Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A GROUNDBREAKING business plan of chemical leasing, designed to stop manufacturers over-purchasing potentially dangerous substances, is being promoted in developing and emerging market countries by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). It is working with the Austrian government to introduce the system, which leaves suppliers owning their chemicals, leasing them as a service, rather than selling them as goods.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) political leaders have agreed medium-term (2007-13) budgets for crucial spending projects for the energy sector: Trans European Networks (TENs) and the EU seventh framework programme (FP7) for research. On TENs, the European Parliament, Commission, and EU Council of Ministers have agreed a Euro 7.2 billion budget, Euro 500 million above previous drafts, although this will have to be split with TENs transport projects.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

A GROUNDBREAKING business plan of chemical leasing, designed to stop manufacturers over-purchasing potentially dangerous substances, is being promoted in developing and emerging market countries by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). It is working with the Austrian government to introduce the system, which leaves suppliers owning their chemicals, leasing them as a service, rather than selling them as goods.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) financial watchdog, the Court of Auditors, has successfully cooperated for the first time in assessing an EU spending programme with a supreme audit organisation of a country that is neither a member state or an official membership applicant.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has decided to lend US$85.6 million to develop an open-pit gold mine and processing works, in the Tynda district of Amur region, in remote southern Siberia. The Berezitovy mine’s operating company Berezitovy rudnik is owned by High River Gold Mines Ltd, of Canada.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE MULTILATERAL Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA, is the international organisation companies turn to when they want to invest in a jurisdiction where their assets might not be that safe. Oil and gas companies have long used MIGA to cover risks that are too tasty for the private insurance industry, and at December 2005, MIGA had supported 13 oil and gas projects, with guarantees totalling US$707 million, with a standard leverage of five-to-one, so investments covered are actually five times larger.…

BY MARK ROWE

THIS year marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic steam explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, when a plume of radioactive fallout from Chernobyl-4 drifted over the western parts of the former Soviet Union, Poland, Scandinavia, Britain and the east coast of the United States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GAZPROM will this month (APRIL) announce its chosen partners to develop Russia’s giant natural gas Shtokman field in the Arctic, which is estimated to contain 3,500 billion cubic metres of gas. Chevron and Conoco Phillips have long been predicted as likely to secure a deal with the Russian utility, and last week’s (28-3) visit of Russian prime minister Mikhail Fradkov to Oslo has increased speculation that Norway’s Statoil and Hydro will also be part of a Shtokman consortium.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU)-research project is developing small-scale hydrogen generators, which could be operated by homes and businesses to refuel hydrogen-autos. The aim of the Hyvolution scheme is to create practical technology that could form part of a sustainable and widespread refuelling network, something that is essential for hydrogen fuel-cell transport to take off.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin has sought to shore up Russia’s damaged reputation as a reliable energy partner for eastern Europe, by suggesting Hungary take part in the Blue Stream gas pipeline project. In a visit to Budapest, Putin said Russia and Turkey were considering an extension of the Black Sea project "into south Europe, and our partners in that area have shown interests."…