By John Helmer in Moscow A 21-day ultimatum has been issued to the Russian government to put up the Grib pipe in Arkhangelsk for development by a joint venture between De Beers and LUKoil; or else De Beers will walk out of Russian diamond mining for good. Sources close to De Beers claim that some […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Indian government has until midnight to decide whether to pay a huge premium for undeveloped Siberian oil reserves held by one of the most highly leveraged oil companies in the Russian market. Yesterday, the UK Takeover Panel refused to extend the deal deadline beyond today. The oil is located […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow A surprise board reshuffle announced on Wednesday by the Evraz group, Russia’s largest steelmaker, has triggered a sharp negative market reaction. It has fueled speculation that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the board of the state bailout bank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), are unhappy with the way in which Evraz has heavily […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, December 4th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has finally put in writing what Gunvor owner, Gennady Timchenko, has been lobbying the Kremlin to support for several years, ousting Transneft pipeline boss, Semyon Vainshtok, in the process. This is a new state-backed crude oil pipeline for the purpose of putting in business a new, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow In theory, Russia’s economic performance is correlated with global supply and demand for mined materials and commodities, and thus with the rate of global economic growth, especially China. In the Russian market, 80% of earnings come from commodity stocks. Before the collapse, the enormous gains in market capitalization of Russian […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian Federation’s decade of rampant economic growth has been a boon to maritime activity and ports on the Black Sea. But the good times are coming to an end, writes John Helmer Russia has been aiming to develop dry cargo movements, both export and import, as the preferred direction […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, November 29th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow In a stunning repudiation of Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, lawyers for the Tajikistan Aluminium Plant (Talco) agreed overnight to halt their High Court case in London. They have settled with Avaz Nazarov, the Ansol company, a former manager and traders of the aluminium plant, whom Rahmon and his cronies ousted […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 27th, 2008
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The news has just been received from London of the capitulation overnight of President Emomali Rahmon and the Tajikistan Aluminium Plant in their court case against Avaz Nazarov and a group of former managers and traders of the aluminium plant. The terms of the settlement, and details of the circumstances, which put a stop to […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 27th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow In a contest of bargaining power reminiscent of the 2005 battle between Alisher Usmanov of Metalloinvest and Victor Rashnikov, owner of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), MMK is demanding that Metalloinvest lower its iron-ore price, and is refusing to pay for previous deliveries. Metalloinvest says it has cut production at its […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow After six months of negotiations have failed to resolve investment and spending conditions, Victor Vekselberg’s Renova group and United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK), its South African partner, have been unable to agree on whether the project is dead, on care and maintenance, or life-support. One result is that the Russian […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 24th, 2008
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