RusEnergy

Aug. 26, 2008 - Kommersant - The decay of the management team is going on in TNK-BP. Executive Vice President and Head of the Marketing, Sales and Refining Department Antony Considine has announced the resignation. The sources say off-the-record that a few nonresident vice presidents will pull out of the company after this top manager. TNK-BP announced yesterday the resignation of Antony Considine, executive vice president and head of the marketing, sales and refining department (downstream sector), who had been keeping the office since the company’s emergence in 2003. According to TNK-BP Vice President Peter Henshaw, Considine attributed his resignation to the desire to join family that left for Australia in late 2007 and to the fact that he no longer sees any chances to introduce anything new to the company’s development. The candidates to replace Considine in the office of the vice president for refining and in Slavneft BOD haven’t been determined yet, Henshaw specified. TNK-BP CEO Robert Dudley, who left Russia in July and whom the court disqualified for two years, will nominate a new vice president and the BOD of TNK-BP Limited is to sanction the candidacy. Considine’s withdrawal is by far not the first resignation since the time when the conflict of holders (BP and AAR Consortium of Alfa Group, Access Industries and Renova) escalated there. A source close to TNK-BP said Considine wanted to leave long ago but he was persuaded to remain for another year in May. Spokesmen of TNK-BP and BP expressed their general regret for Considine’s resignation, specifying that the EBITDA of his division climbed from $900 million in the first year of work to $3 billion in 2007. In time of Considine, the company completed a number of projects related to rebuilding and acquisition of new facilities. The last big deal was the buyout of Magistral chain of petrol stations for $891 million, which BP calls the biggest acquisition of logistics and sales sector from 2000 (the purchase of Castrol). At the same time, one of the basic claims of AAR to the current pattern of TNK-BP’s operation was the relatively low amount invested in downstream. In AAR, they declined to comment on Considine yesterday.

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Scandinavian Oil&Gas Magazine – 08–15–2008 – BP said in a statement Friday it was “very disappointed” a Moscow judge had cancelled TNK-BP’s chief executive Robert Dudley’s right to work in Russia for two years on “labour-law violations”. But the supermajor asserted Dudley had the parent company’s full support while continuing in his job from abroad pending an appeal. The news from a Moscow courtroom came amid recent and planned meetings between BP and its TNK-BP partners, the heads of Alfa, Access and Renova. Their joint company has produced record results of late and had recently made a number of billion-dollar infrastructure investments. Th partners have been at lagerheads over Dudley’s alleged failure to alter his policies to respect the Russian partners’s concerns. Russian owners had demanded his ouster just as employees rose in revolt over alleged “descriminatory policies” and both pointed to an expired job contract. A BP spokesman confirmed the days developments and told Scandoil.com that among TNK-BP top management, eight are foreigners and six are Russian business leaders. Two of TNK-BP’s four main businesses — including the key upstream business — are headed by Russians. BP has threatened to use “all means” inside and outside of Russia to defend its interests as 50 percent shareholder in TNK-BP.

MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Novatek [RTS: NVTK] said Wednesday its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards grew 70%, year on year, in January-June 2008 to 14.56 billion rubles ($603 million). Russia's largest independent natural gas producer said its revenues in the reporting period grew 39% to 42.23 billion rubles ($1.7 billion). Established in 1994, Novatek's operations include the prospecting, production and refining of gas and liquid hydrocarbons. Its gas fields are located in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous area in Western Siberia, which has the world's largest natural gas reserves. The region accounts for over 90% of Russian natural gas output and around 20% of global gas production.

MOSCOW, August 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian natural gas producer Itera said on Tuesday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards grew 50%, year on year, in January-June to 2.42 billion rubles ($99 million). Revenues in the reporting period grew 37.8% to 20.69 billion rubles ($844 million), gross profit climbed 28.3% to 10.58 billion rubles ($432 million), operating profit rose 60% to 3.67 billion rubles ($149 million) and pre-tax profit increased 50% to 3.31 billion rubles ($135 million), the independent natural gas producer said. Itera, which has authorized capital of 60 mln rubles ($2.5 mln), earlier said its revenues calculated to Russian Accounting Standards grew 23.6%, year on year, in 2007 to 29.69 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) and its net profit increased 47.6% to 2.93 billion rubles ($122 million). The company is 99.99% owned by Itera Holdings Limited.

MOSCOW, August 7 (RIA Novosti) - Moody's has assigned a Ba2 corporate family rating to Tatneft, with a stable outlook, the international ratings agency said on Thursday. Moody's positively evaluated the size of the company's reserves, its efforts to boost production and Tatneft's recent disposal of several non-core banking assets. "The current virtual absence of proprietary refining capacities is considered by Moody's as Tatneft's major weakness," the agency said. Tatneft is Russia's sixth largest oil and gas company operating predominantly in the Republic of Tatarstan, in which the Tatarstan government holds 36% plus golden share. Tatneft's proved oil and gas reserves were estimated at 3.16 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at year-end 2007. In 2007 Tatneft produced 184 million boe. The company employs 80,000 people. In 2007 the company's sales yielded $13.9 billion. EBITDA was nearly $2.8 billion and net profit was $1.7 billion.

August 4, 2008 - Russia Today - Royal Dutch Shell has held talks with oil firm Sibir over a $2 billion asset-swap deal. This will allow Shell to take a big stake in the Russian company. Shell and Sibir are equal partners in oilfields in western Siberia. According to the Britain’s Times newspaper, Shell would swap its 50% stake in the fields for an equity holding in Sibir itself. Sibir is the largest company on London’s Alternative Investment Market.

Aug. 05, 2008 - Kommersant - The crude oil production, export and prices are declining in Russia. According to the July statistics of TsDU TEK, nearly all indicators of this branch are going down in the country. The prices for petroleum are shedding as well, which is generally attributed to the government’s policy. At the same time, the duties on oil export are going up, similar to the prices for Ai-95 gasoline, which shortage is blamed on breakdown and rebuilding of Russia’s refineries. Central Dispatcher’s Supervisory Department of Fuel and Energy Complex (TsDU TEK) released yesterday the latest data on export and production of oil in Russia. The seven-month output was 283.664 million tons, i.e. 0.5 percent down on year. With the oil transit taken into account, the overseas export sank 4.6 percent on year to 19.341 million tons in July of 2008. The record duty on oil export – $495.9 per a ton – took effect August 1, signaling the decline will continue this month. The duty was calculated in time of skyrocketing prices for crude oil. The growth in supply on domestic market, decline in domestic prices for crude oil and the order of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Federal Antimonopoly Service to probe into domestic prices for jet fuel, black oil fuel and coking coal drove down ex-factory prices for petroleum. According to the monitoring survey of Kortes, the ex-factory prices of Russia’s refineries continued their decline. As of August 1, the automobile gasoline lost 1.75 percent during a week, black oil fuel dropped 2.05 percent, diesel fuel sank 2.35 percent, jet fuel fell 1.75 percent. The spot prices for July 28 to August 1 went down as well. A76/80 gasoline lost 1.5 percent, A92/93 was down 2 percent, diesel fuel fell 3.6 percent, black oil fuel dropped 1.9 percent, jet fuel declined 1.6 percent. The only exception was A95/96 gasoline with its growth of 1 percent, which is attributed to extraordinary rebuilding of refineries caused by their breakdowns. Another reason was the growth in demand for this type of gasoline fueled by owners of cars of foreign make.

MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - TNK-BP Chief Financial Officer James Owen has resigned amid an ongoing shareholder dispute, the Russian-British oil company said Monday. "Mr. Owen's letter states that as the current shareholder issues remain unresolved he feels it is difficult for him to continue working independently, as his role demands," TNK-BP said in a statement. Owen announced his resignation Monday in a letter to CEO Robert Dudley and the joint venture's board of directors, the company said, adding Owen's resignation would be effective in late August. BP and its Russian billionaire partners, each holding 50% of TNK-BP, have been battling over management and strategy at the joint venture, which is Russia's third largest oil producer and accounts for a quarter of BP's overall output. Dudley, who left Russia on July 24 citing a campaign of harassment by the Russian investors, said he regretted Owen's resignation. "Along with many others in TNK-BP, I greatly regret that we are losing Jim," Dudley said in the statement. "Our company's financial standing and internal governance processes have been greatly strengthened under his management and he will be very hard to replace." Dudley, who has been unable to have his Russian visa renewed, is running TNK-BP from abroad. His whereabouts have not been disclosed. The four Russian billionaire shareholders have sought Dudley's dismissal, accusing him of acting only in BP's interests. The British oil major said the Russian investors want to seize control of the company.

August 1, 2008 - Russia Today - It's been announced that BP's Chief Executive Tony Hayward held talks with Russian TNK-BP shareholder Mikhail Fridman. A spokesperson representing the Russian side of the joint venture says the meeting took place in Prague on Wednesday. The subject of the talks wasn't revealed, but it's the latest in a long-running row over the firm's future. Meanwhile TNK-BP's chief executive Robert Dudley has agreed to review the company's investment plan for 2008. The oil giant's spending was one of the main stumbling blocks in the struggle between BP and the Russian shareholders. Dudley, who left Moscow last week, said he had re-analysed TNK-BP's expenditure budget after a request by some directors that it should be cut by 900 million dollars. But he reiterated his support for the original budget.

July 31, 2008 - Russia Today - Libya is interested in Russian investments in the oil and gas sector, said the Libyan prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmudi meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow. He said Libya has special relationship with Gazprom and the two sides have impressive plans in oil exploration, extraction and processing. Prime Minister Putin said Russia is also keen to cooperate with Libya. We'll do our best to provide a favourable climate for Libyan investment into Russia. We're interested in foreign investment and don't see any obstacles to developing this sphere. We're going to work in the oil and gas sector, and not only in Libya but in other countries.

MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Libya is interested in Russian investment in its oil and gas sector, the country's prime minister said Thursday. "We would like to see broader cooperation in the investment sphere between Russia and Libya in the oil and gas sector," al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi told his Russian counterpart. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia would do all it could to ensure a favorable environment for Libyan investment in Russia. "We are interested in foreign investment and see no impediments to expanding this sphere of cooperation," he said. Mahmudi said there have been active consultations between the Libyan National Oil Corporation and Russian energy giant Gazprom, with which Libya enjoys "a special relationship." He added that Libya's investment agency intends to open its office in Russia. Mahmudi invited Putin to visit Libya in August to attend the launch of a $2.2 billion railway construction project. Libya holds Africa's fourth largest gas reserves, estimated at 1.49 trillion cubic meters.