Turkmen, Afghan leaders discuss ring railway
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss projects to build a Trans-Afghan gas pipeline and railways that will connect existing networks in Central Asia during their meeting in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Interfax reported.
The Trans-Afghan pipeline is due to connect Turkmenistan and India, via Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"The sides discussed opportunities for further cooperation in power engineering, transport and communications, in particular, railway communications," Turkmen television reported.
Gazprom, Siemens ink strategic partnership deal
Gazprom and Siemens have signed an agreement on strategic partnership, paving the way for wider cooperation in the oil and gas industry inside Russia and other countries, Itar-Tass reported.
Gazprom said in a statement that cooperation would encompass innovative technologies, automation, computerization, tele-mechanics and telecommunications, electric power production, the development of offshore oil and gas fields, energy saving and ecology.
Gazprom and Siemens have cooperated since 1993. The largest joint projects were implemented in telecommunications and the automation of materials processing.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia would welcome wider cooperation with foreign firms, including Siemens.
"As far as I know, the company is prepared to advance cooperation with Russian partners and we shall be glad to see that," he said.
TNK-BP to finalize sale of Kovykta stake to Gazprom
Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP hopes to finalize the sale of a controlling stock interest in RUSIA Petroleum, the owner of licenses for the giant Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk region, to Gazprom by the end of April, TNK-BP President Robert Dudley said Thursday.
The cost of the controlling stock interest in Kovykta is closing in on $1 billion, taking into account the historic expenditures on the development of this field in addition to interest rates paid, he said.
At the same time, he stressed this is not a final price for the Kovykta project. Gazprom and TNK-BP continue to study documents that contain data on expenditures on the development of this field for the last 14 years, he said.
Dudley said he remained optimistic and hopeful TNK-BP and Gazprom would reach a purchase-sale agreement by the end of April. He noted Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller shares this hope.
TNK-BP has not listed any reserves for Kovykta, he said.
Commenting on a potential global agreement between BP, TNK-BP and Gazprom, Dudley said active talks are being held on this issue. He did not say what assets could be contributed to such a joint venture, noting that this is an issue for the shareholders to decide.
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Closing oil prices, Apr. 4, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $103.25
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $104.75
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