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Energy & Environment
Kazakhstan: Nabucco needs action, not just talk
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Kazakhstan's leader said Sunday (18 July) the European Union was doing too little to bring to life the Nabucco pipeline, which aims to take Caspian Sea gas to Europe and reduce the bloc's dependence on Russia."In Europe there is a lot of talk on Nabucco [...] but in reality little gets done," Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a joint news briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Kazakh capital, adding that his comments were not criticism.Kazakhstan remains close to Russia ...
Gas supply crises: better protection for householders
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Householders should not have to go without gas due to a gas-supply crisis, and such crises should be better managed, thanks to EU-wide co-ordination procedures and interconnection requirements laid down in draft legislation agreed informally with the Council at the end of June and approved by the Industry Committee on Tuesday.The proposed regulation, prompted by the 2008 and 2009 gas crises, when supplies of Russian gas through Ukraine to the EU were disrupted by disputes between Moscow and ...
South Stream Swallows Nabucco, Kommersant Says
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Russia's Gazprom aims to weaken Nabucco by luring German utility RWE into joining its South Stream gas pipeline project, Russian Kommersant newspaper reported, quoted by novinite.com. “The more participants in the Russian project, the weaker the rival – this is Moscow's slogan,” the newspaper says in an article, entitled “South Stream Swallows Nabucco from the Inside”.The article comes days after German daily Handelsblatt reported that Russia's Gazprom has offered German utility RWE to join ...
ButanGas sets its sights on wind power development
Thursday, July 15, 2010
ButanGas Romania, one of the largest players on the Romanian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution market, acquired 90% in Constanta-based company Romconstruct Top, taking the first step towards development of wind power projects after announcing its interest for generating energy from renewable sources as early as 2008.According to the available data, Romconstruct Top is the beneficiary of one of the largest amounts of European funding granted so far on the Romanian market for boosting ...
Kazakhs only willing to pay 100m dollars of Petromidia debt in cash
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Kazakh group KazMunaiGaz has officially informed the Romanian Government that it intends to pay only 100 million dollars in cash, of the nearly 600 million-euro (750 million-dollar) debt owed to the Romanian state, with the rest to be converted into Rompetrol shares. The authorities are still seeking ways to get cash, even via an instalment payment of the debt over two or three years, official sources told ZF.On the other hand, the Kazakhs say the state is bound to accept their offer, and ...
Petrom – Petrofac to increase production in Ticleni by 50% by 2015
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Petrom, the largest company in Romania signed a contract for cumulative production enhancement out of nine onshore fields in Ticleni area by at least 50%, in the next five years. The fields cover around 2.5% of Petrom’s total domestic production.Under the 15-year contract, Petrofac will perform services in the respective fields in order to maximize production while improving operational efficiency. In this view, Petrofac will provide the necessary expertise and technologies as well as the ...
Solar park to be built near Sfantu Ghorghe
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Local Council of the city of central Sfantu Gheorghe on Wednesday approved the award of a 4-ha plot of land for the construction of a solar park.The total value of the investment is put at RON 45 million (more than 10 million euros) and the local authorities will attempt to raise one third of the amount under the Regional Operational Programme, the renewable resources component.The electricity to be generated by the future sun station, designed for a 2.4-MW capacity ...
Hungary's MOL wins exploration rights in Romania
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Hungarian oil and gas group MOL (MOLB.BU: Quote) and its Romanian partner, Expert Petroleum, won exploration rights in three blocks in Western Romania, MOL said on Monday.The blocks cover a total area of 3,434 square kilometres, and each is located in the lowlands close to Romania's border with Hungary, MOL said in a release on the Budapest Stock Exchange web site. "The first working phase of the exploration is expected to start in 2011," MOL said. "According to previous2 calculations, the ...
Electricity consumption up 3.5 pct
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The final consumption of electricity reached 21.136 billion kW h January through May, 2010, by 3.5 percent a higher figure compared to the same interval in 2009, according to provisional data issued by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Electricity consumption in public lightning decreased by 2.2 percent, while the consumption of the population increased by 2.7 percent in January-May 2010, compared to the same period last year. Power exports dropped by 1.345 ...
China to host climate talks before Mexico meeting
Thursday, July 8, 2010
China will host an extra round of international negotiations in October aimed at fostering agreement over a new climate treaty, the United Nations' top environment official said in remarks published on Monday.Achim Steiner, a UN under-secretary general who is director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), told the China Daily the extra round of negotiations would take place in the north Chinese port city of Tianjin, which is close to Beijing."China will introduce some new ideas and ...
Bulgaria agrees to host South Stream
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Bulgaria and Russia have made important breakthroughs in the negotiations for the construction of the South Stream gas transit pipeline on Bulgarian soil, the Economy Ministry announced in a special statement, novinite.com informs.After the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov visited Sofia Tuesday for energy talks, both Bulgaria and Russia announced an improvement in the bilateral dialogue on the three large-scale energy projects – the South Stream gas transit pipeline, the ...
Lukoil Romania Might Expand Gas Station Network With 50 New Units
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Lukoil Romania might expand its gas station network with 50 new units, once new highways are built, said Thursday Constantin Tampiza, development strategy coordinator at Russian oil group’s local unit.Lukoil Romania currently has 310 gas stations.Moreover, the company decided that all the oil products obtained at its Petrotel-Lukoil refinery in the southern city of Ploiesti will be delivered to the local market, and the unit will reduce its gas emissions after completing this year an ...
Romania-Russia Relations Could Be Improved By South Stream
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Romania’s involvement in the South Stream gas pipeline developed by Russia and Italy could improve relations between Bucharest and Moscow, according to Constantin Tampiza, development strategy coordinator at Lukoil Romania. "Today, relations are warmer between Russia and Romania, and any new source of energy guarantees the possibility of overcoming all risks ," Tampiza said.The gas pipe costs are estimated at EUR19-24 billion.Russian Gazprom vice-preisdent Aleksandr Medvedev said Wednesday ...
Dafora to provide €16 mn drilling rig to OMV Petrom
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Oil drilling company Dafora Medias (ticker:DAFR) announced the launch of a new drilling rig that will be employed in the drilling works at 3700 Moinesti, Bacau for OMV Petrom, the company said in a filing to Bucharest Stock Exchange.The rig is manufactured in Germany and costs around €16 million. Unique in Romania, the rig is used to drill gas, oil and geothermal water wells at up to 6,000m depth.The equipment complies with the most restrictive emission standards and obtained ATEX 95, ...
Petrom targets annual modified bitumen sales of 25,000 tons
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Petrom, the largest Romanian company said it had started the production of polymer modified bitumen in Romania under the brand name OMV Starfalt. “The fact that we are now producing this modified bitumen, OMV Starfalt brings a series opf benefits to our clients. We continue to supply the same quality product while the delivery time is reduced by approximately 50%”, said Rainer Schlang , member of Petrom executive board.Petrom officials target annual modified bitumen sales of 25,000 tons in ...
EU plans 'transition subsidies' for coal sector
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The European Commission is planning to prolong subsidies for the coal industry until 2023, in an effort to help the sector's transition to cleaner energy and the eventual closure of mines, EurActiv has learnt. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia proposes to establish a "transitory regime," which would allow the hard coal industry to receive closure aid and recover costs. The aid would be granted as part of a plan to close the mines definitively by 2023. The proposed derogation would ...
Retailers adopt green code of conduct
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Major EU retailers, including Carrefour and Tesco, have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct seeking to reduce their environmental footprint on issues ranging from energy use to sustainable sourcing of fish and timber.With the 'code for environmentally sustainable business', launched yesterday (24 June), the signatories commit to a set of principles and measures aimed at reducing their environmental footprint in six areas.These include more sustainable sourcing of specific products, such ...
European Commissioner Dalli underscores importance of preserving Danube Delta diversity
Thursday, July 1, 2010
European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection John Dalli has recently underscored the importance of preserving the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, mentioning particularly the extraordinary diversity of the zone.He said that diversity is one of the most valuable heritages of Europe. I could see here not just the diversity of a certain European region, but the extraordinary diversity of a small region in itself, he said. I saw that people can work together while preserving specific ...
Craiova Energy Complex to pay €96 million for two FGD plants
Thursday, July 1, 2010
State-run energy producer Craiova Energy Complex said it would pay €96.4 million for the construction of two flue-gas desulfurization plants at the No. 7 and 8 power units in Isalnita.The energy company will organize on August 25 an open tender to appoint a company to take on the design, manufacturing and installation responsibilities for the two plants.Craiova Energy Complex will bear the costs of this investment from its own resources, a credit facility and structural funds. ...
CEZ bids €1 mn for state stake in CEZ Services
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Czech-based CEZ has offered state electricity supplier Electrica €1 million for the 37% stake the state holds in CEZ Services, but the offer is likely to be rejected for being too low.“The bid to Electrica SA is the same as the first one, of €1 million for the stake in CEZ Services. We raise our bid. We are waiting for the state decision”, said the chief executive of CEZ Romania, Jan Veskrna.The chief executive of Electrica SA, Ioan Folescu told NewsIn on Wednesday that it will discuss the ...