MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) Foreign oil and gas companies in Russia may have their licenses revoked/Russia to register a new oil brand/Arctic region's uncertain status may damage Russian interests/Who stands at the top of Russia's power pyramid?
Vremya Novostei
Foreign oil and gas companies in Russia may have their licenses revoked
On Thursday, the Russian Natural Resources Ministry said the national environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, had launched an unscheduled check of oil and gas companies developing local deposits whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Two U.K. companies, namely Oil & Gas PLC and Urals Energy, Sweden's Lundin Petroleum and Canada's Heritage Oil were blacklisted.
Deputy Rosprirodnadzor director Oleg Mitvol said the companies did not provide accurate information on their respective projects and mineral deposits to Western investors.
All of them operate in such remote areas as the Komi Republic, in northwestern Russia, the Timan-Pechora oil province in the Arkhangelsk Region, Sakhalin Island, the Republic of Udmurtia in the Volga Region and Eastern Siberia.
They develop relatively small mineral deposits, and their shares have been traded on the LSE or the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) for less than two years. Moreover, Russian investors have bought into them either directly or indirectly.
All problems will have to be resolved in Moscow, because a possible investigation of their operations by the LSE could trigger a major scandal.
Lundin Petroleum, which produces oil and gas in France, Tunisia, the Netherlands, Norway, Venezuela, Indonesia and the U.K., said it had signed a call option agreement with energy giant Gazprom, allowing it to acquire a 50 % (plus one share) controlling stake in the Lagansky Block exploration license in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea.
The Swedish company probably had no alternative, because Moscow would otherwise have revoked its license.
Mitvol said he planned to check several Komi deposits, formerly owned by Valkyries Petroleum, a company taken over by Lundin Petroleum in May 2006. However, the Swedish giant has proved that it can operate successfully in Russia.
RBK Daily
Russia to register a new oil brand
The quality of oil to be exported through the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline (ESPO) will be better than Urals, according to a study made as part of the project, RBK Daily was told at the Industry and Power Ministry.
Officials hope the price of the mix will be higher than what is piped to the West.
The ministry said the study analyzed the quality of the future raw material.
"Specialists have come to the conclusion that it is much higher than in the case of Urals, and that it should be sold at a higher price to fetch additional profits," they said at the ministry. But they did not specify the methods by which they hope to achieve that.
Experts said Russia might register a new oil brand for its ESPO project.
Artyom Konchin from the Aton brokerage believes that the new oil can be given any name, but that its quality will be as high as one of the best Russian brands - Silco.
"Companies, including Rosneft, want to sell oil to China at the highest possible price and would support the new brand," the analyst said.
Neither the Natural Resources Ministry nor the Economic Development and Trade Ministry have commented so far on the possibility of a new brand.
Transneft Vice President Sergei Grigoryev explained to RBK Daily that his company now accepts all grades. He said any oil meeting standard requirements could be pumped through the ESPO pipeline.
Andrei Fedorov from Alfa Bank said the introduction of a new oil brand is always recommended if it differs in quality from existing ones.
"Russia has such brands as Urals, Siberian Light, Rebco, and Sokol, which are shipped from different ports. Now there will be an Asian brand," the analyst said.
China, he said, like Russia, applies the same requirements to oil quality.
It is not yet clear which brand will be pumped through the ESPO line. But Russian oil companies have already expressed their readiness to fill the pipeline to full capacity.
Rosneft has pledged 25 million metric tons beginning in 2009. Other suppliers, said Transneft head Semyon Vainshtok, will be Surgutneftegaz with two million tons from the Talakan deposit, TNK-BP with two million tons from the Verkhnechonsky field (with a possible increase to four million tons), and Urals Energy with 700,000-800,000 tons from the Dulisminsky deposit.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Arctic region's uncertain status may damage Russian interests
The research ship Akademik Fedorov, which set sail on an Arctic voyage in early July, will explore the continental shelf. Russian lawyers, however, are still trying to find convincing arguments to establish control over the vast region.
Professor Kamil Bekyashev, head of the international law chair at the Moscow State Law Academy, commented on some dubious legal aspects. He said the national Maritime Doctrine, approved by President Vladimir Putin, listed the Arctic as a high-priority sector.
Professor Bekyashev said the Arctic abounded in crude oil and natural gas, gold, nickel, diamonds and other valuable minerals.
He said it was still unclear whether Arctic sectors were covered by national jurisdictions or belonged to everyone.
According to Professor Bekyashev, the status of shelf sectors may change due to rapidly melting ice floes and regional climate change.
He mentioned commercial king crab catches, and said foreign fishing vessels would soon start catching salmon, whales and seals.
Professor Bekyashev said Russian interests could be protected by introducing federal legislation that would establish control over the entire ocean surface between Eurasia and the North Pole.
Nobody objected to a similar Canadian law passed in 1925, Professor Bekyashev told the paper.
He said the current UN Maritime Law Convention, passed in 1982, stipulated 350-mile national shelf sectors (minus underwater mountain ranges).
According to Professor Bekyashev, Russia's possible decision to extend its Arctic shelf sector would mean that provisions of the UN Maritime Law Convention apply to it. In that case, other countries would be able to develop mineral deposits beyond the Russian sector.
He said the legal status of the Northeast Passage would also change. An open-sea regime would be established outside 12-mile territorial waters. And Moscow would also have to ensure safe passage for foreign ships, a concept advocated by Washington for the last 40 years.
Russia has proclaimed the Northeast Passage an integral national Arctic route, Professor Bekyashev said.
Gazeta
Who stands at the top of Russia's power pyramid?
According to a poll conducted by the Levada Center, Russians believe Putin and the FSB are the ultimate powers in the country.
People do not understand the principle of the division of power, and do not realize that the executive, legislative and judicial branches must have equal rights.
Russians think that raw power is what rules their country, and so place Putin and security-related bodies at the top of the power hierarchy. The runner-up is money, described in the poll as "oligarchs, bankers and financiers."
It is nice to know that the theory of conspiracy (Zionist or Masonic) is gradually losing ground.
The respondents, who were asked to evaluate the workings of public, political and state institutions, gave top marks to the president. Experts said their opinions are still strongly influenced by television.
"The media have agreed, secretly or openly, that President Putin must not be criticized," said political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin. "That is one of the Kremlin administration's greatest achievements. The economic situation is rather good now, and people tend to thank the president for it."
The FSB and other security-related agencies are given second place. The president's top ranking is based on love, while the prestige of security-related structures rests entirely on fear.
Oreshkin said the media encourage the people to think that Russia is surrounded by enemies bent on undermining its economy.
The armed forces and the government hold third place, closely followed by the prosecutor's office and governors.
The judicial bodies are the outsiders, because Russians do not believe courts can do anything.
"Courts are heavily dependent agencies," a Moscow judge told the popular daily Gazeta. "Judges depend on money and administrative resources, and so seldom pass rulings in favor of ordinary people."
According to the poll, the lower house of parliament (State Duma) and political parties have the least power in the country.
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