Gazprom announces plans to sell holiday resorts in Russia after annual loss
Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, announced on Tuesday that it would be selling off several holiday resorts. This comes after its first annual loss for almost 25 years. The Kremlin's company, which controls the largest gas reserves in the world, has suffered a net loss for 2023 of nearly $7 billion after its sales to Europe plummeted because of the rift between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it has put up for sale 14 hotels and resorts, including the Marriott Tsaghkadzor Hotel in Armenia's Valley of Flowers.
Envoy: EU sanctions now include financing of Russian battlefield products
The EU sanctions envoy stated on Wednesday that sanctions against financial institutions could be aimed at the military product flow to Russia, as well as products manufactured in Southeast Asia by Western subsidiaries. Since 2022, the EU has imposed extensive sanctions against Russia because of its invasion in full force of Ukraine. David O'Sullivan, EU envoy, said that sanctions are not a "magic bullet", but they aim to make Russia's war machine more difficult to fuel.
Georgia to Sell 25% Stake in State Energy Firm
Georgia plans to sell a 25 percent stake in the state Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) on an international stock exchange in 2017, the finance minister of the former Soviet republic said on Tuesday. "The corporation's 25 percent stake will be placed on one of the exchanges abroad, in London or Shanghai," Dmitry Kumsishvili told Reuters. He did not elaborate. The GOGC, which operates the North-South gas pipeline transporting gas from Russia to Armenia via Georgia, issued $250 million of its first five-year Eurobonds in 2012 and the same amount again in April 2016.
Gazprom Football-for-Friendship Combines Aspirants from three continents
Milan hosted today the Fourth International Children's Forum as part of Football for Friendship, Gazprom's large-scale social project. The project is aimed at developing youth football and fostering tolerance and respect toward different cultures and ethnicities. This year, the Forum brought together young football players from Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. The Forum's participants met with Franz Beckenbauer, the Global Ambassador of the Football for Friendship project…
Armenia and Russia PMs confer on Gas Supply
The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met Hovik Abrahamyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia to address issues onbilateral cooperation in the energy sector. The parties commended Gazprom for its contribution to the development of the Armenian gas industry. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, accompanied his Prime Minister on the working visit to Armenia as a member of the delegation. Particular reference was made to the General Gas Supply and Gasification Scheme of the Republic of Armenia developed by Gazprom.
Fuelling Growth With Coal, India Champions Poor in Paris
India's hardline position in global climate talks has made it a potential villain for Western nations as it warns that its greenhouse emissions, mostly from burning dirty coal, may keep rising past the middle of the century. Its little-known team came to Paris with a mission to force rich nations to lead the way in curbing emissions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the summit that "climate justice" meant poor nations needed "room to grow". Such positions may have prompted U.S.
Georgia, Russia in Talks on Additional Gas Supplies
Georgia has held talks with Gazprom on receiving additional natural gas from Russia, Georgia's energy ministry said on Tuesday, a move that has been criticised for potentially making the country more dependent on its former Soviet master. Georgia imports most of its natural gas from Azerbaijan but also gets 10 percent of the gas transported across it by Russia to Armenia as a transit fee. Azerbaijan supplied about 87.1 percent of Georgia's total consumption of 2.17 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2014.
EU Sees Progress Towards UN Climate Deal
EU sees China, Canada, S.Arabia making climate plans by June; India, Brazil, Indonesia to miss EU's target deadline. The European Union expects that countries emitting more than half of world greenhouse gases will publish plans for fighting global warming by mid-year to help build a U.N. deal due in December, according to an EU document obtained by Reuters. The internal document, reviewing an EU diplomatic push involving 60 nations, also indicates the bloc will fall short of a goal of persuading all top emitters to detail their climate strategies beyond 2020 by June 30.
Ex-Soviet States Challenged by Cheap Oil
The three main members of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union face a big economic challenge from the fall in global oil prices, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday. But, speaking before talks in the Kazakh capital Astana with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, Nazarbayev said the situation had become more stable. Belarus and oil producers Kazakhstan and Russia are joined by Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union.
Iran Wants Steep Increase in Azeri Gas Imports
Iran wants to raise gas imports from Azerbaijan almost six-fold to 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year from a current 370 million cubic metres and to use gas storage in Azerbaijan, a source at the Azeri state energy company SOCAR told Reuters. Despite having the world's biggest natural gas reserves, Iran is struggling to keep up with subsidy-fuelled gas consumption, which has almost doubled during the past decade to over 160 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year. Azerbaijan…
