Prescription Drugs Control
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said Friday that it would tighten control over the pharmaceuticals industry, citing possible abuses in prescription drug pricing.
The service ordered its regional arms to register market participants who control more than 35 percent of a specific product or retail chains that have a market share in their region of more than 35 percent, according to a statement on its web site.
The country has witnessed a rapid growth in prices for prescription drugs and other medical goods, and while much of that is because of the rising relative price of imports, "the situation on the pharmaceutical market is opening up the possibility for unscrupulous competition and artificial increases," the statement said. (MT)
Chavez Seeks Unity on Oil
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that he sent a letter to President Dmitry Medvedev asking for solidarity on oil prices and that he hoped to be selling at $100 per barrel.
"It's important we big oil producers keep unity," Chavez said on state television. "May you not leave us, broken by the pressures" from consuming nations. He said his vice president, Ramon Carrizalez, would deliver the letter in person Monday. (Bloomberg, AP)
Medvedev on Dutch Energy
AMSTERDAM -- Russia and the Netherlands have "serious plans" to extend energy projects and "enhance" European fuel security as Royal Dutch Shell seeks a role in the gas-rich Yamal region, President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.
"We can advance on Yamal projects," Medvedev told reporters after meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. Medvedev also met with Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer, praising the company's Sakhalin-2 project with Gazprom for producing Russia's first LNG this year.
Russia expects 20 percent of its gas output to come from Yamal Peninsula and the surrounding Kara Sea by 2020, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said after meeting Van der Veer on Friday. (Bloomberg)
EU Sees Gas Crisis Looming
The European Union is concerned about the future supply of Russian gas through Ukraine and will consider helping Kiev get a loan, European Commission President Jose Barroso said Friday.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said this month that Ukraine needed about $5 billion to pump gas into storage this year and warned that a cutoff could be repeated without payment for delivered supplies. Barroso said the EU can't "sleepwalk" into another gas-supply crisis. (Bloomberg)
For the Record
Polymetal said Friday that shareholders approved a proposal by Russia's biggest silver producer to issue 84 million new shares. (Bloomberg) Yelena Baturina has sold her stakes in Russian blue chips to pay off debt, Inteko said Friday. (Reuters) Moscow Efes Brewery said Friday that it would raise $200 million by issuing up to 456 million shares. (Bloomberg) VTB Group said Friday that it sold 14.5 billion rubles of mortgage-backed bonds. (Bloomberg)
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