Jan .
  2016
ISSUE
No. 49

  USRCC Business Newsletter
USRCC NEWS

6th Annual Ambassador Series

The USRCC invites you to attend a luncheon with 
His Excellency, Sergey I. Kislyak, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States 

Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak was appointed Ambassador to the United States on September 16, 2008, having previously served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. A career diplomat, Kislyak joined the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation/USSR in 1977.  During his distinguished career, Kislyak headed the Foreign Ministry's Security and Disarmament Department (1995-1998), and served simultaneously as the Ambassador to Belgium and as Russia's permanent representative to NATO.  Ambassador Kislyak first served in the United States as second secretary at the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York (1981-85) and, later, as first secretary and counselor Russian Embassy in 
Washington (1985-8 89).

February 11, 2016
Downtown Houston, TX
11:00 am VIP Reception/12:00 pm Luncheon

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For sponsorship opportunities please contact:

The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce
2900 Wilcrest Drive, Suite 133, Houston, TX 77042
Phone: 713.429.4680 Email: [email protected]
USRCC 2016 Membership

Renew your 2016 membership or join for the first time today! 

For more information   click here

 USRCC Trade Mission to Russia
 June 2016

With a population of more than 143 million people and rapidly growing infrastructure, Russia presents U.S. companies with promising opportunity. The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce (USRCC) invites you to participate in a Trade mission to the  St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and Moscow. Participants will have an opportunity to meet Russian government officials and some of the most influential leaders in U.S.-Russia trade and investment relations. The USRCC will coordinate private meetings, an exclusive CEO Roundtable and introductions, in addition to attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPEIF).
Participating companies will gain market insights, make industry contacts, solidify business strategies, find business partners, and advance specific projects with the goal of increasing U.S. trade and investment to Russia. 

For more details about the Trade Mission please click here or contact us

NAPE SUMMIT 2016

February 9th-12th, 2016
George R. Brown Convention Center. Houston, TX

Visit the USRCC booth # 4564  

Please click here for more information about the  NAPE SUMMIT 2016
Member Spotlight
Gazprom Marketing and Trading USA

Established in 2008, GM&T USA focuses on the marketing and trading of natural gas, LNG, and NGL/LPGs in the Americas.  The Houston based office provides its UK based parent company, GM&T Limited, with a firm foothold in the world's largest energy market.  GM&T USA provides the company's marketing and trading  portfolio activities in the Americas focusing on term supply transactions for the power industry as well as the firm's global LNG and liquids businesses.  To read more please visit   Gazprom-mt.com  
Member News
Russia's VTB launches new bank with Russian Post

Reuters.com, January 28, 2016: Jan 28 Russia's second-largest bank VTB on Thursday launched Postal Bank, a joint venture with state-run Russian Post, and said it wanted to start accepting deposits and giving out loans at 3,500 postal branches this year.
As part of launching the bank, VTB will sell 50 percent minus one share of its subsidiary Leto Bank to Russian Post for 5.5 billion roubles ($71.9 million), VTB 24 head Mikhail Zadornov told a news conference.
Zadornov, a former finance minister, said VTB would invest around 16-20 billion roubles in Postal Bank, although that figure could be amended.    Read more...

Iran-dayly.com, January 24, 2016: Iran says it has signed a deal with Russia's Lukoil over two exploration projects in the country's southwestern oil-rich Khouzestan province.
Hormoz Qalavand, the director for exploration affairs of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), has been quoted by the media as saying that Lukoil is to look for hydrocarbon reserves in Dasht-e Abadan and the northern parts of the Persian Gulf.
Qalavand added that the value of the contract is about $6 million, stressing that the Russian company has already started the work over the projects. 
It will also take care of all the costs in both projects, the official added. Read more...
The Week in Review 
Russian Central Bank starts publishing data on sufficiency of international reserves

TASS.ru, January 29, 2016: MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. The Bank of Russia starts publishing data on sufficiency of international reserves from Friday. According to regulator's data as of October 1, 2015, gold and currency reserves are nearly five times higher than the three-month import volume (IMF methodology). Reserves are equal to $371.3 bln and the import volume is $78 bln. Reserve are also sufficient at the same time to cover foreign debt repayments for the nearest year ($134.1 bln), the totality of foreign debt and import payments ($212.1 bln), 20% of commitments included into broad money ($142.3 bln), and the potential outflow of funds if the totality of risks occurs ($179.8 bln).   Read more...
Russians want to talk to OPEC about output, pipeline chief says

Reuters.com, January 27, 2016: Russian officials have decided they should talk to Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries about output cuts to bolster oil prices, the head of Russia's pipeline monopoly said on Wednesday, remarks that helped spur a sharp rise in world prices.
Oil futures surged more than 5 percent after the comments by Nikolai Tokarev, head of oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, which gave the strongest hint yet of possible cooperation between the top non-OPEC oil producer and the cartel to try to reverse a record glut.
Brent crude rose by over $2 to $32.95 a barrel, after a session low of $30.83. It was also boosted by U.S. demand following a blizzard.    Read more...
Rosneft increases supplies to Lotos

Oilvoice.com, January 25, 2016: Rosneft and Grupa Lotos S.A. agreed to extend the contract for oil supplies to Poland signed on December 20, 2013. The updated commercial terms and conditions envisage a year extension of the contract (till December 31, 2017) and increase of supplies by 300 thousand tons to reach 2.7 million tons of oil per year.
The agreement to continue cooperation with Lotos proves the quality of Rosneft's partnership relations with major consumers in traditional regions of Russian oil sales (this is Company's second large contract for oil supplies to Polish consumers signed in December 2015-January 2016). Access to infrastructure channels of supplies, and particularly to the Druzhba oil pipeline, provides for uninterrupted crude delivery to European refineries maximizing their economic efficiency
Plexus signs Russian licence agreement with two oilfield services businesses

Oilvoice.com, January 26, 2016: Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP® friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, announces that on 25 January 2016 it entered into an exclusive licence agreement with LLC Gusar (OOO Gusar) Ltd, and CJSC Konar (ZAO Konar), two independent Russian oil and gas equipment manufacturers, to undertake the rental, manufacture and servicing of Plexus' jack-up drilling wellhead exploration equipment into the Russian Federation and the other CIS states oil and gas markets.
This Licence Agreement is a significant strategic milestone for Plexus as it continues to expand its best in class POS-GRIP wellhead equipment into major global markets by partnering with established local manufacturers and oil service providers with existing commercial relationships with key local national and international oil companies.  Read more...
Gas Hub, Kozloduy NPP's Units 5-6 Top Agenda of Bulgaria-Russia Committee 

Novinite.com, January 27, 2016: An intergovernmental committee between Bulgaria and Russia has discussed Sofia's gas hub project and the modernization of nuclear units in its first session in five years.
Russian is now seen as one of the sources that could pump gas into the distribution center, according to the Bulgarian Economy Ministry's press office.
The two sides have agreed, during their Wednesday session in Sofia, Bulgaria, to cooperate on the modernization of Units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant.
Electricity distribution system operators of Bulgaria and Russia will also work together to study each other's experience in cases of emergency and severe climate conditions.  Read more...
Rosneft subsidiary starts production at Zapadno-Epasskoye field

Oilvoice.com, January 20, 2016: RN-Uvatneftegaz, a Rosneft subsidiary, started commercial oil production at Zapadno-Epasskoye field, a new field of the Uvat project.
The field is located 250 km away from the village of Uvat within the Ust-Tegussky license area. Its recoverable oil reserves amount to over 17 mln mt. Currently the field's well stock accounts to seven wells. Hydraulic fracturing implemented at two wells enabled boosting its joint oil production rate to 470 cubic meters per day.
Facilities of Zapadno-Epasskoye field are part of the Eastern Development Center (EDC) infrastructure, which allows getting substantial synergy effect. EDC also includes the Urnenskoye, the Ust-Tegusskoye, the Yuzhno-Gavrikovskoye, and the Malyk fields.  Read more...
Russia, Finland to Continue Cooperation on Nord Stream 
2 Gas Pipeline

Sputnik,com, January 29, 2016: Russia and Finland will continue their cooperation on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday following a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Juha Sipila.  MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Nord Stream-2 project is a joint venture to build a  gas pipeline  that would run under the Baltic Sea to provide an additional route for Russian gas supplies to Germany, bypassing the three Baltic countries and Poland.
Russia's energy giant Gazprom started the project with a consortium of five large European energy companies, including Shell, OMV and EON.
The project plans to use the original Nord Stream pipeline for 86 percent of the route before branching off.    Read more...
Russia's Alrosa quarterly sales up 45%

Mining.com, January 28, 2016: Russia's Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), the world's No.1 diamond producer by output in carats, injected some fresh good news into the gems market Thursday by  announcing its sales in the last quarter of 2015jumped by 45%.
Rough diamonds sales rose to 7.1 million carats in October through December. This compares with 4.9 million carats of sales in the third quarter, when Alrosa had to stockpile 58% of its production in response to weak demand and prices.
Quarterly production, however, dropped 26% to 8.61 million carats in the fourth quarter compared with the previous three months, Alrosa said. Total output in 2015 climbed to 38.3 million carats, while sales were only 30 million carats, the miner said.  Read more...
Decision On Oil Cut Only Possible If All Exporters Agree, Russian Energy Minister Says

Bloomberg.com, January 29, 2016: A decision on cutting oil production is possible only if all crude-exporting nations are in agreement and there's no timing for talks, Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.
"We're ready to discuss the issue of cutting oil output volumes" but not ready for a decision, Novak said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. "We're ready to consider the possibility; this should be a consensus. If there's a consensus, it makes sense." Oil pared gains after Novak's comments. Prices closed at the highest in three weeks on Thursday after Novak said that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers may meet to discuss output. Traders have looked for signs of cooperation between producing nations after a global glut of crude pushed prices to a 12-year low.    Read more...
NOVATEK announces year-end 2015 reserves

Oilvoice.com, January 26, 2016: OAO NOVATEK announced that independent petroleum engineers, DeGolyer & MacNaughton, have completed their comprehensive reserve appraisal of the Company's hydrocarbon reserves as of 31 December 2015.
Total SEC proved reserves, including the Company's proportionate share in joint ventures, aggregated 12,817 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), including 1,775 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 143 million metric tons (mmt) of liquid hydrocarbons. In 2015, NOVATEK increased the proved reserves by 1.4% and recorded a reserve replacement rate of 133%. On an organic basis (excluding the effect of lower share in the SeverEnergia joint venture) the reserve replacement rate amounted to 148%, which is equal to reserves addition of 774 million boe, inclusive of 2015 production.  Optional Link
Russia to launch Resurs-P satellite on March 12

Spacedaily.com, January 28, 2016: The launch of Russia's Resurs-P No. 3 remote sensing satellite has been scheduled for March 12, the Russian Space Systems (RSS) company said Wednesday.
"In the current year, another four remote sensing satellites are planned to be launched. Among the spacecraft are Resurs-P No. 3, Kanopus-V-IK, Meteor-M No.1 and 2, and Elektro-L No. 3. The launch of Resurs-P No. 3 is planned for March 12," Russia's space corporation Roscosmos department of automatic space systems deputy head Valeriy Zaichko said, as quoted in the company's statement.
A remote Earth sensing system will be created on this basis in 2016, the statement added.
Read more...
Proton-M rocket carrying Eutelsat 9B communications satellite set for launch from Baikonur

Spaceflightinsider.com, January 28, 2016: The International Launch Services (ILS) company is set to launch its Proton-M rocket on Friday, Jan. 29. The booster is being sent aloft to deliver the Eutelsat 9B communications satellite to orbit. Liftoff is scheduled to take place at 5:20 p.m. EST (22:20 GMT) from Launch Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The launch was initially planned to take place on Jan. 25, but it was delayed due to weather-related logistical issues. Currently, the Proton-M booster is erected on the launch pad and is ready for the final processing before the scheduled liftoff.
On Sunday, Jan. 24, the rocket was transferred from the processing and testing facility to the fueling area where the upper stage low-pressure tanks were filled.  Read more...
Russian National Orchestra to go on a big U.S. tour

Rbth.com, January 29, 2016: The Russian national orchestra will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a series of concert tours. One of the tours will travel to 16 U.S. cities from February 19-March 9, 2016, according to the orchestra's press service.
In the U.S., the orchestra will give concerts in 16 cities in California, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Florida and at Carnegie Hall in New York. The program includes music by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mozart, Schumann, Borodin, Prokofiev, Glazunov and Mendelssohn.  Read more...
US-Russia Related News in Russian
Новости 
Российские нефтяники обсудят с ОПЕК снижение добычи

Vedomosti.ru, 27 января, 2016: Российские нефтяники готовы обсудить с ОПЕК снижение добычи, сообщило агентство ТАСС со ссылкой на руководителя «Транснефти» Николая Токарева. По словам Токарева, встреча стран ОПЕК может состояться в феврале, а летом "Транснефть" и нефтяники могут скорректировать планы экспорта, передал "Интерфакс".
Речь идет о переговорах с Саудовской Аравией для повышения цен на нефть, сказал Токарев журналистам, комментируя итоги совещания нефтяников с министром энергетики Александром Новаком.     Читать далее...
«Газпром» инвестирует в Сахалин 20 миллиардов рублей

Regnum.ru, 29 января, 2016: В регионе продолжат программу газификации и перевод транспорта на газомоторное топливо
ЮЖНО-САХАЛИНСК29 Января 2016, 09:28 - REGNUM  Инвестиции «Газпрома» в Сахалин в 2016 году составят 19,5 миллиардов рублей. Еще 600 миллионов запланировано на газификацию региона. Помимо этого «Газпром» поможет Сахалину с поставкой оборудования для модульных лыжных комплексов. Об этом в ходе встречи в Москве договорились председатель правления корпорации  Алексей Миллер и губернатор Сахалинской области  Олег Кожемяко, сообщает корреспондент  ИА REGNUMЧитать далее...
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The USRCC is looking for new team members!

The USRCC is now looking for interns for its Houston, Chicago and  New York Office s.  To learn more about the position please click here or contact us directly at [email protected] or call 713.429.4680
The information contained in this newsletter is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice on any subject matter. USRCC does not accept any responsibility for any loss that may arise from reliance on information contained in this newsletter. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not reflect the opinions or views of the USRCC or its members.  Links within this newsletter lead to other websites, including those operated and maintained by third parties. The linked sites are not part of the USRCC newsletter. USRCC includes these links solely as a convenience to the newsletter subscribers, and the presence of such links does not imply a responsibility for the linked site and its operator. USRCC cannot certify the accuracy of the material provided by the original  source .
The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce (USRCC)  is  a 501(c)(6) no t for  profit  corporation with its headquarters  in Houston, Texas,  and offices in the Midwest and the Northeast. The USRCC  was established in 2009 to promote  trade and investment  between  the  Russia n Federation  and the U.S. A.