Suggests more evidence of supply/production problems (or petro industry greed)...M

Russian liquefied gas exports down

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Economic Publication date: Feb 04, 2000

Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax

Moscow, 4th February: Russia exported 64,127 tonnes of liquefiedgas in January, Valeriy Maksutov, deputy head of the gas industry and gasification department [presumably at the Ministryof Fuel and Energy], told Interfax.

Orenburggazprom exported the most, 24,600 tonnes, followed by Sibur with 9,208 tonnes, LUKoil subsidiary Permnefetgazpererabotka with 6,614 tonnes and Tyumen Oil Company with 5,430 tonnes. Other companies that exported liquefied gasinclude Surgutgazprom, Severgazprom, Volgokhimprom, the Ufa oil refinery and the Astrakhan and Karabkovskiy gas processing plants.

The Ministry of Fuel and Energy had planned for exports of about 169,400 tonnes in January, almost three times the actual volumes. Maksutov said exports were lower than planned becauseof controls imposed in order to replenish supplies on the domestic market. As earlier reported, companies can export liquefied gas only after meeting required deliveries for domestic customers.

Meanwhile, a draft resolution lowering the export duty on liquefied gas from 60 euros per tonne to 40 euros has been agreed by all the ministries, and will be submitted to the government on Friday [4th February].

Publication date: Feb 04, 2000 ) 2000, NewsReal, Inc.

Link:

http://beta.newsreal.com/cgi-bin/NewsService?osform_template=pages/newsrealStory&ID=newsreal&storypath=News/Story_2000_02_04.NRdb@2@19@3@578&path=News/Category.NRdb@2@7@2@2

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 05, 2000

Answers

Sort of what some of the doomers projected...some serious loss of the natural gas exports from Russia...

All of this seems to be contributing to a serious energy shortage on a world wide basis...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 05, 2000.

That explanation of why they are cutting exports is a crock of shit, IMO. They need hard currency worse than they need to keep Joseph Schmonik warm in his Moscow flat.

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), February 06, 2000.