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Industrial Output Jumps - Production rose an annual 6.7 percent, compared with 6.6 percent in the previous month, the State Statistics Service said Wednesday.
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Russian Economy Ministry Cuts 2010 GDP Forecast (Update1) - Russia’s recovery from last year’s 7.9 percent contraction was hindered by a record heat wave, which hobbled agricultural output, forced some manufacturers to halt production and crimped consumer demand. The economy will be able to fully overcome its "crisis contraction" by the end of next year, Klepach said.
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Russia May Produce 4.5 Million Tons of Poultry, Interfax Says
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions -
Russian Corruption Hurting Stock Prices, Micex’s Chief Says
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New York, London Exchanges Seek Moscow Tie-Up, Micex Chief Says
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Polyus Gold, Rosneft, Sberbank: Russian Equity Market Preview
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Russian Stocks Snap Three Days of Gains on Crude, European Debt
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Floating-Rate Debt Favored as Inflation Quickens: Russia Credit
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Boeing May Win $5 Billion Order From Aeroflot, Vedomosti Says
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Aeroflot to buy 20 long-haul Boeings
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RUSAL sees spot aluminium at $2,400-2,500/T in 2011
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Uralkali Said to Be Near Accord to Buy Potash Producer Silvinit
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Russia: Putin advised of potash producers' merger
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Norlisk Nickel: "We own the Honeymoon Well project"
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Trans-Siberian Gold production start pushed back
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DJ Eurasia Mining: Monchetundra License Extended To December 2012
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Siemens is expanding in the Russian financial market - Siemens intends to acquire the Russian leasing finance company delta of the managed by Delta Private Equity Partners, U.S. Russia Investment Fund.
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Sberbank reportedly interested in bidding for Volksbanken AG's Eastern Europe unit
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Interview with VTB's CEO
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VTB hires three bankers for corporate and investment team
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The Moscow city government will spend 200 billion rubles ($6.5 billion) a year on transportation infrastructure starting in 2011, will announce $6 billion of tenders for goods and services next year, and welcomes foreign investors, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
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VTB Group hopes to gain control of Bank of Moscow in the first half of 2011, RIA-Novosti reported. (Bloomberg)
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Tatneft said Wednesday that nine-month profit slumped 35 percent on taxes and foreign exchange losses, with net income falling to 30.4 billion rubles ($989 million) from 46.4 billion rubles, and sales rose 24 percent to 338 billion rubles. (Bloomberg)
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The inflation rate will be 8.3 percent to 8.5 percent this year, compared with an earlier government forecast for a 7 percent to 8 percent pace, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
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DRB-Hicom, a Malaysian auto and financial services group, signed an provisional agreement with KamAZ to assemble and distribute its right-hand drive trucks, the Business Times reported Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
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Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said a natural gas pipeline to China might cost $14 billion to build, Interfax reported Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) -
Gas transport tariffs to rise 12.5% in 2011 - The Federal Tariff Service (FTS) plans to raise the tariff that Gazprom charges independent producers for gas transportation by 12.5%, an official told Interfax.
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Rosneft, Calik agree 50/50 JV for bunkering ops
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Russia, Turkey could agree Samsun-Ceyhan parameters by mid-March - Sechin
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Turkish, Russian firms sign oil cooperation deal - Calik Holding and Rosneft, Russia's state oil company, have agreed to establish a partnership company for oil trade in Turkey and the Mediterranean.
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Rosneft President sees foreign partner by 2014-Ifax - Rosneft President Khudainatov says firm undervalued ; Needs 2-3 years before attracting strategic foreign partner
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Lukoil president signs cooperation deal with Ivano-Frankivsk governor
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Russian-Ukrainian joint venture on gas extraction to give profit to both
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Russia's Sakhalin–1 Natural Gas Development
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Rosneft, Lukoil keen to explore oil, gas in India
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Caspian pipeline capacity to rise
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CPC in $5.4Bln Bid To Double Capacity
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CPC to double capacity - but where will the oil go? - A signing ceremony in Moscow on Wednesday saw the Caspian Pipeline Consortium approve a plan to double the capacity of its oil route from Kazakhstan to Novorossiisk on the Black Sea, depiste some confusion over where the extra crude will go from there, reports Platts.
Gazprom -
Gazprom gets 50% of Bulgarian South Stream gas pipeline JV
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Gazprom reduces debt load in 2010 versus late 2009
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Gazprom CEO provides capex estimates for Altai export pipeline to China
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Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
START TREATY
Senate ready to talk about renewing arms treaty with Russia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/15/AR2010121507471.html
By Mary Beth Sheridan and Felicia Sonmez
Thursday, December 16, 2010
After months of wrangling over the future of the U.S. atomic-weapons complex, the Senate voted Wednesday to take up a new nuclear arms-reduction treaty with Russia, opening debate on a pact that President Obama regards as critical to his foreign-policy agenda.
The Senate decided 66 to 32 to proceed, far more than the simple majority required. But the roll call was seen as somewhat of a proxy for the final vote, when the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) will need a supermajority of 67 votes to pass.
Treaty supporters were heartened to get the vote of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), an influential Republican who has been courted by the White House, as well as those of eight other Republicans. New START needs at least nine Republican votes for ratification.
But it will have to survive a gantlet of proposed amendments in coming days, many of which could effectively kill the treaty. Key Republicans rebuked the Senate leadership for squeezing the debate into the waning days of the lame-duck session, with one calling it a "last-minute Christmastime stunt."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that as long as the legislative process proceeds correctly, "I believe we will get additional votes" to pass the treaty.
The White House has characterized New START as critical to U.S. national security, and it has won the support of every living secretary of state, as well as numerous current and retired military officers. Ratification would be one of Obama's main foreign-policy achievements.
The treaty would cap deployed long-range warheads at 1,550 each for the United States and Russia, a reduction of up to 30 percent. It would also reestablish a 15-year-old system in which each country inspects the other's nuclear stockpile, which U.S. military officials consider a guarantor of stability. A similar system ended last year when the START 1 treaty expired.
Treaty opponents say they want to ensure that the Obama administration carries through on its promise to spend billions more on upgrading the aging American nuclear complex. Critics also worry about the pact's possible effect on the development of a U.S. missile-defense system. And some believe that the Russians will cheat.
Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), appearing with 11 other Republican senators, told reporters that it was "not a good idea" to call up New START for debate before the Senate votes on funding the government in 2011: "There are very important ramifications [of the treaty] that need to be thoroughly considered with appropriate amendments."
Earlier, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had threatened to postpone consideration of the treaty by forcing it to be read in its entirety on the Senate floor. The treaty, with annexes, exceeds 300 pages.
His comment brought a barrage of criticism from Democrats and the White House. "This is a new low in putting political stunts ahead of our national security, and it is exactly the kind of Washington game-playing that the American people are sick of," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
But after the Senate voted to open debate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, "Our view is that it is not essential" to read the document on the floor.
Democrats rejected the argument that there wasn't enough time to consider New START, noting that similar treaties had been concluded in a few days in past decades. At a news conference, Kerry noted that votes on this treaty had been postponed several times already at Republicans' request. A Kerry aide heaved two volumes the size of Manhattan phone books onto a dais; they were the questions senators had submitted on New START.
"Nine hundred questions were filed and asked and answered by the administration," Kerry said. Putting off consideration of the treaty until next year would be "a recipe for endless delay on a matter of enormous national security significance," he said.
Democrats acknowledged, however, that it would be harder to pass the treaty next year. Because of Democratic losses in the November midterm elections, passage would require at least 14 Republican votes in the next Congress.
sheridanm@washpost.com sonmezf@washpost.com
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