WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Top Iranian gas negotiator reportedly resigns
Industry reports say Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, the longtime Iranian gas negotiator, has recently resigned as Iran's Conservative leadership increases its grip on key offices.
Hosseinian, deputy oil minister and head of Iranian gas policy, has reportedly tendered his resignation after surviving just over a year under the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
According to one industry report, Hosseinian was one of the only top officials to hold on to his job after last year's shakeup, but resigned amid the rising political interventionism in energy policy as key officials were reshuffled in the state oil and gas companies.
As deputy oil minister for international affairs, Hosseinian represented a key and familiar link between the oil ministry and foreign investors, as well as leading Iran's talks on gas exports with the major investors such as Shell and Total.
The resignation will likely be illustrative of the tensions at play.
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Russian watchdogs accused of poor oversight
A top Russian prosecutor criticized two government watchdogs Tuesday for poor environmental oversight, ITAR-TASS reported.
Alexander Buksman, Russia's first deputy general prosecutor, criticized the Federal Service for Natural Resources Oversight, or Rosprirodnadzor, and the Federal Mineral Resources Agency, or Rosnedra, for failing to enforce prosecutors' orders.
He said Rosprirodnadzor did not "perform its functions to the full extent" and failed to apply administrative sanctions when necessary.
"In the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District only 711 of the (General) Prosecutor's Office's 1,300 orders have been enforced. How can we call it efficient work?" Buksman said at a government meeting on mineral resources development in this oil-rich Russian region.
With regards to Rosnedra, he said the regulator should revoke licenses from violators of environmental law and called for closer cooperation the General Prosecutor's Office and the Natural Resources Ministry on the matter.
The two watchdogs report to the Natural Resources Ministry.
Russian authorities have recently began probing the compliance of Shell-led Sakhalin-2, and the ExxonMobil-led Sakhalin-1 on environmental compliance.
Moscow, Kiev agree on gas prices for 2007
Russia and Ukraine have secured an agreement Tuesday to raise the price of natural gas deliveries from $95 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2006 to $130 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2007, according to Russian and Ukrainian media reports.
The deal comes as a major victory for Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on gas from Russia. Earlier plans included raising the price of gas to an average European level of $230 per 1,000 cubic meters, but the post-Soviet state may have to make major concessions to Russia in return for the lower gas price, according to industry experts.
RosUkrEnergo, the sole supplier of Russian and Central Asian gas to Ukraine since the start of 2006, and UkrGazEnergo, the trader's joint venture with Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz, agreed on a deal that at least 55 billion cubic meters of gas will be supplied from Central Asia to the country in 2007 at $130 per 1,000 cubic meters.
"The sides have also agreed on the volume of natural gas deliveries in 2008-2009," RosUkrEnergo was cited as saying in RIA Novosti. "The sides will calculate the price of deliveries based on the procurement price in Central Asian countries."
Kiev will continue receiving gas at $95 per 1,000 cubic meters until the end of 2006.
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Closing oil prices, Oct. 25, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $58.67
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $59.60
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