Major oil companies have maintained their stronghold as the world’s most financially effective energy businesses, according to the 2008 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company rankings announced here Monday evening. But the rankings also point to a performance resurgence by non-oil firms, such as electric utilities, and to the rising importance and influence of Asia-Pacific [...]

A top government official shrugged off concerns about Russia’s stagnating oil output, saying several new fields are expected to come on stream by the end of the year.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin — chairman of state-owned oil major Rosneft — told a briefing that he was “not worried” about the decline in Russia’s oil output [...]

The production of oil, gas and coal increased in the first quarter in Russia, whilst electricity production fell back, the ministry for energy and natural resources said.
The production of oil and distilled gas increased by 4.2 pct to 121.14 mln tonnes in the first quarter.
The main producers are Lukoil, Rosneft, TNK-BP, Surgutneftegas and Gazprom Neft, [...]

Russian state-controlled oil major Rosneft, the country’s number two oil producer, is planning a second listing, a newspaper has reported.
The Kremlin “has taken a decision in principle to carry out a second IPO (Initial Public Offering)”, business daily RBK quoted an unnamed official from Russia’s federal property agency Rosimushchestvo as saying Wednesday.
Nikolai Manvelov, a Rosneft [...]

State-controlled energy giants OAO Gazprom and OAO Rosneft will divide up Russia’s oil and gas-rich seabed evenly, the financial newspaper Vedomosti reported Monday, a step that would leave foreign oil companies with a minority role at most.
While the move has not been officially backed by President Vladimir Putin, the paper said, it would be in [...]

Imprisoned Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a suspect in a new money-laundering investigation, raising the possibility that the Kremlin foe, already serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud, could spend many more years in prison, his attorney said Wednesday.
Khodorkovsky, his imprisoned partner Platon Lebedev, also a suspect, and their attorneys were summoned [...]

Strat Petroleum, Ltd., an emerging exploration and development company focusing on oil and gas opportunities in the Russian Federation, today announced the results of their recent trip to Russia. While overseas, Company management presented their solution for the treatment of oil sludge to Rosneft’s operation in the Stavrapol Region and to a number of local [...]

State-controlled oil company OAO Rosneft and Britain’s BP PLC have signed an agreement on exploratory drilling off the coast of Russia’s Far East island of Sakhalin, Rosneft said in a statement late Wednesday.
Under the terms of the agreement a joint venture controlled 51 percent by Rosneft and 49 percent by BP will drill six exploratory [...]

The Russian aluminum company Rusal on Monday announced a three-way merger to create the world’s biggest aluminum producer, dethroning the U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa and underscoring the rise of Russia’s commodity-based industries against a backdrop of rising prices.
Under the terms of the agreement, Rusal, which is controlled by the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, will issue [...]

PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has climbed up 13 notches to occupy the 120th spot in this year’s Fortune Global 500 list.
Petronas’ advancement in the widely-followed list has a lot to do with the higher revenue of US$44.3 billion (RM163.5 billion) the state-owned oil corporation announced recently.
Fortune also ranked Petronas at number 15 in terms of [...]