Russia 111115 Basic Political Developments
Middle East Quartet urges Israel, PNA to resume direct talks
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Middle East Quartet urges Israel, PNA to resume direct talkshttp://en.rian.ru/world/20111115/168705877.html 07:25 15/11/2011 TEL AVIV, November 15 (RIA Novosti)The Quartet of mediators in the Middle East peace process called on Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct negotiations without delay and preconditions, the United Nations said. The Quartet, comprising the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States, resumed the talks this September with an aim to bring the two sides to the negotiating table after bilateral talks stalled last year. The negotiation process came to a halt in September 2010 over Israel's refusal to extend its ten-month freeze for settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories. The sides "discussed with the parties their development of proposals on territory and security, called on them to create a conducive environment for restarting talks and urged them to refrain from provocative actions," the UN News Centre said. The Quartet envoys "continued to encourage the parties to resume direct bilateral negotiations without delay or preconditions," the UN said. The next such meeting is scheduled to take place in December. 06:05 15/11/2011ALL NEWS
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/271935.html KIEV, November 15 (Itar-Tass) — Ukraine will benefit from the transition to rouble settlements for Russian natural gas supplies, the first Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk believes. “I think the rouble payments for natural gas will be beneficial for Ukraine. It is easier to collect roubles than dollars, it’s the first thing. Second, we can quicker accumulate foreign exchange reserves in dollars, in euros, and pay in roubles,” Kravchuk said on local television on Monday evening. On November 2, Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Boiko said that Kiev could transfer to settlements with Gazprom for imported gas in Russian roubles already this month. On October 26, Ukraine and Russia reached an agreement on the possibility of transferring to settlements in roubles for gas consumed by Ukraine. It was noted in the report of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) that “the reached agreements provide for the Ukrainian side a possibility to manoeuvre in making payments for imports, in particular, natural gas, as well as helps avoid fluctuations on the foreign exchange market in case of making payments with the Russian Federation subjects.” Ukraine is planning to start paying for Russian natural gas in roubles from November or December, chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Sergei Arbuzov said earlier. According to Arbuzov, there is a preliminary agreement on transfer to rouble-denominated settlements. He does not rule out that the "upcoming payment for the supplies of natural gas in October" might be effected in roubles, but most likely, rouble-denominated payments for gas will begin in December. The National Bank chairman explained that the contracts with Russia would not be amended due to the plans to transfer to rouble payment and that the parties would only sign addenda to the document. At present, Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy are in talks over the issue, while the finance ministries of the two countries and the national banks of Russia and Ukraine have already discussed the essentials. Ukraine’s chief banker is confident that there will be no problems with rouble payments. The roubles is a freely convertible currency, so there cannot be questions here, he said. He is hoping that in the future, both countries will transfer to rouble-denominated settlements not just in gas trade, but also in other fields. Russia may cut gas price for Ukraine to $220-230/tcm, local paper says http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text17791 Dragon
News: The daily Ekonomicheskie Izvestia wrote today, citing a source at the presidential office, that Ukraine succeeded in negotiating a lower gas price of $220-230/tcm with Russia. The report said Ukraine in exchange offered Russia undisclosed preferences in privatizing Ukrainian assets. (Economicheskie Izvestiya) Dragon view: The mooted price range is quite low given that Ukraine currently pays Russia more than $400/tcm and Belarus, a member of a Russia-led customs union, has reportedly negotiated $288/tcm for next year. It is unclear what other concessions Ukraine may offer but we think they should at least include a JV with Gazprom to manage UkraineÕs gas transportation system (possibly to be created over the next six months) and, very likely, giving Gazprom access to local industrial consumers. Should the reported gas price be confirmed, it will be very beneficial for both UkraineÕs external position and domestic oil and gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy. Importing 40 bcm of gas annually, Ukraine will be able to cut its import bill by $8bn, thus narrowing the current account deficit (but one should factor in potential loss in revenues from gas transit services, which could be as much as $1.7bn). Ukraine should also be able to preserve Russian gas transit volumes, significantly mitigating the risk of Gazprom proceeding with the South Stream project. Finally, Naftogaz will become less dependent on government subsidies to compensate it for below-cost gas sales to households. EU against Russian gas conglomeratehttp://rt.com/business/news/eu-russian-gas-energy-341/ Published: 15 November, 2011, 11:05 Edited: 15 November, 2011, 11:05 The world’s leading gas exporters are urging European consumer countries not to hamper the development of gas infrastructure with punitive regulations. The Third Energy Package is among the issues to be discussed at the summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. A new EU directive, known as the Third Energy Package, requires the separation of production, transportation and sales. Russia's Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko said that the Russian delegation plans to express its position on Europe's Third Energy Package, which he maintains has been initiated against Russian suppliers in order to manipulate prices for the Russian gas. "At the previous meeting following Russia's initiative the Gas Exporting Countries Forum expressed in its statement concern over the restrictions imposed by the Third Energy Package," the Russian minister said. Shmatko added that gas consumers should support the suppliers to maintain sustainable gas deliveries. “The conditions of the third energy package mostly target pipeline gas. That’s why we think the package is against Russia, against increasing supplies from our country. So we will always maintain a principled position. As for the other exporters, such as Qatar, Algeria and Iran, they all say that the countries consuming gas should not hamper, but help producers create an infrastructure to ensure deliveries. Our task is to ensure a normal stable floor for gas exporting countries in these uneasy times."Shmatko said. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the law could hinder the country's energy cooperation with Europe. NOVEMBER 15, 2011
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