NEFTE Compass articles from May 2005

NEFTE Compass archives from May 2005

Chicken Kiev: Welcome Runs Out For Russian Companies In Ukraine.
May 3, 2005... It's payback time in Ukraine. After years of cowering to Russia and its powerful oil companies, the new Ukrainian regime -- which uprooted the old guard in tumultuous elections late last year -- has decided that things are going to be different...

Moscow Mule: Shareholders Struggle Over Moscow Oil And Gas Company.
May 3, 2005... By all accounts, Moscow Oil and Gas Co. (MOGC) should be a big player in the Russian oil industry. But two years after its official registration, preceded by nearly five years of groundwork, it is still not clear what exactly the company...

Spring Showers: Output And Exports Slipped In April.
May 3, 2005... Russia's crude production slid by 25,000 b/d in April from the previous month, marking the seventh month in a row of stagnating output after a five-year aggressive growth streak. The country produced 9.302 million b/d (38.071 million metric...

Super Sized: Sovkomflot Plans Baltic Supertankers.
May 3, 2005... Russia has embarked on a project that could alleviate one of its biggest export bottlenecks -- draught restrictions on oil tankers in the Baltic Sea. Russian state shipping company Sovkomflot has signed a letter of intent with Sweden's Stena...

Slowcoach: Yukos Loses More Ground In Moscow Court.(OAO NK Yukos)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... The final demise of Russia's fallen oil giant Yukos is proceeding slowly and painfully. Not only has the sentencing of core Yukos shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky been postponed till mid-May, but a number of other cases involving the company...

Ejector Seat: Yukos Exits Mol Venture In Siberia.(OAO NK Yukos)(MOL Rt)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Hungarian oil and gas company Mol has confirmed that Yukos has completely exited from Zapadno-Malobalykskoye oil-producing joint venture, which the two partners used to own on an equal basis. According to Mol, its new partners in the...

Counterclaim: Yukos Tries To Wrest Geoilbent From Novatek.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Yukos is trying to get its hands on Geoilbent, an affiliate of Russia's largest independent gas producer Novatek. The deposed oil giant has sent a claim to the arbitration court of Russia's Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, asking it to...

Loan Star: Gazprom Approves $972 Million Borrowing.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Gazprom's board of directors has approved taking out a $972 million loan, which the gas giant will use to refinance existing credits. The loan will reportedly save Gazprom over $18 million in interest payments and allow the gas giant to...

Choices: Moscow Mulls Alternatives To Gazprom Merger.
May 3, 2005... As Kremlin infighting drags on over how to increase the Russian government's stake in Gazprom to a controlling 51%, Moscow is considering scrapping plans to merge Rosneft into the gas giant and pay cash instead. The state may decide to buy...

Russian Crude Loading Program For May 2005.
May 3, 2005... Novorossiysk Crude Loading Program For May 2005

Family Affair: Uzbekistan Makes Life Difficult For Russian Investors.
May 3, 2005... Russian companies seem to be paying the price for the failure of Moscow's geopolitical policy in its old stamping ground in the former Soviet Union. Not particularly welcome in any of the ex-USSR satellite states, Russian firms face a mountain...

Kazakhstan: Isautier To Step Down At PetroKazakhstan.(Bernard Isautier)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Bernard Isautier is stepping down after seven years as president and chief executive of Canada's PetroKazakhstan. He will hand over on Sep. 16 to Graeme Phipps, but will stay on as chairman of the board. Phipps, who was formerly vice president...

Azerbaijan: Litasco Wins Socar Urals Tender.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... State Socar has awarded its latest tender for Urals crude to Lukoil's marketing arm Litasco. The 80,000-metric ton cargo is scheduled to load out of Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on May 30-31. The cargo, awarded May 4, was not...

Lithuania: Mazeikiu Nafta Reports Strong Results.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), which is still controlled by embattled oil major Yukos, reported better-than-expected first-quarter results. MN reported a net profit of 195.43 million litas ($74.36 million) in the first three months of...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil Spuds First Well On Caspian Shelf.(OAO Lukoil)
May 3, 2005... Russia's Lukoil has started exploration drilling on the Caspian Sea's Tyub-Karagan Block offshore Kazakhstan. The 2,500 meter well was spudded by Lukoil's Astra semisubmersible rig. The block lies in water depths of only five-10 meters (NC...

On The Hop: Lukoil Results Confound Expectations.(OAO Lukoil)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Lukoil wrong-footed some analysts last week when it posted its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2004, revealing that net profit for the period jumped 60% on the year to $1.02 billion. That amount was generally above expectations,...

Giving Credit: Moody's Boosts Transneft Credit Rating.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Credit rating agency Moody's has boosted the investment rating of Russia's national pipeline operator Transneft to Baa3. The new rating applies to Transneft's ability to service both its ruble and foreign currency debts. The move comes at...

Equities and Currencies.
May 3, 2005... Share Prices Closing On May 3, 2005

Crude Oil: Prices Soften On Rising Opec Output.
May 3, 2005... June Brent crude oil futures traded an uneasy $3.19 range between a $52.85 high and a $49.66 low, with prices pressured by rising Opec production and the highest US crude oil inventories since July 1999. The low was hit after the US...

Products: Gas Oil Under Pressure As Spring Sets In.(Brief Article)
May 3, 2005... Demand for Russian gas oil has dwindled as spring has set in, with prices easing as traders try to unload rollover supply from April. A drop in gas oil futures over the past few days -- following a drop in crude futures -- has also put pressure...

Blockage: Gazprom Seen Blocking Total's Gas Adventure.(OAO Gazprom, Novatek )
May 5, 2005... Not even a word from Jacques Chirac to his buddy Vladimir Putin earlier this year helped to speed up progress on the acquisition by French major Total of 25% of Russian independent gas producer Novatek. Now industry sources and analysts say...

Rocket: High Prices Fuel Russian Dividend Payouts.
May 5, 2005... As the dividend season rolls around, Russian oil companies are making larger payments than ever before, despite a high tax burden. While the trend is for greater generosity to minority shareholders, the payouts have more to do with high oil...

Home Spun: Strong Domestic Crude Market Hits Rail Exports.
May 5, 2005... Soaring crude prices on the domestic market have prompted traders to shun rail exports in favor of bigger margins on the internal market. Crude shipments by rail have all but dried up to Russia's northern ports and their Baltic neighbors....

Growing Pains: Urals Energy Expands In Russia, Denies Zenit Deal.
May 5, 2005... Urals Energy, which has diversified from oil trading into the upstream, is further expanding in Russia. The company says a new upstream acquisition is under way, in addition to the three subsidiaries it owns in Russia. Urals denies, however, it...

Rejection: Yukos Scorned By Menatep.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Troubled oil giant Yukos has hit a new low. Controlling shareholder Group Menatep has refused to nominate any candidates to the board of directors for the company's Jun. 23 annual shareholder meeting. Yukos said it had received not a single...

Texas Talks: Conoco Managers Trade Places With Lukoil's Next Generation.(OAO Lukoil, ConocoPhillips)
May 5, 2005... The way forward in Russia for Western oil investors is to concentrate on improving operating standards and building relationships between company staff on both sides, according to speakers at last week's Offshore Technology Conference in...

Branching Out: Lukoil Targets Turkmen Caspian Sector.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Lukoil is looking to expand its presence in the Caspian region by targeting oil and gas reserves in Turkmenistan. In a visit to Moscow this week, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov met with Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov to discuss the...

Desert Storm: Soyuzneftegas Makes Its Debut In Syria.
May 5, 2005... In its further effort to expand in the Middle East, Soyuzneftegas has acquired a 50% stake in Block 26 in Syria, becoming partners with US independent Gulfsands Petroleum. The deal was executed in two parts. First, Gulfsands raised its...

Field Works: Gazprom Cracks On With Yuzhno-Russkoye Field.
May 5, 2005... Russian Gazprom's perpetual search for less expensive gas that will allow it to postpone the massive investment needed to develop its Yamal reserves and to save Shtokmanovskoye for LNG may be creating an important new opening for potentially...

Winning Bid: Sibneft Gets Siberian Licenses.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Sibneft has acquired exploration and development licenses for the Srednetaimurinsky Block in the Krasnoyarsk Region and the Zimny Block in the Tyumen Region. Zimny, which is located on existing pipeline networks, has recoverable oil...

Ukraine: Shell Inks First Upstream Deal.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Royal Dutch/Shell and Ukraine's Naftogas are to team up in a joint technical study of the country's Dniepr-Donets Basin, which could lead to exploration and production in the region. The two companies will study a 30,000 sq km area, with...

Azerbaijan: BP Starts Filling BTC Pipeline.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... A BP-led consortium this week started the first phase of line fill and operational testing of its 1 million b/d Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. The BP-led consortium began filling the head pumping station at the Sangachal terminal near...

Georgia: Tbilisi Shelves Plans To Privatize Gas Pipeline.
May 5, 2005... Under pressure from the US, Georgia's pro-Western government seems to have given up the idea of privatizing its gas transportation system, which would have worked to the advantage of Russia's Gazprom. Early this year, Georgian President...

Lithuania: Klaipeda Volumes Fall As Russian Shipments Fall.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The operator of Lithuania's oil export terminal, Klaipedos Nafta (KN), has seen its volumes fall, due mainly to a decline in product shipments from Russia. KN handled 1.792 million metric tons of oil products from January to March, down...

Georgia: Poti Completes Expansion Of Crude Terminal.(Black Sea port of Poti)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The Black Sea port of Poti has completed the $35 million second construction phase of its crude terminal, raising its capacity to 3 million metric tons/yr (60,000 b/d). The expansion included adding tank farm capacity of 120,000 cubic...

Ukraine: TNK-BP Keeps Refinery Shut Amid Price Spat.
May 5, 2005... Maintenance at TNK-BP's Lisichansk refinery -- the second largest of Ukraine's four refineries -- is set to continue at least through the end of May, in a development that could aggravate the UK-Russian venture's dispute with Kiev over fuel...

Talking Shop: Rosneft Opens Talks With Yugansk Creditors.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Although Yukos' shareholders seem set to lose everything, such may not be the case for its creditors. Rosneft -- which acquired Yukos' main production asset Yuganskneftegas last year -- has opened new talks with those banks responsible for...

Gazloan: Gazprombank Lends To Uzbekneftegas.(Zeromax)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Uzbekistan's state-owned oil and gas concern Uzbekneftegas is to receive a $25 million loan from Gazprom's subsidiary Gazprombank. The funds will be used on units to process associated gas at the Kokdumalak field in Uzbekistan, according...

Equities and Currencies.
May 5, 2005... Share Prices Closing On May 6, 2005

Crude Oil: Futures Pressured By Report Of Weaker Growth.
May 5, 2005... June Brent crude oil futures traded a $2.32 range between a $52.43 high and a $50.11 low over the past week, with prices pressured by yet another bearish US inventory report and a report from the International Energy Agency stating that...

Products: Gas Oil Goes From Bad To Worse.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The market for Russian gas oil in Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean is going from bad to worse. In general, prices have followed gas oil futures, which have traded a volatile $24.50 range this week. On May 11, futures lost $15.50 a metric...

Southern Star: Kazakhstan To Develop New Caspian Route.
May 18, 2005... Kuryk, a small town on the Caspian Sea with a population of 4,800, is about to be thrust into the big time. By the end of the decade, a new port at Kuryk on the coast of Kazakhstan could be shipping up to 600,000 barrels per day of crude...

Black Hole: Kremlin Scraps Gazprom-Rosneft Merger.
May 18, 2005... The Kremlin has scrapped plans to fold state-run oil company Rosneft into gas giant Gazprom, and will instead pay cash to increase the Russian state's holding in Gazprom from a current 39% to a controlling stake of over 50%. To raise cash for...

Output Creep: Stagnation In Crude Production Growth Is Here To Stay.
May 18, 2005... The stagnation that has crept into Russia's crude production growth over the last seven months is unlikely to have lifted by the end of the year. According to a recent forecast by the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade, Russia's crude...

Bashed Up: Bashkortostan Grabs Back Oil Assets.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Russia's Bashneft oil company is to be put back in the hands of the government of the autonomous district of Bashkortostan. A regional court last week supported a claim brought by Bashkortostan's property ministry demanding the...

Long Sentence: Yukos Bosses Face More Charges.
May 18, 2005... Moscow judges took most of this week to read the verdict in the case against former Yukos chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his colleague Platon Lebedev without revealing the one item of information everyone was waiting to hear -- how...

East End: Surgut Looks East For Expansion.
May 18, 2005... Russia's Surgutneftegas has decided to concentrate more of its efforts on developing projects in East Siberia. The company has signed an agreement with Russia's Irkutsk region to create an oil and gas complex to build the necessary...

On Ice: Sibir's Shares Remain Frozen After UK Court Hearing.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... A large chunk of Sibir Energy's shares held by Russian businessman Shalva Chigirinsky will remain "frozen" following a hearing on May 12 in the UK High Court, which stemmed from legal action launched by a minority shareholder. Harley...

Way Out: Lukoil Boosts Vysotsk Loadings.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Lukoil exported 1.509 million metric tons of crude and oil products out of its Vysotsk oil terminal over January-April, the company said. This included 54,500 b/d (892,400 tons) of crude, 534,000 tons of vacuum gas oil and 82,000 tons of...

Northern Exposure: Transneft Backs Northern Export Pipeline.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... National pipeline operator Transneft plans to allocate 850 million rubles ($30.57 million) for a preinvestment study of an Arctic crude export pipeline. The line would run from Russia's northern Komi Republic to the Barents Sea for long-haul...

Red Flag: TNK-BP Warned Over Kovykta.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... The Russian government has made another attempt to nudge TNK-BP toward reaching some agreement with Gazprom that would advance the development of the huge Kovykta gas and condensate field in East Siberia. Russia may "undertake some...

Hurdle Jump: TNK-BP Clears Restructuring Obstacle.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... A hitch in TNK-BP's restructuring plan seems to have been ironed out. The Moscow Arbitration Court has thrown out a claim against adviser Deloitte & Touche by India Ocean Petroleum Service, a minority shareholder in TNK-BP's Saratov...

Hungry: Moscow Takes Bigger Slice Of Products Exports.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Moscow is again demonstrating its insatiable hunger for a bigger slice of Russia's crude windfall by raising export tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has presented proposals to the government for an even...

Train Gang: Railways Capacity Upgrade Under way.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Russian Railways is pushing ahead with plans to upgrade its network to optimize crude oil rail shipments to China. The company says it will invest 680 million rubles ($24.4 million) to upgrade a section of its East Siberia branch in Irkutsk...

Man Plan: Norsk Hydro Presents Shtokman Plan To Gazprom.
May 18, 2005... Norsk Hydro has submitted a plan to Gazprom to develop the giant 3.2 Tcm Shtokmanovskoye gas field in Russia's Arctic Barents Sea. According to Norsk Hydro estimates, the first stage of the project will reportedly cost $10 billion, with...

Gas Issues: Gazprom Moves Forward In Austria.
May 18, 2005... Austrian oil and gas producer RAG, German-Russian marketer Wingas and Russia's Gazprom have signed a contract to convert the Haidach gas reservoir, owned by RAG, into the second largest underground gas storage facility in central Europe. ...

Bloodbath: Uzbek Uprising Ratchets Up The Tension In Central Asia.
May 18, 2005... The bloody events in Uzbekistan that have left hundreds dead have increased fears of instability spreading across oil and gas-rich Central Asia just weeks after a popular uprising toppled the regime of neighboring Kyrgyzstan. The violence...

Kazakhstan: Nelson Turns In A Bumper Quarter.(Nelson Resources)(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Nelson Resources, an independent exploration and production company operating in Kazakhstan, boosted net profits after tax to $35.8 million in the first quarter of 2005, compared with a loss of $9.8 million in the first quarter of 2004. ...

Ukraine: Kiev Accuses Russian Majors Of Crude Cuts.
May 18, 2005... Tensions have risen further between Ukraine and Russia, after Kiev accused Moscow of cutting crude oil supplies. The Ukrainian government had already accused Russian companies of price collusion, slapping price caps on fuel in response. ...

Ukraine: Kiev Eyes Kazakh Upstream.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Keen to reduce its dependence on Russian crude, Ukraine's national oil company Ukrnafta wants to enter Kazakhstan's upstream and has announced plans to set up a joint venture with Kazakh national oil and gas company Kazmunaigas, saying it would...

Kazakhstan: Oil Output To Drop As Gas Flaring Is Halted.
May 18, 2005... Oil production could be sharply curtailed after the government ordered all 34 oil companies operating in the republic to reduce their crude production to a level that eliminates the flaring of associated natural gas. Industry sources said...

Model Student: Sibneft Recreates Itself As A Model Taxpayer.
May 18, 2005... Russia's Vladimir Putin may be failing to encourage foreign investment and institutional reform, but there's one area in which the former-spy-turned-president has passed with flying colors: tax payments. Nothing illustrates this better...

Equities and Currencies.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Share Prices Closing On May 17, 2005

Crude Oil: Cheap Sweets Put Urals Under Pressure.
May 18, 2005... June Brent crude oil futures traded at a $2.13 range between a $49.78 high on May 12 and a $47.60 low on May 16. The prices then recovered uneasily to above $49 again, but remained under pressure from a raft of news all pointing to increasing...

Products: Gas Oil Off The Floor But Still Wobbly.(Brief Article)
May 18, 2005... Although gas oil futures have firmed from a $424.25 low on May 16, premiums for Russian gas oil remain low and are prone to fluctuations, traders said. Both the Mediterranean and Northwest European markets have been dragged down by excessive...

Breathing Space: Exxon Believes Russian Opportunities Will Bounce Back.
May 23, 2005... Lee Raymond, chairman and chief executive of the world's leading supermajor, Exxon Mobil, believes that business opportunities will eventually bounce back in Russia. In an exclusive interview with Energy Intelligence, Raymond said: "I do...

Milestones: Kazakhstan Pushes The Boat Out For BTC Pipeline.
May 23, 2005... Milestones were reached on both sides of the Caspian Sea this week, as Kazakhstan's first ever oil tanker started its maiden voyage from Aktau to Azerbaijan, arriving in time for the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. ...

No BTC: Russia Not Ready To Send Crude Via BTC.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan )(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Russia's national pipeline operator Transneft remains skeptical about the ability of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to source crude to fully use the line's targeted capacity of 1 million b/d. Russia is not ready yet to send its...

Lundin Calling: Lundin Signs Russian Deal.(Valkyries Petroleum brought 51% stake in Kalmeastern)(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Canada-registered Valkyries Petroleum, an investment vehicle for Sweden's Lundin oil family, has finalized a deal to purchase a 51% stake in Kalmeastern, a Russian oil producing company. Under the terms of the deal, Valkyries is to pay $8...

Slimline: Slimmer Yukos Streamlines Operations.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Embattled Russian oil company Yukos has announced a major organizational and financial restructuring to maintain ongoing operations and to meet commitments to employees, customers, creditors and shareholders. "The company's structure and...

Direct Marketing: Rosneft Makes Direct Poland Sales.
May 23, 2005... State-owned Rosneft has begun direct crude sales to Poland's biggest refiner, PKN Orlen, according to the latest data on Russian crude offtakers. Rosneft sold two cargoes in April via the Druzhba pipeline to PKN Orlen, without using the...

Game Plan: Moscow Advances With Gazprom Plan.
May 23, 2005... The Russian government is moving ahead with its plan to secure state control over Gazprom and liberalize trading in the gas monopoly's shares. A state-owned special purpose vehicle, Rosneftegas, which was set up at the end of last year,...

Pipe Cleaners: CPC Says Expansion Deal Close.(Caspian Pipeline Consortium)
May 23, 2005... The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said last week that it is close to concluding negotiations on the basic principles of a planned expansion. The statement followed a meeting in Moscow led by Russia's Industry and Energy Minister Viktor...

Wipeout: Moscow Blocks Full Budget For Sakhalin-2.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... The Russian government has refused to approve a bigger 2005 budget for the Royal Dutch/Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project, following an increase of nearly 20% in costs announced by the consortium last year. The Sakhalin-2 supervisory board, which...

Caracas Contract: Lukoil Moves Closer To Deal With Venezuela.
May 23, 2005... State-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) and Russian major Lukoil could possibly sign an agreement by the end of this year covering upstream and downstream cooperation, said Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov. Following a visit to Caracas...

Liquid Courage: Sovkomflot Teams Up With Gazprom On LNG.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Russia's largest shipping company, state-owned Sovkomflot, is teaming up with Gazprom to expand into the LNG business. The companies have set up a joint venture, Baltic LNG, to build a Gazprom-proposed 7 million ton/yr LNG plant in Ust-Luga...

Guest List: Voloshin Denies Iraq Allegations.(Alexander Voloshin)(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... The former head of Russia's presidential administration, Alexander Voloshin, has denied any wrongdoing after he was accused in a scandal over the Iraq oil-for-food program. Voloshin's name figured in documents released by the US Senate...

Ukraine: Kiev Backs Down In Fuel Prices Spat.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Faced with a worsening domestic fuel crisis, President Viktor Yushchenko has backed down in a conflict with Russian oil suppliers over prices. Yushchenko signed a law to end an import duty of C10 ($12.57) per metric ton on oil products,...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil And PetroKaz Trade Blows.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Russia's Lukoil and Canada's PetroKazakhstan traded blows again this week as the dispute over matters related to their joint venture Turgai Petroleum in Kazakhstan continues to deepen (NC May19,p10). Lukoil said that Turgai, which is...

Turkmenistan: Wintershall Eyes Offshore Reserves.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Wintershall, the oil and gas arm of German chemicals giant BASF, is setting its sights on Turkmenistan once again. At a meeting with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov this week, Bernhard Schmidt, Wintershall's board member responsible...

Azerbaijan: Violence Mars Opening Of BTC Pipeline.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan )
May 23, 2005... Violence broke out in Baku ahead of the May 25 official launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Though the pro-democracy protest had nothing to do with the project, the authorities had banned it on security grounds, saying it was...

Turkmenistan: Top Oil Official Arrested Amid Cabinet Reshuffle.(Yolly Gurbanmuradov)(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Deputy Prime Minister Yolly Gurbanmuradov, Turkmenistan's top oil and gas official, has been arrested on corruption charges amid a wider shakeup of government officials. President Saparmurat Niyazov replaced Gurbanmuradov with Guychnazar...

Turkmenistan: Lukoil-Dragon Deal Denied.(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Russia's Lukoil this week denied a newspaper report that it had agreed to buy a 52% stake in UAE-based Dragon Oil, which holds rights to the Cheleken Block offshore Turkmenistan. Moscow daily newspaper Vedomosti said that the Russian major...

Poland: Lukoil To Shun Lotos IPO.
May 23, 2005... Lukoil will not buy shares in Poland's No. 2 refiner, the Lotos Group, on the open market, although the Russian major says it remains interested in taking part in Lotos' privatization. Lotos began an initial public offering for a 38.6%...