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Venezuela, Russia’s Rosneft agree on $14 billion oil, gas investment

CARACAS Venezuela and Russia’s top oil producer, Rosneft, have agreed on around $14 billion in investment in the South American OPEC country’s oil and gas sector, President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday evening. Maduro said he met with the chief executive of state-owned Rosneft, Igor Sechin, earlier on Wednesday, in the company of PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] President Eulogio del Pino and National Assembly boss and Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello. "We had a great meeting and agreed on investment of over $14 billion," said Maduro during a televised broadcast, adding the funds would go toward doubling Venezuela’s oil production. PDVSA has formal ambitious targets to double national production to 6 million barrels a day by 2019, with 4 million of that projected to come from the Orinoco Belt, but few industry experts or foreign investors expect those goals to be met. Speaking at a Socialist Party event broadcast on […]

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How Russia was warned against oil output cut as prices dived

MOSCOW/LONDON As Russia prepares to meet OPEC next week, a briefing paper from a Moscow think tank has shed light on how the government was warned against cutting oil output late last year even though global prices were plummeting. Speculation was rife that Russia and the oil exporters’ cartel might strike a production deal to arrest the slide when Energy Minister Alexander Novak met his Saudi Arabian counterpart last November. However, the think tank had already advised Novak that OPEC would not cooperate and unilateral action would be costly at a time when Russian state finances were in a dire state. "If Russia cuts output, OPEC will take our market share in Europe," a team led by energy expert Grigory Vygon said in the previously unpublished paper, commissioned by the Energy Ministry before the Nov. 25 meeting in Vienna. The paper was prepared by the Skolkovo Institute’s energy team, […]

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Russia Carries On With Turkish Stream Pipeline

A worker carries out a routine check at a natural gas control center in Turkey.(ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Russian energy company Gazprom has made it clear that it intends to move forward with the construction of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline as quickly as possible, whether or not the project can overcome political obstacles in Europe. Earlier in May, Gazprom notified a subsidiary of Italian energy firm Saipem that it could begin laying pipes for the planned 63 billion-cubic-meter pipeline in the Black Sea and also resumed a contract with Germany’s Europipe for 150,000 metric tons of pipe for the project. Russia said it plans to start constructing the underwater portion of the pipeline in June. Gazprom has already told Europe that it plans to cease using its current export route through Ukraine in 2019 and shift those natural gas supplies to the Turkish Stream pipeline. But the […]

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Russia: Gazprom Cuts Natural Gas Production Forecast For 2015

Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, will cut its production plan for 2015 to 450 billion cubic meters because of decreasing demand due to warm weather, company officials said, Reuters reported May 19. The company had estimated it would produce 485.4 bcm this year. Officials say the amount of natural gas produced this year will still be more than the 444.4 bcm produced last year. Meanwhile, Gazprom says it hope to begin laying a pipeline for the Turkish Stream project in early June.

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Russia sidesteps sanctions with China financing: Rosneft

LONDON Russia is developing non-dollar financing and ties with China in the face of U.S. and EU sanctions, the head of Rosneft’s Swiss-based trading division, Marcus Cooper, said on Tuesday. "Sanctions are being counteracted … from a very high level," Cooper told the Platts’ Global Crude Oil Summit. Rosneft and its chief Igor Sechin, one of the closest allies of President Vladimir Putin, were hit by sanctions that prevent long-term financing, development of tight oil, Arctic and offshore deposits as part of broader measures against Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Cooper, who previously worked for BP, joined Rosneft in 2013 to help the company build its global trading platform but Rosneft’s plan to acquire Morgan Stanley’s trading division fell apart because of sanctions. The company has however maintained its output and exports at pre-sanctions levels while expanding its tally of customers. Cooper said Rosneft is working to develop […]

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Ukraine Says It Has Captured 2 Russian Soldiers

MOSCOW — The Ukrainian government said on Monday that it had captured two wounded Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine and would prosecute them on terrorism charges, prompting a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin to repeat the Kremlin’s longstanding denial that any Russian troops had been deployed across the border. The soldiers were identified by Gen. Viktor Muzhenko, the chief of the general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as Capt. Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Sgt. Aleksandr Aleksandrov of the Third Special Forces Brigade, which is based in Togliatti, a city in southern Russia . Russia’s denials that its active duty soldiers have been fighting in eastern Ukraine have continued despite substantial evidence to the contrary, including the funerals of young Russian soldiers killed in action. The Kremlin has acknowledged that some Russians have participated in the fighting, but says that they are volunteers who often choose to fight […]

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Serbia backs Russian gas pipeline interests

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gets Serbian support for gas pipeline planned to Europe through Turkey. File photo by Monika Graff/UPI MOSCOW, May 15 (UPI) — The Serbian foreign minister told his Russian counterpart Friday joining a gas pipeline project through Turkey was in his country’s best interests. "We want to participate in this [Turkish Stream] project," Serbian Foreign Minister Ivaca Dacic said from Moscow. "At present, we can express our readiness for participation in this project because we need reliable gas supplies." The Kremlin said the Turkish gas project will help ensure European energy security. South Stream, a longer version of the pipeline, was envisioned as a European network before the Russian government pulled it off the table in late 2014. Russia meets about a quarter of the natural gas needs for the European economy. The majority of that runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine, where […]

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Ruble Options Show Rally to End as Central Bank Starts Purchases

The chances of the ruble adding to this year’s world-beating gains have declined since Russia’s central bank said it would start buying foreign currency, options data show. There’s a 39 percent chance the currency will rise below 49 against the dollar by June 30, compared with a 44 percent chance on Wednesday, the day before the Bank of Russia announcement, options data compiled by Bloomberg show. The ruble advanced 1.1 percent Friday after Thursday’s 1.7 percent tumble as the bank said it would buy $100 million to $200 million a day to replenish reserves after last year’s plunge. The ruble is the best performer globally this year, buoyed by a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and a rebound in the price of oil. While that appreciation has enabled Russia to slow inflation and reverse some emergency interest-rate increases, it’s also cut the revenue earned from crude and other exports. “Without […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple