Russia 091204 Basic Political Developments

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

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  UkrainianJournal.com: Naftogaz Ukrayiny predicts 47% Russian natgas price rise in 2010
  
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  Bloomberg: Asia Oil Pipe to Cost $26Bln
  
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  Itar-Tass: Gas flares up at Vachim gasfield of Surgutneftegaz
  
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  BusinessWire: NOVATEK ESTABLISHES NEW BOARD SUB-COMMITTEE FOR LNG PROJECTS
  

Gazprom

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  RBC: EdF may get more than 10% in South Stream
  
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  Trend.az: Gazprom and ENI sign memorandum of understanding
  
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  Reuters: Gazprom aims to trade 10 mln T/year of LNG –exec
  
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  Pipelines International: Gazprom secures co-operation for pipeline projects
  

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Full Text Articles

Basic Political Developments

MOSCOW, December 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and the United States will continue consultations on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) after December 5, a Russian Foreign Ministry source told Itar-Tass on Friday.

“The consultations will be continued also after the old treaty expires (Dec 5, 2009),” the source noted.

“At present the 8th round of talks on this issue is continuing in Geneva under the chairmanship of Director of the RF Foreign Ministry’s Security and Disarmament Department Anatoly Antonov and US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller,” the source said. “On December 5 this round will be continued and it is not ruled out that the consultations will also be held next week,” he added.

12/04 10:52  

Interfax: RUSSIAN-U.S. TALKS ON STRATEGIC ARMS CUTS WILL CONTINUE IN GENEVA AFTER DECEMBER 5 – SOURCE IN RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

(AFP) – 45 minutes ago

MOSCOW — US-Russian talks on finding a replacement for the START nuclear disarmament treaty which is about to expire are "coming to a close," Russia's foreign ministry said Friday, with no signs of a last-minute deal.

"Intense efforts for the preparation of signing a full-fledged bilateral legally binding treaty on further cuts and limits on strategic arms are coming to a close," the ministry said in a statement.

The landmark START treaty -- signed in 1991 by US president George Bush and Communist leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the final days of the Soviet Union -- led to deep cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both sides.

"Today, it expires," the Russian foreign ministry said, referring to a midnight deadline for the end of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

US President Barack Obama has made efforts to hammer out a new treaty the centerpiece of his so-called "reset" in US-Russian relations, which sunk to a post-Cold War low under the previous administration of George W. Bush.

Since Obama's visit to Moscow in July, US and Russian negotiators have held frenetic talks in Geneva to thrash out a successor to the hugely complex treaty.

But with the deadline so close there is little chance of the two sides signing a new treaty by the weekend, experts said.

There has also been no announcement of an interim agreement to keep in place verfication measures from the old treaty.

By Mark Sweetman

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s Foreign Ministry said “intensive work” to prepare a nuclear arms treaty to replace the START agreement with the U.S. is close to being completed.

The document will become another landmark in disarmament and non-proliferation, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site today.

Reuters: Russia says U.S. arms deal close as deadline looms

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States are close to reaching a deal to reduce vast stockpiles of Cold War nuclear weapons, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday, as a deadline for a new treaty looms.

Diplomats from the two biggest nuclear powers have been trying to prepare a new agreement on cutting atomic weapons before the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires on Saturday.

But Russian and U.S. sources said last week that the new deal was unlikely to be ready by Dec 5 and that they hoped an agreement would be sealed by the end of the year.

"Intensive work on preparations for the signing are coming to a close," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said in a joint statement on April 1 that they intended to find a replacement for the deal by the time START-1 expired.

The Kremlin and the White House say a new agreement will be evidence of a "reset" relations after the friction of recent years.

In July Obama and Medvedev agreed to cut the number of deployed nuclear weapons by around a third from current levels to 1,500-1,675 each.

After the cuts -- which have to be made within seven years of a new treaty taking effect -- the United States and Russia will still have enough firepower to destroy the world several times over.
Rosbalt.ru: Foreign Ministry: START Treaty almost signed

http://www.rosbalt.ru/2009/12/04/694348.html

/Google translation/

Russia, in 2005, the U.S. side to conclude a new agreement to replace the START Treaty.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev doubts over the early resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, RIA Novosti reported

During his two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank, Patrushev met with the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships and they noted their desire to resume the peace process.  However, the Russian official pointed to internal problems impeding the dialogue in the near future.

Russian calendar: Key events for Dec 4