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Russia’s 2013 Oil Output Rises 1.3%

Russian oil output rose for the fifth year in a row in 2013 reaching a record high for the post-Soviet era, driven by continuing strength in global oil prices, the country’s energy ministry said Wednesday. Oil production rose 1.3% to 10.508 million barrels a day, from the previous high of 10.375 million barrels reached last year, news agency Interfax reported, citing the ministry’s statistical arm. Russia’s crude production rose to about 523.3 million tons, from 518 million tons in 2012. The Soviet-era record for daily crude output was 11.4 million barrels in 1987. In 1994, output had slumped to six million barrels but has since steadily increased, and Russia now vies with Saudi Arabia and the U.S. as the world’s top oil producer. Exports to countries outside of the former Soviet Union declined by 2.2% to 206.782 million tons, the data showed. State-run oil producer OAO Rosneft saw output […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia's 2013 Oil Output Rises 1.3%

Russian oil output rose for the fifth year in a row in 2013 reaching a record high for the post-Soviet era, driven by continuing strength in global oil prices, the country’s energy ministry said Wednesday. Oil production rose 1.3% to 10.508 million barrels a day, from the previous high of 10.375 million barrels reached last year, news agency Interfax reported, citing the ministry’s statistical arm. Russia’s crude production rose to about 523.3 million tons, from 518 million tons in 2012. The Soviet-era record for daily crude output was 11.4 million barrels in 1987. In 1994, output had slumped to six million barrels but has since steadily increased, and Russia now vies with Saudi Arabia and the U.S. as the world’s top oil producer. Exports to countries outside of the former Soviet Union declined by 2.2% to 206.782 million tons, the data showed. State-run oil producer OAO Rosneft saw output […]

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Exxon’s Russia Ambitions Show Drilling Trumps Obama-Putin Spats

As Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin argue over human rights in Russia and the fate of fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, the countries’ biggest oil companies are preparing to drill for giant oil discoveries together in the Arctic Ocean . Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and OAO Rosneft (ROSN) are set to start their first Arctic well this year, targeting a deposit that may hold more oil than Norway ’s North Sea . It will kick off a series of landmark projects and cement an alliance begun in 2011. They also plan to frack shale fields in Siberia, sink a deep-water well in the Black Sea and build a natural gas-export terminal in Russia’s Far East. “We have a unique partnership,” Glenn Waller, Exxon’s Russian chief, said in an interview in Moscow. “They have the world’s biggest reserves and we have the largest market capitalization.” The deepening alliance shows […]

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Will Russia frack for oil?

One of my stranger speaker invitations recently was earlier this month in Moscow to an Adam Smith conference on Russia EOR (enhanced oil recovery), where I found myself in the ironic position of giving a presentation to reassure the audience that fracking,for oil was safe. Skip to next paragraph Recent posts Fracking is fracking and there is little or no difference between the methods used for gas or oil. Oil fracking in it’s modern form of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing using less chemicals than before was introduced by Harold Hamm in the North Dakota Bakken about ten years ago and the impact on US oil is now well known. The Bakken turned around the idea that US oil had peaked, and the technology rippled out to the Eagle Ford, Permian and Niobrara formations. One of the nails in the Peak Oil coffin has been the realisation by even […]

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Russia drops charges vs 16 Greenpeace activists

Greenpeace says investigators have dropped charges against 16 activists who were detained in Russia’s Arctic in September. Authorities on Tuesday notified one crew member that his criminal case was closed. The remaining 29 activists were summoned to receive similar notifications on Wednesday. Greenpeace on its official Twitter account on Wednesday listed 16 activists who had their criminal cases closed. The 30 crew members aboard a Greenpeace ship were detained in September and held in custody for two months before they were released in November pending trial. They were originally charged with piracy, but that was then downgraded to hooliganism. All non-Russian crew members are expected to have the charges against them dropped and be allowed to leave Russia. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy […]

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Putin: Greenpeace should not ‘raise a clamor’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said holding a large group of Greenpeace activists should serve as a lesson to environmental groups. Greenpeace should not "raise a clamor but [work to] minimize ecological risks should they appear," Putin said in a statement published Thursday by state news agency RIA Novosti. Thirty people were arrested in September after Greenpeace activists scaled a drilling platform in the Russian arctic. The group was using its Arctic Sunrise ship to campaign against Gazprom’s operations in the northern Pechora Sea. Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya rig was towed to the region last year as the first ice-resistant oil rig in the world. Greenpeace said it was concerned about the potential for an oil spill in the harsh arctic environment. The detained Greenpeace activists are to be released as part of a general amnesty measure signed by Putin this week. Putin said he encouraged dialogue […]

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Putin: Greenpeace should not 'raise a clamor'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said holding a large group of Greenpeace activists should serve as a lesson to environmental groups. Greenpeace should not "raise a clamor but [work to] minimize ecological risks should they appear," Putin said in a statement published Thursday by state news agency RIA Novosti. Thirty people were arrested in September after Greenpeace activists scaled a drilling platform in the Russian arctic. The group was using its Arctic Sunrise ship to campaign against Gazprom’s operations in the northern Pechora Sea. Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya rig was towed to the region last year as the first ice-resistant oil rig in the world. Greenpeace said it was concerned about the potential for an oil spill in the harsh arctic environment. The detained Greenpeace activists are to be released as part of a general amnesty measure signed by Putin this week. Putin said he encouraged dialogue […]

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Russian amnesty bill to include Greenpeace crew

Russia’s parliament on Wednesday amended an amnesty bill to include the 30-member crew of a Greenpeace ship detained after a protest at a floating oil rig in the Arctic. The State Duma Wednesday morning adopted final amendments to the bill which gives amnesty to thousands of Russians, mainly minors, invalids, veterans, pregnant women, and women with children. The vote is expected on Wednesday afternoon. The amnesty was extended to suspects of hooliganism, which means that charges against 30 people abroad a Greenpeace ship who were detained after a protest in Russia’s Arctic in September are likely to be dropped. The bill is also expected to release Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, the jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band who are serving two years in prison on charges of hooliganism for an impromptu protest at Moscow’s main cathedral. Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova’s husband, told The Associated […]

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Putin orders Russian military to boost Arctic presence

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his military leadership they should build up their forces in the Arctic as a priority. Commending the recent restoration of an airfield in the region, he said Russia needed to use every means to protect its national interests in the region. He was speaking after Canada announced plans to claim the continental shelf under the North Pole. Russia and Denmark also lay claim to parts of the resource-rich shelf. Mr Putin has spoken about the need to increase Russia’s military capacity in the Arctic before but this was one of his most […]

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Russia expects post-Soviet record for oil production

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said oil output from the country for 2013 should reach a post-Soviet record of 3.8 billion barrels. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Russia in 2012 increased oil output from the previous year by 1.3 percent to 518 million metric tons, approximately 3.79 billion barrels. “This year we expect oil [output] to be about 520 million tons, despite setting a goal of pumping between 505 [million] to 510 million tons,” he was quoted as saying Saturday during a meeting in Washington with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. The U.S. Energy Information Administration lists Russia as the No. 3 energy producer in the world, behind Saudi Arabia and the United States. There was no statement from the U.S. Energy Department about the visit by Novak. Last week, Russian energy company Rosneft, one of the largest energy companies in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple