MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) Russia wants to have another go in Afghanistan/Europe unhappy about the way Russian gas is distributed/CNPC to help Rosneft to develop oil and gas fields in Irkutsk Region/Volkswagen project promises to become one of the largest in Russia/Gazprom, SUEK postpone establishment of joint venture
Gazeta
Russia wants to have another go in Afghanistan
Nikolai Bordyuzha, former chief of the Kremlin administration, said the Security Cooperation Treaty Organization (CSTO), which he now heads, was ready to join forces with the U.S.-led counterterrorism coalition in Afghanistan.
CSTO members - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - use the organization as a platform to fight drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime, and have pledged to provide immediate military assistance to one another in the event of an attack.
Russia has nothing to lose and quite a lot to gain from offering assistance in a country where coalition troops have become bogged down as deeply as the Soviet Army in the 1980s.
Bordyuzha's words could be a trial balloon, soon to be followed by offers from higher up.
Russia has a potential and very strong ally in the region, China. The CSTO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are expected to sign a cooperation protocol within weeks or months to provide for joint efforts at the post-conflict restoration of Afghanistan.
Established in 2001 as a non-military alliance of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the SCO is viewed by many as a counter to NATO.
Mikhail Margelov, head of the international affairs committee of the upper house (Federation Council) of Russia's parliament, said: "Stability in Central Asia and Russia's Muslim regions depends on the situation in Afghanistan. We proposed long ago that a new Marshall Plan should be devised for that country. An international coalition that was set up to liquidate the Taliban regime cannot last long, as liquidation is a tactical task, whereas construction is a strategic goal."
Ruslan Grinberg, director of the Economics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: "Russia needs to prevent the Taliban from regaining power, and so it must use all and any available resources to attain this goal. I cannot imagine economic cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan based on market rules. Therefore, I believe that Russia's financial assistance will be used primarily to support the democratic regime and peaceful reconstruction."
Alexander Rahr, program director for Russian and CIS affairs at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said: "This is a correct and far-sighted strategy. If the United States withdraws from Iraq, NATO is unlikely to hold its ground in Afghanistan for long. Russia is offering a plan spearheaded into the future when NATO leaves Afghanistan - and this may happen already next year. NATO cannot and will not protect Russia or Central Asian countries. And a repetition of events that took place in 1999-2000 would quickly spread to Chechnya and in other directions. In other words, [what Russia is offering] is an act of self-defense."
Gazeta.ru
Europe unhappy about the way Russian gas is distributed
E.ON of Germany and Gaz de France are suspected of having conspired against Russia, European Union officials said.
They are supposed to have agreed to keep out of each other's home market. The companies are facing a fine and even split, and such a decision could stymie Gazprom's penetration into the European market.
The suspicions focus above all on the Megal pipeline, which transports Russian gas to Germany and France.
No definite findings have yet been produced, but their importance is not doubted. If the European Commission's misgivings are confirmed, and it issues out an official ruling, the companies can be heavily fined (up to 10% of their annual turnover) and perhaps even split.
It is not the first time that Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Competition, has been threatening to exercise her powers and make the companies spin off their infrastructure assets as separate firms.
Legally, Gazprom has nothing to fear, said Yury Bortnikov, an analyst with the law firm Vegas-Lex. The only snags Gazprom may have in this situation are delays in payments from the German and French companies, because theoretically the problems facing E.ON and GdF can affect their ability to pay.
But aside from economic factors, there are also political aspects.
"While in relation to their companies the Europeans are only guided by market considerations, their attitude to Gazprom is colored by a political factor," said Alexei Makarkin, Deputy General Director of the Center for Political Technologies.
"Europe fears that Gazprom might convert its economic clout into a political advantage, and so will resist the Russian monopoly's penetration of its markets in every way," he said.
The European distaste for monopolies, which has expressed itself in an attempt to split up the German and French companies, will also tell on Gazprom, which has long and not without success been trying to reach the final end-user in Europe.
"Measures to be taken against E.ON and GdF are likely to set a precedent that will later be used against Gazprom, and all this could become a factor holding back the expansion of the Russian monopoly to the European markets," Makarkin said.
And the probe into E.ON and GdF will be a weighty argument.
Business & Financial Markets
CNPC to help Rosneft to develop oil and gas fields in Irkutsk Region
Russia's state-run oil company Rosneft is continuing to buy up licenses for oil and gas fields in East Siberia.
Yesterday, its subsidiaries spent over 3.1 billion rubles ($121.38 million) on three fields in the Irkutsk Region. Vostok Energy, a joint venture between Rosneft (51%) and China National Petroleum Corporation/ CNPC (49%), bought two of the three available licenses. Most probably, the Chinese will finance the development of the new fields.
Vostok Energy offered 399.5 million rubles ($15.64 million) for the West Chonskoye field (with a starting price of 85 million rubles, or $3.33 million) and 780 million rubles ($30.54 million) for the Upper Icherskoye field (with a starting price of 100 million rubles, or $3.92 million). These are the first licenses bought by the company.
"We will focus on East Siberia, but that does not mean we will not consider other regions as well," said Nikolai Syutkin, Vostok Energy's director general, after the auctions.
He also said that the company had already applied for participation in auctions for two more fields.
Meanwhile, Rosneft won another auction on its own for the right to use the Preobrazhenskoye oil and gas field in the Irkutsk Region. The company paid 928 million rubles ($36.34 million) from a starting price of 145 million rubles ($5.68 million).
Probable reserves of the three fields are estimated at 152 million metric tons of oil and 205 billion cubic meters of gas.
Buying up licenses in East Siberia, Rosneft is fulfilling several strategic tasks.
First, it is becoming a major player in the region. Second, oil from the company's fields will mostly fill the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO). Third, the company will finally become the main oil supplier to Asia-Pacific countries, primarily to China.
All the fields bought by the company yesterday are not too far from the ESPO - at a distance of 90-120 kilometers (55-75 miles) from the pipe.
CNPC is likely to undertake investment in the development of the new fields. Rosneft has already tried the scheme in other projects with foreign participation. Analysts think Rosneft may obtain a stake in Chinese oil refining assets in the future.
Vedomosti
Volkswagen project promises to become one of the largest in Russia
Volkswagen plans to spend 1.042 billion euros on the construction of a factory in the Kaluga Region, in European Russia.
It is the most expensive project the Russian automotive industry has ever seen, experts said.
The Volkswagen Company will take out a syndicated loan worth 750 million euros with the participation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Volkswagen, one of the major European car makers, pondered the idea of launching a project in Russia for quite a few years before it actually began building the factory last October.
The plant's annual production capacity is expected to reach 115,000 vehicles, and the company plans to begin assembling the first model, the Skoda Octavia, this fall.
The Volkswagen project promises to become one of the largest for the EBRD in Russia and for the national automotive industry, said Alexander Agibalov, AG managing director.
Only a joint project involving Magna and AvtoVAZ for the construction of a new factory in Togliatti and launching a new C-class model, estimated at $2 billion, will surpass it.
Volkswagen is seeking further localization of the project. The company's management has repeatedly said that gradually 60%-70% of all car components will be produced in Russia.
That explains the volumes of investments, said Yevgeny Bogdanov, an automotive industry expert with A.T. Kearney.
He said the construction of a full-cycle factory will require over 300 million euros, of an engine plant 500 million euros, and 200 million euros will be invested in localizing the production of car components.
Kommersant
Gazprom, SUEK postpone establishment of joint venture
The establishment of a joint venture between gas monopoly Gazprom and Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK, the country's largest coal producer) has been postponed at least until the end of the year.
Gazprom invited international auditor Deloitte & Touche to evaluate SUEK because it is not pleased with its current price.
The energy giant plans to contribute $4.8 billion worth of assets to the joint venture (a 51% stake), whereas the capitalization of SUEK is currently $6.3 billion.
The two companies planned to set up the joint venture in the first half of 2007, and then postponed it until late August due to official resistance to Gazprom's desire to control 30% of the Russian energy system's capacity.
According to SUEK, it plans to turn over to the venture all of its generating assets, notably a 48% stake in territorial generating company TGK-12 and 45% in TGK-13, as well as all of its coal assets.
"The parties have not yet signed an agreement on the main terms of the transaction. Our assets are worth more than the gas monopoly's generating business, which means that Gazprom may have to pay more," said a source in SUEK.
Dmitry Skvortsov of the Bank of Moscow evaluated SUEK's coal business at $3.1-$3.5 billion and its energy assets at $2.7-$2.8 billion, which puts its capitalization at $5.8-$6.3 billion. The energy business of Gazprom costs about $4.8 billion at market prices.
According to several sources with close ties to Gazprom, the establishment of the joint venture depends on Deloitte's evaluation of SUEK, which should be ready by October.
Gazprom does not want to pay more, and Deloitte will most likely provide it with a way to level off the prices of assets the two companies will contribute to their joint venture.
Maxim Taits, an analyst with the Uralsib investment financial company, cited several arguments in favor of downgrading the market value of SUEK's assets: "First, the depreciation of coal assets is very high. Second, the holding was set up through the integration of a multitude of small mines, and their subsequent conversion to the single share harmed the interests of some minority shareholders, who may present their claims to the joint venture."
Taits also said that SUEK specializes in energy coals, including cheap brown coal, and so has a narrower margin compared with the companies producing coking coal.
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