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Venezuela to Exxon: umm, about that $6bn compensation?
If anyone needed reminding about the hopelessly haphazard workings of Hugo Chavez’s administration, a prime example was served up this week in the confusion over how much Exxon Mobil might be...
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Kiev’s big shale gas tender kicks off with a whiff of controversy
It’s ramping up to be the biggest government tender Ukraine has ever held and a potential game-changer for an economy struggling to break its dependency on increasingly expensive imports of Russian...
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Poland’s shale gas divided by 5?
Hopes that Poland could turn into an energy exporting potentate like Norway are looking fragile. The country may be sitting on Europe’s biggest shale gas deposits but it is becoming increasingly clear...
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Proposed tax reforms promise to open up Russia’s offshore Arctic gas fields
When ExxonMobil teamed up with Rosneft to explore in Russia’s Arctic seas last year the US oil major warned it would not launch major investments in the remote area until Moscow introduced a viable,...
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Cristina: she is not alone
However serious the YPF nationalisation crisis is for YPF, Repsol, Argentina and Spain, its overall impact on emerging markets has been limited, with EM equities falling on Tuesday by just 0.2 per...
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Oil majors’ bids give Ukraine a boost
Five international energy groups have placed bids for the first multi-billion-dollar hydrocarbon exploration and production licences offered by Ukraine under a plan to reduce dependence on Russian fuel...
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Argentina and Big Oil: lots of noise but no money yet
It’s a busy week for Big Oil in Buenos Aires. The Argentine government, which has seized control of YPF from Repsol of Spain and is in the process of nationalising it, has been calling international...
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Dancing with (polar) bears: a rush to link hands with Rosneft
Another big foreign oil deal in Russia. State-controlled Rosneft and Italy’s Eni announced on Wednesday a pact for offshore exploration in the Russian Arctic and the Black Sea. Prime minister Vladimir...
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Rosneft and Statoil: back-scratching and hostage-taking
Statoil has been warning about the risks of exploring in little known frozen seas after becoming the third western oil company in less than a month to sign a deal in the Russian Arctic. But the deal...
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Igor Sechin: a block on privatisation?
It’s an edgy time on global markets, as the sharp moves in Russian equities showed on Wednesday. The RTS index was down a vertiginous 4.4 per cent in afternoon trading. Analysts said investors had been...
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Exxon: thanks Chavez!
It’s unlikely that executives at Exxon Mobil would have too many kind words to say about Hugo Chávez and his government, locked as they are in a bitter legal battle over compensation for an...
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Poland shale: Exxon exit
Is ExxonMobil scared or smart? That’s the question Polish shale gas enthusiasts are asking themselves after the US energy giant announced that it was halting work on looking for shale gas on its Polish...
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Shale gas: an EM game for EM players?
Shale gas has the potential to transform the global gas industry. A lot of it is to be found in emerging markets, home to seven of the 10 biggest shale gas reserves worldwide. So you’d expect the...
View ArticleBulgaria pins hopes on Black Sea gas
These are early days, but interest from energy majors in Bulgaria’s offshore gas potential is raising hopes that the country can reduce its dependency on Russian imports. ExxonMobil of the US, Total of...
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Poland’s shale: enter the state
Photo: Bloomberg Maybe it’s time to file away Poland’s adventure in shale gas under “market failure”. The invisible hand has yet to find the gas in marketable quantities, something that recently...
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Ukraine: a belated welcome to big oil
Finally, some good news for foreign investors in Ukraine. It’s not enough to blot out the bad headlines generated by president Viktor Yanukovich’s standoff with the EU and US over the jailing of...
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