Feb .
 2016
ISSUE
No. 53

  USRCC Business Newsletter
USRCC NEWS
Senior Executive Speaker Series h onoring Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom
February 25, 2016



The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce hosted a breakfast reception  honoring Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom. More than 35 executives attended the breakfast event, showcasing the continued interest in U.S.-Russia trade and investment. 

Alexander Medvedev stated, "Russia and the United States share a history of pioneering... and we have revolutionized the oil and gas industry." He ended the presentation by emphasizing, "We still have a lot to do." More information about Mr. Medvedev is available here

Guests included C-level executives from Baker Hughes, Chevron, Emerson, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, KPMG, Macquarie Energy, Mitsui, Parker Drilling, Saipem, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., and more.

This event would not have been possible without the support, partnership and sponsorship from Gazprom Marketing and Trading USA.

To view the event photos 
6th Annual Ambassador Speaker Series honoring Sergey I. Kislyak February 11, 2016

 

The 6th Annual Ambassador Speaker Series Luncheon  provided sponsors and guests with the unique opportunity to meet with and interact with His Excellency, Sergey I. Kislyak, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States. Ambassador Kislyak provided guests with a direct update about US-Russia relations, sanctions, the economy, challenges and opportunities.  More than 150 guests were in attendance and came prepared with candid questions for His Excellency. 

Special thanks to our sponsors for making this event so successful.  ExxonMobil, LUKOIL, Shell and TMK IPSCO were gold sponsors;  Chevron and  Gazprom Marketing & Trading were silver sponsors. 

To view more photos  click here.

USRCC 2016 Membership

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 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

Member News
LUKOIL granted right to use subsoil block of federal significance in Baltic Sea

Oilvoice.com, February 22, 2016:  In accordance with Directive of the Russian Federation Government No. 246-r. of 18 February 2016, OOO LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft (a wholly-owned subsidiary of PJSC LUKOIL) was granted the right to use a subsoil block of federal significance which includes the D33 oil field in the Baltic Sea for the purpose of hydrocarbon exploration and production.
The D33 field was discovered in 2015. An exploration well there was drilled from a Russian-made jack-up drilling rig.
The field contains recoverable oil reserves of 21.2 million tons.  Read more...
Gazprom and Bolivia Advancing Cooperation to New Levels

Rogtecmagazine.com, February 22, 2016: A Gazprom delegation headed by  Alexey Miller, Chairman of the  Gazprom Management Committee, visited today  Bolivia.
Tarija hosted a working meeting between Alexey Miller and Evo Morales, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. The parties discussed a wide range of issues relating to the ongoing and future energy cooperation. This collaboration was noted to be strategic and long-term.
Another working meeting was held between Alexey Miller and Luis Alberto Sanchez, Bolivian Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy. The meeting addressed further business development of Gazprom in Bolivia.   Read more...
The Week in Review 
European Commission: Any new gas pipelines should meet all EU standards

Tass.ru, February 25, 2016: BRUSSELS, February 25. /TASS/. Any natural gas pipelines, including the new joint project of Russia's Gazprom, Italian Edison and Greece's DEPA on construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea should meet all EU standards, press service of the European Commission (EC) told TASS on Thursday.
"We saw information about the agreement of three private companies, including Gazprom, on the intention to build a new gas pipeline in the Black Sea. The European Commission will monitor compliance of this project with all European standards, including the Third Energy Package and other energy market regulations," the EC said. At the same time, "no official information has been received so far" regarding the potential parameters of the future project, press service of the EC said.  Read more...
Oil prices to stay low next year and beyond with no output freeze - Russian energy minister

Rt.com, February 25, 2016: The failure of oil producing countries to strike a deal on capping crude production may keep oil prices low through 2017 and beyond, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said on Thursday.
"If the countries don't agree [on decreasing production - Ed.] competition and production increases will continue, and prices may stay low in 2016, 2017, and so on," Novak told journalists.
Russia won't increase oil production this year, it will equal the 2015 level [almost 11 million barrels a day - Ed.], according to the minister.
Novak considers the initiative to stabilize oil output at January 2016 level as reasonable. The plan to freeze oil production levels was put forward earlier this month by Russia and Saudi Arabia.
 
Read more...
Rosneft and PDVSA signed Heads of Agreement for Joint Development of the Offshore Natural Gas Project in Venezuela

Rogtecmagazine, February 22, 2016: Rosneft and PDVSA signed Heads of Agreement to establish a joint venture for implementation of the large-scale project for production, treatment and sale of natural gas at the offshore fields Patao, Mejillones and potentially Rio Caribe in Venezuela.
The Heads of Agreement is concluded in elaboration of the Memorandum on the joint projects development that was signed by the parties in June 2015 at the St-Petersburg International Economics Forum.
The new Heads of Agreement, concluded with the support from the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, provides that the parties shall move to the practical stage and perform the in-depth feasibility study on the project.  Read more...
Tatneft: Establishes Drilling Operations Control Center

Rogtecmagazine, February 18, 2016: TATNEFT has reorganized the drilling service and set up a Drilling Operations Control Center.
To improve the well construction management efficiency the Company has changed the scheme of drilling operations organization. The Drilling offices of the Oil and Gas Producing Divisions (NGDUs) are being centralized in a single service of the Company's Executive Office. Starting July 1, 2015 the TATNEFT's drilling sector has got three Departments: well construction, supervising and new technologies. The Drilling Operations Center has been established for the purpose of managing and monitoring the drilling operations.
Phased transfer of all the NGDUs to the new system began in 2015 and will be completed in the current year and it is solving tasks of reducing costs, improving the efficiency of drilling and the well construction process.  Read more. ..
VimpelCom FCPA disgorgement is third biggest ever

Fcpablog.com, February 23, 2016: VimpelCom's $397.6 million FCPA settlement last week included a disgorgement to the SEC that ranks third on our list of the biggest FCPA disgorgements of all time.
The company agreed to pay the SEC $167.5 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest.
Our list of the top ten FCPA disgorgements hadn't changed since December 2014, with Avon's enforcment action.
Disgorgement, according to contributing editor Marc Alain Bohn, is a remedy authorized by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that's "used to deprive wrong-doers of their ill-gotten gains and deter violations of federal securities law."  Read more...
Russian Space Intelligence Center to Receive New Radars

Spacedaily.com, February 23, 2016: Russia's Main Space Intelligence Center, a component of the Aerospace Forces, will receive new radars, optical electronics and advanced means of technical surveillance in the near future, its chief said Monday.
"The Main Center will receive new radar, optical and electronic means, the latest means of technical control and many others in the near future," Col. Andrei Kalyuta said in an interview with the Russian News Service radio.
The center's main objective, he added, is tracking foreign spacecraft and space systems.
Chirp & whistle: Russian space agency releases space 'songs' (VIDEO)

Rt.com, February 23, 2016: Many believe there are no sounds in the universe because of the vacuum. But Russia's space agency Roscosmos reveals in a viral video that pulsars, auroras and even black holes can "sing" their own songs.
Even solar flares or large-scale asteroids' collisions happen in complete silence, Roscosmos scientists said in a YouTube video.
But "cosmic melodies" emitted by pulsars, the sun, Jupiter and its moon Ganymede, black holes, the Aurora Borealis and interstellar space have been recorded by the agency with the radio telescopes.   Read more...
Revival of Russian Spacecraft? Mysterious Origins 
of NASA New Space Shuttle

Sputnik.com, February 25, 2016: The newest American mini-shuttle Dream Chaser, which is planned to be used as a means of delivery of cargo to the International Space Station, turns out, was derived from a lost Soviet space plane, The Washington Post wrote.
In the summer of 1982 the Soviet BOR-4 (Unpiloted Orbital Rocketplane 4 splashed down into the Indian Ocean south of Cocoas Islands) after a few orbital flights.
An Australian reconnaissance and patrol aircraft P-3C Orion managed to snap some photographs of how the Soviet seamen pulled out the rocket plane from the ocean onto the Petropavlovsk ship.
Russian high tech pizza coming to America

Rt.com,February 24, 2016: A pizza franchise from Russia's far north has big ambitions to conquer America's Deep South. Dodo Pizza is moving from Syktyvkar in Russia's Komi Republic to the small US town of Oxford, Mississippi.
The restaurant will have a soft opening this Thursday, with the official opening scheduled for the beginning of March.
Dodo has big American dreams and plans to open 400 restaurants within 10 years, both self-owned and under franchise, the company owner Fedor Ovchinnikov  told business daily Vedomosti.
According to Ovchinnikov, Dodo will be assisted by PMQ Pizza Magazine publisher Steve Green.
The pizza maker will invest about $500,000 in the first store, which should be paid off by the summer of 2018, according to Ovchinnikov. He expects the restaurant will have monthly sales of $45,000 by July-August this year.   Read more...
US-Russia Related News in Russian

Новости членов Палаты
Shell подписала пятилетний контракт на разведку нефти и газа в Черном море

Kommersant.ru, 23 февраля, 2016: Министр энергетики Болгарии Теменужка Петкова сообщила, что компания Royal Dutch Shell подписала пятилетний контракт на разведку нефти и газа в Черном море у болгарского побережья, передает  Bloomberg. При этом Shell планирует вложить в разведку блока Силистар €18,6 млн.
Ранее «Ъ» сообщал, что завершилось слияние двух энергетических компаний - Royal Dutch Shell и BG Group. Shell стала второй по величине нефтегазовой компанией в мире, обойдя Chevron и уступая лишь Exxon Mobil. В результате сделки, сумма которой составила $53 млрд, Shell получила доступ к активам в Австралии и Бразилии, а также портфелю BG в сфере СПГ.   Читать далее...
Группа ВТБ приготовилась к новым покупкам

Rbc.ru, 23 февраля, 2016: Группа ВТБ спустя пять лет после покупки Банка Москвы готова к новым приобретениям, узнал «Коммерсантъ». ВТБ24 ведет переговоры о приобретении Запсибкомбанка
Банк ВТБ24 ведет переговоры о приобретении крупнейшего регионального банка в Тюменской области - Запсибкомбанка. Об этом пишет в среду газета «Коммерсантъ» со ссылкой на источники на банковском рынке.
По словам одного из источников, обсуждаемая цена сделки - около одного капитала (12-13 млрд руб.). Другой собеседник отметил, что ВТБ24 уже начал процедуру due diligence Запсибкомбанка. 
Читать 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.