazprom itself confirmed this week that it is still hoping to...

Honors Student: Salym Exceeds Expectations.(Salym Petroleum Development)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Russia's Salym Petroleum Development (SPD), a Royal Dutch/Shell joint venture with Sibir Energy-controlled Evikhon, has surpassed its original engineering expectations, Sibir said in a statement earlier this week. In addition to one active...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil And PetroKazakhstan Bogged Down In Court Claims.
April 18, 2005... PetroKazakhstan and Lukoil, which are joint venture partners in the Kumkol North field but also bitter rivals in the courtroom, are seeking huge damages against each other in a series of claims and counterclaims. Russian heavyweight Lukoil...

Ukraine: TNK-BP Treads Cautiously Over Pipeline.
April 18, 2005... Being involved with Ukraine's Odessa-Brody oil pipeline has put UK-Russian joint venture TNK-BP between a rock and a hard place. It was mainly due to TNK-BP's lobbying that Kiev agreed last year for using the pipeline in a reversed mode....

Baltic Street: Transneft Raises Baltic Pipe Loan.
April 18, 2005... Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft has secured funds for the next expansion stage of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS). The company late last week signed an agreement with UK bank Barclays Capital for a three-year syndicated loan of $250...

Good Year: Gazprom Ups 2004 Profits.(OAO Gazprom)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Gazprom reported a 24% increase in its net profits for 2004 after clearing up questions with Ukraine over bad debts for unpaid gas supplies over 1997-2000. The state monopoly reported a net profit of over 161 billion rubles ($5.77 billion)...

Crude Oil: Futures Volatile, Urals Firm.
April 18, 2005... June Brent crude oil futures continued to thrash around, hitting a new $50.40 low on Apr. 14 before being pulled back up again by buoyant New York gasoline futures reacting to several accidental US refinery outages. A surprise draw in US crude...

Products: Med Gas Oil Hits Historic Lows.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The market for Russian gas oil has been lagging over the past few weeks due to a seasonal lull, but in the past few days premiums versus the May screen on the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) have reached historic lows in the...

New Lease: Shadow Of Yukos Hangs Over Baltic Port.(OAO NK Yukos to divest stake in port's parent Mazeikiu Nafta)
April 26, 2005... Lithuania's Butinge oil terminal could be facing a rosier future after Swiss trading company Vitol signed a deal to handle all exports from the Black Sea port until the end of 2009. But a decision by embattled Yukos to sell its majority stake...

Damage Control: Putin's Kind Words Mask Deep Concerns For TNK-BP.(Vladimir Putin on British Petroleum Company PLC's investments)
April 26, 2005... If BP Chief Executive John Browne and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- who met in Moscow late last week -- could agree on one thing, it was the phenomenal performance of BP's pioneering joint venture with Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK) since its...

Bad Mouth: Putin Blames Yukos For 'Amoral' Behavior.(Vladimir Putin, OAO NK Yukos)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... The long-awaited sentencing of core Yukos shareholders Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, which was expected on Apr. 27, has been postponed until May 16. Although the court gave no indication of the reasons for the delay, observers...

Rich List: Abramovich Replaces Khodorkovsky As Russia's Richest.(Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Khodorkovsky)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Among Russia's wealthiest, oil has come to play a slightly less central role, according to Forbes Russia, which published its 100 richest Russians list last week. The main reason for this change is the demise of Yukos. Ten Yukos-affiliated...

In Reserve: TNK-BP Reveals Strong Reserve Replacement.
April 26, 2005... Despite the political risks facing Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP, the company continues to show exceptional results (see p1). Along with 13% production growth last year, TNK-BP was also able to achieve reserve replacement of 127%...

Windfall Tax: Moscow Hikes Export Tariffs.(petroleum)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... The Russian government is again taking a bigger piece of the country's oil windfall, by raising export duties to new record levels. Moscow plans to hike the export tariff on crude by over 26% to at least $130/metric ton ($17.74/bbl),...

New Tack: Gazprom, Rosneft Merger Under New Review.
April 26, 2005... Russian officials continue to assure the market that the merger of Gazprom and Rosneft will be completed by the end of June, but the route towards that target is under review again. It was reported earlier that Gazprom would take over...

Horizon: Lukoil And ConocoPhillips To Complete JV Formation.
April 26, 2005... Lukoil and ConocoPhillips are to complete by the end of this week all legal procedures required for setting up a joint venture to develop the Timan-Pechora oil province in northern Russia, Lukoil says. The issue was discussed at a meeting...

Adventure: Lukoil And Gazprom Eye Gas Project In Venezuela.(OAO Gazprom, OAO Lukoil, Rafael Urdaneta project )(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Gazprom and Lukoil are among 29 companies that have expressed an interest in participating in Venezuela's Rafael Urdaneta project that will offer natural gas blocks off the western Gulf of Venezuela and North East Falcon areas, according to...

US Target: Gazprom Moves Closer To US LNG Market.(liquefied natural gas supply agreement with Sempra Energy)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Gazprom and US-based Sempra Energy this week signed a memorandum of understanding on possible supply and marketing of Russian liquefied natural gas supply in North America. The document calls for a joint study on shipping Russian LNG to...

Pacific Pipe: Japan Guarded Over East Siberian Pipeline.(oil pipeline construction)
April 26, 2005... Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry has approved construction of the first phase of the East Siberian oil pipeline running from Taishet to the village of Skovorodino, which is about halfway to the Pacific Coast and only 70 km from the Chinese...

Due Process: Russneft Agrees Processing Deal With Yukos Refinery.(OAO NK Yukos)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Russneft, a private company set up some years ago by Slavneft's former president, Mikhail Gutseriev, has signed a crude processing agreement with Yukos' Syzran refinery. Under the scheme, Russneft will supply 3 million metric tons/yr...

Run Aground: Grounded Tanker Highlights Bosporus Problems.(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Congestion worsened in Turkey's already bottlenecked Bosporus Strait, as maritime authorities on Apr. 22 closed the vital waterway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean after a Russian tanker ran aground. The tanker Chinuk was...

Good Times: Schlumberger Optimistic About Russia.(business prospects)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Global oil services giant Schlumberger remains optimistic about its prospects in Russia. According to the company's chief executive, Andrew Gould, Schlumberger's business in Russia picked up again in the first quarter of this year, as key...

Kazakhstan: PetroKazakhstan Woes Deepen As Exports Are Cut.(export quotas)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... PetroKazakhstan's problems have deepened after it was revealed that the company has been given no quota for oil exports in May. According to an official export schedule issued by the energy ministry, PetroKazakhstan only has a quota to...

Ukraine: State Oil Champion Turns To Libya.(Naftogas Ukrainy's plans to participate in National Oil Corp.'s tender)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Naftogas Ukrainy plans to take part in a tender to develop oil and gas reserves in Libya, in an effort to expand the limited scope of its resource base. The Ukrainian state-run company would participate in a tender for 44 blocks, which...

Ukraine: TNK-BP, Lukoil Agree To Freeze Products Prices.
April 26, 2005... Under pressure from the Ukrainian government, TNK-BP and Lukoil, who are among the biggest players in the country's oil market, agreed last week to temporarily freeze prices for their oil products. The oil majors were forced to agree after...

Poland: Norway Could Ease Dependence On Russian Gas.(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Prime Minister Marek Belka announced last week that Poland is intent on increasing its natural gas imports from Norway in an attempt to reduce its dependence on Russian gas supplies. "It is of strategic importance for Poland," Belka said...

Bulgaria: Lukoil Seeks More Of Bourgas Refinery.(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Lukoil Europe Holdings, a subsidiary of Russia's Lukoil, has launched a public tender to buy out an additional 6.75% stake in its Bourgas refinery in Bulgaria from minority shareholders, Lukoil said last week. If the minority shareholders...

Serbia: Lukoil Wins Extra Time To Meet Investment Targets.(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Lukoil has been given more time by the Serbian government to fulfill the investment obligations it assumed when it purchased the Beopetrol oil products distributor at the end of 2003. Lukoil will not face penalties for the suspension of its...

Movin' Up: Surgut's Net Profits Take Giant Leap.(Surgutneftegas)(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... Russia's Surgutneftegas showed a steep climb in net profits last year -- though to many investors it wasn't steep enough. The company saw a net profit according to Russian accounting standards of 65.859 billion rubles ($2.37 billion), which...

Last Chance: Sibir's Yugraneft Placed Under External Administration.(Brief Article)
April 26, 2005... A Moscow court has ruled that Yugraneft -- the holding company for UK-registered Sibir Energy's 50% stake in the Sibneft-Yugra joint venture -- should be placed under external administration and not liquidation, Sibir Energy said. ...

Equities and Currencies.
April 26, 2005... Share Prices Closing On April 26, 2005