NEFTE Compass articles from September 2003

NEFTE Compass archives from September 2003

Day One: BP Sets Sail With Giant Russian Venture.(British Petroleum Company PLC)
September 3, 2003... BP and its former bitter rivals in Russia, the Alfa Group and Access-Renova (AAR), completed on Aug. 29 the largest transaction in Russian corporate history by combining their Russian and Ukrainian oil and gas assets to create a new giant,...

Two's Company: Russia Rolls Out The Red Carpet For Saudi Arabia.
September 3, 2003... Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's two biggest oil producers, have sown the seeds for a new relationship. With a nervous eye on Russian oil production that is approaching a landmark 9 million barrels per day, challenging Saudi Arabia's...

Road To Baghdad: New Iraqi Minister To Tackle Lukoil Contract.(Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... One of the key tasks facing the new Iraqi oil minister appointed this week will be deciding the fate of contracts signed with Russian and other international oil companies before the Iraq war. Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a 49-year-old petroleum...

Shell Suit: Shell Chairman Lobbies Putin Over Salym Threat.(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)
September 3, 2003... Royal Dutch/Shell chairman Philip Watts this week met President Vladimir Putin to plead his company's case in Russia. Shell's plans to develop the 850 million bbl West Salym field in Siberia are wobbling in the face of a threat from...

Firestarter: Barge Fire Highlights Transit Hazards.(tanker Viktoria)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... A raging fire on a river tanker has cast light on the dangers of using less orthodox export schemes, as Russian exporters struggle to find alternative outlets for their rising crude output. The river tanker Viktoria was docked with 2,000...

Jail Birds: Moscow Courts Deny Release To Jailed Officials.(YUKOS Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... The legal assault against Yukos by law enforcement agencies is not letting up -- despite the Anti-Monopoly Ministry's recent decision to approve the Russian oil company's merger with Sibneft. Moscow courts over the past week have ruled to...

Whacked!: Russia Makes Good On Threat To Odessa.
September 3, 2003... The Energy Ministry has made good on its promise to shift Kazakh transit crude from the Ukrainian port of Odessa to nearby Yuzhny (Pivdenny). Russia is set to double crude shipments to Yuzhny to 361,000 metric tons in September, from the...

Russian Crude Loading Programs For September 2003.
September 3, 2003... Gdansk Crude Loading Program For September 2003

Oriental Express: Traders Exploit Asian Arb With Baltic Fuel Oil Shipments.
September 3, 2003... Traders took advantage of the abundance of Russian summer fuel oil shipments to exploit the arbitrage to the Far East. US trader Koch loaded a very large crude carrier (VLCC), the Front Page, with fuel oil at Tallinn in August -- the first...

Protogaz: Moscow To Boost Gas Shipments To Ukraine.
September 3, 2003... Moscow and Kiev late last week signed an intergovernmental protocol providing for a 5.6% increase in Russian deliveries into the Ukrainian system via the Gazprom network in 2004, to 127.8 Bcm. Of that, at least 110 Bcm, and potentially more,...

Kazakhstan: Gazprom Pressed To Pay More For Karachaganak Gas.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)
September 3, 2003... The BG/ENI-operated Karachaganak Petroleum Organization (KPO) is trying to convince Russian giant Gazprom to triple the price it pays for gas supplied from the giant Karachaganak gas condensate field to Russia's Orenburg gas processing plant...

Cross Caspian: Iran Sets Up Caspian Transport Venture.(National Iranian Tanker Co. has set up a joint venture with Greenoak Energy to build oil tankers)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... Greenoak Energy, the group that owns the oil terminal at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi, has set up a 50-50 joint venture with National Iranian Tanker Co. to build six 63,000 deadweight ton oil tankers to be used in the Caspian Sea. The...

Kazakhstan: Sandy Set To Take Over At Tengizchevroil.(Alexander "Sandy" Cornelius )(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... Tom Winterton, general director of Tengizchevroil (TCO), the biggest foreign investor in Kazakhstan, is preparing to hand over to Alexander "Sandy" Cornelius towards the end of September. Cornelius, who worked for TCO a couple of years ago...

Romania: Competition Heats Up In Petrom Privatization.(Petrom R.A.)
September 3, 2003... Strong interest from major oil companies is heating up the competition for a majority stake in state oil and gas concern Petrom. Romanian privatization authorities launched bidding for the 51% stake in the company this week, with the main...

Pay Day: Slavneft Pays Out $350 Million Dividend.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK) and Sibneft are raking cash out of Slavneft before the former state company is divided up and part of it folded into the new TNK-BP venture (see p1). Slavneft has announced it will pay a generous interim 2003 dividend...

Product Loan: EBRD To Lend $75 Million To Transnefteproduct.(European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2003... The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has announced plans to lend $75 million to national oil products pipeline operator Transnefteproduct. The credit will mark Transnefteproduct's debut into international lending markets,...

Equities And Currencies.
September 3, 2003... Share Prices Closing On September 2, 2003

Crude Oil: Futures Get Hammered In 90-Minute Sell-Off.
September 3, 2003... Crude oil futures took a hammering on Sep. 2 when New York gasoline led a vicious sell-off that sent October Brent tumbling $1.85 in 90 minutes before settling at $27.52 for a loss of $1.73 on the day. Although the principal impetus came from...

Products: Strong Supplies Meet Weak Demand.
September 3, 2003... Physical products values came off with tumbling crude. Gas oil differentials in Northwest Europe fell on the week when strong volumes encountered weak demand. But an expected surge in fuel oil exports before Russia's Sep. 1 hike of the export...

Way In: Rosneft Sets Out Terms For Foreign Investors.
September 10, 2003... As the world's leading oil companies chew over their investment strategies for Russia, inspired by BP's bold $6 billion plunge into the TNK-BP joint venture, Sergei Bogdanchikov, the president of state-owned Rosneft and one of the most...

Looking Out: China Pipeline On The Rack As Russia Weighs Foreign Options.
September 10, 2003... Russia is being pulled in three different directions: After last week's visit by Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, a senior delegation from the US, the world's most powerful nation and a key strategic market, is due...

Guru: Gaidar Given Role In Rebuilding Iraq.
September 10, 2003... Former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar has been tapped by the US authorities in Iraq to advise on rebuilding the country's tattered economy. Gaidar, who is the director of Moscow's Institute for Economy in Transition, will visit Iraq...

Northern Alliance: Lukoil And Rosneft May Team Up In Timan-Pechora.
September 10, 2003... Lukoil and Rosneft may join forces in a number of projects in the Timan-Pechora oil province in the north of Russia, including oil exports from Lukoil's Varandei terminal in the Arctic Sea. Lukoil has been developing this scheme for its...

Tabloid King: Khodorkovsky Buys Newspaper In Kremlin Fight.(political asylum to Boris Berezovsky)
September 10, 2003... Beleaguered Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky is stepping up his counteroffensive against the Kremlin by purchasing an influential weekly newspaper and hiring a renowned critic of the current regime to run the publication. A fund...

Ramping Up: Russia Roots Out New Export Outlets.
September 10, 2003... Russia is cranking up crude export shipments in underutilized pipeline directions such as Ukraine and other CIS destinations, as well as boosting rail shipments, as it struggles to find outlets for its rising output. Crude export shipments...

Easy Tiger: Sakhalin Energy Ships First Cargo To Taiwan.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... The Royal Dutch/Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project is expanding into new markets for its crude exports, sending its first cargo for delivery to Taiwan earlier this week. The 720,000 bbl cargo is being transported on the tanker Pacific Virgo to the...

No Show: Bogdanchikov Will Not Run For Sakhalin Governor.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Rosneft president Sergei Bogdanchikov has refuted speculation that he will run for governor of the Sakhalin region in the Russian far east. Gubernatorial elections will take place in Sakhalin at the end of December, after former governor...

Icebreaker: Sakhalin-1 Orders Supply Ships From Aker Kvaerner.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Exxon Mobil has signed a contract with Finnish shipyard Masa-Yards, a unit of Norway's Aker Kvaerner Technologies, to buy two 100-meter icebreakers to deliver supplies to the offshore Sakhalin-1 project operated by Exxon. The two ships, which...

Missed Target: Yukos Blames Transneft For Production Shortfall.
September 10, 2003... Russia's leading oil major Yukos has announced that may not reach its 1.67 million b/d output target for 2003 because of "infrastructure limitations." The company blames national pipeline operator Transneft for the shortfall, saying that...

Balkan Bypass: Alekperov Says Greece Holds Key To Pipeline.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... The main problem faced by the project to construct a trans-Balkan oil pipeline from Burgas to Alexandroupolis to ship Russian and Caspian crude to world markets is the high tariffs that Greece insists on, according to Lukoil's president Vagit...

Tajikistan: Gazprom Sets Up Shop In Dushanbe, And Kyrgyzstan.
September 10, 2003... In its campaign to direct currently bottled-up Central Asian gas flows into the Russian transportation system, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has announced a grand entrance into Tajikistan: The gas behemoth's overseas subsidiary,...

Russia's Crude Distribution, August 2003.
September 10, 2003...  

Kazakhstan: ENI Wins Delay On Kashagan Startup.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... ENI and its partners in the giant Kashagan field in the northern Caspian Sea have won a grudging agreement from Kazakhstan to delay the start of production for two years until 2007. The Central Asian republic's president, Nursultan...

BTC Update: Baku And Astana Come Together On BTC Pipeline.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan plan to hold an intergovernmental meeting in Turkey at the end of October to advance moves to funnel Kazakh crude into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline being built by a BP-led consortium. The two sides...

Romania: TNK-BP Considers Petrom Bid.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... TNK-BP, the newly launched joint venture between Russia's Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK) and UK major BP, is already plotting its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe, as it mulls bidding in the privatization of Romania's Petrom. At the...

Lithuania: Mazeikiu Refinery Completes First-Stage Upgrade.(Mazeikiu Nafta )(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (MN), which is controlled and operated by Russia's Yukos, says it has completed the first stage of its refinery's three-phase modernization program. The company has brought on stream a new isomerization unit at...

Road Trip: Gazprom Kicks Off Eurobond Road Show.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Natural gas monopoly Gazprom has announced that it will launch a road show for its new medium-term euronotes in Europe and Asia on Sep. 10. The gas monopoly gave no further details, saying only that the bonds will be of a "benchmark" size....

Two Step: Yukos Moves Towards Finalizing Sibneft Merger.(YukosSibneft Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Yukos has taken another few steps toward completing its mega-merger with industry rival Sibneft. The merger, announced in April, was planned for completion by late this year, but experts say it could now be finalized by the end of this month....

Equities And Currencies.
September 10, 2003... Share Prices Closing On September 9, 2003

Crude Oil: Wounded But Recovering.
September 10, 2003... Crude oil futures dipped lower during the reporting week with October Brent reaching a low of $26.81, but then seemed to find a floor and turned around, and is likely, eventually, to test resistance at $28.30. Urals took over Brent's place in...

Products: Gas Oil Steady, Fuel Oil Weak.(Petroleum Industry)(Brief Article)
September 10, 2003... Gas oil markets have held about steady this week, while fuel oil has yet to recover from last week's dive. Baltic Sea gas oil shipments totaled a sturdy 573,000 metric tons over the past week, of which Ventspils accounted for 318,000 tons,...

Close Call: World Majors Keep The Faith With Russia Despite Yukos Chaos.
September 11, 2003... Exxon Mobil Chairman and Chief Executive Lee R. Raymond remains convinced that the company will have opportunities in Russia despite the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his resignation as Yukos CEO. "Everybody ought to take a deep breath,"...

Open Door: Russian Oil Services Sector Could Rival North America.
September 11, 2003... The Russian oil-field services sector could be as big as the US and Canadian market combined if it opens up to foreign companies, Andrew Gould, chairman and chief executive of oil services giant Schlumberger, told Energy Intelligence on the...

Business As Usual: Yukos Keeps The Wheels Turning Amid The Turmoil.
September 11, 2003... The sorry state of affairs surrounding Yukos would suggest that the Russian oil giant is in a state of near-paralysis and barely able to function. A large chunk of its shares have been frozen, and senior managers and shareholders Mikhail...

At Odds: Opec Asks Russia To Give Cuts A Chance.
September 11, 2003... As Opec comes under pressure from Moscow to moderate its price ambitions, the cartel says it needs time to gauge the impact of its recent production cuts before taking a decision on its next move (NC Oct.16,p1). Heavyweight Saudi Arabia...

Major Concern: Exxon Seeks Regulatory And Tax Imrpovements.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Exxon Mobil's major concern in Russia remains the need to improve the regulatory and tax regime to encourage investments by Exxon and others, Tom Cirigliano, Exxon's public relations manager told Nefte Compass on the sidelines of the Oil and...

Gut Reaction: Surgutneftegas Gets Talakanskoye License.
September 11, 2003... In yet another blow to Yukos, the Natural Resources Ministry has awarded Surgutneftegas a temporary license to develop the Talakanskoye oil field in the East Siberian republic of Sakha/Yakutia. The ministry stripped Yukos' affiliate...

Inroads: Gutseriev To Set Up Belarus Venture.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Russneft head Mikhail Gutseriev is making inroads in Belarus, while stomping on the toes of his erstwhile employer Slavneft. Gutseriev is seeking downstream opportunities in Belarus while offering Minsk the prospect of producing crude in...

Lining Up: Statoil Declares Its Interest In Shtokman Field.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Interest in Russia's potentially huge Shtokman development for LNG exports from an offshore field in the Barents Sea looks to be spreading like wildfire through the industry. Norway's Statoil wants to join. Its senior vice president for...

Pipe Cleaners: Brewing Corruption Scandal Over Pipe Quotas.
September 11, 2003... A corruption scandal is brewing over crude exports, as Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko is demanding an explanation over the unauthorized redistribution of pipeline quotas. The Energy Ministry and Transneft still have not provided an...

Kazakhstan: Halliburton Stung By Damages Claim.(minnow Anglo Dutch Petroleum)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Halliburton is once again under the spotlight after a Texas jury ordered the oil services giant to pay over $70 million in damages to Houston-based minnow Anglo Dutch Petroleum for violating confidentiality agreements signed over five years ago...

Azerbaijan: World Bank Backs BTC Pipeline.(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan)(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The International Finance Corp. (IFC), the World Bank's private sector lending arm, this week approved up to $310 million in funding for the BP-led projects to produce oil from Caspian Sea oil fields and transport it to international markets....

Hungary: Mol Builds War Chest For Petrom Privatization.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Hungarian oil and gas company Mol has added a 400 million euro ($470 million) loan to its war chest, ahead of what looks likely to be a tough bidding battle for a controlling stake in Romanian state oil firm Petrom (NC Sep.11,p9). Mol...

Turkmenistan: Itera Aims To Sign PSA With Rosneft, Zarubezhneft.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Squeezed by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom out of much of its former business, gas trader Itera is focusing on boosting its activities in Turkmenistan. Igor Makarov, chairman of Russia-based, US-registered Itera, says that a production...

Cheerleaders: Poland And Ukraine Plan Iraq Venture.(Polish Oil and Gas Co. (Poland), Naftogas Ukrainy )(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Poland and Ukraine are looking to cash in on their support for the US-led military campaign in Iraq, by seeking oil contracts Iraq. Ukrainian state oil company Naftogas Ukrainy and Poland's state monopoly, Polish Oil and Gas (PGNiG), have...

Bodybuilding: Sibneft Reports Strong GAAP Results.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Sibneft last week reported an almost threefold increase in net profits for the first half of 2003, on the back of favorable international crude prices, success in controlling costs, profitable investments, and a substantial increase in its...

Helping Hand: Mazeikiu Nafta Profits Jump.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Lithuania's national oil champion Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) is continuing to improve its financial performance under the patronage of Russia's Yukos. MN reported a net profit of over 117.93 million Lithuanian litas ($40.4 million) in the first...

Equities And Currencies.
September 11, 2003... Share Prices Closing On November 4, 2003

Crude Oil: Futures Revived By Bullish US Data.
September 11, 2003... Crude oil futures, which have been looking anemic over the past three weeks, received a shot in the arm on Nov. 5 that sent prices rocketing $1.20/bbl in the space of two hours. Prices had slumped because of three successive bearish US...

Products: Demand Stays Strong Despite Warm Weather.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Strong demand despite unseasonably warm weather in Germany and in the Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp region is supporting Russian gas oil differentials in Northwest Europe. Gas oil in the Mediterranean has been bid up on limited cargo...

Chinese Wall: China Falls Out With Russia Over Pipeline.
September 16, 2003... Russia's relations with China are on the point of meltdown over the failure of a scheme to build an oil pipeline linking the two neighbors. Sources close to the bilateral negotiations say that the Chinese are furious that Russia has broken...

American Pie: US Giants In The Frame For Yukos Stake.
September 16, 2003... Talk of a possible sale of equity in Russian oil giant Yukos to a US major is back on the agenda, as foreign investors take encouragement from BP's joint venture with Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK). Speculation about a closer US-Russian oil alliance...

The Right One: BP's Browne Says TNK Deal Will Reduce Russian Risk.(British Petroleum Company PLC)(Tyumenneft)
September 16, 2003... BP chief executive John Browne believes his joint venture with Russia's Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK) was "the right deal at the right time," despite politically motivated attacks on Russia's largest oil producer Yukos. "Our long-term view of...

High Tail: US Side Sells Out Of Geoilbent JV.(YUKOS Oil Co. affiliate buys 34% stake of Harvest Natural Resources Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... An affiliate of Yukos has bought out the 34% stake held by US-based Harvest Natural Resources in the Geoilbent joint venture. The Yukos affiliate will pay $69.5 million for the stake, while Harvest will receive $5.5 million from Geoilbent...

Commitment: Shell Commits $1 Billion To Salym Project.(Royal Dutch/Shell)
September 16, 2003... In a further sign of investor confidence in Russia, Royal Dutch/Shell has announced it is committing $1 billion to develop the Salym group of fields in Western Siberia. The supervisory board of Salym Petroleum Development (SPD), a 50-50...

Duty Calls: Crude Export Tariff Raised.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Inspired by high world oil prices, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed a resolution on Sep. 15 raising the crude export tariff to $33.80 per metric ton ($4.61/bbl) starting Oct. 1, from $25.10 ($3.42/bbl) at present. The...

Capital Idea: Lukoil May Build New Refinery For Moscow.
September 16, 2003... In its bid to expand its presence in Russia's most lucrative fuel market, oil giant Lukoil has announced that it is considering plans to build a new refinery in the Moscow region. It would also build or buy hundreds of filling stations in and...

Golden Oryol: Investors Revive Oryol Refinery Plan.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Alexander Samusev, the ex-general director and a former major shareholder in Severnaya Neft (Northern Oil), has set up an investment company to build a refinery and get into the farming business. One of the first projects of the new outfit,...

Leaky Faucet: Oil Spill Threatens White Sea Exports.(Volgotanker)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... A river barge owned by Russia's largest river shipping firm Volgotanker spilled about 150 kilograms of fuel oil into the far northern White Sea, while transferring the oil to a floating storage vessel operated by ERC Trading Co. ERC, the...

Finnish Line: Lukoil Eyes Fortum, Shuns Other Privatizations.
September 16, 2003... Lukoil has announced that it would be interested in buying the oil assets of Finland's state-controlled Fortum, if Helsinki offers them on acceptable terms. Lukoil does not, however, plan to participate in the privatization of Turkey's...

Be Prepared: Lukoil Enhances Timan-Pechora Pipeline Performance.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Lukoil has launched a crude preparation unit for the 150-kilometer Kharyaga-Usa oil pipeline in the northern Timan-Pechora region, which can now pump 12 million tons of crude per year (240,000 b/d), up from 7 million tons (140,000 b/d) earlier....

Captain America: Lukoil To Ink Vysotsk Deal At US Summit.
September 16, 2003... Lukoil is set to get an American boost for its Vysotsk project during the second Russia-US energy summit to be held in St. Petersburg on Sep. 22-23. The Russian oil major is set to sign a deal with the US Overseas Private Investment Corp....

Black Spot: Lukoil To Overhaul Bulgarian Refinery.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Lukoil plans to upgrade its Neftochim refinery at the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas from October to the end of December. The work will reduce production from the plant, although this will not affect supplies to market, according to a...

Partners: Gutseriev Buys Into US Independent.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Former Slavneft president Mikhail Gutseriev has become a partner of US independent Teton Petroleum. Gutseriev's company Russneft has acquired a 65% stake and managerial control over the 7,000 b/d West Siberian producer Goloil. Teton holds...

LNG USA: Gazprom Teams Up With Conoco For LNG.(liquefied natural gas, )
September 16, 2003... Russia's Gazprom is aiming to start life in US liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets with a political bang, as its stakes out a commercial role, probably in partnership with ConocoPhillips. A high-ranking Gazprom delegation led by chief...

Chill Out: Moscow And Minsk Head Off Energy War.
September 16, 2003... Russia has redefined its energy relationship with Belarus, after the two countries' presidents met this week to head off a full-blown trade war. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko flew to the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi for...

Latvia: Ventspils Officials Resign As Russian Embargo Bites.(Ventspils Nafta)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Top officials at the Baltic Sea port of Ventspils are stepping down as Russia starves it of crude oil. Janis Adamsons, president and chairman of Ventspils Nafta (VN), and his deputy, Ritvars Priekalns, have submitted their resignations to...

Caspian Corruption: Caspian Leaders In The Dock In US Probes.
September 16, 2003... A US investigation into bribery allegations surrounding efforts five years ago to privatize Azeri state oil company Socar has implicated President Haidar Aliev and his son, Ilham Aliev, proving a source of embarrassment as the Aliev clan fights...

Lithuania: Vilnius Protests Against Lukoil Drilling Plans.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Russian oil giant Lukoil has come under attack from the Vilnius city administration for its plans to drill in the Kravtsovskoye (D-6) block in the Baltic Sea off the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. The administration of the Lithuanian...

Ukraine: Hermitage Hailed As New Owner Of Odessa Port.(Hermitage Resources)
September 16, 2003... The war for control over the Black Sea port of Odessa has taken a new twist. Ukraine's Securities Commission has announced that Swiss-based Hermitage Resources has acquired a controlling stake in the terminal. According to the...

Kazakhstan: Chinese Finalize Field Purchase From ChevronTexaco.(China National Petroleum Corp.)
September 16, 2003... China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has finalized a deal with ChevronTexaco to acquire its 65% stake in the North Buzachi field, which has estimated recoverable reserves of over 1 billion barrels of heavy crude. The state-owned Chinese...

Loan Ranger: Yukos Loan Increased To $1.5 Billion.(YUKOS Oil Co.)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Yukos is close to finalizing a prefinancing facility of up to $1.5 billion with a group of Western banks led by Societe Generale to help bankroll its takeover of Sibneft. Bankers expect there to be sufficient demand to increased the loan from...

Das Kapital: Gazprom Bond Issue Oversubscribed.(Gazprom Russian Joint Stock Co.)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2003... Gazprom raised 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) this week as its second bond issue of the year saw a huge amount of interest from investors. The bond was increased from the original target of 750 million euros, and traders said it was more...

Equities And Currencies.
September 16, 2003... Share Prices Closing On September 16, 2003