Gazprom's exports to Europe fell 12 percent in the first four months of 2012, calling the company's annual plans to export 150 billion cubic meters of gas into question, a source told Kommersant, confirming an earlier report by Reuters. Gazprom's exports to Europe...

Gazprom Export chief Alexander Medvedev reportedly missed a board of directors meeting this week because he was at the finale of the championship series of Russia's Continental Hockey League. Gazprom Export chief Alexander Medvedev...

ASTANA — Kazakhstan will pay nearly $30 toward the cost of every ton of grain delivered to the Black Sea for the rest of this season to help push exports toward a record 13 million tons, the country's agriculture minister said. Kazakhstan is investing in new elevators, ports and railroads to supply Iran and its Central Asian neighbors, but will also encourage farmers to cultivate more feed grains...

... such piecemeal provisions will prove enough. Numerous foreign investors have reported harassment by state bodies and seizure of assets by business interests close to the ruling elite. Economic growth driven by high prices for the country's commodity exports has been healthy, reaching more than 8 percent in 2011, but galloping inflation has canceled out the benefits for most households. Selling the country's natural gas to buyers like China has generated valuable income but also reportedly deprived...

Russia's economy lost momentum in April after a strong start to the year, with data showing Monday that growth in domestic consumption is now struggling to compensate for weak exports as the global economy deteriorates. Russia's economy lost momentum in April after a strong start to the year, with data showing Monday that growth in domestic consumption is now struggling to compensate for weak exports as the global economy...

... giving Ukraine a veto. Pyatnytsky said his country was trying to guarantee its current and future economic interest by asking the candidates to cut tariffs on imports in the farming and metals sectors. "Ukraine's metals industry is interested in exporting to Yemen and Laos, which will help develop infrastructure and to modernize industry in these countries," he said. In theory, opening pathways for exports would help Ukraine reduce its trade deficit, which more than doubled last year to...

Turkmenistan agreed Wednesday to supply natural gas to Pakistan and India, as it tries to free itself from reliance on gas exports to Russia. Turkmenistan agreed Wednesday to supply natural gas to Pakistan and India, as it tries to free itself from reliance on gas exports to Russia. The deals offer major economic benefits to all three countries but depend on building and...

... also created an unstable backdrop and has shoved the pendulum toward the high risk end of the scale. Political questions only compound the fact that Russia does not have a strong enough domestic economic foundation to compensate for the commodities-export risk. Twelve years of living off rising commodity export revenues with not enough industrial and economic reform progress means that the risk premium used in valuation models is very high end, even as, in fact, the country's fiscal strength and...

... the pipeline could provide employment for 50,000 people in Afghanistan alone. The gas pipeline across Afghanistan, projected to ship 33 billion cubic meters a year, has been actively backed by the United States. It would give Turkmenistan a further export route for its copious energy reserves and generate revenue for Afghanistan. It currently exports to Russia and Iran, and also harbors ambitions of selling directly to Europe. But many observers remain concerned about the security risks of laying...

... ecological disaster. More than three centuries after Peter the Great gave Russia access to the world by founding St. Petersburg as a "window onto Europe" at the head of the Gulf of Finland, area ports handle more than one-third of all oil exports and more than half of the country's container cargo turnover. Sea traffic is growing at about 5 percent per year — leading to a boom in onshore infrastructure development, corresponding stress to the environment and risk of ecological disaster...

... put on ice its plans to develop more Arctic fields in light of a proposal that the Cabinet backed earlier this week to raise taxes on the industry. The higher gas production tax will reduce Gazprom's profits, even given its monopoly on the lucrative export sales, USB said in a note to investors Friday. "We estimate that it will make the company's Yamal megaproject completely unprofitable," the note said. A Gazprom spokesman said he couldn't comment immediately when asked whether the company...

... 12 million tons going through every year.  Siberian Coal Energy Company (Moscow office; 29 Serebryanicheskaya Naberezhnaya; +7 495-363-6405, suekag.com ) is the biggest supplier of Russian coal to the foreign market, more than 50 percent of which is exported through Murmansk. SUEK bought a 24.9 percent stake in the Murmansk port in February 2012. From the beginning, the city seemed destined to play a critical role in 20th-century Russian history. During World War II, Murmansk was a crucial trade...

Moscow electricity provider Mosenergo, controlled by gas export monopoly Gazprom, said Saturday that its board of directors has recommended a 2011 dividend of 0.03 rubles per share, up from last year's 0.02 ruble payout, for a total payout of 1.2 billion rubles ($39.7 million). (Reuters) The government has...

... customer. The two countries had agreed on everything but price and appeared on the brink of a final agreement a year ago when Chinese President Hu Jintao was preparing to come to Russia for an annual investor showcase in St. Petersburg. But Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom refused to accommodate Chinese price demands, arguing that it could sell the same gas to Europe for a higher profit than the Chinese offer had implied. Frustrated by the long-running standoff, China opted to buy extra gas from...

Russia exported nearly 3.2 million tons of wheat and meslin (wheat and rye mix) in the first quarter of 2012, Interfax reported Friday, citing the Federal Customs Service. (Interfax) Gazprombank raised $500 million via a five-year eurobond issue, cutting initial...

... Russia rose 67 percent to 171.5 million euros. Nokian Renkaat is building a new plant in Vsevolozhsk next to its old plant, and its annual production capacity in Russia is estimated to increase to 14 million tires this year from 11 million. The firm exports some 50 percent of the tires it makes in Russia. (Reuters)

... was delaying a planned IPO due to unsatisfactory market conditions.  (MT) Mechel said Thursday that its 2011 net profit reached $727.9 million, up 10.8 percent from 2010. (Reuters) Novatek is in talks with the government to receive the right to export gas, which is currently a Gazprom monopoly, Kommersant reported Thursday.  (Reuters) Ingosstrakh shareholders approved a board without minority representation at their annual meeting Thursday, Interfax reported.  (MT) Scartel, which operates...

... company to post a first-quarter net profit of $318 million, down from $519 million in the year-earlier period. The company, controlled by Alexei Mordashov, also said results at its core Russian steel unit will improve in the second quarter, although the export market remains volatile. "The outlook for the global steel industry remains challenging, however we see improving fundamentals for Russian steel in Q2 due to more stable steel prices and firm domestic demand," the company said in a statement...

... market worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Federal Fisheries Agency head Andrei Krainy told Interfax on Tuesday. After the anti-poaching deal with neighboring China and Japan takes effect around the end of this year, only legally caught crab will be exported, Krainy said. The fisheries agency chief said not a single poaching ship was registered in South Korean ports in recent months following the enactment of a similar agreement with South Korea. Krainy also said Tuesday that fish deliveries will...

... with businessman Sergei Generalov to buy control of transportation group FESCO for about $1 billion, an industry source familiar with the deal said Friday. Summa, involved in renovating the Bolshoi Theater, building an oil terminal in Rotterdam and exporting Russian grain, is in negotiations to buy Generalov's 56 percent stake in FESCO. "The deal is almost done, it's in the final stage," the source said, adding that it may be closed in June. The deal, if consummated, would extend the logistical...