Business Special Report Russia - Russian business news, events and interviews
Choose Language
Industry Focus
Russia’s state run oil corporation, Gazprom, may evoke reactions from a bully-boy tool of the Kremlin, in the view of some new European states to the world’s most reliable long term energy supplier in the opinion of leading Western European energy customers in Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands. No matter what your perspective, in 15 years since its incorporation Gazprom has recently experienced accelerated growth to being the world’s fourth largest company in terms of market value at $327 bn. It’s now aiming for a market value of $1 trillion which will make it the world’s largest company. Some analysts say it could achieve this by 2014. It is Russia’s largest company and the largest gas company in the world sitting on about a fifth of the world’s natural gas reserves.
Written by Saba Hussein
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 22:13.
Published in Oil & Gas
We may ‘love’ or ‘love to hate’ Russian domination of European energy supplies, but we have to live with it as a well established fact. Before the Gazprom-led consortium begins laying the foundation for a major new pipeline to pump Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Western Europe it has to overcome objections from opponents who have won support from Sweden and are pitched against the customers for the gas in Denmark, France, Germany and the UK.
Written by Saba Hussein
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 21:58.
Published in Oil & Gas
Nowhere are the stakes as high for the future of the multi-billion dollar global gas market, than in the Shtokman gas field located deep within the Arctic Circle, about 550 kms offshore from Russia’s Kola Peninsula and near 330 meters below the surface of the Barents Sea. Extreme climatic conditions mean that what is hailed as the world’s largest offshore natural gas field, with enough potential to supply Europe for at least 50 years, faces unique problems. Two European companies are helping Gazprom provide the technology to secure Europe’s energy future, where demand for gas is predicted to rise from the current 500 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year to 700 bcm.
Written by John Bonar
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 21:55.
Published in Oil & Gas
The pipeline network that is the legacy of the Soviet Union’s gas industry emerged in the 1930s when Ukraine was an integral part of the unified state. Gas pipelines were laid on a massive scale during and shortly after World War Two.
Written by John Bonar
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 21:52.
Published in Oil & Gas
Since time immemorial the essence of the human race has been to challenge frontiers constantly- physical, natural, geographical and even technical. If the foray into the outer space is considered a frontier conquered, there are many such frontiers whose conquest is vital for the future of humanity. Meeting the energy requirements of over 6.6 billion population of the planet has emerged as a global challenge. While the alternate sources of energy like solar, wind and hydro-electricity are becoming popular, they are yet to reach the technical precession of oil and natural gas. As a result oil companies across the world are vigorously exploring new oil reserves. Chris Finlayson, chairman of Shell in Russia, said: “All natural-resources companies have to go where the natural resources are. Russia has 40% of the world’s natural gas and is the largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia. Russia is by definition very important. It is where the opportunities lie.” But typically the biggest opportunities lie at the corridors of the biggest challenges. Same is the case with the ‘next generation’ oil fields in Russia which are located in the most inhospitable geographical terrains in far eastern Russia and Siberia.
Written by Saba Hussein
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 21:49.
Published in Oil & Gas
Russia is the key to European energy security. Russian industry leaders are increasingly frustrated with what they see as the continuing stream of hysteria emanating from Europe apparently aimed at raising fears Europe could become subject to geopolitical blackmail, due to its dependences on energy exports from Russia. The frustrations extend from Russian executives at Gazprom and Rosneft to key foreign executives in international energy companies with decades of experience in working in Russia. At a briefing to an Association of European Businesses in Russia conference this spring, Alastair Ferguson, Deputy Executive Director, Gas Business Development, of beleaguered TNK-BP, said Russia has a “reliable track record” in supplying energy to the west. He pointed out that over a period of nearly 50 years, encompassing times of great international tensions, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been a reliable supplier of oil and gas to the EU.
Written by John Bonar
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 21:38.
Published in Oil & Gas
Russia’s oil and gas industry is driven by savvy business considerations incorporating foreign companies as minority partners into state dominated Russian enterprises, spreading the capital risk and accessing international experience.
Written by Saba Hussein
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 16:52.
Published in Oil & Gas
A critical factor for oil and gas producers is transportation of supplies. The pipelines carrying this increasingly valuable energy resource across frontiers can be as valuable as the oil itself. This is particularly significant in the Russian economy where over 70% of the country’s total raw energy is exported. However, true to its Soviet tradition, all of Russia’s oil and gas exports and main national pipelines are the exclusive preserve of Transneft for oil and Gazprom for gas. Getting access to these pipelines can be problematic at times for independent producers.
Written by Saba Hussein
on Saturday, 01 November 2008 16:51.
Published in Oil & Gas
|
