Toyota Plans a Second Automobile Plant in Russia, Vedomosti Says

By Emma Barnett, Digital Media Editor 7:00AM GMT 13 Jan 2011

The US technology giants, such as Google and Facebook, have a presence in the country, but unlike the majority of territories they have entered around the world, they have failed to dominate; Russian companies reign across search, social networking, digital media and email services.

Yandex, a Russian company founded in 1997, is the country’s most popular search engine, with 64 per cent market share, while Google lags behind in second place – a position the search king is not used to occupying outside of China.

But Yandex, like Google, has not just limited itself to providing speedy and relevant search results. It also provides Yandex Maps, Yandex Money (an e-payments system) and Yandex Photos. The list continues, but it has also come up with digital services bespoke for Russia’s needs, such as a phone app which shows where the traffic jams are occurring throughout the intensely congested streets of Moscow and beyond. In every taxi I took, before I decided to abandon the traffic and take to the beautiful underground system, the driver was held mesmerised by a combination of Yandex Maps and the Yandex traffic app.

Russia’s most popular email service and portal is Mail.ru, the Russian company most recently thrust into the spotlight after it floated on the London stock exchange with an approximate valuation of six billion dollars. The group, majority owned by Digital Sky Technologies, has also received a lot of international press due to its largest shareholder's recent increased investment in Facebook of $50 million, and for its high profile investments in other hot digital properties such as the social gaming company, Zynga, responsible for popular games such as Farmville and most recently in Groupon, a popular group buying site.

Russia extends technoparks programme until 2014

The Russian Government has decides to prolong its Creation of High-Tech Technoparks programme, in order to set up technology parks in the Penza and Samara regions. The programme will be funded by federal and regional grants. The programme has earmarked RUB 6.089 billion to develop parks in the republics of Mordovia and Tatarstan, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Penza, Samara and Tyumen between now and 2014. The programme was launched on 10 March 2006. It has already set up and operates technological parks in the Tyumen region, with the West-Siberian Innovation Centre offering 12,000 square metres. The IT Park in the Republic of Tatarstan has an area of 30,700 square metres, while the Technopolis Chimgrad has an area of 76,700 square metres.of 76,700 square metres).

MTS and VimpelCom Eye Same Property

By Olga Razumovskaya

Two of the country’s biggest telecommunications providers, Mobile TeleSystems and VimpelCom, are considering purchasing St. Petersburg-based operator Eltel, the CNews portal reported Wednesday.

Eltel, founded in 2000 and specializing in fixed-line services and broadband Internet access, is a relatively small company, with 1,200 corporate customers and 30,000 broadband Internet subscribers. It is not viewed by telecommunications analysts as a major market player.

Late last year, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service approved three petitions — one from VimpelCom and the other two from MTS's subsidiaries Comstar United TeleSystems and Multiregion — to purchase Eltel.

Eltel declined to comment on whether it was planning to sell its assets or provide a time frame for a potential sale.

“Eltel's employees cannot comment on the intentions and interests of such companies as MTS and VimpelCom,” Konstantin Kiselyov, marketing head of Eltel, wrote to The Moscow Times in an e-mail.

A VimpelCom spokeswoman told The Moscow Times that her company is “interested in strengthening its positions across Russia” and consolidating assets. She could not confirm or deny that VimpelCom has made a decision to go ahead with a purchase, citing company policy.

MTS confirmed that the service approved Multiregion's request for permission to purchase Eltel on Dec. 22 and Comstar United TeleSystems' on Dec. 27.

“Our turning to FAS with a petition is, in essence, a consultative procedure,” MTS spokeswoman Irina Osadchaya said, adding that the final decision to potentially purchase any asset would depend on the effect it may have on the company.

“We are potentially interested in any regional market. We constantly study the market and purchase those assets that are interesting to us from the point of view of business development in broadband Internet access,” she said.

Analysts view the move by telecoms providers as an effort to go beyond the saturated Moscow market and tap into regional potential. The trend started about two to three years ago, said Renaissance Capital's telecommunications analyst Alexander Kazbegi.

Major telecommunications providers are now trying to consolidate their assets and buy out companies that provide, among other services, fixed telephony — allowing them to address the fixed Internet access market, which has lower customer turnover than the mobile services segment.

The London Court of International Arbitration has turned down an appeal by Mobile TeleSystems to not buy back 49 percent of Tarino, Interfax reported Wednesday.

In 2005, Tarino still owned 100 percent of Kyrgyz cellular operator Bitel, which it had bought from Nomihold Securities for $180 million.

An MTS spokeswoman told Interfax that the company will “continue to use all legal opportunities to get the ruling reversed.”

In December 2005, MTS acquired 51 percent of Tarino from Kazakh investment firm Alliance Capital for $150 million.

Russia's Rezerv-Tsvetmet company, citing rulings by Kyrgyz courts, then acquired control of Bitel and forced MTS out of the Kyrgyz company's offices and into the courtrooms.

The ministry stuck by its forecast for full-year contraction of just 2.2 percent, suggesting things could improve before too long. That optimism was picked up by Shuvalov.

Hughes HX System Enables Remote Monitoring of Forest Fires in Russia

National Research University, Tomsk Polytechnical, provides critical services for Federal Forestry Agency; first time broadband satellite technology used to monitor forests in region

A new and comprehensive satellite-based solution has been developed for Russia-wide monitoring of its huge forested regions, enabling early detection and rapid response to fires. Data is collected via remote sensors and transferred to "Avialesokhrana," a service monitoring center through Yasen, a system developed by TPU. Yasen collects, transfers, processes, and analyzes the data during all stages of fire fighting from across the entire territory of the Russian Federation. The satellite broadband network is based on Hughes HX System technology, operated by TPU from its facilities in Tomsk, Siberia.

"This is our first project for the Federal Forestry Agency, providing critical broadband satellite services," said Mikhail Sonkin, of Tomsk Polytechnical University. "We are pleased with the high performance, versatility, and reliability of the HX System from Hughes, and look forward to expanding it in the future to provide additional satellite services, such as weather monitoring from remote stations."

The network comprises a central HX Network Operations Center in Tomsk together with both fixed and mobile broadband satellite terminals in the field, including HX260 mesh terminals for simultaneous voice and data services. Several HX terminals are mounted on vehicles enabling emergency communications from remote sites.

"We are proud to have been selected by such a prestigious university and for such a worthwhile application," said Dr. Arunas Slekys, vice president and general manager, Russia/CIS Business, at Hughes. "The versatility of our HX System to provide mesh, star, fixed, and mobile capabilities in the same network, makes it ideal for remote monitoring of natural resources, and indeed for virtually any emergency preparedness application."

The HX System was supplied to Tomsk Polytechnical University through Hughes reseller, JSC Machinoimport. According to Vadim Kosenkov, Machinoimport group manager, "We look forward to continuing to work with Hughes, the leaders in broadband satellite technology. We are already planning to expand the TPU network and to explore other opportunities with Hughes that will benefit governmental agencies and educational institutions, as well as commercial enterprises."

Tomsk Polytechnical University is expanding beyond the provision of satellite communication services. Taking into account the great demand and interest in modern satellite broadband technology, the University is setting up a training center for Russian/CIS satellite communications operators and engineers, which is being built with Hughes participation and based on Hughes technology.

For the Record

Russia could raise its export duty on crude oil by up to 9.1 percent on Feb. 1, bringing the standard rate to between $344.80 and $346.30 a ton from $317.50 last month.

The U.S. Praxair company has received a contract to supply steelmaker Yevraz Group with more than 3,000 tons of oxygen, nitrogen and argon a day, for which it will build air separation plants in central Russia.

Renaissance Capital has promoted Clifford Sacks from head of its South African office to CEO for Africa, in charge all of its six offices and 120 employees on that continent.

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Belarus waits for Russian oil

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n239350

13 January 2011 | 07:37 | FOCUS News Agency

Home / World

Minsk. Lack of understanding in the oil filed witnesses that Russian-Belarusian relations are not as unclouded as official Minsk tries to present them. According to information Russian companies do not supply Belarus with oil despite the achieved necessary agreements at high level and signed necessary documents, Nezavisimaya Gazeta informs.
By the end December 2010 the Belarusian Parliament ratified a set of documents for the creation of a single economy area with Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, which was one of the conditions for the supplies in the state of duty-free Russian oil. The first Deputy Prime Minister in the Belarusian Government Vladimir Semashko announced proudly then that Russian local oil processing factories will be supplied with duty-free oil as of January 1. In the beginning of the year, however Belneftekhim Concern had to announce that there is no oil. Firstly the New Year’s holidays were pointed as reason after that spokesperson of the Concern Marina Kostyuchenko told journalist that “the two states are considering pricing issues”. Furthermore, she pointed out that Belarusian oil enterprises are provided with raw stuff. According to source of the edition, however things are not as untroubled as the Concern says.

Higher prices may push Russia Feb oil duty up 8-9 pct

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINLDE70B0KA20110112
Wed, Jan 12 2011

* Export duty may be raised to $344.9-$346.3 from $317.5

* East Siberian duty seen at $136.4-$137.4 from Jan's $117.5

* From Feb.,lower light oil product duty, higher heavy duty

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Russia's oil export duty in February may rise by 8.6-9 percent to $344.9-$346.3 per tonne, a new two-year high, as oil prices continue their winter ascent, according to Finance Ministry figures and Reuters calculations.

The crude oil duty -- a major factor in the financial results of Russia's oil companies -- stands at $317.5 per tonne in January.

The final oil export duty for February will be based on the seaborne Urals URL-E price from Dec. 15 to Jan. 14 inclusive.

U.S. crude for February CLc1 settled above $91 a barrel on Tuesday as the Trans Alaska Pipeline remained closed and cold weather raised demand for heating fuel. [ID:nN11328951]

Finance Ministry official, Alexander Sakovich, told Reuters on Wednesday the price so far, from Dec. 15 to Jan.12, was $91.27 per barrel, up from $85.34 per barrel in the previous period.

"If the oil price stays in the $93-$95 range in the remaining days (of the monitoring period), the final price could total $91.53-$91.83 per barrel," he said by telephone.

Reuters calculations, based on customs tariff regulations and the average oil price estimate, show the February export duty is therefore likely to be set at $344.9-$346.3 per tonne.

The export duty on crude from new fields in East Siberia, which enjoy a lower rate than Russian crude from other production areas, is likely to rise to $136.4-$137.4 per tonne, up from $117.5 in January.

In February export duties on light oil products will be lowered from 72 percent to 67 percent of the crude oil export duty, while fees on heavy oil products will rise to 46.7 percent to stimulate more production of higher grade oil products.

The duty on light refined fuels may rise to $231-$232 per tonne compared to $226.2 per tonne in January. The duty on fuel oil should rise to around $161-$161.7 per tonne, up from $121.9 per tonne in January.

The previous taxation rate of heavy oil totalled 39 percent of the crude oil export duty. (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Jessica Bachman)

Rosneft Offers Russia’s Sokol Crude Oil for March, April Loading

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDhwTzvSv6RQ

Rosneft Oil Co. offered to sell two cargoes of 100,000 metric tons each, or about 1.4 million barrels in total, of Sokol crude from the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia for loading in March and April, said two traders who participate in the market.

Russia to auction Lodochnoye oilfield in Q2-report

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINLDE70B29320110112
Wed, Jan 12 2011

* Siberian field has 43.2 mln tonnes of oil

* Oil needed to fill expanded Pacific pipeline

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Russia is to auction off the mid-sized Lodochnoye oilfield in the second quarter of this year, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a government decision.

The field, in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, has recoverable oil reserves of around 43.2 million tonnes and around 69.8 billion cubic meters of recoverable gas.

State-controlled oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) earlier showed an interest in the field and sources said it had hoped to secure it without an auction.

Lodochnoye is located near Rosneft's larger Vankor field, whose oil is exported via Russia's Pacific port of Kozmino and via the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO) to China.

Russia is planning to increase the capacity of the ESPO pipeline to 50 million tonnes per year from 30 million tonnes, which will force the authorities to source additional oil to fill it.

(Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Willia

Russneft restructures debt

http://www.upstreamonline.com/incoming/article241272.ece

Russian player Russneft restructured $6.2 billion of debt with Sberbank and commodities trader Glencore, extending the loan period to 2020 and lowering the interest rate, the producer said today.

News wires  12 January 2011 18:09 GMT

“The full repayment period is extended until 2020. The annual interest rate from both creditors was lowered to 9%,” the press statement said.

The loans were initially scheduled to fall due between 2015 and 2017, a Russneft press officer told Reuters.

Russneft, in which Russian conglomerate Sistema has a 49% stake, said the lower interest rate will enable it to put $200 million a year toward investment projects aimed at boosting production.

The company produces about 250,000 barrels of oil per day, or 12.4 million tonnes per year. It plans to lift annual volume to 18 million tonnes.

Published: 12 January 2011 18:09 GMT  | Last updated: 12 January 2011 18:09 GMT

13.01.2011

Maritime Border Agreement a Drawback for Russian Oil and Gas – Russian Expert

http://www.oilandgaseurasia.com/news/p/0/news/10296
The Russian-Norwegian agreement on delineation of the Barents Sea is necessary for Russia’s bid to the UN , but a consequence will be that Russian gas will become less competitive on the world market, a Russian scientist believes.

"The agreement is extremely relevant when it comes to Russia’s bid to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf", said Anatoly Vinogradov, Chief Scientific Secretary at Kola Scientific Center to web site Nord-News.ru. Russia not only has to prove that the sea bottom beneath the Arctic Sea is a continuation of the Russian land, but also settle all disputes on delimitation with the U.S. and Norway, Vinogradov explained.

"That’s why the answer to the question if this delineation of the disputed zone in the Barents Sea came at the appropriate time is a clear “yes”, in this aspect. The time had come; there was no more time to continue the discussions", he said.

But on the other side Vinogradov believes that Russia was too indulgent in the negotiations with Norway and lost access to large areas where the possibility of finding natural resources is big. Geological surveys conducted by Russia in the disputed area in the 1980s showed that the Fedynski Ridge might contain some 5.8 trillion cubic meters of gas. After the maritime border agreement this area has been cut in two halves, Vinogradov said.

Earlier Vladimir Selin, Chief Research Scientist at the Kola Science Center, has predicted that Statoil will withdraw from the Shtokman project, now when the Norwegians have got hold on new, more accessible fields in the Barents Sea. Anatoly Vinogradov is of the same opinion, and he also believes that a swift Norwegian start-up of exploitation will make the gas from the harder accessible Shtokman field less competitive when it sometime in the future reaches the world market.

Copyright 2010, Barents Observer. All rights reserved.

Gazprom

01/13 11:31   City of Moscow could sell Sibir Energy stake to Gazprom Neft – sources

http://www.interfax.com/news.asp

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