Norway & Russia: new oil best friends
Norway has been producing oil offshore since the 1970s and hardly needs help from relatively inexperienced Russia.
So presumably it’s for strategic reasons that Norway’s energy ministry decided this week to award Russian oil companies rights to explore on the Norwegian continental shelf for the first time. The two countries do after all share an offshore frontier. Continue reading »
Rosneft rules out dividend for TNK-BP minority shareholders
Rosneft has been warning minority shareholders in TNK-BP not to expect any favours, ever since it took over the Anglo-Russian oil producer. All the same, it’s a disappointment for these shareholders – who have regularly received fat payouts – to learn on Thursday that they won’t be getting any dividends this year.
Minority shareholders – mostly foreign long term investors – hold around 5 per cent of TNK-BP Holding, the listed unit of TNK-BP, that was acquired by Rosneft together with the parent company in a deal announced last year and completed this March. Continue reading »
Russia’s Rosneft partners Japan’s Inpex in search for new fields
Russia has not been the Eldorado that international oil majors hoped when it opened up to outside investors after the Soviet Union collapsed. But that has started to change as Rosneft, Russia’s powerful state oil company, moves outside its comfort zone and begins to explore in remote and challenging offshore areas. In the latest of a string of foreign deals, Rosneft has teamed up with Japan’s Inpex to explore waters off Russia’s far eastern coast. Continue reading »
Sechin: putting Chávez on the map
When Russia’s Communist party called for a Moscow street to be named after Hugo Chávez in March, the city authorities refused on grounds that the former Venezuelan leader had not been dead long enough to qualify for the honour. However, in a sign of the importance Russia attaches to Venezuelan relations, Igor Sechin, the powerful chief executive of Rosneft, wants Moscow to waive the rules. Visiting Caracas this week to finalize a big oil deal, Sechin said a Chávez street should indeed be added to the map of the Russian capital. Continue reading »
Igor Sechin: He Man or Nice Guy?
Compromise is often seen as a sign of weakness in Russia so it’s encouraging to see one of the country’s most powerful men giving ground in a high profile conflict over corporate governance. Six months after denying that Rosneft had any obligations to minority shareholders in TNK-BP’s listed unit, Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russia’s state oil company, appears to be backing down. Continue reading »
Rosneft: still buying assets
You might think that splashing out $55bn on TNK-BP would have slaked Rosneft’s thirst for mergers and acquisitions. But the Russian state oil company has decided to buy a stake in an Italian refinery to bolster its position in European energy markets.
Rosneft said this week it would buy shares in the Saras refinery, in a two-phase acquisition that will see the Russian company take control of up to 21 per cent of Europe’s sixth biggest oil processing plant. Continue reading »
TNK-BP: more oil for China
The $55bn sale of BP’s troubled Russian partnership, TNK-BP, to Russia’s Rosneft has created a new oil major – from size, that much is clear.
But what will be the effect on trade? Harder to say, but the International Energy Agency has mapped out a few scenarios in its April report. Some would have a big impact on oil supplies to other countries. Continue reading »
Rosneft: sell off plan announced, but don’t hold your breath
A big announcement from Russia’s economy ministry today: Russia may privatise an additional 19 per cent of state-owned Rosneft this year, in addition to the 5.7 per cent stake it sold to BP in March as part of the TNK-BP deal.
The key word in this, of course, is ‘may’. The Russian government has changed course on privatisation more than a few times already, and it is likely to encounter a fair amount of opposition on this particular move. Continue reading »
China-Russia: a whole lot of energy deals
A three day visit to Moscow by Xi Jinping got off to a flying start on Friday with the signature of a clutch of agreements that will deepen energy ties between Russia and China.
As the Chinese president told reporters after meeting Vladimir Putin in the Russian capital, “We did not come to see you for nothing.” Continue reading »
Russia to BP’s Dudley: welcome back, all is forgiven
Photo: Bloomberg
Only five years ago Robert Dudley was barred from entering Russia as BP fought a vicious corporate battle with its local joint-venture partners in the oil major TNK-BP. But times have changed and so has the shape of the Russian oil industry. In what is being seen as a goodwill gesture, the Kremlin has offered BP’s chief executive a seat on the board of Rosneft as Russia’s national oil company moves to complete its takeover of TNK-BP. Continue reading »
TNK-BP and Rosneft: global ambitions
While Rosneft is busy raising billions of dollars to pay for the take over of TNK-BP, the Anglo-Russian oil major is carrying on in its own sweet way and planning, among other things, a five-fold increase in production from foreign oil projects. Don’t expect any objections from Rosneft. Russia’s state oil company has its own far greater global ambitions. Continue reading »
Rosneft looks east for new partners
Photo: Bloomberg
Rosneft teamed up with western oil majors to explore in the Russian Arctic last year and is now turning east in the search for more foreign partners. Igor Sechin, chief executive, will hold oil and gas talks in Japan on Tuesday on the final leg of a far eastern tour that has taken him to South Korea and China. Continue reading »
Shaking up gas exports, slowly
Should independent Russian gas producers be allowed to sell their gas abroad? Or should state-owned Gazprom retain its monopoly status?
These are the questions Vladimir Putin’s presidential energy commission met to discuss on Wednesday – and will be discussing, it appears, for some time. Continue reading »
Venezuela: the Russians are back
(L) Igor Ivanovich Sechin, CEO of Rosneft and (R) Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s energy minister
The Russians are back in Caracas, but bearing no sweet little black terrier puppies (or similar) from Vladimir Putin for Hugo Chávez this time – not least because he’s not really around to receive gifts.
Although the high-level delegation is ostensibly visiting to attend to business, including major oil investments in the Orinoco Belt, they must also be acutely curious to know what’s up with Venezuela’s ailing leader. Continue reading »
Showdown looms over Novorossyisk stake sale
A new year, a new group of Russian companies that are slated for privatisation.
One of the first up looks to be Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, the country’s biggest port operator. Yet so far things haven’t exactly gone as advertised. And the plot is only getting murkier. Continue reading »
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