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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 25, 2010 16:26:53 GMT -5
Ukraine in talks with U.S. firms to develop Black Sea shelf.
Ukraine is in talks with U.S. companies on joint projects to develop the Black Sea shelf, Ukraine's fuel and energy minister said on Friday.
"It is too soon to make any forecasts now, but we are considering the implementation of these projects... over a period of about four years," Yuriy Boiko said in an interview with government newspaper Uryadovy Kuryer.
He did not name the U.S. companies with which Ukraine is allegedly holding negotiations.
The minister said major changes should take place in the country's oil and gas sector before the end of 2014, including the start of commercial hydrocarbon production on the shelf as well as alternative energy production.
He said the Black Sea shelf had estimated reserves of 3.5 trillion cubic meters of gas, most of which was located in the deepwater part of the shelf starting at a depth of 800 meters.
Boiko said development of such fields required advanced technology and significant financial resources, which Ukraine does not have at present.
KIEV, June 25 (RIA Novosti)
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 28, 2010 11:35:37 GMT -5
Belarus to seek alternative to Russian energy supplies - Lukashenko.
Belarus will seek alternatives to Russian energy supplies, but there will be no war between Minsk and Moscow, President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"We are buying and will buy energy carriers from Russia," Lukashenko said, referring to Russian oil and gas. "No one will fully replace Russia in this respect, but we will gradually seek an alternative."
He added that this year Belarus will import 4 million tons of oil from Venezuela, and 10 million tons next year.
"We have to follow this path, as well as working on the issues of supplying cheap natural gas and other energy carriers to Belarus," he said at a meeting with state officials.
Earlier this month, Belarus and Russian energy giant Gazprom were involved in a dispute over Belarus' refusal to pay Russian-set prices for gas with Gazprom slashing deliveries and Minsk threatening to suspend European transit supplies.
The size of the fees that Gazprom pays for transit to Beltransgaz became the last stumbling block in the conflict. Belarus gas pipeline Beltransgaz CEO Vladimir Mayorov said Monday his company and Gazprom have finalized a supplementary agreement to a gas transit contract and may sign it Wednesday or Thursday.
Lukashenko also said: "No one should proceed from the assumption that we should start an economic war with Russia. This is our longtime, traditional partner."
"If today the Russian leadership took this position, they probably have grounds for that, and we criticize them but have to understand them," he said.
MINSK, June 28 (RIA Novosti)
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Post by boroslav on Jun 28, 2010 16:18:48 GMT -5
If I were him, I would hold a referendum about joining the Russian Federation and think about withdrawing from politics.
But who knows what his ambitions are.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 28, 2010 16:51:08 GMT -5
His ambition is himself.
If he ruled Belarus as a republic within the Russian Federation he won't have much power, because Russia changed things a few years ago or so, so that there are super-regions, each region (and they are few) holds lots of Russian republics, and these regions are by ruled Governors, appointed by Moscow. So that doesn't hold much appeal to Lukashenko.
He would have a regional Governor above himself, and above that, Moscow.
During the 90's n onwards there was an attempt to bind Belarus & Russia together in a monatery union, that Belarus should adopt the ruble. Don't remember how it played out.
He can't join the EU, so he seems to play powers around him for his gain, wonder how long he will last, hopefully Belarus won't morph into a North Korea of Europe...
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Post by pastir on Jun 28, 2010 19:31:02 GMT -5
He was interested in the union when he thought the merger would make him the designated successor to Jelcin.
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 28, 2010 20:10:28 GMT -5
Would he have done a better or worse job than Putin?
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Post by TsarSamuil on Jun 29, 2010 5:28:52 GMT -5
Natural resources in the Arctic (large info graphic, very nice looking too!) en.rian.ru/images/15960/44/159604454.jpgThe territories, continental shelves and exclusive economic zones of eight countries exist within the Arctic: Russia (largest Arctic border), Canada, the United States (Alaska), Norway, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Sweden and Iceland. |
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Post by boroslav on Jun 30, 2010 9:26:18 GMT -5
Would he have done a better or worse job than Putin? I believe at least he would be better for workers, peasants and the poor respectively. |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 7:41:33 GMT -5
Large Infographic, New expedition to ascertain Russian Arctic shelf borders 11:32 14/07/2010 en.rian.ru/images/15980/64/159806412.jpgThe Akademik Fedorov research vessel again departs to explore the Arctic seabed. |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 7:43:16 GMT -5
Russia, Bulgaria sign road map for Bulgarian section of South Stream.
Russia and Bulgaria signed on Friday a road map for the technical and economic assessment of Bulgaria's section of the South Stream gas pipeline, an advisor to the Russian Energy Ministry said.
The document was signed in the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
The South Stream pipeline will transport Russian gas to western Europe bypassing Ukraine. The offshore part, operated by Russia's Gazprom and Italy's ENI, will run for 900 km (559 miles) from Russia's mainland under the Black Sea to the Bulgarian coast and carry up to 63 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
The launch of the gas pipeline is scheduled for December 2015.
Intergovernmental agreements have been signed between Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria for the implementation of the section of the pipeline that will run over land.
Russia and Bulgaria signed an agreement on the South Stream project in January 2008, and both financial and technical preparations were scheduled to be put together by mid-2010.
However, until recently, Bulgaria's participation in the project was uncertain. Borisov announced a suspension in the project when he came to power in summer 2009 and has been making inconsistent statements on the project ever since.
MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti)
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 8:02:04 GMT -5
Infographic, Trans-Balkan Pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis 15:19 06/07/2010 en.rian.ru/images/15970/96/159709673.jpgBurgas-Alexandroupolis is a project between Russia, Greece and Bulgaria to pump Russian and Caspian oil from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupolis. The three countries signed an agreement to build the 280-km (174 mile) Trans-Balkan pipeline in 2007, following several years of talks. |
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 8:30:11 GMT -5
Russia launches Arctic expedition to support shelf claim.
The Russian research vessel Akademik Fedorov will leave Arkhangelsk for a three-month expedition to the Arctic on Wednesday to ascertain the borders of Russia's continental shelf, the expedition's chief said on Tuesday.
"The Akademik Fedorov arrived in Arkhangelsk and will set off for the expedition on July 28. The [the expedition members] will work on the outer edge of the continental shelf. They will research the relief of the bottom in these regions in order to make a claim to the UN to ascertain the outer borders of the Arctic continental shelf," Vladimir Sokolov said.
Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed by Russia in 1997, if a country can prove its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim a right to more of the ocean floor.
If Russia proves that the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge are the extension of the Russian continental shelf, the country will receive the right to the additional 1.2 million square kilometers in the Arctic and to the development of huge oil and gas fields in the triangle between the Chukotka Peninsula, Murmansk and the North Pole. The adjusted Russian claim for the Arctic shelf is expected to be prepared by 2013.
"The main purpose [of the expedition] is depth measuring and seismological survey. The experts of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute will take care of moving the vessel and making the atmosphere and oceanographic observations", Sokolov said.
According to him, the Yamal nuclear icebreaker will accompany the Akademik Fedorov in the Arctic. The vessels will meet in the Barents Sea near the Vilkitsky Strait, Sokolov said.
The expedition will last from 70 to 90 days.
Russia has undertaken two Arctic expeditions - to the Mendeleyev underwater chain in 2005 and to the Lomonosov Ridge in the summer of 2007 - to substantiate its territorial claims in the region.
The vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti)
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 8:43:30 GMT -5
Bulgaria to repay 4.88 mln euro debt for Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline - Transneft.
Bulgaria agreed to repay its 4.88 million euro debt for the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline construction, Transneft Vice President Mikhail Barkov, who participated in recent negotiations in Sofia, said on Monday.
"We have reached an agreement to repay the 4.88 million euro debt. The Bulgarian party has recognized the debt and is ready to repay it," Barkov told RIA Novosti.
Russia, Greece and Bulgaria signed in 2007 an agreement to build a 300-kilometre pipeline from Burgas on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast to Alexandroupolis on the Greek Aegean Sea coast. The capacity of the pipeline is 35 million tons and it may be extended to 50 million tons.
"The Bulgarian partners continue to consider the project as far as profit and ecological risks are concerned, but we believe they understand that it is not reasonable to abandon the project," Barkov said
In June 2010, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov decided that Bulgaria would not participate in the project. Later he said that the Bulgarian government had not made a final decision. His latest statement was that Bulgaria would abandon the project due to its environmental impact.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Bulgaria's debt is divided into corporate debt and debt to shareholders. According to the latest agreements, Bulgaria will first repay the corporate debt because its nonpayment may have a negative impact on the managing company's work. The debt to shareholders will be repaid in allotments with a full repayment happening next year.
Barkov said that another important decision made at the meeting was to present the project's financial model in Moscow at the beginning of August.
MOSCOW, July 26 (RIA Novosti)
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 9:19:07 GMT -5
Russia, Ukraine to consider joint atomic project.
Russian and Ukrainian experts will discuss setting up a joint nuclear generation project on Tuesday, Ukraine's major energy company said.
"A Russian-Ukraine meeting on equipment supplies to power stations in Russia and other countries will take place on July 20, 2010, at the Turboatom headquarters," Turboatom said in statement.
"In addition, the meeting will discuss conditions for the creation of a joint Russian-Ukrainian standard generation unit project to be constructed in a number of countries," the statement added.
The meeting will involve experts from leading Russian and Ukrainian atomic energy companies.
Economic and political ties between Russia and Ukraine have strengthened significantly since Viktor Yanukovych replaced pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko as president in late February.
MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti)
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Post by TsarSamuil on Aug 3, 2010 10:11:50 GMT -5
First Offshore Nuclear Power Plant in the World Launched. Russia-ic.com 12.07.2010 Recently engineers from St. Petersburg celebrated launch of the first offshore nuclear power plant in the world, which was named after a great Russian scientist M. Lomonosov. An offshore nuclear power plant (ONPP) is a low-power energy source, designed with help of Russian technologies of nuclear shipbuilding and aimed at supplying energy to Russians, inhabiting Far North, Far East and other remote territories of the Russian Federation. The ONPP consists of a flush deck non-propelled vessel with two reactors of ice-breaking type. Each reactor has electrical capacity of 35 megawatt and thermal power of 140 gigacalories. The plant can also work as a desalination unit, which is very important for countries with limited fresh water. The plant can work almost anywhere, even in permafrost areas, and doesn’t require many supporting engineers.  The "Akademic Lomonosov" offshore nuclear power plant |
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