Russian today
TachiYan
Russia_Today_1_6__1_.pptx
The president of Russia is considered the head of the state and the government, while the prime minister serves as his deputy (the equivalent of a Vice President in the United States of America). They are co-heads of the government, and they both belong to the same political party – United Russia (though Putin ran as an independent in 2018).
The president of Russia has a central role in the government’s political system. The president mainly influences the executive branch’s activities. He also appoints the prime minister and other members of the government, chairs the cabinet’s meetings, and gives orders to his deputy and other members regarding governance. He can also revoke any act or law passed by the government.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (left) with Russian President Vladimir Putin (right)
“Russia needs to radically overhaul its administrative and judicial systems and embrace new technology otherwise economic stagnation could threaten its security, Vladimir Putin’s chief adviser on economic reform has warned.
Alexei Kudrin, the former finance minister, was asked by Mr Putin last year to come up with a new strategy for economic policymaking for the next term, following the president’s planned re-election next year.
Outlining his plans on Friday, Mr Kudrin said: “We have come to face the problem that Russia has fallen behind technologically in the world. That, in my view, is the most serious challenge we face in the coming 10 to 15 years.”
Financial Times, Jan 13, 2017
Alexei Kudrin
Kudrin…
“We will struggle with diminishing defense potential and threats to national sovereignty if we don’t become a technological power. Even military experts say that technological challenges facing Russia are bigger than geopolitical and military ones,” Mr Kudrin said.
“Our entire foreign policy should be subordinated to the task of technological development.”
Russia is popularly known as the world’s second largest natural gas producer and the 3rd largest oil producer. The country has a large number of major oil and gas companies. Most of the top oil companies in Russia have continued to maintain significant downstream and upstream gas and oil operations. This includes retail service stations, exploration and production divisions and petroleum refineries.
This is the largest oil company in Russia. Reports show that the company produced around 1.5 billion barrels of oil in the year 2014. Besides, the company is also ranked as the 3rd largest natural gas company in the world with a production of more than 347 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company’s market capitalization is around $38.7 billion which automatically makes it the highest valued gas and oil company. Rosneft operates 13 refineries in the country and has shown tremendous interest in around seven refineries based in Eastern and Western Europe. The company maintains exploration and production operation in countries such as Canada, Vietnam, USA, Norway and Brazil, among others. Rosneft has been the leading supplier of jet fuel in Russia.
Rosneft
Lukoil
The company is the 2nd largest oil and gas producer in the country. In 2014, Lukoil produced almost 707 million barrels of oil. Its Natural gas production is estimated to be more than 90 million BOE* every year. Its Market Capitalization is valued at 27.7 billion dollars.
The company operates in 12 different countries across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Besides, Lukoil runs power generation facilities as well as gasoline service stations in Russia, USA and Europe. The Company’s petrochemical and refining operations include six refineries in Russia as well as five refineries in Europe and New Zealand.
*Typically 5,800 cubic feet of natural gas or 58 CCF are equivalent to one BOE. The USGS gives a figure of 6,000 cubic feet (170 cubic meters) of typical natural gas. A commonly used multiple of the BOE is the kilo barrel of oil equivalent (kboe or kBOE), which is 1,000BOE.
Gazprom Neft
The company produced approximately 482 million barrels of oil in 2014 and 104 million BOE Natural gas.
Gazprom runs four refineries in Russia and one refinery in Belarus.
Gazprom Neft is one of the subsidiaries of Gazprom – a Russian energy giant. Gazprom holds more than 95% of its shares, while the government holds 50% of Gazprom’s outstanding shares. Gazprom Neft has production operation in Russia, Venezuela, Iraq and other countries. Its market capitalization is around $10.5 billion.
Joint ventures
Gazprom – Nord Stream 2
http:// www.dw.com / en /nord-stream-2-financing-takes-shape/a-38568823
April 24, 2017
February 21, 2018
Financial Times – March 1, 2018 - Henry Foy in Moscow and Ed Crooks in New York
“ExxonMobil is abandoning most of its joint ventures with Rosneft, walking away from a partnership promising big new projects in areas including the Arctic and the Black Sea that were once important growth prospects but have been hit by US sanctions. The US energy group said in its annual 10-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission late on Wednesday that it had decided to give up the ventures in 2017 and expected to withdraw formally this year, leaving the Russian state-controlled oil group to work alone. Some of the agreements called for Exxon to carry out exploration by 2020-23, and the decision to walk away is an implicit admission that the company was unlikely to be able to make enough progress to meet those deadlines.”
Exxon & Rosneft
“Exxon and Rosneft struck a series of agreements that were reported to entail investments of as much as $500bn in exploration projects in the Russian Arctic, shale oilfields in Siberia and deep water in the Black Sea. Rosneft said on Thursday that the projects had reserves of 12.3bn tons of oil and 15.2tn cubic meters of gas.
The partnership, formed after the collapse of a similar deal between Rosneft and BP, was seen as a strategic coup for Rex Tillerson, then chief executive of Exxon and now* US secretary of state.”
*fired by
Trump 3/2018
Joint Ventures with Japanese
“The establishment of a joint venture is a practical step aimed at implementing previously reached agreements on the development of cooperation within the framework of the Russian-Japanese investment platform, whose aim is to attract Japanese capital to projects in the advanced development zones (ASEZ) and the Free Port of Vladivostok (SPV).
The joint venture will become a “single window” for Japanese investors and provide comprehensive support to the Japanese business, including information support, business planning, interaction with state authorities at all stages of the implementation of projects: from obtaining the status of ASEZ or FPV resident to commissioning new enterprises.
These joint initiatives are aimed at the introduction of modern and efficient technologies, import substitution and products export. In particular, Japanese investors are interested in building medical centers, woodworking enterprises and building materials factories as well as in expanding the capacities of existing agricultural complexes in the Russian Far East.
“I am sure that the Russian-Japanese investment platform will become part of the unique ecosystem created by the state for investors in the Russian Far East. Having such a strong international partner as JBIC* will allow us to involve its extensive business relations and attract additional private capital from Japan to the projects in the zones of advanced development and free port of Vladivostok”, FEBRDF CEO Alexei Chekunkov said.
*The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is a public financial institution owned by the Japanese government.
Joint venture sets model for China-Russia cooperation in energy field
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-07-03 11:16
MOSCOW — On the vast east European plain 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow, lines of pumping machines stand on the green grassland. It is the location of Udmurtia Petroleum Corp (UDM), an energy joint venture between Russia and China.
The UDM was bought out by China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, and Russian oil giant Rosneft in August 2006.
Rosneft took a 51 percent stake and Sinopec 49 percent in the UDM, which is China's first and only oil field project in production in Russia.
Located in Udmurtia, a republic in western Russia, the UDM is the republic's largest oil corporation, with 32 oil fields and a daily production capacity of 17,000 metric tons.
Russia became China’s largest supplier of crude oil on an annual basis in 2016, dislodging Saudi Arabia from the position it had held every year since 2001 (except for 2007 when Angola occupied the number one slot). Russia will almost certainly remain a major oil supplier to China for at least the next decade for reasons of infrastructure, supply deals and politics.
Pipeline Construction: Over the past decade, Russia and China developed the pipeline infrastructure necessary to deliver large volumes of crude to China.
Long-term Supply Contracts: China and Russia also inked two long-term supply agreements, both of which were partially motivated by Russian energy companies’ need for cash.
Emergence of New Chinese Buyers: In 2015, Beijing granted China’s independent refineries, most of which are located in Shandong province, direct access to imported crude. This change in policy essentially created a new country’s worth of crude oil import demand. Russia quickly became a popular crude supplier to the independent refineries because the short transit distance from Kozmino (compared to Persian Gulf ports)
Russian Crude Oil Production – 2008 - 18
Exports of crude oil and petroleum products represented nearly 70% of total Russian petroleum liquids production in 2016. Russia’s oil and natural gas industry is a key component of Russia’s economy, with revenues from oil and natural gas activities—including exports—making up 36% of Russia’s federal budget revenues.
Crude oil trade is important to both Russia and Europe: about 70% of Russia’s crude oil exports in 2016 went to European countries, particularly the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Belarus. Similarly, Russian imports provided more than one-third of the total crude oil imported to European members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Outside of Europe, China was the largest recipient of Russia’s 2016 crude oil exports, receiving 953,000 b/d, or about 18%, of Russia’s total crude oil exports. Russia was the largest supplier of crude oil to China in 2016, surpassing Saudi Arabia for the first time on an annual basis.
Crude Oil Prices – 20 year perspective
The current price of WTI crude oil as of March 13, 2018 is $60.91 per barrel.
