$1Bln Infrastructure Fund

Vneshekonombank chief Vladimir Dmitriyev said Tuesday at a Russia-U.S. business meeting that Russia is creating a $1 billion infrastructure fund that will include his VEB, Renaissance Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank’s International Financial Corporation.

He also said the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and investment firm Macquarie Group would participate, RIA-Novosti reported. An agreement on creating the fund, which will invest in transport and communications infrastructure, could be signed soon.

“We’re counting on the closest cooperation with our American colleagues,” Dmitriyev told the business meeting. (MT)

Exxon on Subsoil Use Law

ExxonMobil is looking to clinch new deals in Russia but sees the country’s subsoil law, which limits foreigners’ access to strategic fields, as the main obstacle, an executive said Tuesday.

“We are looking for new agreements to build the relationship between IOCs and national oil companies,” Neil Duffin, head of Exxon’s project development unit, said ahead of a meeting of U.S. and Russian businessmen.

“We want the authorities to make amendments to the subsoil law. We always have discussions around that. It is not easy but hopefully we will make some breakthrough,” he said. (Reuters)

Putin to Visit Turkey

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey on August 6 for talks that will focus primarily on the construction of the South Stream and Blue Stream 2 gas pipelines, the Aksam newspaper reported Tuesday.   

Turkey will use the visit to press Putin to commit Russian crude to the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the newspaper said. The leaders will also discuss Atomstroyexport’s bid to build Turkey’s first nuclear plant.  (Bloomberg)

TNK-BP Mulls More Capex

TNK-BP’s board will consider additional investment this year at a July 24 meeting, chief executive Viktor Vekselberg told reporters Tuesday.

The investment will be less than the $400 million decided at the previous board meeting, Vekselberg said. (Reuters)

Gazprombank Has Q2 Loss

Gazprombank reported a 4.27 billion ruble net loss for the second quarter of 2009, the bank said in a statement Tuesday, Interfax reported.

Over 90% of the loss is from paying a profit tax in the first quarter of 2009 and advanced tax payments for the second quarter, the statement said. (MT)

For the Record

• Naftogaz Ukrainy’s next payment for gas from Russia will be a “certain milestone” because Ukraine’s consumption has increased four-fold in the first week of July, month on month, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)
•  TMK plans to invest $200 million in its U.S. pipe mills this year, chairman Dmitry Pumpyansky said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)
• Bank Zenit sold 3 billion rubles ($95.3 million) worth of five-year notes, the bank said Tuesday in a regulatory filing.  (Bloomberg)