Gazprom to invest up to $420 billion in projects by 2020

June, 2008

Russian energy giant Gazprom intends to invest between 8 and 10 trillion rubles ($338-422 billion) in a range of projects between 2009 and 2020, a company spokesman said on Monday. "According to our forecasts, investment will be between eight and ten trillion rubles by 2020, and annual investment is estimated at some 700 billion rubles," Sergei Pankratov, the head of Gazprom's further development department, said during a briefing. He said most of the funds would be invested in transportation projects. He also said that no more than 30% of the sum would be invested in production. Up until 2013, new projects related to development on the Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia, which holds Russia's largest natural gas reserves, and on the continental shelf, will be the main target for investment, the official said. The company plans to increase its annual natural gas output by 100 billion cubic meters by 2020 via its new projects, which are expected to account for about a half of Gazprom's gas production by that time. The company produced 548.6 billion cubic meters of gas in 2007, and expects a 2.3% rise this year.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/business/20080616/110680377.html

In related news:

Gazprom expects $64 bln gas sales outside CIS in 2008

Gazprom plans to export over 163 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth an estimated $64 billion to non-CIS countries this year, the Russian gas monopoly said on Wednesday. The average export price is expected to stand at $401 per 1,000 cu m. The company delivered 150.5 billion cu m of gas to central and western Europe in 2007, a 0.4% decline on the previous year due to the warm winter. However, sales revenue increased 5% to a record $39.5 billion last year, with the average export price at $272.8 per 1,000 cu m. In 2007, natural gas accounted for 13% of income from Russian exports.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/business/20080618/111033802.html

Russian TNK-BP partners wanted 7.6% stake in BP - paper

Four Russian billionaire shareholders in TNK-BP sought to swap their 50% in the joint oil venture for a 7.6% stake in the British oil major, a Russian business daily said on Monday. Kommersant said the Russian partners could get 7.6% in BP, whose market value is estimated at $215.5 billion. Its Russian venture is estimated at $32.8 billion. Viktor Vekselberg, one of four Russian investors in the joint venture, said as quoted by Kommersant that BP had rejected the proposal, as well as the investors' other demands on management and strategy. The Russian oligarchs have demanded equal board representation, a cut in TNK-BP's foreign staff and the replacement of CEO Robert Dudley, who they accuse of putting British oil major BP's interests ahead of those of TNK-BP, including in oil projects abroad. AAR - the consortium of Russian investors, also including German Khan, Mikhail Fridman and Len Blavatnik - said on Wednesday it would sue BP, which holds the other 50% in TNK-BP, for attempts to seize control in the joint venture. BP Chairman Peter Sutherland said last week the Russian partners had resorted to methods used by Russia's corporate raiders to wrest control of the company. Russian media reports on Monday quoted Vekselberg and Fridman as saying the asset swap was not longer being discussed. "No way! The sale [of the 50% stake] is out of the question today. When the conflict is resolved, we will see," Vekselberg said. Fridman said: "Any price [for the stake] proposed today would not correspond to the company's value in the future. TNK-BP has enormous growth prospects given the planned cuts in tax burden for oil producers in Russia and growing oil prices...," he said. Set up in 2003, TNK-BP is Russia's third largest producer. It accounts for a quarter of BP's overall output. Fridman said the Russian shareholders' proposals were still on the table, but no new talks have been scheduled. AAR plans legal action in the international arbitration court in Stockholm and in Russia.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080616/110665629.html

Blair Wants Partnership with Russia

Great Britain and the United States will make a serious mistake if they do not form a strategic partnership with Russia, former British prime minister Tony Blair said today at the 12th annual investors’ conference in Moscow. He added that he thinks the Russian economy has not exhausted its potential for development and may continue to grow. Blair acknowledged “certain difficulties” in British-Russian relations of late, but said that Britain and the West had to take into consideration how Russia has changed in the last ten years when tackling those problems. The former prime minister also told conference attendees in Moscow that shifting centers of political and economic influence in the East are not a threat to Western countries. Rather, the process creates new opportunities for developed countries. European countries must think about attracting investors’ money, including those in the Middle East, to their countries. He said that one sovereign fund in the Persian Gulf was four times larger than the annual budget of Israel, and should be encouraged to reinvest in Europe. Blair explained that the new centers of influence in recent years are not only China and India. They include the Middle East and Russia as well.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-12700/r_...mic_relations/