Category: Russia

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich speaks during an interview with Reuters journalists in Moscow September 25, 2012. Russia will not deliberately cut oil production to prop up prices, however its output may decline if prices remain low, local news agencies quoted Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying on Tuesday. He also said that Russia was ready to discuss measures aimed at oil price stabilization with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other key producers, TASS news agency reported. "It’s quite possible that if oil prices remain at the low levels for long, oil production could decline, as had been the case before. Anyway, we don’t expect any significant cuts," Dvorkovich said according to TASS. Oil prices almost halved from last year mainly due to oversupply. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, in a strategy designed to squeeze out rivals, such as U.S. shale oil firms, has […]

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By James Marson MOSCOW–Russia won’t cut crude-oil production in order to support prices, although output may fall if prices remain low for a sustained period, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying Tuesday. Russia’s position has come into focus in recent weeks as a renewed oil-price plunge has battered its economy and those of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, such as Russian ally Venezuela. Russia has repeatedly said it had no plans to cut oil production to prop up prices, but a Kremlin aide said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss "possible mutual steps" to stabilize the global price for oil at a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday, without elaborating what those steps could be. Mr. Dvorkovich said Tuesday that Russia, which vies with Saudi Arabia as the top global oil producer, is prepared to discuss […]

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Russian oil company Rosneft boast of ‘dynamics of revenue’ after posting a loss in its second quarter results. Photo courtesy of Rosneft MOSCOW, Aug. 31 (UPI) — Russian oil company Rosneft said profits for the second quarter were down because of market and currency volatility, but performance was better than expected. Rosneft reported second-quarter profits at $1.99 billion, about 22 percent lower than the same period last year. Chairman Igor Sechin in a statement said the second half of the year was characterized by a high degree of volatility in crude oil prices and the value of the ruble, for which the decline against the U.S. dollar helped offset other market factors. "The company demonstrated better dynamics of revenues, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization and adjusted net income in the first half 2015 compared to first half 2014 taking into consideration change in average oil prices, both […]

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MOSCOW—Russian state gas giant PAO Gazprom said net profit for the second quarter was up 29% from the same period last year as a higher ruble price made up for lower sale volumes in its most-lucrative European market. Gazprom said net profit stood at 294 billion rubles ($4.6 billion), while revenue was down 4% from the previous year at 1.27 trillion rubles. The lower sales volumes reflect the increased competition that Gazprom is facing from rivals in Russia and in Europe. Total gas production was down 9% in the first six months of the year at 221.3 billion cubic meters, Gazprom said. Sale volumes to Europe slid 7% in the first half of the year, but revenues grew 7% to 947 billion rubles as the weaker Russian currency meant the ruble price was 21% higher than for the same period last year, the company said. Sales volumes and revenue […]

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Tags: Iraq | oil | Russia | Scotland | vladimir putin Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with journalists after submerging into the waters of the Black Sea inside a research bathyscaphe in Sevastopol, Crimea, August 18, 2015. REUTERS/Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin It’s not the economy, stupid. At least it isn’t where hearts are warmed by the fiercer flame of nationalism, rather than rising living standards. Oil prices as low as $40 a barrel are separating the oil haves from the oil have-nots. The oil producers happily rode a wave of high oil prices for years, buying popularity with increased state spending while excusing themselves from the hard pounding of legitimate economic reform. The oil-buyers — like India and Egypt — now enjoy prices as low as a third of those they paid as recently as two years ago and can cut fuel subsidies, saving spending or redirecting it to broader […]

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The biggest recovery in emerging-market bonds and currencies has Russian investors poised to sell, even with oil prices bouncing back. The ruble’s 5.7 percent rally last week was surpassed only by Ukraine’s hryvnia while top gains for Russia’s bonds pared this month’s declines as five-year yields tumbled 51 basis points in three days to 11.88 percent. “Pressure on the markets is only rising,” Andres Vallejo, who helps manage the equivalent of $2.6 billion at Kapital Asset Management in Moscow, said by phone on Friday. He’s getting ready to short-sell local bonds known as OFZs if yields fall to 11.25 percent. The investor skepticism underscores doubts the central bank has much more scope to reduce interest rates after 6 percentage points of cuts since January aimed at rescuing Russia from its worst recession since 2009. “It’s unlikely that yields will fall below 11 percent,” Igor Kozak, the head of fixed-income […]

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Lukoil PJSC was able to boost output in the first half of the year while reducing spending as a weaker ruble cut costs. Russia’s second-largest oil producer cut capital expenditure by 31 percent to $5.32 billion “mostly due to ruble devaluation,” according to a regulatory filing Friday. Oil and gas production rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier to an average of 2.37 million barrels equivalent a day. Brent crude prices have fallen by more than half in the past year, hitting revenue at Russian oil producers. That was partly offset by lower taxes and a weaker currency, which cut costs for companies that earn dollars and pay most of their expenses in rubles. The Russian exchange rate averaged about 53 to the dollar in the second quarter compared with 35 a year earlier. In addition to the currency effect, Lukoil “also reduced drilling,” Alexander Kornilov, an oil analyst […]

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SABETTA, Russia—A $27 billion energy project is rising rapidly on this icy peninsula jutting above the Arctic Circle, but the race to shore up its finances has emerged as a test of Moscow’s ability to weather Western sanctions. U.S. restrictions on OAO Novatek , NVTK 7.32 % the project’s Russian leader, are squeezing the massive Yamal LNG liquefied-natural-gas venture, a centerpiece of President Vladimir Putin ’s plan for Russia to reduce its heavy dependence on natural-gas customers in Europe by increasing exports to Asia and, in turn, cementing Russian ties with China. Barred by the sanctions from raising long-term dollar loans, Novatek and its foreign partners, Total SA TOT 6.12 % of France and China National Petroleum Corp., are having to seek more money from Chinese lenders than they had intended, in addition to kicking in nearly $10 billion of their own, according to company executives. But they have, […]

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