Deputy head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Anatoly Golomolzin said the agency might impose sanctions against oil companies that intended to freeze only the retail gasoline price on the domestic market, leaving the wholesale price to further grow.

Russia’s government has raised the export duty on crude oil to $179.9 per ton. The decree, signed by prime minister Mikhail Fradkov, comes into effect on October 1, the government's press service reported.

Oil production in the fourth quarter of this year is expected to be 120 million tons of oil and unstable gas condensate, according to the ministry of industry and energy. A decree on the transportation of crude oil, oil products and gas to Russian consumers and abroad was signed by Andrei Reus . . .

Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom shortlisted Friday five oil majors to contend for the development of the huge Shtokman natural gas field off the Barents Sea and said it would hold a 51% controlling stake in the project.

Lithuania’s authorities object to plans to build a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, citing environmental concerns. This is the first attempt to block the project, signaling perhaps the beginning of a war by the Baltic states and Poland against the Russian-German gas . . .

Russia’s gas giant Gazprom, German chemicals manufacturer BASF and E.ON Ruhrgas have signed a deal to build a gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, BASF said in a statement on Thursday.

Russia’s economy ministry has sent to the government a draft directive for the meeting of the board of directors of oil company Rosneftegaz. A loan from western banks to pay for a 10.7 percent stake in Gazprom will be discussed at the meeting, the economy ministry’s press service told RBC.

Russian authorities are looking for the funds to pay for the acquisition of Gazprom shares by state-owned oil company Rosneft. Russian economy minister German Gref suggests selling part of Rosneft shares. He offers taking a one-year $7.5 billion loan using a non-controlling stake in Rosneft as collateral.

The Arbitration Court of Moscow will consider today Yuganskneftegaz's complaint against the federal tax service's decision to claim RUR29.6 billion (about $1.03 billion) from the company in unpaid taxes for 2002.

State-owned oil company Rosneft is more likely to compete with gas giant Gazprom for the acquisition of oil company Sibneft than Surgutneftegas, investment analysts say. Yevgeny Suverov, at Zenit Bank, thinks Rosneft could join in the struggle for Sibneft.

The possibility that Russian gas giant Gazprom is buying up 3 percent of Sibneft on the open market is low, traders at Russian investment companies say.

Gazprom is most likely to buy a stake in Sibneft. The gas giant is going to borrow $10bn from a group of western banks to buy Roman Abramovich’s company, the Finansoviye Izvestia newspaper reports. ABN Amro and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) could help Gazprom finance this acquisition. According to the . . .

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed the cabinet to cut the difference between Urals and Brend oil blends addressing today's cabinet meeting. He called this difference unfair. Head of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry German Gref said that the cabinet has proposed . . .

A set of measures concerning taxes in the oil sector needs to be taken by the end of this year, Russian economic development and trade minister German Gref has declared at today's cabinet meeting. He commented that previous sources of Russian economic growth . . .

Russia produced 270.3 million tons of oil and gas condensate from January through July this year, a 2.8 percent year-to-date increase, the central dispatch department of Russia’s energy ministry has said.

Moldova’s debt to Russian gas giant Gazprom stood at $662.8 million by July 1, 2005, Gennady Abashkin, chairman of the board of directors of Russian-Moldovan joint venture Moldova-Gaz, said at a press conference in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Monday.

The Russian government has raised export duties on oil products. The decree was signed by prime minister Mikhail Fradkov, the government’s press service reported.

The London stock market's Russian season is set to continue on Thursday when trading opens in newly listed gas producer Novatek, which investors have been queuing up to buy, Cbonds.info reported. Novatek plans to offer up to 19 percent of its shares in the public placement to raise up to $966 million . . .

Moscow's arbitration court postponed until July 25th the preliminary hearings on the Yukos appeal to negate the results of the Yuganskneftegaz (Yukos' main production unit) sales auction and to be awarded damages in the amount of $11.3 billion.

Gazprom will receive more than $800 million in additional revenues from the sale of gas from underground storage facilities in Ukraine, a senior Gazprom executive said.

Russia has asked the United States to hand over a Russian businessman, Leonid Nevzlin, who is currently on international wanted list, the Russian Embassy told RIA Novosti Wednesday.

Russia can guarantee that the global economy will have enough energy resources and will develop positively and predictably, a presidential aide said Sunday. Igor Shuvalov told a nationwide Russian TV channel: "Russia can play the most important role here as a predictable and democratic country.

Even the terrorist attack in London has not distracted the G8 leaders from discussing the key problem of global economics. It is the stable provision of oil to global markets and ways to prevent the skyrocketing oil prices from threatening economic growth

Russia's natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, sealed an asset swap deal Thursday with Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch/Shell.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured his G8 partners that Russia will do everything possible to ensure stable energy supplies, a source said. A member of the Russian delegation to the summit of the world's most industrialized nations, the G8 . . .

State-owned Rosneft may come into possession of some stock of one of the most attractive Russian oil companies, Sibneft, today's issue of the famous daily Izvestia wrote.

A ceremony took place at Sangachal, south of Baku in Azerbaijan, on May 25 to mark the commissioning of the Azerbaijan section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has not decided on whether or not it will continue to fund the Sakhalin II oil and gas project, a senior EBRD official said Wednesday.

Russia's No. 1 oil transporter Transneft will prepare a report on possible negative environmental, social and economic consequences of its Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean Pipeline following a request from the Ministry of Industry and Energy.

Gazprom shares will be liberalized by the end of this year, Dmitry Medvedev, the chairman of the Gazprom board, said opening a Gazprom board session today.