Recently, we learned that Russia’s 2nd biggest oil company,
Yukos, has agreed to a minority partnership deal with ExxonMobil. Note the Euro factor below.
From the EU Observer:
Russia
accuses EU of making WTO entry difficult
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has said that it is unreasonable for the EU to expect
Russia to raise energy prices as a condition for joining the World Trade Organisation
(WTO). Speaking on Thursday before
a forum of Russian and German businessmen in Yehaterinburg, in the Ural
Mountains, President Putin said: "EU bureaucrats either don't understand
it or deliberately put unacceptable conditions for Russia to join the WTO. We
cannot move to world energy prices in a single day. It will ruin the country's
economy".
The
European Commission sees Russia's attitude towards energy pricing as an unfair state subsidy which distorts global competition.
Speaking
at a press conference in Brussels, EU trade spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez
insisted that they were not forcing Russia to make unreasonable
concessions. "The WTO's
adhesion process is not political, it's a process that consists in fulfilling
rules and regulations that exist already at the WTO," she said "When
a country doesn't meet them, it doesn't join".
Moscow also
hopes to get its long-standing energy partner, Germany, on-side. Following the dinner, which German Chancellor Gerhard
Schröder attended, Russia said that the two sides had reached a preliminary
agreement on a 1,860 mile pipeline to transport gas from Vyborg in north-west
Russia to Germany.
The
deal, between Russia's state-owned giant Gazprom and Eon subsidiary Ruhrgas of
Germany, is worth a potential three billion euros. President Putin said he expects the deal to be signed in the
next two or three days.
Russia to start pricing oil in euros
Mr
Schröder also managed to secure agreement from Russia that it would start
pricing its oil and gas exports in euros, rather than dollars, according to
reports in the German media. This
is likely to be seen as a snub to Washington, which, like Brussels, is also keen to forge closer
ties with Russia, which boasts the largest natural gas reserves in the world.
President
Putin was reluctant to openly give specific details about this area of the
talks, but said that it was something Russia was considering. "We do not rule out that it is
possible", he said. "That would be interesting for our European partners".
Written by Blake
Evans-Pritchard
Article published 10.10.2003 - 08:23 CET, Printed from EUobserver
13.10.2003
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