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Russia plans energy talks with EU

Members from the European Union are expected to meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak at the end of August, the Kremlin said Tuesday. European leaders are trying to diversify a natural gas sector that depends heavily on Russia. Most of the gas Russia sends to Europe runs through a Soviet-era pipeline network in Ukraine and ongoing crises there adds a layer of risk to the European energy sector. An unnamed representative from the Energy Ministry told RIA Novosti a meeting between Novak and European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger is scheduled for the end of August to review the situation. "Preliminarily, the meeting is scheduled to take place on Aug. 29," the representative said Tuesday. No venue was announced. Russian energy company Gazprom said Ukraine owes billions of dollars for recent gas deliveries. Debt disputes in 2006 and 2009 resulted in a Gazprom decision to cut gas through Ukraine, […]

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Rosneft closes rig acquisition deal

Russian energy company Rosneft said Friday it closed on a deal to acquire Venezuelan and Russian assets from oil services company Weatherford International. "The realization of the deal will allow Rosneft to strengthen its positions on the market of drilling … expand the array of service contractors which will enable to boost efficiency of drilling and hydrocarbons production [and] enhance financial results," the company said in a statement . Rosneft under the terms of the deal acquires 8 companies that are part of Weatherford group conducting drilling operations in Russia and Venezuela. The terms of the deal were disclosed in July. The acquisition for $500 million in cash includes 61 land operations in Russia and six in Venezuela. A combined 8,100 members of the rig staff were transferred to Rosneft at the close of the deal Friday. Weatherford said the plan was part of an effort to streamline business […]

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Beyond oil and reserves, Russia running on empty

For all the sanctions Western leaders can throw at Russia, the biggest threat to President Vladimir Putin’s ability to back separatists in east Ukraine is something beyond his or their control: the price of oil. With Russia’s $2 trillion economy heavily dependent on crude exports, oil prices are always closely monitored by the Kremlin, but the government is particularly wary now as tensions with the West mount and sanctions ratchet up. Such conflicts often push up crude prices, but as long as oil, which accounts for 40 percent of state revenues, remains above the average $104 per barrel written into the 2014 budget, Moscow has little immediate need to worry. The alarm […]

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Exxon Bets on Russia as Rivals Stick to U.S. Wells

As Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s largest oil companies, bet on increasing production from Russia, smaller rivals are boosting crude supplies by exiting foreign fields to focus on booming U.S. wells. ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and Apache Corp. reported rising second-quarter output as they divest international assets. Nationwide, U.S. oil production is at a 25-year high because of advanced drilling techniques that cracked petroleum-rich shale formations. Meanwhile, Exxon’s shares fell the most in almost three years after reporting quarterly oil and natural gas output decreased 5.7 percent to the equivalent of 3.84 million barrels a day, the lowest since the third quarter of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Exxon is searching Russia ’s Arctic seas for crude as part of a global effort by the Irving, Texas-based company to halt a trend of declining output. “Exxon and companies of similar […]

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Sberbank says sanctions hit global financial system

The headquarters of the biggest Russian bank Sberbank in Moscow, Russia, 03 June 2009. Nizhny Novgorod-based Oleg Deripaska’s GAZ Group, Sberbank and Canadian autoparts maker Magna intend to purchase controlling stake in General Motors’ Opel division, newspaper Delovoy Kvartal reports. EPA/SERGEI CHIRIKOV Sberbank , Russia’s largest lender, said on Friday that its partial blocking from European capital markets under EU sanctions would do nothing to ease the Ukraine crisis . “Including Sberbank of Russia, which has no relation to the geopolitical processes, to the sanctions list undermines the foundations of the global financial system and does not contribute to the easing of the European crisis caused by the situation in Ukraine,” the lender said in a statement, echoing earlier comments from the government. More On this topic IN Europe The EU confirmed on Thursday night that Sberbank and four other Russian state-controlled lenders – VTB […]

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U.S. and European companies are girding for the possible impact of

U.S. and European companies are girding for the possible impact of tougher international sanctions against Moscow , with auto makers and energy giants moving to limit the Russian risks to their businesses. French oil company Total SA said Wednesday that it has stopped increasing its stake in Russia’s second-largest natural-gas producer, OAO Novatek , and will discuss the sanctions with its partners in Russian projects. A factory of Russian titanium-manufacturing company VSMPO-Avisma. Reuters "Russia is a great oil-and-gas country and we’ll have to wait and see the nature of these new sanctions first," Total Chief Financial Officer Patrick de la Chevardière told reporters during a conference call. The European Union and the U.S. on Tuesday adopted sweeping economic sanctions against Russia, targeting for the first time sectors including Russia’s state-controlled banks and oil industry. The stronger sanctions have been driven by public outrage and Kremlin recalcitrance in the aftermath […]

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Germany’s Backing of Russia Sanctions Marks Breach in Pivotal European Relationship

Russian President Vladimir Putin led a cabinet meeting at his residence outside Moscow on Wednesday. Alexei Nikolsky/Press Pool Three days after the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for at least the 30th time since the Ukraine crisis erupted. She had a blunt message, according to people briefed on the phone conversation: Call me if you have progress to report in defusing the conflict. That was July 20. The two leaders haven’t spoken since. The silence marks a breach in perhaps the most important relationship in European geopolitics, illustrating the daunting challenges facing the West in trying to calm the crisis in Ukraine. More broadly, the frayed relationship between Ms. Merkel and Mr. Putin shows the disintegration of a decadeslong effort by both Germany and Russia to bind the World War II adversaries to each other. Mr. Putin, in […]

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Germany's Backing of Russia Sanctions Marks Breach in Pivotal European Relationship

Russian President Vladimir Putin led a cabinet meeting at his residence outside Moscow on Wednesday. Alexei Nikolsky/Press Pool Three days after the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for at least the 30th time since the Ukraine crisis erupted. She had a blunt message, according to people briefed on the phone conversation: Call me if you have progress to report in defusing the conflict. That was July 20. The two leaders haven’t spoken since. The silence marks a breach in perhaps the most important relationship in European geopolitics, illustrating the daunting challenges facing the West in trying to calm the crisis in Ukraine. More broadly, the frayed relationship between Ms. Merkel and Mr. Putin shows the disintegration of a decadeslong effort by both Germany and Russia to bind the World War II adversaries to each other. Mr. Putin, in […]

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Rosneft reviews next steps following sanctions

Russian oil company Rosneft said it may have to postpone some projects because of "volatility" associated with economic sanctions. Washington announced another set of tough new sanctions on Russia in coordination with its allies in the European Union. U.S. President Barack Obama said the sanctions would target Russian banks and exports of goods and technology for the Russian energy sector in response to Moscow’s position on crises in Ukraine. "If Russia continues on its current path, the cost on Russia will continue to grow," he said . The pressure comes more than a week after Washington issued sanctions against the financial arm of Russian gas company Gazprom, gas producer Novatek and oil company Rosneft. Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin , himself the target of U.S. sanctions, said the company’s strategy was impeded by sanctions. "We work under different conditions and are ready for volatility linked […]

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Rosneft Moves to Thwart EU Sanctions With Norwegian Rigs

A Norwegian drill rig owner is supplying Russian oil giant OAO Rosneft (ROSN) and Exxon Mobil Corp. with the kind of high technology that will be barred under U.S. and European Union sanctions taking effect as soon as tomorrow. Though the EU said it will deny export licenses for equipment intended for deep-water and arctic oil production, Rosneft’s six rig leases from Seadrill Ltd. (SDRL) ’s North Atlantic Drilling (NADL) unit, signed July 29, appear to thwart sanctions intended to block Russian oil companies from obtaining Western drilling expertise. Seadrill’s unit can proceed with the Rosneft contracts, worth $4.25 billion, because they were signed before the sanctions take effect, said Rune Magnus Lundetrae, Seadrill’s chief financial officer. The drilling contracts show how the latest round of international sanctions may have only minimal impact on Russia ’s oil industry, at least in the short-term. “This is not exactly a full, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple