News & Views on the Russian presence within the Arctic Circle
18 March 2010
вести.ru were the first to broadcast, there is video, Medvedev’s remarks to the Security Council of the Russian Federation. There is a need to obtain the correct balance between the competitiveness of Russia’s economy and measures to combat environmental change, according to Medvedev. This is fair enough but Medvedev also commented on the, ‘ недопустимости... Read More...
15 March 2010
аргументы и факти reports that a French Naval Frigate will take part in exercises with the Northern fleet. Last week there were a number of reports on the visit of officials from Total to Murmansk in what is being called officially the year of France in Russia and the year of Russia in France. No-one can quite pin down why Russia is purchasing four French Mistral class... Read More...
11 March 2010
From local sources in Murmansk it is always possible to discern larger scale developments between nations and companies. Thus a delegation from France’s total have been meeting with the Mayor of Murmansk to discuss the implementation of the Shtokman project – Total has a 25% stake in the development company. Meanwhile the Norwegians – with their 24% stake - have... Read More...
17 February 2010
Despite some recent doubts about the immediate future of the field, the latest on the Shtokman project is that Russian companies are now bidding to build the platforms and rigs, and the various ships, barges and pontoons needed for the project. прийm-тасс carried an article by one Dmitry Lyutyagin from Veles Capital who is optimistic about the long-term prospects for Gazprom. It... Read More...
1 February 2010
In developing plans for pipelines and oil and gas terminals it appears as though Gazprom is pressing ahead with the development of the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea despite some ‘foreign’ doubts about its profitability in the short-to-mid-term gas market. According to this report the head of Gazprom states that the ’проект будет обязательно... Read More...
28 January 2010
In what could only really be described as an amazing bit of news хибины.ru is reporting that Gazprom could be forced to abandon its ambitious plans for the development of the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea. There have been indications before that confidence in the project was shaky and, if these predictions are true, then this would be a massive blow to Russia’s Arctic... Read More...
22 January 2010
‘most modern’, ‘ultra-deep’, ‘complex’, ‘innovation’, ‘tremendous’, ‘advanced’, ‘progressive’, ‘Russia’s new economy’, ‘flagship’,’ ‘modernization’ – just a few of the bright and shiny words used in this report by BP in its efforts to persuade the Russian... Read More...
21 December 2009
In the light of the previous post and the statements made about the real difficulties in Arctic development these comments from the governor of the Arkhangelsk region are significant, especially given the conclusion to them in the article which hints at a fusion between state policy and the policy of United Russia, headed by Putin. The article on the necessity of developing Arctic resources... Read More...
11 November 2009
ИноПРЕСС.ru reported the remarks of officials from the International Energy Agency. The report from the agency released very recently apparently predicts a difficult time for the gas market owing to overproduction, falling demand and the search for and use of renewables. Russia’s plans to export LNG (from the new fields in the Arctic presumably) are specifically called... Read More...
7 November 2009
This article in новости.mail.ru is a good example of how the Russian leadership sees an emerging new energy order rather than a new cold war. The article begins with an account of how Danish-Russian relations have not been good lately, because of Denmark’s handling over the stay, in Denmark, of a wanted Chechen leader. Soon after there were problems because of Chilingarov’s... Read More...
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