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Russia

Article Index

What OPEC's New Romance with Russia Means for Oil Prices

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

oil well

Low oil prices have brought OPEC and Russia to the brink of partnership, but don't expect this new closeness to radically raise oil prices. Here's what the real impact will be.

OPEC's decision to protect market share over price has even hit American producers, with their huge, expensive-to-extract new reserves of shale and tight oil.

This is an important development. It means that for the first time in nearly 11 months, geopolitics is likely to give support to higher crude - meaning oil prices get a new push.

[WARNING] China, Russia Create Own Gold Market to Take Down U.S. Dollar

By , Money Morning -

gold

China and Russia have finally had enough of Western central bankers' clandestine gold market manipulation to prop up the U.S. dollar.

F. William Engdahl, an American-German economic researcher and best-selling geopolitical author, was quoted by business blog Sputnik on Aug. 16. He said that Russia, China, and other emerging economies are involved in & the genial move & to establish an entirely different gold market.

& They stand to add to the new energy surrounding a renaissance in gold as a support of solid, well-based currencies to replace the diluted and devalued dollar system...&

Get the full story here...

Don't Count Putin (or Russia) Out Yet

By , Resource Specialist, Money Morning -

Russia

Don't underestimate Vladimir Putin: he knows how to fight back.

And right now, that trait might be all that keeps Russia from a catastrophic collapse.

The facts on the ground in Russia are, at best, chaotic...

Oil prices are way down, and its currency, the ruble, has crashed.

But while the West may think it's got Russia under its thumb, Vladimir has plenty more tricks up his sleeve to stave off his country's mounting problems and see his people through the crisis.

Indeed, this one "nuclear" currency option in his pocket may just be his way out, and it has major implications for the global economy...

Chaos Mounts in Russia. Here's What to Do…

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

DJIA

The collapse in oil prices has exposed some vulnerable economies. All of them are dependent upon crude export sales to maintain even the appearance of a national budget.

As you might expect, every member of OPEC falls into this group, although Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates have sufficient reserves that will allow them to carry sizable budget deficits for some time.

However, Venezuela, Iran, and Nigeria are in a real bind.  Each needs oil to be over $100 a barrel to keep it all afloat. That's tough to finesse when oil is selling for less than $60 a barrel.

Today, Caracas is on the verge of defaulting (again) on its sovereign debt, Tehran may need to reintroduce rationing, while Abuja is fighting an incendiary civil war against Islamist fundamentalists in the north.

Yet these nightmares are hardly limited to OPEC. Other export-dependent producers are likewise taking it on the chin.

And at the top of this list is Russia, which has now come completely off the rails...

Russia: The Greatest Threat to the Energy Markets

By , Global Energy Strategist, Oil & Energy Investor • @KentMoors_OEI -

There's an old saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
And modern Russia a perfect example of this saying. And this move to the past autocratic methods is creating a very unstable future for the energy markets.
Dr. Moors explains the warning signs in Moscow that are making energy traders start to worry.
To find out what's happening and what it means to you, read on...

BP PLC (NYSE ADR: BP) Attempts Another Venture Into Russian Oil Industry in $16 Billion Deal

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

BP PLC (NYSE ADR: BP) on Friday announced it was entering a $16 billion share swap deal with Russian oil industry giant NK Rosneft OAO (PINK: RNFTF). The deal will give BP access to areas of the Russian Arctic that were previously off limits to foreign companies, but it will come at a political cost.

The deal involves BP swapping 5% of its shares, valued at $7.8 billion, for 9.5% of state-controlled Rosneft's shares. The British oil company already owns a 1.3% stake in the Russian business. BP Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley said the deal is the first cross-shareholding between a Russian state-owned national oil company (NOC) and western oil giant, and called the move "a new template for how business can be done in our industry."

The joint venture will make Rosneft the largest single BP shareholder. Their newly formed joint operating company will be two-thirds owned by Rosneft and one-third owned by BP. It will spend up to $2 billion in an initial phase of testing and well-drilling.

Read More…

Russia: Is it Time to Invest in One of the Coldest Countries on Earth?

By , Global Investing Specialist, Money Morning -

Of all the unpleasant societies in which to live, Vladimir Putin's Russia is among the nastiest. Journalists and businessmen disappear, a knock on the door at 3:00am can prove fatal, and nothing gets done without endless side-payments to obscure fixers.

Still, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) in 2001 identified Russia as one of the four great "BRIC" growth economies. And while much of its gilt has been worn off, Russia still has many supporters in the investment world. So the question is: Provided you don't have to live there, is it worth devoting a few of your investment dollars to the country?

To find out if Russia is worth the investment continue reading...

How to Profit From the Russian Wheat Shortage

By , Global Macro Trends Specialist, Money Morning -

Russian wheat farmers have a tough life.

Having grown up on a working farm in Oregon, I understand this all too well. Those days taught me a lot about hard work and patience. Four decades later, as I read news stories about the current travails of Russian wheat farmers, the memories of getting up on wet winter mornings for the pre-dawn goat milking - or having to drive a tractor when I was only six years old - engender a lot of empathy for the difficult challenges the wheat farmers face.

Wild fires are racing through unharvested wheat fields, the result of a Russian heat wave that has destroyed more than one-fifth of that country's wheat crop. In addition to causing the farmers considerable pain, the crop losses have caused wheat prices to double this summer.

This has spawned an export ban in Russia, which effectively removes the third-largest exporter in the world from the market. It's also created a major profit opportunity for U.S. investors.

Let me explain.



For strategies that will help you profit from the Russian wheat shortage, please read on....