NEFTE Compass articles from August 2005

NEFTE Compass archives from August 2005

Crackdown: Corruption Probe Brewing Around Primorsk.
August 1, 2005... A corruption scandal is brewing around crude exports from Russia's flagship Baltic Sea port of Primorsk. The deputy head of Russia's Energy Agency, Oleg Gordeyev, has been summoned to help with an investigation, insiders say. The probe...

Hooked: Russian Minnows Thrive As Majors Come Under Fire.
August 1, 2005... Over the past year, as the Kremlin has focused on frying the big fish, the smaller oil companies have been left to swim free. And investors have shown themselves eager to buy into this last vestige of autonomy in a sector so exposed to...

Rising Level: Russian Crude Production Rises In July.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Russian crude and condensate production in July reached 9.45 million b/d (39.97 million metric tons), which is 36,100 b/d more than in the previous month, according to the preliminary data of Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry. The...

Open Season: BP, Rosneft Resume Drilling On Sakhalin-5.
August 1, 2005... Rosneft and BP -- partners in the Sakhalin-5 project off Russia's Pacific shelf -- have started drilling a second exploration well in the Kaigansky-Vasukansky license area. The well will be 2,825 meters deep. Results should be in by autumn. ...

Helping Hand: July Crude Exports Rise With Help From CPC.
August 1, 2005... As Russia's crude production growth continues to stagnate, exports also languished in July. Although overall volumes remained about flat, this disguised a slight shift in the export balance to an increase in crude and a dip in oil products. ...

Lucky Strike: Lukoil, Hydro Find Oil In Iran.(Lukoil Overseas )(Norsk Hydro)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Norway's Norsk Hydro and Russia's Lukoil Overseas have discovered oil in the Azar structure of the Anaran Block in western Iran. "Well tests will be continued," Lukoil said. "In case the discovery is commercial, then the project operator a...

East Meets West: Western Loans To Finance Eastern Pipeline.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Russia will borrow money from foreign banks to finance the construction of a pipeline from East Siberia to the Pacific Ocean, Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko was quoted as saying. According to Khristenko, Russian banks...

Italian Job: Gazprom To Start Direct Sales In Italy.(Eni )
August 1, 2005... In line with its strategy to expand marketing activities in Western Europe, Russia's Gazprom last week signed an agreement with Italy's Eni enabling the Russian company to supply Italian consumers with natural gas directly starting from 2006....

Making Plans: Swedish Independent Maps Out Expansion.(West Siberian Resources )
August 1, 2005... Sweden's West Siberian Resources (WSR) recently announced that it signed an agreement to buy a 7,000 b/d West Siberian producer for $115 million. The acquisition, which must now be approved by Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), could...

Gas Pipe: Stroitransgas Wins Algerian Pipeline Contract.(Sonatrach)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Russian oil and gas contractor Stroitransgas and Algerian state oil and gas company Sonatrach have signed a contract to build a natural gas pipeline in Algeria. Under the deal, Stroitransgas is to build a 273 km pipeline to link the cities...

Russian Crude Loading Program For August 2005.
August 1, 2005... Primorsk Crude Loading Program For August 2005

Azerbaijan: Socar Tenders Cargoes Despite Transneft Spat.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Socar is proceeding with tenders for sales of Urals crude, despite a spat with Russian pipeline operator Transneft, which refused the Azeri state oil company's request to boost shipments to Novorossiysk in August and September. Socar has...

Uzbekistan: Petronas Ponders Aral Sea Venture.(Petroliam Nasional Bhd.)(Uzbekneftegas)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Malaysia's Petronas and Uzbekistan's state Uzbekneftegas plan to set up a joint venture in 2006 to explore and develop oil and gas reserves in Uzbekistan, media reports said last week, citing a statement by the Uzbek company. The new...

Kazakhstan: Despite Pressure, PetroKaz Generates Cash.(PetroKazakhstan)
August 1, 2005... Calgary-based PetroKazakhstan reported a higher second-quarter profit as surging oil prices helped offset lower production numbers at the company, which has been weighing takeover and merger proposals since last month. Output has fallen as...

Uzbekistan: Zeromax Expands Gas Interests With Gissar Job.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Swiss-registered Zeromax announced plans last week to start late this year development of oil and gas fields in the Gissar region, in southwest Uzbekistan. To implement the $400 million project, Zeromax and Uzbekistan's state-owned...

Uzbekistan: Tashkent Evicts US Military From K2 Air Base.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Tashkent has given the US six months' notice to leave its Karshi-Khanabad (K2) air base in southeastern Uzbekistan, forcing the Pentagon to reassess its options for carrying out military and humanitarian operations in Afghanistan. Uzbek...

Azerbaijan: EBRD Agrees Lukoil Loan For Shah Deniz.(European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Lukoil and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) concluded an agreement last week on a $180 million, 12-year loan package for Russian major's affiliate Lukoil Overseas. The funds will be used for financing Lukoil's...

End Is Nigh: Sibneft Prepares For Day Of Reckoning.(Gazprom)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... As speculation mounts about a possible takeover by Gazprom, Russian oil company Sibneft has rescheduled its annual general meeting (AGM) for Sep. 12. Shareholders must have been registered by Jul. 27 to be eligible to participate in the...

Up And Away: Profits Jump At Yukos' Lithuanian MN.(Mazeikiu Nafta )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), which is still operated by embattled Yukos, reported better-than-expected results for the first half of this year. MN reported a net profit of 379 million litas ($133 million) in the first half of 2005 in...

Equities and Currencies.
August 1, 2005... Share Prices Closing On Aug. 2, 2005

Crude Oil: Urals Differentials Come Off Sharply.
August 1, 2005... Brent crude oil futures traded a $3.51 range over the seven-day reporting period and reached yet another record high of $61.26. The rally was triggered by the death of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd on Aug. 1 that sent September Brent futures...

Products: Gas Oil Holds Firm On Back Of High Crude Prices.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The market for Russian gas oil has been solid over the past few days on the back of high crude prices and a steep front-end contango with August futures trading at a discount to September of more than $12/metric ton. The Mediterranean was...

Resurgence: Oil Equities Underpin Record Highs On Russian Market.(petroleum market)
August 9, 2005... The Russian stock market has finally put the Yukos affair behind it and soared to a record high, buoyed by a growing perception that the political climate is stabilizing. With oil prices also at all-time highs, Russian oil companies are...

Learning Curve: Gazprom Makes Its Debut On International LNG Market.(OAO Gazprom, liquefied natural gas )
August 9, 2005... Even though it won't produce any liquefied natural gas for at least another three years, Gazprom, the world's biggest natural gas company, has made its debut on the international LNG market, selling its first cargo for delivery to the US. ...

Harvest: Slavneft Prepares Large Dividend Payout.(securities)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... The board of Russia's Slavneft has recommended a dividend payment of 7.65 billion rubles ($269 million) for the first half of 2005, which is to be divided between the company's two main shareholders, UK-Russian joint venture TNK-BP and Sibneft,...

Soft Landing: Tax Officials Come Down Softly On TNK-BP.(tax payments)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... After months of market rumors and speculation, the questionable tax position surrounding TNK-BP has been cleared up a bit, with the UK-Russian venture finally coming to an agreement with tax authorities to pay only a fraction of the initial...

Hungry Duck: Glencore Takes Hungarian Market By Storm.(petroleum exports)
August 9, 2005... Swiss-registered trader Glencore has taken the Hungarian market by storm, becoming the main supplier of Russian crude in July, occupying the position once dominated by Yukos and Lukoil. Glencore supplied over two-thirds of the crude pumped...

Clearwater Revival: Moscow Mulls Lower Taxes To Revive Production.(petroleum)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Russia's stagnating crude production this year is raising concern among the country's decision makers. A Cabinet meeting last week discussed possible solutions, including reviewing the country's burdensome taxation on the oil sector. ...

Downturn: Russia Slashes Crude Rail Shipments To China.(transportation)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Russia's heavy export tax regime and high rail tariffs are forcing it to reduce crude shipments to China this year. This is despite recent infrastructure improvements to the rail system that could potentially boost shipments significantly. ...

Oversubscribed: After IPO Success, Urals Energy Faces Upstream Challenge.
August 9, 2005... Urals Energy, a small Cyprus-registered company with all its assets in Russia, has completed an independent public offering (IPO) of 31% of its shares on London's Alternative Investment Market that netted it $114 million. Oversubscribed by...

Blame Game: Khodorkovsky Blames Sechin For Downfall.(Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Igor Sechin, OAO NK Yukos)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Jailed Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has blamed a senior Putin administration official for his arrest and destruction of Yukos and said he expects to be freed in four to five years. In an interview published late last week in the...

Drill Bits: Halliburton Gets Gazprom Drilling Contract.
August 9, 2005... US oil field services company Halliburton has won a contract to drill oil wells in Gazprom's Prirazlomnoye offshore field in the Barents Sea, as the Russian gas giant moves forward with its ambitious plans to become a global oil player, too....

Revamp: Luzhkov Aims High With Moscow Refinery Upgrade.(Yuri Luzhkov)
August 9, 2005... Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has signed an order for a $630 million upgrade of the Moscow refinery, which will enable it to produce a greater proportion of light oil products. The upgrade will entail an investment of $147 million in 2005-07...

Broken Deal: Total Withdraws Bid To Buy Into Novatek.(Total Petroleum Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... France's Total has confirmed that a planned $1 billion deal to take a stake in Russia's largest independent gas producer Novatek had been abandoned. "As a result of numerous delays, which are difficult to understand, that have occurred...

Lucky Strike: Zarubezhneft JV Strikes Oil In Vietnam.(joint venture)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Russian-Vietnamese joint venture Vietsovpetro has struck new oil reserves in Block 9-1, 120 km off the south coast of Vietnam. A well drilled by Vietsovpetro showed initial output of 1,900 b/d, Dow Jones reported, quoting a company...

All Finnish: Neste Mulls Selling Russian Assets.(SeverTek)(Neste Oil)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Finland's Neste Oil is considering selling its stake in Severtek, a 50-50 onshore joint venture with Lukoil in Yusha-Shapkinshoye, Komi Republic, which it doesn't see as essential to its operations. The 50% stake in the venture was...

Azerbaijan: Glencore Wins Socar Urals Tender.(cargo)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Swiss trader Glencore has won the latest tender from Azeri state Socar to buy a 1 million bbl (142,000 metric ton) cargo of Urals crude, loading out of Novorossiysk at the end of the month. The cargo was rumored to have sold for dated Brent...

Caspian Clash: Tension Mounts Ahead Of Elections.(presidential election)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... With elections on the horizon, tension is mounting in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. New scuffles have broken out in Baku between government supporters and opposition activists, ahead of parliamentary elections on Nov. 6 that opposition groups...

Ukraine: Tymoshenko Promises To Mend Russia Gas Relations.(Yulia Tymoshenko, OAO Gazprom)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has promised to smooth out all problems relating to Russian gas supplies, while blaming her predecessors for current difficulties. In an interview with Ukraine's Channel 5 television, Tymoshenko...

Ukraine: Regal Assets For Sale At Sensible Price.(Regal Petroleum Ltd., Peak Resources)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... A new management team at UK independent Regal Petroleum, led by ex-Amerada Hess veteran Rex Gaisford, is aiming to bring much needed credibility to the firm whose controversial ex-chairman had secretly signed an agreement to sell key Ukrainian...

Kyrgyzstan: Australian Indie Makes Its Debut In Central Asia.(Santos, Caspian Oil Development)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... Australian independent Santos is making its debut in Central Asia having signed a conditional agreement with another Australian company, Caspian Oil and Gas, to carry out a phased farm-in that gives Santos an 80% working interest in 10...

Kyrgyzstan: Cambrian Announces Positive Pre-Seismic Tests.(Cambrian Oil and Gas)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... UK independent Cambrian Oil and Gas has completed a wide-ranging geochemistry survey in the South Karagundai and Shink Sai prospects in its Tash Kumyr license in the Fergana Basin. "The results are encouraging and have been used to modify...

Kazakhstan: CNPC Discovers New Field.(China National Petroleum Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... China National Petroleum Corp.'s venture in Kazakhstan, CNPC-Aktobemunaigas, has discovered an oil field in the eastern part of the Caspian depression in the Aktobe region, according to regional press reports. "This event is of historical...

Under Suspicion: TNK-BP In The Dock Over Transfer Pricing.(reduced price to lessen tax)
August 9, 2005... Transfer pricing -- whereby oil companies buy crude from production subsidiaries at a reduced price to lessen tax payments and sell it on for big profits -- has been a contentious issue in Russia and a hard habit to kick. It took a $27.5...

Equities and Currencies.
August 9, 2005... Share Prices Closing On Aug. 9, 2005

Crude Oil: Futures Keep Breaking Records.(prices)
August 9, 2005... In an almost eerily accurate copy of last week, Brent crude oil futures traded a $3.50 range over the seven-day reporting period and reached yet another record high of $63.65 -- $2.39 higher than last week's record. Once again the rally was...

Products: Gas Oil Holds Steady In Contango Market.(Brief Article)
August 9, 2005... The market for Russian gas oil has been steady over the past few days. Buying interest for prompt cargoes remained relatively strong due to the continuing wide contango between August and September gas oil futures. However, that contango --...

Open Safe: Western Banks Line Up Finance Russian Oil Sector.
August 15, 2005... The enthusiasm of Western banks for loaning money to Russian oil companies is increasing by the day, resulting in longer-term loans with smaller interest rates. Whereas a couple years ago Russian companies were taking out three-to-five...

Safe Haven: Safe Future of Russian Oligarchs Is Getting Clearer.
August 15, 2005... The proposed nomination of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg as a candidate for governor of Russia's remote Kamchatka region suggests that not all of Russia's oligarchs will end up sharing the fate of former Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who now...

On Time: Sakhalin-1 To Start Pumping Crude On Schedule.
August 15, 2005... The Exxon Mobil-operated Sakhalin-1 project will launch on schedule and produce its first oil on Oct. 1, Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov reported to President Vladimir Putin last week. According to Rosneft, which holds 20% in the...

TV Dinner: Surgutneftegas Eyes Media Business.(Ren TV)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Surgutneftegas is holding talks on buying a 35% stake in Ren TV, which accounts for more than 4.5% of the television market in Russia. The 1.3 million b/d oil producer has never been involved in media business and the move surprised many on...

Slow Money: Sakhalin Energy Admits $5 Billion Loan Delayed.
August 15, 2005... Sakhalin Energy, the Royal Dutch Shell-led consortium developing the Sakhalin-2 project, is unlikely to receive a $5 billion loan by the end of the year, Sakhalin Energy's Chief Executive Ian Craig said this week. The main reasons for the delay...

All Systems Go: Tatneft Gets Go-Ahead For Baltic Terminal.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Tatneft has gotten the go-ahead to build an oil terminal in Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the oil major's general director Shafagat Takhautdinov announced. The project has received all the necessary approvals, including an...

One-Step: Second Quarter Refinery Deliveries Up 1%.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Second quarter crude deliveries to Russian refineries via the Transneft national pipeline system rose by about 1% to 49.14 million tons (3.95 million b/d), from the previous quarter's 48.981 million tons (3.94 million b/d). Shipments were down...

Bashkir Connection: Russian Telecom Firm Moves Into Energy.(Sistema)
August 15, 2005... Russian communications company Sistema has made an unexpected foray into the energy sector, snapping up minority stakes in refineries, a petrochemicals plant and an oil company in Russia's semiautonomous region of Bashkortostan. Flush with...

Giving Birth: Sibneft Creates New Siberian Holding.(Sibneft Oil)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Russia's Sibneft is in the midst of creating a new subsidiary that will encompass its oil and gas production assets in the Omsk and Tomsk regions. The move is part of Sibneft's greater restructuring plans. The as-of-yet unnamed subsidiary...

Homespun: Russia Ramps Refining, Domestic Sales In July.(crude exports)
August 15, 2005... Moscow's burdensome export tariffs are putting an end to the practice of oil companies reexporting crude from their refineries by rail. Rather, oil companies are beginning to actually refine more of the crude that they deliver to their plants,...

Turning Green: Transneft Listens to Environmentalists.(East Siberian oil pipeline construction)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Russian pipeline operator Transneft has yet to come to an agreement with environmentalists about the planned East Siberian oil pipeline. Transneft representatives met with environmentalists in Vladivostok earlier this week. The...

Kazakhstan: Indians and Chinese Compete for PetroKazakhstan.(Oil and Natural Gas Corp.)(PetroChina Company Ltd.)
August 15, 2005... PetroChina and India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) have submitted bids to acquire Canadian firm PetroKazakhstan (PKN), news agencies reported earlier this week. Russia's Lukoil -- earlier thought to be a favorite for PKN -- has...

Azerbaijan: Tankers To Speed BTC Launch.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan )(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline will start supplying Caspian oil to European markets two weeks early under a plan to use tankers to fill its reservoirs, the head of Azeri state oil firm Socar said last week. Socar President Natik...

Turkmenneft: Head Of State Oil Company Fired.(Saparmamed Valiyev)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... The chairman of state oil company Turkmenneft, Saparmamed Valiyev, has been sacked on corruption charges amid a wider shakeup of the state's energy sector officials. President Saparmurat Niyazov late last week replaced Valiyev with his deputy,...

Free Bird: First Half Profits Soar Despite Taxes.(petroleum industry )(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Russian oil companies are reporting increased first half 2005 net profits, in accounts prepared according to Russian accounting standards (RAS), despite the heavier tax burden and rising production costs. Despite this, Russian oil equities have...

Cashing Out: Slavneft Producer To Pay Record Dividend.(Megionneftegazgeologiya)(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... Slavneft's core crude producer, Megionneftegas, will pay out record dividends of $950 million. The Russian oil company called an extraordinary general meeting for Sep. 30 to approve the payout of the interim dividend for the first half of 2005....

Equities and Currencies.
August 15, 2005... Share Prices Closing On Aug. 16, 2005  

Crude Oil: Futures Soar, Differentials Crash.
August 15, 2005... Brent crude oil futures traded a $3.35 range over the seven-day reporting period and set yet another record high of $66.85 -- $3.79 higher than last week's record. The soaring rally was fueled by a heady mix of downward revisions to non-Opec...

Products: Gas Oil Steady But Faces Supply Glut.(Brief Article)
August 15, 2005... The market for Russian gas oil has remained steady over the past few days, with prices moving in line with crude futures. Buy-side interest was strong in Northwest Europe earlier in the week as the demand for heating oil rose on the back of...

Diving In: Chinese Pounce On PetroKazakhstan.(CNPC International)
August 24, 2005... China has dug its claws deeper into Kazakhstan by snapping up oil producer PetroKazakhstan, in a move that binds the two neighboring states closer together just months ahead of a presidential election in Kazakhstan that will be closely watched...

Big Splash: Glencore Takes The Plunge Into Russian Upstream.(Glencore International AG, Russneft)
August 24, 2005... Glencore International, one of the world's largest trading companies, is making a splash in the Russian upstream by taking stakes in three oil producing companies owned by its strategic partner Russneft. At a stroke the Swiss-registered...

Sputter: Ministry Predicts Flagging Growth Rates.(Russian Ministry for Economic Development and Trade)
August 24, 2005... Russia's Ministry for Economic Development and Trade said in a report last week that "the period of high-speed production growth and oil exports is over and the Russian oil industry is moving to a phase of moderate growth." Crude output...

Second Marriage: Lukoil Makes A Comeback At Moscow Refinery.(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... After a three-year break, Lukoil is making a quiet return to the Moscow refinery, after its former top manager Alexander Melnikov was appointed the first vice president of Moscow Oil and Gas Co. (MOGC), a major shareholder of the plant. ...

Oil Change: Lukoil Switches Vysotsk From Crude To Fuel Oil.
August 24, 2005... Russia's restrictively high export tariffs have forced Lukoil to cut off crude shipments by rail to its Baltic Sea terminal of Vysotsk and switch the facilities to fuel oil, starting this autumn. Lukoil has drastically reduced Urals rail...

Dismissive: Sibir Confident Lawsuit Will Be Thrown Out.(Sibir Energy PLC)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... UK-registered Sibir Energy hopes that a court case filed against its managers and major shareholders will be dismissed by the end of this week. The company said it believed that a High Court judge in London would "dismiss the Harley Street...

Closet Space: Gazprom Signs German Storage Deal.(OAO Gazprom, Verbundnetz Gas AG)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Gazprom is pushing ahead with the expansion of gas storage facilities outside of Russia as part of its strategy to bolster direct downstream involvement as a means to increase gas sales to European markets. Verbundnetz Gas (VNG), eastern...

Switching Sides: Menatep Joins Banks' Lawsuit Against Yukos.(Bank Menatep, OAO NK Yukos)
August 24, 2005... In a paradoxical twist of events, Yukos' owners have teamed up with a group of international banks to sue their own company. Group Menatep has joined a $1.125 billion lawsuit in an attempt to squeeze some cash out of the Russian oil company...

Big Spender: TNK-BP Allocates $270 Million For Siberian Field.(pilot development)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... TNK-BP's board of directors has agreed to allocate up to $270 million for the pilot development of the Verkhnechonskoye oil and gas condensate field in East Siberia. The pilot development is intended to prove the field's reservoir...

Gold Rush: Soyuzneftegas Goes For Gold.(markets)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Soyuzneftegas, an investment financial group set up by former fuel and energy minister Yuri Shafranik, has diversified into gold mining. Shafranik has become board director of Thistle Mining, a company based in Toronto with operations in...

Little Steps: Russia Plans Modest Export Boost Via Baltics.(seaborne crude )(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Russia is planning to boost its seaborne crude exports modestly again in September by 65,000 b/d compared with the previous month, according to port loading schedules -- minus Odessa -- as more crude will be channeled through the Baltic Sea...

Russian Crude Loading Program For September 2005.
August 24, 2005... Novorossiysk Crude Loading Program For September 2005

Poland: Warsaw Approves Gas Monopoly IPO.(initial public offering)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Warsaw has given the green light to an initial public offering (IPO) by state gas company Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo (PGNiG). The Finance Ministry approved the sale for Sep. 23 ahead of parliamentary elections slated for Sep....

Lithuania: PKN Orlen Joins Race For Mazeikiu Nafta.(takeover bidding)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... The battle for Yukos' 53.7% stake in Lithuanian refiner Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) has taken an unexpected turn over the past week, with Poland's PKN Orlen throwing its hat into the ring. PKN is "interested in participating in the buying process...

Ukraine: Odessa-Brody Plans Plod Forward.(petroleum pipelines)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Kiev is keeping the dream alive of reverting the Odessa-Brody pipeline to pumping crude in its originally intended direction, north from the Black Sea port of Yuzhny to Central European refineries. Kiev earlier this month chose Finland's...

Ukraine: Moscow And Kiev Near Gas Deal.(energy relationship)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Kiev is making some progress toward ironing out its gas differences with its big northern neighbor. Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov met his Russian counterpart Viktor Khristenko early this week in Moscow to discuss the...

Preemptive Strike: Gazprom Buys 3% Of Sibneft To Preempt Rosneft.(future investments)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... Russia's Gazprom has reportedly snatched up 3% of Sibneft's shares on the open market last week in an apparent preparation for taking over the oil major. Gazprom is reportedly seeking a loan of $10 billion-$12 billion to finance the...

High Ball: Russian Stocks Reach New Highs.(stock market)(Brief Article)
August 24, 2005... The Russian stock market continues to make frenzied gains. Investors were surprised earlier this month when benchmark Russian stock index RTS broke 800 points. But in the past two weeks the RTS has ballooned 6% to close earlier this week at a...