# Russia Laying Infrastructure to Sell More Oil



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Russia Hopes to Become Major Oil Supplier *
Russia Laying Infrastructure to Sell More Oil to Asia, Diplomat Says 
Tuesday April 24, 4:49 am ET 

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Russia is laying the infrastructure to become a major oil supplier to Asian countries, including an ambitious pipeline being built from Siberia to the Pacific coast, a Russian diplomat said Tuesday. 

Russia is also considering discussions with Philippine energy officials about proposals to build an oil refinery and storage facilities in the Philippines that could serve Southeast Asia, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Vorobiev said.

Southeast Asian countries have expressed interest in Russia's plans to become an important energy provider in the region and Moscow should carefully plan how it could assume that crucial role, Vorobiev told foreign correspondents.

"The countries of Southeast Asia ... they're waiting for further explanation of Russian intentions," Vorobiev said. "There should be some kind of concept how to position Russia in this respect.

"We didn't pay much attention to this area and we started to change our mind-set only in 1990s," he said.

Russia would be interested not only in "buy and sell operations" but could invest in oil refineries and storage.

Many energy-hungry Asian economies have long been dependent on Middle Eastern oil, but fears of supply disruptions due to sporadic conflicts in the volatile region have prodded countries like the Philippines to turn to possible alternative sources like Russia.

An ambitious project, involving the construction of an oil pipeline from Siberia to Russia's Pacific coast, could bring larger volumes of oil -- possibly at cheaper prices -- to Asian countries, Vorobiev said.

Backed by the Kremlin, the 4,100-kilometer (2,550-mile) pipeline, could be completed in three to four years, he said.


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

That's good, but
1. Always post a link to news.
2. You posting too much of news. There is no necessary to copypast here nearly every news article.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

A lot of the articles I post are not from internet sources. This one, in particular, comes from a newswire terminal, hence there is no such thing as a 'link' per se. The sourcing (AP) is already embedded in the article as part of the standard newswire heading.

From a geopolitical perspective, there has been a lot of lobbying between Russia and China and Japan to source oil from the resource-rich Russian Far East. Also note the Bering Strait tunnel proposal as well.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Russia To Decide On Intl Oil Trade Exch In Jan-Official-Tass *
25 December 2007

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade hopes that the government will make a decision on the creation of an international oil exchange in January, Denis Askinadze, director of the ministry's department for state tariff regulation and infrastructure reforms said at a news conference on Tuesday, Itar-Tass reported. 

International oil trade will be developing, he said. A package of constituent documents has already been drafted, according to Itar-Tass. 

"In January, the government is expected to define its position regarding the establishment of the oil exchange and its funding by companies with state participation," Askinadze said, according to Itar-Tass. 

The exchange's business plan has already been developed, too. A relevant joint venture will be registered, most probably, in January-March 2008, Prime Tass economic news agency said, adding that in April-June, the exchange will receive a license and form a chartered capital. 

The government can make a decision on the participation of public companies in the exchange's charter capital and send related directives to its representatives in the Board of Directors of those companies, Askinadze said. 

Transneft, Gazprom and Rosneft are among the companies that can be engaged in the oil exchange capital, he said. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NMX) has also expressed an interest in the new project. In addition to this, other big private companies have received the relevant invitations, according to Itar-Tass. 

Each participant in the exchange will hold no more than a 10% stake in the charter capital, he added. 

The trading in Russia's REBCO futures may start in next year's October-December. "The oil exchange is expected to become a powerful participant in the international trade in three year," Askinadze said, Itar-Tass reported.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*BP CEO says Russia's oil production has likely peaked; headed for steady decline *
29 October 2008

LONDON (AP) - Robert Dudley, chief executive of oil company TNK-BP, said Wednesday that Russia's oil production has likely reached its peak and is now headed for a slow decline, due in part to lack of investment.

Dudley, who will leave TNK-BP in early December after a long-running dispute between shareholders of the Anglo-Russian joint venture, said oil production had probably touched a high in August.

"There isn't going to be a precipitous decline. It's very mature oil fields and there'll probably be a gentle decline as we move on," Dudley told reporters on the sidelines of the annual Oil and Money conference in London.

"But I believe we are ... at the top of a broad curve or cycle right now until other things happen."

Dudley also said that while the oil industry was strong globally, Russia faced particular problems, notably the decline of some production as West Siberian oil fields mature.

Russia is the largest oil producer outside of OPEC and declining production is bad news for a resource-based economy where revenues from the oil industry account for about 25 percent of gross domestic product.

Dudley said the decline, a consequence of lower investment over the past five years, would last "some time."

"The onshore oil renaissance is over," he said, adding that Russia needed to shift its focus to potential reserves in other parts of Siberia and the Arctic offshore to sustain long-term growth.

But investment in those remote areas, which are difficult to access and have little existing infrastructure, is likely to prove difficult in the straightened funding environment created by the global credit crunch, he said.

Dudley added that the tax regime in Russia, one of the toughest in the world for oil producers, would not aid the necessary investment.

He noted that Gazprom and Rosneft, the two state-owned companies that are the country's major oil producers, had around $60 billion in debt at the start of the year.

"There are clouds on the horizon, and they are serious," he said.

Dudley said that TNK-BP, one of the country's largest oil producers, was on track for a record year, but added that it would also follow the wider industry trend.

He said the company has faced a "perfect storm" of events thanks to the fallout of the credit crisis -- Russian stock prices have plunged in recent weeks -- and the long-running dispute between Britain's BP PLC and a consortium of Russian billionaires, AAR.

He declined to comment in detail on the progress of a memorandum of understanding between the 50-50 joint venture partners that was tentatively agreed to in July, saying only that it sustained that 50-50 ownership structure and included some independent board directors.

"I think it will be successful, but they are still in the process of concluding the language," he said.

Dudley is leaving the company after BP agreed in August under pressure from AAR to nominate a new CEO. A Moscow judge earlier this month overturned a court order barring the U.S.-born executive from working in Russia for two years.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Russia sees no Estonian fuel oil transit by 2011 *

MOSCOW, June 26 (Reuters) - Russia maintains the goal of ceasing railroad fuel oil exports via Estonia after it launches its own terminal in Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday.

"The first fuel oil terminal in Ust-Luga is expected to be completed toward the end of 2009," Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying.

"As soon as the first fuel oil cargoes start sailing from Ust-Luga, we will start reducing rail supplies of fuel oil to Estonia. And we will cease them completly one year later", he added.

Russia, which has had tense political relations with Estonia since mid-1990s over what Moscow describes as unequal treatment of the Russian speaking population, has repeatedly warned it would shut down products exports via Estonia.

Flows however continue while crude and products transit via the neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania have been severely reduced over the past years.

In March Switzerland-based oil trader Gunvor said it had acquired Ust-Luga oil products terminal. 

Ust-Luga, near Russia's second largest city of St Petersburg, will become one of the world's largest rail-based export terminals for oil products, able to handle almost one fifth of Russia's total petroleum products exports.

Russia also plans to expand its crude oil pipelines to the Baltic Sea and build a new terminal in Ust-Luga. It will be able to carry 30 million tonnes of crude oil a year, or 6 percent of Russia's output last year. The route is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2012.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Aug 20, 2018
Reuters
*Russia's Transneft fully pays off $10 billion Chinese loan*

MOSCOW - Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft (TRNF_p.MM) has fully paid a $10 billion loan from China ahead of schedule and has repaid $1.5 billion worth of eurobond debt last month, its head, Nikolai Tokarev, said in an interview with Expert magazine.

In the interview, published on Transneft’s website on Monday, Tokarev said that the company had fully redeemed the Chinese loan in July, 10 years ahead of the initial schedule.

Separately, Russian news agencies cited him as saying that the company has no more debt denominated in foreign currency.

Transneft, under U.S. sanctions over Moscow’s role in Ukraine’s crises, obtained the 20-year loan in 2009 from the China Development Bank as part of a package together with Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft, which got $15 billion in loans in return for supplies from huge new East Siberian oilfields.

Since then, China has become Russia’s single largest buyer of oil thanks to a pipeline to the Pacific shore, securing supplies of more than 1 million barrels per day, as part of Moscow’s plans to diversify its markets.


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## Sevast (Aug 27, 2018)

В Тагиле в районе муринских прудов нашли нефть!
http://invest-tagil.ru


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Trump considering sanctions over Russia's Nord Stream 2 natgas pipeline*
_Excerpt_

WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was considering sanctions over Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project -- which the United States has told European companies to avoid -- and warned Germany against being dependent on Russia for the fuel.

"We're protecting Germany from Russia and Russia is getting billions and billions of dollars from Germany," Trump told reporters at an appearance with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House.

Nord Stream 2, a 760-mile (1,225-km) pipeline project to ship gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany, would double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream pipeline and has divided the European Union.

Eastern European, Nordic and Baltic Sea countries see the pipeline as increasing Moscow's economic grip on Europe. But many politicians and energy companies in Germany support Nord Stream 2 because the country, Europe's biggest economy, needs steady gas supplies as it seeks to wean itself off of coal and nuclear power.

More : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...s-nord-stream-2-natgas-pipeline-idUSKCN1TD267


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## casuario (Jun 5, 2019)

Like that is ever going to happen!


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Turkey, Russia launch TurkStream pipeline carrying gas to Europe *
Jan 8, 2020
_Excerpt_

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The presidents of Turkey and Russia on Wednesday formally launched the TurkStream pipeline which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey, part of Moscow’s efforts to reduce shipments via Ukraine.

The pipeline project, stretching 930 km (580 miles) across the Black Sea, reinforces strong energy ties between Moscow and Ankara, which have also increased defense cooperation after Turkey bought advanced Russian missile defenses last year.

Russia and Turkey are also coordinating military deployments in northeast Syria, although they back opposing sides in the conflict in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region and also in the battle for control of Libya.

More : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...pipeline-carrying-gas-to-europe-idUSKBN1Z71WP


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Poland may fine Gazprom over Nord Stream 2 pipeline case*
June 3, 2020
_Excerpt_

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s UOKiK watchdog may fine Russian gas producer Gazprom (GAZP.MM) up to 50 million euros ($56 million) due to a lack of cooperation in anti-monopoly proceedings related to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, UOKiK said on Wednesday.

UOKiK said in 2018 it charged six companies, including one owned by Gazprom, with financing construction of the pipeline without a legally required permit. It said that in early 2020 Gazprom failed to provide documents relating to the case.

“Gazprom cannot operate above the law and, for that reason, I have initiated proceedings against the company to impose a fine for failure to provide information during the pending investigation,” UOKiK President Tomasz Chrostny said in a statement.

Poland sees Nord Stream 2, which would double Russia’s gas export capacity via the Baltic Sea, as a threat to Europe’s energy security, saying it will strengthen Gazprom’s already dominant position on the market.

More : Poland may fine Gazprom over Nord Stream 2 pipeline case


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* U.S. senators move to tighten sanctions on delayed Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline *
June 4, 2020
_Excerpt_

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators announced a bill on Thursday expanding sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and targeting the project Washington says will boost Moscow’s economic and political influence in Germany and other European countries.

The Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act follows legislation signed by President Donald Trump last year, which prompted Swiss-Dutch company Allseas to halt undersea work, delaying the project.

Two Russian-owned pipe-laying vessels may now finish the remaining 100 miles (160 km) of the project, which is led by state-run Gazprom. The pipeline could be launched by late 2020 or early next year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

The new legislation, spearheaded by Senators Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, could stop the project by expanding sanctions to include penalties on parties involved in pipe-laying activities and parties providing underwriting services, insurance or reinsurance on the project.

Cruz said it “makes clear those involved with vessels installing the pipeline will face crippling and immediate sanctions.”

More : U.S. senators move to tighten sanctions on delayed Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* US senators take aim at German port over Russia pipeline *
_Excerpt_ 
Aug 6, 2020

BERLIN (AP) — Three Republican senators have issued a dire warning to operators of a small German port, threatening them with “crushing” sanctions for allegedly providing supplies to Russian vessels involved in a pipeline project the United States vehemently opposes.

The letter sent late Wednesday by Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Tom Cotton and Sen. Ron Johnson targets Faehrhafen Sassnitz GmbH, which operates Mukran Port located in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s constituency on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen.

The port is a key staging post for ships involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that's intended to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany.

Last December, Switzerland-based Allseas, which operates ships laying sections of the undersea pipeline, suspended its work after U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation threatening sanctions against companies linked to the project.

The United States and some Eastern European countries argue that the pipeline will increase Europe's dependence on Russia, a claim both Berlin and Moscow reject.

The three senators say their letter “serves as formal legal notice” that the port operator, its board members, corporate officers, shareholders, and employees risk “crushing legal and economic sanctions” unless they stop providing goods, services and support for the Nord Stream 2 project. This includes providing storage areas for the pipeline's steel sections and provisions for the Russian-flagged vessels Fortuna and Akademik Cherskiy.

More : US senators take aim at German port over Russia pipeline


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*US senators threaten Germany's port town of Sassnitz over Nord Stream 2 gas project *
DW _Excerpt_
August 14, 2020

It smells of fried fish, the sun's reflection is glittering in the water and a few sailboats lazily amble along. It's still summer vacation in some German states, and here in Sassnitz on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen even more so. Even the mayor of the little town of 9,000 people is on holiday. Or he would be — if it wasn't for a threatening letter sent from the United States.

"It doesn't happen every day that Sassnitz moves from 0 to 100 in the world's political attention scale," says Frank Kracht, laughing. Then he immediately turns earnest again. "I must take these threats seriously. Because first and foremost, this is also about workers." 

He is talking about the employees of Fährhafen Sassnitz, the company that operates the local Port Mukran. It's the logistical hub for the completion of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is to transport gas directly from Russia to Germany. A good 150 kilometers (93 miles) of the pipeline are still under construction.

In the letter to Sassnitz earlier this month, three Republican US senators — Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — threatened Port Mukran with "crushing" economic and legal sanctions if it continued to allow ships to be equipped for the pipeline project.

More : US senators threaten Germany's port town of Sassnitz over Nord Stream 2 gas project | DW | 14.08.2020


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Wintershall Dea CEO rejects U.S. sanctions bid on Nord Stream 2 * 

FRANKFURT, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Wintershall Dea, one of five western partners in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project led by Russia’s Gazprom, rejects sanctions planned by the United States to discourage its completion, chief executive Mario Mehren said on Wednesday.

“We firmly believe that Nord Stream 2 will be completed and loans will be repaid as it is a project that is needed by Europe,” he said in a phone call with Reuters after presenting half-year results.

“We have seen that the project has been brought into a broader geopolitical framework that is threatening a number of industries and parties involved. We reject these as does the German government and the European Commission and a number of European countries,” he added. 

Source : Wintershall Dea CEO rejects U.S. sanctions bid on Nord Stream 2


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*German Town Fears Ruin by U.S. Effort to Stop Russian Pipeline*
New York Times _Excerpt_
August 25, 2020

SASSNITZ, Germany — Sitting on the Baltic Sea, the small eastern German town of Sassnitz has been working for years to revive its enormous port, including taking on a role supporting a Russian pipeline being laid offshore to deliver natural gas to Germany.

But the port, one of the last great infrastructure projects undertaken by the former East Germany, now finds itself caught up in a geopolitical competition between the United States and Russia, a clash that local officials and residents say is threatening the town and region with economic ruin.

At issue are so-called secondary sanctions being proposed by powerful U.S. senators to target companies doing business with Russia and the Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom to finish the pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which is 94 percent complete.

More : German Town Fears Ruin by U.S. Effort to Stop Russian Pipeline


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Calls mount for Germany to rethink Nord Stream 2 after Navalny poisoning *
_Excerpt_ 
Sept 3, 2020

BERLIN (Reuters) - A European response that involves the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is needed against Russia after the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent, some politicians and diplomats in Germany said on Thursday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expected Moscow to join efforts to clear up what happened and that Germany would consult its NATO allies about how to respond, raising the prospect of new Western sanctions on Russia.

“There must be a European response,” Norbert Roettgen, head of Germany’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Deutschlandfunk radio on Thursday, when asked whether work on the NordStream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany should stop. 

More : Calls mount for Germany to rethink Nord Stream 2 after Navalny poisoning


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

No need to bring politics to the thread


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## Zaz965 (Jan 24, 2015)

coth said:


> No need to bring politics to the thread


dear coth, you should be a supermoderator


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Looking back at the supply and demand, doesn't Europe import quite a lot of gas from Russia to justify the economics of this pipeline?


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