Editor's Letter

Hats Off This Month to a Couple of Russian Success Stories - Wood Group and RITEK

Pat Davis Szymczak

This month, my editor's letter will be a short one. I'm writing from my hometown of Chicago where I'm attending a conference for executive management of publishing houses This morning I attended a session on raising finance for small business. One of the investment banker told me that the biggest thing I had going against me was that I was operating my business in Russia. "Who's going to send their money there?" he said rhetorically....

The Yeltsin Epoch – An Expat’s Reflections from the Oil&Gas Side of Things. By Pat Davis Szymczak, Publisher of Oil&Gas Eurasia

In the late 1990s foreign correspondents in Moscow moaned often about how Russia wasn’t exactly good for their careers. As one US network coro told me then: “The editors in New York don’t care about Russia, they’ll air a story only if it’s on the Mir Space Station or if Yeltsin dies.” Another question editors back home asked often was “Do you think they’ll go Communist again?” That was a decade ago and this week, on Monday, April 22, 2007, Boris Yeltsin did meet his God. I’m still a journalist, but I run an oil and gas technology magazine, so why write a story? The death of a head of state out of office for eight years is for mass media, not technology press. But then I started to reflect on my own 1990s love affair with Russia. (Read complete story by clicking the headline hyperlink)

President of the Russian Oil and Gas Industrialists Union Gennady Shmal

"The main achievement in the oil and gas industry during the Eltsin epoch is its structural reformation and the creation of vertically integrated oil companies. This had an effect on increasing production, the development of the companies themselves, and the entry into the world markets."

The General Director of the RITEK Company Valery Graifer

"Many serious decisions were made in the creation of small businesses in the areas of oil production and service. During [Eltsin's] epoch some 200 small ventures appeared in the oil and gas industry, that were characterized by great dynamics, high innovation activity, and a high speed in resolution of problems related to complex oil field development. An association of small oil producing companies was created -- Assoneft."

BP regional director in Russia, Turkey and the Caspian Region Peter Charow

"The most significant achievements in the oil and gas industry during Yeltsin's presidency was the total restructuring of the industry, privatization and dismantling of the Soviet-style bureaucracy."

Exclusive Interview in OGE --- Wood Group's Sir Ian Looks to "Add Value" in the Russian ESP and Engineering Services Market

The services industry knows that if you're in oil and gas, you'll be in Russia sooner or later. Russia ranks No. 1 in gas reserves and is first in oil after OPEC. Russia's policy of limiting foreign ownership of upstream assets may have taken the shine of

RITEK Celebrates its 15th Jubilee as One True Russian Success Story

The early 1990's were marked by the collapse of the country's economy. The Russian oil industry did not evade the crisis either: there was a critical drop of the drilling volumes, while the number of idle wells increased.

FIDmash Founder Leonid Gruzdilovich Talks CT and His Deal with NOV

The president of the FID Group talks about the FIDmash company's activity in the coiled tubing equipment market, as well as about the changes brought by the arrival of the new investor.

The Customers' Opinion on Coiled Tubing

OGE asked specialists from oil and gas companies to provide their insight on the recent development of Russian coiled tubing market and tell what they think of the equipment they employ in their daily operations

Why FireFly Delivers Key Benefits

FireFly Interview with Paul Brettwood, director of FireFly Solutions Delivery.

In-tube Magnetic Examination of Lined Tubing with Weld Joint Protective Bushing of Various Design

The present paper substantiates 100 percent practicability of inspecting lined tubing with protective bushing by magnetic examination, utilizing in-tube magnetic detectors. Results of bench tests on driving a magnetic shell-type detector in a pipe coil with welded joint and protective bushing and artificial defects are presented below.

SST Has Launched Europe's Largest Manufacture of Heating Cables and Thermal Control Equipment

In February the Russian company Special Systems and Technologies (SST) doubled its production facilities, having launched a new plant in Mytishchi, the Moscow region. Construction of the plant cost approximately 200 mln rubles. The production floor (14,500 sq.m) and the installed state-of-the-art equipment by Nokia, Rosendal, Spirka, Kune, Durnst provide for annual production of 40,000 km of heating cables and 300,000 units. The plant personnel exceeds 700 persons.

KUDU and CANAROSS' Successful Partnership

KUDU Industries Inc. is very proud to announce a recent joint venture partnership with CANAROSS of Russia. On December 7, 2006, the agreement was signed and KUDU Industries acquired a 50 percent share in CANAROSS. This event is two-fold. Firstly, it conveys the message that Canadian companies can successfully conduct business in Russia. Secondly, it demonstrates that foreign companies are not only interested in exploring the Russian oil and gas reserves but also view the country as an attractive market for investment.

Optimizing Intersection Connections of ESP Assemblies

Preventing strength failures ("lost pumps") is an important aspect of enhancing ESP assembly reliability. As it has been previously illustrated in [1], the reason for failure is amplitude-variable tensile stresses that occur in the constructional elements due to system dynamics.

Yukos Shareholder to Take Legal Action against Asset Buyers

The potential buyers of the remaining Yukos assets which include a 9.44% stake in Rosneft set to go under the hammer tomorrow with the starting price of $7.5 billion are now running the risk of having lawsuits filed against them by the GML, formerly known as Group Menatep, still a majority shareholder of the bankrupt oil company. The director of the GML Tim Osborne said that “anybody buying assets at auction should think long and hard about it; we say that Yukos was stolen by the Russian Federation and anybody that buys its assets at auction is receiving stolen goods.”

Putin to Sign Oil Pipeline Deal in Greece

President Vladimir Putin will visit Greece on March 14 to sign the long awaited deal to build the Bourgas-Alexandropoulis pipeline which will carry Russian oil across Bulgaria and Greece to the Mediterranean Sea bypassing the Turkish Bosporus Strait. The 176 mile pipeline, worth about €900 mil ($1.2 bln), will have the carrying capacity of 700,000 barrels a day with the potential to eventually reach over a million barrels a day. Greek Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev are expected to join Putin at the signing ceremony in the culmination of 13 years of ongoing negotiations.

Russia Considers Cutting Transit Dependence on Belarus

Head of Russian state pipeline operator Transneft Semyon Vainshtok said Tuesday the construction of a direct pipeline to Europe could begin as early as April aiming to cut the transit dependence on neighboring Belarus in half. This move is expected to help Russia redeem its reputation as a reliable oil supplier tarnished by January’s events when oil supplies to Europe were cut off due to economic tensions between the two countries and resumed when new transit tariffs were introduced. Today, Belarus faces having its transit profits considerably reduced. The Druzhba pipeline transports 100 mil metric tons of oil annually and the new pipeline, which would go from the Russian town of Unecha to seaport Primorsk in Russia’s European enclave Kaliningrad as a second leg of the Baltic pipeline system, will transport 50 mil metric tons of Siberian oil directly to Germany and on to the rest of Europe and the United States, reports RIA Novosti.

Gas Exporting Countries Forum Convenes in Doha, Gas OPEC Discussions Possible

The members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum are set to convene today in Doha, Qatar where the establishment of a gas cartel similar to OPEC could be discussed. As most parties remain skeptical, some bigger players of the global gas market such as Venezuela and Iran have both expressed interest in forming an organization of this kind. No immediate decision is expected, yet the talks could help the sides find common ground and meet the interest of forming a system to coordinate the global gas trade.

Russian Government to Decide on Alternative Pipeline Route

Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy put forward a proposal to the Russian Government to build an alternative pipeline route to transport oil to the EU and the US bypassing Belarus and Poland to avoid possible inconveniences and bolster Russia’s reputation as a reliable energy supplier. The issue was raised last month by Transneft president Semyon Vainshtok who said his company, which will be operating the pipeline if the project is approved, would be ready to begin construction as early as in April.

Semyon Vainshtok Tells OGE Transneft Prepared to Build BPS-2, Govt Decision Pending

The Pipeline Transport 2007 conference which focused on the ongoing projects of Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft such as the East Siberia – Pacific Ocean, BPS-2 and Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipelines concluded today in Moscow. Among other major issues raised at the forum were Transneft’s recent merger with Transnefteproduct and its achievements which were summed up by Transneft’s president Semyon Vainshtok in his opening speech.

Gazprom Takes Control of Sakhalin Energy

The shareholders of the operator of the Sakhalin II project signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Gazprom yesterday to pave the way for Russian gas monopoly to take control of the World’s largest integrated oil and gas project with estimated resources at the level of over 4 billion barrels. Gazprom will pay $7.45 billion for a 50% plus one share stake in Sakhalin Energy with Shell holding 27.5%, Mitsui 12.5% and Mitsubishi 10% of the shares.