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Russian fury at Belgium asset seizure in Yukos oil case

Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partners sued the Russian state after Yukos was broken up Russia has protested to the Belgian ambassador over the seizure of Russian state assets in Belgium – a move triggered by a court ruling over the now-defunct Yukos oil firm. The ambassador was told that the asset seizure was "an openly hostile act" that "crudely violates the recognised norms of international law". Last year a court told Russia to pay Yukos shareholders $50bn (£32bn) in compensation, after Yukos’s break-up. A Russian state firm took over Yukos. Last July an international arbitration court in The Hague said Russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos, and jail its boss, the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Wider seizures France has also seized Russian state accounts in about 40 banks, along with eight or nine buildings, AFP news agency reports. And a legal application has also been filed […]

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China to Design New Russian High-Speed Railway

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—China has signed up to design a high-speed railway between the Russian cities of Moscow and Kazan, one of the first concrete examples of the new business with China that Russian officials have been pursuing with renewed vigor since falling out with the West. A unit of Russia’s state-owned JSC Russian Railways signed a contract Thursday with the design unit of China’s state-controlled China Railway Group 601390 -9.92 % to come up with the plans for a 770 kilometer high-speed rail between the two Russian cities. The Chinese firm will work alongside two Russian companies for on the designs for a total cost of 20.8 billion rubles ($383 million) over the next two years, according to Russian Railways. Once the designs are developed, a separate tender will be held for the actual construction of the rail link, which Russian Railways expects to cost 1.06 trillion rubles ($19.5 […]

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EU Says Existing Gas Pipelines From Russia More Than Enough

LUXEMBOURG—Existing gas pipelines from Russia already more than meet the European Union’s existing and future needs, the European Commission said Friday, a day after OAO Gazprom OGZPY -1.82 % and several Western energy companies said they would double the capacity of a pipeline to Germany. The tentative agreement with Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.17 % PLC, Germany’s E. ON AG EONGY -2.24 % and Austria’s OMV AG OMVKY 2.10 % would allow Gazprom to ship an extra 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe every year through the Nord Stream pipeline via the Baltic Sea and forms another attempt by Moscow to avoid Ukraine as a transit route. The EU currently imports about one third of its gas from Russia, with almost half of that coming through Ukraine. Moscow has been working to reduce its dependence on Ukraine as a transit country , arguing that Kiev, with which […]

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BP, Rosneft Sign Production, Exploration, Refining Pacts

Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin, Russia’s most powerful oil official, signed a raft of deals Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, including further production, exploration and refining agreements with BP. They come a day after another Russian energy company affected by sanctions, OAO Gazprom , OGZPY -1.82 % inked a preliminary deal with three European firms, including Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.17 % PLC, to expand a pipeline to Germany. U.S. and European sanctions over Russia’s interventions in Ukraine prevent Rosneft from raising credit in the West or accessing Western technology for tapping shale and arctic reserves, but don’t prevent asset sales and purchases. The U.S. has also imposed personal restrictions on Mr. Sechin. The deals announced on Friday cement the strategic alliance between Rosneft and BP, which owns a nearly 20% stake in the Russian company. BP is taking a 20% stake in Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha in […]

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Russian gas giant Gazprom extends reach

Russian energy company Gazprom extending global reach with a flurry of proposals brokered from St. Petersburg. Photo courtesy of Gazprom ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 19 (UPI) — Russian energy company Gazprom during an investment forum in St. Petersburg has moved to strengthen its global hand with a new deck of proposals. Gazprom this week already signed memoranda with its partners in the twin Nord Stream pipeline to Germany to potentially add two new lines to the route. The first leg of Nord Stream went into service in 2011. A year later, British energy company BP said it was considering linking the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline to British ports. Nord Stream runs through the Black Sea to Germany and is among Gazprom’s routes that avoids geopolitically sensitive territory in Ukraine. Russia meets about 20 percent of the European demand for natural gas, though more than half of those reserves […]

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Putin Takes Credit for Dodging ‘Deep Crisis’ as Slump Deepens

President Vladimir Putin gave himself credit for avoiding the “deep crisis” that faced Russia last year as tumbling oil prices combined with sanctions over Ukraine to push the economy into decline. “It hasn’t happened,” Putin said Friday in his annual address to investors at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his premiere business event of the year. “We stabilized the situation.” Putin, 62, is facing the biggest challenge of his rule as he juggles the fallout of a pro-Russian rebellion in Ukraine with the country’s first recession in six years. The Kremlin said yesterday experts will study a proposal by a close ally to move up presidential elections now slated for March 2018, a move that could extend Putin’s 15-year rule while his approval rating continues to hover above 80 percent. The economic woes are being exacerbated by the continued conflict in Ukraine, which has provoked the worst confrontation […]

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Greece, Russia Strike Preliminary Gas Pipeline Deal

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—Greece and Russia signed a preliminary agreement Friday for cooperation on a pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Europe through Greece and Turkey. The agreement, which isn’t legally binding, was signed by the Greek and Russian Energy Ministers, respectively Panagiotis Lafazanis and Alexander Novak, on the sidelines of an economic forum. It comes amid last-ditch efforts to prevent further economic collapse in Greece and the country’s possible exit from the eurozone as Athens and its international creditors are yet to agree on the terms of a new financial bailout before Greece has to make multibillion-dollar debt repayments later this month. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin later Friday. After a meeting between the two leaders last month, Mr. Putin, said that Russia was ready to consider financial help to Greece in exchange for Greece’s agreement to sign […]

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OMV, Gazprom mull pipeline expansions

Austrian energy company OMV reviews options to add new lines to existing Nord Stream gas pipeline with Russia’s Gazprom. Photo by Kodda/Shutterstock ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 18 (UPI) — Adding two new lines to the twin Nord Stream natural gas pipeline sending Russian gas to the European market is under consideration, Austrian company OMV said. Lead officials with OMV visited in St. Petersburg with Alexei Miller , the chairman of Russian energy company Gazprom, for a working meeting . Both sides signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of oil and gas fields in Russia. "The memorandum also sets forth the intentions of the parties to examine a possible cooperation in the project of construction of two lines in addition to the already existing Nord Stream pipeline," the Austrian company said in a statement. OMV is a partner in Gazprom’s twin Nord Stream pipeline running through the Baltic […]

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Greece to Sign Russian Gas Pipeline Deal

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. ST PETERSBURG, Russia—Greece is expecting to sign a preliminary agreement for the country’s participation in Russia’s planned extension of a gas pipeline through Greek territory, Greek energy ministry officials said Thursday. Meanwhile, Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom OGZPY 0.18 % said it had reached a preliminary deal with three European energy companies to double the capacity of a gas pipeline that takes Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The potential Greek-Russian agreement, which wouldn’t be legally binding, is expected to be signed Friday during Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ visit to an economic conference in St. Petersburg. Mr. Tsipras is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday on the sidelines of the forum. The agreement on the so-called ’Turkish Stream’ gas pipeline, which would bring Russian gas to Europe through Greece and Turkey, […]

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Exclusive: Gazprom building global alliance with expanded Shell

ST PETERSBURG, Russia Gazprom is building a global strategic alliance with energy major Royal Dutch Shell that will include asset swaps and allow the Russian gas giant to penetrate new markets, its chief executive told Reuters. Gazprom, the world’s top gas producer, said on Thursday that Shell and its long-time gas buyers in Europe – Germany’s E.ON and Austria’s OMV – had agreed to build two new Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic sea to Germany. In a rare interview, chief executive Alexei Miller said the agreement with Shell also foresaw an expansion of the firms’ joint $20 billion liquefied natural gas plant on the eastern island of Sakhalin as well as global upstream asset swaps. "Documents of such significance are signed only once every five years or maybe even 10," Miller said on the sidelines of Russia’s top forum for investors in Saint Petersburg. The deal with […]

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