MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) Russia not offered new role in the Balkans/ Russia's largest oil producer to buy 200 petrol stations in Poland/ Large players push up prices of generation assets/ Russia, Iran disagree on who is to blame for nuclear power plant delays/ PwC Russia may be punished for cooperation with Yukos
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Russia not offered new role in the Balkans
For the first time in the history of the Kosovo problem, Russia's stance is becoming crucial.
No decision has been made at talks held to discuss the plan proposed by Martti Ahtisaari, a special UN envoy, on the Serbian province of Kosovo. Ahtisaari proposed that the Kosovo province be granted internationally supervised sovereignty. The status of Kosovo is to be discussed by the UN Security Council.
Russia is the only permanent council member to announce that it would vote against any decision that is not suitable for both Serbians and Kosovo Albanians.
Western countries, primarily the United States, consider sovereignty the optimal solution. The West needs a compromise with Russia, whose voice in the Security Council would legitimize the Ahtisaari plan and open the door to a conflict-free solution to Kosovo's sovereignty. The main conditions for this have been established following eight years of international presence in the province.
However, Russia does not see any reason for supporting the Ahtisaari plan, even disregarding the principle of the inviolability of borders and the requirement of settling all conflicts according to a similar scheme.
The Kremlin has not been offered a role in the Ahtisaari plan. The international control mechanism, which was copied from the Bosnian plan, does not envisage a role for Russia. However, Moscow probably reduced this possibility when it withdrew its peacekeepers from the province, which was a surprise move for many as was the forced march by Russian paratroopers to Pristina in 1999.
Russia has nothing to counteract the American plans for Kosovo. It knows that it could bypass the Security Council to attain its goal, but does not want to undermine the council's prestige.
While hinting at the possibility of recognizing the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (the breakaway Georgian republics) and Transdnestr (the self-proclaimed republic in Moldova), Russia is not prepared to act on its word, since no other influential country has declared their support for the idea.
The Kremlin will most likely formulate its stance on Kosovo following discussions with the U.S. on issues not directly related to the problem.
Vedomosti
Russia's largest oil producer to buy 200 petrol stations in Poland
LUKoil, Russia's largest oil producer, plans to triple the number of petrol stations in Poland over the next few years. Analysts, however, say that it will not be an easy task.
The company owns a total of 5,830 petrol stations in 18 countries. Last year, it produced 95.2 million metric tons of crude oil and refined 53.87 million metric tons. It has eight refineries, of which three are located in Eastern Europe, with an aggregate capacity of 58.5 million metric tons a year.
Currently, LUKoil has 87 petrol stations in Poland and plans to increase them to 100 by the end of the year and to 300 within the next few years, said Vladimir Zander, deputy CEO of the company's Polish office.
"The Polish petrochemical market is part of LUKoil's strategic interests together with other Eastern and Central European and Baltic countries," said Gennady Krasovsky, deputy head of LUKoil's department for investment analysis and investor relations. The oil major would like to increase its market share in these regions to 10%-15%, but only with cost efficient acquisitions. "Ideally, we would like to give consumers access to all of our products," Krasovsky said.
Andrei Fedorov of Alfa Bank said that LUKoil's ten-year strategic program envisages $12 billion investment in the development of its refining business abroad, with a view to increasing its refining capacity in Europe by 13-16 million metric tons. "The company does not want to lose money on the wholesale trade in petrochemicals," he said.
In Poland, however, it "has a reputation of having a Russian governmental structure, which will make it difficult for them to expand on the Polish market," the analyst said. Maksim Shein, head of analysis with Broker Credit Service, also said there would be political obstacles. A few years ago LUKoil failed to acquire a refinery in Gdansk, the current Polish government is even more anti-Russian than the previous one, he said. So LUKoil's only chance to expand its network in Poland is to buy petrol stations from Western companies, he said.
Gazeta.ru
Large players push up prices of generation assets
Norilsk Nickel, Russia's metal giant, has bought the wholesale generating company OGK 3, subsidiary of the Russian electricity monopoly RAO UES, at an unexpectedly high price of $3 billion. However, it will be difficult for the new owner to establish real control over the power generation company, as the government plans to retain strategic control over the sector.
Norilsk Nickel had to pay an impressive 81.72 billion rubles ($3 billion) to buy the generating company's additional issue. At first, the OGK 3 management hoped to receive $1.6 billion; the cost of the company at current market rates is $2.4-$2.5 billion.
Apart from the metal giant, which was seen as the frontrunner from the outset, other large companies also showed an interest in OGK 3, including Russia's gas giant Gazprom, Finland's Fortum, Italy's Enel, Integrated Energy Systems (part of Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group), Mechel, a Russian mining and steel major, and Gaz de France.
"The high price was primarily due to the tough competition between several strategic investors," said Stanislav Kleshchev of VTB 24. "Besides, it was crucial that Norilsk Nickel, which already had a 14% stake in OGK 3, established control over the company before the yearend, when [the company's co-owners] Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov are set to divide their business."
Apparently, Norilsk Nickel failed to acquire a controlling stake in OGK 3, as some of the shares were bought by other minority shareholders that had a preemptive right. Experts estimate the metal giant's current holding at about 45%.
However, even if it did acquire a 50% stake, it would not get complete control over the asset. It was reported earlier that RAO UES would demand that the new strategic investor sign a memorandum listing the decisions it would be required to coordinate with the electricity monopoly and its successor after 2008, when RAO UES was set to breakup.
Some experts say that such a memorandum is crucial. "The government needs to control the implementation of its large-scale 3 trillion rubles investment program to ensure that the funds are used to construct new generating facilities," Kleshchev said.
Kommersant
Russia, Iran disagree on who is to blame for nuclear power plant delays
Three-day talks between Atomstroyexport, Russia's nuclear power equipment and services export monopoly, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran ended in a row because Moscow refused to sign any joint documents with Tehran.
Iran demanded that Moscow supply fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant in south Iran by late March. Atomstroyexport said shipments will inevitably be delayed and requested at least $25 million a month from Tehran.
Although the talks are due to resume in Tehran on Monday, it is becoming clear that the Bushehr NPP will not be completed by September 2007.
Regardless of whether Russian nuclear fuel can be used to generate power at the Bushehr NPP, Iran considers fuel supplies a highly important political issue because once the initial fuel arrived it would acquire a new status during talks with the international community and UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Tehran's uranium enrichment program.
Atomstroyexport said Russia has no intention of supplying fuel to the Bushehr NPP this March.
A spokesman for Atomstroyexport said the company employs mathematical, rather than political, methods to calculate NPP commissioning deadlines.
"If financing is delayed by at least two months, then all other operations, including fuel supplies, will be delayed at least by the same period," he told the paper.
Although it is unclear what Atomstroyexport is currently doing in Bushehr, some operations have reportedly come to a halt there.
It is clear that the Bushehr NPP will not be completed by September 2007. Even if third countries supply equipment, and Iran pays Atomstroyexport $50 million for two months, plus another $25 million each month, the nuclear facility will not start operations before November 2007 and will only go on line next year.
Both sides failed to issue a joint statement to explain the delay during their Moscow talks.
The row suits both the Russian and Iranian authorities because Tehran can now freeze the Bushehr project and blame the stoppage as being Moscow's problems. Russia can cite Iran's refusal to pay for the NPP as the reason for delaying the project.
However, Atomstroyexport, which said it is conducting purely practical negotiations, is the one set to lose out.
Biznes
PwC Russia may be punished for cooperation with Yukos
Representatives of the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General's Office spent last Friday at the Moscow office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. They were collecting evidence to charge its executives with tax evasion and trying to find additional information related to the Yukos case, the beleaguered bankrupt Russian oil company, whose founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving a prison sentence for tax evasion and fraud.
PwC has already suffered as Yukos's agent. Last December, the tax authorities filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court seeking to find invalid the agreement for audit services between PwC and Yukos, and to find it guilty of "a transaction concluded with goals contrary to law, order and morality." The Federal Tax Service accused PwC of compiling two different audit reports when auditing Yukos' activities for 2002, one for external shareholders and the other for internal company management. The report for external use testified to the reliability of Yukos' finances and was in line with Russian legislation. The other, the Service alleges, revealed a "so-called" Production Development Financial Support Fund set up by the oil major, which illegally funneled money for tax evasion. Now the Tax Service is claiming $480,000 back tax from the audit company. The hearing will be held today.
Prosecutors explained their presence at the PwC office saying they were looking for additional evidence in the Yukos case. In early February, the Prosecutor General's Office brought new charges against Khodorkovsky and another former Yukos shareholder, Platon Lebedev, accusing them of money laundering and embezzlement. Investigators confiscated files dated 2002 related to consultative services, spending on which, the tax authorities allege, was wrongly included in spending to reduce profit based tax, and also files related to Yukos' auditing.
Experts who asked to remain anonymous said this was a warning to other auditors as well. "This is a signal to other market players. The authorities are making it clear what will happen to those who cooperate with companies who operate illegally," a lawyer said.
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