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[FTW has received a number of emails advising us that almost overnight local gas stations are changing from Exxon and other brand names to Lukoil stations. For those of you who don’t know, Lukoil is a Russian oil giant. And so the liquidation of the United States continues. If you notice similar changes in your region, please drop a line to admin@copvcia.com – MCR]
Russia ’s Largest Oil Producer Lukoil Opens Office in China
23.09.2005
MosNews
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2005/09/23/lukoilchinaoffice.shtml
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
On Thursday, Sept. 22, Russia’s largest private oil company Lukoil conducted a ceremonial opening of its new office in Beijing, China.
Valery Golovushkin, the company’s vice president was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying: “Lukoil is ready to deliver to China as much oil as the infrastructure allows.”
He added that the opening of the office in China would enable the company to obtain detailed information on projects that Lukoil hopes to take part in.
He said the company firstly intended to increase oil deliveries to China via pipelines. “A pipeline from Kazakhstan to China with a total annual output of 20 million metric tons will become operational by the end of this year,” Golovushkin added. The pipeline will enable direct oil deliveries to China from West Siberia, and Lukoil is ready to supply oil according to its quota.
He said railroad oil deliveries were not planned since they were not profitable for Russian companies due to the high transportation costs.
He added that Russia needed deeper seaports in order to increase its oil exports. The port in Novorossiisk can only receive tankers with a displacement of 130-140 metric tons. It is not profitable for tankers like that to transport oil long distances, he said.
Lukoil annually exports 50 million metric tons of oil and some 15 million tons of oil products. “How oil exports develop in the future depends solely on economic factors,” Golovushkin said.
Station owner snubs Lukoil
By SUE ROBINSON
Courier-Post Staff
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050917/
NEWS01/509170360/1006
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
COLLINGSWOOD
Last week, Collingswood service station owner Balkar Saini tried negotiating with his distributor, Lukoil, and its subsidiary Getty Petroleum for a lower gas price.
Though crude oil prices had dropped, his contracted price wasn't falling as fast, and he was forced to tick his pump price up and up. Saini watched as cars bypassed his station in favor of competitors.
"I don't want to go bankrupt with this company, but this is where I am heading," he said on Friday. A native of India who owns 14 service stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Saini estimated he was losing $5,000 to $7,000 a month.
By Tuesday, he had had enough.
He cloaked the Lukoil signs, shut out Lukoil gas and bought gas on the wholesale market. He also put a call into fellow retailers around the state. By mid-morning Friday, a dozen had shown up with signs.
"We just want people to know that this is not an isolated case," said Craig Copeland, a station owner from Morris County who came down to support Saini.
But at the subsidiary company's headquarters in New York, a Getty vice president, Sem Logovinsky, argued that this was precisely that: A case of a disgruntled retailer in the middle of a specific contract dispute. "This is one particular guy," he said.
But what about the rest of the station owners? Copeland and other retailers are suing Getty for release from their contract in federal court.
"Every dealer is never satisfied with the price," Logovinsky said. "(Gas) is a commodity and the price is what it is."
Crude oil prices are finally falling after huge spikes in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina supply disruption and skittish futures market. But Jersey gas prices continue to be 20 percent higher than before Katrina.
Trenton lawmakers held hearings this week on why: They are blaming retailers and others; the retailers are blaming their oil companies -- like Lukoil, which is in the middle of rebranding 800 Mobils whose contracts it took over in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Copeland said overcharging by the distributor translates into higher prices at the pump for everyone, sometimes as much as 20 cents higher.
Ranjit Dhaliwal, a station owner in Pleasantville, figured he is losing about $4,000 or $5,000 a month on the difference in Lukoil's charge and what he could get elsewhere. He had high hopes that Friday's demonstration might sway the company.
"I am thinking that maybe Lukoil will listen to us and get us a good price that I need to survive," he said.
Saini stood under his draped Lukoil sign. A price for his new no-brand regular gasoline read $2.85 a gallon. With the wholesale price of gas at $2.55 on Wednesday compared to the Lukoil charge of $2.94, Saini is able to make enough to pay his overhead and have enough for a 25-cent-per-gallon profit margin.
Yet, Saini is most likely violating his contract with Lukoil by snubbing the distributor to buy gas. Logovinsky maintained that Getty has done nothing wrong or illegal.
"We are selling as competitively as everyone else in the area," Logovinsky said.
[Alan Greenspan has been preparing to step down as the Fed Chairman at the end of the year for some time. What does he know that we don’t? “Apres moi, le deluge.” Here he is seen frankly admitting to G7 ministers that the deficit is out of control. The US economy is a hairsbreadth from capitulation, even now as Greenspan continues to quietly warn on the housing bubble and rising consumer debt. Woe to those who keep borrowing against illusory equity in their homes just to keep up or pay increased energy bills. – MCR]
Greenspan to French finmin: US lost deficit control
By Paul Carrel
September 25, 2005
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/25
/greenspan_to_french_finmin_us_lost_deficit_control/
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told France's Finance Minister Thierry Breton the United States has "lost control" of its budget deficit, the French minister said on Saturday.
"'We have lost control,' that was his expression," Breton told reporters after a bilateral meeting with Greenspan.
"The United States has lost control of their budget at a time when racking up deficits has been authorized without any control (from Congress)," Breton said.
"We were both disappointed that the management of debt is not a political priority today," he added.
Ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations on Friday called for vigorous action around the world to curb rising imbalances in international trade and investment accounts.
A decrease in the U.S. budget deficit were cited by the G7 as one way to ease those imbalances. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said the U.S. administration was still committed to halving its budget deficit by 2009.
Breton spoke as International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said U.S. plans to cut its government expenditures now looked ambitious in the light of huge reconstruction costs to be borne in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Breton said: "The situation that is creating tension today on the currency market ... is clearly the American deficit."
The United States needed to address its budget deficit, he said, adding: "It seems to me that my counterpart John Snow is completely aware of this, he wants to harness the problem, but it seems to me he doesn't have the room for maneuver."
Breton added that after hearing Greenspan talk about inflation: "One has the feeling -- though he didn't say so -- that interest rates will probably continue to rise slightly until his departure."
Greenspan is due to step down as Fed chairman in January after 18 years in the post.
Asked if G7 finance chiefs would meet as usual in February next year as well as gathering for an extraordinary meeting in December this year -- partly to pay tribute to Greenspan before his departure -- the French finance chief said: "Yes, yes. Next February as well."
He said France was "not against" the idea of enlarging the Group of Seven, a notion that has gained impetus at these meetings.
© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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Russia ’s Largest Oil Producer Lukoil Opens Office in China