Latest Articles about Energy
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Surgut’s Move Against MOL: A New Stage in Russian Acquisition Strategy in Europe
Russian expansion into European energy industries stands poised to cross a new threshold with the stealthy acquisition of a large stake in Hungary's privately owned MOL by Russia's Kremlin-controlled Surgut Neftegaz (EDM, April 2,). This move entails a number of bold novelties. First, Surgut's lack... MORE
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Prospects for Dagestan’s Oil and Gas Industry
As early as the middle of 19th century, oil was extracted to the surface through wells on the territory of Dagestan. With the participation of Swedish oil industrialist Ludvig Nobel, several relatively shallow oil wells were operating in Dagestan by the end of that century... MORE
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Hungary Blindsided By Russian Entry Into Oil and Gas Company
Surgut Neftegaz appears to have vastly overpaid for OMV's stake in MOL. The Russian company bought the 21.2 percent stake for 1.4 billion Euros on March 30 on the Budapest stock exchange. The average purchase price per share was 19,200 Hungarian Forint, almost double the... MORE
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Major Russian Oil Company Secretly Buys Into Hungary’s MOL
The Kremlin-connected oil company Surgut Neftegaz has surreptitiously bought Austrian OMV's entire 21.2 percent stake in Hungary's MOL Oil and Gas Company. European Union authorities, the privately owned MOL, and Hungary are aghast at Surgut's move and OMV's collusion with it. Budapest and Brussels were... MORE
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Azerbaijan and Russia Ink Tentative Gas Agreement
On March 27 Russia's state owned gas monopoly Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan's state-owned oil and Gas Company, SOCAR, which would provide for deliveries of Azeri gas to Russia starting in January 2010. The report in the Russian newspaper Vedomosti on March... MORE
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Russian Gas Offensive Tests EU Energy Plans
The intensity of energy-political conflicts in Europe has been subsiding since the Russian-Ukrainian "gas war" in January, but last week Moscow launched a new offensive aiming at three crucial targets: Turkey, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Leaders of major European states paid scant attention, focusing instead on... MORE
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Opening Salvos of a New Gas War: Russia Versus the EU and Ukraine
The Ukrainian - EU agreement on renovating the main Ukrainian gas trunk pipeline signed in Brussels on March 23 was greeted with a virulent reaction from Moscow. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who runs his countries gas sector with an iron fist, threatened to "review"... MORE
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Russian Energy Companies Expand Their Operations in Central Europe
Russian energy companies have intensified their efforts to boost their presence in Central Europe, giving cause for concern that Moscow plans to continue using energy as a foreign policy tool to tighten its grip over the region. Just prior to the last energy crisis in... MORE
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Alternative Gas Suppliers Face Overproduction in Russia
Russia's independent natural gas producers (IGPs) account for a growing share of domestic output, but they are now facing turbulent times amid the global financial crisis and the subsequent domestic economic downturn, as well as problems with sales and gas transit. The role of independent... MORE
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Turkish Government May Approve Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant in April
Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko paid an official visit to Ankara to meet with Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler. At the meeting, Shmatko inquired when the Turkish authorities would make their final decision to allow the Russian-Turkish consortium to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant.... MORE