Stephen Fidler at the Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece running today about the annual winter pipeline politics (though the sensible agreement yesterday in Yalta may diminish a lot of fears).  There are some interesting facts and numbers in the piece - for example the estimate that Gazprom's contract prices are sitting around $10 per million BTU, while LNG can be had on the spot market for $4 per million BTU.  In a refreshing change of pace, we see Fidler point more of the blame at the national champions E.ON and ENI if by chance Eastern European households go cold this winter.  From a business perspective, a supply cut-off would really hurt Gazprom and benefit the state-corporate avarice of Western Europe (who have the ability to import from alternative sources).Either way, things are looking bad for everybody ...

Reports have emerged following yesterday's meeting between 'comfortable' duo Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko.  Bloomberg says Putin's announcement that Ukraine would not be penalized for consuming less gas than was contracted was warmly received by Tymoshenko, who pledged that payments would be made on time.  'It would be very good to meet the New Year without calamities,' Putin said, guaranteeing stable supplies (click here for some transit figures).  This exchange was overshadowed by Medvedev's advisor in Moscow, who reportedly complained about 'political blackmail' in light of Tymoshenko's decision to increase transit fees earlier this week. The Guardian points out that TNK-BP's new chief executive, the choice of its oligarch board, is 'inexperienced', but BP insists that it was not 'steamrollered' into accepting him.  Russia's stepped-up pledge for emissions reductions is drawing positive reports.  ...

The following appeared in the November issue of Business Diary Botswana:

Despite the IMF’s recent projection that Botswana’s economy will contract 10.3% this year, the lender expects a 4.1% uptick next year such that emergency funding would not be required. Back in June the country tapped a $1.5bn “budget support loan” from the African Development Bank–the largest such facility ever granted by the Bank–in order to finance part of a budget deficit then estimated at around 13.5% of GDP, and since revised to 14%. The IMF cited a renewal of demand for diamonds as a central facet of its optimistic forecast. Furthermore, it predicted, GDP growth across sub-Saharan Africa will rise to approximately 4% next year and 5% in 2011, up from 1.1% in 2009. “We think it should be possible for sub-Saharan Africa to recover quicker this time around and have a ‘V-shaped recovery,’”

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Russia's EU ambassador says his country aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 25% through to 2020. Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, has written an open letter to Dmitry Medvedev, asking him to change the terms of agreement on gas supplies.  The move 'appeared designed to embarrass his political rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko', says Reuters, alhough things will likely be tense enough ahead of Tymoshenko's meeting with Vladimir Putin today, as she has already announced that the transit price of Russian natural gas through Ukrainian territory will be doubled as of January next year.  Tymoshenko says the meeting's agenda does not include gas issues.  RusAl is pulling out of the construction side of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric plant, its joint project with RusHydro, although says it will not withdraw funding. The venture has already been the focus of disputes ...

You've got to respect Global Witness ... for a watchdog NGO, they bring a lot of creativity and innovation to their cause (see this past campaign for another example).  GW has also done a tremendous job in the past unearthing all the corruption surrounding RosUkrEnergo, a subject which has come up again and again (let's just say the corruption scandal reaches pretty high).  Today they published another hot report to remind the European Commission how they've got it all wrong in selling out human rights and democracy to the brutal dictatorship in Turkmenistan in exchange for eventual access to natural gas ... including a collaboration with the political cartoonist David Rees.Click here ...

Russia's Energy Minister and the EU Energy Commissioner have signed a memorandum establishing an early warning mechanism to anticipate potential gas cuts and allow time to find solutions to problems before deliveries are physically affected.  But the memorandum may be useless, suggests one analyst, as the decision to cut supplies lies with Gazprom, which has already criticized the European Union for not doing enough to head off another gas crisis this winter.  Russia may participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine's pipeline network, but Yulia Tymoshenko insists that the system will not be privatized.  Iran is not pleased with 'dishonest' Russia, after the latter said that 'technical reasons' were behind its announcement that the Bushehr nuclear plant would not be ready by the end of the year as planned.  The IAEA is continuing to press ...

Sealed Air Corporation (SEE) recently reported its third quarter results. The company posted earnings of 38 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate 33 cents as well as prior-year EPS of 28 cents. Through its stringent cost-control measures and global manufacturing strategy, the company managed to offset the impact of lower sales on its earnings. The company’s global manufacturing strategy, along with its cost reduction program, resulted in approximately $20 million in savings during the quarter. Sealed Air is pursuing a multi-year global manufacturing strategy to revitalize its bottom line. The company plans to build manufacturing plants close to the markets it serves, with the bulk of production being transferred overseas. Under the first phase of this strategy, the company expects to realize cumulative savings of around $45.0 million in 2009 and $55.0 million in 2010. Apart from its global manufacturing strategy, the company ...

Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), Eastern Europe’s largest cellular operator, announced results for third-quarter 2009 with earnings per ADS of $1.31 exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17. Net income, however, dipped 4.1% year over year to $494.4 million on lower revenue and higher interest expenses on US dollar denominated debt.  Revenue, ARPU & Churn  Consolidated revenue declined 19.4% year over year to $2.27 billion, affected by the macroeconomic volatily across key markets and unfavorable exchange rate (rouble versus dollar) movements which hurt the company’s dollar-denominated revenues. On a geographic basis, revenue increased in Russia (7.2% year over year) and Turkmenistan (113.2%) while declining in Ukraine (1.7%), Uzbekistan (1.9%)and Armenia (3.1%).   In Russia , churn (customer switch) increased sequentially and year over year while ARPU (average revenue per user) increased from the previous quarter but declined year over year. Churn at Ukraine declined year over year while increasing ...

Steel Output Mounting The Steel industry, which consists of companies engaged in the extraction of iron ore and coke coal for the processing of iron and steel, has the major chunk of sales concentrated with a few producers. The industry includes metal ore exploration and mining services, iron and steel foundries for smelting, rolling, forging, spinning, recycling, stamping, polishing and plating of iron and steel products such as pipes, tubes, wire, spring, rolls and bars. The largest drivers of steel consumption have historically been the automotive and construction markets, which make up more than 50% of total steel consumption. Other steel consuming industries include appliances, converters, containers, tin, energy, electrical equipment, agricultural, domestic and commercial equipment and industrial machinery. Large automakers such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company ([url=http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/f]F[/url]), Toyota Motor Corporation ([url=http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/tm]TM[/url]) and Honda Motor Company ([url=http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/hmc]HMC[/url]) depend upon the steel industry. ArcelorMittal ([url=http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/mt]MT[/url]) is ...

Apparently U.N. inspectors have found 'nothing to be worried about' upon their first examination of the formerly clandestine uranium enrichment site in Qom in Iran.  'The [Obama] administration must consider whether it makes sense to grant the regime two more months of grace' says an op-ed in the Washington Post.  'Prospects for a breakthrough with Iran have narrowed dramatically since a high-level meeting in Geneva on Oct. 1', the paper adds, quoting a senior European diplomat.  Good news for Nord Stream - after considerable environmental concerns, it has received approval from both Finland and Sweden.  The construction of the Russia-Germany pipeline could spell the demise of Ukraine as a transit country, suggests the Wall Street Journal.   Lukoil has lost out on initial rights to develop Iraq's much-coveted West Qurna field, with an an Exxon ...