Gazprom 30-year bond postponed - market source

(Reuters) - The Russian gas export monopoly had already scrapped on
Wednesday its plans to issue 10-year paper as part of the same
deal, due to volatile market conditions.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Chevron-Led Caspian Pipeline Group Faces $290 Million Russian Tax Claim

(Bloomberg) -- The Chevron Corp.-led Caspian
Pipeline Consortium received a $290 million back-tax claim from
Russian authorities for 2004 and 2005.

The venture is challenging the claim alongside similar
back-tax claims for previous years in the Moscow City Court,
Olesia Kuznetsova, a spokeswoman for the Caspian Pipeline
Consortium, said by phone in Moscow today. The claim was levied
by Russia's Federal Tax Service, she said.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Russia's Mordashov eyes Power Machines buy -media

(Reuters) - Germany's Siemens holds 25 percent plus one share
in Power Machines and had sought to buy control in the firm, but
Russian authorities blocked the deal citing national security
reasons.




Russia's former power monopoly UES also holds 25
percent in Power Machines, which has market value of $1.2
billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Ford submits sole bid for Romania's Daewoo Craiova

(Reuters) - Romania wants to sell a 72.4 percent stake in Daewoo Automobile Craiova. Earlier this year, Romania said it had received letters of intent from General Motors Corp. and Russian Machines, as well as Ford.




The government has previously wanted to sell 95 percent of Daewoo, by adding a 22 percent stake owned by investment company SIF Oltenia to the tender, but AVAS told Reuters the company has withdrawn from the sale.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Russia to Help Balkans Become New Energy Hub, Putin Tells Energy Summit

(Bloomberg) -- Russia will take an increasingly
central role in turning southeast Europe into a new energy hub,
President Vladimir Putin said.

Russian companies are ready to increase supplies of energy
to the region and invest in new power plants, Putin said,
speaking at a Balkans energy summit in Zagreb, Croatia, today.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Putin Visits Balkans to Bolster Russia's Energy Role in Southeast Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin
meets with leaders of the 10 Balkan countries in Croatia today to
bolster Russia's presence in southeast Europe as the region
becomes a hub for energy transport.

Putin will use the summit to help Russian energy companies,
such as OAO Gazprom, set up new partnerships, buy assets and win
contracts in the region, the Russian presidency said in a
statement. Gazprom, Russia's gas-export monopoly, and Eni SpA,
announced yesterday a plan to build a new gas pipeline linking
Russia to the European Union across the Black Sea and through the
Balkans.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-Aeroflot to pull out of Alitalia bidding - I'fax

(Reuters) - "The decision in principle has already been taken. The chief
executive of Aeroflot will inform Italy's Finance Ministry about
the Russian carrier's withdrawal from the acquisition of the
state-held shares in Alitalia," the source said.




An Aeroflot spokeswoman, however, told Italy's ANSA news
agency that the Russian airline is going ahead with its offer
for Alitalia and that its director general presented a report on
the subject to the carrier's new board elected on Saturday.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

BP's Russia unit surrenders gas field to Gazprom

(Reuters) - The sale is the culmination of years of pressure on BP's
Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which wanted to develop the huge
field to supply lucrative export markets in Asia.




Gas export monopoly Gazprom has consistently blocked these
plans, while regulators accused the Kovykta operating company,
Rusia Petroleum, of breaching its license terms.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Gazprom Gains BP Siberian Gas Field as Putin Ends Foreign Energy Control

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom took control of BP Plc's
stake in a Siberian deposit with enough natural gas to supply
Asia for five years, as President Vladimir Putin ends foreign
ownership of Russia's biggest energy assets.

Gazprom will buy the 63 percent stake in the Kovykta field
held by BP's Russian unit TNK-BP and half of the East Siberian
Gas Co. for between $700 million and $900 million, BP said in a
statement distributed via the Regulatory News Service today.
TNK-BP has the right to buy 25 percent of Kovykta later.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP May Agree to Sell Kovykta Field Stake to Gazprom, Russian Ministry Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc may lose control of a
Siberian gas field big enough to supply Asia for five years, a
government official said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin
ends foreign ownership of the nation's biggest energy assets.

Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of OAO Gazprom and a first deputy
prime minister, will chair a meeting in the Kremlin later today
between the Russian gas-export monopoly and BP, a Kremlin
spokeswoman said by phone, declining to be identified. Both
companies declined to comment.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Alitalia shares slide amid worries about sale

(Reuters) - Aeroflot denied a report by Russian news agency Interfax that it had pulled out of the bidding for the government's 49.9 percent stake but said a purchase would depend on price.




"Everything depends on the conditions," Irina Dannenberg, spokeswoman for Aeroflot, said. "We are not happy with the conditions and do not intend to buy Alitalia at any price."


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Russian Stocks Upgraded to `Equal Weight' by Morgan Stanley Strategists

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy Russian stocks
such as OAO Mobile TeleSystems because the equity market has
dropped to a level that's ``more appropriate given high
political and corporate-governance risk,'' Morgan Stanley said.

Strategists led by Jonathan Garner, London-based head of
global emerging-markets strategy, raised their recommendation on
Russian stocks to ``equal weight'' from ``underweight,'' which
means that investors should hold the country's shares in line
with the country's weighting in international indexes.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News