Events
Russia's domestic
debt in government securities grew 13.94 billion rubles
or
2.1% to 685.55 billion rubles in February, the Finance
Ministry said.
The debt, which was 663.534 billion rubles
on January 1, grew 22.02 billion rubles
or 3.3% in the first two months of 2004
A BP-led group,
developing a giant gas field in Eastern Siberia, said on
Thursday
it would commit $650 million to start production and supply
local Russian
consumers with gas from 2006.
The move comes amid increased pressure on the
group from Russia's gas monopoly
Gazprom, which wants to join the project and opposes
BP's plans to build Russia's
first gas pipeline to Asia, including to China and
South Korea. BP's Russian vehicle
TNK-BP agreed on Thursday with authorities of East
Siberian region of Irkutsk that it
would supply regional consumers, such as utilities and
petrochemical firms, with 300
million cubic metres of gas from 2006, rising to 2.2
billion cubic metres from 2009.
"Our total investment will amount to $650 million in
2004-2009. The implementation
of the local project will not depend on the terms of
implementation of the
international project," TNK-BP's spokesman Vladimir
Bobylev told Reuters. TNK-BP
controls 63 percent of the Rusia Petroleum firm, whose
main asset is a giant
Kovykta field, containing more than two trillion cubic
metres of gas reserves, almost
equal to the world's annual gas output.
Other owners include industrial group Interros and the
local administration and both
are planning to sell their stakes. The field was long
considered as the main source
of gas for a pipeline to Asia, and Rusia Petroleum
agreed last year with consumers
in China and South Korea to start first supplies from
2008, gradually rising to 30
billion cubic metres a year. But the project ran into
trouble last year, when Gazprom,
the world's top gas producer supplying Europe with a
quarter of its needs, was
appointed state co-ordinator for all Russian gas
projects. BP offered to bring
Gazprom into the field last year but the gas giant said
it wanted at least an equal
stake in the venture. It has said it is not satisfied
with buying out a combined 37
percent stake from Interros and the authorities.
Gazprom also said it was more
reasonable to sell gas from the field at home and to
Europe and said it viewed the
Asian plan as unrealistic. Russian domestic gas prices
are capped by the state at
around $25 per 1,000 cubic metres, while Gazprom
currently sells gas to Europe at
around $140 per 1,000 cubic metres |