tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83775962012-04-12T17:46:42.945-05:00Oil Politics Russia (formerly Oil Politics International) focuses on Russian politics and economics, with particular regard to energy and oil. I still publish a longer piece each Sunday evening; updates will appear in between, linking to news bits and other items of topical interest. I welcome any and all comments, questions, and kind (or not so kind) critiques in order to further the quest for a bit of knowledge. After all, that's why we're all here, isn't it?David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fb_pwrd.gifThis is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1145305756993450762006-04-17T15:15:00.000-05:002006-04-17T15:54:33.206-05:00The Russian economics ministry today submitted for government consideration a bill to cut development taxes in key resources. While the measure covers mining, logging, and other earthen riches, it...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com2http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/04/opr-update-tax-cuts-for-weary-good.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1144953758495411032006-04-13T13:18:00.000-05:002006-04-13T13:42:39.160-05:00Back finally from a long break, and much indeed has happend. One of the most interesting issues in Russian political economy to track is the ever-evolving relationship between statism and...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/04/opr-update-quid-pro-quo-on-wto.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1142856453376204442006-03-20T07:02:00.000-05:002006-03-20T07:10:07.663-05:00With presidential elections in Russia now just two years away, Russian press is rife with speculation about who will take over the presidency from Putin. The press has dubbed the Kremlin’s efforts...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-weekly-operation-successor.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1142378980491448922006-03-14T18:29:00.000-05:002006-03-14T19:09:38.850-05:00Russian Energy and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko lent an interesting insight yesterday into Moscow's thinking on the role of the state in Russia's energy sector. Responding to U.S. Deputy...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-update-russias-inalienable-right_14.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1142254320549404852006-03-13T07:40:00.000-05:002006-03-13T07:52:06.183-05:00While the forced renationalization in December 2004 of Yukos’ Yuganskneftegaz was the loudest (and messiest) of the Kremlin’s push to gain control of Russia’s oil industry, it seems to be part of a...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com0http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-weekly-state-resurgent.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1142115941852662952006-03-11T17:22:00.000-05:002006-03-11T17:25:42.146-05:00A strange scene unfolded Friday in the Moscow boardroom of OAO Yukos, once Russia’s mightiest oil conglomerate. Anatoly Nazarov, head of Yukos Refining and Marketing and the most senior manager...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com0http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-weekly-mutiny-in-moscow.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1141822601108409302006-03-08T07:52:00.000-05:002006-03-08T07:56:41.340-05:00Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) is well known for its optimistic production and reserve assessments. So what do they make of the decline in Russian production growth from the 8.5 percent...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com0http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-update-death-and-taxes-in-russia.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1141778590329743022006-03-07T19:37:00.000-05:002006-03-07T19:43:10.696-05:00An interesting article appeared on Kommersant yesterday. Apparently Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry has submitted a draft strategy on development of oil and gas reserves under the Russian...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-update-russian-production-in-dire.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1141602391467672442006-03-05T18:46:00.000-05:002006-03-06T06:41:31.606-05:00Predictions about the future of Russian oil production abound in uncertainty. The large number of basins and complicated political and economic environment subject 'top-down' depletion models such as...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com0http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-weekly-biting-bullet-research.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1141257984100716702006-03-01T18:39:00.000-05:002006-03-03T08:14:34.190-05:00When at first you don't succeed, rig the vote. That's at least what the Russians decided to do when an ecological commission initially voted down the environmental feasability of the propsed East...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/03/opr-update-environmentalism-russian.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1141149550539702252006-02-28T12:51:00.000-05:002006-03-03T08:04:41.486-05:00This story isn't about Russia, but it's too good to let go by. Apparently Nigeria is looking to China instead of the sluggish U.S. for help in protecting its oil production facilities: Nigeria is...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/opr-update-missing-boat-in-nigeria.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1141095353505517602006-02-27T21:52:00.000-05:002006-02-27T21:55:53.733-05:00Russia's Economic and Development and Trade Ministry reported today that Russian oil and gas condensate output was up 2 percent to about 9.4 million barrels per day from January 2005. The fine folks...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/opr-update-peaking-sic-at-numbers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1140980775476816022006-02-26T14:00:00.000-05:002006-03-03T08:11:56.396-05:00I have decided to change the focus of this blog from international oil politics generally, to a focus on the oil politics of Russia. While the world is replete with fascinating plots and characters...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/opr-weekly-oil-politics-russia-taking.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1140400910775423572006-02-19T20:47:00.000-05:002006-02-20T09:45:57.896-05:00Oil markets are set for a rough opening on Monday. Attacks this weekend in Nigeria have seriously curtailed that country’s production and more violence appears in the offing. Two problems closer to...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/opi-weekly-rebels-rhetoric-and-secret.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1139789286525594582006-02-12T19:01:00.000-05:002006-02-12T19:14:03.910-05:00Anyone who frequents the oil blogosphere is familiar with the Peak Oil movement. In fact, the Peak Oilers, for all intents and purposes, are the oil blogosphere. Despite inattention to Peak Oil...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/opi-weekly-peak-oil-and-historical.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1139189108212521832006-02-05T20:18:00.000-05:002006-02-11T08:47:01.033-05:00In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush pledged to reduce oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by 2025. Never mind the fact that the pledge is politically peculiar...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/opi-weekly-politics-and-prices.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1138585820159348172006-01-29T20:44:00.000-05:002006-01-29T20:53:42.906-05:00Iran’s confrontation with the West over uranium enrichment is once again coming to a head. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is set to meet next week to consider referral of Iran to the...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com5http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/01/opi-weekly-delay-tactic-diplomacy-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1137972669207642382006-01-22T18:26:00.000-05:002006-01-23T06:52:55.160-05:00Russian daily Kommersant reported last week that Uzbek President Islam Karimov has promised gas production and transit deals to Russia in exchange for protection from his many political adversaries. ...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com2http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/01/oil-politics-weekly-taking-care-of.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1137369808038594482006-01-15T18:46:00.000-05:002006-01-21T20:39:47.100-05:00When Russia shut off gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1st of this year because of a price disagreement, the whole world –Europe especially—took note. Since its independence, Russia has supplied...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com4http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/01/opi-weekly-splitting-middle-russias.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1124682243090587842005-08-21T22:42:00.000-05:002005-08-21T22:45:37.670-05:00Political unrest in Ecuador has shut in most of that country’s 400,000 plus bpd of production. Although not a huge total by world standards –Ecuador ranked 30th overall in oil production in 2004,...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com22http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/08/opi-weekly-chavy-on-spot.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1124080500558909832005-08-14T22:30:00.000-05:002005-08-14T23:35:33.646-05:00Relations between the U.S. and Venezuela continued their downward spiral last week. In a series of diplomatic tit for tats, the U.S. revoked the visas of six senior Venezuelan National Guard...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com5http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/08/opi-weekly-tit-for-tat-diplomacy-with.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1123443668719549992005-08-07T14:18:00.000-05:002005-08-09T10:19:31.610-05:00Things are getting tricky in Iran. Just as relations with the West are taking a sharp downward turn, there are increasing signs of production trouble in several of Iran’s aging oil fields. The...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com7http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/08/opi-weekly-eu-3-politics-and-uncertain.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1122943364350505042005-08-01T19:37:00.000-05:002005-08-01T19:45:04.896-05:00Reeling already from a spate of refinery shut-downs in the U.S. and Europe over the weekend, the last thing the oil markets needed was a shot of geopolitical instability. But that is just what it...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com2http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/08/opi-update-al-qaeda-saudi-arabia-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1116811540430478362005-05-22T19:40:00.000-05:002005-08-01T20:05:14.096-05:00Unfortunately OPI will not publish again until the first week in September. There will no doubt be much to reflect on at that time as the international oil and energy outlook becomes increasingly...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com8http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/05/untimely-hiatus-opi-offline-until.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377596.post-1115606271134625882005-05-08T21:35:00.000-05:002005-05-08T22:55:02.856-05:00Yet again the most important news in the oil world this week came out of Venezuela. On Wednesday Venezuela’s Defense Minister, Jorge Garcia Carneiro, announced that the armed forces would take...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]David W. Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13264416166993547882noreply@blogger.com1http://oilpolitics.blogspot.com/2005/05/opi-weekly-operation-black-gold.html