In Brief
Gazprom Plans Gas Hub MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Gazprom plans to create Europe’s largest natural-gas exchange in St. Petersburg as Russia seeks to turn its tsarist capital into a hub for trading commodities, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The bourse will become a part of St. Petersburg’s existing stock exchange, the newspaper said Monday. Gazprom’s lending arm, Gazprombank, and the MBNK inter-regional oil and gas exchange are participating in the project, according to Kommersant. Primorsk Assets Bought MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Gazprom Neft bought port facilities near St. Petersburg to help develop its ship-fuel business, Interfax reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Alexander Dyukov. Gazprom’s oil unit acquired assets at the Baltic port of Primorsk in January, the Russian news service quoted Dyukov as telling journalists in St. Petersburg on March 15. Dyukov declined to specify which assets Gazprom Neft had bought, saying only that Transflot was among them, Interfax reported. The facilities will help the company develop its bunkering business, Dyukov was cited as saying. Reserves to Be Invested? MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia may hire private companies to manage some of the nation’s $494.5 billion in gold and foreign currency reserves, Alexei Ulyukayev, first deputy chairman of the central bank, told Vremya Novostei. “I can imagine” a system where private managers invest a part of the reserves to get “somewhat higher” returns, Ulyukayev said in an interview published in the Moscow-based newspaper Monday. President Vladimir Putin ordered an improvement in the management of Russia’s sovereign funds and currency reserves during a Cabinet meeting on March 3. Druzhba Causes Worry MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — The Czech Republic is concerned Russia will phase out its 50-year-old Druzhba oil pipeline as it boosts shipments to Asia and builds new links to Europe, Mlada Fronta Dnes reported. The Czech government has “no information” that Russia will make any repairs to its section of the pipeline, Vaclav Bartuska, energy security envoy at the Czech Foreign Affairs Ministry said, according to the newspaper. Jaroslav Pantucek, director of Mero AS, the operator of the Czech section of Druzhba, said that there may be less crude allocated for the pipeline in the future, Dnes reported. The country takes two-thirds of its oil from Druzhba, the newspaper said. Price Growth Set to Slow MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russian consumer prices will probably rise at a slower monthly pace in March, Vremya Novostei reported, quoting central banker Alexei Ulyukayev. Price growth will likely slow to “no higher than” 0.1 percent, Ulyukayev, first deputy chairman at the central bank, said in an interview published in the Moscow-based newspaper Monday. Consumer prices rose a monthly 1.2 percent in February, led by food and utility costs. Goods in the non-food category rose 0.6 percent last month, which is “worrisome” because the increase was caused by monetary policy, Ulyukayev said, according to Vremya Novostei. Pepsi Gets Russian Firm NEW YORK (Reuters) — Pepsi Bottling Group Inc and PepsiCo Inc said on Monday they have agreed to acquire Sobol-Aqua JSC, a privately held Russian bottling company. The companies said they will buy the entire Sobol enterprise through their joint venture in Russia, PR Beverages Limited. The acquisition includes a production facility in Novosibirsk, Russia, that makes the Sobol brand and currently co-packs various Pepsi products. Imperial Oil Registered MOSCOW (Reuters) — London-listed, Russia-focused oil firm Imperial Energy said on Monday Russian authorities have approved the registration of substantial new oil reserves in West Siberia. The firm said in a statement the Federal Agency on Subsoil Use had registered 59 million barrels of recoverable C1 and C2 oil reserves from Imperial’s South Maiskoye field in the Tomsk region of western Siberia. There were previously no Russian-registered reserves at the field. “The latest approval from the ministry significantly increases Imperial’s Russian-registered C1 and C2 reserves by over 15 percent to 432 million barrels of oil equivalent, with further material increases expected during the course of the year as Imperial moves towards its target of parity of its SPE reserves and Russian-registered reserves,” the company said. Baltika Sees Profit Soar MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Baltika Breweries, the largest Russian beer company, may increase its dividend on 2007 earnings by 32 percent after profit climbed. The company’s board recommended paying 52 rubles a share, St. Petersburg-based Baltika said Thursday in a statement on its web site. The brewer paid 39.50 rubles a share in its annual dividend for 2006. Shareholders will vote on the payout April 29, Baltika said in a separate statement. Baltika’s profit climbed 21 percent to $587 million in 2007 on increased sales of higher-priced foreign brews made under license, the company reported Feb. 20. Sales rose 30 percent to $3.28 billion. Rosneft to Submit Plan MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, plans to send the government proposals for changing the tax regime to stimulate the development of new projects, Interfax reported. The current system primarily taxes oil companies’ revenues instead of their profit and is holding back the industry, the news service cited Alexander Kochnev, first deputy head of the company’s department of analysis, as saying Friday in Moscow. As a result, rising oil prices don’t provide companies with sufficient funds for new projects, he said, according to Interfax. Russia should introduce tax holidays for offshore projects in the country’s far-eastern regions, improve subsoil legislation and support the utilization of associated gas, Kochnev said, Interfax reported. UES Sells Stake to RWE MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — RWE AG, Germany’s second-largest utility, and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg acquired stakes in two Russian power generators as the state opens the industry to competition. RWE, bidding with St. Petersburg-based mining company Sintez Group, agreed to pay more than 9 billion rubles ($378 million) for 33.5 percent of TGK-2, according to Russian national utility Unified Energy System, which sold the stake. RWE and Sintez will raise their interest to 43 percent after TGK-2 sells new shares next month, Alexander Chikunov, a manager at Unified Energy, said Friday. RWE plans to gain more than 51 percent of TGK-2, according to an e-mailed statement from the utility. Sintez will conduct the transaction and hold a “minority share in a future consortium” with RWE, it said. Debt Installment Paid MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft said on Monday it had completed repayment of the second, $5.2 billion tranche of the short-term loan it raised last year to finance acquisitions. “Rosneft funded the repayment by closing a new $3 billion five year pre-export international bank facility as announced in February and generation of sufficient free cash flow to cover the balance,” Rosneft said in a statement. The company said it had refinanced or repaid $5.6 billion out of $5.8 billion of short term debt falling due in the first quarter of 2008, with $2.6 billion fully repaid from free cash flow. It said the repayment of the remaining $190 million will also be funded by free cash flow. Oriola to Enter Russia HELSINKI (Reuters) — Finnish drugs distributor Oriola-KD said on Monday it would enter the Russian market by acquiring 75 percent stakes in Russian pharmaceuticals retailer Vitim & Co and wholesaler Moron Ltd. Oriola-KD said it expected the acquisitions to cost $93.2-$120 million, depending on the financial performance of the companies bought this year.
|
Ïåðåâåñòè íà ðóññêèé
Print this article
Issues Archive
Issue in PDF
Issue in RSS