Monthly Archives: April 2008

Have visa, will travel

Posted on April 30, 2008 by Tim Newman

My cable TV has been out of action for the past five months, despite the cable company sending people round on no less than five occasions to fix it.  Last time they sent a trio of gormless looking men around, one … Continue reading →

Posted in Russia, Sport | 8 Comments

Nizhnekamsk Nel’zya

Posted on April 26, 2008 by Tim Newman

I have had to postpone my trip to Nizhnekamsk, for a reason which is most typically Russian.  Apparently, Nizhnekamsk is a closed city, although I had no difficulty getting in or out or wandering around when I was there four … Continue reading →

Posted in Russia | 3 Comments

The Language of Compromise

Posted on April 25, 2008 by Tim Newman

This made me chuckle: Gazprom is “a bit disappointed” by protracted talks with BP’s Russian venture, TNK-BP, about taking a controlling stake in the Kovykta gas field, the Russian gas giant’s deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev said today. “The ministry … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil & Gas, Russia | 1 Comment

Russian mega-projects: are the plans realistic?

Posted on April 23, 2008 by Tim Newman

Continuing on from the post two below this one, I should emphasise that the $2.6 trillion required by Gazprom and Rosneft is only that amount needed to develop Russia’s offshore fields. The onshore developments will need separate funding, as this … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil & Gas, Russia | 12 Comments

A Return to Nizhnekamsk

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Tim Newman

So, as a follow up to this post, I can now confirm that I will indeed be making a return to Nizhnekamsk, scene of my first ever trip to Russia four years ago.  I leave Sakhalin on Monday, spend two … Continue reading →

Posted in Russia, Travel | Comments Off

Gazprom and Rosneft win big, but at what cost?

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Tim Newman

Two very interesting articles on the Russian oil and gas industry appear one after another in Upstream Online, and I am not sure whether or not their juxtaposition was intentional. The first: Russian state-controlled giants Gazprom and Rosneft have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Oil & Gas, Russia | 9 Comments

Atyrau Again

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Tim Newman

I’m back in Atyrau, my noisy old propellor plane having stayed up in the air just long enough to get us across the Caspian safely.  I’m staying in the same crap hotel which I was in a few days ago, … Continue reading →

Posted in Kazakhstan, Travel | 5 Comments

From Atyrau to Baku

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Tim Newman

I woke up in my undersized bed in the hotel in Atyrau a whole three hours after I went to sleep.  The state of the room hadn’t improved in that time, and switching on the TV revealed a total of … Continue reading →

Posted in Azerbaijan, Oil & Gas, Travel | 10 Comments

From Sakhalin to Atryau

Posted on April 2, 2008 by Tim Newman

I’m now in Baku, sitting on the tenth floor of a rather nice hotel overlooking the Caspian Sea.  I’ll write about my journey from Sakhalin to Atyrau in this post, and about Baku in the next. My flight from Sakhalin … Continue reading →

Posted in Kazakhstan, Russia, Travel | 1 Comment