Oil industry

At a forum in Davos, LUKOIL head Vagit Alekperov said yesterday that the company is ready to buy from BP 46% in their joint venture LUKARCO BV, which owns 12.5% in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. “BP has made an offer to us, but BP has not yet made a final decision. If such a decision is made, LUKOIL will buy out its share in CPC,” he said. BP decided to leave the consortium after its shareholders decided on December 17, 2008 to expand the pipeline's capacity from 31.47 to 67 million tons using its own funds. BP is the only one that does not pump oil through the pipeline. In December, BP agreed to sell 49.9% in their joint venture Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC (owns 1.75% in CPC) to Kazmunaigas for $250 million. Kazmunaigas also has an option to buy out part of 7% in CPC from Russia. But, according to the head of the company, Kairgeldy Kabyldin, this deal is “less attractive”: it will give Kazmunaigas 1.5 million tons per year of throughput capacity, while if it buys a share from BP, it will be 10.5 million tons per year. BP reported yesterday that all agreements with Kazmunaigas have been reached, and negotiations with LUKOIL continue.

Maria Kommersant-Akulich

Energy

Inter RAO will look at Norway

Representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the Norwegian company Statnett yesterday held their first meeting with the management of Inter RAO in Moscow, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement. The parties exchanged information on the plans of governments and companies in the Norwegian and Russian north, discussed issues of exporting Russian electricity to Northern Norway, and outlined prospects for the development of generating and network capacities in areas of common economic interest. As Inter RAO explained, there is no talk of any specific projects yet, and until now cooperation with Norway has been limited to energy exports. Concrete proposals could emerge by March, when another meeting is expected to be held. Now in the northwestern direction, the main partner of Inter RAO is Finland (54.4% of total energy exports in 2007), Norway accounted for only 1.1%.

Vladimir Kommersant-Dzaguto

SUEK received almost a controlling stake in TGK-13

On January 27, the Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) increased its share in the capital of TGK-13 to 49.99%. Previously, SUEK owned a stake of 35.05%. SUEK is a strategic shareholder of TGK-13, but the company has not yet increased its share to a controlling stake. In addition to TGK-13, SUEK is also the main shareholder of Kuzbassenergo and other energy assets in Siberia.

Vladimir Kommersant-Dzaguto

Metallurgy

Norilsk Nickel was credited with a project in Finland

MMC Norilsk Nickel intends to suspend the implementation of a project worth €200 million at the Harjavalta plant in Finland, Bloomberg reported, citing local media. At the same time, the MMC press service clarified that the company “does not have information about any approved joint projects that would affect the amount of capital investment reported in the press.” Previously, Norilsk Nickel considered the possibility of expanding refining capacity at Harjavalta, but did not make any decision in this regard.

Interfax, Maria Kommersant-Cherkasova

Aviation transport

Aeroflot expects profit

Revenues from air transportation and services of Aeroflot at the end of 2008 are expected to amount to 95.651 billion rubles, which is 28.6% higher than last year. This was stated in yesterday's press release from the airline following a meeting of the board of directors, which took place on January 28. The airline's operating expenses last year amounted to 88.352 billion rubles. After paying taxes and mandatory payments, the company expects a profit of 6.044 billion rubles.

Alexey Kommersant-Ekimovsky

LUKOIL is ready to buy out BP's stake in CPC