Wealth Bulletin25 September 2008 - Jason Corcoran in MoscowRussian oligarchs are nursing paper losses of $42bn (€28.6bn) from the dramatic sell-off in the Russian stock markets over the past two months.US publication Forbes calculated the net worth of Russia's richest businessmen last week and compared it to the end of July when widespread market falls were triggered by Prime Minister Putin's accusations of price fixing at miner Mechel.The Russian stock markets have since fallen 50% as the international banking crisis, falling commodity prices and the war with Georgia has taken its toll.The greatest losses were suffered by Vladimir Lisin, the steel magnate owner Novolipetsk Steel, who saw his portfolio holdings drop by $11.2bn since the end of July.The next biggest loser has been chairman of mineral fertiliser company Uralkali Dmitry Rybolovlev who has stacked up market losses of ...

The Finance Ministry’s original list of three banks that would receive emergency budget funding has stretched to twenty eight, to offset damage done to liquidity in the banking sector by last week’s stock market tumbles. Alexei Kudrin has revealed that the financial crisis may have cost Russia as much as $15 billion in capital flight thus far. The crisis may provide oligarchs with prime opportunities for buying cheap shares, suggests this report. The UK Telegraph gives a summary of countries affected by the crisis, hinging Russia’s recovery on the price of oil. Read the FT on Russia’s ‘cooling’ car market, which could be weakened further by the falling oil price. Read an interview with the owner of steel company Severstal, who insists that Russia’s relations with the West remain intact.

Living in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, I am within 20 miles of several active windfarms, a Gamesa (Spain: GAM) wind turbine manufacturing plant, a resurgent coal mining industry, Waste Management (WMI) landfill gas capture projects, and natural gas exploration as part of the Marcellus Shale deposit. The accompanying overview and map of energy production in PA can be found at EIA.gov, along with a complete profile of energy-related statistics for the Keystone State. Companies such as Range Resources (RRC) and CNX Gas (CXG) are actively exploring and developing the Marcellus shale for conventional and unconventional natural gas deposits while Waste Management conducts landfill gas capture and waste-to-energy projects at local landfills. ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow23 June 2008 Investment climate is steady as new leader continues reform agenda Russia’s equity markets are enjoying the country’s honeymoon period under its new leadership, but investors remain wary of how the power-sharing arrangement will evolve.The changing of the guard on May 7 saw Vladimir Putin hand over the presidential mantle to his protégé Dmitry Medvedev. Within hours, Medvedev had nominated his mentor Putin as Prime Minister.The smooth choreography proved to be a fillip for Russia’s main stock markets and sparked a buying spree by foreign funds.The MSCI Russia Index was the best performing emerging equity market last month, rising 15.7%, and outperforming the MSCI EM Emea index, which rose 7.3% in the same month. Inflows recorded in the third week of May of $542m (€350m) were the highest in Russia ...