Archives for January 2015

Reuters / Tim Chong

The Singaporean dollar tumbled to a 4-year low against the US dollar after the Monetary Authority unexpectedly stymied currency appreciation. The move is just the latest in the trend of weaker currencies in 2015.

The unexpected move sent the Singapore dollar to 1.3570 against the US dollar, the lowest since 2010.The last time the bank intentionally slashed the appreciate rate of the currency was in 2011. Emerging Asian currencies – such as the Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht – dropped on the move.

In a surprise statement Wednesday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would reduce the band of the currency.

Singapore dollar’s appreciation against a weighted basket of currencies, which the bank keeps confidential. The announcement was made far ahead of its scheduled meeting in April.

Singapore, a compact financial center, uses exchange rates instead of lending rates to control its currency, as it is a very trade-oriented economy.

The bank also reduced its inflation target, forecasting a negative 0.5 percent in consumer prices for 2015.

Wednesday’s move by the one of the world’s biggest financial centers comes on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India shock decision to cut reserve rates by 25 basis points to help bring down inflation.

Hit by low oil prices and a lowered growth forecast for 2015, India, Japan, and Russia have all seen a drop in the value of their currencies. In November, Russia stopped regular currency interventions to allow the ruble to float freely, and Japan continues to print money to fight deflation, and India may again lower its lending rate next week.

On January 22, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a €1.14 trillion quantitative easing plan, which sent the euro to an 11-year low.

A week before the ECB embarked on its easy money stimulus, the Swiss National Bank took precautions by removing the peg between the Swiss franc and the euro. This sent the currency soaring 15 percent.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/227151-singapore-dollar-four-year-low/

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew smiles during a meeting with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk (L) in Kiev January 28, 2015.(Reuters / Gleb Garanich)

The US has put a final signature the $2 billion loan guarantee deal for Ukraine, adding that it is prepared to step up sanctions against Russia if necessary.

“The United States and Ukraine signed a declaration of cooperation in providing loan guarantees. The US government provides $2 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine,” Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko said Wednesday after meeting US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in Kiev.

This means the US will take over responsibility for Kiev’s debt.

The US Treasury agreed to provide loan guarantees to Ukraine two weeks ago when US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk discussed the terms in a phone conversation.

Ukraine will get $1 billion during the first half of 2015, provided that Kiev continues to implement reforms, said Lew.

He said that additional funds can further be allocated if Ukraine complies with the conditions.

“We also propose that we ask our Congress to allocate an additional $1 billion, and the total amount of guarantees will be $3 billion, if Ukraine will remain committed to implementing reforms,” he said, adding that the first billion of loan guarantees will help Ukraine with its “near-term social spending.”

“The loan guarantees are provided so Ukraine could handle its social spending and protect those who will suffer from the negative impact that the reforms might have,” he said.

Lew also commented on the situation in the South east Ukraine, saying that the United States was opposing the so-called ‘Russian aggression’ and that the sanctions may be expanded.

“We remain prepared to do more (on sanctions) if necessary,” he said. “The diplomatic way is our first choice for conflict resolution, but we may do further steps and put more pressure on Russia.”

On Thursday, the EU is meeting to decide on more Russia sanctions. The ministers will ask the EU’s executive commission and diplomatic service to expand the list of names that could be put under sanctions, and decide on whether to cut Russia out of the SWIFT international payment system.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday the response to a possible cut-off from SWIFT will be “unrestricted.”

READ MORE: Russian PM vows ‘unrestricted’ response if banned from SWIFT payment system

Earlier the EU Council and Finance Ministry of Ukraine agreed €1.8 billion in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

The country is currently going through a full-fledged financial crisis, is balancing on the edge of default. According to a report by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), inflation in the country accelerated to 21.8 percent in 2014.

READ MORE: Ukraine in ‘full-blown financial crisis’ – National Bank head

In early January Finance Minister Yaresko acknowledged that Ukraine is in a desperate financial situation and said the government intends to seek the assistance of Western partners.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/227139-us-ukraine-loan-guarantees/

Reuters / Stringer

The Chinese currency is the 5th most-used currency in international payments, according to the SWIFT network responsible for international financial transactions. Breaking into the top 5 is symbolic to balance dollar-denominated payments.

In 2014, yuan payments doubled by 102 percent, and increased by 20.3 percent in December alone, compared to the same time period last year, SWIFT said Wednesday. The yuan, or renminbi, surpassed the Canadian and Australian dollars.

“It is a great testimony to the internationalization of the renminbi and confirms its transition from an ’emerging’ to a ‘business as usual’ payment currency,” Wim Raymaekers, Head of Banking Markets at SWIFT said in a statement.

2.2 percent of all SWIFT payments made in December were yuan-denominated, according to the Brussels-based payment operator. Ahead of the yuan are the US dollar, euro, British pound, and Japanese yen, which has a 2.7 percent share.

The US dollar and euro still remain king in the international world of finance, with the dollar accounting for 44.6 percent of SWIFT payments and the euro 28.3 percent. The British pound is in third place with 7.9 percent.

The yuan isn’t included in the International Monetary Fund’s currency basket, but the new rating may increase its chances.

READ MORE: Yuan can become dominant world reserve currency – survey

China is expected to make another push for the inclusion of the yuan in the International Monetary Fund’s in-house currency basket in a review later this year – and this time round its G20 partners may be willing to listen.

The world’s second largest economy has been pushing the yuan as a rival to the dollar in the global financial system since 2010, opening up yuan clearing hubs in London and Frankfurt.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/227031-yuan-top-5-payment-swift/

Reuters / Ueslei Marcelio

The contact group of BRICS experts will meet in March to discuss the idea of establishing an independent rating agency, said Brazilian Ambassador to Russia Jose Vallim Antonio Guerreiro. The agency would become an alternative to the western ‘big three’.

“A contact group on economic and trade issues is working at the expert level. The proposal to establish a rating agency within the BRICS has been placed before its consideration, and will be discussed in more detail in March at the next meeting of the contact group,” the diplomat said in an interview to RIA Wednesday.

Guerreiro said it’s early to predict the outcome of the meeting, as every decision should be weighed carefully. Still, in his view “such a possibility exists.” The question is how the procedures of existing rating agencies can be applicable to all economies, he said.

“The question is whether this procedure includes all the relevant factors. You may need to look for alternative indicators and broad approaches to assess the ‘health’ of economies,” he said. “I do not believe that the new agency will be something to resist the existing institutions. They do their job, and certainly, there is a demand for their services. But it is possible that the BRICS countries will elaborate a different approach.”

READ MORE: Downgrade fears prompt Russia to consult with rating agencies

International rating agency SP on Monday downgraded the sovereign credit rating of Russia below the investment rate to BB + with a negative outlook, saying Russian monetary policy became less flexible, and left open the possibility of further deterioration.

Earlier SP downgraded the credit rating of Brazil from BBB to BBB-, leaving it a notch above the ‘junk’ grade.

READ MORE: SP downgrades Russia’s credit rating to junk

The idea of creating an alternative to the western rating agencies becomes more relevant. Earlier in January Russia and China announced establishing a joint rating agency which, both countries believe, will balance the global economic outlook.

READ MORE: New credit rating agencies to balance ‘Big Three’, China says

Rating agencies Standard Poor’s, Fitch and Moody’s announced a negative macroeconomic outlook for Mercosur in 2015. The common market of the South America includes Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Venezuela.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/227027-brics-new-rating-agency/

Reuters / David Moir

Scottish distilled barley, better known as whisky, adds £4.96 billion to the UK economy per year, making it bigger than the British iron and steel, textiles, shipbuilding or computer industries, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.

The whisky sector boosts the UK economy by adding jobs and increasing exports, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said in its January report said

“In terms of the value it adds to the UK economy, Scotch whisky is bigger than a number of industries, such as iron and steel, textiles, shipbuilding and computing. It is also larger than other UK food and drink sectors, including meat, dairy, beer and soft drinks,” the report says.

Liquor distilling supports 40,300 jobs in the UK, a more than 15 percent increase since 2008, when it accounted for 35,000 jobs. Many of the jobs are created in sectors such as glass manufacturing and labeling. From the total workforce, 10,900 are directly employed in the industry in Scotland, and the average salary is £47,000, the third highest paying profession, beating out finance.

Whisky accounts for 25 percent of total UK food and drink exports, with the majority of bottles shipped abroad. It makes up £4.3 billion a year out of total food and drink exports worth £19.4 billion.

In Scotland, whisky is the third biggest industry, after energy and finance, and accounts for 70 percent of the country’s food and drink sector.

A homegrown industry that dates back to 1494, the Scottish whisky industry has long been considered a cornerstone of the economy. Production of a single bottle involves labor across several industries- from bottling, labeling, distilling, advertising, sales, and logistics. More than 90 percent of operating expenditures are inside the UK, the report says. Thirty new planned distilleries- many in rural areas, are in development.

Whisky is technically only supposed to be distilled and matured in Scotland; however demand has pushed producers in the US, Japan, Canada, and other major markets to start recreating the national drink of Scotland. This ‘whiskey’ is spelled with an ‘e’, which denotes its origin isn’t Scottish.

Over 1.26 billion bottles of whisky are exported from the UK each year, with the most headed towards India, the world’s biggest whiskey market and second-fastest growing economy. Exports to the US reached a record high in 2013, at £820 million.

The Scotch Whisky Association has campaigned for the UK government to cut taxes on the beverage, which have risen so rapidly (2 percent above inflation every year since 2008), that the UK market has been turned off the expensive products.

In this year’s report, the association asks the Chancellor to cut excise duties by 2 percent in the next budget, to be presented in March.

In 2014 a bottle of single malt Scotch whisky cost £35 in the UK, while the exact same product cost £22 in a French supermarket, David Frost, the chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association said in a column he penned in the Herald Scotland advocating the same tax decrease last year.

The report, commissioned by the Scotch Whisky Association and carried about by the research group 4-consulting, used a ‘valued-added’ scale to measure the contribution of whisky to the economy.

Findings were based on data from the Scottish Government, the Office for National Statistics, Revenue and Customs, and regular SWA data and surveys from the SWA membership.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/226971-scotch-whisky-uk-economy/

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.(RIA Novosti / Alexander Astafyev)

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a one-year anti-crisis plan designed to stabilize the economy. The document includes 60 measures and will cost at least $35 billion (2.3 trillion rubles).

The final cost hasn’t yet been calculated but the official statement published Wednesday shows that as for now the Government is going to spend about $35 billion, which also includes the $15 billion (one trillion ruble) bailout for Russian banks agreed last year.

Last Friday, Russia’s Agency for Deposit Insurance approved a list of 27 lenders that’ll get the bailout money including VTB Group ($4.5 billion, which is around 310 billion rubles), Otkrytie group ($1 billion or 65.1 billion rubles) and Vnesheconombank (VEB) ($300 million or 20.4 billion rubles).

As part of the plan, Russia will also create a bank for ‘bad debt’ that’ll collect corporate debt and problematic company assets.

The overall cost is expected to be clarified by March 2015, after agreeing on the measures with deputies and members of the Federation Council.

The plan will support the main sectors of the domestic economy and provide for the fulfillment of international and social commitments.

The Russian economy is going through a crisis caused by plummeting oil prices and Western sanctions. The cost to Russia’s economy is estimated at $200 billion, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Wednesday.

“The effect of external shocks for the current account balance is around $200 billion. First of all it’s the drop in oil prices, we are receiving less currency. All experts admit this situation will continue in the long term,” he said.

The minister also said the Russian National Welfare Fund (NWF) should be spent cautiously as it makes use of part of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

“This year we will also continue the capitalization of banks at the expense of the National Welfare Fund. If we decide to invest in projects, we’ve agreed to review the decisions taken because in the present circumstances we need the NWF to be used with extreme caution” Siluanov told the Federation Council Wednesday.

The Minister said a reserve fund is first of all a ‘safety pillow’ for the economy. “The National Welfare Fund is the same as the Reserve Fund, a source in the case of a reducing revenue base,” he said.

On Tuesday Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved the main points of the plan which involves cutting the majority of expenses by 10 percent but leaves unchanged the planned spending on defense, support of agriculture and the fulfillment of the country’s international and social commitments.

The plan will also provide for the use of state guarantees and support for domestic industries. It also includes a large block of measures to reduce the administrative costs of business.

The Cabinet approved the plan on January 26. President Putin then said that it should be given priority to ensure social stability. “The achievement of this goal is possible only in case all acceptable parameters of the economy are preserved,” he said.

According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the value of the anti-crisis fund is 170 billion rubles.

“All of the resources for the implementation of this plan will be allocated from the budget anti-crisis reserves,” Siluanov said on Tuesday. The minister added that the government will not increase the costs and will operate within the approved budget.

Medvedev will meet with regional leaders on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of the plan in all areas of the Russian Federation.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/226943-russia-anti-crisis-plan/

The office of Lukoil-Ukraine in Kiev (RIA Novosti / Evgeny Kotenko)

Ukraine has launched a series of assaults against Russian oil companies, from physical damage of property to court proceedings with accusations of ‘financing terrorism’, claims Moscow has dismissed as groundless.

“Ukraine’s actions can be totally interpreted as an implementation of somebody’s political order. Treatment of Russian companies in Ukraine has significantly changed after a political coup took place there,” Valery Nesterov, oil and gas analyst at Sberbank-CIB, told RT.

Lukoil, Rosneft, Transneft, and Tatneft all face political pressure from Kiev, which Moscow says it will counter with financial support, if needed.

“The government will provide the necessary support for Russian energy companies in Ukraine, where they face problems,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

On January 16, Ukraine’s secret service, the SBU, opened a criminal case against Lukoil, Russia’s second biggest oil company, accusing it of financing terrorists in the eastern region of Donbass. The SBU claimed $2 billion in funds were being sent via Lukoil and VETEK between 2013 and 2014 to the breakaway regions in Donetsk and Lugansk. Russia has denied the allegations.

“The accusations against Russian companies, namely the latest legal action against Lukoil look politically motivated,” Sergey Pigarev, a financial analyst from Rye, Man Gor, wrote RT in an e-mail.

“Lukoil is one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies with an ideal reputation, perfect management and business all around the world; this is why we can hardly imagine that Lukoil could be meddled in financing terrorism. This accusation looks very strange,” Pigarev added.

The company’s operations in other countries shouldn’t suffer, as “a pragmatic business community takes the situation in Ukraine as a unique case,” Pigarev said.

Looking west?

The conflict that is draining the Ukrainian economy may actually push out some of the country’s biggest investors – the Russians. Instead, Kiev will look for more friendly Western backers.

“Ukraine, in fact, doesn’t let Russian companies operate in their country, and are doing everything to replace Russian companies with Western ones,” Nesterov said.

“This is a short-sighted policy, because Ukraine would barely be able to fill the gap that will occur after they cut business ties with traditional Russian trade partners.”

At present, Ukraine sources 36 percent of its natural gas from Russia, but its discussing more cooperation with Europe, and possibly the US.

“Energy supplies from the west would be much more expensive for Ukraine than those from Russia,” the Sberbank – CIB analyst concluded.

LUKOIL

Nesterov said the political tension forced Lukoil to pull a $140 billion investment into its Ukrainian portfolio it planned for 2014-2019.

In August 2014, Lukoil sold off 240 gas stations in Ukraine to Austria’s AMIC Energy Management GmbH (AMIC).

In June, Lukoil was the victim of attacks carried out by ultra-right nationalists, who seized 3 gas stations in the Western Ukrainian province of Ivano-Frankova, demanding free petrol for the Ukrainian Army.

ROSNEFT

CEO Igor Sechin said his company plans to “defend assets” in Ukraine, which includes 41 gas stations as well as refineries and storage facilities.

“Earlier Rosneft planned on expansion in Ukraine,” Nesterov said, but like Lukoil, the blowback from the Ukrainian government may not make it worth it.

In mid-October, an oil storage facility was seized by armed men who began to export the stolen oil products, which Nesterov estimates to total of $13 billion.

Rosneft owns the Lisichanskiy refinery, which is in the heart of war-torn eastern Ukraine in Lugansk. The refinery, which has a capacity to process 8 million tons of crude annually, was severely damaged in July, when it came under heavy shelling from the Ukrainian army. Rosneft is seeking $140 million in compensation for the damage, and Ukraine is reportedly trying to bring the plant under state control, TASS reported.

TATNEFT

Tatneft, a mid-size oil producer and transporter, also faces mounting pressure from Kiev. It jointly owns the country’s largest refinery Kremenchug, also called Ukrtatnafta after the co-owner, Naftogaz. Tatneft has controlled 30 percent of the plant since the early 1990s, but may now be looking to exit the volatile market.

In August of 2014, Tatneft was awarded $112 million in compensation from the Ukrainian state in a dispute over the ownership of Kremenchug.

“Tatneft will consider the opportunity to sell its oil refineries in Ukraine,” Nesterov said.

TRANSNEFT

This past April, Transneft, Russia’s biggest oil pipeline operator, threatened to cut off the oil it was supplying to Ukraine, after it said $63 million worth of oil products was siphoned off from its PrikarpatZapadTrans pipeline.

In December, a Ukrainian court ruled that its subsidiary Transnefteproduct stole 140,000 tons of diesel fuel from its pipeline, which was allegedly siphoned off to Hungary.

“It is simpler for us to close this pipeline, forget about it, since it was built in the 1970s,” Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev said in December.

In 2011, a Ukrainian court ruled that some of the diesel fuel in the pipeline, owned by Transneft subsidiary PrikarpatZapadTrans, legally belonged to the Ukrainian state.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/226675-russia-ukraine-lukoil-terrorism/

READ MORE: SP downgrade ‘groundlessly pessimistic’ – Russian finance minister

Calls to disconnect Russian banks from the global interbank SWIFT system came amid the deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, and the introduction of sanctions in response to Moscow’s alleged role in the Ukraine conflict.

Thus, last August the UK proposed to exclude Russia from the SWIFT system as a part of sanctions imposed on the country due to the situation in eastern Ukraine.

However, SWIFT has said it does not intend to switch Russia off from the system, adding that a number of countries have pressured it to do so. It has insisted it is not joining the anti-Russian sanctions.

In October, Belgium-based SWIFT stressed it has “no authority to make sanctions decisions.”

At the end of last year, Andrey Kostin – the head of VTB Russia’s second largest bank – warned that in his “personal opinion,” excluding Russia from the global SWIFT banking transaction system is another form of sanctions and would mean “war.”

Back in December, Russia’s Central Bank launched a new SWIFT-style payment service aimed at moving away from Western financial dominance.

READ MORE: CBR launches SWIFT alternative for domestic payments

The possibility of cutting Russia out of SWIFT, as well as a list of other anti-Russia measures, will be on the table during a meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 29. To be imposed, the new sanctions must be approved by all 28 EU countries.

SWIFT provides a network that enables financial institutions to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized, and reliable way. SWIFT is a cooperative society under Belgian law and is owned by its member financial institutions. It has offices around the world. The system is comprised of over 10,000 financial organizations from 210 countries.

‘Political’ downgrade

Speaking of the recent developments in Russia’s economy, the prime minister has called SP’s downgrade of Russia’s credit rating a “political decision.”

“What is it if not a political decision?” he questioned. “We will of course go through this, but it is bad that in a whole it complicates the situation in the country and, honestly speaking, in the world,” Medvedev said.

Also on Tuesday, the prime minister signed a decree containing the main points of the government’s anti-crisis plan, press secretary Natalia Timakova said. The document will be published on Wednesday, when Medvedev plans to discuss details with regional leaders and members of the United Russia party.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/226819-russia-swift-sanctions-response/

Reuters / Tobias Schwarz

European Union finance ministers have agreed to loan Ukraine €1.8 billon to stave off a default. Some governments pressed for €2.6 billion in medium-term loans for 2015 and 2016.

“The European Commission put €1.8 billion on the table. Some wanted us to do more,” French Finance Minister, Michel Sapin, told reporters Tuesday. “What is urgent today is to start implementing this package … because Ukraine needs it so the government will not be faced with an unbearable situation.”

In an interview for the French newspaper Le Monde on Monday, the head of the IMF Christine Lagarde said the fund would provide financial assistance to Ukraine only when the situation in the country is stabilized. According to Lagarde, when the IMF gave financial support in the spring of 2014, experts expected the conflict on the East of the country to end by the winter.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Ukraine is escalating. More than 5,000 people have been killed. During the last week, over 100 people have been killed in the town of Gorlovka alone. The shelling in the eastern Ukrainian port city Mariupol has killed at least 30 people and left another 100 injured.

The country’s economy is also facing meltdown.

Ukraine has to pay about $10 billion to service its debt this year, including corporate and sovereign loans and bonds, according to the Institute of International Finance, a financial group based in Washington. Earlier this month, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said he expected to receive $13-15 billion in assistance in 2015-2016 from the US, Canada, Japan, EU, the IMF and World Bank.

In 2014 the European Union allocated Ukraine €1.36 billion. In addition, in April 2014, the IMF approved $17 billion in a stabilization program for Kiev over two years, $4.55 billion of that has been transferred in the past year.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/226755-ukraine-eu-aid-economy/

RIA Novosti / Grigoriy Sisoev

Plunging oil prices, even as low as $30 per barrel, won’t offset the world’s largest-listed oil company, Rosneft’s investment and development plans, according to the company’s VP.

“The company can weather $30 per barrel prices, but problems with the Russian budget will arise,” Rosneft Vice president Viktor Ishayev told reporters at a press conference in Khabarovsk.

Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil exporter contributes 3.5 trillion rubles ($51.7 billion) to the revenue side of the of the country’s 14.2 trillion ruble ($210 billion) revenue budget.

Oil prices are still teetering on a six year low, with Brent and WTI both dropping below $45 a barrel for the first time since 2009. On Tuesday, WTI traded near the $45 mark, while Brent has made slight gains to $48 a barrel.

Urals crude, Russia’s key export blend, usually trades slightly lower than Brent. The Kremlin’s 2015 draft budget assumed Russia’ key Urals export blend at $100 per barrel, which has now been revised to $70 per barrel, as of Tuesday.

The rapid devaluation of the ruble plays into Rosneft’s favor, according to Ishayev.

READ MORE: Russian ruble recovers after SP downgrade

He also stressed that the cost of oil production Rosneft is more competitive than their foreign competitors, since their costs are in rubles, but revenue in dollars.

View image | gettyimages.com

The company’s total operating expenses, according to the vice president, do not exceed $3-4 per barrel, a fraction of the $13-17 foreign companies require.

Rosneft’s biggest investment project this year will be the construction of the Eastern Petrochemical Company and the shipbuilding factory ‘Zvezda’ (Star) in the Primorsky Krai, which is the country’s main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. Another project still on target is the Sakahalin liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, as well as a 325 km Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, which will deliver oil from Siberia to eastern markets, such as India.

After buying out TNK-BP for $55 billion in 2013, Rosneft has acquired a large amount of debt, the next $11.88 billion loan which is due for payment on February 13. On Monday, the company raised

Rosneft raised 400 billion rubles ($6.1 billion) at a six-year debt sale on Monday, which was part of a 800 billion ruble ($12 billion) program approved in December 2014

Earlier this year, Rosneft asked the state government for more than $40 billion in state aid, but has not yet received a so-called ‘bail-out’, which would help the company maintain an active investment portfolio and simultaneously pay off debts.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/226731-rosneft-30-barrel-oil/