well, in conventional terms Russian military is not as strong as the Soviet one. But it is still the strongest army in Europe at least and the military buget is on the rise.

As for Serbia, Russia's conduct of the matter in 1999 was a disgrace. But it's also true that Russia was very weak at that time. Next time NATO decides to bomb Serbia, Russia should enter a mutual defence treaty with it. We'll see if NATO has balls to attack Serbia then :D


Russia's military budged is less than half of France's budged...keep growing and start flexing your muscle in 100 years or so.

tomi3, the only thing that really matters is the purchasing power of the military budget ;)

Russia's military budged is less than half of France's budged...keep growing and start flexing your muscle in 100 years or so.


Oh, shit.....all this while I was away...

Tomis, I do not agree Russia does not have millitary might. Russia can take its war (conventional) on any part of the planet it wants, and in some it may even be able to win (we are not talking 'nukilar' :lol:annihilation here). Russia had military might even back in 1999 and NATO bombed Belgrade (NATO never had the guts to enter Serbia, as it'd have been a total failure - Serbia's military was armed by the Russians and was a lot better than the joke Irakian army).

But all in all is not about war here...I agree Russia basically will not go to war against NATO/US as the latter would not go to war against Russia too. What bugs me though is Russia's latest nervousness about the AMD shield in Poland and Czech Republic. I mean, OK, I understand, Russia claims it is a similar scenario like the Cuba missile crisis back in the '60s. To some extent it may be. But, there are 2 fundamental differences: 1) in the Cuban case, the missiles were offensive; now they are defensive; 2) in the Cuban case, the missiles could've been very effective (as they could've reached first American territory), the AMD shield it's not very effective, as it cannot offset Russia's overwhelming long-range missile system.

So, considering NATO and Russia will never go to war, I believe Russia's cocky attitude towards the latter case is about its pride and willingness that NATO says: hello, I am here, come play with me, too!

I really believe NATO's AMD shield is about mad-rulers-run countries like Iran (which unfortunatelly Russia puts nuclear technology into), and not about Russia. BTW, I read somewhere that Iran's current medium-range missile system can hit in the range of 2000 km, which includes both Romania and Bulgaria. So, if it comes to a war with the lunatic Ahmedinejad, I would like to have that shield, just to be sure we can keep our "Constanta: Projects and Development" thread up and running. :laugh: See here:

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4962/shahab3rangeiu8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And, BTW, Romania is on Russia's side in this Kossovo Serbia-NATO/EU dispute, like other EU countries are. Russia's military might has nothing to do with Romania's position here (nor Russia-Romania 'friendly' relations), still NATO and EU are fragmented on this including, including as a result of Romania's position. Military might is not always the key in international relations, and Russia knows this all to well and plays its cards better and better. I am really curious about this Kossovo-Serbia outcome. :cheers:

PS: I miss the good old days when Putin and Bush were kissing their asses at Crawford ranch. I really do not want another Cold War, the more so we are on the its front. :ohno:

PS: I want to ask our Russian friends here whether the word 'putina' has any meaning in Russian, cause it does have a meaning in Romanian and I suspect the word is of slavic origin, as about 20% of the Romanian language is. :cheers:

Trend Capital
09.02.08 14:11


Kazakhstan, Astana, 9 February /corr. TrendCapital K.Konirova /

http://capital.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1131492&catid=500&subcatid=382&lang=EN

The discussions regarding alternative gas supplies are actual in Europe, the Director General of Rompetrol, Dinu Patriciu, briefed the media in Astana.

“The discussions focus on Europe’s dependence on Russia. Currently Europe tries to find routs that are alternative to Russia. The way from Baku to the Romanian Port of Constants via Georgian Terminal of Batumi is one of the alternative routes,” Patriciu said.

Patriciu considers that the Georgian Terminal of Batumi and Romanian Port of Constants may be a bridge between Kazakhstan and Europe. “Immediately after GazMunayGaz acquired Batumi Terminal, we began developing the terminal, with our oil refinery in Constants,” Patriciu said.

According to him, it is one of the alternative routes to ensure energy security of Europe.

“Today many people speak about Nabucco project, but I think that it is real to speak of South Stream Project. Currently any company which may bring an alternative to Europe may become hero of the day. Having such a potential, today we can speak about realization of joint projects. It may be tanker transportations via Batumi and Constants or construction of a pipeline via or nearby Black Sea,” Patriciu stated.

Attending the press-conference, the Vice President of GazMunayGaz, Daniyar Berlibayev, said that the work on supplying Kazakh oil from Baku to the world markets via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is being done together with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).

“With regards to the [Trans-Caspian gas project], we participate in the discussions on the Nabucco project as the participant of the project,” Berlibayev said.

In 2007 GazMunayGaz acquired 75% shares of the Romanian Rompetrol Company.

^^

Rompetrol and KazMunaiGas joint projects include a possible Black Sea gas pipeline

Business Standard
10 februarie 2008

Joint projects of KazMunaiGas and Rompetrol include oil delivery through the Batumi and Constanta harbors or a gas pipeline through the Black Sea, said Rompetrol President Dinu Patriciu in a seminar organized by KazMunaiGas.

“There are many things to discuss today about the Nabucco project, but I think it is much more realistic to discuss the South Stream project. At the same time, any company that could come up with an alternative solution would become hero of the day. Today, considering such potential, we are able to talk about joint projects [Ed. n. Rompetrol and KazMunaiGas]. These could be oil delivery through the Batumi and Constanta harbors or the construction of a gas pipeline through the Black Sea,” said Patriciu in a Rompetrol release issued Friday.

The Rompetrol official also indicated that as soon as KazMunaiGas acquired the Batumi terminal, it began construction on another terminal near the Southeastern Romanian Petromidia refinery. (NewsIn)

^^ The guy is a bastard in Romanian terms, but if he pulls this off (and I would not underestimate him, he made 3 billion EUR in just under 9 years and built a regional leader oil company in the same time-span), he'll be a national and EU hero. :cheers:

^^ The guy is a bastard in Romanian terms, but if he pulls this off (and I would not underestimate him, he made 3 billion EUR in just under 9 years and built a regional leader oil company in the same time-span), he'll be a national and EU hero. :cheers:

He is not a bastard, he is just a succesfull businesman. Am man with brains I would say:)

He is not a bastard, he is just a succesfull businesman. Am man with brains I would say:)
:cheers:

I agree with Corneliu, but somehow I still dislike him as a person.:)

He is not a bastard, he is just a succesfull businesman. Am man with brains I would say:)

Well, let's put it this way, I do not like his interference with politics, as I do not like in general the interference between oil/gas and politics, but I must admit he's very smart in doing business. Anyway, if he pulls that project with the Batumi-Constanta pipeline off, I'll be able to forgive him. :lol:

Bulgaria will consolidate the biggest state-owned energy companies into a holding company to strengthen its position on the European market

SOFIA, Feb 10 (Reuters)
The government will link Bulgaria's dominant power utility NEK, its dominant gas company Bulgargaz, its largest coal mines Maritsa East, the country's largest thermal power plant Maritsa East Two, as well as its sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy.

"The government has decided to set up a Bulgarian energy holding," Stanishev told reporters after a two-day meeting of the ruling Socialist-led coalition in spa resort in southern Bulgaria, state news agency BTA reported.

"There is a wave of consolidation of the energy sector in the European Union and for Bulgaria to stay competitive, such a consolidation is necessary."

The holding should be operational by the end of the year, he said. Its assets will be 4 billion euros ($5.80 billion), and the expected annual revenue 1.8 billion euros.

The new joint holding company will allow the Balkan state to invest in the neighbouring countries and help building and financing of the planned 4 billion euros, 2,000 megawatt new nuclear power plant at Belene, Stanishev said.

Sofia's move to lump the state energy majors together could come at odds with a European Union Commission plan for breaking up Europe's big gas and electricity companies to open markets for more competition.

Bulgaria, along with seven other EU countries, supports an alternative proposal that offers full functional separation of supply activities from network operations but without splitting ownership of utilities' infrastructure.

The commission's energy chief has said he hoped for an agreement in June.
NEK owns the high voltage power grid and is the dominant power exporter, while Bulgargaz owns the entire gas network and is a shareholder in trans-Balkan oil pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis and gas pipeline projects Nabucco and South Stream.

The 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant Kozloduy and the 1,450 megawatt coal-fired plant Maritsa East produce more than half of the Black Sea country's electricity.

PS: I want to ask our Russian friends here whether the word 'putina' has any meaning in Russian, cause it does have a meaning in Romanian and I suspect the word is of slavic origin, as about 20% of the Romanian language is. :cheers:

Putin's greatest "fans" in Bulgaria call him "Putkin" which means something like "Pussy man"

Bulgaria will consolidate the biggest state-owned energy companies into a holding company to strengthen its position on the European market

SOFIA, Feb 10 (Reuters)
The government will link Bulgaria's dominant power utility NEK, its dominant gas company Bulgargaz, its largest coal mines Maritsa East, the country's largest thermal power plant Maritsa East Two, as well as its sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy.

"The government has decided to set up a Bulgarian energy holding," Stanishev told reporters after a two-day meeting of the ruling Socialist-led coalition in spa resort in southern Bulgaria, state news agency BTA reported.

"There is a wave of consolidation of the energy sector in the European Union and for Bulgaria to stay competitive, such a consolidation is necessary."

The holding should be operational by the end of the year, he said. Its assets will be 4 billion euros ($5.80 billion), and the expected annual revenue 1.8 billion euros.

The new joint holding company will allow the Balkan state to invest in the neighbouring countries and help building and financing of the planned 4 billion euros, 2,000 megawatt new nuclear power plant at Belene, Stanishev said.

Sofia's move to lump the state energy majors together could come at odds with a European Union Commission plan for breaking up Europe's big gas and electricity companies to open markets for more competition.

Bulgaria, along with seven other EU countries, supports an alternative proposal that offers full functional separation of supply activities from network operations but without splitting ownership of utilities' infrastructure.

The commission's energy chief has said he hoped for an agreement in June.
NEK owns the high voltage power grid and is the dominant power exporter, while Bulgargaz owns the entire gas network and is a shareholder in trans-Balkan oil pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis and gas pipeline projects Nabucco and South Stream.

The 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant Kozloduy and the 1,450 megawatt coal-fired plant Maritsa East produce more than half of the Black Sea country's electricity.

Haha, Romania's already in an argument with the EU on a similar plan. It'd be good to be 2 in this game, maybe we'll be more succesfull. :cheers:


Bucharest, Nov 20 /Rompres/ - The Romanian Government seeks to attract a foreign partner to achieve an integrated state company to re-group the energy production, distribution and transport, in the same way that the privatisation of the Romanian Commercial Bank BCR was achieved, Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said in a video recorded message on Tuesday to participants in the Energy Forum staged by ForumInvest.

'The integrated company will not become a market colossus, since it will be conceived in such a manner as to hold less than 50 percent of the market. Furthermore, we do not plan to keep it a state property and therefore, we'll list it on the stock exchange, most likely', Tariceanu said.

The prime minister announced that the Government plans to turn Bucharest not only into a regional energy stock exchange, but into a European one as well, in the future.

'In two or three years, the Romanian energy sector will become the most competitive on a regional level', he added.

European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, in this October, criticised the Romanian authorities' announcement that they would set up a national energy company. He said he had not been told about this project which, he believed, might create 'a monster'. :crazy::baeh3:

The power company that is to join several non-privatised energy companies and the setting up of which is called for in the Romanian Energy Strategy will not include national electricity transport company Transelectrica and national gas transport company Transgaz.

Tariceanu had said, at the time, he would tell the European energy commissioner to get informed before he criticises the Romanian Government's initiative to establish a big national energy company.

'I'll write a letter to the commissioner and ask him to please get informed before he pronounces in public. I ask him to get informed at the very source, the Government is ready to assist him if he has certain worries in this respect', Tariceanu had said, adding that Piebalgs' comments seemed to him totally ungrounded.

The prime minister also said Romania had the right to develop its own economic branches, like energy or the auto industry.

PS: I want to ask our Russian friends here whether the word 'putina' has any meaning in Russian, cause it does have a meaning in Romanian and I suspect the word is of slavic origin, as about 20% of the Romanian language is. :cheers:

^^ i guess 'putina' means vagina in romanian ;) And as bgrs said - Putin in bulgarian means pussy-man(vagina-man) etc. ...

^^ i guess 'putina' means vagina in romanian ;) And as bgrs said - Putin in bulgarian means pussy-man(vagina-man) etc. ...

:lol: Didn't know that. I guess Bulgarians make fun on that of Putin. :lol: I am curious whether in Russian it has the same meaning. In Romanian it means a recipient for cheese: something like a barrel. :cheers:

^^ Yeah, there were similar reactions of criticism here.

No, the Russian word is kinda different.

The Russian word путь (pronounced something like poot') means - way or path. I guess you could say that Putin has showed Russia the way to power :)

No, the Russian word is kinda different.
We have a word "putana".
But Putin sounds more like "poot' " - "way", how golov already noted.

We have a word "putana".
But Putin sounds more like "poot' " - "way", how golov already noted.

let me guess. Putana means a whore, right?

We have a word "putana".
But Putin sounds more like "poot' " - "way", how golov already noted.

Then I guess it's a predestined name for both Putin and Russia.

Sounds like 1/3 of the Christian syntagm: "the way, the thruth, life".

And now I suspect Nebunul and Corneliu will come after me for using religion in politics. :banana::lol:

let me guess. Putana means a whore, right?
Yes

How do you say "bear" in Romanian and Bulgarian? :D

So much russophobia here :ohno:

How do you say "bear" in Romanian and Bulgarian? :D

Urs:cheers:

So much russophobia here :ohno:

Hope not...Corneliu did not mention 'putana' first here...nevertheless, the word has nothing to do with Putin's name, and I kindly ask everybody to stop here any reference to 'putana'. OK? Thanks :cheers:

Yes
Not exactly, putana means prostitute in literal meaning, it describes a profession of the woman, the difference from the words whore, slut, prostitute is that word putana is not usually used to offend a woman.

So much russophobia here :ohno:
Its ok Pavlo, we have good fun here with our Romanian friends :hug:

:lol: Didn't know that. I guess Bulgarians make fun on that of Putin. :lol: I am curious whether in Russian it has the same meaning. In Romanian it means a recipient for cheese: something like a barrel. :cheers:

^^ Just don't make me translate names like Kuroedov or Kuropatkin in bulgarian :lol: ... They are even funnier than Putin, believe me ...

Bear in Bulgarian is "mechka" мечка :cheers:

How do you say "bear" in Romanian and Bulgarian? :D

Why did you ask? Are you going to reccomend us a friendly hug of the 'urs'. :lol::jk:

^^ Just don't make me translate names like Kuroedov or Kuropatkin in bulgarian :lol: ... They are even funnier than Putin, believe me ...

Bear in Bulgarian is "mechka" мечка :cheers:

Don't tell me I am thinking this right: Kuro means ass! In Romanian is 'cur'. :lol:

Don't tell me I am thinking this right: Kuro means ass! In Romanian is 'cur'. :lol:

^^ actually "kur" is the thing that stands on the other side of a male's ass :lol:

ЯЖ МИ КУРО СИМИТЛИ Е СЕЛО!!!

Sorry for the dumbass post, but I just couldn't resist haha :)

Why did you ask? Are you going to reccomend us a friendly hug of the 'urs'. :lol::jk:
Because the only association one has with the surname Medvedev is medved', which means bear


Kuroedov means chicken-eater :)

^^ actually "kur" is the thing that stands on the other side of a male's ass :lol:

Now here is a good languages lesson tonight. I'll be careful not to use the word 'cur' when I come to BUlgaria. Ussually, the Romanian expression for " I do not care" is "My 'cur' is in pains". Sounds pretty painful in Bulgarian though. :lol:

Kuroedov means chicken-eater :)

^^ In bulgarian dick(cock)-eater :) we don't have the word 'kurica' ... instead we use 'kokoshka' ;)

^^ No, actually it's pretty same in BG...even though "kur" means different thing.

Anyway, we have the word "hui" which is absolutely the same in Russian :D

Now here is a good languages lesson tonight. I'll be careful not to use the word 'cur' when I come to BUlgaria. Ussually, the Romanian expression for " I do not care" is "My 'cur' is in pains". Sounds pretty painful in Bulgarian though. :lol:

BTW, I wormly advise Bulgarians here to answer any question of the Romanian customs officer (when they cross the border) with "Ma doare in cur". :nocrook:

Anyway, we have the word "hui" which is absolutely the same in Russian :D

^^ the russians have it 100% :) I like another ru expression - "huinya" :lol: use it a lot in work to describe some scummy design works :bash:

Hahaaaa so "Ma doare in cur" means "boli me kura".

Very interesting indeed...I was in Ruse for the weekend and spend the Saturday night in a restaurant. Next to us were a big Romanian company and I'm pretty sure they said "Cur" at least several times. I thought I'm having some auditory hallucinations OMG :)

^^ the russians have it 100% :)
It's one of the most important russian words.

how about "'pizdets"? which has rather good conotations :)

Hahaaaa so "Ma doare in cur" means "boli me kura".

Very interesting indeed...I was in Ruse for the weekend and spend the Saturday in a restaurant. Next to us were a big Romanian company and I'm pretty sure they said "Cur" at least several times. I thought I'm having some auditory hallucinations OMG :)

:lol: Probably discussing business as ussual. :lol:

Hahaaaa so "Ma doare in cur" means "boli me kura".

Very interesting indeed...I was in Ruse for the weekend and spend the Saturday in a restaurant. Next to us were a big Romanian company and I'm pretty sure they said "Cur" at least several times. I thought I'm having some auditory hallucinations OMG :)

most probably they said curva:lol:

Hey, curva is even worse (though I know it means a curve in RO, isn't it)?

In Bulgarian it means whore :)

http://www.tema.ru/travel/canada-1/_MG_0131.jpg
CN tower, Canada

^^I've been up there and and lied myself on the glass floor face down....freaky. :banana:

http://sashoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/google-hui-01.jpg

http://sashoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/google-hui-02.jpg

http://sashoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/google-hui-03.jpg

http://sashoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/google-hui-05.jpg

http://sashoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/google-hui-09.jpg

.........

http://sashoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/google-hui-10.jpg

Hey, curva is even worse (though I know it means a curve in RO, isn't it)?

In Bulgarian it means whore :)

it is not worse. it's just a profession. You know, I have more respect for whores than for taxi drivers. And only because of these relegious fanatics the prostitutes have this bad reputation. Afterall, all they do is giving you an orgasm, hardly the worse thing to happen on the Planet Earth.:lol:

Not that I ever visited one:lol:

^^I've been up there and and lied myself on the glass floor face down....freaky. :banana:

look better:lol::lol:

look better:lol::lol:

Err, I meant not on the glassy window, but on the floor. Right? :nuts::lol:

how about "'pizdets"? which has rather good conotations :)

"pizdets" is exactly how Putin is translated in Bulgarian :lol:

1 pula = 0.153123 U.S. dollars :nuts::lol:

When for fuck's sake did the rates go that low? :lol:

(google it)

PS; Pula is the currency for Botswana

Err, I meant not on the glassy window, but on the floor. Right? :nuts::lol:
Yeah, that's great, but I'm pretty sure they are referring to the word XУЙ written there.:lol:

Btw, pretty educative discussion here... sorry I missed it because of my non-existent internet.:lol:

Romania to pay in 2008 the highest price for Russian gas among the EU states - $390 per thousand cubic meters
Romania va plati in 2008 cel mai mare pret la gazele rusesti din UE

Romania va plati in acest an cel mai mare pret din Europa pentru gazele importate din Rusia, de pana la 390 de dolari/1000 de metri cubi, fata de 376 de dolari in prezent. Informatia apare in publicatia ruseasca Nezavisimaya Gazeta, care citeaza un studiu al Agentiei Internationale pentru Energie.

Publicatia ruseasca relateaza ca Gazprom a stabilit o noua grila de preturi pentru gazele care le exporta in acest an catre UE si Tarile Baltice, pretul mediu fiind de 330-350 de dolari/1000 de metri cubi.

Preturile difera insa de la o tara la alta, in functie de interesele economice si politice ale Rusiei si Gazprom. Astfel, in Ungaria, Polonia si Romania, preturile pentru gazele rusesti, in conformitate cu formula europeana, ar putea ajunge, in primul trimestru din acest an, la valori de 280-300, 340-350 si respectiv 350-370 de dolari pentru o mie de metri cubi, se arata in articolul din Nezavisimaya Gazeta publicat in decembrie 2007.

Pentru Letonia, Lituania si Estonia, potrivit formulei europene, pretul pentru gaze, in 2008, va fi de 295 de dolari pentru o mie de metri cubi.
[...]

>> The entire article (RO only) is available on DailyBusiness (http://www.dailybusiness.ro/stiri-companii/romania-va-plati-in-2008-cel-mai-mare-pret-la-gazele-rusesti-din-ue-10054).

It's only normal.:)

EU's biggest mouth pays EU's highest price.

Why so much?

Why so much?

rather why do you pay so little?

Please people do not imply that this is political :nuts: I am sure there is a logical explanation ...

rather why do you pay so little?
cause they own the russkies 1.5 billion bucks by tomorrow. Or Ukraine will be again without gas.

cause they own the russkies 1.5 billion bucks by tomorrow. Or Ukraine will be again without gas.

That sounds like a Mob threat:lol::lol:

Well, I am sure there is a lot to negotiate. NATO membership, Russian fleet in Crimea etc etc

The setting of prices is a real joke. :lol:
1- There is no competion with regards to gas in Eastern Europe. Not Russia's fault by the way.
2- Who said that Russia should give its gas for free?

1. No one said anything about gas competition in EE. It's obvious to everybody that Gazprom is the sole supplier.

2. Who's getting gas for free? Care to name at least one country in Europe?

^^The Commonwealth of Gagauzia!:shifty:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2761/125pxflagofgagauziasvgvq6.png

1. No one said anything about gas competition in EE. It's obvious to everybody that Gazprom is the sole supplier.

2. Who's getting gas for free? Care to name at least one country in Europe?

2. I only meant that you can't blame Russia for asking a certain price. Afterall, it's their gas.

It's just this amazing difference in prices across Europe is ridiculous.

Actually, Cosmin, Moldova pays for Gagauzia's gas (as it is part of it) but Transnistria accumulated a huge debt of about USD 1.5 bln, and refuses to pay.

So, it should be rather this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Transnistria_State_Flag.svg/576px-Transnistria_State_Flag.svg.png

^^Didn't know that about Transdnistria. So they have this debt and still get gas, eh? Gotta love "economics".:)

Anyway, what I said about the Commonwealth (:nuts:) of Gagauzia was of course a joke.:lol:

Rompetrol interested in South Stream project
http://nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080210-511858

During a seminar, KMG and Rompetrol agreed upon setting up a joint action plan covering the entire operations, from oil extraction to the oil products production.

published in issue 4117 page 8 at 2008-02-11

The key objectives of KazMunayGas (KMG) and Rompetrol are meant to enhance the communication channels between the management boards of the two companies, in order to effectively position KMG within the European market, Dinu Patriciu (photo), Rompetrol executive president said during a seminar organized by the Kazakh company late last week., Rompres informs.

“This holding will have a strong position in the Mediterranean area. It will extend from East to North. Ports Batumi and Constanta will become a bridge over the Black Sea. Shortly after KazMunayGas bought Batumi terminal, we have started to develop a terminal situated near the refinery from Constanta”, Rompetrol executive president said.

KazMunayGas intends to set up an oil production and refining company. “I believe that joint and complementary expertise, knowledge and technologies may secure profitability for both companies”, as KazMunayGasCEO, Uzakbai Karabalin, said.

Within the meeting, KMG and Rompetrol agreed to develop a joint plan, which will cover the whole operational cycle, from oil production to the oil products. The representatives of the two companies discussed mainly on the development of petro-chemical production, opportunities for service operations related to oil production and refining, about the services for KMG companies and about the direct participation of experts.

Priorities stated in the projects of the two companies refer to the expansion of the selling network and to have water treatment stations operational.

“There are many discussions related to Nabucco project, but I believe that it would be more realistic to direct our attention towards South Stream project. At the same time, any company that could provide an alternative could become the hero of the day. Today, we have such a big potential, we can talk about joint projects. These would address either deliveries through Batumi and Constanta, or the construction of a natural gas pipe to cross the Black Sea”, Dinu Patriciu said.

KMG to use Rompetrol’s experience

KazMunayGas (KMG) intends to put to good use Rompetrol’s experience in the European oil market in order to create a world renowned integrated company that would be involved in producing and processing oil.

The KazMunayGas (KMG) company has hosted on February 8 the ‘Business Day: Rompetrol – KazMunayGas’ seminar attended by 120 guests from Kazakhstan, Romania, France, Spain, Switzerland and Russia.

The event represented the first high-level meeting between Kazakh and Romanian specialists following the transfer of 75 per cent of Rompetrol shares to Trade House ‘KazMunayGas’, a subsidiary of the KazMunayGas company.

‘This meeting, enjoying a notable attendance, is the first mutual introduction between KazMunayGas and Rompetrol managers. Nevertheless, I would like to see today’s dialogue giving rise to practical stages that would allow us in the near future to improve the efficiency of operations conducted by our holding, a holding that now includes Rompetrol’ Uzakbai Karabalin, the president of KazMunayGas, has stated.

Fitch raised Rompetrol group rating to B plus

Financial assessment agency Fitch Ratings has recently improved, to B+ from B-, the rating granted to Rompetrol for long term debts, within the context of the group strong relationship with the major shareholder KazMunaiGaz. Rompres informed.

According to Fitch, the rating prospect is a positive one.

“Following discussions with Rompetrol management, Fitch believes that KazMunaiGaz and the minor group shareholder, Rompetrol Holding, supply additional funds to Rompetrol and/or restructure the group’s debt and support the ambitious program of capital expenditures”, according to the rating agency.

Although Kazakhstan based oil company does not guarantee Rompetrol group debt, Fitch expressed the confidence that major shareholder would be able to support Rompetrol in case of financial difficulties.

According to the cited source, Rompetrol acquisition fits KazMunaiGaz strategy of vertical integration in refining and marketing sectors. Rompetrol doubled the refining capacity of the company from Kazakhstan and added 500 new filling stations in seven countries of Europe, mainly Romania and France.

The state controlled company from Kazakhstan regards Rompetrol as a growth platform through the acquisitions in East and West of Europe. A physical integration option could exist, so that part of Rompetrol needed crude oil would be purchased from Kazakhstan, Fitch specifies.

"pizdets" is exactly how Putin is translated in Bulgarian :lol:

1 pula = 0.153123 U.S. dollars :nuts::lol:

(google it)

PS; Pula is the currency for Botswana



Pizdetz is coming to Bucharest ... Well, he finally understood who's got the pula :nuts:
http://www.ziare.com/Putin_vine_la_Bucuresti__anunta_un_oficial_de_la_Kremlin-236634.html

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4962/shahab3rangeiu8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

:cheers: So they can bomb the Souda Base on Crete.

Pizdetz is coming to Bucharest ... Well, he finally understood who's got the pula :nuts:
http://www.ziare.com/Putin_vine_la_Bucuresti__anunta_un_oficial_de_la_Kremlin-236634.html

:hilarious

Well, you know what that means, right? No enlargement this time.
Putin would not come to Bucharest and accept this kind of humiliation.

Well, you know what that means, right? No enlargement this time.
Putin would not come to Bucharest and accept this kind of humiliation.

You mean no NATO expansion during the Bucharest summit? I do not think so. Lavrov already submitted that countries like Georgia or Ukraine have the right to make their own decision on joining NATO, which may suggest that Russia may have already consolated with a new large expansion. :cheers:

I guess it will be announced that Croatia, Albania and Macedonia join NATO, but not Georgia and especially not Ukraine

I guess it will be announced that Croatia, Albania and Macedonia join NATO, but not Georgia and especially not Ukraine

I also think that, but I am somehow confused by Sergey Lavrov's conciliatory statements on Ukraine and Georgia, while Putin's a lot tougher. :dunno:

I think the general policy is the same. They both say that this is internal affairs of Georgia and Ukraine but Russia will review its relations with those countries if they join.

I think the general policy is the same. They both say that this is internal affairs of Georgia and Ukraine but Russia will review its relations with those countries if they join.

"review relations" - that is a very Kremlin-like statement. Review what??? Russia and Georgia are like already at War. Can it be worse?

Vienna - Austria's electricity provider EVN on Friday confirmed exclusive negotiations with Albania's government for the construction of three hydroelectric power stations on the river Devoll in south-eastern Albania. EVN won an international tender and will be working on terms of the concession with the government in Tirana in the next months, the company said.

The three power stations have a planned capacity of 400 megawatts, generating around 1,000 gigawatt hours per year. EVN did not comment on the project's cost, but Albanian media on Thursday reported an investment of 900 million euros.

EVN's activities in Albania were a "consequent continuation" of the company strategy in the Western Balkans region, the company, which is also active in Bulgaria and Macedonia, said.

The Austrian utility provider with a market capitalization of 3.4 billion euros runs water, thermal and wind power stations in Austria.

Albania is highly dependent on electricity imports, due to low domestic production and ever rising consumption and therefore has great interest in foreign investment.

earthtimes (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/178438,austrias-evn-to-build-hydropower-plants-in-albania.html)

"review relations" - that is a very Kremlin-like statement. Review what??? Russia and Georgia are like already in War. Can it be worse?

there is no situation that can not be further worsened :D

Sure it can be, for instance, Russia can recognise independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia or impose some more economic sanctions

there is no situation that can not be further worsened :D

Sure it can be, for instance, Russia can recognise independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia or impose some more economic sanctions

and I thought "reviewing relations" carries some positive meaning:lol:

not when a country joins NATO :D

not when a country joins NATO :D

There's one think I cannot understand. Why does Russia think NATO is an enemy? NATO never said or implied so, yet Russia suggested many times.

I guess it will be announced that Croatia, Albania and Macedonia join NATO, but not Georgia and especially not Ukraine

^^^^
SENATOR MCCAIN URGES NATO RENAISSANCE
Calls for “global order of peace” built on a “foundation of freedom”
February 8, 2008
U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today issued the following statement in lieu of his annual speech at the Munich Security Conference, which he has attended for many years.

The charge before the transatlantic community today is to establish the basis for a new global order of peace, one that will last not just for a decade but for the rest of this century. And as we move forward, we know that there can be no true and lasting peace unless it is built on a foundation of freedom. Today we need a rebirth of NATO, a renaissance of the transatlantic relationship to extend peace, prosperity, and democracy far into the 21st century.

The first step toward a rejuvenated NATO could begin at the Bucharest summit. It is vital that the alliance take the initiative on the following key issues:

[...]

NATO Enlargement

The Bucharest summit presents an opportunity to anchor democracy and stability in countries closer to home, with the addition to our alliance of Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia. Enlargement in the past has advanced our strategic interests by stabilizing NATO’s southern and eastern flanks and anchoring eastern European democracies firmly to the West. And it has put new members on a more secure and more prosperous course than most thought possible as communism began to crumble. This year’s three NATO aspirants have demonstrated through extensive reforms that they have readied themselves for accession day. And it is manifestly in our interest to bring stability to the Balkans, so long the locus of conflict on this continent. We can do this by anchoring the Balkans states firmly to the West and demonstrating that, so long as they are ready for NATO and other Euro-Atlantic institutions, we are ready for them.

Ukraine and Georgia

Georgia and Ukraine have expressed their desire for a NATO Membership Action Plan. We should offer it to them at the summit. These two nations have every right to aspire to democracy and security as other states closer to the heart of Europe. Ukraine and Georgia have difficult neighbors :naughty:and domestic challenges; they are young democracies and their road ahead will be difficult. But they should know that we will support them every step of the way, and we can show them this by supporting their aspirations at Bucharest.

Kosovo Independence

It is time to bring Kosovo – and the Balkans with it – out of the 1990s and into the 21st century by recognizing Kosovo’s independence. Eleven years ago, that region was in flames, characterized by ethnic cleansing and widespread violence. For the first time the region is today poised to move forward, with final status for Kosovo and transitioning continuing responsibilities there to increasing European control – at long last closing the door on the region’s painful past.

Serbia

We must ensure that Serbia can look toward the future as a modern and prosperous European nation. The proud people of Serbia have turned aside the temptations of ultranationalism in favor of moderation and a western orientation. The European Union has taken an important step by offering to establish regular political ties with Serbia, open up trade, and end visa restrictions. Now it can take the next step by setting forth a path to EU membership.

Global Partnerships

The future of NATO lies not only in expanding its membership, transforming its mission, and deepening its commitments. It lies also in cooperating with states far from our shores. Today NATO and the European Union together comprise only a quarter of the more than 120 democracies around the world. Some – like Japan, Australia, and India – are proud, powerful and progressive nations committed to the values that have given our alliance such enduring strength. The 21st century world no longer divides neatly into geographic regions. Ideas, innovations and cultural influences travel rapidly and freely today as goods, services and capital. Moving just as rapidly are environmental calamities, diseases, international criminal rings, terrorist organizations, and the technologies of mass destruction. Our alliance must be as international in scope – partnering with willing democracies all over the world – as the challenges we confront.

NATO should partner with countries across the globe to address common threats. At the same time, we should work toward a global League of Democracies – one that would have NATO members at its core – dedicated to the defense and advancement of global democratic principles.


Great speech :nocrook:

Mccains words are just ridiculous.

War hungry grand daddy wants to put imperial U.S bases at Russia's doors :lol:

yeah, McCain is the man. I really hope he becomes next American president for he is even a bigger idiot than Bush.

Georgia can join, they held a referendum on it and majority is for. But they are not joining with Abkhazia and South Ossetia where Russian citizens live who have no intentions of joining NATO.

But Ukraine is not going anywhere. Majority of the population is against, there is even a parliamentary crisis going on in the country because of the whole NATO issue. Hope Yushenko will get the point now and not wait for a popular uprising to stop NATO membership.

As for Russia, when Soviet Union collapsed and Warsaw pact was disbanded, there was a broad agreement that NATO will be converted into more of a political entity. And of course there was no talk about NATO expansion to the East, even including former Soviet republics. What happened next made Russia feel like it was cheated by the West. In 1999 NATO proved that it was not a defensive alliance but rather an agressive extension of American foreign policy in our continent. So no surprise that all these made Russia feel threatened. And NATO can repeat the same reconciliatory phrases over and over again, few people in Moscow will buy that.

McCain is indeed an idiot, but for other reasons. These included.

yeah, McCain is the man. I really hope he becomes next American president for he is even a bigger idiot than Bush.
Not to worry as Obama will win.:D

What happened next made Russia feel like it was cheated by the West.
Oh gimme a break!:bash:

In 1999 NATO proved that it was not a defensive alliance but rather an agressive extension of American foreign policy in our continent. So no surprise that all these made Russia feel threatened.
So Russia feels threatened by NATO intervening between some idiots killing each other because they can't live in peace like decent and normal human beings? I feel much safer in this world knowing Russia will happily tolerate such things. I'm not saying that was necessarily the first objective of that campaign, but it sure did put a stop to the massive killings there... and I'll be damned if that doesn't suit me. Albanian, Bosnian, Serb... I don't give a fuck what you are... if you start killing your neighbors on racial or religious reasoning you are crap to me.

This thread should be renamed to "politics in Balkans and Russia" :)

This thread should be renamed to "politics in Balkans and Russia" :)

^^ You're too polite ... :) It is more like another flame war

Online politics is for passionate people only. And for drinking ones :)

Cheers :cheers:

There will be no new flame war... at least not with me in it.:D I've already said what I had to say on the issues of Russia being threatened and NATO's military campaign in the former Yugoslavia. I come in peace...:lol:

What can i say ...

Neither "the devil" is so bad ... nor "the god" is so pure and immaculate ;)

Cheers ! :cheers:

^^ You're too polite ... :) It is more like another flame war

There's no flame war. I really enjoy talking and some times teasing Yury, and other Russians here. But it's true, we should not speak politics here. :cheers:

In mid-term perspective, I think Russia has at least two problems it should be more worried about than the NATO enlargement:

1. China (the huge and low-populated Siberia almost calls for chinese colonization...)
2. Its own demographic evolution (unfortunalety is is also the case for most of the european countries..)

These being said, I promise I'll try finding some energy-related news to compensate the off-topic... :lol:

We will accept the Chinese and convert them to our dark ways, thus solving both problems :D

muhaha

In mid-term perspective, I think Russia has at least two problems it should be more worried about than the NATO enlargement:

1. China (the huge and low-populated Siberia almost calls for chinese colonization...)
2. Its own demographic evolution (unfortunalety is is also the case for most of the european countries..)

These being said, I promise I'll try finding some energy-related news to compensate the off-topic... :lol:


The problem (2) has the solution (1).:lol:

By the way, Russia's demographics last year never look better, secondly, It is absurd to believe that Chinal will populate Siberia by force. There is yet a lot of space in China.

Oh gimme a brake!:bash:

brake or break? :D Well, that was the feeling in Russia. We were told we are all friends and brothers now, but the reality was a bit different.

So Russia feels threatened by NATO intervening between some idiots killing each other because they can't live in peace like decent and normal human beings? I feel much safer in this world knowing Russia will happily tolerate such things. I'm not saying that was necessarily the first objective of that campaign, but it sure did put a stop to the massive killings there... and I'll be damned if that doesn't suit me. Albanian, Bosnian, Serb... I don't give a fuck what you are... if you start killing your neighbors on racial or religious reasoning you are crap to me.

I am not fine with that. The situation required a UN peace keeping operation to seperate the two sides of the conflict. Instead we had NATO supporting one side against the other, followed by ethnic cleanthing in reverse. Now Serbs and Romas being the victims. That does not sound like bringing peace and stability to the region.

I also hate the idea of one country (with a few allies) thinking that they have a God-given right to decide who deserves independence, who does not even deserve a proper autonomy and who needs to be bombed into submission. This has to stop and sooner rather than later.

Break, sorry.:D

I only said it was fine with me cause they stopped the killings. The independence problem is another issue, but let's stop this discussion here, before the Albanians find this thread.:shifty:

Gazprom interested in joining Nabucco project :lol::nuts::ohno:
de A.C. HotNews.ro
Marţi, 12 februarie 2008, 12:24 English | Regional Europe


Gazprom energy group is looking for alternative pipelines to use in order to transit its gas towards Europe, as relations with Ukrain worsen and it seeks to retain the one gas provider for Europe. Live at Eho Moskvi radio on Monday, Gazprom spokesperson Sergey Kuprianov implied that Gazprom might participate in the Nabucco project developed by several SE and Central European countries including Romania.

To dismiss such a project that would avoid Russia, Moscow has supported the version of an new alternative pipeline, Caspica which along other pipelines would claim most of Central-Asian natural gas, leaving Nabucco sourceless. In the same time, both Gazprom and the Italian company ENI decided to build an alternative pipeline to Nabucco, South Stream that would pass through the Black Sea.

But, according to Russian website Gazeta, Kuprianov has failed to recall that negotiations with Azerbaijan over gas supplies from a key deposit are not yet over. As Gazprom has yet to claim all Azeri gas, the group has only one chance of avoiding a strong competitor - and that would be to become a provider for Nabucco, according to the paper.

^^Gazprom to save Nabuco. :lol: God's irony is the best! Love it.:colgate:

Business Standard
12 februarie 2008

Spanish company Iberdrobla Renovables announced on Tuesday that it signed a contract giving it the right to acquire a portfolio of some 50 aeolian systems in Eastern Romania for €300 million, according to Reuters.

The aeolian systems belong to Dobrogea AG company, owned by Swiss technological group NEK, and Romanian company Rokura, with a total capacity of some 1,600 megawatts.

These systems are in varying stages of construction, the first scheduled to become operational in 2009.

Gazprom interested in joining Nabucco project :lol::nuts::ohno:
de A.C. HotNews.ro
Marţi, 12 februarie 2008, 12:24 English | Regional Europe


Gazprom energy group is looking for alternative pipelines to use in order to transit its gas towards Europe, as relations with Ukrain worsen and it seeks to retain the one gas provider for Europe. Live at Eho Moskvi radio on Monday, Gazprom spokesperson Sergey Kuprianov implied that Gazprom might participate in the Nabucco project developed by several SE and Central European countries including Romania.

To dismiss such a project that would avoid Russia, Moscow has supported the version of an new alternative pipeline, Caspica which along other pipelines would claim most of Central-Asian natural gas, leaving Nabucco sourceless. In the same time, both Gazprom and the Italian company ENI decided to build an alternative pipeline to Nabucco, South Stream that would pass through the Black Sea.

But, according to Russian website Gazeta, Kuprianov has failed to recall that negotiations with Azerbaijan over gas supplies from a key deposit are not yet over. As Gazprom has yet to claim all Azeri gas, the group has only one chance of avoiding a strong competitor - and that would be to become a provider for Nabucco, according to the paper.



Well, this would be best: get south stream through Romania and we've got a deal on nabucco :)

Yeah, Gazprom needs at least Romgaz's approval to join Nabucco. :naughty:

Well, this would be best: get south stream through Romania and we've got a deal on nabucco :)

Nope, Gazprom has a deal with Serbia on NIS. They cannot get South Stream through Romania, but we can ask for something else. :naughty:

Nope, Gazprom has a deal with Serbia on NIS. They cannot get South Stream through Romania, but we can ask for something else. :naughty:

Let me explain myself. Gas de France was banned from entering Nabucco by the Turkish gaz company. This means that the members of the Nabucco consortium have each the power to reject any other third party from getting into the Nabucco consortium. Therefore, Romgas can also refuse the enlargement of the consortium with Gazprom.

What could Romgas get from approving Gazprom to join? One good thing would be the construction of the Roman gas deposit which is calculated to cover 1/2 of Romania's gas consumption for 1 year. That'd be a good thing for rainy days. But, I think we could get more than that, for example some free gas from Gazprom on a yearly basis. :cheers:

looks like Gazprom is planning to join Nabucco in order to destroy it from inside :D

frankly speaking, I don't see how participation in this project can benefit Gazprom in any way

frankly speaking, I don't see how participation in this project can benefit Gazprom in any way

Get rid of competition maybe?:cheers:

Honestly ... common energy policy would be best for Europe and Russia. Why is Russia not coming forward and say: look, let's be long term partners. Let's build (jointly and transparently) south stream , nabucco and others together: nuts: Instead of using it as political weapon:poke::gunz:. Pity because Europe/USA can not be defeated :D in any way and this current conflict will only benefit others but Russia/Europe. And long term Russia will lose :) …

Honestly ... common energy policy would be best for Europe and Russia. Why is Russia not coming forward and say: look, let's be long term partners. Let's build (jointly and transparently) south stream , nabucco and others together: nuts: Instead of using it as political weapon:poke::gunz:. Pity because Europe/USA can not be defeated :D in any way and this current conflict will only benefit others but Russia/Europe. And long term Russia will lose :) …

Russia wants monopoly on gas distribution in Europe to be able to raise price as much she wants to (Russia being dependent on strong currency from abroad based on energy trade). As soon as a major competitor comes in, prices may come down and erode Russia's economic growth. :cheers:

Russia wants monopoly on gas distribution in Europe to be able to raise price as much she wants to (Russia being dependent on strong currency from abroad based on energy trade). As soon as a major competitor comes in, prices may come down and erode Russia's economic growth. :cheers:

But they are going alienate most of Europe in the process and make EE countries turn even more towards the US. Even France seems to want to look more towards Washington. It also gives justification to the American invasion of Iraq (and other future incursions) because they use Russia as an example of what can happen when rogue states have energy sources. It’s a pity that all Russia wants is to be a bully instead of trying develop friendly and healthy relationships with Europe. The fact that fellow Slav nations like Ukraine and Poland seem to dislike Moscow the most should make the Kremlin take a step back and rethink things.

It also give justification to the American invasion of Iraq (and other future incursions) because they use Russia as an example of what can happen when rogue states have energy sources.
Did I just read that? :doh:

if you need justification to invade someone, you can use anything as an excuse. Why not Russia? :D

The company belonging to the Romanian businessman Silviu Prigoana intends to build 200 windmills, with an aggregated output of 200 MW.

Rosal: 200 mil. € pentru eoliene
11 februarie 2008 de Ioana Erdei

Rosal Green Energy intentioneaza sa imprumute 200 milioane de euro pentru a-si asigura finantarea investitiilor in energie eoliana, a declarat pentru Business Standard omul de afaceri Silviu Prigoana, actionarul majoritar al societatii, membra a grupului Rosal.

De la infiintarea firmei, in 2003, si pana acum, omul de afaceri sustine ca a achizitionat peste 2.500 hectare de teren, in Muntii Apuseni, dar si in Tulcea, unde vrea sa instaleze mori de vant si de unde sa exporte energia obtinuta, profitand de deficitul de electricitate. Actionarul majoritar al Rosal Green Energy sustine ca prima moara de vant cu o putere instalata de maximum doi MW va fi instalata in trimestrul patru al acestui an, iar investitia se va ridica la circa trei milioane de euro. Silviu Prigoana estimeaza ca investitia in energie eoliana va aduce profit abia peste zece ani, iar investitia va fi amortizata in minimum 15 ani.

Potrivit omului de afaceri, in cinci ani, pe terenurile pe care le detine vor fi instalate aproximativ 200 de mori de vant, puterea instalata totala fiind de aproximativ 200 MW. Rosal Green Energy este una dintre cele 70 de firme din grupul Rosal, in care Silviu Prigoana detine 60%.

Grupul Rosal

Include 70 de firme
Profitul net pe 2007 - 28 milioane de euro
Marja de profit - 15%
Rosal Grup, principala firma, are o cifra de afaceri in 2007 de 46 milioane de euro

The company also intends to build a biogas powerplant and a bioethanol plant.

Romania plans to cover 17% of its energy needs from windmills by 2010.

Business Standard
Green Energy Grup, 300 milioane de euro pentru parcuri eoliene


Green Energy Grup intentioneaza sa dezvolte trei proiecte de parcuri eoliene, cu puteri instalate de circa 60-70 MW fiecare, in urma unor investitii de aproximativ 300 milioane de euro, a declarat pentru Business Standard presedintele-director general al companiei, Gheorghe Tripon.

“Compania se afla in cautarea unor parteneri strategici, care sa se implice financiar in aceste proiecte”, a punctat Tripon. Green Energy Grup produce deja 0,75 MW energie eoliana intr-o centrala in Tulcea si in lunile urmatoare va mai instala alte doua centrale eoliene, cu o capacitate de 0,6 MW fiecare. Valoarea investitiei pentru cele trei centrale se ridica la aproximativ 1,5 milioane de euro, potrivit lui Tripon. Compania este implicata in proiecte eoliene in consortiu cu Electrogrup Baia Mare si Blue Line Impex, companie recent achizitionata de Enel Romania, cel mai mare distribuitor privat de electricitate din tara.

“Green Energy Grup participa si la un proiect ce vizeaza construirea unei centrale electrice de 5 MW, pe biogaz, la Iernut, precum si a unei fabrici de bioetanol”, a punctat presedintele-director general al companiei. El a mai spus ca valoarea acestui proiect se cifreaza la aproximativ 80 milioane de euro. “In momentul de fata, selectam partenerul strategic, care sa ni se alature in proiect”, a adaugat acesta, fara sa ofere insa detalii despre acest proces.

Oficialul Green Energy Grup a mai aratat ca societatea pe care o reprezinta poate acoperi financiar doar 20% din valoarea proiectelor pe energii regenerabile, pe care vrea sa le dezvolte in anii urmatori.

Green Energy Grup Bucuresti a fost infiintata la finele lui 2005 si a afisat, anul trecut, o pierdere de aproape 25.000 de euro. Compania a obtinut de la autoritatea de reglementare in domeniul energiei atat licenta de producator de electricitate, cat si licenta de furnizor de energie.

Potrivit planurilor anuntate de autoritatile romane, productia de energie verde ar trebui sa reprezinte 33% din consumul national pana in 2010, iar din acest procent, 17% ar urma sa fie acoperit de electricitatea produsa in centralele eoliene. In 2015, energia electrica provenita din surse verzi va trebui sa reprezinte 35% din consumul national, iar in 2010 va trebui sa ajunga la 38%.

Potentialul Romaniei pentru producerea de energie eoliana este destul de mare. Astfel, pe tot teritoriul tarii se pot amplasa instalatii eoliene, cu o putere totala de pana la 14.000 MW, ceea ce inseamna un aport de energie electrica de aproape 23.000 GWh/an.

Proiecte
Compania este implicata in proiecte eoliene in consortiu cu Electrogrup Baia Mare si Blue Line Impex, firma recent achizitionata de Enel Romania, cel mai mare distribuitor privat de electricitate din tara

Romania plans to cover 17% of its energy needs from windmills by 2010.




OMG 17% it's a lot!!!!! like 2 decent nukes.

:cheers:

BTW. do you know it is 17% of 2007 or 17% of 2010 ?

17% by 2010? Saying the odds for 10% of that happening are 0 is an understatement.

17% by 2010? Saying the odds for 10% of that happening are 0 is an understatement.

The second reactor at Cernavoda has a nominal capacity of 700 MW, which covers about 9% of the national needs.

Only the Iberdrola project (one of the many) plans 1600 MW in windmills by 2009, which actually equals the 2 reactors at Cernavoda, which make 18% of the national needs.

QED :cheers:

QED me in 2010 like that and you win.

After 'South Stream', Bulgaria Starts Actions on 'Nabucco' Project :cheers:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2007/10/383615.gif

The condition of Nabucco project will be discussed by the Parliament Energy Commission and the Economy and Energy Ministry representatives.

The discussion's accent will be the European oil pipeline Nabucco acceleration contract, signed on February 5 by the countries - partners ministers, including by Bulgarian Energy Minister Peter Dimitrov.

The deputies have to define the structure of the auctioneer capital for the oil pipeline and the terms of construction finalizing.

In Nabucco are included 6 countries partners - Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Germany.

The other accent on the discussion will be the signed with Russia contract of other oil pipeline ‘South Stream' and its realization details.

^^ SS is a gas pipe though, not an oil one

Place of Parliament to be covered by solar panels (approved)
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2852/zazzmb5.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://www.ziare.com/Palatul_Parlamentului_va_fi_acoperit_cu_panouri_solare-238254.html

^^ SS is a gas pipe though, not an oil one

^^ :lol: Yes :) There goes the intelect of the bg journalists ;)

Place of Parliament to be covered by solar panels (approved)
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2852/zazzmb5.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://www.ziare.com/Palatul_Parlamentului_va_fi_acoperit_cu_panouri_solare-238254.html

If they cover it all, they can probably feed half of Bucharest with that energy. :nuts:

QED me in 2010 like that and you win.

I can earlier than 2010. :lol::cheers:

Dupa incercarea de preluare a Electrica Muntenia Sud, Iberdrola investeste 300 mil. euro in centrale eoliene

Autor: Ziarul Financiar
| Data: 13 Feb 2008


Grupul spaniol Iberdrola, unul dintre gigantii energetici la nivel european, a achizitionat 50 de proiecte pentru parcuri eoliene in estul tarii prin intermediul diviziei de energie regenerabila Iberdrola Renovables, valoarea tranzactiei situandu-se intre 200 si 300 mil. euro. Societatea care dezvolta aceste proiecte este Eolica Dobrogea (Schweiz) AG, care are in structura sa societatea romaneasca Rokura si firma elvetiana NEK Umwelttechnik AG, ambele active in domeniul energiilor regenerabile. Cele 50 de proiecte achizitionate au o capacitate instalata totala de 1.600 MW, adica mai mult decat cele doua reactoare ale centralei nucleare de la Cernavoda.

QED :lol:

"Valoarea tranzactiei se situeaza intre 200 si 300 de milioane de euro, in functie de capacitatea finala. Considerand ca vor fi instalate generatoare eoliene de 2 MW, rezulta un numar de 800 de locatii care fac obiectul zonei de interes din Dobrogea. Constructia primelor ferme va incepe in 2008 si vor deveni operationale din 2009", spun reprezentantii Rokura

Mda... arata-mi cele 50 de proiecte gata facute in 2010, nu articole nascute din comunicate de presa.

Subscriu... discutam in 2010.:cheers:

Interesting... breathingearth.net (http://www.breathingearth.net/).
(data is from 2005)

OIL-HANDLING CAPACITIES GROWING AND AVAILABLE ON GEORGIA’S BLACK SEA COAST

By Vladimir Socor

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Continuing development of oil terminals on Georgia’s Black Sea coast opens real possibilities for exporting oil from Kazakhstan on the shortest route, directly to European Union territory by sea tankers. The long-planned, EU-supported Odessa (Ukraine)-Brody-Plock-Gdansk (Poland) or Constanta (Romania)-Trieste (Italy) pipeline projects are natural continuation options from Georgia’s Black Sea terminals Batumi, Kulevi, or Supsa. This transit corridor opens direct access from Central Asia to Europe on the shortest route, bypassing Russia.

On February 9 in Astana, Rompetrol CEO Dinu Patriciu described the Batumi-Constanta route as a bridge between Kazakhstan and Europe for the transport of oil. Given the urgent need for alternatives to Russian transit routes, any company providing such an alternative would perform a great service for European energy security, Patriciu is cited as saying (Trend Capital, February 9).

Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGaz is completing its recent acquisition of 75% of the Romanian company Rompetrol for $2.7 billion, with Patriciu retaining a 20% stake along with executive authority. KazMunayGaz plans to invest additional funds into Rompetrol’s choice asset, the Petromedia refinery on the Black Sea coast near Constanta. That refinery’s capacity of 5 million tons per year can largely be dedicated to Kazakhstani oil, tanker-delivered from Georgia. A maritime oil terminal is due for completion this year at the port of Media to supply the Petromedia refinery (Business Review [Bucharest], February 12). Deliveries via Georgia to Odessa in the context of the Odessa-Brody project is another option for Kazakhstan to consider.

Those synergies are becoming possible following KazMunayGaz’s February 5 purchase of the Batumi oil terminal. The Kazakh state company acquired 100% ownership of that terminal and 100% management rights to the Batumi Sea Port for an undisclosed sum from the Danish-led Greenoak Group and its partners. Greenoak shall continue to manage both the oil terminal and the port of Batumi for KazMunayGaz. The Greenoak Group had acquired control of the oil terminal and the port from the Georgian state in 1999 and 2006, respectively. Greenoak successfully modernized and expanded the terminal to a capacity of at least 15 million tons per year for crude oil and refined products. It also launched the modernization of the Batumi Sea Port, which KazMunayGaz intends to see carried forward (Georgian Business Week, February 11).

This acquisition grows out of a Greenoak-KazMunayGaz parity joint venture, created in March 2007 for the Batumi oil terminal. That agreement also envisages construction of an oil refinery at Batumi with a capacity of 5 million tons annually. From this point on, full ownership by KazMunayGaz should guarantee a growing oil flow to Batumi from Kazakhstan. The Batumi terminal has become Kazakhstan’s first international oil transport asset with direct access to the open sea. In parallel, Petromedia has become Kazakhstan’s first refinery on EU territory.

Oil reaches Batumi by railroad from Azerbaijan and by trans-Caspian tanker from Kazakhstan, continuing on the Azerbaijan-Georgia railroad. However, the Batumi terminal is being under-utilized at this time (as is Georgia’s overall transit potential). Batumi shipped 666,000 tons of crude oil and refined products in January 2008, down from 733,000 in January 2007 and from 924,000 tons in December 2007. The terminal shipped 9.5 million tons of crude oil and refined products in 2007, down from 11.7 million tons in 2006.

The decline in shipments from Batumi had been expected since 2006. It is mainly attributable to the planned switch of some Azerbaijani oil volumes away from the Batumi route, in preference to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. In addition, oil handlers cite an increase in Azerbaijan’s railroad tariffs for oil cargos en route to Batumi. Among the major companies active in Azerbaijan, ExxonMobil remains the main user of the Batumi terminal.

The Batumi terminal’s growth potential rests primarily with Kazakhstan’s rapidly growing oil production. KazMunayGaz is ranked as the third-largest oil producer in that country, after Chevroil and ExxonMobil. This entails ample potential for exports via Batumi and the Black Sea to Europe.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company is expanding the Kulevi oil terminal, which is Georgia’s second largest on the Black Sea coast. The Azerbaijani company acquired Kulevi in 2006 for an undisclosed sum from Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili. Located near the port of Poti, the Kulevi terminal is also supplied with oil via Azerbaijan by railroad. Azerbaijan’s state company has rapidly expanded the terminal and plans to inaugurate it officially this month, at a capacity of 10 million tons of crude oil and refined products annually. It envisages a further increase to 15 million tons per year and it also plans to build a refinery at Kulevi with a processing capacity of up to 10 million tons of crude annually, as announced last November when Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Mikheil Saakashvili opened the expanded terminal (see (EDM, November 28, 2007).

The oil export terminal at Supsa on the Black Sea and the pipeline leading there from Azerbaijan, with a capacity of 8 million tons annually, are not being used since 2007. Repair work on the pipeline is the primary reason cited for the temporary closure. The BP-led Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC, the main oil-extracting consortium in Azerbaijan) owns and operates the terminal as well as the pipeline, which spans the distance from the Caspian Sea at Sangachal to the Black Sea at Supsa. This capacity remains available as an outlet for growing oil production originating on either shore of the Caspian basin.

With their recent acquisitions and ongoing projects, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are advancing to the role of exporting of refined products in addition to the role of crude oil exporters. Both of these roles involve further development of transit and shipment capacities in Georgia, en route to Europe directly. Coordination among the countries along the entire route, as well as a joint approach from them to the European Union for incentives to invest, should become the next steps in this project, in line with the EU’s goals of energy supply diversification.

Rompetrol Group to invest USD 340 M to develop gas station network in 2008
http://nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080214-511900

Dinu Patriciu considers the Baku – Constanta route an alternative for ensuring natural gas deliveries to Europe.

Hiking technology capabilities and developing the gas station network are Rompetrol Group’s priorities in 2008, Dinu Patriciu, the president of the company, has stated yesterday in Sibiu.

This year the company’s investments will surpass USD 340 M. ‘That is the sum we have estimated for investments, but it could probably be higher,’ Patriciu said, ‘Money Channel’ informs.

The Rompetrol President has added that this year he aims for a turnover of over USD 10 bln. Patriciu added that 400 Rompetrol Express gas stations will be opened by the end of this year and will be situated in rural areas. ‘We want to penetrate the rural areas because those areas register an extremely high consumption too, around 35 per cent of the national consumption. The first Express gas station will be ready in approximately two months, however I cannot talk about its location at this time because that depends on the speed with which we will receive the necessary permits from the mayoralties. Such a mobile gas station is built in three days,’ Dinu Patriciu pointed out. Likewise, Rompetrol will open two more gas stations of its own, in Sibiu and Medias, apart from the other two are already present in those cities, with the necessary investment registering a value of approximately USD 2.8 M.

On the other hand Rompetrol Group intends to develop the Palplast company too, a pipe and industrial fittings producer and subsidiary of the group. The value of investments that will go into Palplast in 2008 will range around USD 2 M, and the company intends to penetrate the neighboring countries’ markets.

Georgian Batumi terminal – a solution for natural gas deliveries to Europe

The Baku – Constanta route is an alternative for ensuring natural gas deliveries to Europe through the Georgian Batumi terminal that lies on the shore of the Black Sea, Dinu Patriciu has stated according to Azerbaijan’s ‘Trend’ press agency, Mediafax informs.

‘Currently a lot of people talk about the Nabucco natural gas pipeline but I consider that we should rather talk about the South Stream project. Any company that could find an alternative for Europe would become the hero of the day,’ Patriciu underlined.

^^This Baku-Constanta gas pipe is the news of these days...I mean, it's too beautiful to be true, although I know Patriciu doesn't speak BS ussually. Definitely the two companies (Rompetrol and KazMunai) have the money (or can raise it through loans) for such a project (including for a submarine pipe).

The companies involved have already submitted a request for approval of 2 windmill parks with a total output of 350 MW, roughly half the output of any of the nuclear reactors at Cernavoda.

Eoliene de 450 mil. € la Constanta

Business Standard
14 februarie 2008

CWP Cipru si omul de afaceri Emanuel Muntmark vor aloca aproximativ 450 milioane de euro pentru doua parcuri eoliene, cu o capacitate totala de 335 MW, in judetul Constanta, potrivit unor surse din piata de energie. Companiile M.W.Team Invest Galbiori (judetul Constanta) si Tomis Team Galbiori (judetul Constanta) au depus cereri la Autoritatea Nationala de Reglementare in domeniul Energiei (ANRE) pentru autorizarea a doua parcuri eoline, Fantanele Est, de 85 MW, si Fantanele Vest, de 250 MW. Societatea Tomis Team solicita, de asemenea, ANRE si acordarea unei autorizatii de infiintare pentru o statie electrica de 400/110 kV. Compania M.W. Team Invest SRL este detinuta 100% de Tomis Team SRL, iar aceasta din urma este controlata in proportie de 5% de Emanuel Muntmark si de 95% de CWP Cyprus Limited. Administratorul ambelor societati este Emanuel Muntmark, om de afaceri care controleaza mai multe companii inregistrate in Constanta, care au obiect de activitate legat de productia de energie din surse regenerabile. Proiectul de la Fantanele este unul dintre cele mai mari, ca si capacitate de generare, dintre cele anuntate pana acum in Romania pe segmentul eolian. Recent, cea mai mare companie din lume in domeniul energiei regenerabile, Iberdrola Renovables, a anuntat ca va dezvolta 50 de proiecte eoliene in Romania, cu o capacitate totala de 1.600 MW, in schimbul a pana la 300 mil. euro. Un alt proiect este cel al grupului portughez Martifer, care intentioneaza sa detina, pe plan local, pana in 2012, ferme eoliene cu o capacitate totala de 400 MW, investitie ce s‑ar putea ridica la 600 mil. euro.

Farewell, Nabucco!
by Ilie Serbanescu
http://nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080214-511901

With a masterly move on the European and global energy and political chessboard – benefiting not only from the ability to exploit favourable circumstances but also from financial resources for manoeuvring – Russia has basically removed the thorn that inconvenienced its European and global strategic interests. The thorn was called the Nabucco project, one to which we can now say farewell, of course in the Russian language. Accompanied by his chosen successor – who comes from within the energy giant Gazprom, the structure that represents Russia’s main weapon – President Putin traveled to Bulgaria where he obtained what could be called without exaggeration the burial of the Nabucco project. Nabucco is a project that has been circulated for the last 10 to 12 years in European countries, with the stated goal of ‘diversifying natural gas supply’, more exactly of bringing through pipelines to European consumer countries (both Eastern and Western) natural gas from non-Russian sources (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran) without transiting Russia. Obviously Russia would have none of that. Apart from its opposition, both overt and behind the scenes, Russia has initiated a palpable alternative, in order to definitively scuttle the project: the Southstream project, a pipeline that Russia partly finances and that will transit the Black Sea and then Bulgaria so that once it reaches Serbia it would supply both the Balkans and the southern regions of the West (mainly Italy). The initiation of this project was the goal that Putin scored in Bulgaria! The Bulgarian side has played it smart and has obtained the most of what it could: parity in owning the pipeline as well as a transit tax. And a Russian oil pipeline will follow a similar route.

And while Putin was expected in Sofia, Gazprom substantially supplemented its offer for the Serbian national oil company put up for privatization, backing it with investment promises of over EUR 3 bln, in an obvious effort to tip the balance in favour of the Russian giant in its competition with the other bidders but also to exploit to the maximum the political situation in Serbia. A political situation that has to do with the Presidential elections having at stake the choice between Russia and the West, as well as the Western pressures for the independence of Kosovo, a dangerous tomfoolery on the map of Europe, one that to their credit the Serbians reject no matter their political camp, even if the price of that rejection means forfeiting their NATO and EU membership.

With the South Stream move, Russia completes the pincer from the south of the EU – since it already does so from the north through the already existent or projected pipelines. And in the context in which the said project severely diminishes the chances of the Nabucco project, the EU’s energy dependency on Russia will grow. Now more than ever, Nabucco has scarce financing and it doesn’t fare better when it comes to the natural gas that it intends to transport, and that goes without mentioning the political opposition.

Russia’s choice of Bulgaria is not accidental. Simply because Bulgaria has chosen Russia in order to build a nuclear plant that would replace the one in Kozlodui, the latter being shutdown for safety reasons under EU pressure. It is no random order for Russia, but a forceful one because it concerns alternative energy and not the conventional energy resources with which Russia has been blessed by God and which everybody has set their sights upon. Choosing Bulgaria as the main route both for the natural gas pipeline and for the oil pipeline is in fact a reward that Russia understands to offer Bulgaria in the current European and global context, especially since the mentioned projects fall wonderfully in line with its own strategic interest. If EU will disagree with the Russian initiative and will show its anger, it would do nothing but engage in a new show of political impotence in the important global issues.

Romania gets the short end of the stick. Unless a miracle happens – and miracles are in short supply! -, Romania is left outside the energy routes map. But it has no reason to complain. It has played its energy card in an execrable manner. On one hand, in an incredible and unique move in Europe, it has ceded control over the exploitation of the scarce energy resources (others have even less than this!) that God has left to Romanians. On the other hand, it has systematically engaged in a wild goose chase (such as the Nabucco project), seemingly unable to see what Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Hungary did and continue to do, namely playing their energy cards with Russia and for no other reason but that one can hardly find any natural gas in the area apart from the Russian natural gas. Romania also had its cards that it could have sold to Russia in order to avoid being exposed to its retaliations: the Petromidia refinery (when it was state owned) or one of the gas distribution companies. But now it bears the brunt of Russia’s punishment: Romania is not allowed to import natural gas directly from Gazprom, being able to do that only through intermediaries, which are also owned by Gazprom but that practice consistent commissions. Subsequently, Romania pays the highest price in Europe for the same Russian natural gas, although Romania lies at the start of the pipeline transport network and not towards its downstream end.

Romania has achieved the great performance of becoming more energy dependent on Russia and in a more ugly fashion, while allegedly trying to avoid dependency. It is a remarkable performance, since it has been achieved not by one of the rudderless Governments but through the contribution of all post-1989 Governments in their democratic succession and alternation.

by Ilie Serbanescu

Bulgaria announces birth of energy giant in new holding company
http://nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080214-511910

SOFIA - Bulgaria announced on Wednesday it would pool its main energy assets into a single company in a move to boost its position on the regional and European energy markets. The government said in a statement that it would transfer the country’s main electricity and gas companies, the only nuclear power station, the main thermal heating plant and the largest coal mines into a single holding company, Bulgarian Energy Holding, by the end of the year. The assets were the National Electricity Compan Bulgargaz, the Kozoluduy nuclear power plant, the Maritza East coal mines and the thermal heating utility Maritza East II, the statement said.

Farewell, Nabucco!
by Ilie Serbanescu
http://nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080214-511901

With a masterly move on the European and global energy and political chessboard – benefiting not only from the ability to exploit favourable circumstances but also from financial resources for manoeuvring – Russia has basically removed the thorn that inconvenienced its European and global strategic interests. The thorn was called the Nabucco project, one to which we can now say farewell, of course in the Russian language. Accompanied by his chosen successor – who comes from within the energy giant Gazprom, the structure that represents Russia’s main weapon – President Putin traveled to Bulgaria where he obtained what could be called without exaggeration the burial of the Nabucco project. Nabucco is a project that has been circulated for the last 10 to 12 years in European countries, with the stated goal of ‘diversifying natural gas supply’, more exactly of bringing through pipelines to European consumer countries (both Eastern and Western) natural gas from non-Russian sources (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran) without transiting Russia. Obviously Russia would have none of that. Apart from its opposition, both overt and behind the scenes, Russia has initiated a palpable alternative, in order to definitively scuttle the project: the Southstream project, a pipeline that Russia partly finances and that will transit the Black Sea and then Bulgaria so that once it reaches Serbia it would supply both the Balkans and the southern regions of the West (mainly Italy). The initiation of this project was the goal that Putin scored in Bulgaria! The Bulgarian side has played it smart and has obtained the most of what it could: parity in owning the pipeline as well as a transit tax. And a Russian oil pipeline will follow a similar route.

And while Putin was expected in Sofia, Gazprom substantially supplemented its offer for the Serbian national oil company put up for privatization, backing it with investment promises of over EUR 3 bln, in an obvious effort to tip the balance in favour of the Russian giant in its competition with the other bidders but also to exploit to the maximum the political situation in Serbia. A political situation that has to do with the Presidential elections having at stake the choice between Russia and the West, as well as the Western pressures for the independence of Kosovo, a dangerous tomfoolery on the map of Europe, one that to their credit the Serbians reject no matter their political camp, even if the price of that rejection means forfeiting their NATO and EU membership.

With the South Stream move, Russia completes the pincer from the south of the EU – since it already does so from the north through the already existent or projected pipelines. And in the context in which the said project severely diminishes the chances of the Nabucco project, the EU’s energy dependency on Russia will grow. Now more than ever, Nabucco has scarce financing and it doesn’t fare better when it comes to the natural gas that it intends to transport, and that goes without mentioning the political opposition.

Russia’s choice of Bulgaria is not accidental. Simply because Bulgaria has chosen Russia in order to build a nuclear plant that would replace the one in Kozlodui, the latter being shutdown for safety reasons under EU pressure. It is no random order for Russia, but a forceful one because it concerns alternative energy and not the conventional energy resources with which Russia has been blessed by God and which everybody has set their sights upon. Choosing Bulgaria as the main route both for the natural gas pipeline and for the oil pipeline is in fact a reward that Russia understands to offer Bulgaria in the current European and global context, especially since the mentioned projects fall wonderfully in line with its own strategic interest. If EU will disagree with the Russian initiative and will show its anger, it would do nothing but engage in a new show of political impotence in the important global issues.

Romania gets the short end of the stick. Unless a miracle happens – and miracles are in short supply! -, Romania is left outside the energy routes map. But it has no reason to complain. It has played its energy card in an execrable manner. On one hand, in an incredible and unique move in Europe, it has ceded control over the exploitation of the scarce energy resources (others have even less than this!) that God has left to Romanians. On the other hand, it has systematically engaged in a wild goose chase (such as the Nabucco project), seemingly unable to see what Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Hungary did and continue to do, namely playing their energy cards with Russia and for no other reason but that one can hardly find any natural gas in the area apart from the Russian natural gas. Romania also had its cards that it could have sold to Russia in order to avoid being exposed to its retaliations: the Petromidia refinery (when it was state owned) or one of the gas distribution companies. But now it bears the brunt of Russia’s punishment: Romania is not allowed to import natural gas directly from Gazprom, being able to do that only through intermediaries, which are also owned by Gazprom but that practice consistent commissions. Subsequently, Romania pays the highest price in Europe for the same Russian natural gas, although Romania lies at the start of the pipeline transport network and not towards its downstream end.

Romania has achieved the great performance of becoming more energy dependent on Russia and in a more ugly fashion, while allegedly trying to avoid dependency. It is a remarkable performance, since it has been achieved not by one of the rudderless Governments but through the contribution of all post-1989 Governments in their democratic succession and alternation.

by Ilie Serbanescu

Bullshit, most of the end part of the article. Comment later maybe, but there was no alternative to the way things unfeld.

Bulgaria announces birth of energy giant in new holding company
http://nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080214-511910

SOFIA - Bulgaria announced on Wednesday it would pool its main energy assets into a single company in a move to boost its position on the regional and European energy markets. The government said in a statement that it would transfer the country’s main electricity and gas companies, the only nuclear power station, the main thermal heating plant and the largest coal mines into a single holding company, Bulgarian Energy Holding, by the end of the year. The assets were the National Electricity Compan Bulgargaz, the Kozoluduy nuclear power plant, the Maritza East coal mines and the thermal heating utility Maritza East II, the statement said.
Some of the Bulgarian economists, mainly those with rightist political orientation, opposed the idea and their arguments were that Bulgaria should privatize its power plants because they require a lot of investments in order to improve the productivity(which is the lowest in the EU by far) and to meet the environemntal friendly conditions of the EU and we may have serious problems with the funding of the projects, especially after we`ve to invest a lot in new infrastructure projects.

Bullshit, most of the end part of the article. Comment later maybe, but there was no alternative to the way things unfeld.

I don`t like Ilie Serbanescu much either ! :)

---

EU official says Nabucco gas pipeline project is now 'more of a reality'
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/15/business/EU-FIN-Turkey-EU-Gas-Pipeline.php

ANKARA, Turkey: A top European Union official said Friday that Turkey was fully committed to an EU and U.S.-backed project to build a natural gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea region to Europe, and that the venture was now closer to becoming a reality.

Jozias van Aarsten, EU special coordinator for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, said however that he would hold further talks with Turkish officials on a disagreement over a pricing mechanism for the project.

Turkey has failed to agree on the pricing of the project and is also opposed to French company Gaz de France joining the consortium that will build the pipeline.

Turkey has been angered by France's objections to the mainly Muslim nation's bid to join the EU and by French moves to make denying Armenian genocide a crime. Turkey rejects the label genocide and insists the mass killings of Armenians at the start of the last century were the result of the chaos of war.

A delegation, led by a France's trade minister, is scheduled to visit Ankara next week to try among other things, to overcome Turkey's objections to Gaz de France, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Nabucco, which would carry natural gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Central and Western Europe, is still in its initial planning phases. It was devised as a means to diversify gas supplies and reduce energy dependence on Russia.

The project aims to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of gas from Central Asia and the Caspian region to Europe through a 3,300 kilometer (2,050-mile) pipeline from Turkey through Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to Austria.

Turkish officials have "stressed the importance of the Nabucco pipeline and they stressed their allegiance of Turkey for this very important project," van Aarsten told reporters at the end of two days of discussions with Turkish officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"After this visit, I can say that this project is more of a reality," he said.

Van Aarsten did not rule out the possibility of Gaz de France joining the consortium at a later time and said he considered Nabucco as a "stepping stone" toward Turkey's EU membership.

The consortium is owned by Austria's OMV, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's Botas, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Romania's Transgaz. RWE, one of Germany's biggest energy companies, joined the consortium earlier this month.

Construction is scheduled for as early as this year, with operations starting in 2012. Cost of the project is estimated to be 5 billion euros (US$7 billion), van Aarsten said.

Questions remain as to whether the Nabucco project can find sufficient gas supplies to make it worthwhile. In December, Russia scored a major victory when it signed a deal with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan for those countries' Caspian Sea gas supplies to flow through Russia, draining the main potential source for Nabucco.

In another blow to Nabucco, Russia also cut deals with Bulgaria and Serbia for the South Stream pipeline, which would carry Central Asian gas to Europe.

Van Aarsten said however, he did not regard the South Stream pipeline as an alternative to Nabucco but said it would help diversify supplies.

"There is no competition," he said. "The more pipelines, the better."

I can earlier than 2010. :lol::cheers:

Dupa incercarea de preluare a Electrica Muntenia Sud, Iberdrola investeste 300 mil. euro in centrale eoliene


the same news in english ...

Iberdrola invests €300 mln in wind farms in Romania
http://www.zf.ro/articol_160951/iberdrola_invests_300m_euros_in_wind_farms.html


Spanish group Iberdrola, a European energy giant, has acquired 50 wind farm projects in Eastern Romania through its renewable energy division, Iberdrola Renovables, for an estimated value of €200 to 300 million reported local ZF yesterday.

In charge of developing these projects is Eolica Dobrogea (Schweiz AG), which incorporates two companies involved in the renewable energy sector: Romanian-based Rokura and Swiss-based NEK Umwelttechnik AG. The 50 projects acquired have a total installed capacity of 1,600 MW, i.e. more than the two reactors of the Cernavoda nuclear power station in SE Romania. „The transaction is worth somewhere between €200-300 million ($293-440 million), determined by the final capacity. Considering that the windmills installed will have a capacity of 2 MW, this means there will be 800 generators in the proposed area - Dobrogea (SE Romania).

The construction of the first wind farms will start this year and they will start functioning in 2009,” Rokura officials stated. This is one of the most important steps taken by the Spanish company on the local market, after it failed to take over Electrica Muntenia Sud, which was purchased by Italian-based Enel. At the end of last year, Iberdrola Renovables registered an installed global capacity of 7,704 MW, up 74% on 2006. Iberdrola representatives could not be contacted for any further details. „This investment is an important factor towards Romania achieving its European commitments regarding its energy policy.

The investors are confident, that the Romanian authorities will provide the support needed for this major investment to take place,” the quoted sources added. Iberdrola is also involved in a series of energy projects, the most important being the binding offer that it has submitted for the construction of reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda nuclear power station.

Business Standard
19 februarie 2008

State-owned energy companies posted cumulative profits of €500 million in 2007, according to latest estimates, with higher prices for electricity and natural gas leading to these financial results.

Romgaz and Transgaz are the most profitable state-owned companies on the energy market, but the highest growth is in the private sector, where Austrian OMV group owned Petrom is expected to report a net profit of some €504 mln, according to its 2007 budget.

The most profitable state-owned company was natural gas producer Romgaz Medias, which posted gross income of some €250 mln, 22 percent higher year-on-year. Company officials estimate that turnover for 2007 will amount to some €978.8 mln.

Natural gas transporter Transgaz Medias, recently listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), posted gross profit of €67.12 million, 5.7 percent lower than in 2006, while turnover increased by 14.2 percent, to RON 1.038 billion (€311 mln).

Romania’s top electricity producer, Hidroelectrica, comes third, with profit worth RON 112 million (€33.56 mln).

The Rovinari energy plant is fourth, estimating gross profit of RON 106.8 million (€32 mln), more than double year-on-year.

Electrica, the largest electricity distributor, is expecting gross income of over RON 100 mln (€29.96 mln) in 2007, while electricity transport company Transelectrica’s profit dropped to RON 50.3 million (€15 mln).

A-TEC va construi o instalatie de desulfurare a gazului in valoare de 220 mil euro pentru Complexul Energetic Turceni

Business Standard
19 februarie 2008

Grupul industrial A-TEC Industries din Austria a anuntat, marti, ca divizia AE&E a primit o comanda, in valoare de 220 de milioane de euro, de la Complexul Energetic Turceni pentru constructia unei instalatii de desulfurare a gazelor, scrie Reuters.

Proiectul cuprinde constructia , asamblarea si punerea in functiune a patru unitati de desulfurizare a gazelor si instalarea liniilor electrice. Proiectul urmeaza sa fie finalizat in anul 2013, a anuntat A-TEC intr-un comunicat de presa, scrie Reuters.

Complexurile energetice Rovinari, Turceni, Craiova si filialele Electrica ramase in portofoliul statului vor fi listate pe bursa, in acest an, dupa infiintarea viitoarei companii energetice integrate, a anuntat recent presedintele Autoritatii pentru Valorificarea Activelor Statului (AVAS) Teodor Atanasiu.

Cele trei complexuri asigura aproximativ 30% din productia totala de energie electrica a Romaniei. Acestea, alaturi de companiile Electrica Muntenia Nord, Electrica Transilvania Nord si Electrica Transilvania Sud sunt ultimele societati energetice care urmeaza sa fie privatizate in perioada urmatoare.

Austrian Energy & Environment (AE&E) este cea mai mare divizie a A-TEC, contribuind cu circa 38% la veniturile grupului. Compania are circa 3.000 de angajati in Austria, Elvetia, Germania, Cehia, Franta, Spania, Croatia, Moscova, SUA, China, India, Brazilia si Australia.

^^

A-TEC gets 220 mln euro order from Romania
Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:13am EST

VIENNA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Austria's A-TEC Industries (ATEC.VI: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday its AE&E unit received an order worth 220 million euros ($321.8 million) for flue gas desulphurisation units from Romania.

The project involved the manufacturing, assembly and putting into operation of four desulphurisation units as well as the installation of electrical lines and should be concluded by 2013, A-TEC said in a statement. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker)


© Reuters 2007.

At the end of 2007, investment in windpower was up to only 50 million EUR, with 22 wind turbines accross the country.

Another company announces investments of 1 billion EUR in another wind power project in Dobrogea, whose output will be 350MW, or half the output of a nuke.



Investitii record in energie eoliana: 1,5 mld. euro
Autor: Ziarul Financiar
Data: 20 Feb 2008


Energia eoliana a atras de la inceputul anului proiecte de 1,5 mld. euro, in conditiile in care pana acum investitiile nu au depasit 50 mil. euro, fiind functionale doar 22 de turbine.

Compania cipriota CWP Cyprus si omul de afaceri Emanuel Muntmark vor investi prin intermediul companiilor M.W. Team Invest si Tomis Team un miliard de euro pentru ridicarea unui proiect eolian in Dobrogea, cu o capacitate instalata de 335 MW.

"Suma de aproximativ un miliard de euro va fi valoarea finala a proiectului dupa investitiile prognozate. Aceasta suma include si o componenta de finantare ce va fi atrasa de acest consortiu", au declarat surse din piata

^^My info so far hints there's already a crazy search for power engineers/specialists and energy lawyers on the Romanian labour market.

Bulgarian Energy Holding to Become Balkans' Energy Leader

The Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) establishing works go at a great rate as the prognosis is BEH to become the biggest player on the region's energy sector.

That was announced by Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Peter Dimitrov on a briefing, where he commented the project together with finance analyzers.

Wee remind you, Bulgarian Government decided to establish energy holding which to unite 5 Bulgarian energy associations' actives - NPP ‘Kozlodui', NEC, ‘Bulgargas', ‘Mini Maritsa Iztok' and TPP ‘Maritsa Iztok 2'.

According to Minister Dimitrov the political presentation of the project had already been made.

Today's briefing aim was to accent over experts' opinion and it is that the European practice is of enlarging of energy companies through the chain from producing to clients.

Romania and Poland already demonstrate good experience in this process.

It was announced, the holding activities will be 4 billion EUR and the expected yearly incomes - 1.8 billion EUR.

One of the Energy Holding's goals is not to allow electricity prices' raise on the internal market.

Through BEH's existence this is achievable because as a state structure it could eventually desist from its profits, Minister Dimitrov explained.

The holding will have 6 gig watts powers, as the yearly production will be 27 billion kilowatt hours.

P.S ibox.bg need some translators badly!!!

Business Standard
21 februarie 2008

Gaz de France, majority shareholder of natural gas distribution company Distrigaz Sud, will invest some €100 million by 2012 to triple the capacity of Amgaz and Depomures gas storage facilities.

“For Amgaz we plan to increase storage facilities in the next 3-4 years from 30 million cubic meters to 300 million. In Depomures we want to increase capacity to 600 million cubic meters, from the present 300 million. The final value of the investment will be determined after feasibility studies are finalized,” said Jean Francois Carriere, Senior Vice President of Gaz de France in a statement for Business Standard.

Gaz de France bought controlling share packages in the two storage facilities in 2007 for a little over €20 million, bringing the French company a 12 percent market share on the Romanian natural gas storage market. The company announced its interest to take over small local distributers. “We will analyze all opportunities, but we will not buy at just any price,” added Carriere.

Gaz de France plans to modernize the distribution network in 2008 and enter the local energy market, through investments in thermal and hydroelectric plants.

Distrigaz Sud announced investments worth €90 mln in 2008, 20 percent below the 2007 level. The company had 1.1 million clients in 611 towns, including Bucharest.

Business Standard
21 februarie 2008

Analysts of major brokerage companies covering Romania are estimating net profits for the country’s largest company, oil giant Petrom, from €540.5-676.8 million, while turnover is expected to amount to be between €3.69-3.75 billion.

The company, owned by Austrian group OMV and listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) is to publish its financial results on February 26. It posted €647 mln in profits and €3.71 bln in turnover in 2006.

“I believe the most important factors impacting on Petrom’s results in 2007 were its output volume, which is to remain virtually unchanged compared to the previous year, higher oil prices, favorable for the company, and greater losses for the refining and marketing divisions,” said an analyst of ING Wholesale Banking, Tamas Pletser.

Raiffeisen Centrobank AG foresees €548.3 mln in profit for Petrom, close to estimates by EFG Eurobank Securities analysts, of €540.5 mln. “Petrom recently purchased part of [oil service provider] Petromservices, so there will be additional employees, increasing the company’s expenses,” said EFG Eurobank Analyst Manuela Oginja.

KBC Securities brokers were more optimistic, forecasting €676.87 mln worth of profit for the oil company, 1.3 percent lower year-on-year, and turnover of €3.75 bln. They indicated that Petrom shares have a 45 percent growth potential.

During yesterday’s BVB trading session, Petrom’s shares rose 2.7 percent, as financial markets are anticipating good financial results for the oil company. Since the beginning of 2008, the company’s titles dropped 23.34 percent, amid financial turmoil on international markets, with Petrom’s capitalization plunging to €5.91 bln.

At the end of 2007, investment in windpower was up to only 50 million EUR, with 22 wind turbines accross the country.

Another company announces investments of 1 billion EUR in another wind power project in Dobrogea, whose output will be 350MW, or half the output of a nuke.



Investitii record in energie eoliana: 1,5 mld. euro
Autor: Ziarul Financiar
Data: 20 Feb 2008


Energia eoliana a atras de la inceputul anului proiecte de 1,5 mld. euro, in conditiile in care pana acum investitiile nu au depasit 50 mil. euro, fiind functionale doar 22 de turbine.

Compania cipriota CWP Cyprus si omul de afaceri Emanuel Muntmark vor investi prin intermediul companiilor M.W. Team Invest si Tomis Team un miliard de euro pentru ridicarea unui proiect eolian in Dobrogea, cu o capacitate instalata de 335 MW.

"Suma de aproximativ un miliard de euro va fi valoarea finala a proiectului dupa investitiile prognozate. Aceasta suma include si o componenta de finantare ce va fi atrasa de acest consortiu", au declarat surse din piata

^^^^

CWP Cyprus invests a massive 1bn euros in wind power

Ziarul Financiar
21-02-2008

Investments in wind power projects have amounted to 1.5 billion euros since the beginning of the year, while previously they did not exceed 50 million euros, with just 22 functional projects.

CWP Cyprus and businessman Emanuel Muntmark are set to invest, through M.W. Team Invest and Tomis Team, one billion euros in the construction of a wind farm in Dobrogea (South-East Romania), with an installed capacity of 335 MW.

"The ultimate value of the wind farm will be around one billion euros, following the scheduled investments. This sum will include external funds," said market sources.

The two wind farms, one with an 85 MW capacity, located in Fantanele de Sud, and another, with a 250 MW capacity, in Fantanele de Vest, are already on the list of companies pending authorisation from the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority, with the approval expected as early as next week. :cheers:

Sursa: www.zf.ro/articol_162008

NATO and energy security
http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=frontpage&id=20080221-501113

It is useless to insist too much on the importance of energy in the present day world. It is enough to say that underlying the economic development, thus the realism of any strategy in this domain at national or international level, is the appropriate evaluation of the energy resources. The great emergent powers, such as China and India, with their extraordinary sustainable rates of growth, have added new dimensions to the global energy problem, while the warming up of the planet represents another of its facets. The predictions over the consumption of energy in the next decades and the ways to procure it abound in the specialized literature, already of huge dimensions. The discussions over the method to meet the future needs in a domain have moved a long time ago in the political domain, whether it is the so-called “energy mix,” in other words the utilization of the nuclear energy or other sources alongside the hydrocarbon resources, or the diversification of the sources of supply in order to avoid the monopolies in this domain.

The estimate of the International Energy Agency from 2007 shows that if the same energy consumption rate is maintained, the need of energy of the world in 2030 will be 50 per cent bigger than today. Geopolitically, the race for the resources of energy has triggered a few important modifications on the political map of the world, at least in terms of growth of the importance of some regions forgotten until not long ago, and the competition for resources is expected to project in the near future in the international arena new volatile areas which generate conflicts.

In this context, of the growth of the importance of energy in the economic and political domains, the attention paid to security energy is understandable. It is not so much a matter of fluent supply, necessary in order to reach the objectives proposed in the multi-annual plans, it is also a problem of identification of some alternative transport routes or of diversification of the sources in order to avoid dependences, which are damaging or with unpredictable risks, and also of achieving their physical security.

Today, when terrorism is one of the prevailing non-conventional threats at international level, energy security acquires absolutely new values and explains the growing attention paid to it by governments and international organizations. Especially that there is not a legal international framework that would regulate the domain of energy, such as GATT, and thus we have a planetary picture in which, for instance, oil is produced chiefly under the control of the states – some of them unstable – while consumption occurs in countries governed by consolidated market rules.

In the case of the NATO members and of the partners and friends of the alliance, thus around 13 per cent of the world population, these countries are responsible for 50 per cent of the consumption. Which explains why the North Atlantic Alliance gets involved in the energy security. In order to give an example of such preoccupation, the Declaration of the NATO Summit from Riga from 2006 evidences the fact that the members of the alliance are ready to support the security of the energetic infrastructure.

On the same line of NATO preoccupations is also the international scientific meeting held yesterday and the day before yesterday (February 19-20) in Constanta, organized by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) from London, EURISC foundation from Bucharest, and the Euro Atlantic Council – Romania, with the assistance of the Public Diplomacy Division of NATO, under the title: “Regional Security, Energy Security and NATO: Future Problems and Possibilities.” A generous support for the development of the meeting came also from MoD, through the General Staff of the Naval Forces and the Naval Academy from Constanta. The meeting which occasioned a fertile exchange of ideas between scientists and experts from Bulgaria, Bosnia, Kuwait, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovenia, France and Romania, also in the presence of some officials from these states, was held as part of the preparation of the NATO Summit from Bucharest, on whose agenda will be also the important problem of the energy security.

The discussions of the conference tried to identify applicable ideas connected with the optimization of the regional energy security, the way in which NATO can contribute to the energy security in its domain of responsibility and Eastward, the joint energy policy of the European Union, the protection of the critical infrastructure in the transport of energy in the Wider Black Sea Area, Russia and the partnership with Europe in this domain. Obviously, now, after the end of the conference, the experts are in the process of decantation of the ideas and proposals submitted by the panelists to the audience, but we must already emphasize that the exchange of opinions and the experiences which were presented in this domain proved to be propitious for the deepening of the knowledge of the problem and represents a step forward also in getting aware of the imperative of the construction of an Euro-Atlantic strategy of the energy security. It arose for instance that as a result of the increased dependence of the European Union on the supply of energy from Russia the relation between the two actors acquires an extensive relevance, which involves necessarily also NATO (most of the members of this alliance belong to EU). A joint approach EU/US of the problem of energy is also necessary is order to surmount the obstacles likely to arise and to achieve the optimum energy security given the EU dependence on the imports of gas and oil. Not less important was the conclusion that the security of the gas and oil pipes, in terrestrial or maritime areas, appears increasingly significant with the multiplication of the terrorist actions. In this context the participants stressed the importance acquired in this domain, evidenced by the energy corridor of the Black Sea, an area which became a real hub and whose growing current and future relevance will involve the major actors of the region – Russia, the European Union, USA, NATO, Turkey – in the binomial competition/cooperation. A steady preoccupation of the experts was the identification of the ways and methods through which NATO can increase its contribution to the growth of the energy security, understood under the double aspect of assuring a fluent supply and the physical security of the transport routes.

The meeting was undoubtedly a success in the preparation of the NATO Summit from Bucharest, occasioning an open and visionary exchange of ideas in the domain of energy of a growing global importance in which the key word is cooperation.

by Mihai Hareshan

Seems to me there's a conditionality in Gazprom's offer to invest in the gas storage facility to Romgaz's privatisation with Gazprom. The storage facility should cover 15% of Romania's gas consumption, and cost about 120-250 million EUR, which would be equally born by Romagaz and Gazprom.

Romania has currently 6 such storage facilities, all owned by Romgaz. Gas de France also plans to start construction of another gas storage facility estimated at 120 million EUR.


Gazprom, tot interesata sa colaboreze cu Romgaz pentru depozitul de la Margineni

HotNews.ro
19 februarie 2008


Gigantul rus Gazprom este in continuare interesat sa colaboreze cu Romgaz pentru construirea depozitului de gaze naturale de la Margineni, a declarat pentru Rompres, consilierul comercial al Federatiei Ruse in Romania, Igor Sidorov. Gazprom ar fi interesat si de o eventuala privatizare a Romgaz.

"Gazprom este in continuare interesat sa colaboreze cu Romgaz, asa cum colaboreaza si cu alte companii din Ungaria, Cehia sau Slovacia. Gazprom are interesul de a colabora in conditii de 50-50 la suta", a spus Igor Sidorov. Oficialul rus a mentionat ca societatea este interesata si de o eventuala privatizare a Romgaz.

Potrivit reprezentantilor Romgaz, studiul de fezabilitate pentru constructia depozitului de gaze naturale de la Margineni ar putea fi finalizat la sfirsitul primului semestru al acestui an. Valoarea totala a studiului de fezabilitate depaseste doua milioane dolari. Potrivit datelor Ministerului Economiei, investitiile necesare pentru realizarea depozitului de gaze de la Roman-Margineni sunt cuprinse intre 120 de milioane euro si 258 de milioane euro.

Depozitul de la Margineni ar urma sa aiba o capacitate de circa doua miliarde de metri cubi si ar putea putea inmagazina intre 600 de milioane si doua miliarde de metri cubi de gaze naturale. La capacitatea maxima acesta ar asigura circa 15 la suta din consumul de gaze naturale la nivel national.

Romgaz opereaza, in prezent, sase depozite de gaze proprii, la Bilciuresti, Urziceni, Balaceanca (toate trei in apropierea Bucurestiului), Sarmasel (aproape de Cluj), Ghercesti (in proximitatea Craiovei) si Cetatea de Balta (in vestul tarii).

Consumul anual de gaze al României este de 17-18 miliarde de metri cubi, o treime din aceasta cantitate provenind din Rusia, cel mai mare exportator la nivel mondial.

:nuts: yeah right ... Gazprom interested in Romgaz's privatisation ha ha ha :lol::lol::lol:

Check this (http://www.ziua.net/display.php?data=2008-02-20&id=233454) and you`ll understand their interest for Romgaz !

* Patriciul vrea si el depozitul ala subteran. Vara gazul e mai ieftin ! In felul asta noi putem sa-l cumparam ieftin vara si apoi sa-l vindem scump sau sa-l folosim la pret mai mic pentru noi iarna ! :lol: Normal ca russi sunt interesati sa-si vare nasul !

------

Constanta-Trieste oil pipeline plausible again
http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-top_news-2414993-constanta-trieste-oil-pipeline-plausible-again.htm

President Traian Basescu declared that the discussions with his Serb homologue, Boris Tadic, included the future of the Constanta-Trieste oil mainline project. Along with Nabucco, this is the most important energy project currently involving Romania.

The future European mainline is supposed to begin in the Constanta harbor, cross some of the future Yugoslavia states (Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia), reaching the Italian harbor of Trieste. The oil would be bought from the Caspian and Central Asia sources.

In April 2007, the countries involved in the project signed an agreement on the construction of the future oil pipeline. According to project, the pipeline would be 1,856 kilometers long and should start by transporting 40 million tons of oil per year, reaching a maximum capacity of 90 million tons in the future. The estimated cost is between 2.62 and 3.96 billion euro.

The project is competing with a Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project which has the strong support of Russia.

The future European mainline is supposed to begin in the Constanta harbor, cross some of the future Yugoslavia states (Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia), reaching the Italian harbor of Trieste. The oil would be bought from the Caspian and Central Asia sources.
.

^^ Love this. :lol::lol::lol:

Check this (http://www.ziua.net/display.php?data=2008-02-20&id=233454) and you`ll understand their interest for Romgaz !

* Patriciul vrea si el depozitul ala subteran. Vara gazul e mai ieftin ! In felul asta noi putem sa-l cumparam ieftin vara si apoi sa-l vindem scump sau sa-l folosim la pret mai mic pentru noi iarna ! :lol: Normal ca russi sunt interesati sa-si vare nasul !

------

Constanta-Trieste oil pipeline plausible again
http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-top_news-2414993-constanta-trieste-oil-pipeline-plausible-again.htm

President Traian Basescu declared that the discussions with his Serb homologue, Boris Tadic, included the future of the Constanta-Trieste oil mainline project. Along with Nabucco, this is the most important energy project currently involving Romania.

The future European mainline is supposed to begin in the Constanta harbor, cross some of the future Yugoslavia states (Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia), reaching the Italian harbor of Trieste. The oil would be bought from the Caspian and Central Asia sources.

In April 2007, the countries involved in the project signed an agreement on the construction of the future oil pipeline. According to project, the pipeline would be 1,856 kilometers long and should start by transporting 40 million tons of oil per year, reaching a maximum capacity of 90 million tons in the future. The estimated cost is between 2.62 and 3.96 billion euro.

The project is competing with a Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project which has the strong support of Russia.

Iti garantez eu ca la Margineni (Neamt) PD-L face regulile …si stim deja pozitia lui Base vis—a-vis de Rusia si Patriciu

^^ :lol:
-------

Romania's Tranzgaz hosts first meeting on new CEE gas transmission business
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/02/21/afx4680795.html

Romania's Tranzgaz is to host preliminary discussion aimed at creating a central and east European gas transmission business involving a potential 27,000 km of pipelines in seven countries, Tranzgaz said in a joint statement with Hungary's MOL.

The meetings are set to take place in Bucharest in the second week of March and will seek to establish the immediate steps needed to start the project, termed the New Europe Transmission System, or NETS.

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL broached the idea in late December. Currently Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia are involved in discussions.

'This project is now gathering momentum,' said Janos Zsuga, head of MOL's gas transmission unit, in a statement.

'The dialogue amongst transmission system operators is well under way, and there is strong interest from the European Commission and from national energy authorities.'

Back in December MOL said the joint venture, serving 68.5 mln customers and employing 6,000 people, would be in a better position to attract financing than smaller local companies.

It said the combined company could raise capital through an IPO, which would probably take place in London

I guess in the Balkans nothing is impossible :D

IMO, Romgas will not be privatised in the near future, if ever.

I agree ...

^^ Love this. :lol::lol::lol:

:crazy:

EC supports Constanta-Trieste pipe project
http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080222-511997

Brussels – The European Commission supports the project of the oil pipe Constanta – Trieste, which will make possible the construction of an important pipeline on a long distance, which will connect the Black Sea and Trieste, and which will cross Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, declared yesterday Fabrizio Barbaso, deputy General Manager General Division for Energy and Transport of the European Union, Rompres informs.

“We believe that the project will bring very significant advantages, reducing the pressure exerted on the environment in the Mediterranean Sea, which is now confronted with an intense traffic of the tankers, and also on the Danube” which is in the same situation, estimated Barbaso at the meeting of the Interstate Committee for the oil pipe Constanta-Trieste, held at the head offices of the Permanent Mission of Romania with the European Union. In his opinion, the project of Constanta-Trieste pipe will promote the regional integration for the countries involved in this initiative and the economic development.

:weird::weird::weird::horse:

EC supports Constanta-Trieste pipe project
http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=business&id=20080222-511997

Brussels – The European Commission supports the project of the oil pipe Constanta – Trieste, which will make possible the construction of an important pipeline on a long distance, which will connect the Black Sea and Trieste, and which will cross Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, declared yesterday Fabrizio Barbaso, deputy General Manager General Division for Energy and Transport of the European Union, Rompres informs.

“We believe that the project will bring very significant advantages, reducing the pressure exerted on the environment in the Mediterranean Sea, which is now confronted with an intense traffic of the tankers, and also on the Danube” which is in the same situation, estimated Barbaso at the meeting of the Interstate Committee for the oil pipe Constanta-Trieste, held at the head offices of the Permanent Mission of Romania with the European Union. In his opinion, the project of Constanta-Trieste pipe will promote the regional integration for the countries involved in this initiative and the economic development.

Wow, this one by-passes us. Can we make it: Constanta, Ruse, Sofia, Trieste.:):)

Macedonia: Bulgaria Can Save Us From Energy Crisis

Updated on: 22.02.2008, 13:37

Published on: 22.02.2008, 10:10

The government of Macedonia starts searching for ways to prevent an energy crisis, which could grab the country, claims the Macedonian opposition newspaper “Utrinski vestnik”, cited by BTA.

The newspaper analyzes the situation in Macedonia and concludes that the domestic reserves are running out and that the situation is additionally complicated by the proclaiming of Kosovo's independence and Setbia's threats for imposing an embargo.

In searching for a solution the newspaper points out that what can be done fast is the building of a 400- kilovolt power transmission line from Shtip to Chervena mogila with a total length of 140 km, 40 km of which will be in Macedonia. The construction of the lines was started in 2006 but should be ready the coming summer.

The newspaper claims that the Macedonian side is ready and that it is the Bulgarians who are being late. But in contrast with neighboring Bulgaria, now “we are in a hurry”, because “the condition with the amount of domestic energy is not good at all”.

“Utrinski vestnik” newspaper informs about talks of the Macedonian economic delegation headed by the deputy prime minister Zoran Stavrevski in Sofia, where agreement has been reached Bulgaria to provide its energy excess to Macedonia, to finish the construction the power transmission line, which automatically will reduce Macedonia's dependency on Serbia.

Bulgarian article:
Македония търси енергийна помощ първо от нас

Последна редакция: 22.02.2008, 11:33

Публикуване: 22.02.2008, 09:49

Правителството на Македония започна да търси начини за спасение от евентуална енергийна криза, която може да обхване страната, и България е първа в списъка на страните, които биха могли да помогнат, твърди опозиционният "Утрински весник" днес, цитиран от БТА.

Вестникът анализира ситуацията в Македония и стига до извода, че вътрешните резерви са на изчерпване и че ситуацията допълнително се усложнява с провъзгласяването на независимостта на Косово и заканите с ембарго от страна на Сърбия.

В търсенето на изход изданието посочва, че там, където може бързо да се действа, е изграждането на 400 киловолтовия далекпровод от Щип до Червена могила с дължина 140 км, като 40 от тях са на македонска територия. Той започна да се изгражда през 2006 г, но трябва да е готов през идващото лято.

Вестникът посочва, че от македонска страна всичко е готово и че българите са тези, които закъсняват. Но за разлика от съседна България, сега "ние бързаме", тъй като "положението с количеството домашна енергия съвсем не е розово".

"Утрински весник" информира за разговорите на македонската икономическа делегация начело с вицепремиера Зоран Ставревски в София, където са били постигнати договорености България да предоставя своите излишъци от ток на Македония, да се форсира и завърши изграждането на 400-киловолтовия далекопровод, което автоматически щяло да намали зависимостта на Македония от Сърбия.

:banana::banana::banana: I'm so happy we are helping macedonia :cheers:
I love this country and it's people
We sould take better care of them they're like our little brothers:hug:

^^
As far as I know there are two major problems connected with the export of electricity for Macedonia.The first is that during the last few months the consumption increased much more than it was envisaged and that`s why the government stopped the export in order to prevent potential crisis.The second is the lack of transmission line about which is mentioned in the articles.

Nuclear projects in central and southeast Europe
Reuters 20.2.2008

A number of countries in central, eastern and southeastern Europe plan to build new nuclear power reactors or extend the life of existing ones to meet growing domestic demand and replace ageing power capacity.


The plans mirror a worldwide nuclear boom as part of the solution to climate change.

Following are key facts on major projects:

BULGARIA


- The Balkan country, where nuclear energy supplies about 43 percent of all power, plans a new 2,000 megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant at the Danube river town of Belene. It has contracted Russia's Atomstroyexport, along with France's Areva <CEPFi.PA> and Germany's Siemens <SIEGn.DE>, to build the plant in a 4.0 billion-euro deal.

- The first reactor is planned to come online in late-2013.

- Sofia is yet to pick a strategic investor for 49 percent of the plant among Italy's Enel <ENEI.MI>, Germany's E.ON <EONG.DE> and RWE <RWEG.DE>, Czech CEZ <CEZPsp.PR> and Belgium's Electrabel, owned by French utility Suez <LYOE.PA>.


CZECH REPUBLIC

- The Green party has managed to make the Czech government pledge it would not launch any nuclear power plant projects while in office. The country already relies on nuclear for about 30 percent of its electricity.

- The two biggest Czech political parties and power firm CEZ are all in favour of building new nuclear power units. The most likely scenario are two sizeable units at the existing Temelin station.


HUNGARY


- The country has one nuclear generator with 1,860 MW of capacity, supplying about 37 percent of electricity.

- Their lifetime will begin to run out in 2012. All major political parties have approved a 20-year lifetime extension. The relatively rare political consensus was not dented even by a 2003 accident which left one of the blocs out of service for over a year.

- In 2006 and 2007, press reports surfaced that big Western European power firms were considering building a new nuclear generator in Hungary but no specific plans had emerged.


LITHUANIA

- The Baltic country, which relies on nuclear for 70 percent of its electricity, is still in the planning stages of a new 3,200-3,400 MW plant estimated to cost $9 billion.

- Poland and the other two Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia, are negotiating plans to build the new plant, which will replace one that Lithuania is obliged to shut down by the end of next year. The talks, however, have stalled due to Polish demands for a third of the power.

- The government has had talks with several reactor providers, including Areva and General Electric <GE.N>.


POLAND

- Poland, seeking to lessen its dependence on Russian energy, plans to back Lithuania's nuclear plant project.

- Some officials, including Economy Minister Waldemar awlak, have said Poland should consider building a nuclear power plant in the future to help reduce its near complete reliance on coal for energy.

But no concrete plans have emerged yet and the suggestion was met with scepticism by the environment ministry.


ROMANIA

The Balkan country, whose two nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda plant accounted for 13 percent of all power in 2007, plan two more reactors, each 706 MW, at the same site by 2015 and a second plant later.

Candidates to build the two new reactors include Electrabel, Enel <ENEI.MI>, Spain's Iberdrola <IBE.MC>, CEZ, a Romanian unit of Arcelor Mittal <ISPA.AS> and RWE. The investment is estimated at around 2.2 billion euros.


SLOVAKIA

- Nuclear energy contributed for 57 percent Slovakia's electricity in 2007. The country closed one 440 megawatt block out of four in the older Jaslovske Bohunice plant in 2006, and another one will be phased out by the end of 2008 under an accession deal with the EU.

- Slovakian dominant power company Slovenske Elektrarne (SE) SE, controlled by Enel, aims to complete the third and fourth block at the Mochovce plant by 2013.

- The state plans construction of a single 1,100-1,200 MW block or two new 600 MW blocks at the Bohunice site by 2025, worth an estimated 3 billion euros. A tender is expected to start this year.

- A new 1,200 MW nuclear plant, expected to cost 3.5 billion euros, is being considered in eastern Slovakia after shutdown of younger Bohunice blocks, expected in 2025.


TURKEY

-Ankara passed a law in November to allow for the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power reactors. The terms of a tender for the three separate plants with a total capacity of 5,000 MW is expected to be released on Feb. 21.

- The energy ministry estimates costs for the project at $10 billion but environmental group Greenpeace said costs would be much higher, at $4 billion per reactor.

Those are photos of one of the 20 wind power parks either built, either U/C, or planned near Kavarna, Bulgaria. This one is a small one, it consists of only 30 generators, 30MW total power, but the total ammount of wind turbines there is planned to reach 180 soon. A turbine kills between 4 and 50 birds each year and those are located exactly on a birds migration' route. Another interesting fact is that those are located in a NATURA2000 zone which prohibits such kind of buildings at all. According to the local authorities, no ecological analysis was needed prior to construction. It's almost certain that the EU will fine us for breaking the regulations of NATURA2000 zones. While those investors built their power plants, we will all pay for the faults of the corrupt state authorities.

:ohno:

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024827312286.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024827281290.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024819528918.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024819508897.jpg

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http://bspb.org/article_images/12027456985516.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12027456965177.jpg

^^When the propelers will be put on, the view will be quite nice from the sea. :cheers:

Nice...blah :(

I like the scenery though. It's a question of tastes. ;)

Well it could be some freaking concrete complex. I'm wondering which is uglier of them both

Jeee! I don't know what to say. We need clean energy and wind farms can be pretty, but not in this case. This part of the coast is so dramatic that I hate to see it spoiled like this.

BGRS, where did you find the pics?

Those are photos of one of the 20 wind power parks either built, either U/C, or planned near Kavarna, Bulgaria. This one is a small one, it consists of only 30 generators, 30MW total power, but the total ammount of wind turbines there is planned to reach 180 soon. A turbine kills between 4 and 50 birds each year and those are located exactly on a birds migration' route. Another interesting fact is that those are located in a NATURA2000 zone which prohibits such kind of buildings at all. According to the local authorities, no ecological analysis was needed prior to construction. It's almost certain that the EU will fine us for breaking the regulations of NATURA2000 zones. While those investors built their power plants, we will all pay for the faults of the corrupt state authorities.

:ohno:

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024827312286.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024827281290.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024819528918.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12024819508897.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12027457006387.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12027456985516.jpg

http://bspb.org/article_images/12027456965177.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc103/ivailotasev/big_90722.jpg
:omg::wtf::omg::wtf::omg::wtf:
I can`t believe that this is happening in Bulgaria.:bash::bash::bash:
The bastard who allowed the construction on this lovely place deserves to be thrown into the sea from Kaliakra with bound hands and legs.:bash::bash::bash:
This time I really, really hope that the Euro Commission will fine the dirty communists and will somehow force the investor to move the turbines with at least 1 km from the sea shore.

Bulgarian eco-organizations have lodged another complaint against the Bulgarian government with the European Commission over violations of the Natura 2000 programme.

According to the eco-activists, the construction of wind power stations in the area of Kaliakra Cape in the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast violates the European directives and causes damage to the wildlife in the protected region.

The organisations also say that significant investors' interest is behind the systematic violations.

Bulgarian environmentalists have organized numerous protests against the government eco policy and filed a complain in the EC in July over the cabinet's intention to cut by half the territories included in the network.

NATURA 2000 is a set of areas in the EU member states where plant and animal species and their habitats must be protected, enforcing the bloc's Birds Directive of 1979 and the Habitats Directive of 1992.

The member states are responsible for managing these areas and must ensure conservation of the species and habitats designated by community law.

While human activities, such as farming, are still authorized within these areas, they must be compatible with the aim of conservation.

source:novinite.com (http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=90722)

Russia and Serbia have signed a co-operation agreement to build the South Stream gas pipeline. The agreement comes during Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Belgrade and Budapest to discuss bilateral economic issues.

This agreement brings Serbia into the South Stream gas pipeline project.

Gazprom plants to build a 400 km segment of the South Stream gas pipeline through Serbia.

When complete, it will carry no less than 10 billion cubic metres of gas annually.

After the signing ceremony, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, stressed the importance of the deal.

“I’m sure such agreements will bring dividends for both countries. It also benefits the interests of Russia and Serbia and forms the foundation for the energy security of a unified Europe,” said Medvedev.

The deal also sees the construction of an underground gas-storage facility, Banatski Dvor, with a capacity of 300 million cubic metres.

The third element to the deal is the acquisition by Gazprom Neft of a 51 per cent stake in the largest Serbian oil refiner Nafta Industriya for almost $US 600 million.

Gazprom will invest about $US 1billion to renovate the plant, .

“Serbia will receive guaranteed gas supplies, strengthened geo-political ties and also a flow of investment from Gazprom. And that’s not to even mention the dividends that Serbia will receive from transporting gas through its territory,” saianalyst Titin Razuvaev.

Instead of paying gas transit fees to other countries, Serbia will now earn money for the gas it ships to Austria.

The deal has another consequence. With Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary participating in South Stream, the Nabucco pipeline project – an EU plan to bypass Russian territory - becomes less viable.

For Russia, analysts say, the significance of the deal is more than commercial, helping to restore its influence in the region, along with economic and trade ties.

http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/21335

British-based firm EFT to build power plant in Bosnia's Serb entity


Sarajevo - The Bosnian Serb government signed Monday a concession deal with British-based company EFT for construction and use of a thermo-electric power plant near the northern Bosnian Serb town of Doboj. The deal, signed in the city of Banja Luka, followes the government's decision earlier this month to give 30-year concession to EFT, which offered to invest 1.022 billion dollars in the project.

The construction of the plant, according to EFT, should be completed until 2012, with the expected production of 3,000 gigawatts of electric energy per year.

In 2005 EFT also bought nearby coal mines, rich in lignite, which is to be used in the power plant for production of the electric power.

The Srpska's government expects additional annual inflow of 10,5 million convertible marks (8,4 million dollars) to its budget from the concession.

Russian and Hungary are about to sign an agreement on the construction of a natural gas pipeline and underground gas reservoir in Hungary after talks between Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and Hungarian Finance Minister Janos Veres. Veres has also been in talks with officials from the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy. The agreement is the final link in the South Stream pipeline route from Russia along the Black Sea floor to Italy. It will be singed at the end of the week. Hungary continues to support the competing Nabucco pipeline project as well.
Gazprom is responsible for 65 percent of Hungary's natural gas imports. The new pipeline in will have a capacity of at least 10 billion cu. m. per year. The division of the costs and obligations of the project will be subject to additional agreements between Gazprom and the Hungarian MOL.

South Stream will lead from Russia to Bulgaria and branch there. A northern branch will continue to Serbia, Hungary and Austria, and a southern branch will go through Greece to Italy. The pipeline will have a total capacity of about 30 billion cu. m. and cost $10 billion. On Friday, Greek Development Minister Christos Folias stated his country's interest in the project after a meeting with Russian Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko.

http://www.kommersant.com/photo/512/DAILY/2008/030T//KMO_088197_50349_1_t208.jpg

They look like 2 gays :lol:

Suez sees Romanian nuclear tender results soon
Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:14pm GMT

PARIS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - French utility Suez said on Tuesday it expected to hear within "the next few weeks or the next few months" whether Romania will pick the French firm to build a nuclear power plant in the Balkan country.

A number of countries in central, eastern and south eastern Europe plan to build new nuclear power reactors or extend the life of existing ones to meet growing domestic demand and replace ageing power capacity.

Their plans mirror a worldwide nuclear boom as part of the solution to meet rising energy needs and combat climate change.

"We have submitted bids...and in Romania, the process is quite well advanced," Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet told journalists after unveiling the firm's 2007 results.

"We expect to hear more in the next few weeks or next few months," he said

Romania, whose two nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda plant accounted for 13 percent of all power in 2007, plans to build two more reactors, each with 706 megawatt (MW) power capacity at the same site by 2015. It plans to build a second plant later.

Candidates to build the two new reactors include Electrabel, Enel (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), Spain's Iberdrola (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research), CEZ, a Romanian unit of Arcelor Mittal (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) and RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research). The investment is estimated at around 2.2 billion euros.

Mestrallet said that the process was slightly less advanced in Bulgaria. "But we are still working at it," he said.

Bulgaria, where nuclear energy supplies 43 percent of all power, plans a new 2,000 MW nuclear power plant at the Danube river town of Belene.

It has contracted Russia's Atomstroyexport, along with France's Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Germany's Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), to build the plant in a 4.0 billion-euro deal, with the first reactor expected to come online in late-2013.

Sofia is yet to pick a strategic investor for 49 percent of the plant from Italy's Enel (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), Germany's E.ON (EONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and RWE, Czech CEZ (CEZPsp.PR: Quote, Profile, Research) and Belgium's Electrabel, owned by French utility Suez.

Suez added it was keeping a close eye on Britain, which last month gave a go-ahead to replace its ageing atomic reactors.

Mestrallet reiterated its plan to develop nuclear power plants in the rest of Europe but said a decision would not be taken before 2009, after the merger with Gaz de France (GAZ.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

The company said it was key for the group to keep the same share of nuclear power in its energy mix in the long term but that it would inevitably decline in the next few years.

"We will develop them (nuclear plants) in all countries in partnerships, or alone, in countries where we are welcome," Suez head of operations, Jean-Pierre Hansen, told an analyst meeting earlier on Tuesday.

He cited as potential target markets Brazil, the United States, India, China and South Africa. (Reporting by Muriel Boselli; editing by James Jukwey)

© Reuters 2007.

Today, Macedonia closed the tender for importing 600,000 tonnes of Coal for two powerplants in the country, REK Bitola and Oslomej, Kichevo.

The import will cost about 24 million euros. As i mentioned in another thread, if a company from Kosovo wins this, it will be a dramatic increase in their export to Macedonia for 2008, considering their total exports to Macedonia was 14 million dollars each in 2006 and 2007.

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/2223/pa234178resizedh8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Mediafax.ro
27.02.2008

Romania’s oil and gas company Petrom (SNP.RO) is searching for opportunities to enter the oil market in Ukraine, especially in the fields of oil exploitation and fuel distribution, the company’s CEO Mariana Gheorghe said Tuesday.

Petrom is also looking for expansion possibilities on the oil and gas markets in Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and southeastern Europe.

“Turkmenistan is a target for us because not many investments have been made in the area,” Gheorghe said. However, nothing has been decided yet and talks are only at a general level.

The official said that for the time being and the near future, no transactions have been laid on the table.

Petrom is the largest corporation in Romania and the largest gas and oil producer in Southeastern Europe.

In December 2004, Petrom was privatized and became a part of OMV AG (OMV.VI), which is the majority shareholder (51%).

The company, posted a full-year net profit of RON1.77 billion in 2007, down 22% on the year from RON2.28 billion in 2006. Total revenues reached RON12.98 billion (almost 4 billion EURO), down 6.8% against 2006.

Petrom and Romgaz are the largest natural gas producers in Romania. The companies cover about two third of the national consumption.

Asia's Тop Оil Refiner Sinopec Invests in Bulgaria Plama Refinery


Sinopec Corporation plans to invest in the modernization of Bulgaria's bankrupt oil refinery Plama which is expected to restart production in the next several months.

http://images.ibox.bg/2007/02/17/refi/256x216.jpg

From Dnevnik a.m. reminded that Bulgarian-based Highway Logistic Center bought the country second-biggest refinery last year and said it would restart the outdated plant in 2008 to initially process about 600,000 tons (12,000 barrels per day) of crude oil a year.

Sinopec are our main business partners. They will invest to upgrade and expand the production capacity to 2 million tons (40,000 bpd) of crude per year,' Highway Logistic Center representative Ivailo Ivanov told Reuters.

He declined that the China Petroleum&Chemical Corp would acquire a stake in Plama in return.

Ivanov also refused to say the exact sum Sinopec will invest in the refinery. He added that a delegation will visit the country next week.

Plama's new owners said they will invest 20 -30 million EUR to restart the refinery and then invest another 80 - 120 million EUR to add a reforming and a cracking unit, told from Dnevnik.

http://international.ibox.bg/news/id_6385116


:)

Bulgaria Relies on Atomic Power to Meet Rising Regional Demand

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Bulgaria, a Balkan electricity
exporter, will rely on a new nuclear plant and hydropower plant
along the Danube to raise output, Energy and Economy Minister
Petar Dimitrov said.

Building a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant on the Danub
River is a ``top government priority,'' Dimitrov said at an
energy conference in Sofia today. Reviving two projects for
joint Bulgarian-Romanian hydro-power plants on the Danube will
be another source of renewable power in the region, he said.

Bulgaria had the biggest share of power exports in
southeast Europe before it closed two of four reactors at the
Kozloduy nuclear power plant to meet European Union atomic
safety requirements on Jan. 1, 2007. The closures cut its
exports by 50 percent in 2007, caused power cuts in Albania and
doubled electricity rates in the region.

``It is important for Bulgaria to develop its nuclear
energy potential,'' Dimitrov said. ``It is cost-effective,
ensures energy self-reliance and has no effect on climate
change.''

The government has yet to pick an investor in a venture
that will build and run the nuclear plant at Belene among E.ON
AG, Enel SpA, CEZ AS, Electrabel SA and RWE AG. Russia's ZAO
AtomStroyExport was chosen in 2005 to build the plant with Areva
SA and Siemens AG as subcontractors.

Hydropower Units

Bulgaria also wants to start work with neighboring Romania
on an old project to build two 400-megawatt hydropower units at
Nikopol on the Bulgarian bank of the river and Turnu Mugurele on
the Romanian side, he said. The second project envisages two
285-megawatt units at Silistra on the Bulgarian side and Kalaras
in Romania.

``These are exceptionally important projects, which benefit
everyone,'' Dimitrov said. ``It'll be sad if they are delayed by
the sluggishness of politicians.''

Bulgaria's electricity exports to the Balkans will slump
this year to 13 percent of total power exports in the region,
from 37 percent in 2007 and 60 percent in 2006, he said.
Dimitrov estimated Balkan power exports to rise to 15 billion
kilowatt-hours this year, from 13 billion kilowatt-hours in
2006, shadowing expanding demand in the region.

Bulgaria's power consumption rose 3 percent last year,
compared with Turkey's 10 percent growth and the 2 percent
average growth for south-eastern Europe, he said. Power imports
from countries outside the Balkans were scarce, at 3 to 4
billion kilowatt-hours a year, he said.

Power Exports

The country will resume short-term power exports to
neighboring Greece, Serbia, Turkey, Albania, Macedonia from
March 1, after suspending them on record-low winter temperatures
in January and declining output. Most of Bulgaria's coal-fired
plants are aged and are being renovated to meet EU environment
protection requirements, which further erodes output, Dimitrov
said.

The government has yet to decide whether to hold a tender
for the construction of a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant in the
Maritza-East mining and power generation complex, as Bulgaria
would have to pay for its carbon emissions from 2012 and the
plant might become unfeasible, Dimitrov said.

``This is a very difficult decision to take, given the
price trends for oil and natural gas,'' he said. Enel SpA, E.ON
AG, CEZ AS, RWE AG and AES Corp are interested in the project,
the country's energy regulator said last year.

Business Review
2/25/2008 11:54:22 AM

Local aluminum supplier Alro Slatina plans to reduce costs by attaining power independence. Marian Nastase, vice-president of the company's administration council, told BR that it plans to invest in a thermal power plant in partnership with InterAgro. Meanwhile, the firm reported for last year the largest net profit since it was privatized.

Alro Slatina, the biggest aluminum producer in Central and Eastern Europe, has reported its best financial results since the state sold the majority share package to a private investor. The company posted last year a net profit of EUR 131.6 million, a 15 percent hike against the previous year. Marian Nastase, vice-president of the firm's administration council, said that the results were due to several strategic measures taken by the company to stay on top. "First of all, we bought the rough matter in time from Jamaica and Sardinia, which kept us outside of market fluctuations. Also, last year we invested more than USD 60 million to increase productivity," said Nastase. Between 2002 and 2007 Alro made investments of more than USD 210 million.
He said that the company had big plans to remain number one. "We plan to develop our investments on the Chinese market, which we entered recently. We plan to focus more on products with high added value," said the Alro representative.

Alro is the top private energy consumer on the local market, and energy costs represent 35 percent of the company's total expenses. This is why Alro plans to ensure its independence in this area by investing in a thermo power plant. "Our partner in this project will be InterAgro. The plant will have a capacity of 1,000-1,200 KWh," said Nastase. The total investment is estimated at approximately USD 1 billion.

Personnel costs also increased this year at Alro, where the average salary is USD 1,000. The company announced it would reduce the number of employees to increase competitiveness, but the workers will receive compensatory salaries.

Despite Alro's positive financial results and optimistic plans for development, a black shadow still hangs over the company's privatization process, which is the subject of a National Department Anticorruption (DNA) investigation.

"At the DNA there is a criminal file in which investigations are carried out regarding the legality of the Alro Slatina privatization. On December 15, 2006, DNA prosecutors started criminal proceedings over actions associated with corruption and other offences according to article 10 from Law78/2000," DNA officials told BR. Article 10 of the law stipulates a prison term of between 5 and 15 years "if it is established that a lower value compared with the actual commercial value of assets owned by companies in which the state is one of the shareholders was set." :lol:

DNA officials told BR that in this phase of the investigations no individuals were under criminal investigation by the prosecutors. This month the prosecutors summoned Ovidiu Musetescu, a former member of the privatization commission at Alro, to the hearings.
By Dana Ciuraru

The Money Channel
Marti, 26 Februarie 2008

Romania’s largest oil company Petrom supports the involvement of energy companies OMV and Transgaz in the Nabucco gas pipeline project as it could start gas exports through this pipeline, the company’s executive manager Mariana Gheorghe said.

The Austrian based OMV is Petrom’s main shareholder. Transgaz is Romania’s gas transport company.

The Petrom official noted Nabucco should be Europe’s alternative to Russia’s South Stream. Gheorghe explained Petrom would not export the gas extracted in Romania but the one coming from imports.

The Nabucco project refers to the construction of a 3,300 kilometers long pipeline which will transport gas from the Middle East and Asia to EU countries.

The pipeline will traverse several southeastern European countries. Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Romania associated towards the construction of the pipeline, in a move to cut dependency from Russia’s gas. Transgaz is part of Nabucco, together with Botas (Turkey), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary) and OMV (Austria).

South Stream should traverse the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Greece and Southern Italy.

Source: NewsIn


^^ Argh, those damn Russians, you can never do energy business in Europe if they mess in. :bash::bash:

Russia and Serbia have signed a co-operation agreement to build the South Stream gas pipeline. The agreement comes during Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Belgrade and Budapest to discuss bilateral economic issues.

This agreement brings Serbia into the South Stream gas pipeline project.

Gazprom plants to build a 400 km segment of the South Stream gas pipeline through Serbia.

When complete, it will carry no less than 10 billion cubic metres of gas annually.

After the signing ceremony, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, stressed the importance of the deal.

“I’m sure such agreements will bring dividends for both countries. It also benefits the interests of Russia and Serbia and forms the foundation for the energy security of a unified Europe,” said Medvedev.

The deal also sees the construction of an underground gas-storage facility, Banatski Dvor, with a capacity of 300 million cubic metres.

The third element to the deal is the acquisition by Gazprom Neft of a 51 per cent stake in the largest Serbian oil refiner Nafta Industriya for almost $US 600 million.

Gazprom will invest about $US 1billion to renovate the plant, .

“Serbia will receive guaranteed gas supplies, strengthened geo-political ties and also a flow of investment from Gazprom. And that’s not to even mention the dividends that Serbia will receive from transporting gas through its territory,” saianalyst Titin Razuvaev.

Instead of paying gas transit fees to other countries, Serbia will now earn money for the gas it ships to Austria.

The deal has another consequence. With Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary participating in South Stream, the Nabucco pipeline project – an EU plan to bypass Russian territory - becomes less viable.

For Russia, analysts say, the significance of the deal is more than commercial, helping to restore its influence in the region, along with economic and trade ties.

http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/21335

Hey, guys, I read in the Romanian media that the Serbian economy minister Mladjan Dinkici opposes the sale of NIS to Gazprom, saying that the 400 million EUR price is humiliating. What do you know about this? Does it mean that the sale will be put off?

What does Serbia get in return for the sale of NIS? Gas at 10 USD?

What does Serbia get in return for the sale of NIS? Gas at 10 USD?

That's Serbia's way of saying "Thank You" to Russia for its support for the Kosovo cause. Apart from this, Southstream goes through Serbia and not Romania, but I guess Serbia was the natural host country in any case. :cheers:

CE Craiova da energie la Petrom cu 110 mil. euro

Autor: Ziarul Financiar
Data: 28-02-2008

Complexul Energetic Craiova a castigat licitatia organizata de Petrom in vederea selectarii unui nou furnizor de energie pentru divizia de explorare si productie, rafinaria Arpechim Pitesti si combinatul chimic Doljchim, contractul avand o valoare de peste 110 milioane euro, au declarat surse din Petrom.

Prin acest contract, valabil pe o perioada de doi ani, complexul energetic Craiova va livra Petrom o cantitate totala de 2,3 TWh, echivalenta cu 3,6% din consumul national. Acordul va intra in vigoare la 1 aprilie.

Initial, surse din piata au declarat ca grupurile internationale CEZ, Enel si E.ON, inscrise la licitatie, au iesit din cursa in prima etapa a discutiile. In negocieri au mai ramas Electrica, Petprod si CE Craiova, castigatorul fiind ultima companie, de stat, unul dintre cei mai importanti producatori la nivel local.
Sursa: www.zf.ro/articol_163122

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3403/57077467qw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Source: NewsIn
Marti, 26 Februarie 2008

Romania’s gas operator Transgaz for this year slated investments of 366.81 million lei (100 million euros) for the improvement of its international gas transport infrastructure and the take over of imported gas, a release by the company reads.

Transgaz wants to connect its gas transport infrastructure to those of the nearby countries. The move is meant to ensure access to alternative energy resources. The company also wants to reduce pollution and ensure the protection of the environment.

Transgaz saw its net profit shrinking by 5.7 percent year-on-year in 2007 as expenditures grew at a faster pace than revenues. Transgaz reported a net profit of 224.34 million lei (67.2 million euros) for 2007. The year before, the gas operator witnessed a 286.3 million lei net profit.

The company’s expenditures last year rose to 794.46 million lei. Revenues stood at 1.06 billion lei. Transgaz is a state-owned company established in 2000. It is one of the companies which will construct the Nabucco gas pipeline.

This will transport gas from the Middle East and Asia to Europe. The other companies involved are Botas (Turkey), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary) and OMV (Austria).

The institute claims that Gazprom invitations for Hungary and Austria to join Southstream are part of a strategy to ensure Gazprom entrance into Nabucco through the backdoor.


South Stream ar putea fi un mijloc de presiune al Gazprom pentru a participa la Nabucco
Joi, 28 Februarie 2008


Atragerea Ungariei în proiectul South Stream, după Bulgaria şi Austria, face parte din strategia Kremlinului de a diviza Europa şi de a forţa intrarea Gazprom în Nabucco, au declarat joi pentru NewsIn doi experţi internaţionali.

Acordurile semnate pentru gazoductul rus South Stream cu Bulgaria, Austria, şi, cel mai recent, Ungaria - toate ţări partenere în proiectul european Nabucco, ce se doreşte o alternativă la reţeaua rusă de distribuţie - fac parte dintr-o strategie a Gazprom de-şi forţa intrarea în consorţiul Nabucco, în caz că nu va putea împiedica realizarea acestei conducte, consideră expertul american Alexandros Petersen de la Centrul pentru Studii Strategice şi Internaţionale (CSIS) şi suedezul Niklas Nilsson de la Institutul pentru Politici de Securitate şi Dezvoltare din Stockholm.

"Dacă privim din punctul de vedere al Moscovei, cel mai inteligent lucru pe care-l poate face este să promoveze South Stream, iar dacă nu se realizează, să intre în Nabucco. Cea mai mare lovitură a Rusiei ar fi să construiască South Stream şi să facă parte şi din Nabucco. Întreaga justificare a Nabucco este că oferă o rută alternativă şi surse alternative. Iar dacă vom avea o companie controlată de Kremlin ca parte a acestui proiect, nu mai putem vorbi de o rută alternativă şi putem foarte bine să renunţăm la ea", spune Alexandros Petersen, expert în probleme de energie al think-tankului american CSIS.

Întrebat cum vede semnarea, joi, a acordului dintre Ungaria şi Rusia privind construirea South Stream pe teritoriul ungar, Petersen a răspuns că "mulţi vor spune că prin acest acord au sunat clopotele pentru Nabucco".

"Dar Ungaria a subliniat că vrea să construiască ambele conducte, aşa că nu e cazul să ne resemnăm", a subliniat expertul american, arătând că proiectul european este unul viabil economic, spre deosebire de South Stream.

"În acelaşi timp, ţările central şi est-europene nu trebuie să fie de acord cu South Stream, în primul rând pentru că preţul de construcţie va fi de cel puţin două ori mai mare decât al Nabucco, dar mai ales pentru că acordurile cu Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria şi acum Ungaria fac parte dintr-o strategie a Moscovei de a împărţi Europa în două, de a separa Europa de Est de cea Occidentală prin împiedicarea construirii unor rute alternative prin Turcia către surse alternative de gaze naturale din regiunea caspică şi Orientul Mijlociu", a explicat Petersen. "Problema este că la această strategie rusească nu există o contrastrategie din partea Europei", avertizează expertul.

Referitor la vocile din România care critică angajamentul în Nabucco, în locul unei atitudini mai favorabile proiectului rus South Stream, Petersen consideră că România nu trebuie să regrete alegerea sa, care este tocmai în spiritul politicii energetice comune a UE şi nu reflectă un interes pe termen scurt.

"Acest tip de atitudine spune tocmai să ne urmăm interesul naţional de azi şi să uităm care este interesul european pe termen lung, să uităm de imaginea de ansamblu şi să ne concentrăm doar pe cea de detaliu. Acest gen de atitudine este tocmai ceea ce împiedică UE să aibă o politică energetică comună şi subminează interesele Uniunii", conchide Petersen.

Niklas Nilsson, coordonatorul proiectului de securitate energetică europeană al Institutului pentru Politici de Securitate şi Dezvoltare din Stockholm, vede, de asemenea, South Stream ca pe "un proiect geopolitic versus Nabucco, un proiect viabil economic, dar căruia îi lipseşte voinţa politică."

Rugat să comenteze semnarea acordului cu Ungaria privind South Stream, Nilsson a spus că "este o dovadă a lipsei de implicare a UE în Nabucco, iar South Stream pare acum o alternativă mai credibilă. După ce Bulgaria a semnat pentru South Stream, şi alţi parteneri înclină să o facă, pentru că nu vor să rămână pe lângă. Desigur că toate aceste ţări susţin că ambele proiecte sunt fezabile, dar asta înseamnă că Nabucco devine tot mai puţin credibil. La fel şi pentru companiile care construiesc, cu cât e mai probabil că se va construi South Stream, cu atât mai puţin progresează Nabucco", consideră Nilsson.

În ce priveşte costurile de realizare a South Stream, cel puţin duble faţă de Nabucco, expertul suedez spune că Gazprom nu este mânat de motivaţii economice, ci politice. "Desigur, aceste costuri mari vor fi resimţite de consumatorul european în preţul final al gazului", remarcă Nilsson.

"Dacă Gazprom îşi face loc în Nabucco, va fi mai puţin motivat politic să construiască South Stream. În fond, Gazpromul ar atinge acelaşi ţel politic - fie prin alimentarea Nabucco, fie prin construirea South Stream care ar împiedica realizarea Nabucco. Toate aceste acorduri (cu Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria şi Ungaria - n.r.) sunt menite să întărească rolul Gazprom ca instrument politic al Kremlinului şi, poate, pentru a-i întări poziţia lui Medvedev când va deveni preşedinte", spune expertul suedez.

Cu toate acestea, în opinia lui Nilsson, "mai există speranţe pentru Nabucco, mai ales după ce RWE a devenit al şaselea partener în consorţiu. Dar e nevoie de mai mult sprijin la nivelul UE, de un efort mai mare de a coordona politicile energetice şi mai multe progrese la conducta transcaspică susţinută de SUA, ce ar putea aduce resurse semnificative de gaz din Turkmenistan în Nabucco", a încheiat expertul suedez.

Premierul ungar Ferenc Gyurcsany a semnat joi la Kremlin un acord pentru participarea Ungariei la proiectul South Stream, subliniind însă, în cursul săptămânii, că ţara sa va rămâne angajată şi în proiectul european Nabucco.

Proiectul gazoductului Nabucco, promovat de UE şi SUA, vizează să ofere o alternativă la reţeaua de transport rusă şi să permită Azerbaidjanului să exporte direct gaz pe piaţa europeană via Georgia şi Turcia. Din consorţiul Nabucco fac parte Austria (OMV), Ungaria, (MOL), România (Transgaz), Bulgaria (Bulgargaz) şi Turcia (Botaş), carora li s-a adaugat la începutul lunii februarie 2008 şi compania germană RWE, numărul doi în sectorul energetic german. Tentativa Franţei - prin compania Gaz de France - de a se alătura ca al şaptelea partener a fost respinsă de consorţiu.

Conducta Nabucco, al cărei proiect a fost lansat în 2002, va avea o lungime de 3.300 de kilometri, iar lucrările de construcţie ar trebui să înceapă în 2009 şi să fie definitivate în 2012. Costurile de construcţie sunt estimate la 4,6 miliarde de euro.

În replică, Gazprom a elaborat în 2007 împreună cu compania italiană ENI proiectul South Stream, ce ar urma să traverseze Marea Neagră din portul rusesc Novorosiisk spre portul bulgar Varna, de unde ar urma să se bifuce spre Grecia şi Italia, în sud, respectiv Serbia, în nord. Costurile de construcţie sunt estimate la 10 miliarde de euro.

Sursa: NewsIn

Reinhard Mitschek, executive manager of the Nabucco group:
The know-how, the good transport network and a wide energy market are Romania’s best cards in the Nabucco project


HotNews.ro
27 februarie 2008, 18:24 English | Regional Europe


HotNews.ro: There is a lot of talking about Nabucco these days, especially after the signing of the contract for South Stream. Is South Stream a competitor for Nabucco in the south-eastern Europe?

Reinhard Mitschek: We know that the Russians will promote South Stream and it´s normal that countries like Bulgaria or Greece will contribute, once South Stream will be realized. But it is not a competition to Nabucco. Nabucco different gas sources than South Stream - which has Russian gas source. Nabucco has sources from Central Asia, in the Middle East and potentially -, as add on - , Russian gas. Then the projects have a different end user markets: South Stream is mainly Italy, for Nabucco is south-east Europe, Austria, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic. Due to the fact the pipeline will end up in Baumgarten, near Vienna,we can easily swap gas to the other hubs in Europe. I do not see a competition between these two projects.

HotNews.ro: Nabucco is not enough to resolve the Europe's needs for gas, to assure the European gas supply security. In the meantime, there is this fear of Russian involvement in projects like this, in the south-eastern Europe.

Reinhard Mitschek: Nabucco could transport 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year, the European consumption for 2020 is expected to be 700 billion cubic meter per year. Based on that overall consumption Nabucco will cover no more than 6-7% of the European gas consumption. That means standing alone Nabucco could not secure the security of gas supply in Europe. Therefore it´s necessary to develope additional projects, be it pipelines or LNG. This is the reason why there is no competition between Nabucco and South Stream. We don´t have to say either South Stream or Nabucco, or either Nabucco or South Stream. I think we need both.
OMV has reliable business relations and gas supply contracts with Russia for 40 years, without any interference. But several Eastern European countries have an even bigger need of Russian gas than Austria, or Germany, or France, or Italy. Somewhere around 75 to 80% of their natural gas supply comes from Russia. It's reasonable that countries like Bulgaria, Romania or, Hungary would like to see alternatives now.

HotNews.ro: Gaz de France has dropped the intention of being a partner of Nabucco, because of the fierce opposition of Turkey. But it is possible to be involved only in the Romanian sector of Nabucco, as president Basescu has said during the visit of French president in Romania, Mr. Sarkozy? Will the partners consider such an idea and accept such an idea?

Reinhard Mitschek: In our concept all Nabucco shareholders have the same share on the national sectors. Nabucco will be managed and will work on the principle of a one stop shop.That means a shipper can contract transport capacity with Nabucco Gas Pipeline International from the very beginning of Nabucco to the very end. Therefore it was never planned to have a variation of share holdings in different national sectors of Nabucco. That's for the time being the case and I think this will not happen in the future.

HotNews.ro: The South-European partners could think of alternative ways to finance their sector. Can this be a drive to have others on national sectors, as Mr. Basescu said about Gaz de France? How was this statement seen by the partners?

Reinhard Mitschek: I don't know what the two presidents discussed and that’s why. I cannot give interpretation of what was written in the press about that meeting. Our Nabucco finance plan says, that 30% will be financed by the shareholders, and 70% by banks and credit agencies. There is no question of financing national sectors, but it is an independent project financing.

HotNews.ro: Will indeed the first dig of Nabucco start in 2010? Because we are speaking about nabucco for so many years and - even if there were phases programmed and a roadmap - it seems Russian are moving faster.

Reinhard Mitschek: We are now in the development phase and we are negotiating the exemption topics with the European Commission and with national regulators. This has taken more than one and a half year. We started discussion with the regulators and the Commission in 2006 we are now in February 2008, and we have ongoing discussions on that. We all have to realize that such a complex project was never realised before: to cross five countries, to cross five borders, to consult 5 national authorities. All the political groups and all regulators are keen to support it. But there are different national regulations, national laws and even if we get a big support it takes time.We want to develop the project properly and therefore it takes time That’s why we will start construction in 2010.

HotNews.ro: But the Russian moving faster and their involvement into a similar project in the region didn't speed up things? Some say it must speed up things in Nabucco.

Reinhard Mitschek: We cannot say if Russians are moving faster. I do not know detailed plans for South Stream. I read the press releases, but I`ve never seen a business plan, estimated costs, maps, time schedules. But I do know the Nabucco project in detail. I know that we are in very good development phase and, we are making progress.We have the first exemptions from Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, Romania will follow soon.

HotNews.ro: When do you expect it? Is there a deadline?

Reinhard Mitschek: No, there is no deadline. It was announced for February or-March 2008. I think it will come very soon.

HotNews.ro: What is the advantage Romania brings to the project?

Reinhard Mitschek: First of all, the Romanian companies are well advanced and have a very good know-how., Transgaz has a very good transmission system operator, and that brings a lot of ideas and know-how into the project. Romania is a big market for energy and gas. From OMV perspective, Romania is an important country based on our cooperation with Petrom. We dont' want to miss Romania in our consortium.

HotNews.ro: Is this the final number of partners in the project, or in the future it is possible to have more?

Reinhard Mitschek: For the time being we have six partners, we just had the closing with our sixth partner, RWE. We are focusing now in speeding up the project development. As soon as potential partners will appear with good ideas, an interesting concept,and added value to the project, the shareholders will discuss and decide if we can invite a seventh partner into the consortium. This is a decision to be discussed by the shareholders when it appears.

HotNews.ro: There were signs that Gaz de France wants to be involved in South Stream project just to force Nabucco partners to take it into account for Nabucco actually. Has GdF chances to be added somewhen in the future?

Reinhard Mitschek: It's no secret that the shareholders know that Gaz de France could bring added value into consortium. But this discussion is not on the table today I don't know the strategy of Gaz de France so I don´t want to give interpretations on that.

HotNews.ro: An american analyst said that Nabucco partners should not let themselves impressed by Russia and make it part of the project. He says either by being a source of gas or otherways, Russia will try to be a part of Nabucco. How does the partners see this, do you have any signs that this situation is real?

Reinhard Mitschek: We are in the development phase of the project. You can imagine we get a lot of advice. I think the shareholders took all the right decisions untill now and I am convinced and confident the shareholders will take the right decisions in the future, to speed up the project, to realise the project.

HotNews.ro: But you are taking into the account the Russian gas supplies, you've told us so.

Reinhard Mitschek: Yes, this was a topic I mentioned several time: we will not exclude any gas quantities. We will not have Russian gas in Nabucco as a single gas source, we will have Russian gas as an add on, to alternative sources and we will not exclude anybody from transporting gas or feeding gas into the pipeline.

:banana:

South Stream, concurentul Nabucco, are nevoie de aprobarea Romaniei si Ucrainei

HotNews.ro
Vineri, 29 februarie 2008, 11:05 Economie | Energie


Presedintele Vladimir Putin si premierul ungar, Ferenc Gyurczany au pus punct, ieri, la Kremlin, etapei pregatitoare a gazoductului South Stream, din Rusia in Europa prin Marea Neagra. Ungaria va crea o intreprindere mixta cu Gazprom pentru construirea segmentului sau de conducta. Dar proiectul ar putea intampina piedici. Problema este ca portiunea marina traversata de gazoduct trece prin zonele economice ale Romaniei si Ucrainei, relatiile Rusiei cu Bucurestiul si Kievul fiind din nou marcate de tensiuni puternice.

Ca urmare, scrie cotidianul Kommersant, Kiev ar putea intarzia realizarea proiectului pentru a primi un nou instrument de presiune asupra Moscovei si a negocierilor vizand livrarile de gaze naturale.

La ceremonia de semnare a documentelor aferente cu Ungaria, presedintele Putin a subliniat ca, spre deosebire de proiectul european concurent Nabucco, pentru South Sream gaze se vor gasi cu siguranta.

„Este evident ca proiectul nostru are toate sansele de deveni realitate, dar, ce este cel mai important – are asigurate sursele de alimentare”, a spus Putin, incercand insistent sa-l convinga pe oasptele ungar ca Nabucco, la care Budapesta participa in mod egal, trebuie dat uitarii.

Gyurczany a raspuns ca, dimpotriva, Ungaria ar dori sa vada in problemele privind transportul de resurse energetice „mai multe elemente de concurenta”, pentru ca „ceea ce se intampla acum in domeniul energetic al Europei – este mai degraba o colaborarea multilaterala, decat o piata”.

Premierul maghiar a recunoscut ca Rusia s-a dovedit mai rapida „decat acea forma de colaborare care se numeste Nabucco”. Expertii atrag insa atentia ca sprijinul tarilor tranzitoare nu garanteaza construirea conductei.

In opinia lor, Gazprom repeta greseala comisa in cazul Nord Stream, crede directorul East European Gas Analysis, Mihail Korcenkin. Mai intai, monopolul rusesc - Gazprom - incheie acorduri cu importatorii si face toate anununturile necesare si abia dupa aceea depune cerere pentru lucrari in zona economica a unei tari de tranzit „suparata”.

Aproape tot traseul South Stream este dispus in perimetrul platoului continental al Ucrainei, o parte trecand pe platoul romanesc. Ministrul adjunct al Economiei, Anatoli Ianovski, a confirmat pentru Kommersant faptul ca pentru realizarea South Stream este nevoie de aprobarea Ucrainei si Romaniei.

In acest sens, se va efectua o expertiza ecologica, care trebuie convenita cu guvernele tarilor ale caror zone economice sunt traversate de conducta. O obligatiune stipulata de Conventia ONU pentru drept marin, articolul 79. Iar dupa cum aminteste Grigori Vilcek, adjunct al presedintelui societatii Peter Gas, care executa expertiza ecologica pentru Nord Stream, „in mările Neagră şi Baltica nu exista ape neutre”.

Este adevarat, precizeaza expertul, „nimeni nu poate interzice construirea conductei”, dar este nevoie de acordul tuturor acestor tari pentru traseul ales si pentru expertiza ecologica.

And the article from Kommersant:



В "Южном потоке" всплыла Украина
29.02.2008 02:45 | ИД "Коммерсантъ"
Для строительства газопровода потребуется ее согласие

Встреча в Кремле президента Владимира Путина с венгерским премьером Ференцем Дьюрчанем завершила подготовительный этап проекта газопровода South Stream ("Южный поток") из России в Европу через Черное море. Венгрия создаст СП с "Газпромом" по строительству своего участка South Stream. Но у проекта могут появиться новые проблемы. Морской участок газопровода пройдет по экономической зоне Украины, с которой Россия находится в остром конфликте по газу. В результате Киев может затянуть реализацию проекта и получить новый инструмент давления на Москву в газовых переговорах.

Глава Минпромэнерго России Виктор Христенко и министр финансов Венгрии Янош Вереш вчера подписали межправительственное соглашение о сотрудничестве по строительству газопровода для транзита газа через территорию Венгрии. Речь идет о последнем несогласованном участке South Stream. Присутствовавший при подписании Владимир Путин подчеркнул роль в успехе проекта первого вице-премьера Дмитрия Медведева (2 марта он может быть избран новым президентом России), который в ходе недавнего визита в Венгрию "снял все имевшиеся спорные вопросы". Как пояснил Владимир Путин, предполагается строительство в Венгрии газопровода мощностью не менее 10 млрд кубометров газа и подземного хранилища газа на 1 млрд кубометров. Источник "Ъ" в правительстве России уточнил, что будет построено два газовых хранилища.

В рамках соглашения Венгерский банк развития (MFB) и "Газпром" создадут на паритетных началах СП, которое выкупит уже разработанное ТЭО газопровода у компании SEP Co. (СП "Газпрома" и венгерской MOL). По словам главы правительства Венгрии Ференца Дьюрчаня (также присутствовал на подписании), проект будет стоить около $2 млрд и окупится за 15 лет.

South Stream пройдет из России в Болгарию по дну Черного моря, а затем разделится на две ветки — через Сербию (с ней подписано аналогичное соглашение) и Венгрию в Австрию и через Грецию на юг Италии. Мощность газопровода — 30 млрд кубометров газа в год. Партнером "Газпрома" по проекту выступает итальянская Eni. Завершить строительство планируется в 2012 году.

Владимир Путин особо подчеркнул, что, в отличие от конкурирующего европейского проекта Nabucco (в нем Венгрия также участвует), для South Stream точно найдется газ. "Совершенно очевидно, что предлагаемый нами проект абсолютно реализуем и, главное, обеспечен ресурсами, — сказал президент России. — Если кто-то хочет ковырять землю и зарывать туда железо в виде труб, пожалуйста, мы не возражаем". Владимир Путин настойчиво пытался убедить венгерского премьера, что от Nabucco следует отказаться за ненадобностью. "Задача наших партнеров предельно проста — взять калькулятор и просчитать, что выгоднее", — посоветовал президент России.

Ференц Дьюрчань тем не менее возразил, что Венгрия в вопросах транспортировки энергоносителей хотела бы "видеть больше элементов конкуренции", поскольку "то, что происходит сейчас в энергетике Европы — не столько рынок, сколько многостороннее сотрудничество". В то же время господин Дьюрчань признался, что Россия оказалась "быстрее, чем такая форма сотрудничества, которая называется "проект Nabucco".

Однако эксперты отмечают, что поддержка правительств транзитных стран еще не гарантирует своевременное строительство South Stream. "Газпром" повторяет ошибки, совершенные при создании Nord Stream (аналогичный газопровод из России в Европу, но по северному маршруту через Балтийское море. — "Ъ"), — полагает директор East European Gas Analysis Михаил Корчемкин. — Сначала монополия заключает соглашения с импортерами и объявляет о строительстве газопровода, а затем подает заявку на работы в исключительной экономической зоне "обиженной" транзитной страны. Почти вся трасса South Stream расположена на континентальном шельфе Украины. Часть ее проходит по шельфу Румынии".

В "Газпроме" официально от комментариев отказались. Однако источник "Ъ", близкий к монополии, подтвердил, что трасса пройдет по экономической зоне либо Турции (которую исключили из проекта South Stream в 2006 году), либо Украины и Румынии. Григорий Вильчек, заместитель начальника управления ООО "Питер Газ", разрабатывающего экологическую экспертизу для Nord Stream, поясняет, что "в Черном и Балтийском морях нет нейтральных вод", поскольку в закрытых морях исключительные экономические зоны регулируются межправительственными соглашениями прибрежных стран.

Заместитель главы Минпромэнерго Анатолий Яновский подтвердил "Ъ", что для строительства газопровода потребуется согласие Украины и Румынии. Для этого, пояснил чиновник, придется, как по Nord Stream, проводить экологическую экспертизу, которая должна быть согласована с правительствами стран, в экономической зоне которых пройдет газопровод. Ст. 79 Конвенции ООН по морскому праву предусматривает, что "определение трассы для прокладки подводных трубопроводов на континентальном шельфе осуществляется с согласия прибрежного государства". "Запретить строительство газопровода Украина не может, но она должна согласовать маршрут трубопровода и его экологическую экспертизу", — уточняет Григорий Вильчек. По законодательству Украины этот срок ограничен одним годом.

Таким образом, у Украины появился новый рычаг давления на Россию в условиях развернувшегося в последние недели острого газового конфликта двух стран. "Газпром" на днях пообещал 3 марта ограничить поставки газа Украине. Вчера стороны весь день вели переговоры в московском офисе "Газпрома", но по состоянию на 21.30 их итогов не было. Кроме того, украинский премьер Юлия Тимошенко в январе предложила еще один альтернативный проект газопровода в Европу — из Средней Азии через Украину (White Stream). "Украина может использовать финский, эстонский и польский опыт выставления препятствий Nord Stream", — считает господин Корчемкин.

Вчера в пресс-службе министерства охраны окружающей природной среды Украины подтвердили, что South Stream "надо тщательно изучить, провести масштабную экологическую экспертизу". Официально власти Украины до сих пор не комментировали тему South Stream. Однако источник "Ъ" в правительстве Юлии Тимошенко вчера пояснил, что все будет зависеть от украинского проекта White Stream. "Если Европа решит его строить, нам понадобится разрешение Москвы на прокладку труб по дну Черного моря. Тогда речь может идти об обмене: мы строим White Stream, а Россия — South Stream", — пояснил собеседник "Ъ". В противном случае, говорит он, "национальные интересы Украины не предусматривают поддержки российского проекта". Впрочем, запретить его Украина не может — только затянуть.

Наталья Ъ-Гриб, Олег Ъ-Гавриш, Киев

:banana:

SouthStream needs Romania's and Ukraine's approval for passing through their sea waters


Interesting:)

there are no neutral sea waters in the Black Sea. So SS will surely need approval from Ukraine and Romania to pass through their economic zone

The projects output is expected to be at 600 MW.

2 other projects with a total output of 300 MW were previously approved by Enel Dobrogea.

Transelectrica received applications for 4.000 MW of windmill power, but it will approve only another 900 MW. The network needs upgrading to be able to transport addition power.



Transelectrica mai are doar 600 MW disponibili pe eolian

Business Standard
29 februarie 2008

Compania de stat Transelectrica a anuntat, ieri, ca investitorii in energie eoliana mai au la dispozitie, la ora actuala, capacitati pe reteaua de transport electricitate de doar circa 600 MW.

Societatea de stat de transport electricitate a avizat, recent, trei proiecte de constructie a unor parcuri eoliene cu o capacitate totala de 600 MW, investitie evaluta la circa 730 milioane de euro ce urmeaza sa fie facuta de Continental Wind Partners (CWP) Cipru si de omul de afaceri Emanuel Muntmark. Potrivit oficialilor Transelectrica, alte doua proiecte ce totalizeaza circa 300 MW ar fi fost avizate pentru racordare la reteaua nationala de electricitate de catre societatea de distributie Enel Dobrogea. In total, Transelectrica a primit cereri de racordare la retea pentru proiecte de circa 4.000 MW instalati in turbine eoliene, respectiv 25% din puterea totala la nivel national si peste posibilitatile retelelor existente.


Compania apreciaza ca pentru inceput vor putea fi integrati in sistem pana la 1.500 MW, din care pentru 900 MW exista deja avize. “In situatia actuala, sistemul energetic national (SEN) nu poate integra o capacitate atat de mare de energie eoliana. Pana in prezent, au fost emise avize de racordare pentru o putere instalata de circa 900 MW, valoare care se apropie foarte mult de limita maxima de 1.000-1.500 MW”, se arata intr-un comunicat al companiei. Puterea instalata in toate unitatile de productie a electricitatii la nivel national este de aproape 16.000 MW. Desi energia eoliana este singura sursa regenerabila pentru care exista proiecte semnificative din partea unui numar mare de investitori, puterea instalata in turbine eoliene in Romania este de doar 7 MW, mai putin de 1% din capacitatile actuale la nivel national.

Directorul general al Transelectrica, Stelian Gal, a declarat, ieri, pentru Business Standard ca societatea va propune reglementatorului - ANRE - introducerea unui tarif de racordare la sistem pentru capacitatile eoliene. “Daca nu va exista un tarif special pentru energia eoliana, va trebui sa nu mai facem retehnologizari si modernizari de statii de transformare, pentru ca nu avem suficienti bani pentru investitii”, a spus Gal. Transelectrica estimeaza ca ritmul de dezvoltare al investitiilor in energia eoliana se va accelera, sustinut de cererea mare din partea investitorilor.

there are no neutral sea waters in the Black Sea. So SS will surely need approval from Ukraine and Romania to pass through their economic zone

And do you think will (ever) get it - before Nabucco?! :nuts:

there are no neutral sea waters in the Black Sea. So SS will surely need approval from Ukraine and Romania to pass through their economic zone

Romania will not oppose Gazprom enter Nabucco, says Romania's gas transporter - Transgaz. Transgaz also believes that Southstream getting buildup will fasten Nabucco's wheels on the tracks.

Transgaz nu s-ar opune acceptării Gazprom în proiectul Nabucco

NewsIn
Vineri, 29 Februarie 2008


Directorul general al Transgaz Ioan Rusu a declarat că Transgaz nu s-ar opune acceptării Gazprom în proiectul Nabucco, dar compania rusă ar trebui să se adreseze mai întâi consorţiului.

"Gazprom trebuie să se exprime în scris dacă vrea să ni se alăture în proiectul Nabucco. Noi nu dăm înapoi dacă vrea Gazprom să se alăture Nabucco. Compania rusească nu s-a adresat încă oficial cu intenţia de a intra. Deocamdată se va analiza, verifica dacă mai este nevoie de un alt acţionar, în afară de cei şase. Abia apoi, după ce va fi încheiată analiza la nivelul Nabucco, vom ştii dacă mai poate fi atras şi un alt partener", a spus oficialul Societăţii Naţionale de Transport al Gazelor Naturale "Transgaz".

Directorul general al Transgaz, Ioan Rusu, a mai declarat că nu se pune problema ca România să facă parte din proiectul South Stream.

"Proiectele Nabucco şi South Stream nu sunt concurente, nu poate fi vorba de aşa ceva. Dimpotrivă, proiectul Nabucco este mult mai valabil acum după ce Bulgargaz şi MOL au semnat pentru South Stream. S-ar putea ca proiectul South Stream demarat de Gazprom să constituie un motiv de urgentare a proiectului Nabucco", a afirmat Ioan Rusu.

Proiectul gazoductului Nabucco, promovat de UE şi SUA, vizează să ofere o alternativă la reţeaua de transport rusă şi să permită Azerbaidjanului să exporte direct gaz pe piaţa europeană via Georgia şi Turcia. Din consorţiul Nabucco fac parte Austria (OMV), Ungaria, (MOL), România (Transgaz), Bulgaria (Bulgargaz) şi Turcia (Botaş), carora li s-a adaugat la începutul lunii februarie 2008 şi compania germană RWE, numărul doi în sectorul energetic german. Tentativa Franţei - prin compania Gaz de France - de a se alătura ca al şaptelea partener a fost respinsă de consorţiu, iar societatea şi-a retras candidatura.

Russia Cuts Gas Exports to Ukraine as Debt Talks Fail


March 3 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia's state-run natural-gas export monopoly, cut natural-gas shipments to Ukraine after failing to resolve a debt dispute, raising concern European supplies may be disrupted.

Gazprom lowered deliveries to Ukraine by 25 percent at 10 a.m., spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters today in Moscow. Gazprom will supply European consumers in full, he said.

Russia has portrayed the conflict as a commercial dispute, while Ukraine has accused Moscow of leveraging energy to maintain regional influence. The standoff echoes Gazprom's cutoff of gas supplies to Ukraine in January 2006, which disrupted exports to the European Union. About a fifth of Europe's gas travels through Ukrainian pipelines from Russia.

``This still doesn't represent a crisis, just a greater degree of brinkmanship,'' Geoffrey Smith, deputy head of research at Renaissance Capital Ukraine, said in an e-mail. Ukraine's gas stores are sufficient to withstand the cut, particularly amid the current mild weather, he said.

Europe's gas supplies are ``not in danger,'' European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said during a speech in Washington today. ``Ukraine will transit, Russia will supply.''

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko urged Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and Oleh Dubyna, the head of Naftogaz, to ensure ``successful'' talks with Russia that will ``not provoke a gas war,'' according to an e-mailed statement.

Direct Sales

Timoshenko has sought to reject a gas agreement with Russia that Yushchenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reached on Feb. 12, averting a gas cut threatened by Gazprom later that day. She and her ministers have called on Gazprom to sell gas directly to Naftogaz.

Putin's hand-picked successor, Gazprom Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, won yesterday's presidential election. Medvedev today pledged to continue Putin's policy of defending Russia's interests ``across the board, using all possible means.''

Relations between Russia and Ukraine deteriorated after Yushchenko took office in 2005 in the Orange Revolution, on promises to move his country closer to the EU and NATO. Russia has more than tripled Ukraine's gas price since then to $179.50. Gazprom announced its initial threat to reduce Ukraine's gas supplies on Feb. 7, two days after Ukraine won accession into the Geneva-based World Trade Organization.

Studies Offer

Naftogaz is ``studying'' a new offer made by Gazprom and will send a delegation to Moscow by the end of this week, Ilya Savvin, a spokesman for Ukraine's state-run oil and gas company, said by telephone from Kiev.

Gazprom last week demanded Ukraine to pay gas debts, sign a contract for Russian fuel supplies and agree to future supplies through new intermediaries or risk today's cutoff.

``Ukraine is in a good position to have a protracted dispute,'' Chris Weafer, chief strategist of Moscow-based UralSib Financial Corp. ``Timoshenko wants to change the whole structure of the agreement, and she's picked her timing very well.''

Supplies to NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy were slashed by 46 million cubic meters a day, or a total of 35 percent, after 3 p.m. Moscow time, Savvin said. The Russian company didn't explain the reason for the further reduction, he said.

``They don't know how to count,'' Kupriyanov said in response by text message. ``They're contradicting themselves.'' Gazprom was withholding 40 million cubic meters of gas a day, he told reporters earlier.

New Pipelines

Europe has been seeking to build pipelines from Central Asia to reduce dependence on Russian gas, while Gazprom is planning routes to supply Europe directly, circumventing transit countries such as Ukraine.

``No one is innocent,'' said Peter Halloran, chief executive officer of Moscow-based Pharos Financial Group. ``Both Russia and Ukraine are disrupting the supply chain to Europe. This gives impetus to build alternative pipelines to avoid regional politics.''

Timoshenko said over the weekend that she didn't expect Gazprom to reduce deliveries because there was no official notification of the threat.

Ukraine owes about $600 million for 1.9 billion cubic meters of Russian gas it has received without a contract, Kupriyanov said. Gazprom has been supplying Russian fuel after Central Asian deliveries declined, he said last week.

Share Ownership

Gazprom is also demanding Ukraine approve the creation of two companies to handle the gas trade, replacing RosUkrEnergo AG, the only company allowed to import gas into Ukraine now. Gazprom and Naftogaz will equally share ownership of the new companies. RosUkrEnergo, owned by Gazprom and two Ukrainian citizens, was set up to resolve the 2006 price dispute.

E.ON AG, Germany's largest supplier of natural gas, expects to maintain normal deliveries to its customers after Gazprom cut shipments to Ukraine, E.ON Ruhrgas spokeswoman Astrid Zimmermann said by telephone. Zimmermann declined to comment on whether the company has seen any change in deliveries of Russian gas, saying that the company draws gas from several sources.

When will those Ukrainians give us our money damit!?

Yushenko and Timoshenko are such a mess, can never agree on who should pay for the gas, how and how much :ohno:

^^ I dont really understand whats going on, first Yushenko goes to Moscow and claims to have finished the negotiations, then Timoshenko announces the start of negotiations!? There is something really dodgy going on in the background

The Diplomat

March 2008


REPORT - NUCLEAR POWER
Price for French nuclear tech may prove too high

With France pushing for greater cooperation on nuclear power with Romania, the Canadians who first introduced nuclear tech to Romania argue the Gallic technology comes at a cost the country may not be willing to pay
Romania plans to build a second nuclear power station, but its rumoured interest in French nuclear technology may prove too expensive an option.
News of the country’s flirtation with French nuclear technology arose when President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Bucharest last February.

“Our strategic partnership will give us the possibility to actively cooperate in the field of energy, especially nuclear energy, gas-generated energy and the weapons industry,” said Sarkozy.

But Romanian Minister of Economy and Finance Varujan Vosganian denied there was a “deal” to buy French nuclear technology. This is an export product Sarkozy is adamant to promote - especially among developing countries such as the United Arab Emirates and in northern Africa.

France may want to sell its technology as the best option for Romania’s second nuclear facility, while the Canadians who are responsible for the know-how used in the first power station, at Cernavoda in Constanta county, argue theirs is the cheaper choice.

The French option uses low-enriched uranium and light water, which is found in Europe under the name of European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) and, with some modifications, in Russia, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Japan and Iran. Only a few of these states own the technology to produce fuel for nuclear power stations. Most have to buy the know-how from the big countries, such as France.

The second type uses natural uranium and heavy water. This is the Canadian technology, known as CANDU, which Romania has adopted for Cernavoda.
“For Romania this technology is perfect because the country has uranium resources in its soil and the facilities to produce the fuel for its nuclear plant,” says Adrian Rizea, technical director of the Centre of Technology and Engineering for Nuclear Projects (CITON). “The country cannot afford the European Pressurised Reactor offered, for example, by French multinational Areva.”

CITON worked on the construction of the two operational nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda power station and will assist in building the third and fourth units after the auction for the construction consortium later this year.

Energy sufficient

Reducing the energy dependency on increasingly expensive gas and oil is the main argument for building a second nuclear plant.

“Romania has uranium, it makes its own heavy water, its own fuel and has engineering capabilities for CANDU,” Ala Alizadeh, international vice-president marketing and sales for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), tells The Diplomat. “With Romania’s nuclear infrastructure now, the country is completely nuclear self-sufficient.”

Switching to another type of nuclear technology means building new nuclear infrastructure from scratch. Alizadeh believes the extension of CANDU technology to another site is the most economic and logical option. A nuclear reactor built with European technology costs at least three times more than a CANDU reactor, experts tell The Diplomat.

Nuclear site

This year the Ministry of Economy begins a site selection study to host a new nuclear installation. This will probably use research from 20 years ago, which chose the site on the Danube at Cernavoda.

At that time, Piatra Neamt:nuts::lol:, Neamt country, was understood to be the best location for a nuclear power station based on the EPR technology, while Fagaras, Brasov county, was considered more suitable for CANDU. Rizea believes these two sites will remain favourites.

A site has to protect the public and environment from radioactivity due to accidents and from daily operations. Climate and ground conditions are also taken into account. “If the wind blows heavily from the site to a populated area by, the location is abandoned,” Adrian Rizea explains.

A nuclear power station needs a deep water source, stable soil and hard rock to sustain heavy weights. Crucial for a Romanian choice is a distance from areas of high-risk for earthquakes, which includes Vrancea county. A nuclear plant also needs acces to a large amount of water to cool down the installations, such as the Danube-Black Sea Canal which supports Cernavoda.
A site selection study takes at least two years and needs ten to 15 years from the moment that the decision is made to build a nuclear power station to the first foundations. Constructions for one nuclear power reactor take usually around six years to finish, if the nuclear infrastructure is already in place. This means a second nuclear facility could not be ready before 2026.

Public choice

The public and local authorities also need to accept the location. Resistance to the nuclear option in Romania has so far been muted. But environmental NGOs such as Greenpeace oppose such developments due to the risks to the environment if a reactor malfunctions and their production of nuclear waste. Greenpeace is likely to frustrate the process of approving a new power station in Romania. However nuclear energy has entered into favour among some environmentalists due to its low quantity of carbon emissions.

Going atomic

The five nuclear powers - United States, Russia, Japan, France and Great Britain, along with India and most probably Pakistan and Iran, have the technology to produce low-enriched uranium for the EPR technology.
This knowledge is not for sale and access to enrichment technology for Romania would be difficult. This means Romania will not be able to produce the low-enriched uranium, but will have to buy this on the market. This will prove more costly than using its own natural uranium.

This would also mean Romanian experts in nuclear energy would need training to run a different kind of nuclear plant to Cernavoda. Rizea argues that all these expenses increase the price for the electricity produced with European technology in comparison to the price for electricity produced by CANDU.

Uranium resources

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Romania’s uranium resources will run out by 2017. But the technical director of the Centre of Technology and Engineering for Nuclear Projects says this is the worst case scenario.

Uranium is ubiquitous in rocks, salt water and even in live organisms and is more numerous than gold, silver or platinum. Over half of the world’s uranium supply is found in three countries - Australia (30 per cent), Kazakhstan (17 per cent) and Canada (12 per cent).

Around 17 per cent of the world’s electricity is generated from nuclear reactors and demand is set to increase, given the declining oil supplies and pressure to find cheaper forms of energy. In 2007 there were 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in 31 countries.

The rising cost of oil to around 100 dollars a barrel and the energy ‘crisis’ of the last four years has brought nuclear energy back into the spotlight. The USA and Russia intend to build around 20 more nuclear power stations each in the next 30 years. Now nuclear power ensures a third of the electricity demand in the European Union and 80 per cent of France’s electricity.

“Like any other fuel source, uranium has gone up in terms of prices over the last three to four years with the same trend like gas and oil,” argues Alizadeh.

Second chance

Romania’s second nuclear power station will be built through an auction to private companies, in much the same scenario as the existing nuclear power station Cernavoda’s tender for units 3 and 4, which are due this year.
The majority share will be private. Romanian state energy company Nuclearelectrica will have a regulatory role.

Belgium’s Electrabel, Italy’s Enel, Spain’s Iberdrola, the Czech Republic’s CEZ, Arcelor-Mittal Romania and Germany’s RWE are the final six contenders for building the reactors, which use Canadian CANDU technology.

When the new units begin operating, most probably in 2015, 30 per cent of Romania’s electricity demand could be supplied through nuclear power.
This boost in supply could see Romania’s electricity prices drop and its electricity export potential increase.

There needs to be at least two companies to build and run the 2.3 billion Euro reactors, but the Government may select all of them.

Both Enel and CEZ own power distribution companies in Romania and could sell their share of electricity produced by Units 3 and 4 to countries outside Romania. The remaining four companies will have to sell the electricity to the Romanian state.

“The trading of electricity depends on inter-governmental relationships, but a big Romanian consumer could buy electricity from a foreign electricity provider if it sells this cheaper,” says the vice-president for AECL, Ala Alizadeh.

“The Romanian market is liberalised and the trade of electricity will become more international.”

Report by Anamaria Nitoi



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source : http://www.thediplomat.ro/reports_0308_1.php

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^^ I dont really understand whats going on, first Yushenko goes to Moscow and claims to have finished the negotiations, then Timoshenko announces the start of negotiations!? There is something really dodgy going on in the background

business as usual. Orange coalition: the fighting within :D

Heh, Turkey made France turn to Russia. This is quite a piece of news! :ohno:


^^
Romanian President Basescu, Turkish counterpart Gul discussed energy on Monday

HotNews.ro
3 martie 2008, 18:42 English | Regional Europe


Turkish President Abdullah Gul met his Romanian counterpart Traian Basescu in Bucharest on Monday for talks on energy cooperation strategies and about the Nabucco project. The two Presidents also held talks about an old plan to insert submarine cables that would link the energy systems of the two countries, considering Romania's energetic abilities after re-opening the third and fourth Cernavoda reactors.

President Basescu assured Gul that Romania would support Turkey to join the European Union structures. At its turn, Gul insisted that Romania has always been an important ally of his country, especially in the Balkans and the Black Sea corridor.

Both Presidents discussed about the economic relations of the two countries, as Turkey is Romania's most important extra-EU commercial partner. Moreover, Basescu added that Romania would try to find a solution to simplify the access of Turkish businessmen in the country.

PS" What the news misses is that Basescu asked Gul to rethink Turkey rejection of Gaz de France in Nabucco, and Gul agreed to 'rethink'.

What the hell does 'rethink' mean?
And why is Romania lobbing for France now? It was supposed to be vice-versa. :bash::lol:

half the time half the people "elected" to "rule" us have no idea what they are doing :p

half the time half the people "elected" to "rule" us have no idea what they are doing :p

My question was rather rethoric. Romania does well to support Gas de France, as it needs to deepen Romania-France collaboration within the EU and further. I am really curious what Turkey will do now, because it is already really fuc**d up with its EU accesion bid by France, and it doesn't need another opponent in the EU. Romania-Turkey economic relations are their best, and I do not think Turkey wants those to be messed up either. I think currently Turkey needs Romania more EU accession wise and economic wise than Romania needs Turkey.

business as usual. Orange coalition: the fighting within :D

Wow, I am really impressed with the following statement issued by Naftogaz:

"In the event that Gazprom continues blatantly to violate technical agreements between the two countries by reducing volumes of Central Asian gas to Ukraine, Naftogaz reserves the right to introduce appropriate, assymetrical actions to defend the interests of Ukrainian consumers," the company said.
Except they forgot to mention the agreement relating to actually paying for the gas :lol:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7276589.stm

The Ukrainian delay in paying debts for gas supplies from Russia's Gazprom has been discussed by the leaders of the two countries. Supplies to Ukraine have been cut by 25% because of the row. In the latest gas dispute with Russia, Ukrainian leaders seem to have started their own war.
Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko could not agree between themselves who would manage the energy sector.

Frustrated by conflicting reports and actions, Russia got tired of waiting and has cut off a quarter of its regular supplies.

Some analysts say that Ukraine’s power wars are to blame.

“I don’t think that Putin and Russia would dare to interfere in Ukrainian politics by means of a disruption in gas supplies without the help of Yushchenko. I think it’s our President who needs it more than anyone else,” Oleg Voloshin, political analyst from Expert magazine says.

The split between the ‘gas princess’ - as Timoshenko’s known at home - and the President is old news in Ukraine.

They started off as friends and heroes of the Orange Revolution, but couldn’t keep the marriage going for longer than a year. Viktor Yushchenko fired the government of Yulia Timoshenko in 2005 for alleged corruption and economic failures.

Against all odds, they now share power again. But according to analysts, their union is set to fail.

“The Ukrainian political forces have created a model which is not viable in real life. It turns out that there isn’t anyone in Ukraine who makes final decisions. So the country is virtually ungoverned, which is very dangerous,” Vladimir Zharikhin from the Institute for CIS Studies says.

President Yushchenko headed to Moscow in advance of the Prime Minister. He struck a deal with President Putin to keep the gas flowing. But Timoshenko, a week later, tried to revise the agreement.

”Under great pressure, even blackmail, our government was forced to pay off debts accumulated through the corrupt schemes of the previous government. But I promise that starting from March, we’ll adopt a new, transparent scheme without any black middlemen involved,” Timoshenko said.

But the debts weren’t fully met and the parties failed to find a new working agreement.

Ukraine's President and Prime Minister are at each other’s throats yet again. On top of it, the parliament’s been paralysed for nearly a month by the opposition creating more rumours that this government will not last long.

As Russia elects its president, Ukraine’s struggling to establish who's in charge of its state. The gas dispute is heating up the rivalry between the President and the Prime Minister, setting both on their separate election paths for next year.

http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/21669

Best coalition ever :lol:

I don't understand how anyone could not get along with the lovely Yulia..

The plant will partially feed the steel plant in Galati, and will generate about 1.000 MW.


Construcţia centralei electrice la ArcelorMittal Galaţi va costa peste 400 de milioane de euro

Marti, 04 Martie 2008


Primarul municipiului Galaţi, Dumitru Nicolae, a declarat, marţi, că lucrările de construcţie a centralei electrice în incinta combinatului ArcelorMittal Galaţi, investiţie de care s-a arătat interesată şi compania Gaz de France, vor costa peste 400 de milioane de euro şi vor dura cinci ani.

"Specialiştii ArcelorMittal au făcut studiul de prefezabilitate şi, dacă se aprobă, se trece la proiectare. După aceea, de la data la care s-a hotărât, construcţia durează maximum cinci ani. Centrala costă peste 400 de milioane de euro, iar printre cei care vor fi investitori acolo e şi Gaz de France", a afirmat, marţi, primarul Dumitru Nicolae.

Conform aceleiaşi surse, centrala va funcţiona cu două grupuri şi va produce energie electrică şi abur tehnologic pentru uz intern. "Ei (oficialii ArcelorMittal ) au venit cu următoarea idee: să facă două grupuri şi puterea să fie de 900-1.000 de megawaţi. Un grup să fie mai descărcat, că au nevoie de siguranţă. La combinat nu te joci. Vor să producă energie electrică pentru combinat şi să producă şi 120 de tone de abur pe oră la parametri scăzuţi, 6-12 atmosfere", a explicat edilul-şef.

Dumitru Nicolae, care a fost invitat de reprezentanţii companiei siderurgice la discuţii pe această temă încă de săptămâna trecută, a precizat că centrala va avea efecte pozitive asupra calităţii aerului în regiune. "Centrala pe care combinatul vrea să o facă în zona bateriilor de cocsificare 7-8, care vor fi dărâmate, va folosi gazele reziduale din combinat. Pe mine mă avantajează această centrală. De ce? Ca să bagi gazele astea într-o centrală, trebuie să le epurezi ca lumea. Deci epurarea gazelor înseamnă liniştea noastră din punctul de vedere al poluării în oraş", a declarat primarul municipiului Galaţi.

Săptămâna trecută, Dumitru Niolae a anunţat că patru firme, printre care se află şi Gaz de France, sunt interesate să construiască pe platforma siderurgică ArcelorMittal Galaţi o centrală care să producă energie electrică şi abur tehnologic exclusiv pentru combinat. Potrivit edilului-şef, centrala va utiliza integral gazul de furnal, gazul de cocs şi, probabil, gazul de la oţelării, materie utilizată acum pentru încălzirea cuptoarelor de la laminoare şi pentru alimentarea centralor de talie mică din combinat, care s-au dovedit a fi extrem de costisitoare. Primarul, care a ocupat funcţia de director general al combinatului siderurgic înaintea privatizării acestuia, a apreciat că, după construirea centralei, ArcelorMittal Galaţi nu va renunţa la celelalte surse de energie.

"Nu pot ieşi din reţeaua electrică naţională că este cea mai mare prostie pe care o pot face. Orice combinat trebuie să aibă şi sursă de rezervă. Ştiu eu, se întâmpălă o avarie acolo şi te trezeşti că rămâi fără energie, iar combinatul fără energie e mort înainte de a apărea noua energie", a declarat, pe 26 februarie, Dumitru Nicolae.

ArcelorMittal este cea mai mare companie de oţel din lume, având 330.000 de angajaţi în peste 60 de ţări. În România, compania deţine combinatele de la Hunedoara şi Galaţi, producătorii de ţevi din Roman şi Iaşi, precum şi operatorul portuar Romportmet Galaţi.

Sursa: NewsIn

Albania oilfields
http://www.manaspetroleum.com/i/maps/Albanian-Royalties.gif

Recent deep light oil discovery significantly reduces exploration risk

A 2005 light oil discovery by Occidental Petroleum approximately 50 Kilometers south of the Manas blocks, has established that the same thrust sheet as the Tirana sub thrust anticline is Ionian and does in fact contain oil. This fact substantially reduces the ABDE blocks' exploration risk as it greatly increases the probability that the giant anticline outlined by Shell and Corporex seismic is in fact the oil-saturated Ionian formation.
State-of-the-art Shell and Corporex seismic outlines giant potential
Albania Facts

Albania has petroleum resources both on and offshore, and shares geologic trends with the neighboring Balkan states of Croatia; Serbia and Montenegro; Macedonia; and Greece.

The country harbors one of the largest onshore oil fields in Europe, Patos-Marinza, discovered in 1928. Albania's oil production peaked in 1975 and then declined until 1982, when a more rapid decline set in, due to lack of funding for field development and technical expertise.

Still, until 1989, Albania was a net exporter of petroleum products. But by 2001, the country was importing 73% of what it consumed. Albania made efforts in the 1990s to attract foreign capital and technology after the communist economic system broke down. Petroleum was the first industry to attract direct foreign investments in Albania when the government successfully negotiated with foreign drilling and exploration firms for onshore and offshore prospecting. In the last 15 years, the country has licensed drilling to American, Austrian, Canadian, Croatian, Greek, and Swedish companies. According to a World Bank report, 4,666 oil wells have been drilled, of which 3,123 wells are operating and 981 wells are shut in or abandoned.

The Manas blocks are located north of shallow, high-sulfur, heavy oil production with an estimated 2.7 billion barrels of oil in place and cumulative production of 350 million barrels. Critically, recent deep oil discoveries show the deeper sections to contain 30-35 API low sulfur oil at depths below 3,000 to 3,500 meters.

Oil and Gas Exploration in Albania Today

Albania possesses important oil reserves and produces about 350,000 tons of oil annually. Driven by high oil prices, the need for energy security in Europe, and a strategically desirable location close to all European markets, Albania is an active oil marketplace with several companies negotiating or seeking to negotiate for acreage. Large independents and major oil companies have been operating in the country for a number of years and the government has a clear policy to attract foreign investment in its natural resource sector.

Iberdrola (Spain), Enel (Italy), Electrabel (Belgium), CEZ (Czech Republic), Mittal (India) and RWE (Germany) together with Romanian Nuclearelectrica are the members of a consortium which will build reactors 3 and 4 at Cernavoda by 2014, at an estimated cost of 2.3 billion EUR. The member's shares in the consortium have not been made public.

Nuclearelectrica produces currently about 18% of Romania's electricity consumption.


Iberdrola va controla 10% din reactoarele 3 si 4

Autor: Ziarul Financiar
Data: 05-03-2008

Compania spaniola Iberdrola, unul dintre partenerii Nuclearelectrica in dezvoltarea centralei nuclearelectrice de la Cernavoda, va controla o cota de cel putin 10% in consortiul care va construi si exploata reactoarele 3 si 4, a anuntat miercuri grupul iberic, citat de Thomson Financial. Valoarea totala a proiectului care urmeaza sa fie finalizat in anul 2014 este de aproximativ 2,3 miliarde de euro, ceea ce ar putea duce investitia spaniolilor la peste 200 de milioane de euro. Potrivit companiei investitia initiala a consortiului pentru demararea proiectului va fi de 30 de milioane de euro.

Compania de stat Nuclearelectrica a ajuns, saptamana trecuta, la un acord cu cele sase companii selectate - Enel (Italia), Electrabel (Belgia), Iberdrola (Spania), CEZ (Cehia), ArcelorMittal Romania si RWE (Germania) - privind participarea acestora la constructia reactoarelor nucleare 3 si 4 ale centralei Cernavoda.

Acordul vizeaza formarea unei societati mixte intre Nuclearelectrica si cei sase investitori, viitoarea companie de proiect urmand sa construiasca, sa puna in functiune si sa exploateze cele doua reactoare, costurile investitiei fiind evaluate la 2,3 miliarde de euro.

Documentul prevede, printre altele, si participatia fiecarei companii in capitalul firmei de proiect, informatie care inca nu a fost facuta publica.

Dupa ce conducerile celor sase companii vor aproba acordul, raportul comisiei de negociere cu investitorii urmeaza sa fie aprobat de Guvern, iar in etapa finala va fi semnat acordul investitorilor si inregistrarea companiei de proiect.

Cele doua reactoare vor avea, fiecare, o putere instalata similara cu cea a unitatilor deja functionale, de circa 700 MW.

Nuclearelectrica furnizeaza in prezent 17%-18% din consumul anual de energie la nivel national.


Sursa: www.zf.ro/articol_163834

Băsescu şi emirul din Qatar au discutat despre un terminal pentru gazul qatarez la Constanţa
Miercuri, 05 Martie 2008


Preşedintele Traian Băsescu şi emirul Qatarului, şeicul Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, au discutat, miercuri, despre construirea, în portul Constanţa, a unui terminal pentru gazul lichefiat exportat de statul din Golf.

Potrivit unui comunicat Administraţia Prezidenţială, subiectul principal al discuţiilor a vizat problematica economică, ţinând cont de potenţialul cooperării în acest domeniu şi de dorinţa ţării noastre de a relua relaţiile privilegiate cu statele arabe, având în vedere perspectivele deschise de aderarea României la Uniunea Europeană.

Cu prilejul discuţiilor, a fost reafirmat interesul celor două părţi pentru demararea proiectului ce vizează construirea, în portul Constanţa, unui terminal pentru gazul lichefiat exportat de statul Qatar, se arată în comunicat. Potrivit aceleiaşi surse, şeful statului "a prezentat dorinţa părţii române de a avea o creştere substanţială a investiţiilor qatareze pe piaţa românească şi, în acest sens, a dorit să transmită, prin intermediul Alteţei Sale, un mesaj de încurajare comunităţii de afaceri din Qatar". Partea qatareză a confirmat interesul pentru dezvoltarea unui plan de investiţii care să vizeze domeniile turismului, agriculturii şi cel imobiliar.

Totodată, convorbirile oficiale au prilejuit şi un amplu schimb de vederi asupra problemelor regionale şi internaţionale de interes comun, cum ar fi procesul de pace israeliano – palestinian, situaţia de securitate din Orientul Mijlociu şi eforturile privind reconstrucţia Irakului.

Sursa: NewsIn

Ukraine could replace Russia
Shelton shows Europe way to cut dependence

Jon Harding
Calgary Herald


Wednesday, March 05, 2008



CREDIT: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald
Shelton Canada Corp., chairman Richard Edgar says Ukraine has the political will and enough potential oil and natural gas of its own to become energy self-sufficient, or even a net exporter.

Junior oil and gas explorer Shelton Canada Corp. has a self-serving solution that might free Western Europe from its dependence on Russian gas.

Richard Edgar, the Calgary-based chairman of the only Canadian oil company with production in Ukraine, said the former Soviet bloc country has the political will and enough potential oil and natural gas of its own to become energy self-sufficient, or even a net exporter.

That might tip the energy supply balance in Europe away from Russia, which over the past two days has cut gas supplies moving west through Ukraine in yet another dispute with Kiev.

"The Ukraine would become a more dependent supplier to Western Europe (than Russia) and the monopoly Gazprom . . . would be broken," Edgar, a veteran Calgary oilman, said in an interview.

"You wouldn't need to construct the Nabucco pipeline (a $6-billion US project to move gas from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary) nor some of the other lines from Central Asia now being contemplated. You'd use a lot of Ukraine's existing infrastructure."

The tiny firm with offices in Calgary and Toronto is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and its executive team spent last week selling the firm's story to Calgary-based investment banks, with an aim to begin raising cash to fund growing operations onshore in the East-Central Ukraine's Dnieper-Donets oil basin and offshore in the Azov and Black seas.

Within days of the road show ending, most of Western Europe was watching a standoff between Ukraine and Russia's OAO Gazprom threaten a quarter of the continent's gas supply, potentially sending prices for the fuel through the roof in places such as Germany and France.

The pricing disagreement, in which Gazprom says Ukraine owes it $600 million US, led to the Russian gas giant cutting supply to Ukraine by 50 per cent Tuesday, with Ukraine's state-owned energy company Naftogaz saying it might have to tap into those supplies for its own domestic use if Russia cuts back any more.

The same scene played out two years ago and there is sure to be a new round of calls within Europe for reliable alternatives.

"Europe's energy supply now depends on how much gas Ukraine has in storage and if they can find a solution before it runs out," said James Beadle, portfolio manager at Pilgrim Asset Management in Moscow.

Edgar admitted both Ukraine and Shelton Canada have relatively colossal tasks ahead if Ukraine is ever to cut into Russia dominant position as an energy supplier to Western Europe.

Shelton's production today from its joint-venture Lelyaki oil project alongside partner Ukrnafta, a division of Naftogaz, is only about 350 barrels a day before the government takes a 45 per cent royalty share.

The company is also an even partner with Naftogaz in an offshore gas project called North Kerchenskaya in the Azov Sea, but production of the field's estimated 170-billion cubic feet of recoverable gas isn't slated to begin until 2010.

Meanwhile, Ukraine, whose onshore fields were quickly tapped and then abandoned in the late 1970s when when the former Soviet Union found even larger reserves in Siberia, consumes far more fuel than it produces, roughly 126-million barrels of oil and 2.7 trillion cubic feet of gas annually.

The country now produces 37.8-million barrels of oil a year and a little more than one trillion cubic feet of gas, and exploration and field development work is done mostly with old Soviet equipment and drilling rigs that in some cases date back to the 1940s.

The country has a proven reserve base of some 387-million barrels of oil and 39-trillion cubic feet of gas, and majors such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc. and Marathon Oil Corp. recently arrived to pursue onshore shale gas and potentially large oil reservoirs in the deepest parts of the Black Sea.

"I don't think there are huge onshore fields left to find but offshore Black Sea is new frontier," Edgar said.

"Onshore, these pools went into decline and kept going but never had the benefit of technologies seen in the west to try to rehabilitate or exploit them fully. We hope the service industry will follow us in but it won't before the producers are in there doing the kind of work we are today."

jharding@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

:devil::D

de Armand Gosu, transl. C. Ionescu
HotNews.ro
Duminică, 2 martie 2008, 14:57 English | Regional Europe


Ukraine may impede the South Stream project of building a pipeline due to cross the Black Sea to would allow Gazprom to export natural gas to Europe by avoiding Ukrainian territory, Ukrainian media report. Several Ukrainian political analysts who attended the EU-Ukraine Forum in Kiev recently noted in private talks that Romania and Ukraine may create a tandem to block the South Stream project.

According to them, it would be very important for authorities in Kiev to join the position should Ukraine initiate it.

The Kiev Government, some Ukrainian analysts commented, would make a decision on the issue once Gazprom cuts natural gas deliveries to Ukraine by 25% as it has threatened already, on Monday, March 3, 10 a.m.

Several articles published by Ukrainian media over the past several days mention Article 79 of the UN Convention on maritime law, according to which the setting of a route for future pipelines must be done through consultations with riveran states.

For now, Gazprom and Eni, the initiators of the South Stream project, have not received the approval of either Bucharest or Kiev for the route of the future pipeline.

Russia's deputy energy industry minister Anatoly Yanovski confirmed for Ukrainian media that the approval of Kiev was needed for the building of the South Stream. That is, the two parties must agree on an environmental expertise to serve as a basis for the approval process for the construction of the pipeline.

A similar expertise would have to be negotiated with Bucharest as well.

The lack of dialogue with Ukraine and Romania on the issue is even harder to explain as Gazprom already has quite an experience with the complications affecting efforts to obtain the approvals from riveran states at the Baltic Sea, for the Nord Stream project. Not even Sweden and Finland with which Russia says it has good relations have approved the project initiated by Gazprom and E.ON Ruhrgas in 2005.

The speculations of Ukrainian media appear at a time when Gazprom and the Government in Kiev face yet another natural gas crisis. The Gazprom spokesman threatened Ukraine on Friday that Gazprom would cut deliveries to Ukraine by 25% until the Ukrainian government fully pays its debts to the Russian group.

On February 8, the debts amounted to 1.5 billion US dollars.

I guess Russia should forget now about Ukraine's energy debt to Russia, cause Ukraine can be a pretty bastard playing country. I am curious though about what Romania wants out of this position? :D (that's orange, not green ;) ) Putin must not like oranges at all, and I heard Russian genetics experts already started doing research into growing blue oranges in Siberia. :D

Czech power utility CEZ announced plans to build a new 880 MW gas and steam unit at its Varna thermal power plant, CEZ director and head of Varna plant, Jan Vavera, said on March 4, as quoted by mediapool.bg.

On the same day, CEZ Distribution, the power distribution arm that covers Sofia, Sofia region and Pleven, said its investment purse for this year would amount to 70 million leva. The funds will go for the construction of new electricity stations and substations, as well as for the replacement of high, medium and low-voltage grids, CEZ said.

CEZ is yet to estimate the cost of the new Varna thermal power plant unit, Vavera said. It will do so once it files for and receives a building permit and draws up a project to link the unit to a gas pipeline. CEZ is also yet to decide whether the unit will operate alongside the remaining three units or will serve as a back-up facility.

The project is part of the large-scale environmental programme that is intended to bring the plant in line with European Union regulations. The plant will only pour money into the project once the government makes the final greenhouse quota distribution across industrial producers in the country. Investments earmarked for this year, eight million euro, will be used for maintenance.

CEZ Distribution's investments, however, have already been factored into the higher electricity fees, which it hopes the State Electricity and Water Regulation Commission (SEWRC) will approve. CEZ requested a nine per cent hike for household consumers, a 6.2 per cent hike for low-voltage business consumers and a 1.1 per cent hike for companies using medium voltage.

During its three years of operations in Bulgaria, CEZ has spent 212 million leva on power grids of Sofia, Sofia region and Pleven.

I guess Russia should forget now about Ukraine's energy debt to Russia, cause Ukraine can be a pretty bastard playing country. I am curious though about what Romania wants out of this position? :D (that's orange, not green ;) ) Putin must not like oranges at all, and I heard Russian genetics experts already started doing research into growing blue oranges in Siberia. :D

Romania should play its card in exchange ... South Stream through Romania or nothing :bowtie:...

^^ too late for that now, but that's indeed good opportunity for Romania and Ukraine get some consessions from Gazprom

^^ too late for that now, but that's indeed good opportunity for Romania and Ukraine get some consessions from Gazprom

Why too late?! South stream can’t happen without Ukraine/Romania’s approval :D

So does Nabucco without ours :D

Why too late?! South stream can’t happen without Ukraine/Romania’s approval :D

I do not think Romania can reverse cards with South Stream now (PPS: it would also piss off Italy). I think we can demand something else from Gazprom, like a reduction in the gas price for long-term (smth like a fictional rent for a fictional transition of the Southstream pipeline on Romania's territory for as long as the pipeline stays there).

Do not agree. Italy and other EU countries pissed us/US off by betraying EU's interests. "Il professore" is KGB agent anyway :lol:

So does Nabucco without ours :D

You cant piss about with nabucco coz you'll starve to death ... let's be realistic

Then let's hope it finally gets completed some day :) Otherwise we don't have a bright future, do we? :)

Romania should not piss off any country in the EU on Southstream. If EU member countries like Italy (or Germany) do not want EU to have a common energy policy, I do not think Romania should pick a fight with Italy for that. However, what Romania can do is ask for a good pot of money from Gazprom for transiting its pipelines through Romania's waters, same like Bulgaria, for ex., will be charging a transit fee for Southstream's pipe on its soil.

Romania should not piss off any country in the EU on Southstream. If EU member countries like Italy (or Germany) do not want EU to have a common energy policy, I do not think Romania should pick a fight with Italy for that. However, what Romania can do is ask for a good pot of money from Gazprom for transiting its pipelines through Romania's waters, same like Bulgaria, for ex., will be charging a transit fee for Southstream's pipe on its soil.

That's what I'm taking about: charge (big time) and claim 50/50 ownership for the pipe that transits Romanian waters (and negotiate a transit on land - as initially discussed/proposed) ... Romania "would" not pick a fight but ask to be a partner on the project ... what are we suppose to do?! Go back to using hot water in bottles ?!

INS: Resursele de energie electrica au crescut cu 13% in ianuarie fata de ianuarie 2007

Business Standard
06 martie 2008


In luna ianuarie 2008, resursele de energie electrica au crescut cu 13% fata de luna corespunzatoare din anul precedent, iar resursele de energie primara au scazut cu 4,2% fata de luna ianuarie 2007, potrivit datelor comunicate joi de Institutului National de Statistica.

Principalele resurse de energie primara au totalizat in luna ianuarie din aceast an 3563,7 mii tone echivalent petrol2 (tep), in scadere cu 156,2 mii tep, respectiv cu 4,2% fata de luna ianuarie 2007. Productia interna a insumat 2191,4 mii tep in crestere cu 6,9% fata de luna corespunzatoare a anului precedent, iar importul a fost de 1372,3 mii tep, in scadere cu 17,8%.
Resursele de energie electrica, in luna ianuarie 2008, au fost de 6307,7 milioane KWh, in crestere cu 727,3 milioane KWh (mai mult cu13%) fata de luna corespunzatoare a anului 2007.

Cresterea resursei de energie electrica s-a datorat atat cresterii productiei cat si a importului, cu 677,1 milioane kWh ( in crestere cu 12,2%), respectiv 50,2 milioane kWh, in crestere cu 125,8%, potrivit datelor INS. Productia din termocentrale a scazut cu 341,6 milioane KWh. Productia din hidrocentrale si cea din centralele nuclearo-electrice a crescut cu 504 milioane kWh (mai mult cu 52,8%) si respectiv in crestere cu 97,2%, de 514,7 milioane kWh. (NewsIn)

Price for French nuclear tech may prove too high
www.thediplomat.ro

With France pushing for greater cooperation on nuclear power with Romania, the Canadians who first introduced nuclear tech to Romania argue the Gallic technology comes at a cost the country may not be willing to pay

Romania plans to build a second nuclear power station, but its rumoured interest in French nuclear technology may prove too expensive an option.
News of the country’s flirtation with French nuclear technology arose when President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Bucharest last February.
“Our strategic partnership will give us the possibility to actively cooperate in the field of energy, especially nuclear energy, gas-generated energy and the weapons industry,” said Sarkozy.
But Romanian Minister of Economy and Finance Varujan Vosganian denied there was a “deal” to buy French nuclear technology. This is an export product Sarkozy is adamant to promote - especially among developing countries such as the United Arab Emirates and in northern Africa.
France may want to sell its technology as the best option for Romania’s second nuclear facility, while the Canadians who are responsible for the know-how used in the first power station, at Cernavoda in Constanta county, argue theirs is the cheaper choice.
The French option uses low-enriched uranium and light water, which is found in Europe under the name of European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) and, with some modifications, in Russia, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Japan and Iran. Only a few of these states own the technology to produce fuel for nuclear power stations. Most have to buy the know-how from the big countries, such as France.
The second type uses natural uranium and heavy water. This is the Canadian technology, known as CANDU, which Romania has adopted for Cernavoda.
“For Romania this technology is perfect because the country has uranium resources in its soil and the facilities to produce the fuel for its nuclear plant,” says Adrian Rizea, technical director of the Centre of Technology and Engineering for Nuclear Projects (CITON). “The country cannot afford the European Pressurised Reactor offered, for example, by French multinational Areva.”
CITON worked on the construction of the two operational nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda power station and will assist in building the third and fourth units after the auction for the construction consortium later this year.

Energy sufficient
Reducing the energy dependency on increasingly expensive gas and oil is the main argument for building a second nuclear plant.
“Romania has uranium, it makes its own heavy water, its own fuel and has engineering capabilities for CANDU,” Ala Alizadeh, international vice-president marketing and sales for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), tells The Diplomat. “With Romania’s nuclear infrastructure now, the country is completely nuclear self-sufficient.”
Switching to another type of nuclear technology means building new nuclear infrastructure from scratch. Alizadeh believes the extension of CANDU technology to another site is the most economic and logical option. A nuclear reactor built with European technology costs at least three times more than a CANDU reactor, experts tell The Diplomat.

Nuclear site
This year the Ministry of Economy begins a site selection study to host a new nuclear installation. This will probably use research from 20 years ago, which chose the site on the Danube at Cernavoda.
At that time, Piatra Neamt, Neamt country, was understood to be the best location for a nuclear power station based on the EPR technology, while Fagaras, Brasov county, was considered more suitable for CANDU. Rizea believes these two sites will remain favourites.
A site has to protect the public and environment from radioactivity due to accidents and from daily operations. Climate and ground conditions are also taken into account. “If the wind blows heavily from the site to a populated area by, the location is abandoned,” Adrian Rizea explains.
A nuclear power station needs a deep water source, stable soil and hard rock to sustain heavy weights. Crucial for a Romanian choice is a distance from areas of high-risk for earthquakes, which includes Vrancea county. A nuclear plant also needs acces to a large amount of water to cool down the installations, such as the Danube-Black Sea Canal which supports Cernavoda.
A site selection study takes at least two years and needs ten to 15 years from the moment that the decision is made to build a nuclear power station to the first foundations. Constructions for one nuclear power reactor take usually around six years to finish, if the nuclear infrastructure is already in place. This means a second nuclear facility could not be ready before 2026.

Public choice
The public and local authorities also need to accept the location. Resistance to the nuclear option in Romania has so far been muted. But environmental NGOs such as Greenpeace oppose such developments due to the risks to the environment if a reactor malfunctions and their production of nuclear waste. Greenpeace is likely to frustrate the process of approving a new power station in Romania. However nuclear energy has entered into favour among some environmentalists due to its low quantity of carbon emissions.

Going atomic
The five nuclear powers - United States, Russia, Japan, France and Great Britain, along with India and most probably Pakistan and Iran, have the technology to produce low-enriched uranium for the EPR technology.
This knowledge is not for sale and access to enrichment technology for Romania would be difficult. This means Romania will not be able to produce the low-enriched uranium, but will have to buy this on the market. This will prove more costly than using its own natural uranium.
This would also mean Romanian experts in nuclear energy would need training to run a different kind of nuclear plant to Cernavoda. Rizea argues that all these expenses increase the price for the electricity produced with European technology in comparison to the price for electricity produced by CANDU.

Uranium resources
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Romania’s uranium resources will run out by 2017. But the technical director of the Centre of Technology and Engineering for Nuclear Projects says this is the worst case scenario.
Uranium is ubiquitous in rocks, salt water and even in live organisms and is more numerous than gold, silver or platinum. Over half of the world’s uranium supply is found in three countries - Australia (30 per cent), Kazakhstan (17 per cent) and Canada (12 per cent).
Around 17 per cent of the world’s electricity is generated from nuclear reactors and demand is set to increase, given the declining oil supplies and pressure to find cheaper forms of energy. In 2007 there were 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in 31 countries.
The rising cost of oil to around 100 dollars a barrel and the energy ‘crisis’ of the last four years has brought nuclear energy back into the spotlight. The USA and Russia intend to build around 20 more nuclear power stations each in the next 30 years. Now nuclear power ensures a third of the electricity demand in the European Union and 80 per cent of France’s electricity.
“Like any other fuel source, uranium has gone up in terms of prices over the last three to four years with the same trend like gas and oil,” argues Alizadeh.

Second chance
Romania’s second nuclear power station will be built through an auction to private companies, in much the same scenario as the existing nuclear power station Cernavoda’s tender for units 3 and 4, which are due this year.
The majority share will be private. Romanian state energy company Nuclearelectrica will have a regulatory role.
Belgium’s Electrabel, Italy’s Enel, Spain’s Iberdrola, the Czech Republic’s CEZ, Arcelor-Mittal Romania and Germany’s RWE are the final six contenders for building the reactors, which use Canadian CANDU technology.
When the new units begin operating, most probably in 2015, 30 per cent of Romania’s electricity demand could be supplied through nuclear power.
This boost in supply could see Romania’s electricity prices drop and its electricity export potential increase.
There needs to be at least two companies to build and run the 2.3 billion Euro reactors, but the Government may select all of them.
Both Enel and CEZ own power distribution companies in Romania and could sell their share of electricity produced by Units 3 and 4 to countries outside Romania. The remaining four companies will have to sell the electricity to the Romanian state.
“The trading of electricity depends on inter-governmental relationships, but a big Romanian consumer could buy electricity from a foreign electricity provider if it sells this cheaper,” says the vice-president for AECL, Ala Alizadeh.
“The Romanian market is liberalised and the trade of electricity will become more international.”

The Ukrainian President and Prime Minister are once again at odds over the issue of gas. In an open letter to the President, Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko stated that her government is not going to follow some of the conditions of the gas deal with Russia.

In response, President Viktor Yushchenko has accused her of carrying out a policy of intrigue and scheming.
He made public his decree outlining instructions for gas talks in Moscow. They include direct co-operation between the Russian and Urkrainian gas giants Gazprom and Naftogaz, as well as the possibility of creating of joint ventures.

http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/21812

I think that this corrupt bitch must stop with this bullshit.
She Isn't now using politics but using the people of Ukraine, risking nationalist conflict, to further her own financial greed? She personally has more to gain than anybody out of paying a low price for Russia's gas and then selling it on for a profit.

Business Standard
07 martie 2008

The local natural gas market increased some 10 percent last year, up to €6 billion, due to a rise in prices, according to a Director of the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), Gabriel Sirbu, for Business Standard.

He added that gas consumption declined last year by 1 billion cubic meters, down to 16.4 bln cubic meters, due to a milder winter and an attempt by Romanians to spend less by using less natural gas.

Of the domestic production, 11.6 bln cubic meters were consumed, while a further 4.8 bln cubic meters were imported, Sirbu said.

In 2006, gas consumption amounted to 17.3 bln cubic meters.

Romania’s largest company, Petrom, controlled by Austrian group OMV, last year produced 33 percent of the national gas consumed, while state-owned producer Romgaz provided some 36 percent. Other companies, both local and international, covered remaining supplies.

Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom supplied, through its Gazexport subsidiary, some 0.2 bln cubic meters, while German supplier Wintershall delivered 3.8 bln cubic meters to Romania.

On the regulated sales market, suppliers Distrigaz Sud and E.ON Gaz together covered 92 percent of the market. There are 36 traders operating on this market.

“In 2008, we expect gas consumption to be slightly higher than in 2007, but growth will not be spectacular,” Sirbu added.

From Diplomat.ro (March 2008 issue)

Wind energy producer Iberdrola Renewables has bought 50 wind farm development projects from Eolica Dobrogea, a company owned by Swiss engineering group NEK and Romanian Rokura for between 200 and 200 million Euro.

The plan for the first farms to operate will be in 2009 and the final price will depend on the sites the company acquires, all of which are in Dobrogea, eastern Romania.

This follows Italian power giant Enel’s purchase of Blue Line, a Romanian company that holds the rights to develop wind energy projects in the same region. These projects are due to be operational in 2010.

The Eolica Dobrogea estate includes 800 installation sites for wind farms estimated to be worth a total of 1,600 megawatts (MW). Eolica Dobrogea will continue to develop the projects, which Iberdrola Renewables will then build and operate.

^^^^

I really hope wind energy takes off soon in Romania. It's a great way to gain some energy independence and protect the environment at the same time.

Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian, Monday March 10 2008

The EU report warns of increasing international tensions as global warming opens up new areas for energy exploitation.

European governments have been told to plan for an era of conflict over energy resources, with global warming likely to trigger a dangerous contest between Russia and the west for the vast mineral riches of the Arctic.

A report from the EU's top two foreign policy officials to the 27 heads of government gathering in Brussels for a summit this week warns that "significant potential conflicts" are likely in the decades ahead as a result of "intensified competition over access to, and control over, energy resources".

The seven-page report, obtained by the Guardian, has been written by Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy supremo, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the commissioner for external relations. It predicts that global warming will precipitate security issues for Europe, ranging from energy wars to mass migration, failed states and political radicalisation.

The report warns of greater rich-poor and north-south tension because global warming is disproportionately caused by the wealthy north and west while its impact will be most catastrophic in the poor south.

The officials single out the impact of the thawing Arctic and its emergence as a potential flashpoint of rival claims, pointing to the Kremlin's grab for the Arctic last year when President Vladimir Putin hailed as heroes a team of scientists who planted a Russian flag on the Arctic seabed.

Developments in the Arctic had "potential consequences for international stability and European security interests".

"The rapid melting of the polar ice caps, in particular the Arctic, is opening up new waterways and international trade routes," the report notes. "The increased accessibility of the enormous hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic region is changing the geostrategic dynamics of the region."

The report also stresses the volatility of the regions that hold large mineral deposits and predicts greater destabilisation in central Asia and the Middle East as a result of global warming. The report comes as the issue of energy security begins to loom large on the agenda of western policymakers. A summit of Nato leaders in Bucharest next month will discuss the problem for the first time, while a new manifesto for a radical overhaul of the western alliance moots the possibility of Nato being used "as an instrument of energy security".

"There will be a discussion of these new security risks, including energy," said a senior Nato diplomat. "We will try to find areas where Nato can add value."

The 150-page manifesto for a new Nato, penned by five former chiefs of staff and senior Nato commanders from the US, UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, also points to the likely friction in the Arctic as a result of climate change.

The Arctic thaw has already created "minor tensions" between Russia and Nato member Norway over fishing rights around the Spitsbergen archipelago. "The islands of Spitsbergen ... have large deposits of gas and oil that are currently locked under a frozen continental shelf," the document states.

"If global warming were to allow this to become a viable source of energy, a serious conflict could emerge between Russia and Norway." This "potential crisis" would draw in the US, Canada and Denmark "competing for large and viable energy resources and precious raw materials".

With specific reference to Arctic exploration, the EU's report says: "The scramble for resources will intensify."

But the retired generals complain that the EU is not tackling the issue of "protection of energy resources and their means of transportation. The EU is using soft instruments and this is unlikely to protect energy security".

The Solana report is the first high-level attempt to get the issue on the summit agenda. According to a draft outcome for this week's EU summit, the 27 prime ministers and presidents will order "appropriate follow-up action" by the end of the year. Solana and Ferrero-Waldner call on the EU to draw up an Arctic policy "based on the evolving geostrategy of the ... region, taking into account access to resources and the opening of new trade routes".

Next month's Nato summit discussion of the alliance's role in energy security is fuelling speculation that western troops could by deployed as "pipeline police" in places such as the Caucasus. This was dismissed by the Nato diplomat. "Energy security and the security of installations and transportation routes are a national responsibility, not an alliance responsibility," he said. "We should be looking to offer advice and help, rather than putting boots on the ground."
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I think Russia will just promise cheaper arctic gas to some EU members and that will be the end of the Russia-EU conflict

^^ We need the real thing :naughty: not ... promises :ohno: ...
9MaKHxsGZ-A
Hey Putin say this: I love Romania, I love Romaaaniaaa, I looove Rommanaiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa :banana::lol:

he will, why do you think he is going to Bucharest next month? :D

Hey, there are rumours that Bush and Putin will have a get together in Neptun seaside resort, in the former protocol villas belonging to Ceausescu. Great location for such great meeting. I am sure Ceausescu's ghost will make them cut a good deal. :yes:

In the last couple of days three more "windmill-farms" were announced in Bulgaria- one near Ivailovgrad, another near Kavarna and today one near Balchik. For the one in Balchik there will be 18 wind turbines, each of them 2.5mw.

In the last couple of days three more "windmill-farms" were announced in Bulgaria- one near Ivailovgrad, another near Kavarna and today one near Balchik. For the one in Balchik there will be 18 wind turbines, each of them 2.5mw.

^^

Wind Park to be Built in North-Eastern Bulgaria

A wind park for electricity production will be constructed near Sokolovo village, North - Eastern Bulgaria.

‘Wind park Dobrudja 2 previews the installation of 18 wind turbines, 2.5 megawatts power each.

Their height will be 100 meters and the rotor's diameter 90 meters.

The wind generators will be located over 20 decares land with changed statute.

The territory, object of the investment proposal, doesn't enter the ecological net of prevention ‘NATURA 2000' and won't affect the protected and vulnerable zones, the biological diversity and the ecosystems, the investors consider.

The upper soil layer, rich of humus, will be preserved and restored after the construction works end.

Autor: Ziarul Fiannciar
Data: 10-03-2008

Petrom, the largest Romanian company, at the end of last year accounted for 31% of petroleum products sold through filling stations in Moldova, 18% in Bulgaria and 13% in the former Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro) through 257 filling stations, an increase from 211 at the end of 2006.

As a result Petrom's retail investments abroad amounted to around 70m euros last year, with the figure per petrol station standing at 1.5m euros.

Petrom entered the markets of Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro in early 2006, when it acquired filling station networks through which OMV, the company's majority shareholder, operated on these markets.

Practically, foreign markets are the only ones where Petrom has grown in terms of the number of filling stations. The company also announced that it intended to keep the 550 filling station domestic network at a constant level and break even in the next two years. Domestically, Petrom has relinquished around 100 filling stations to boost efficiency.

Considering, on average, an OMV filling station sells around 5 million litres of fuel each year, double the volume sold by a Petrom station, the oil company's international sales revolved around 1.1bn euros last year.

Retail sales in Moldova account for around 20% of sales posted on the Romanian market, where 3.7 million tonnes of fuel were sold last year just through filling station networks, while the remainder, 5 million tonnes, is represented by sales on the wholesale segment. Under the circumstances, retail on the Bulgarian market amounts to around 1bn euros each year.

Practically, over two years, Petrom has managed to boost its presence in Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia by around 40%.

The company's target is to reach an around 20% share both on the Bulgarian market and in the former Yugoslavia.

Another interesting market in terms of Petrom expansion may be that of the Ukraine, where the company announced it might enter both the exploration and production segments, as well as the retail one through a filling station network.

Petrom


At the end of last year accounted for 31% of petroleum products sold through filling stations in Moldova, 18% in Bulgaria and 13% in the former Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro) through 257 filling stations, an increase from 211 at the end of 2006


Retail investments Petrom operated abroad last year amount to around 70m euros, given that investments in a petrol station amount to around 1.5m euros


Sursa: www.zf.ro/articol_164250

Autor: Ziarul Financiar
Data: 11-03-2008

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC) will complete construction of its first electricity generating facility in the first quarter of 2009, in Ploiesti, with its second investment, in Timisoara, to be completed by the end of next year. Company representatives say the feasibility study has been completed in Ploiesti, with the actual construction to start shortly.

The intention of the soft drinks producer is to have the energy needs of its 5 local plants covered by its own means. The investment in the two facilities amounts to 30 million euros, with each power station to have an installed capacity of 20 MW, a low capacity, compared with the around 1,000 MW projects announced by several companies on the local market.
Sursa: www.zf.ro/articol_164345

^^ Of course … they can’t rely on corrupt governments and Moscow’s moods … stability is what they need and what is (will be) missing …

Ukraine may be the big loser from a decision by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to increase gas prices to European-level prices from 2009. Gazprom buys natural gas from Central Asian republics and re-sells it to Europe through its own pipelines.

The increases were announced on Tuesday after a a meeting between gas officials from the three nations and Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller.

The increase is likely to have serious effects, particularly on Ukraine, which currently buys Central Asian gas at just $US 180 per thousand cubic meters.

A disagreement over the country’s gas debt to Gazprom inflamed a weeks-long row between the two earlier this year.

Gazprom currently charges Ukraine a designated European price of $US 315 per thousand cubic metres.

http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/21968

^^ Ukraine seems to be squeezed out by Russia on gas prices. It's gonna be reallly tough for Ukrainians to have their gas prices doubled overnight.

The leadership of National Electricity Company (NEC) approved the companies Electrabel (Belgium) and RWE Power(Germany) as candidates who presented best conditions.

The candidates continue negitiating in phase 2 of the procedure ‘Invitation for applying of interest for strategic investor on the project NPP Belene.

The companies that presented their first offers are Electrabel, CEZ, E.ON, ENEL and RWE Power.

The leadership of National Electricity Company (NEC) approved the companies Electrabel (Belgium) and RWE Power(Germany) as candidates who presented best conditions.

The candidates continue negitiating in phase 2 of the procedure ‘Invitation for applying of interest for strategic investor on the project NPP Belene.

The companies that presented their first offers are Electrabel, CEZ, E.ON, ENEL and RWE Power.


RWE Power ... via Moscow ... 100% :)

^^ Ukraine seems to be squeezed out by Russia on gas prices. It's gonna be reallly tough for Ukrainians to have their gas prices doubled overnight.

They are still paying a low charity price compared to other countries which pay market prices above $300. As a romanian you would know what I'm talking about ;)

^^ You’re dead right. We’re calling it … rip off :nuts::lol:

Ukraine may be the big loser from a decision by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to increase gas prices to European-level prices from 2009. Gazprom buys natural gas from Central Asian republics and re-sells it to Europe through its own pipelines.

The increases were announced on Tuesday after a a meeting between gas officials from the three nations and Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller.

The increase is likely to have serious effects, particularly on Ukraine, which currently buys Central Asian gas at just $US 180 per thousand cubic meters.

A disagreement over the country’s gas debt to Gazprom inflamed a weeks-long row between the two earlier this year.

Gazprom currently charges Ukraine a designated European price of $US 315 per thousand cubic metres.

http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/21968

this is bad news for Ukraine indeed, the gas prices are set to rise by at least 80% next year :ohno:

on the brighter side, it is bad news for Nabucco too :lol: the thing is, it was planned to bring cheap central asian gas around Russia, which buys it cheap and then sells it to the West at a premium price. But now that Russia agreed to pay the market price for that gas, there will be no cheap gas anymore even if Nabucco is constructed. Moreover, since central asian states already get the price they want from Gazprom, they have no incentive to build any additional pipelines and alternative routes. That's a situation when Gazprom will lose some cash but gain more political influence. Good example of how Russia Incorporated promotes its foreign policy these days :)

This is all very difficult to interpret. The government or rather the refineries and industrial firms said that the Ukrainian economy would collapse in the price of gas would rise over $200. Personally, I think it's a bunch of shit, companies are just trying to minimize costs and pass on the bill to the consumers. But the way that the price of gas is calculated by Russia is ridiculous.

on the brighter side, it is bad news for Nabucco too :lol:


^^ Good example of how Russia’s using its monopoly and why there are (now even more) reasons for (a) Nabucco or alternatives … so cheers Moscow for "encouraging" alternatives supplies/suppliers :cheers:

^^ look for the rainbow in every storm... :D

^^ :) Honestly, if monopoly is increasing, it's only natural for Europe to look (even more) for alternative resources … be it (even) alternative … ad litteram …

Recently I watched a woman on TV who has bought a couple of plots in Earth Orbit from some company- she said it would be a good investment for the next 15 years when we start extracting the ultimate energy from outer space :lol: And you're talking bout coals and gas :ohno: