Russian Oil and Gas Industry: News

Lukoil would have no reason to run a corrupt operation in Romania. There is no incentive and lots of risk. Perhaps they could
run a corrupt operation in Russia but they don't have to be total retards and only operate this way everywhere.

This is an obvious politically motivated, mafia-like move to extort Lukoil's assets. Too bad the Romanian retarded poodles
of Washington will lose much more than what Lukoil will from this maneuver.

JohninMK wrote:I suspect that you all know the importance of the oil as well as gas exports from Russia to the EU. Well, it looks like someone is starting to poke the oil bear.


LUKoil vice-president for oil refining says the Russia’s oil company wants the European Commission’s help in tackling allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at its refinery in Romania.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Russia’s oil company LUKoil wants the European Commission’s help in tackling allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at its refinery in Romania, LUKoil vice-president for oil refining said Wednesday.

Prosecutors in the city of Ploesti said last week that they had seized fixed assets belonging to LUKoil’s Romanian subsidiary as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering and tax evasion.

"We would like to see European involvement in this because we have a small, relatively minor court making huge decisions that impact not only Romanian assets, but now European assets," Thomas Mueller told reporters. The frozen assets, belonging to Petrotel-Lukoil in Ploesti and the Netherlands-based Lukoil Europe Holdings that is Petrotel’s majority stakeholder, are valued from $657 million to $2.4 billion. Mueller added that LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov had requested assistance in the form of a "more open" investigation in a written letter to European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic last week.

A source close to the matter later confirmed to RIA Novosti that Sefcovic had received Alekperov’s letter and is reviewing it, but declined to elaborate further.

LUKoil’s vice-president warned that European assets, worth nearly $10 billion, are on the line if the Petrotel refinery in Ploesti shuts down. Romanian authorities have temporarily closed down the refinery in the past, including a raid conducted last October, on similar suspicions of wrongdoing.

Petrotel, Romania’s largest and one of the largest oil refineries in Eastern Europe, has been in operation under LUKoil management since 1998.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/business/20150715/1024678679.html#ixzz3fzjCJr3Q

kvs wrote:Lukoil would have no reason to run a corrupt operation in Romania.   There is no incentive and lots of risk.   Perhaps they could
run a corrupt operation in Russia but they don't have to be total retards and only operate this way everywhere.

This is an obvious politically motivated, mafia-like move to extort Lukoil's assets.    Too bad the Romanian retarded poodles
of Washington will lose much more than what Lukoil will from this maneuver.  

JohninMK wrote:I suspect that you all know the importance of the oil as well as gas exports from Russia to the EU. Well, it looks like someone is starting to poke the oil bear.


LUKoil vice-president for oil refining says the Russia’s oil company wants the European Commission’s help in tackling allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at its refinery in Romania.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Russia’s oil company LUKoil wants the European Commission’s help in tackling allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at its refinery in Romania, LUKoil vice-president for oil refining said Wednesday.

Prosecutors in the city of Ploesti said last week that they had seized fixed assets belonging to LUKoil’s Romanian subsidiary as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering and tax evasion.

"We would like to see European involvement in this because we have a small, relatively minor court making huge decisions that impact not only Romanian assets, but now European assets," Thomas Mueller told reporters. The frozen assets, belonging to Petrotel-Lukoil in Ploesti and the Netherlands-based Lukoil Europe Holdings that is Petrotel’s majority stakeholder, are valued from $657 million to $2.4 billion. Mueller added that LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov had requested assistance in the form of a "more open" investigation in a written letter to European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic last week.

A source close to the matter later confirmed to RIA Novosti that Sefcovic had received Alekperov’s letter and is reviewing it, but declined to elaborate further.

LUKoil’s vice-president warned that European assets, worth nearly $10 billion, are on the line if the Petrotel refinery in Ploesti shuts down. Romanian authorities have temporarily closed down the refinery in the past, including a raid conducted last October, on similar suspicions of wrongdoing.

Petrotel, Romania’s largest and one of the largest oil refineries in Eastern Europe, has been in operation under LUKoil management since 1998.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/business/20150715/1024678679.html#ixzz3fzjCJr3Q

Lukoil should have never bought that refinery in Romania. It should have used the same money to build a refinery in Russia.

I'm pretty sure there will be other confiscations of Russian property in the West. If the Russians were wise they should not invest in any assets in the West and not put their money to any Western banks. I guess it is impossible for the Russians to get their money back from the Western investments now. They are lost. But I would be happy if they just realized not to put their money in there anymore.

Russia should naturally respond to this confiscation with some way, but I guess Russian options are limited because Russia does not really want to drive the remaining Western investors out of the country. I guess Russia should just take this loss and learn the valuable lesson.

Karl Haushofer wrote:

kvs wrote:Lukoil would have no reason to run a corrupt operation in Romania.   There is no incentive and lots of risk.   Perhaps they could
run a corrupt operation in Russia but they don't have to be total retards and only operate this way everywhere.

This is an obvious politically motivated, mafia-like move to extort Lukoil's assets.    Too bad the Romanian retarded poodles
of Washington will lose much more than what Lukoil will from this maneuver.  

JohninMK wrote:I suspect that you all know the importance of the oil as well as gas exports from Russia to the EU. Well, it looks like someone is starting to poke the oil bear.


LUKoil vice-president for oil refining says the Russia’s oil company wants the European Commission’s help in tackling allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at its refinery in Romania.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Russia’s oil company LUKoil wants the European Commission’s help in tackling allegations of money laundering and tax evasion at its refinery in Romania, LUKoil vice-president for oil refining said Wednesday.

Prosecutors in the city of Ploesti said last week that they had seized fixed assets belonging to LUKoil’s Romanian subsidiary as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering and tax evasion.

"We would like to see European involvement in this because we have a small, relatively minor court making huge decisions that impact not only Romanian assets, but now European assets," Thomas Mueller told reporters. The frozen assets, belonging to Petrotel-Lukoil in Ploesti and the Netherlands-based Lukoil Europe Holdings that is Petrotel’s majority stakeholder, are valued from $657 million to $2.4 billion. Mueller added that LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov had requested assistance in the form of a "more open" investigation in a written letter to European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic last week.

A source close to the matter later confirmed to RIA Novosti that Sefcovic had received Alekperov’s letter and is reviewing it, but declined to elaborate further.

LUKoil’s vice-president warned that European assets, worth nearly $10 billion, are on the line if the Petrotel refinery in Ploesti shuts down. Romanian authorities have temporarily closed down the refinery in the past, including a raid conducted last October, on similar suspicions of wrongdoing.

Petrotel, Romania’s largest and one of the largest oil refineries in Eastern Europe, has been in operation under LUKoil management since 1998.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/business/20150715/1024678679.html#ixzz3fzjCJr3Q

Lukoil should have never bought that refinery in Romania. It should have used the same money to build a refinery in Russia.

I'm pretty sure there will be other confiscations of Russian property in the West. If the Russians were wise they should not invest in any assets in the West and not put their money to any Western banks. I guess it is impossible for the Russians to get their money back from the Western investments now. They are lost. But I would be happy if they just realized not to put their money in there anymore.

Russia should naturally respond to this confiscation with some way, but I guess Russian options are limited because Russia does not really want to drive the remaining Western investors out of the country. I guess Russia should just take this loss and learn the valuable lesson.

The West has far more investments in Russia than Russia has in the West.

You are right that Russia does not want to drive any investors out; but there are plenty of options as to how to get that money back. If Russia is being stolen from, it could go the legal route, if the legal route doesn't work out and all the courts are controlled by the West, then Russia can refuse to pay back debts or refuse to sell oil/gas until the money is paid back, etc...

Confiscation of Western assets would be a bad move as Western corporations have understandably striven to try and stay away from all this mess as much as possible and carry on doing business. However if Russian oil companies are hit, then Russia can confiscate Western assets in the oil sector for example - show that it wants to keep everything contained to a tit-for-tat level and that it will only confiscate in retaliation and against similar sorts of assets/companies.

I am not sure where to put this. Can a mod add "gas" to the title of this thread then all NordStream/TurkStream etc stuff can come here in one place? I am sure there will be more on this!

A statement today out of Brussels that almost falls into my 'you couldn't make it up' category.

This is the EU pathetically and finally waking up to the strategic implications of what it has been doing over the past few years (like making SouthStream impossible) and how, by its own actions, Ukraine has pissed the Russians off so much that they are determined to stop being stiffed. Maybe they are realising that Russia is deadly serious (see NordStream expansion to protect the North of the EU) and that they might have to do something about financing links to TurkStream with money they don't have (some now gone into the black hole called Greece). Also they are showing a deep misunderstanding of commercial issues by not accepting that a supplier has rights, like who it sells to and how, as well as customers. My highlight.

Russian plans to replace gas deliveries via Ukraine with alternative transit routes threatens European energy security, Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic said Wednesday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Sefcovic said that the EU gas transportation system, especially in Central Europe, had been designed to be fully compatible with gas deliveries via Ukraine. "If the aim is to gradually dry up the Ukrainian transit route, it is something which is not acceptable for the European Union because it would really change the gas balance in Europe, it would put in a very difficult situation countries in Central and South-East Europe" Sefcovic said.

In early July, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also expressed confidence that the agreement between Russia and Ukraine on gas transit to Europe would be extended beyond 2019 as he believed that there was no alternative to the Ukrainian route.

In late June, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexey Miller, warned that the company did not intend to renew its transit contract with Ukraine after it would expire in 2019 if Ukraine offered unfavorable terms for the company.

"When you look at the construction and the proposals of this stream [through Turkey], there is one goal — how to make the Ukrainian transit route less relevant, or how to cut off supplies through Ukraine completely. Of course, this would have very negative consequences for energy security in Europe, because the Ukrainian transit route is very important, it is the biggest one, it's 140 billion cubic meters per year," Sefcovic told reporters.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/business/20150715/1024664764.html#ixzz3g2yLOE5T

Check this interview

Sergey Donskoy: "Despite the shale revolution, Russia is still the world leader in oil and gas"

http://ru-facts.com/news/view/47124.html

Austin wrote:Check this interview

Sergey Donskoy: "Despite the shale revolution, Russia is still the world leader in oil and gas"

http://ru-facts.com/news/view/47124.html

There is no shale revolution.   There is shale hype.   Tight gas and previously costly to extract oil reservoirs
such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford are side show peanuts.  

For a dose of reality read:

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-02-12/arthur-berman-interview-why-today-s-shale-era-is-the-retirement-party-for-oil-production

kvs wrote:
There is no shale revolution.   There is shale hype.   Tight gas and previously costly to extract oil reservoirs
such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford are side show peanuts.  

For a dose of reality read:

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-02-12/arthur-berman-interview-why-today-s-shale-era-is-the-retirement-party-for-oil-production

This is what Russian Energy Minister said two days back

Iran’s return to oil market won’t have big effect, shale will – Russian energy minister

Austin wrote:

kvs wrote:
There is no shale revolution.   There is shale hype.   Tight gas and previously costly to extract oil reservoirs
such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford are side show peanuts.  

For a dose of reality read:

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-02-12/arthur-berman-interview-why-today-s-shale-era-is-the-retirement-party-for-oil-production

This is what Russian Energy Minister said two days back

Iran’s return to oil market won’t have big effect, shale will – Russian energy minister

Well, he is wrong then. Iranian oil is significantly cheaper to extract while Shale, without subsidies is $85 a barrel of oil and with subsidies about $55 a barrel. And let us be honest, look what happened to Brazils oil company after they lifted subsidies and the company lost billions. Same will happen and is happening with shale oil.

Austin wrote:

kvs wrote:
There is no shale revolution.   There is shale hype.   Tight gas and previously costly to extract oil reservoirs
such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford are side show peanuts.  

For a dose of reality read:

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-02-12/arthur-berman-interview-why-today-s-shale-era-is-the-retirement-party-for-oil-production

This is what Russian Energy Minister said two days back

Iran’s return to oil market won’t have big effect, shale will – Russian energy minister

Art Berman is a credible expert with a good track record (unlike Daniel Yergin who gets quoted routinely). I will take his
assessment over some politician any day.

Shale is hype. All of the tight gas extraction companies are in the red and the whole industry exists because of
a ceaseless stream of debt formation. I didn't realize that this was a normal mode of activity in business and
economics. I guess printing money is solid economics as well.

sepheronx wrote:

Austin wrote:

kvs wrote:
There is no shale revolution.   There is shale hype.   Tight gas and previously costly to extract oil reservoirs
such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford are side show peanuts.  

For a dose of reality read:

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-02-12/arthur-berman-interview-why-today-s-shale-era-is-the-retirement-party-for-oil-production

This is what Russian Energy Minister said two days back

Iran’s return to oil market won’t have big effect, shale will – Russian energy minister

Well, he is wrong then.  Iranian oil is significantly cheaper to extract while Shale, without subsidies is $85 a barrel of oil and with subsidies about $55 a barrel.  And let us be honest, look what happened to Brazils oil company after they lifted subsidies and the company lost billions.  Same will happen and is happening with shale oil.

Austin is ignoring the subsidy and high price aspect of shale gas and oil plays.

kvs wrote:

sepheronx wrote:

Austin wrote:

kvs wrote:
There is no shale revolution.   There is shale hype.   Tight gas and previously costly to extract oil reservoirs
such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford are side show peanuts.  

For a dose of reality read:

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-02-12/arthur-berman-interview-why-today-s-shale-era-is-the-retirement-party-for-oil-production

This is what Russian Energy Minister said two days back

Iran’s return to oil market won’t have big effect, shale will – Russian energy minister

Well, he is wrong then.  Iranian oil is significantly cheaper to extract while Shale, without subsidies is $85 a barrel of oil and with subsidies about $55 a barrel.  And let us be honest, look what happened to Brazils oil company after they lifted subsidies and the company lost billions.  Same will happen and is happening with shale oil.

Austin is ignoring the subsidy and high price aspect of shale gas and oil plays.  

Many of the US shale companies are only in the black due to very low interest rates and, perhaps more importantly in the short term, they have been able to hedge their output at $85 a barrel. Once that starts ending in a couple of months there will be serious stress in the Mid West. Then if interest rates were to rise that would be the final nail. That will be the Saudi objective achieved, a competitor crippled.

Thats true that Shale is living because of US subsidy but then kvs Printing has been the way of life since 2008 .....and that itself wont last for ever but for so long it last it puts others at disadvantage.

I think Shale would depend on how the technology for extraction for shale evolves thats a normal process it might be cheaper to extract shale and extract more say 10 years from now then it is now.

The best way is to improve Russian extraction technolgy and make it cheaper to extract crude and more of it.

The minister quotes price between $4 - $15 , the upper end I think would arctic extraction the challange would be to like reduce that to $2-5 , 10 years from now.

Beat one technology and remain competitive

Interview with Energy Minister Novak

http://rg.ru/2015/07/20/novak.html


Not sure why but translator does not work for me , Can some one use translator and post it if it works ?

Greece to confirm construction of natural gas pipeline jointly with Russia — minister

medo wrote:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-one-upped-saudis-180031804.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-loses-spot-top-124039108.html

Russia become the largest oil supplier for China, Angola is next and Saudi Arabia fall to the third place. Saudi Arabia also fall in India, where Saudi Arabia lost to Nigeria. If Saudi Arabia want to recapture its position, they will have to sell oil in Renminbi instead of US Dolar.

US Dollar is loosing its monopoly position in oil and gas trade and this will be a big blow for US empire. With loosing its monopoly position, USD will quickly lost its value.

I'm not sure that this is such a great achievement. Being an oil supplier for another nation.

China is actually draining Russian oil resources at a low price of $60 per barrel.

Karl Haushofer wrote:

medo wrote:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-one-upped-saudis-180031804.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-loses-spot-top-124039108.html

Russia become the largest oil supplier for China, Angola is next and Saudi Arabia fall to the third place. Saudi Arabia also fall in India, where Saudi Arabia lost to Nigeria. If Saudi Arabia want to recapture its position, they will have to sell oil in Renminbi instead of US Dolar.

US Dollar is loosing its monopoly position in oil and gas trade and this will be a big blow for US empire. With loosing its monopoly position, USD will quickly lost its value.

I'm not sure that this is such a great achievement. Being an oil supplier for another nation.

China is actually draining Russian oil resources at a low price of $60 per barrel.

its the market price, they arent stealing/draining or whatever, they are doing business.

Prince Darling wrote:

Karl Haushofer wrote:

medo wrote:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-one-upped-saudis-180031804.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-loses-spot-top-124039108.html

Russia become the largest oil supplier for China, Angola is next and Saudi Arabia fall to the third place. Saudi Arabia also fall in India, where Saudi Arabia lost to Nigeria. If Saudi Arabia want to recapture its position, they will have to sell oil in Renminbi instead of US Dolar.

US Dollar is loosing its monopoly position in oil and gas trade and this will be a big blow for US empire. With loosing its monopoly position, USD will quickly lost its value.

I'm not sure that this is such a great achievement. Being an oil supplier for another nation.

China is actually draining Russian oil resources at a low price of $60 per barrel.

its the market price, they arent stealing/draining or whatever, they are doing business.

I'm not saying China is stealing Russian oil as it is not. But Russia is selling huge amounts of a finite resource to another nation with a relatively cheap price. I don't think it is a great or even a good thing, especially in long term.

Karl Haushofer wrote:

Prince Darling wrote:

Karl Haushofer wrote:

medo wrote:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-one-upped-saudis-180031804.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-loses-spot-top-124039108.html

Russia become the largest oil supplier for China, Angola is next and Saudi Arabia fall to the third place. Saudi Arabia also fall in India, where Saudi Arabia lost to Nigeria. If Saudi Arabia want to recapture its position, they will have to sell oil in Renminbi instead of US Dolar.

US Dollar is loosing its monopoly position in oil and gas trade and this will be a big blow for US empire. With loosing its monopoly position, USD will quickly lost its value.

I'm not sure that this is such a great achievement. Being an oil supplier for another nation.

China is actually draining Russian oil resources at a low price of $60 per barrel.

its the market price, they arent stealing/draining or whatever, they are doing business.

I'm not saying China is stealing Russian oil as it is not. But Russia is selling huge amounts of a finite resource to another nation with a relatively cheap price. I don't think it is a great or even a good thing, especially in long term.

In contrast to selling it to Europe? The fact that Russias oil supply will last for a very long time? Not to mention more oil wells in arctic?

Dont threat. Eventually China wont grow forever. So they wont be drilling and selling as much oil as they do now, way before oil runs out. Thankfully, they have invested in other energy sources too.

sepheronx wrote:

Karl Haushofer wrote:

Prince Darling wrote:

Karl Haushofer wrote:

medo wrote:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-one-upped-saudis-180031804.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-loses-spot-top-124039108.html

Russia become the largest oil supplier for China, Angola is next and Saudi Arabia fall to the third place. Saudi Arabia also fall in India, where Saudi Arabia lost to Nigeria. If Saudi Arabia want to recapture its position, they will have to sell oil in Renminbi instead of US Dolar.

US Dollar is loosing its monopoly position in oil and gas trade and this will be a big blow for US empire. With loosing its monopoly position, USD will quickly lost its value.

I'm not sure that this is such a great achievement. Being an oil supplier for another nation.

China is actually draining Russian oil resources at a low price of $60 per barrel.

its the market price, they arent stealing/draining or whatever, they are doing business.

I'm not saying China is stealing Russian oil as it is not. But Russia is selling huge amounts of a finite resource to another nation with a relatively cheap price. I don't think it is a great or even a good thing, especially in long term.

In contrast to selling it to Europe? The fact that Russias oil supply will last for a very long time? Not to mention more oil wells in arctic?

Dont threat. Eventually China wont grow forever. So they wont be drilling and selling as much oil as they do now, way before oil runs out. Thankfully, they have invested in other energy sources too.

China has numerous problems in the future. Labour costs will rise, taking away a trump card its been playing. Internal stability is an issue - people now expect more and want to see a fair share.

And a big one is demographics. That 1.4 bn people will start to get older, and have less working age people supporting it.

China will still be a superpower, prob ahead of the US. Its looking to develop synergies with places like Africa. But long term, China cannot continue at its current pace.

Interestingly, numerous people think that with global warming (affecting various things like food production) the superpower of 2050 onwards will be...

.... RUSSIA

This, if for real, is a huge bombshell for the US/EU hopes of reducing dependence of Russian gas with imports from their new buddy Iran.

VIENNA, July 23. /TASS/. Iran may start liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Europe in 5-10 years, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia told TASS on Thursday.

Iran may increase gas production to 1.1 bln cubic meters daily by 2017 — official

The deputy minister said such option is more preferable than building a gas pipeline to supply gas to European nations. Zamaninia said the price in Europe now is much lower than in South-East Asia and therefore there is no sense in pipeline gas supplies to Europe. Europe may become the market for Iranian gas in the mid-term, the official said at the Iran/EU investment and trade conference.

Zamaninia said the EU always consumed Iranian oil. Europe may be a market for the Iranian gas in the mid-term and long-term, he added. The deputy minister said natural gas will remain the preferable energy source in the foreseeable future. Iran and the EU may reach long-term relations in politics and the economy and in oil and gas sphere, Iran’s deputy minister said.

Also posted in the Iran News thread.

JohninMK wrote:This, if for real, is a huge bombshell for the US/EU hopes of reducing dependence of Russian gas with imports from their new buddy Iran.

VIENNA, July 23. /TASS/. Iran may start liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Europe in 5-10 years, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia told TASS on Thursday.

Iran may increase gas production to 1.1 bln cubic meters daily by 2017 — official

The deputy minister said such option is more preferable than building a gas pipeline to supply gas to European nations. Zamaninia said the price in Europe now is much lower than in South-East Asia and therefore there is no sense in pipeline gas supplies to Europe. Europe may become the market for Iranian gas in the mid-term, the official said at the Iran/EU investment and trade conference.

Zamaninia said the EU always consumed Iranian oil. Europe may be a market for the Iranian gas in the mid-term and long-term, he added. The deputy minister said natural gas will remain the preferable energy source in the foreseeable future. Iran and the EU may reach long-term relations in politics and the economy and in oil and gas sphere, Iran’s deputy minister said.

Also posted in the Iran News thread.

Meh, by that time Russia will be pumping both gas and oil to Asia big time, North Stream 2.0 will be fully operational, Turkey will be buying their share of RU gas and it will be Russian companies that will have big chunk in Iran petroleum industry.

Ruskies were not putting all that effort into removing Iran sanctions just because they were bored.

PapaDragon wrote:

JohninMK wrote:This, if for real, is a huge bombshell for the US/EU hopes of reducing dependence of Russian gas with imports from their new buddy Iran.

VIENNA, July 23. /TASS/. Iran may start liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Europe in 5-10 years, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia told TASS on Thursday.

Iran may increase gas production to 1.1 bln cubic meters daily by 2017 — official

The deputy minister said such option is more preferable than building a gas pipeline to supply gas to European nations. Zamaninia said the price in Europe now is much lower than in South-East Asia and therefore there is no sense in pipeline gas supplies to Europe. Europe may become the market for Iranian gas in the mid-term, the official said at the Iran/EU investment and trade conference.

Zamaninia said the EU always consumed Iranian oil. Europe may be a market for the Iranian gas in the mid-term and long-term, he added. The deputy minister said natural gas will remain the preferable energy source in the foreseeable future. Iran and the EU may reach long-term relations in politics and the economy and in oil and gas sphere, Iran’s deputy minister said.

Also posted in the Iran News thread.

Meh, by that time Russia will be pumping both gas and oil to Asia big time, North Stream 2.0 will be fully operational, Turkey will be buying their share of RU gas and it will be Russian companies that will have big chunk in Iran petroleum industry.

Ruskies were not putting all that effort into removing Iran sanctions just because they were bored.  

Likely if that goes through, then it will probably come with Russia's approval, which entails to:

1.) The revenue from Persian gas being sold to Europe, may then be repaid by buying goods from Russia.

2.) Likely they'll use existing infrastructure built by Gazprom, in which Russia will earn transit fee's, as well as repair and maintenance fee's for pipeline up keep.

3.) As you said Russian companies will likely hold big shares, especially if Iran accepts the free-trade zone with the EEU (or possibly even join as a member of the EEU at a later point).

magnumcromagnon wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:

JohninMK wrote:This, if for real, is a huge bombshell for the US/EU hopes of reducing dependence of Russian gas with imports from their new buddy Iran.

VIENNA, July 23. /TASS/. Iran may start liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Europe in 5-10 years, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia told TASS on Thursday.

Iran may increase gas production to 1.1 bln cubic meters daily by 2017 — official

The deputy minister said such option is more preferable than building a gas pipeline to supply gas to European nations. Zamaninia said the price in Europe now is much lower than in South-East Asia and therefore there is no sense in pipeline gas supplies to Europe. Europe may become the market for Iranian gas in the mid-term, the official said at the Iran/EU investment and trade conference.

Zamaninia said the EU always consumed Iranian oil. Europe may be a market for the Iranian gas in the mid-term and long-term, he added. The deputy minister said natural gas will remain the preferable energy source in the foreseeable future. Iran and the EU may reach long-term relations in politics and the economy and in oil and gas sphere, Iran’s deputy minister said.

Also posted in the Iran News thread.

Meh, by that time Russia will be pumping both gas and oil to Asia big time, North Stream 2.0 will be fully operational, Turkey will be buying their share of RU gas and it will be Russian companies that will have big chunk in Iran petroleum industry.

Ruskies were not putting all that effort into removing Iran sanctions just because they were bored.  

Likely if that goes through, then it will probably come with Russia's approval, which entails to:

1.) The revenue from Persian gas being sold to Europe, may then be repaid by buying goods from Russia.

2.) Likely they'll use existing infrastructure built by Gazprom, in which Russia will earn transit fee's, as well as repair and maintenance fee's for pipeline up keep.

3.) As you said Russian companies will likely hold big shares, especially if Iran accepts the free-trade zone with the EEU (or possibly even join as a member of the EEU at a later point).

Forget about FTZ between Iran and the EU. There's litterally nothing that Iran can sell to the EU (bar hydrocarbons) and those are accise prone anyway. And as we have seen the EU will use that income as a lever against Iran (especially with the Saudis around the corner) so NO, no FTZ there. And even if Iran builds a dedicated pipeline, the current 3rd Energy package will pretty much make it non-worthy as you can't sell your gas and own your own infrastructure...

So yeah better pay a fee to Russia and play as a team, instead of being slowly but surely taken out of your own investment...

In my view the prime motivation for "normalizing" relations with Iran by the west has been to gain access to its
gas reserves. Remember the Nabucco pipeline project? It went nowhere because there was not enough gas to
fill it from the Central Asian 'stans (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and even Turkmenistan which was over-committed to
China and did not have the production levels).

So now the EU is trying to resurrect Nabucco and I think Iran will be willing since it needs the money. I think Russia
has no reason to fret and it is in its interests for Iran to become a EU supplier. Russia's natural gas supply is not
infinite and having another major supplier to the EU will remove the ceaseless EU-tard paranoia about "energy security".
It is a bad position for Russia to be the sole supplier since any supply disruption is treated almost like an act of war.