NEFTE Compass articles from October 2003

NEFTE Compass archives from October 2003

Chinese Dragon: Chinese Gun For Turkmen, Kazakh Acquisitions.
October 1, 2003... China's state-owned and cash-rich oil companies are continuing to target Caspian acquisitions, with China National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC) making an offer to buy Dragon Oil, which operates the Cheleken production sharing agreement in...

Russian Bear: Khodorkovsky Vows To Take Yukos International.
October 1, 2003... Yukos has set its sights on becoming the first Russian company to be transformed into an international oil major. "All our activities are directed towards this goal," Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky declared last week. Boasting...

Donut Diplomacy: Putin Sees Russia Capturing 10% Of US Market.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Russian President Vladimir Putin kicked off Lukoil's foray into the US gasoline market with a cup of self-serve coffee and a Krispy Kreme donut. Lukoil will rebrand over 10% of its 1,300 existing Getty retail stations as Lukoil stations,...

Persian Cats: Lukoil Wins Approval For Iranian Upstream Deal.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Russian oil major Lukoil is pressing ahead with its campaign to enter the Iranian upstream, announcing that it has received approval from National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) to join a Norsk Hydro-led project to explore the onshore Anaran Block near...

Siberia GTL: Yukos Goes For The Gas-To-Liquids Option.(YUKOS Oil Co.)(gas-to-liquids )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Yukos is investing in gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology as a better, faster way to get its gas to market from fields in Eastern Siberia, making use of the skills of Davy Process Technologies, which it bought a couple of years ago for $50 million....

To Boldly Go: US Company Ventures Into Dagestan.(oil blocks, protocol agreements)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Fitzoil Energy, a Panamanian-registered company headed by former US government officials, says it has signed protocol agreements with Dagestan to develop onshore and offshore oil and gas blocks. The company says it has been in touch with...

Missing Link: Yukos Ties China Deliveries To Rail Tariffs.
October 1, 2003... Wary of Moscow's promise to boost crude deliveries five-fold to China after 2005, Yukos says it will only supply the oil if the government offers reasonable rail tariffs. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov promised during a visit to Beijing...

Summertime Roll: Russian Crude Output Keeps Climbing.(production increases)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Russia's crude and condensate production continues to climb, reaching 8.64 million b/d (36.55 million metric tons) in August, 78,300 b/d higher than the previous month and up 11% from a year ago (see p9). Output in the first eight months of...

Sibling Rivalry: Port Bickerings Threaten October Export Boost.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Russia has set out to boost crude exports by 35,000 b/d in the October port loading programs, compared with September, but some last-minute bickering could scupper these gains and even trim the October loadings by twice that amount. Russia...

Russian Crude Loading Programs For October 2003.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Novorossiysk Crude Loading Program For October 2003

Estonia: Tallinn Treads A Fine Line Between Europe And Russia.
October 1, 2003... Estonia is pushing ahead with expansion projects to make itself a bigger transshipment hub for Russian crude and fuel oil -- just after it approved joining the European Union in a move that will distance itself from its big Eastern neighbor....

European Expansion: Mol And Lukoil Expand Their Horizons.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Hungary's Mol is expanding its horizons in its neighbors Austria and Romania, while Russia's Lukoil has mopped up 20% of the gasoline retail market in Serbia. Mol has brought into use an 18,000 metric ton oil products storage facility...

Uzbekistan: Itera Pulls Out Of Lukoil PSA.(Petroleum Industry)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Itera, a Moscow-based, US-registered gas trader, has withdrawn from the $930 million project to develop the Kandym group of oil and gas fields, says Shavkat Madzhitov, chairman of state oil and gas company Uzbekneftegas. Itera had a 45%...

Azerbaijan: Banks Line Up For BTC Syndication.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The final phase of financing for the $3 billion BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline has kicked off with an information memorandum being sent out to around 20 commercial banks. The memorandum, which was sent out by the project's...

Lithuania: Gazprom Finalizes Gas Acquisition.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Lithuania has finally agreed to accept a $30.3 million offer by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom for a 34% stake in local gas utility Lietuvos Dujos (LD). The government also ruled that the State Property Fund would continue talks with Gazprom...

Loose Ends: Yukos Borrows More As Abramovich Cashes Out.(Sibneft's shareholders planning to approve another interim dividend payment)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Yukos and Sibneft are wrapping up loose ends before they finalize their merger. Yukos is set to borrow an additional $1.6 billion from a consortium of Western banks led by France's Societe Generale, while Sibneft's shareholders are getting...

Half Pipe: Transneft Boosts First Half Profit.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... State pipeline operator Transneft managed to slightly boost its first half 2003 profit from the same time last year. The company reported a 14.18 billion rubles ($465 million) first-half net profit in unaudited, consolidated accounts prepared...

Equities And Currencies.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Share Prices Closing On September 30, 2003

Crude Oil: Futures Scale Higher On Opec Cutback.
October 1, 2003... Crude oil futures continued to strengthen in the wake of last week's surprise Opec decision to cut production by 900,000 b/d from Nov. 1. The announcement drove prices up by more than $1 per barrel and triggered substantial short-covering by...

Products: Bulls Rage Around Med Gas Oil Markets.
October 1, 2003... The bulls are raging on Mediterranean gas oil markets where differentials remain high on the back of futures gains. Fuel oil is still supported by high crude values, with Northwest Europe looking stronger than the Med. Continued low water...

Golden Parachute: Aliev Era Ends As Azeri Voters Go To Polls.
October 8, 2003... The end of an era beckons in oil-rich Azerbaijan after ailing President Haidar Aliev, who has ruled the Caspian nation on and off for the past 34 years, announced late last week that he would not be standing for reelection in a presidential...

Pitfall: Oil Potential Holds Pitfalls For Kazakhstan.
October 8, 2003... Kazakhstan's considerable oil and gas resources were celebrated at a major conference in Almaty this week, but behind the scenes, oil company executives injected a note of caution about the potential pitfalls that lie ahead as the former Soviet...

Roller Coaster Tycoon: Law Enforcement Campaign Grows Amid Yukos Sellout Rumors.(YUKOS Oil Co. securities)
October 8, 2003... Growing rumors that Yukos' shareholders would sell a major stake to Exxon Mobil were dampened by renewed attacks against the Russian oil major by law enforcement agencies. It has been a roller coaster week for Yukos -- now officially...

Waiting Room: Yukos Links Downstream Spending To Crude Exports.(YukosSibneft Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Russia's biggest crude producer YukosSibneft will hold back from spending big money on refinery upgrades until Russia builds more crude export pipelines. Then, according to Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian oil producers will slash...

Holy Oil: Glencore Ships FSU Crudes Via Israel Line.(Ashkelon-Eilat line)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Swiss trader Glencore is set to ship Kazakh and Russian crude to Asia via Israel's Ashkelon-Eilat pipeline. Glencore will send 160,000 tons (1.2 million bbl) of sweet Kazakh CPC Blend crude and 80,000 tons (600,000 bbl) of sour Russian...

Peace Offering: Shell Reaches Deal on Salym.(Ministry of Natural Resources)(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Royal Dutch/Shell and Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources have signed a peace pact. Under the agreement reached by the two parties, Shell will withdraw lawsuits it filed protesting against the ministry's threat to withdraw the oil...

Roadblock: Tatneft Faces Legal Struggle Over Refinery.(Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemical complex in Tatarstan)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Tatneft has hit an obstacle in its scheme to build an oil refinery on the premises of the Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemical complex in Tatarstan. A minority shareholder in the project, the Tatar-American Investment and Finance (Taif), has...

Slippage: Crude Exports Dip Slightly In September.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Russian crude exports dipped slightly in September due to decreased loadings out of the Black Sea ports. Shipments to non-CIS countries via the Transneft pipeline system slipped to 3.136 million b/d (12.834 million metric tons) last month,...

Growing Pains: Lukoil Expands Export Capabilities.(partners with FTS/Hofftrans for bunker terminal in Rotterdam)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Lukoil looks set to expand its export capabilities and potentially lower its transportation costs after finishing the first part of an oil terminal in the northern Caspian and winning a tender to operate a bunker terminal in Rotterdam, together...

Break On Through: EU Breakthrough On Resale.
October 8, 2003... The European Union's executive Commission has announced a settlement with Italy's ENI and Russian giant Gazprom over restrictive clauses in their existing sales contracts -- a deal that it describes as a major step towards a fully competitive...

Persian Cats: Crude Imports To Iran Are Picking Up.
October 8, 2003... The shipment of Russian, Kazakh, and Turkmen crude to the Iranian Caspian port of Neka is beginning to pick up as Iran prepares to inaugurate Phase 1 of its pipeline expansion program that will enable some 140,000 b/d of crude to be pumped to...

Ukraine: Odessa-Brody Direction Still Unclear.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Amid political pressure from Europe and Russia to choose a direction for the flow of oil through the idle 180,000 b/d Odessa-Brody pipeline, the supervisory board of Ukraine's state oil company Ukrtransnafta has accepted an offer...

Kazakhstan: PetroKazakhstan Wary Of State Confiscation.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Representatives of Canada's PetroKazakhstan met with Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, vice chairman of Kazakhstan's agency for regulating natural monopolies, late last week to discuss news reports that said the agency was going to confiscate company...

Azerbaijan: Socar Announces Tender For Urals Cargo.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Azeri national oil company Socar has announced a tender for a cargo of Russian Urals blend crude loading in for November. The tender will close on Oct. 10 for an 80,000 metric ton (586,000 bbl) cargo loading in the first half of November....

Kazakhstan: Statoil Sees Kazakh Offshore Launch Next Year.
October 8, 2003... Kazakhstan will probably adopt the Norwegian system when it starts to offer the first blocks in a new wave of offshore exploration next year, Statoil manager for Kazakhstan, Per Einar Rettedal, said on the eve of a major oil and gas conference...

Stockcar Race: RTS Races To All-Time High.
October 8, 2003... RussiaAEs main exchange, the Russian Trading System (RTS) closed at a record high of 609.8 points on Oct. 7, the first time the market ever closed about the 600 barrier. The market was building on momentum from Oct. 1 when it shattered its...

Equities And Currencies.
October 8, 2003... Share Prices Closing On October 7, 2003

Crude Oil: Firm North, Soft South.
October 8, 2003... Following a six-day rally that took Brent futures prices from a $27.33 low on Oct. 1 to a $29.27 high on Oct. 6, crude oil futures paused for breath and eased back a little to let over-bought strength and momentum indicators regain their...

Products: Steady Physical Gas Oil.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Physical gas oil values have held about steady despite falling futures. Fuel oil prices have risen from last week's levels, even though trade is thin in both Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean. Russian gas oil shipments out of the...

Top Dollar: Russia Urges Opec To Moderate Price Ambitions.
October 15, 2003... Moscow is sending mixed signals to the US market. On the one hand, demonstrating its support for oil consuming nations such as the US, Russia has urged Opec to limit its crude oil price ambitions and has sent clear signals that Moscow will not...

Bottom Line: Kazakhstan Pursues Export Options As Production Climbs.(crude production)
October 15, 2003... A key challenge for Kazakhstan in its drive to become one of the world's leading oil producers is how the landlocked country will get its crude to world markets, according to speakers at a major annual oil and gas conference that wound up in...

Muscles From Brussels: Rift Over WTO Membership Mars Russia-EU Relations.
October 15, 2003... Apparent progress by Russia and the European Union toward an accommodation on the contentious issue of resale restrictions in contracts has recently been overshadowed by a row in Moscow over conditions that Brussels wants to attach to Russian...

Future Shock: Exxon Thinks Ahead With Potential Yukos Purchase.(Exxon Mobil Corp. in plan to acquire stake in YukosSibneft)
October 15, 2003... Investors in Exxon Mobil may not immediately applaud a possible equity investment in Russian oil giant YukosSibneft, as such a purchase would be somewhat out of character for the US supermajor and would carry a host of political and financial...

Standing Firm: Crackdown Should Not Deter Majors - Khodorkovsky.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... The head of YukosSibneft, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said major US oil companies should not be put off by a Russian law enforcement campaign against Yukos, because their might gives them leverage with Russian government officials to protect their...

Onega Line: Floating Storage Season Winds Down.(Russia gasoline shipments)
October 15, 2003... Exports of gas oil fell by 7% in Oct. to 239,000 metric tons, but traders had been expecting a sharper decline because of strong domestic demand in Russia and Ukraine. High international prices helped draw products away from local markets. ...

Russia's Crude Distribution, September 2003 ('000 metric tons).(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Russia's Crude Distribution, September 2003 ('000 metric tons) * incl. Kazakh resources (340,000 tons supplied in September '03; 3.71 million tons supplied in Jan.-Sep. '03 and 4.24 million tons supplied in Jan.-Sep. '02). ** On...

Persian Excusion: Lukoil Will Drill in Iran Next Year.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Lukoil plans to start drilling next year in Iran, where it will bore one of four exploration wells that it plans to drill overseas in 2004. The other three wells will be spudded in Colombia, and in the offshore zones of Azerbaijan and...

Mushroom: US Independent Plans Big Growth In Russia.(buying stake in Chernogorskoye )(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... US independent Teton Petroleum has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming a 100,000 b/d producer in Russia in the next two years, riding the wave of heightened foreign interest in the country's oil industry. Teton's target, if achieved,...

Road Rage: Lukoil Earnings Jump But Transport Costs Rocket.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Lukoil is pushing to develop its own export schemes, after rising transportation costs caused by bottlenecks in Russia's crude export infrastructure delivered a hard blow to its bottom line. The net profits of the company still more than...

Due Process: Russian Refineries Crank Up Runs.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Russian refineries increased their processing volumes in August by 4.5% to 3.87 million b/d from July (see pages 10-11). In January-August 2003, Russia increased its crude processing by 3.2% to 3.79 million b/d from the same period of 2002. ...

Green Monster: Surgut Trapped In Environmental Wrangle.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Russia's most conservative and law-abiding oil major, Surgutneftegas, reported this week that its drilling program is under threat due to a dispute with environmental protection authorities in Russia's Khanty-Mansiisk region. According to a...

Kazakhstan: Optimal Export Routes Hold Key To $4 Billion Savings.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... The problem of transporting crude from Kazakhstan is one of the biggest drawbacks for the republicAEs burgeoning oil industry. But the key to Kazakhstan's export conundrum is not entirely a question of expanding capacity on all its routes,...

Kazakhstan: Karachaganak To Get Exports Back On Track.
October 15, 2003... BG and ENI, joint operators of the Karachaganak field, are expected by the end of the week to have selected one of several options to evacuate the sub-quality condensate from the field's new pipeline that has held up the launch of exports via...

Kazakhstan: Lukoil Looks To Press Home Advantage In Offshore Zone.
October 15, 2003... Lukoil president Vagit Alekperov met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana this week to discuss the company's operations in the region. The Russian major has an agreement with state oil company Kazmunaigas (KMG) on joint...

Kazakhstan: Oil Firms Launch National Data Bank.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... A group of oil companies operating in Kazakhstan signed an agreement last week to set up a national data bank (NDB) in association with Halliburton offshoot Landmark Graphics. "The implementation of the NDB is a strategic project for...

Azerbaijan: Lukoil Wins Socar Tender For Urals Out Of Novo.(Brief Article)
October 15, 2003... Lukoil's Geneva-based trading arm, Litasco, has won the latest tender from Azeri state oil company Socar to lift an 80,000 metric ton (586,000 bbl) stem of Urals export blend out of the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The shipment...

No Junk: Moody's Gives Russia First Investment Grade.
October 15, 2003... Russian equities and bonds have skyrocketed after credit rating agency Moody's upgraded the country two notches from junk to investment grade, opening the way for major institutional funds to pour money into its capital markets. Of the...

Equities And Currencies.
October 15, 2003... Share Prices Closing On October 14, 2003

Crude Oil: Strong Futures, But Urals Under Pressure.
October 15, 2003... The futures rally sparked by Opec's Sep.24 decision to cut production by 900,000 b/d from Nov.1 continues unabated, checked only by the odd consolidative correction. This week alone, Brent futures have gained more than $2/bbl this week alone --...

Products: Supported By Strong Demand, Low Exports.
October 15, 2003... Volatile crude has caused thin trade in the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe by causing dealmakers to shy away from committing to positions. Gas oil differentials remain high on the back of strong demand and lower Russian export volumes. NWE...

Home Run: Moscow Tells Companies Not To Neglect Domestic Needs.
October 22, 2003... Fed up of being chastised for dragging its feet over developing new export options, the Russian government looks to be mounting a fightback. Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Viktor Kaluzhny told a conference in Vienna this week that...

Foreign Body: Russian Ministry Makes Life Difficult For Exxon.
October 22, 2003... Exxon Mobil's chances of holding on to the rights to the Sakhalin-3 project on the Russian Pacific shelf are getting slimmer by the day after Russia's Natural Resources Minister Vitaly Artukhov said this week that the license to the acreage...

Crystal Ball: BP Sheds Light On Its Hopes And Fears For Russia.
October 22, 2003... Exxon Mobil and other potential Western investors in Russia are getting a tantalizing glimpse of what the future could hold as BP balances the promise of Russia's huge reserves and production growth against the challenge of negotiating the...

Lockout: Gazprom To Cut Producers Out Of The Loop.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)
October 22, 2003... Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said it will shut Russia's three biggest independent gas producers out of its pipeline system. The gas monopoly said that Northgas, Rospan, and Sibur will be blocked from using the system completely, while...

Wheeler Dealers: Lukoil Signs Gas Sales Deal With Gazprom.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Russian oil major Lukoil has signed a deal to sell gas to Gazprom from the Nakhodkinskoye gas field in the far northern Yamal-Nenets autonomous region. Experts regard the deal as a breakthrough, since it is the first time that the natural...

Sellout: Yukos Sells Non-Core Assets As Attacks Mount.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... As attacks by law enforcement agencies mount against Yukos, the oil major is streamlining its assets before its expected sale to one of the international majors. The General Prosecutor's Office brought tax evasion charges against Vasily...

Off Balance: Domestic Market Well Supplied With Products.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Faced with export infrastructure constraints and stronger internal demand, Russia boosted supplies of its main oil products to the domestic market this year. Russian oil companies have sent especially generous supplies of fuel oil, in...

Party Bash: Ex-Lukoil Man To Run For Bashkir Presidency.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Lukoil's former first vice president for marketing, Ralif Safin, has registered his candidacy for presidential elections in Bashkortostan scheduled for Dec. 7. Safin, who left Lukoil last year to become a member of the Federation Council...

Israeli Link: Israeli Pipeline Reversal Opens New Export Route To Asia.
October 22, 2003... Producers in Russia and the Caspian are being offered a new route to transport their oil to lucrative Asian markets that avoids traversing Egypt's Suez Canal. The 254-kilometer Trans-Israel pipeline (or Tipline), running from the Mediterranean...

Route One: Transneft To Do New Study For Pacific Pipeline.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Russian national pipeline operator Transneft aims in the next few months to finalize the route for a crude oil pipeline from Angarsk in Eastern Siberia to Asian markets. Transneft's board agreed last week that the company should prepare a...

Kazakhstan: PetroKazakhstan Shares Start To Swing In London.
October 22, 2003... PetroKazakhstan, which has seen the value of its shares rise by 70% in the last three months, has started trading on the London Stock Exchange. The 165,000 b/d producer, which was formerly known as Hurricane Hydrocarbons, hopes that...

Azerbaijan: Ilham Aliev Takes The Reins From His Father.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... In the first transfer of power from father to son in the former Soviet Union, Ilham Aliev has been declared the emphatic winner of last week's presidential elections. But the elections, which took place amid tight security, were marred by...

Lithuania: Butinge To Boost Crude Transshipment In 2004.(Mazeikiu Nafta)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Lithuania's national oil company Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), which is controlled and operated by Russia's Yukos, aims to transship more crude via its Butinge terminal next year. The company is targeting transshipment of 13 million metric tons...

Kazakhstan: Europe Tagged As Number One Gas Market.
October 22, 2003... Kazakhstan has its sights set on boosting gas exports to Europe, as its energy industry moves up a gear. "Imports into the European gas markets will carry on growing," says Anuarbek Argingazin, general director of Kazakh-Russian marketing joint...

Latvia: Ventspils Nafta Seeks Buyer For Up To 50% Stake.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... The new management at Latvia's Ventspils Nafta (VN) is hopeful not only for a cold winter to delay Russian loadings out of Novorossiysk and increase pressure on Russia to resume shipments to the port, but also that a buyer for up to 50% of the...

Bulgaria: Gazprom Hooks Into Transit Hub.(Gazexport in contract with Bulgargaz to supply Russian gas)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom is pressing ahead with efforts to expand its presence in Bulgaria, capitalizing on the latter's strategic importance as a transit hub to Turkey and southern Europe. The Russian gas monopoly's export arm...

Quarter Up: Yukos Boosts Second Quarter Profit By 26%.(YUKOS Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Yukos boosted its net profit by 26% in the second quarter of 2003 to $955 million in accounts prepared according to US GAAP standards, compared with the same period last year. However, this was down nearly 25% from the first quarter of 2003 due...

Back In Black: Gazprom Returns To Profitability.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Natural gas monopoly Gazprom turned a profit of 56 billion rubles ($1.86 billion) in the first quarter of 2003, broadly meeting analysts' expectations. It lost 4.33 billion rubles ($139 million) in the same period of 2002. Sales increased...

Equities And Currencies.
October 22, 2003... Share Prices Closing On October 21, 2003

Crude Oil: Futures In Free Fall, Differentials Firm.
October 22, 2003... Market bulls were pole-axed as Brent crude oil futures in the space of two trading days crashed $3.15/bbl -- or 10% -- from an Oct. 17 high of $31.50 to an Oct. 20 low of $28.05. Nymex crude futures were only marginally less volatile for a...

Products: Cash Values Crash With Futures.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2003... Falling futures gave Russian gas oil prices a real drubbing. Differentials strengthened slightly in Northwest Europe, softening the blow, but premiums weakened in the Med. Russia shipped out heavy gas oil volumes from the Baltic Sea ports...

Halloween Scare: Arrest Of Yukos CEO Tempers Hopes For Russia.
October 28, 2003... The arrest and imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chief executive of Russia's biggest oil company, YukosSibneft, and the country's richest man, are a sobering reminder of the political risks attendant on investing in Russia, tempering what...

Trick Or Treat: Russia Boosts Export Capcity At Primorsk.(Baltic Sea port of Primorsk)
October 28, 2003... Russia is strengthening its role as the world's second-biggest crude exporter as it ramps up capacity by another 255,000 barrels per day next month at the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk. Meanwhile, a ministerial reshuffle is afoot which could...

Swap Shop: Battle Heats Up Over Iran's Lucrative Swap Business.
October 28, 2003... As Iran prepares to ramp up the capacity of the pipeline that pumps Russian and Central Asian crude from its Caspian port of Neka to the Tehran and Tabriz refineries, behind-the-scenes battles are being fought for control of the lucrative oil...