Gazprom and Naftogaz to develop the Black Sea shelf

(RIA Novosti) -- The Russian gas giant Gazprom and Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftogaz have started setting up a joint venture to develop the Black Sea shelf, Naftogaz Board Chairman Yevhen Bakulin said on Tuesday. "Yes, (we have started)," Bakulin told reporters, adding that the companies were still estimating the likely amount of investment in the project and its costs. He also said that there were some legal contradictions in the joint venture's establishment but they would not be an obstacle.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Ukraine's Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko signed an agreement in December 2010, to establish two joint ventures to produce coal from Ukrainian deposits and develop the Black Sea shelf.

MRC

(RIA Novosti) -- Russian fertilizer maker Uralchem posted a 750 percent year on year increase in its January-March 2011 net profit to USD 61 million to IFRS, the company said on Wednesday. The company's first quarter revenue increased 74 percent to USD 566 million, the company said in a statement.

Uralchem's operating profit rose 310 percent to USD 160 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased 180 percent to USD 186 million. The company's net debt amounted to USD 1.227 billion as of March 31, 2011.

Uralchem's export sales almost doubled in the first quarter of 2011 to USD 411 million, with exports accounting for over 75 percent of total sales.

MRC

(Reuters) -- Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp said it was in talks with Russia's Bashneft and RussNeft to merge its Russian assets, but no approval had been received from the Indian government. On Monday the Indian cabinet had approved the merger proposal that would give state-run ONGC 25 percent stake in the combined entity and access to one of the biggest discovered oilfields in Russia.

ONGC has long eyed a deal with Bashneft, a unit of telecoms-to-oil group Sistema as well as involvement in the Arctic fields of Trebs and Titov, as it seeks to broaden its oil and gas base in Russia, the world's top energy exporter.

But a merger of Bashneft and RussNeft is a long way off. Last week, Sistema President Mikhail Shamolin said the company may consider merging Bashneft and RussNeft once the latter's debt falls below USD 4 billion, but given current oil prices it may be a few years before that debt falls to the required level, the Interfax agency reported.

ONGC already has a stake in Russia's Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in the Pacific, and in 2008 it acquired the Imperial Energy oil company in western Siberia.

MRC

(Focus Taiwan) -- The Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), a global plastics and petrochemicals leader, forecast Monday that its second half revenue would fall by about 20-30 percent from the first half, amid uncertainties over the global economy, China's tighter monetary policy, and the temporary closure of six of the group's plants.

FPG Chairman William Wong estimated at the shareholders meeting of the group's flagship unit Formosa Plastics Corp. that group revenue would fall by between NT$150 billion (USD 5.18 billion) to NT$230 billion in the second half of the year,

Formosa Plastics Chairman Lee said that because China has been one of the world's major chemical and plastic markets, demand will not rebound unless China relaxes its monetary policy.

MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In Russia over the four months investments in equipment made USD 133, according to MRC EquiPlast. Over this period Russian companies purchased 651 complete equipment lines.

The most considerable investments were made in the sector of IM: over USD 48 were spent for IM equipment (295 complete lines). Mainly investments were made in the central economic region - 133 complete lines and north-west region - 54 items. Companies also developed the sector of production of polymer pipes - USD 18.8 mln (14%), foaming - USD 14.1 mln (11%), profiles - USD 9.7 mln (7%).

In March 2011, among invested USD 46 mln about USD 13 mln were spent for capacities of polystyrene foaming: 5 complete lines were supplied, among them - 2 lines from Krauss Maffei and one line from Heitz. Among invested USD 13 mln about USD 10 mln were spent for equipment for XPS plates production, yet about USD 3 mln - for EPS formworks production.

In April, Russian companies increased investments in processing equipment to USD 50 mln: USD 22.5 mln was spent for equipment for plastics IM, USD 12 mln - for pipes production, and nearly USD 4 mln - compounding.

Detailed analysis on investments in polymers processing by technologies, sectors, finished goods, countries-suppliers and types of equipment is presented in MRC report EquiPlast.

MRC