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Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (L) and Vagit Alekperov, president of Russia's second largest oil producer LUKOIL, meet at Novo-Ogaryovo just outside Moscow July 18, 2008.



Today

28/ 07/ 2008



By Robin Paxton and Tolgahan Ozkan

MOSCOW/ISTANBUL, July 28 (Reuters) - Russian oil major LUKOIL (LKOH.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed to buy Turkish fuel distributor Akpet for $500 million on Monday, securing 5 percent of Turkey's oil product retail market as it continues its downstream expansion.
LUKOIL, Russia's second-largest oil producer, plans to double its Turkish market share to 10 percent within a decade after acquiring eight oil product terminals with total capacity of 300,000 cubic metres, company president Vagit Alekperov said.

"LUKOIL bought Akpet for a little bit more than $500 million," Alekperov told a news conference in Istanbul after signing the deal with Akpet's owners.
LUKOIL last month took its first major step into the western European refining business with the $2.1 billion purchase of a 49 percent stake in Italian refiner ERG SpA's (ERG.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) Isab di Priolo refinery on Sicily.
The Russian company, owned 20 percent by U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research), plans to invest $25 billion in refining and retail over the next decade, excluding acquisitions. Its acquisition of Akpet, which operates 693 gas filling stations in Turkey, also gives LUKOIL control of five liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks with total capacity of 7,650 cubic metres.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt...29855920080728

Russia's LUKoil buys Turkish oil retailer
MOSCOW, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's second largest oil producer LUKoil has bought 100% in Turkish oil product retailer Akpet, which has a 5% market share, the company said on Monday.

http://en.rian.ru/business/20080728/115054326.html


LUKoil (RTS:LKOH LSE: LKOD NASDAQ: LUKOY) (Russian: ЛУКойл; pronounced /lukɔɪl/) is Russia's largest oil company and its largest producer of oil. In 2006, it produced 95.2 million metric tons of oil.
Its international upstream subsidiary is called LUKOIL Overseas Holding. Headquartered in Moscow, LUKOIL is the second largest public company (next to ExxonMobil) in terms of proven oil and gas reserves (ca. 20 bn boe by SPE standards; some 1.3% of global oil reserves).
LUKoil's North American Headquarters are in East Meadow, New York, USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LUKoil

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Is Fannie Mae for sale?

BROKE US : Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapse despite the FED intervention

Fresh fears as Fannie and Freddie plunge

By Michael Mackenzie, Saskia Scholtes and Nicole Bullock in New York and Krishna Guhain Washington

Published: August 19 2008 02:17 | Last updated: August 19 2008 02:17

Fears about the financial system grew on Monday as money market liquidity tightened and sharp falls in the share prices of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led the US stock market lower.

Fannie’s and Freddie’s shares lost 22 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, after an article in Barron’s suggested that the US government was considering recapitalising the companies on terms that would all but wipe out existing shareholders.

The concerns about Fannie and Freddie also spread to their debt, which fell in price. This threatened to push interest rates on mortgages backed by the two firms higher and put further pressure on the battered housing market.

The average rate on so-called “conforming” 30-year fixed rate mortgages has already risen by about 60 basis points since the start of June to 6.69 per cent.

Anxieties were also reflected in the money markets, where the three-month London interbank offered rate – the key rate at which banks lend to each other in US dollars – rose to a two-month high.

“There is still stress in the system,” said George Goncalves at Morgan Stanley. “Libor is creeping up and banks are still restructuring their balance sheets.”

A Treasury spokeswoman said the report in Barron’s was “speculative” and the US government still had no intention of using its newly acquired powers to invest in the two firms.

However, selling spread to other financial institutions with direct exposure to Fannie and Freddie, and to the housing market in general, highlighting the systemic importance of the two companies and the danger that their troubles could cause renewed financial contagion.

Financial shares also fell, helping to push the S&P 500 down 1.5 per cent.

The price of insurance against default on Fannie and Freddie subordinated debt hit record levels in the credit default swaps market, according to data from Markit. Risk spreads on their senior debt – which most analysts presume would be fully honoured by the government in any rescue – widened to levels last seen in the immediate run-up to the Treasury’s July 13 rescue plan, Credit Suisse said.

Under that plan, the US government secured from Congress blanket authority to invest in Fannie and Freddie, but held back from actually doing so.

Three-month Libor reached 2.81 per cent, a level not seen since mid-June, in spite of the decline in expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate rise since then.

“A year’s worth of tightening credit is only now being felt,” said Tobias Levkovich, chief US equity strategist at Citigroup.

Swaps forecasting the difference between three-month Libor and the Fed funds rate for the end of the year rose to 93bp, up from 79bp less than a week ago.

Further evidence emerged last week that banks were scrambling to raise short-term funds. Concerns about banks’ health have made it harder and more expensive for them to access funds.

Reflecting this, demand for funds from the Fed’s Term Auction Facility, introduced as a prop to the banking system, has risen. Similarly, European banks have flocked to the European Central Bank for dollar funds.

Mr Goncalves said a sudden surge in Libor could lead to an expansion of the $150bn TAF.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cd9456d8-6...nclick_check=1

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War between Russia and Georgia orchestrated from USA

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28 August 2008

The ruble snapped a three-day decline against the dollar as Russian companies with income in foreign currencies bought rubles to meet a tax deadline and as concern that credit-market losses will widen pushed the U.S. currency lower.

The Russian currency rebounded from an almost seven-month low to the dollar as local firms purchased rubles to pay a total 230 billion rubles ($9.4 billion) of taxes due Thursday, said Alexei Moiseyev, head of fixed-income research at Renaissance Capital.

"Tax payments are one of the reasons why the ruble has come back a bit," he said. "Another is that the dollar is weak and so investors are looking for other places to put their money."

The ruble rose to 24.6094 per dollar by 5:44 p.m. in Moscow, from 24.6621 Tuesday, when it slid to 24.7676, its weakest level since February. It fell 0.3 percent to 36.2538 per euro.

The dollar slipped from a six-month high versus the euro as oil rose and after the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the number of problem banks has increased to the most in five years as a result of turmoil in credit markets.

The ruble was steady at 29.8508 to the dollar/euro basket.
Many export-driven natural resource companies make the bulk of their earnings in dollars.
"That necessitates them having to change it over to pay tax,'' said Moiseyev, who forecasts the ruble will rise to 29 versus the basket by year end.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/articles/detail.php?ID=370486




10:00 | 29/ 08/ 2008

MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Central Bank said Friday the country's narrowly defined money supply (M1) was 4 trillion 559.7 billion rubles ($185.7 billion at the current exchange rate) as of August 25, up 20.6 billion rubles ($839 million) in the week since August 18.

According to the Bank, M1 money supply consists of the currency issued by the bank, including cash in vaults of credit institutions, and required reserves balances on ruble deposits with the Central Bank.

http://en.rian.ru/business/20080829/116366184.html

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War between Russia and Georgia orchestrated from USA

READ MORE -- http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/co...ssia_georgia-0