On May 31, the Gunvor oil-trading company, 45 percent owned by Gennadiy Timchenko, announced its full acquisition of the Ingolstadt oil refinery in Germany, the top-performing plant of the insolvent Petroplus concern. The acquisition price is not disclosed.Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a working visit... MORE

On May 3, Moscow criticized Turkey’s plans to explore natural gas deposits around the divided island of Cyprus, under the protection of Turkish naval and air power. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s chief spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, cautioned Turkey that its actions “may exacerbate the situation on... MORE

The Republic of Cyprus, a European Union member country, is proceeding with development of the Aphrodite offshore field. This is the first of 12 offshore gas and oil blocs that Cyprus plans to tender out to international companies. Bidding for the other 11 blocs was... MORE

Two separate trials are currently underway in Germany that have highlighted the particular role of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) as a feeder group for German jihadists who end up working alongside al-Qaeda. The first is a case in Koblenz involving Ahmad Wali Siddiqui,... MORE

The European Commission has ruled that the Gazprom-led consortium, Nord Stream, must allow other gas suppliers to share the capacities of that consortium’s pipelines on German territory (Kommersant, March 15; Interfax, March 19). This requirement, known as third-party access, is based on the EU’s competition... MORE

Amidst growing concerns about the escalation of Turkish-Israeli tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, Ankara’s decision to undertake seismic exploration for oil and gas – in retaliation for the Greek Cypriot administration’s ongoing exploration activities – further raised tensions in the region. Recently, the Greek Cypriots... MORE

On March 11, the government privatization agency State Property Fund (SPF) signed documents selling 92.8 percent of the fixed-line operator Ukrtelecom shares to ESU, the Ukrainian daughter of the Austrian company EPIC (European Privatization and Investment Corporation). This is the biggest privatization deal since 2005,... MORE

“Achieving the objectives of the Southern Corridor,” in the European Commission’s phrase (EurActiv, February 19), implies commitment to its strategic purpose. This is to supply countries along the Nabucco project’s route, from Bulgaria to Austria and Germany, with Caspian gas, thus reducing those countries’ dependence... MORE

After selling a large block of shares in Hungarian MOL to the Kremlin-connected Surgutneftegaz, Austrian OMV CEO Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer’s final gift to European energy security is an agreement with Gazprom that interferes with the EU-backed Nabucco project. On February 21 in Moscow, Gazprom CEO Aleksei... MORE

Two parallel court proceedings in Vienna have confirmed that Austrian OMV and Russian Surgut Neftegaz had coordinated their hostile takeover attempts against Hungarian MOL. The Austrian and the Russian company were targeting MOL’s oil-refining business, which is recognized as the most efficient in Central Europe.... MORE