Excerpt from Caspian Investor by Elena Kirillova and Inna Gaiduk
Russia is intensifying efforts to connect key Caspian regional players to its new natural gas pipeline projects. These serve to render so-called "anti-Russian" pipelines less likely. Such pipelines include Nabucco (the Trans-Caspian gas main from Turkmenistan to Europe) and the South-Caucasian gas main (the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pipeline, extending from Azerbaijan to Turkey and then on to Southern Europe). On November 22, the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller and the CEO of Italian Eni Paolo Scaroni signed an addendum to the June 23 Memorandum of Mutual Understanding concerning the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline across the Black Sea floor. Recently, the Russian government approved the Near-Caspian gas pipeline.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Russia Moves to Control Caspian Gas Pipeline Directions to Europe
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Agreement on Near-Caspian Pipeline Reached
Excerpt from Caspian Investor
Recently in Moscow, the governments of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed an agreement to construct the Near-Caspian (also called the Pre-Caspian) gas pipeline. The signing took place in the Kremlin following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was apprised by telephone during these discussions. The pipeline should be brought into operation no later than the end of 2010, according to Victor Khristenko, Russian Minister of Industry and Energy.
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Monday, January 14, 2008
Tehran Again Attacks Petrodollar System
Excerpt from Caspian Investor by Kent F. Moors, Ph.D.
Sources in both Tehran and Europe are telling Caspian Investor that Iran is renewing its attack on dollar-denominated oil trade. The move is hardly new. Tehran is introducing its own oil exchange and new benchmark sour crude rate, neither of which is to designate sales in dollars. Current Iranian requirements prevent any purchase of its oil or natural gas with dollars, and some of these restrictions have begun to affect a few secondary trades and swaps in oil contracts through Dubai.
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Gazprom Sets Price for Natural Gas Sales
Gazprom will sell natural gas to Belarus for $119 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2008, a source at the Russian gas giant said recently. The source noted that Gazprom buys a large amount of gas from Central Asian states. Despite an earlier agreement on the purchase of Turkmen gas for $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, Turkmenistan later announced that it would sell gas at $130 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first half of 2008, he said. “Nevertheless, Russian gas will be sold to Belarus for $119 in the first quarter of 2008,” he insisted.
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Friday, January 4, 2008
Dutch Propose Developing Yamal and Kara Shelf Gas Fields
by Vladimir Baidashin for Russian Petroleum Investor
Dutch companies led by Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands/UK) have suggested to Russian authorities a joint development of natural gas deposits on the Yamal peninsula and the Kara Sea
shelf. The proposal includes provision of unique extraction technologies, pipeline construction, hydrocarbon processing and even the creation of artificial islands for extracting and processing facilities. A joint working group will emerge to study the offer and make conclusions, after which the parties will create project-specific joint ventures. Gazprom has estimated that developing Yamal gas deposits would require about $160 billion.
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Federal Program to Focus on Offshore Equipment
The Russian government is actively engaged in the revival of domestic shipbuilding, primarily for construction of platforms and other equipment to develop the offshore shelf. Russia wants to ensure the complete preeminence of domestic providers, basing all equipmentproduction with Russian manufacturers. With this purpose in mind, the government has approved the federal target offshore technology development program for 2009-2016, proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Energy. Cost of the program amounts to about $5.6 billion. In addition to providing a strategic direction in shipbuilding, the government is also prioritizing production of technologies for shelf development. By 2015, Russia plans to invest $15-$20 billion in construction of 30-35 drilling platforms for work on the shelf, as well as ice-class liquefied gas tankers.
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