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Friday, May 23, 2008

Analysts foresee `new world energy order`

Quote: Market analysts call the Paris-based IEA the world`s most reliable independent source of oil information and welcomed its decision to undertake a deep study of oil supplies.
But the IEA`s new forecasts are likely to further upset markets. Oil prices hit an all-time high Thursday above $135 a barrel before falling back.
Less oil would mean even higher prices for everything from gasoline to food. Already, airlines squeezed by jet fuel costs are bleeding profits and predicting cutbacks and industry upheaval. Ford Motor said Thursday it was cutting production of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and forecast more rough times ahead.
Birol said the IEA study, whose results will be released in November, was prompted by concern about the volatility of world oil markets and uncertainty about supply levels.
"The prices are very high, and demand did not respond in the last few years as much as one would have expected," Birol said. "The growth in terms of production was not great. We did not see enough investment."
The spurt in oil prices Thursday came after a report in the Wall Street Journal that the IEA was planning to lower its forecast for long-term world supply.
Birol would not speculate on whether the forecast, which will predict supplies through 2030, could go sharply downward. "We will see," he said.
The IEA`s past forecasts put oil supply at about 116 million barrels a day in 2030, up from 87 million barrels a day now.
"Although the agency`s official assessment isn`t expected until later this year, the market`s interpretation is that global supply may be significantly tighter than previously projected by the major oil market monitors," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy trading advisory service Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.
Birol said oil companies and governments have been cooperative with the IEA experts preparing the report, but added, "It is not an easy task. It is the first time this is being done in the public domain on such a scale."
Simon Wardell, oil analyst at Global Insight in London, was skeptical that the IEA would get a complete picture from "countries that are very closely guarded" such as Saudi Arabia, the No. 1 producer.
That is important because Birol said one of the key shifts coming up is that the world will become increasingly reliant on national oil companies instead of multinational ones.
"Up to now, we have seen that the international oil companies were responsible for bringing a big chunk of the oil to the markets. Now, in many cases, since existing reserves are declining, a big part of oil will need to come from national oil companies. And they have their own conditions, their own context."
Birol called for greater investment everywhere.
Wardell said the IEA report would have limited effect on investment. "It`s not like oil companies aren`t already looking around," he said.
But he said governments could take notice and "start thinking of policies that would ensure more oil."
Birol noted that, "Both on the demand side and supply side, we have new actors who change the rules of the game."
He said most demand now and in the coming decades will come from China, India and the Middle East. That is a stark shift from past decades, when the U.S. and Europe were demand-drivers.
The IEA is part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which brings together 30 rich nations. It has no links to OPEC, and its review may challenge the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries` view that the world is well-supplied with oil.
Birol said the report is looking at onshore and offshore supplies -- including hard-to-reach wells in the deep sea.
He noted that Brazilian state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said Thursday it has struck more oil in waters near the huge offshore Tupi field -- but remained cautious about how much "good oil" such fields would produce.
Fears about fuel prices helped send shares in Europe`s largest airline, Air France-KLM, down 9 percent Thursday after it announced a quarterly net loss and said it expects the coming year to be "challenging."
CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said the soaring cost of fuel means the industry is in for a "profound transformation," predicting capacity reductions, the acceleration of mergers and the exit of some players from the market.

http://unian.net/eng/news/news-252620.html

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

PACE Begins Preparing Report On Holodomor Of 1932-33 In Ukraine

Quote: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has decided to begin preparing a report on the Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine.
The head of the Foreign Affairs Ministry press service Vasyl Kyrylych has announced this to journalists.
The PACE political committee held a meeting on May 16 in Stockholm, Sweden, where they decided to start drawing the report to discuss the Holodomor.
Next they will determine key topics of the report and call a rapporteur, Kyrylych says.
"It is expected, according to experts, that before late in autumn the report may be ready and discussed by PACE," said Kyrylych.
So, by 2009 PACE may consider the report and take a decision.

http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/123867.html

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

EBRD cuts forecasts for three key states

Quote: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Sunday cut growth forecasts for Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Romania – three key countries for emerging markets investors – because of difficulties arising from the global credit crunch and mounting inflation.
While the EBRD, the multilateral bank for eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union, raised its 2008 growth forecast for the region as a whole, saying it was pulling through the global turmoil better than expected, it singled out the three countries, plus impoverished Tajikistan, for significant reductions.
In a report issued at the start of its annual meeting in Kiev, the EBRD warned that Kazakhstan was suffering from “the impact of inflation and credit stagnation” and reduced expected gross domestic product growth from 8.5 to 5.1 per cent. Romania’s growth forecast was cut from 6.5 to 5 per cent, on the grounds of “rapid monetary tightening”, with the central bank raising interest rates to counter inflation.
For Ukraine, the growth forecast was reduced from 6 to 5.5 per cent, as the EBRD warned of the impact of inflation which last month hit an annual rate of 30 per cent, the highest in Europe and among the highest in the world. Tajikistan’s GDP growth prediction was slashed from 9 to 4.1 per cent, because of the country’s exceptionally severe winter, power shortages and a serious accounting dispute with the International Monetary Fund which is hitting Dushanbe’s access to foreign credit.
The bank’s concerns about Ukraine were echoed by David McCormick, the US Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, who said he had raised the inflation issue in discussions with Ukrainian officials. “It’s a very significant issue . . . there’s a recognition here that we require an integrated combination of both monetary and fiscal policy.”
Erik Berglof, the EBRD chief economist, said: “We are in a global slowdown that is quite difficult . . . What’s coming up as the major concern in the region is inflation. It is related to a weaker fiscal stance in many countries.”
However, he emphasised that the region as a whole was growing faster than expected, with the bank raising its forecast average GDP growth rate from between 5 and 5.5 per cent in January to 6 per cent. This is still down on last year when the region grew 7.3 per cent, but is far ahead of western Europe, eastern Europe’s biggest economic partner.
The EBRD blamed the expected slowdown on the global credit crunch, a forecast weakening in export markets in western Europe, and counter-inflationary measures in many countries.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/110d0692-2518-11dd-a14a-000077b07658.html

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A vast amount of Ukraine news from several different news sites. Also a world news and a Ukrainian language news page. Also includes a new forum. Join us now.

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Ukraine's PM backs new law strengthening president's powers

Quote: Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko voiced support Sunday for legislation strengthening the powers of the president with whom she has been at loggerheads, saying her government backed the law for the sake of democratic unity.
"At the president's request, our political team voted for a new law on the cabinet, reducing the government's powers.. and increasing those of the president," she told a press conference.
"We supported (the legislation) for the sake of the unity of the democratic coalition."
President Viktor Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were allies who led the 2004 Orange Revolution that peacefully overturned a rigged election originally awarded to a Moscow-backed candidate.
But relations between the two have since cooled.
Nevertheless on Sunday Tymoshenko defended the unity of the democratic coalition with Yushchenko's party, saying she hoped the new arrangements would "harmonise our activity and provide the government with the possibility to work".
On Saturday Yushchenko approved the new legislation strengthening his authority over the government by allowing him to install pro-Western figures in key posts.
It gives him the power to block prime ministerial candidates and leaves the nomination of foreign and defence ministers in his hands alone.
The law, overturning a 2007 decree which clipped the president's wings and asserted governmental control through parliament, won the votes of 245 pro-Western members loyal to Yushchenko -- 19 more than the legal minimum.
After things cooled between them, Yushchenko dismissed Tymoshenko as prime minister in 2005, and political analysts said the split between Ukraine's two most prominent politicians appeared to be worsening because both were likely to contest a presidential poll in 2009 or 2010.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007539&docId=l:793225126&isRss=true

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Guest column: ‘Overcome rivalries and draw clear lines of authority’

Quote: There is an old saying: “Where there are two Ukrainians, there will be three hetmans.” Hetmans were the leaders of Ukraine’s traditional Cossack hosts and the proverb reflects the divisive politics of Ukraine’s past.
Modern-day Ukraine’s politics are no less fractious or confusing to the outside world. In the past 29 months, Kiev has seen five different governments, including two under pro-Russian prime minister Viktor Yanukovich and two under pro-western prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is now in office. Such volatility is hardly surprising. At the height of the 2004 Orange Revolution, Ukraine seemed to have three presidents: lame-duck authoritarian Leonid Kuchma; his anointed successor Viktor Yanukovich, who claimed victory amid evidence of vote fraud; and Viktor Yushchenko, the reformer who swore himself in as president and eventually won a re-run election. At times, political tensions have been accompanied by signs of rampant corruption.
But, amid the turmoil, Ukraine has seen steady economic growth with gross domestic product rising at an average of 7.4 per cent a year since 2000. Personal incomes have risen and property prices have soared.
Increasingly, domestic and international business people have learned to discount the political tensions. Observers have come to understand that sharp struggles have contributed to democratic development, political pluralism, free media, and the absence of political persecution.
Business naturally would prefer predictability, stability, and the opportunity to work issues and legislation through a consistent team of decision-makers. Yet Ukraine has seen more continuity in its economic policies than lurches to the left and right.
As Alexander Motyl, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, sees it: “Ukraine’s fragmented politics amounts to a weak state. If it’s too weak that can be bad for business. But if the state is preoccupied with its own affairs, that can be quite good for business.”
Big business is well represented in all three leading political forces – the Yanukovich-led Regions party, the pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine bloc, and the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc – which cumulatively account for nearly 90 per cent of the seats in the legislature. A study indicated that about 40 per cent of deputies in the last parliament came from business backgrounds. With minor differences, Ukraine’s three major political leaders all respect the market system and are sensitive to business interests.
In one sense, the growing influence of business on Ukraine’s parties is a by-product of the intense political struggle. Since 2000 there have been two presidential and three parliamentary elections, as well as numerous local contests. The frequent elections generate a need to finance increasingly expensive campaigns. In turn, business leaders leverage financial support into a direct presence on party lists and influence over party programmes. As a result, the big parties all espouse business-friendly centrist economic policies when in office.
Some business people use their clout to lobby for narrow interests and at times exploit political influence for special advantage, and a disproportionate business presence in politics may damage pluralism over time. Some are not shy to bribe politicians and bureaucrats alike.
But in recent years, the business community’s role in politics has largely been salutary. Most of the business community quietly threw its support behind the Orange Revolution, seeing in Mr Yushchenko a leader who could help the country escape from the corrupt ruling elite. When, last year, a showdown between President Yushchenko and Mr Yanukovich, who was then prime minister, threatened to spiral out of control, business intervened.
Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov, a patron of the Regions party, pressed for a ballot-box solution. When the verdict came in, he helped ensure his party accepted defeat.
But business is becoming increasingly worried about rising inflation, which, as well as being economically damaging can be socially disruptive. Instead of tackling the problem co-operatively, the president and prime minister are quarrelling as they prepare for the January 2010 presidential election.
In practical terms this means too little is being done to tame inflation, meaningful privatisation is stymied, and populist promises proliferate.
For a country that has shed its authoritarian past, dispersed power and checks and balances make sense. Yet the new system is not working properly, despite several attempts at constitutional reform. Political leaders still view politics as a matter of constant struggle.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/93db761e-1fc1-11dd-9216-000077b07658.html

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Ukraine energy scheme backers revealed

Quote: Quote: A company owned by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, revealed on Thursday it was one of three financial backers for a strategically important hydrocarbon project whose fate was cast into doubt this week by Kiev’s prime minister. DTEK, Mr Akhmetov’s energy holding, revealed at a press conference in Kiev that it held a quarter interest as financial backer in a Black Sea exploration project led by Houston-based Vanco Energy Company. Vanco’s other two partners, each also with 25 per cent, were identified as Shadowlight, owned by Russian businessman Evgeny Novitsky, and Integrum Technologies, a subsidiary of an undisclosed Austrian investment holding. The investors came forward days after Yulia Tymoshenko’s government pulled Vanco’s licence to explore a vast 12,900km field off the Crimean peninsula. In identifying its financial backers, Vanco officials said they hoped to end speculation triggered by Ms Tymoshenko this week that Russia’s Gazprom, or partners of the Russian energy giant, could be involved. Vanco officials called for fresh negotiations with her government to restart the project. But Oleksandr Hudyma, energy adviser to Ms Tymoshenko, said the project’s fate remained very much in the air, saying: “The ownership question remains a conspiracy. It is still very unclear who has interests in this project, and who represents whom.” Vanco inked a production-sharing agreement last year when Kiev’s government was headed by the Moscow-friendly Viktor Yanukovich, considered to be a political ally of Mr Akhmetov. Delayed by 18-months of negotiations, the agreement represented the first sizable natural gas and oil exploration project on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. Ms Tymoshenko pulled the licence this month, citing concern that Gazprom could, through partners, gain a hidden interest in the project that was originally intended to diversify energy supplies by boosting domestic production. Ms Tymoshenko also suggested past governments might have compromised Kiev’s “national interests” by yielding such a large field and unjustifiable proceeds to a single group. Vanco’s senior vice-president, Jeffrey Mitchell, expressed hope a compromise could be reached, suggesting the project could “generate energy independence” for Ukraine. Heavily dependent upon gas and oil imports from Russia and Central Asia, Kiev’s economy has struggled in adjusting to three stiff natural gas price increases in as many years, and rising oil costs. Experts say Ukraine holds significant amounts of untapped reserves. Vanco’s financial partners denied speculation raised by Ms Tymoshenko this week that their companies could be holding talks on selling their stakes to Gazprom. But Mr Mitchell struggled to identify the beneficial owner of Integrum Technologies, saying: “I plead ignorance.” Eckert Gerhard, a Vienna-based lawyer representing Integrum, refused to identify the beneficial owners or parent group. Mr Novitsky, a top executive at Russia’s Sistema diversified holding, said he was the owner of Shadowlight, which he described as an investment fund. Mr Hudyma accused Mr Yanukovich’s government of handling negotiations with Vanco last year on a production-sharing agreement in non-transparent manner. He suggested parties in the project today could have ties to close associates of the former prime minister. Earlier this week, Ms Tymoshenko criticised her political rival, President Viktor Yushchenko, suggesting he may have backed the Vanco project ignoring possible drawbacks.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c75a078e-22a1-11dd-93a9-000077b07658.html

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Ukraine Becomes WTO Member

Quote: Ukraine has become a member of the World Trade Organization.
Presidential press service disclosed this to Ukrainian News.
Ukraine has become the 152nd state in the organization.
"The date will become history of our state, as the day when Ukraine was acknowledged as a member of the world's economic commonwealth by the international society," the report reads.
The talks on Ukraine's accession to the WTO have lasted for 14 years.
While this time, Ukraine has held bilateral consultations on access to commodity and service markets with 52 states-members of the organization, endorsed over 50 laws needed to bring Ukrainian legislation in a line with WTO requirements.
The report also said that the WTO opens wide opportunities for Ukraine to speed up development of national economy. In this, Ukraine receives favourable trade regime in relations with 151 countries, opportunity to use international instruments on settling trade conflicts, and opportunity to take part in elaboration of rules of international trade.

http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/122625.html

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