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Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian billionaire, has agreed to merge his power assets into the power-generation holding of Gazprom to create a state-controlled national electricity champion that will control a quarter of the country’s electricity market. Analysts said the merger announced on Thursday risked overturning the country’s hard-won privatisation of the sector, one of the few successful market reforms of the past decade, with state control of the sector set to increase from 50 per cent to 70 per cent as a result of the deal. “After the merger, the state will simply dominate the market,” said Derek Weaving, electricity sector...

Russia's energy giant Gazprom is interested in developing gas deposits in Pakistan, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday after talks on bilateral business cooperation. "The sides supported the interest of Russian business circles in implementing economic, infrastructural and banking projects jointly with the Pakistani government and businesses," the two leaders said in a statement. In particular, Russian state-owned mining and metallurgical facility construction company Tyazhpromexport is prepared to modernize a metals plant in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city while Russia's largest power trader Inter RAO UES is ready to build power plants in...

Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, Valery Kuzmin, insinuated via Chisinau media on February 1 that Moscow can grant Moldova a price discount on Russian gas, as it granted one to Ukraine, in return for military basing rights. Kuzmin said: “Moldovan authorities must execute the conditions of the agreement recently signed with Gazprom…One should not fully exclude politics from Russia’s relations with other countries. The political dimension can be turned into an economic equivalent. Thus in Ukraine, for example, there was provided a compensation mechanism [for gas] in the lease agreement for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet base. Due to that mutually advantageous...

Dmitri Medvedev on Wednesday sealed a $20bn deal for Russia to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, furthering Moscow’s ambition of carving out a bigger role in the renascent international market for nuclear energy. Energy cooperation is the core of a rapidly developing partnership between Moscow and Ankara, former cold war rivals who say bilateral trade could reach $100bn in the next five years – half the value of Russia’s trade now with the entire European Union. “Turkey and Russia are strategic partners, not just in words but in reality,” the Russian president told reporters on Wednesday during a trip...

JERUSALEM, April 13 (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) may join the exploration race for a new natural gas windfall off the coast of Israel, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. Financial daily Globes on its Web site reported Gazprom, together with Israel's Modiin Energy (MDINp.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), the IDB Group (IDBH.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Israel Land Development (ILDC.TA: Quote, Profile, Research), was considering vying for a new tender for exploratory offshore drilling. Officials at both Israel's Infrastructure Ministry and Modiin Energy declined to comment on the report. Gazprom was not available for immediate reaction. U.S. group...

Dash for Poland’s gas could end Russian stranglehold Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor American technology to produce shale gas is unleashing a scramble for drilling rights in Poland, where experts believe vast reserves of unconventional gas exist that could help to weaken Russia’s grip on Europe’s energy supplies. ConocoPhillips is poised to launch Poland’s first shale gas drilling programme next month near Gdansk on the Baltic coast. Two other American oil groups — Exxon-Mobil and Marathon — and Talisman Energy, of Canada, are set to follow. The technology has transformed America’s energy industry and driven gas prices to their lowest level...

WARSAW, Poland — History suggests that when Russia and Germany announce a deal that is slightly too sweet, Poland has reason to be wary. Which is why the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, acidly dubbed a plan to build an underwater natural gas pipeline from Russia’s Siberian gas fields to Germany’s Baltic coast “the Molotov-Ribbentrop pipeline,” a reference to the pact between the Nazis and the Soviets to carve up Poland on the eve of World War II. The Russians and Germans hail the $11 billion project as “a new benchmark for cooperation between the European Union and Russia.” The...

Rombouillet, France- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won another victory for his aggressive energy diplomacy strategy Friday, signing a deal bringing French investment to a pipeline project. In a successful trip that worried Russia's nervous neighbours, Putin also secured French investment to save the struggling Lada car maker and a promise that France will consider selling Moscow a huge amphibious assault ship. "We have embarked upon complete cooperation with Russia," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon declared, as he and Putin addressed reporters after talks outside Paris with ministers and energy executives. Georgia and the Baltic states have expressed concern over...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said Ukraine might be having problems paying for gas, raising new concerns over European supplies. Mr Putin said the European Union had not yet given Ukraine the money it had promised to help provide stable supplies of Russian gas to Europe. He also blamed Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko for blocking payment. In January, many countries were left short of gas because of a payment dispute between Moscow and Kiev. 'Blocking funds' "It appears we are again having problems with payments for our energy supplies, which is extremely regrettable. The EU has still not provided...

BEIJING, October 14 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia does not object to selling energy resources to China for roubles, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. “We discussed the possibility of using our national currency in bilateral settlements between Russia and China, and our energy companies raised this issue, even Gazprom. In principle, we do not object to considering the possibility of selling our energy resources for roubles,” Putin told journalists after the end of his official visit to China on Wednesday. “But this mean that our Chinese partners should have those roubles … We are even ready to buy something for yuan, but...

It's really amazing how soon the Obama administration's chickens are coming home to roost. They made a big deal out of finding a "reset" button for U.S.-Russia relations. They wanted to reject what they saw as George W. Bush's truculence over the Russian invasion of Georgia last summer. So they went out of their way to send a message to Russia that they wanted a new beginning in their relations with Moscow. Well, they've gotten it. London's prestigious Financial Times reports that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a tough "ultimatum" to Ukraine's leadership. Medvedev sent his blunt warning in...

MOSCOW -- Undeterred by the global slowdown, Russia's state-run energy leviathan Gazprom has pushed ahead with an expansion masterplan of huge ambition that has raised questions over its true motives. Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller has warned Europe — keen to break Russia's stronghold on gas supplies — against turning the issue of energy diversification into a “fetish.” But analysts say it is the Russian gas giant's own actions that are now bordering on the abnormal, with deals often being motivated by factors like politics or pride rather than economic sense. “Gazprom has acquired the function of the foreign energy...

MOSCOW, July 1 (Reuters) - Russia has offered Turkey a role in its South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, Russian news agencies reported on Wedneseday, marking another Russian attempt to undermine the European Union's rival Nabucco project. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Russia's top energy official, told Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz that Turkey is welcome to participate in the South Stream project, which aims to transport Russian gas under the Black Sea through Eastern Europe to Austria and Italy. "We hope that the Turkish side will look at our offer and that we will cooperate further so that our...

THIS VERY STRANGE REPORT WAS PUBLISHED BY KGB CONTROLLED RUSSIAN SOURCE. IT IS DISTURBING TO THE CORE McCain’s running mate lays into Russia 05 September, 2008, 08:26 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has wasted no time in casting a cloud over Russia. In her keynote speech to the party convention in Minnesota, the Alaskan Governor accused Moscow of using energy as a weapon in its disagreements with the West. PALIN: “With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves...

Gazprom, the energy company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dow Chemical Company to expand trading in carbon dioxide emission credits intended to slow climate change, a business that is a growing sideline for the Russian company. Best known for its sales of natural gas and crude oil, which produce heat-trapping carbon dioxide, Gazprom is an emerging player in the market for credits that companies can buy or trade to comply with national or international rules on greenhouse gas emissions. Under the memorandum, Gazprom and Dow agreed to look at opportunities where Dow technologies could be used to...

Russia is trying to earmark a planned $10bn credit to the International Monetary Fund to help Ukraine pay for gas supplies, Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, said on Friday. “We are convinced that the resources made available by Russia must be used first and foremost to help our neighbours in the Commonwealth of Independent States, including a solution to the problem that Ukraine has confronted in the sphere of energy,” said Mr Putin in remarks posted on the prime ministerial website. He said he had received a “constructive first reaction” from Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s managing director, whom he had...

Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled gas monopoly, is eyeing the US market as it seeks to build a substantial position in the global liquefied natural gas business after opening its first LNG plant in February. The company, already the world’s biggest exporter of pipeline gas, is now aiming for “participation in the LNG world on a scale commensurate with its resource base”, Frederic Barnaud, the president and managing director of the company’s LNG trading unit, Gazprom Global LNG, told the Gastech conference in Abu Dhabi. Gazprom sees its nascent LNG business as a strategic opportunity to diversify its export potential by...

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom is keen to participate in a pipeline to carry Iranian gas to Pakistan, the Kommersant daily reported on Wednesday, citing company and government officials. "We are ready to join the project as soon as we receive an offer," Russia's deputy energy minister Anatoly Yankovsky told the daily. The paper quoted another top government official as saying Moscow sees the pipeline as a means to divert Iranian gas from competing with Russian exports on the European market. "This project is advantageous to Moscow since its realisation would carry Iranian gas toward South Asian markets so that...

ANKARA - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says Turkey and Russia have agreed to extend a contract on natural gas supplies. The current agreement is scheduled to end in 2012. A proposed new pipeline, Blue Stream 2 is expected to meet TurkeyÂ’s growing need for natural gas The prime ministers of Turkey and Russia agreed over the weekend to strengthen the countriesÂ’ energy cooperation and begin negotiations over the Blue Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline project. The announcement came Saturday at a televised joint press conference held by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the...

Budapest - Hungary's largest gas distribution company Emfesz has been sold to Swiss-based firm RosGas AG, Emfesz spokesman Igor Gallyas said Thursday, confirming a report in the Russian newspaper Vedomosti. The news has prompted speculation that the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is believed to be behind RosGas, is looking to strengthen its hold over the Hungarian, and by extension, the EU market. Gallyas, speaking to the Hungarian news agency MTI, neither confirmed nor denied the report by Vedomosti that RosGas is part of Gazprom's family of subsidiaries. However, in a statement posted on its website on April 28, Emfesz...