By John Helmer, Moscow Diamonds are a bit like champagne: even in the worst of times, demand can grow among consumers, and for producers, sales revenues and profits too. Good news isn’t usually the honey which attracts this particular bear; and Alrosa has been producing plenty of it. Released early this month, the company’s financial […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 28th, 2014
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By John Helmer, Moscow Never let it be said that in Russia deeds done out of the goodness of the heart go unnoticed by the state. Nup. Not even when philanthropies are paid for with cash accumulated in violation of the state’s policy of deoffshorization. Nup, nup. There is even a special award minted by […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 23rd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Russia’s state-owned tanker company Sovcomflot has reported third-quarter and nine-month financial results showing that it continues to lose fleet operating revenues and run at a loss. In the nine months to September 30, the company says its time-charter equivalent (TCE) revenues were $657.2 million, down 1.6% on the same period of […]

by John Helmer - Friday, November 22nd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow New evidence has surfaced from the Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot showing that the current chief executive Sergei Frank ordered the company’s lawyers to continue their attempts to prosecute his predecessor Dmitry Skarga in the London and Moscow courts, while telling the General Prosecutor in Moscow they were dropping their case […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 7th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow The Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court of appeal, has dismissed an application from Sovcomflot, the state-owned Russian shipping group, to appeal against earlier judgements in favour of former chief executive, Dmitry Skarga (right). A three-judge panel issued its ruling on October 29, saying Sovcomflot’s application “does not raise an arguable […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 31st, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Sovcomflot, the state-owned Russian tanker company, has reported that its vessel operating profit collapsed from $101.7 million to just $31.7 million in the six months to June 30, while on the bottom-line the company reported a net loss of $14.5 million; this compares with a profit of just $2 million in […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Sovcomflot, the state-owned Russian fleet operator, intends to sell a 25% bloc of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), according to a leak to Moscow business newspaper Vedomosti this week. However, the source identified as “close to the board of directors” does not know for how long the […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 9th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow A three-judge panel of the UK Court of Appeal has unanimously dismissed a claim by the Sovcomflot subsidiaries, Intrigue Shipping and Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship), for court and legal costs against former fleet charterer Yury Nikitin (second image). Endorsing the earlier judgements of High Court Justice Andrew Smith, the new ruling […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 1st, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow The Russian government’s competition watchdog is waiting for state tanker company Sovcomflot and gas exporter Novatek to clarify exactly what plan they have decided on for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from Sabetta, Russia’s newest gas export outlet on the eastern shore of Yamal and the Kara Sea. Sovcomflot said last […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 26th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Gazprom, the Russian gas producer and exporter, is thinking of reviving an old idea to refine natural gas on the Baltic shore and ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) westward to European markets in competition against Qatar and Nigeria. At least that’s what Ziyavudin Magomedov (image right), chairman of the Summa Group, […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 30th, 2013
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