The new CEO of TNK-BP will apparently be chosen by the end of the year, energy mogul Viktor Vekselberg has announced.  The Telegraph examines Total chief Christophe de Margerie's belief that oil prices may rocket back up to the $100 mark if further investment into oil exploration is not followed through.  According to Bloomberg, state-run monopoly Saudi Aramco says that it imagines little chance of pumping crude from idle fields in 2010 because demand for oil remains low.  Ukraine will offer 'absolute and unconditional guarantees' to restructure the debt of Naftogaz Ukrainy.  Greece is cooperating with Russia in the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and South Stream gas line, but with a predominant concern for its own interests, says Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, according to ITAR-TASS.   37 tenders for the Shtokman gas field ...

The chairman of the German government-backed trust designed to oversee the sale of Opel has said that GM cannot afford to keep control of the European unit, as it needs to focus on its fortunes stateside.  According to the New York Times, the company's Vice President maintains that it wishes to sell but that certain questions remain.  The president of AvtoVAZ, Boris Alyoshin, has resigned.  Russia plans to create a holding company to put together the state's stakes in the country's two biggest car makers, Avtovaz and Kamaz.  Car manufacturer Gaz is adapting to the conditions of a low-demand market, says its CEO.  The Moscow Times reports that the number of consumers planning to buy a car within the next year has doubled to 6%.  VTB has acquired rights to a controlling stake in developer Don ...

Yesterday's fatal accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant will present a considerable setback in Russia's attempts to increase its power production, says the New York Times.  It will take 'years rather than months to restore three of the 10 turbines' that were destroyed.  President Medvedev has said that Russian oil enterprises should increase their presence in the Caspian Sea to reenforce the region's economy.  Lukoil has announced that hydrocarbon production in the first six months of the year increased 2% on last year and crude production by 4%.  Oerlikon has won a solar order worth $277 million from Nano Solar Technology, a business partly owned by Viktor Vekselberg, who has a controlling interest in Oerlikon itself.  Turkey may call off a tender for its first nuclear power reactor in order to create a new framework under ...

'The project is rich in geopolitical significance, not least because Russia is quick to use its huge energy reserves as a political tool': the Times reports on Nabucco.  United States special energy envoy Richard Morningstar has said that Russia is 'certainly free to participate' in supplying gas to the pipeline and that it must be accepted as a partner.  The project has had a boost as Turkey has abandoned its demand to buy 15% of gas from it and Turkmenistan has announced that it is ready to sell gas to it.  Viktor Vekselberg's Integrated Energy Systems may face state criticism for delaying deadlines without official sanction.  Kazakhstan has finished construction of its part of the pan-Central Asian pipeline that will help China tackle its increasing energy requirements.  Reuters reports on troubles ahead for Gazprom's Shtokman gas project due ...

Barack Obama has urged for increased trade between the US and Russia, as current annual trade stands at $36 billion, but has stipulated that the promotion of 'transparency, accountability [and] rule of law' are necessary.  The US may drop the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which has restricted immigration and prevented Washington from granting most-favored nation status to countries that do not have market economies.  'We should be ashamed of the size of mutual investments', says Viktor Vekselberg.  Putin has offered support of Boeing's wish to 'develop cooperation with Russian partners'.  The US aircraft maker is ready to spend $27 billion in Russia over the next 30 years.  To see a video interview with John Connor, manager of the Third Millenium Russia Fund, about the investment climate in Russia, look here.  For comments on the business meetings, see Reuters.  Vladimir Putin ...

TODAY: Obama says trade comes with rule of law; criticizes Russia's idea of being neighborly; Russians indifferent to the visit?; 'less than what we wanted' say opposition leaders; Klebnikov case to be reinvestigatedIn Obama's speech to students at the New Economic School, he referred to his 'excellent discussions' with Russia's leaders, but also told Russia, 'the days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over' and that 'state sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order'.  A move unlikely to prove popular with the Kremlin, as the Guardian suggests: 'Russians bristle at Obama's suggestion that the idea of "spheres of influence" is a 19th-century oddity'.  Why was Georgia not a ...

Despite Vladimir Putin holding a meeting to discuss the Ukraine gas problem as the deadline for paying their bill approaches, 'the situation remains unresolved'.  The European Commission will send a team to Moscow and Kiev on a 'fact-finding' mission to analyze the problem since Russia has said it may suspend gas supplies.  The EU Trade Commissioner says the dispute requires 'a commercial solution'.  Russia has warned Bulgaria that should Ukraine fail to pay for gas pumped into underground storage, then Russia may stop gas supplies.  An article in the Economist suggests that oil cannot be the panacea the Kremlin would hope it to be.  Gazprom has announced that the company has 'all conditions to start purchases of Azeri gas soon'.  Viktor Vekselberg has declared that TNK-BP intends to increase its investments this year by $400 ...

At the EU summit Russia warned that it will not extend any loans to Ukraine and refused to offer guarantees that gas supplies would not be interrupted.  President Viktor Yushchenko has said that the agreement Ukraine and Russia came to in January 'fails to meet the economic policy basics'.  Putin says Russia will not accept Ukraine's proposal to postpone gas storage payments in exchange for future transit fees. Gazprom Neft is seeking a bigger stake in Sibir Energy - up to 30%.  Rumors abound that the company may purchase an additional stake to give it a controlling interest.  A special committee has been created to deal with the issue of gas supplies to eastern Europe in the 1990s, as Gazprom claims it is owed money as part of a deal which saw it exchange gas for ...

'There will be the predictable difficulties in negotiations on energy issues', says a top Russian senator on the Russia-EU summit, as there is 'a global collision in strategy'.  President Medvedev will 'be interested in the EU's position . . . on the continuing threat to Europe resulting from our difficult relations with Ukraine in the gas sphere'.  American billionaire Walter Buffett will provide the start up money and Barack Obama the political support for an international nuclear fuel bank to be created in Central Asia.  Rusnano and Viktor Vekselberg's Renova are embarking upon a $635 million project to manufacture solar panels in the republic of Chuvashia.  Swiss technology group Oerlikon is negotiating to join the project, which would involve a 700 million Swiss franc supply deal with Rusnano.  Shell's remuneration committee is reportedly under increasing pressure ...

According to a Reuters poll, analysts have suggested that GDP will drop by 4.7% this year and growth is unlikely to return by the end of the year.  Dmitry Medvedev has pledged to increase social spending in some areas in the 2010-2011 budget.  The Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak has said that in order to support the construction industry, 12,000 apartments have been bought to house 35,000 citizens.  Rusal chairman Viktor Vekselberg has said that as part of its debt restructuring, Vneshekonombank may sell bonds convertible to stock in Rusal and Rusal may sell its $4 billion 25% stake in Norilsk Nickel.  Norilsk Nickel is looking to change the terms of debt repayments linked to the 2007 takeover of Canada's LionOre.  Communications provider Mobile TeleSystems plans to storm Russia with web connections and services hoping to ...