Vedomosti
Gazprom Plays BASF Off Against E.ON Ruhrgas
Gazprom, Russia's natural gas monopoly, has promised to give Germany's Wintershall (a subsidiary 100% owned by BASF) a 50% stake in the Yuzhno-Russkoye natural gas field, which is one of the largest in Russia (Yamal-Nenets autonomous area; 700 billion cubic meters of natural gas). In return, Vedomosti writes, Gazprom will increase its current 35% stake in Wingas, a German gas trader, which is a joint venture of Gazprom and Wintershall.
Relying on the new alliance, Gazprom will have a stronger position in negotiations with E.ON Ruhrgas whom the Russian gas monopoly wants to talk into selling some European gas assets.
Gazprom board chairman Alexei Miller and his BASF counterpart Jurgen Hambrecht announced in Hanover yesterday the exchange of 15% in Wingas for 50% minus one share in Severneftegazprom (a subsidiary 100% owned by Gazprom; the license holder for Yuzhno-Russkoye). Gazprom also said it would join BASF in the North European Pipeline project.
A manager in Gazprom described the exchange deal as profitable. "This will give us a stronger position in talks with E.ON Ruhrgas, our main competitor on the German market, for acquiring some of its Hungarian gas assets," he said, recalling that E.ON Ruhrgas was also seeking a share in Yuzhno-Russkoye.
Analysts suggest that Gazprom will strengthen its standing on the German gas market by playing its competitors off against each other.
E.ON board chairman Wulf H. Bernotat, in addition to his last summer's remarks that his company was ready to sell its Gazprom shares (E.ON owns 6.4% in Gazprom) in return for a share in Yuzhno-Russkoye, recently warned other companies against joining the Russian project. Meanwhile, Miller says talks with E.ON Ruhrgas on Yuzhno-Russkoye are still under way.
"E.ON had eight months to decide whether to join the Yuzhno-Russkoye project," said a manager with Wintershall. "Now that it has failed to do so, E.ON will have to negotiate with us as well as with the Russian company, and we will decide together whether we need any third party in the project."
Gazeta
Soyuz Rockets To Be Launched From South America
On April 11, Russia's Federal Space Agency and Arianespace of France signed a contract on building a launch facility for Russia's Soyuz-ST launch vehicles at the Kourou space center (French Guiana), Gazeta reports.
The first Soyuz rocket is to be launched from Kourou in 2008, Vyacheslav Davidenko, a spokesman for the Federal Space Agency, said.
The Federal Space Agency's officials are sure that Kourou launches will help Russia save money. As Kourou is close to the Equator, each Soyuz launcher will be able to orbit four-ton payloads rather than the 1.5-ton payloads that the launch vehicles currently take to space from Baikonur. This means up to $60 million will be saved per launch.
Federal Industry Agency chief Boris Alyoshin believes that Soyuz launches will provide Russian companies with contracts worth a billion euros in the next five to six years. Arianespace has already received the first communications-satellite launch contract, a Federal Space Agency source added.
However, experts are skeptical about the Federal Space Agency's plans. Russia will obviously profit from Kourou launches to some extent. However, Igor Afanasyev, an expert on space technology, said communications satellites are now becoming heavier and more dependable and most telecommunications agencies already operate such satellites. Afanasyev believes that there are no guarantees that Russia will be able to make three or four launches a year.
Experts are sure that manned launches cannot be transferred from Baikonur to Kourou in the next few years, as the latter does not have the required high-safety infrastructure for manned space flights. In January 2004, Vladimir Putin and President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an agreement on extending the lease on Baikonur until 2050. Russia will have to pay $115 million each year even if it launches some commercial spacecraft from Kourou, and military satellites from Plesetsk in northern Russia.
Izvestia
Russian Railways Signs Biggest Contract In Its History
Gennady Fadeyev, the president of Russian Railways (RZhD), and Klaus Kleinfeld, chairman of the Managing Board of Siemens AG, signed a contract on a joint development of high-speed rail traffic in Russia at the International Hanover Fair yesterday. The contract is estimated to be worth €1.5 billion. The first high-speed train is to start running between Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2007, Izvestia reports.
Under the contract, RZD expects to acquire up to 60 high-speed trains capable of running at 300km per hour, which means they will cover the 640km between Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2 hours and 49 minutes. Some of the orders to make new trains will go to Russian firms.
Transportation System Group will implement the agreement for Siemens. RZhD will spend about 10 billion rubles ($1 = 27.79 rubles) on buying the trains until 2007 and the first express will run between Russia's two biggest cities. RZhD will also invest 14.8 billion rubles in developing the infrastructure to ensure rail safety and will build traffic junctions in the Leningrad and Moscow regions. By 2008 the RZhD will already have four high-speed trains, and they may start running between St. Petersburg and Helsinki. Fadeyev says high-speed trains will also be used in other regions, including Siberia, and in the CIS, when the vehicles become available.
RZhD expects to recoup its expenses in nine years, while total profits in the first 30 years of operating the fast trains have been put at 100 billion rubles. The company forecasts that by 2010 its trains will carry 9.1 million people every year between Moscow and St. Petersburg. RZhD expects to beat off competition on this route from airlines by reducing travel time. However, no approximate ticket prices have been made public so far.
Vremya Novostei/Vedomosti/Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Khodorkovsky Makes Final Statement In Court
The Yukos trial is over. Yesterday the company's former chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky made his final statement to the Moscow court. Vremya Novostei, Vedomosti and Nezavisimaya Gazeta pick up the theme.
What happened after his arrest could be described only as "the planned and consistent destruction of Yukos organized by certain powerful people to grab a prosperous company or, to be more exact, its profits," Khodorkovsky said. The oil giant's former head said he had been imprisoned to prevent him from stopping the looting of the company.
"It is no secret that the Yukos cases have increased capital flight from the country six-fold," Khodorkovsky said. "Let those who masterminded it bear all the responsibility."
In describing his criminal case as political, the businessman explained that President Putin had been "misled." "I did not intend to become president," he assured the court.
"Everyone knows that I am innocent of the crimes I am accused of. So I do not intend to plea for leniency," the former billionaire concluded.
Alexei Makarkin, the deputy general director of the Center for Political Technologies, believes that the substance and wording of Khodorkovsky's final statement only prove that the point of return in his relations with the authorities was left behind long ago and he does not expect to be acquitted, or given either a suspended or short sentence. The expert believes that, as it no longer makes sense to think about saving the company, which is in fact a bankrupt, Khodorkovsky "is acting for history" and his own political career.
The judges will announce their verdict on April 27, although lawyers expected them to do so in May. Khodorkovsky's lawyer Yury Schmidt says that there has probably been an order to announce the verdict before Western leaders come to Russia to celebrate Victory Day, so that by the time they arrive the first reactions, comments and controversies related to the ruling will have blown over.
Kompaniya
Lukoil Treads On Gazprom's Turf
Russia's leading oil company, LUKoil, is entering the natural gas business with its first major project on the Nakhodkinskoye field, the Yamal-Nenets autonomous area, where the company plans to produce up to 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas by the end of 2006. In 2007, the field will work at its full capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year, writes the weekly Kompaniya.
Natural gas production has not played a major role in LUKoil's operations. It currently produces 7 billion cubic meters per year, 4.5 billion cubic meters of which is petroleum gas as a by-product from oil sites. Within 10 years, LUKoil plans to raise the share of natural gas in its business to a third of the overall turnover, while it aims to produce 45.8 billion cubic meters in the long term. LUKoil currently has 1.1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, while Gazprom, the national gas monopoly, has 26 trillion. LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov says the company's capital investment in natural gas projects could reach $3.5 billion.
Meanwhile, LUKoil's core business is flourishing. It is No. 1 in Russia in terms of proven reserves and production. Moreover, for five years Lukoil has been compensating for production with growing reserves, which reached a surplus of 3.5% last year.
However, with the oil business leaving little prospects for the future - Anatoly Ledovskikh, head of the Federal Agency for Natural Resources Management, recently said that oil production in Russia would stop being profitable after 2015, and oil wells operating today could become severely depleted from 2010 - gas production is seen as a more stable activity. Ledovskikh said gas reserves could last for 70 years given current production rates.
Accordingly, the threat of depletion of West Siberia, Russia's oil heartland, has forced LUKoil to tread on Gazprom's turf. In fall 2003, LUKoil agreed to sell Gazprom gas produced at Nakhodkinskoye until 2007. The gas giant will buy about 4.5 billion cubic meters at $22.5 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Russian Kliper Could Fly Into Space In 5 Years
In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Igor Khamits, the head of the Energia rocket corporation's manned spacecraft design section, said that a new manned craft, the Kliper, could be launched in the next five years if the financing is found.
A life-size model of the craft can now be found behind a steel door inside one of the Energia's shops.
The new spacecraft will be launched using a Zenith rocket rather than a Soyuz. This means that it can eventually lift from the Sea Launch platform (Pacific Ocean) that belongs to Russia, Ukraine and the United States. The Kliper will lift off straight from the Equator and soon dock with the International Space Station. It currently takes a spacecraft more than 24 hours to reach a preset orbit and to link up with the ISS.
Meanwhile the emergency rescue system can save the crew anytime during the flight.
The Kliper has three braking parachutes, but the crew will land safely even if only one opens. This spacecraft will use landing gear or air cushion technology when it returns to Earth.
The descent module will turn over like a life buoy if the Kliper splashes down and the crew will climb out of one of its two hatches. Moreover, the Kliper features viewers so crewmembers can assess the terrain when they come in to land.
The Kliper is as comfortable as a medium-size yacht, Khamits said, and cosmonauts can stand at full height inside.
Design work on the Kliper started four years ago and the first blueprints were completed a year ago.
