MOSCOW, May 10 (Reuters) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister
Igor Sechin will join the board of the state oil and gas holding
company, a sign he is likely to keep a leading role in the
world’s largest energy industry even if he quits the cabinet.

Sechin’s role in the new presidency of Vladimir Putin is a
widely debated topic among Russian oil executives and foreign
investors. Few doubt the close Putin ally will retain his grip
on Russia’s vital industry, which is seen by many as a guarantee
that an 11th-hour push to win foreign capital and reform oil tax
will continue.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Norway’s Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) will drill in Russian Arctic waters thought to contain 2 billion tonnes of oil (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) in partnership with Rosneft, marking the third deal of its kind for the Russian state company.

The agreement, signed on Saturday, provided a showcase for president-elect Vladimir Putin, serving out his final days as prime minister before a May 7 inauguration, and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, in charge of energy and industrial policy.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Norway’s Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will drill in Russia’s offshore zones with Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the Russian state company’s third Arctic oil deal, to be signed as soon as Saturday, industry sources said.

President-elect Vladimir Putin, who is serving out his final days as prime minister before a May 7 inauguration, is expected to preside over the deal signing on Saturday or shortly after his inauguration on May 7, one of the sources said.

MOSCOW, May 3 (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin on Thursday approved a package of stimulus measures to
unlock vast untapped unconventional oil resources in Western
Siberia that could boost Russian oil production by up to 2
million barrels per day.

The proposals would encourage investors in Russia, whose
status as the world’s top crude producer is threatened by
falling conventional output at Soviet-era fields, to expand use
of costly hydraulic fracturing and other chemical enhanced
recovery methods.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Chinese energy officials signalled on Saturday they were keen to pursue a major gas deal with Russia despite a proliferation of alternative supplies, and said they had made a new proposal to overcome a price deadlock.

Talks between China, the world’s fastest growing energy consumer, and Russia, the world’s largest conventional gas producer, fell apart late last year when China, frustrated by years of stalemate over price, increased its supplies from rival producer Turkmenistan.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The head of China National Petroleum Corp signaled on Saturday that China was still considering a deal to become Russia’s largest single pipeline gas customer even as its supply options, including unconventional and liquefied natural gas, multiply.

CNPC Chairman Jiang Jiemin, visiting Moscow as part of a delegation led by Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is on track to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao, reiterated to an economic conference that most of the key points of a gas deal were agreed.

MOSCOW, April 26 (Reuters) – JP Morgan’s Russia head
Jeff Costello is to retire and deputy CEO and head of
investment banking, Yan Tavrovsky, will replace him, the bank
said on Thursday.

Tavrovsky rejoined JP Morgan in 2010 from Morgan Stanley
. He had previously worked at JP Morgan in Moscow and
London from 2000 to 2005.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) signed an agreement on Wednesday in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to jointly tap fields in Russia’s Barents and Black Sea zones, in Rosneft’s second Arctic deal in two weeks.

The deal may not yield commercial oil production for years, but for Eni it secures a foothold in an untapped and strategically important new province, and for Russia, it brings in the capital needed for long-term projects to keep its oil flowing.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are expected to agree on Wednesday to search for oil and gas in the Russian Arctic, in Russia’s second major offshore deal in two weeks after U.S. ExxonMobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) joined forces with the state oil firm.

Under the pact, to be signed in the presence of prime minister and president-elect, Vladimir Putin, Eni will also work with Rosneft to develop acreage in the Black Sea that U.S. Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) had abandoned.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) and Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) are expected to agree on Wednesday to search for oil and gas in the Russian Arctic, Russia’s second major exploration deal in two weeks after U.S. ExxonMobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) partnered with the state oil firm.

Under the pact, expected to be signed in the presence of Russia’s prime minister and president-elect, Vladimir Putin, Eni would also work with Rosneft to develop acreage in the Black Sea that U.S. Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) had abandoned.