Russia’s Economy Ministry Forecasts Economic Growth to Slow Down

Jun. 3 – Russian economic growth may slow more than previously forecast next year as oil prices stagnate and the government uses its energy revenue this year to rebuild the nation’s sovereign wealth funds, the Economy Ministry said.

The ministry revised down its growth forecast to 3.5 percent in 2012 from the previous estimate for a 3.9 percent increase, Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach told reporters in Moscow.

“Practically all of the increased revenue from higher oil prices is going to the Reserve Fund and the National Wellbeing Fund instead of toward boosting expenditures,” Klepach said. Read the rest of this entry »

Indian Businesses to Enter Russia’s Oil Market

Jun. 1 – Indian ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd, is in talks with four other state-run oil firms to acquire 25 percent equity in an entity that is proposed to be formed with Russian oil-to-telecom conglomerate AFK Sistema, The Times of India reports.

Sistema owns a large stake in Russian production and refining group Bashneft, which has a market value of US$10.5 billion that the Indian company wants to buy.

Pooling of assets will allow ONGC to spread exploration risks in its 100 percent subsidiary Imperial Energy, which has assets in Russian Siberia’s Tomsk Region. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia Increases Export Duties to Keep Gasoline at Home

May 3 – The Russian government has increased the gasoline export duty by around 44 percent starting from May to curb exports and fight a fuel shortage at home as companies preferred to sell gasoline overseas due to capped domestic prices.

The tariff, tied to international prices for gasoline, will stand at US$408.3 per ton instead of the previously planned US$304 per ton, the government said on Friday. The decision had been made after two dozen Russian regions reported gasoline shortages. Read the rest of this entry »

Gasprom, Japanese Companies to Build LNG Plant near Vladivostok

Apr. 28 – State-run gas Gazprom and a consortium of Japanese companies led by Itochu Corp. have agreed to study building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and a gas chemical complex in Russia’s Far East city of Vladivostok, as Japan seeks to boost fuel supplies after its worst nuclear accident.

The companies will carry out a feasibility study for a plant with the capacity to produce 10 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas. Read the rest of this entry »

Russians to Send Oil to China via Northern Sea Route

Apr. 21 – OAO Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipper, and OAO Novatek will send 3-4 cargo of gas condensate on a second voyage across the so-called Northern Sea Route rather than the Suez Canal, a senior Sovcomflot official said on Wednesday.

Last August, Sovcomflot shipped a high-tonnage Aframax tanker with 70,000 metric tons of condensate cargo along the Northern Sea Route for Russia’s largest independent gas producer Novatek in the first ever voyage by a large vessel along the route. Read the rest of this entry »

American 3M to Expand into Russian Regions

Mar. 23 – The U.S. industrial conglomerate 3M, formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, plans to build local facilities in Russia’s Tyumen and Samara regions. The total investment is expected to be more than US$15 million, Reza Vaziri, 3M Russia chief said Tuesday to reporters.

The company’s facility in Tyumen will produce an insulation material Thinsulate — a very thin synthetic fiber thermal insulation fabric used in clothing. The other one in Samara will make glass bubbles used as an additive to cement that fortifies oil and gas wells. Read the rest of this entry »

Gazprom to Build Refinery in Sakhalin Island

Mar. 11 – Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is looking to build its first refinery in Sakhalin Island where most large oil international corporations have been producing crude for export in multibillion-dollar projects, Deputy Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors Alexei Miller said.

By the end of this year, the company plans to wrap up the drafting of an investment proposal for the refinery, Miller said in a meeting with Sakhalin Governor Alexander Khoroshavin. Read the rest of this entry »

BP and Rosneft to Swap Shares

Jan. 17 – BP Plc and Russian state oil producer OAO Rosneft signed a share swap agreement in London last Friday. BP agreed to swap a US$7.8 billion stake in the company for a 9.5 percent share of Rosneft to develop three massive offshore exploration blocks Rosneft owns in the Arctic Circle.

BP Plc’s US$7.8 billion share swap will replace almost all the reserves it sold to pay for the Gulf of Mexico spill at less than half price, Bloomberg News has reported.

Some analysts are optimistic this tie-up will be profitable. Read the rest of this entry »

TNK-BP to Swap Assets with Indian ONGC

Dec. 29 – Russian oil group TNK-BP may swap some of its assets with Indian state-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Mikhail Fridman, the head of TNK-BP said on Monday.

TNK-BP may offer some of its assets to ONGC in order to gain the Indian company’s approval to buy BP Plc’s stake in a Vietnamese project, Interfax said, citing German Khan, a shareholder and executive director at the Russian oil producer, which is half owned by BP. Read the rest of this entry »

Gazprom to Boost Asian Market Supply

Oct. 12 – Russian gas monopoly Gazprom may build plants to liquefy and compress natural gas on Russia’s Pacific Coast, Primorye Regional Governor Sergei Darkin said on Friday.

The project will energize development in Russia’s Far East, boosting regional economies and allowing the region to compete with Middle East producers to supply Asian markets. Read the rest of this entry »

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