Litasco (LUKoil International Trading and Supply Company) is the exclusive international marketing and trading company of the Russian LUKoil Group. Litasco is one of the world’s major traders of crude oil and refined petroleum products, handling physical volumes of more than two million barrels per day.

Litasco and Greenfield signed a Memorandum of Understanding early this year and project teams from both companies have since been working on a pricing formula which can form the basis of an offtake agreement. Further working meetings aimed at progressing towards this objective are to take place before the end of 2009.

Greenfield is making this announcement at this time on account of several press inquiries which both companies have received, and the publication in some locations of minor details of the companies’ relationship. To clarify, the only formal agreement which exists between the companies as yet is the Memorandum of Understanding.

Litasco operates almost 2,000 filling stations across the European Union. Like all other fuel suppliers, the company will be bound by EU directives on climate change and renewable energy which are now law, and which mandate measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the year 2020.

Greenfield’s first bioenergy complex in Belarus will initially produce 150,000 metric tonnes of bioethanol annually, rising to 450,000 tonnes as phases 2 and 3 are completed. Litasco intends to blend Greenfield’s ethanol with LUKoil’s petrol to supply E5, E10, E85 and other petrol/ethanol blends (E Blends) as required by the EU Directives.

Greenfield is also conducting discussions with a major German fuel logistics and trading company with a view to developing blending and storage facilities for E Blends in Kaliningrad, Russian Federation, in order to cater for the needs of the EU market from 2014 onwards.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Greenfield Project Management Ltd

Greenfield Project Management Ltd is an investment and project development company incorporated in Ireland. Greenfield specialises in bioenergy, with a focus on Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

Greenfield’s immediate focus, under its agreements with Government of Belarus, is the construction of bioenergy facilities in Belarus to produce 570 million litres of bioethanol annually, together with biogas and green electricity. In conjunction with our offtake partner, Litasco SA, the ethanol will be blended with petrol to make E5, E10, E85 and other petrol/ethanol blends for European Union and CIS markets.

The bioenergy complex will be located at Mozyr, producing over 570 million litres of bioethanol annually plus biogas and electricity. This project and future projects will be strongly carbon-saving and will make a substantial contribution to reducing greenhouse gases.

Greenfield plans, in conjunction with the Government of Belarus and international organisations such as the UNDP, to extend production of biofuels and to use the cultivation of biomass for biofuels as a means to speed up decontamination of the lands affected by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in 1986.

Litasco SA

Litasco (LUKoil International Trading and Supply Company) is the exclusive international marketing and trading company of the LUKoil Group. Litasco is one of the world’s major traders of crude oil and refined petroleum products, handling physical volumes of more than two million barrels per day. With our head office in Geneva, and additional trading and business development offices worldwide, Litasco manages LUKoil’s global supply, marketing and trading needs.

The Litasco Group is made up of subsidiaries and branches in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Dubai and Singapore. Representatives and consultants of the group have established our presence in Russia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and China.

In total, the Litasco Group employs over 300 staff and is present in thirteen different countries. Litasco deals with more than two thousand suppliers and customers, including all of the world’s major oil corporations.

More information on both companies and the on Chernobyl Bio-clean Programme is available at greenfieldpartners.eu, litasco.com and at lukoil.com

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“The hijackers boarded the ‘Arctic Sea’, threatened the crew with weapons and demanded that their orders be followed,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

Serdyukov reported to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the hijackers ordered the cargo ship’s crew to shut down all communications and navigation equipment, and in this condition the “Arctic Sea” was sailing toward the African continent.

The eight detainees are from Estonia, Latvia and Russia.

None of the crew was injured in the rescue operation, the minister said.

A criminal case has been opened over the abduction of the crew of the “Arctic Sea”, the Russia’s Prosecutor Investigative Committee informed.

Estonia’s response

Russia hasn’t informed Tallinn about the possible involvement of Estonian citizens in the ‘Arctic Sea’ ship capture, said Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet.

According to Paet, the Estonian government contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia’s Embassy in Estonia, Russian Interpol department, FSB and Russia’s Defense Ministry, but none of the institutions have provided them with information about the Estonians detained by the Russian Navy.

The Estonian Minister noted that Russia and Estonia have a consular agreement that gives both sides three days to inform the other country about the detention of a citizen. Russia hasn’t broken the agreement because it still has two more days to officially inform Estonia about the detainee.

Paet reminded that according to the International Law, pirates detained in international waters cannot be tried according to the laws of the country making the arrest. As for Estonia, it has declared that it has no reason to issue an indictment in the hijacking.

Lost ship found – mystery remains

The Russian crew of a cargo ship “Arctic Sea”, which has been missing for almost three weeks, is on the way home. Their disappearance puzzled experts and officials across Europe.

Dark and unpredictable as the waters that lent the ship its name, the “Arctic Sea” story is still full of unknowns.

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Arctic Sea

The minister said all the sailors are alive and safe. They were moved to a Russian anti-submarine warfare ship and are now answering questions “to clarify all the circumstances of the incident”.

It’s already been established that they were not under armed control.

President Medvedev instructed the minister to monitor the situation closely and brief him on the outcome of the inquiry.

Details of the incident are likely to be provided by the end of the day, Serdyukov said.

The story is also quite intriguing because of the unprecedented level of secrecy surrounding the search process itself.

“The fact is that it was not a criminal assault, it was not an act of piracy, and what exactly it was we don’t know,” says Mikhail Voitenko, the Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Maritime Bulletin.

“The whole story was of a great level of secrecy. If you remember the NATO announcements and those of the Malta maritime authorities – they were all the same: ‘The operation is under way, but we cannot say anything’,” Voitenko added.

The “Arctic Sea” cargo ship was sailing under a Maltese flag and had a Russian crew of 15, but radio contact with the ship was lost on July 28 along the coast of Portugal.

It was to arrive in Algeria on August 4 with a load of Finnish timber worth $2 million. And the relatively low value of its cargo, along with all the mysterious sequence of events, prompted much speculation as to what, in fact, the ship might have been transporting.

“It’s possible that there was something put in the hold before it was loaded with the timber,” John Burnett of the Maritime and Underwater Security Consultants told RT. “I don’t want to get into speculating too much, but it could be anything from chemical, biological, nuclear weapon, …but it is unlikely to be drugs because it was going to Algeria, and you wouldn’t take drugs to Algeria, you take drugs to Europe.”

Some go as far as to suggest that the whole operation was nothing but a Russian military exercise.

If that is the case, “it would be the only other reason that the Russian government would send its Black Sea fleet in a desperate search for this vessel,” John Burnett says.

“It’s either a training exercise, which I doubt seriously, or they were looking for this vessel because intelligence gave them an indication that there is something very dangerous aboard this ship,” Burnett concluded.

There were reports that the vessel was assaulted by armed men near Sweden, just days before its disappearance.

Russian and NATO fleets and satellite took part in the operation to locate the “Arctic Sea”.

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We have instructed our experts to work together to analyze the ballistic missile challenges of the 21st century and to prepare appropriate recommendations, giving priority to the use of political and diplomatic methods. At the same time they plan to conduct a joint review of the entire spectrumof means at our disposal that allow us to cooperate on monitoring the development of missile programs around the world. Our experts are intensifying dialogue on establishing the Joint Data Exchange Center, which is to become the basis for a multilateral missile-launch notification regime.

The Russian Federation and the United States of America reaffirm their willingness to engage in equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation with all interested countries that share their assessments of the danger of global proliferation of ballistic missiles. We call upon all countries having a missile potential to refrain from steps that could lead to missile proliferation and undermine regional and global stability.

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It will be centuries before Belarus is completely free from the radio-activity that fell after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 23 years ago. But an Irish company has come up with an innovative way of cleaning up the country’s contaminated land in as little as 30 years.

A bioethanol plant similar to that planned by Greenfield to kickstart the bio-clean programme

The Chernobyl Bio-clean Programme is being presented as a win-win solution for the former Soviet republic. Greenfield Project Management plans to use polluted soils to grow bio-fuel crops that will suck up the radioactivity. This will make the earth suitable to grow food within decades rather than centuries.

The resulting bio-fuel will be free from radioactivity, Greenfield says, and will create much-needed economic activity in the area. The company has already signed a framework deal with the Belarussian government and was in Minsk last week meeting officials and its local partner, Belbiopharm, a state biotech company.

Experts from the Belarus Academy of Sciences and the Helmholtz Association for scientific research in Germany agree that repeated harvesting of biomass crops as raw material for bio-fuel refineries would remove radio-nuclides from the soil in contaminated areas.

When the reactor at Chernobyl exploded in Ukraine in 1986, neighbouring Belarus was worst affected, receiving almost 80% of the fall-out, covering 23% of its territory, some 46,500 square kilometres. These soils are now heavily polluted with caesium-137, strontium-90, plutonium and americium, which will take hundreds of years to decay.

While the most heavily polluted land remains evacuated, millions of people live in the contaminated zone. Despite the risk of radioactivity migrating into the food chain, farmers grow some food crops — mostly grains. Most of the radioactive particles from the soil end up concentrated in the roots and stalks, which are ploughed back into the land after harvest — creating a vicious circle of repeated contamination.

Greenfield’s project involves harvesting the entire plant to be used in a refinery to make bio-ethanol, decontaminating the land gradually with each crop. Basil Miller of Greenfield said: “Our advice is if you do this continuously across the area you speed up the process of returning the land to normal use by up to 90%. So where it might have taken 300 or 400 years for this to come about, we might do it between one or two generations.”

First, in a joint venture with the state in Belarus, the company will build a plant facility in Mozyr, deep in the contaminated zone, that will initially use non-contaminated crops to produce 700m litres of bio-ethanol each year.

Andrei Savinykh, the Belarus diplomatic representative at the United Nations in Geneva, said: “We see this idea as a far-reaching possibility. We can produce a fuel on our own territory, thus enhancing our energy security and sustainability of economic development.

“It is a kind of a win-win situation, which is why we are attracted and fascinated by the whole idea. Because we are creating a fuel that is green by its nature, we are not polluting the environment.

“There are vast areas in Belarus which contain radioactive particles in the soil. Those lands are used for agricultural production now. There is a big dilemma here because if we stop producing agricultural products in these areas we will devastate the local economy, but we are afraid of possible migration of radioactive particles from the soil through food to humans. The project is an ultimate solution to the problem. We switch to the production of bio-fuel so our people’s health is protected and we give them an economic foundation to sustain their living.”

Greenfield insists the bio-fuel produced will have no radioactive material in it as only pure ethanol is distilled out, making it safe to use. The heavy radioactive residues left behind in the process will be burnt in a power station producing a concentrated radioactive ash. This can be disposed of at existing treatment works for nuclear waste, according to the company.

If the facilities in Belarus are not in compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency standards, Greenfield will export it to compliant facilities in Russia across the border.

The project was the brainchild of Ann McClain, chairwoman of Greenfield and a niece of the late Freddy Heineken, the former president of the Dutch brewing company. McClain got seed funding from the Heineken Foundation, a charitable scheme, to explore the possibility of the bio-ethanol project.

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19 June 2009 07:00 GMT

Chinese Taipei has reported 60 confirmed case of influenza A (H1N1) with 0 deaths. Cases from Chinese Taipei are included in the cumulative totals provided in the table above.

Cumulative and new figures are subject to revision

Abbreviations

UKOT: United Kingdom Overseas Territory
FOC: French Overseas Collectivity OT: Overseas Territory

Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao *: 3 confirmed cases: The three confirmed cases are crew members of a cruise ship.  They did not leave the boat during their illness nor during the 24 hours preceding the onset of symptoms.

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The talks with Ukraine over gas supplies in 2009 have yielded no result. The arrears to Gazprom for previous gas deliveries haven’t been cleared till the end of this day. Despite the oral declarations from Kiev, Gazprom hasn’t received any money. We have heard a negative reply to the offers from the Russian side on the favorable terms of gas supply to Ukraine in 2009, and we are getting the impression that there are political forces in Ukraine which have a strong interest in the gas standoff between our two countries. Gazprom will continue supplying gas to its European customers in full, we have a transit contract in force. As far as gas deliveries to Ukraine are concerned, Gazprom has no legal grounds to supply gas beyond the customs zone of the Russian Federation given the absence of a signed contract, and from 10.00 on January 1, 2009 Gazprom will fully, 100 per cent, stop gas deliveries to Ukraine. The entire responsibility for the current situation rests with the Ukrainian side.

Statement by OAO Gazprom Management Committee Chairman Alexey Miller

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Group sales for the eleven months were 3% up in sterling terms and 3.5% down in constant currency terms vs. the same period last year. Like for like Group sales were 4.9% down in constant currency terms. The Group’s operating margin was 4.3%. Despite the weakening trading conditions in many markets around the world, we expect to report underlying results for 2008 in line with our previous expectations.

Restructuring

Since our previous update we have undertaken a further level of restructuring in our European businesses. As a consequence, the total restructuring cost for 2008 (including the write-off of goodwill on Latvia) will now be £85 million compared to £75 million as previously reported. The annualised benefit from this restructuring is expected to increase from £50 million to approximately £55 million.

Outlook

The decline in new car sales accelerated in November in most parts of the world. The rapid and unprecedented decline in so many of the Group’s markets makes it difficult to forecast our results with a great degree of certainty.

In most of our markets we now expect more substantial sales declines than previously estimated due to the global recession and significant reduction in credit availability. We now also expect the Russian market to decline in 2009 impacted by the increase in import duty on cars and the likelihood that a number of manufacturers will change to US Dollar pricing of vehicles. In Australia, f ollowing the recent announcement by GMAC to cease to write new business in that market early in 2009, the Group is negotiating to replace the wholesale and retail finance facility it has with that company with other providers.

Our Group tax rate will rise in 2009 as losses in some countries cannot be tax relieved and our interest cost is incurred primarily in the UK.

Accordingly, we would expect our underlying results for 2009 to be significantly below our previous expectations.

We will continue to drive market share and aftersales growth to ensure we maximise the opportunities available in our markets. We will continue our efforts to reduce costs wherever possible and adjust our working capital to market conditions.

Dividend

Given current market conditions and the expectation that trading will remain difficult going forward, the Board will not be recommending payment of a final dividend for the year ending 31 December 2008.

Financial position

The Group is currently in compliance with its financing arrangements. However, the Group is engaged with its finance providers, to ensure that these arrangements are appropriate for a downturn in trading in 2009. This may in due course result in certain changes to the current financing arrangements, including interest cost. Group net debt reduced from £570m at 30 September 2008 to £540m at 30 November 2008, with £1,035m of committed facilities available to the Group.

Commenting on this statement, Andrė Lacroix, the Group Chief Executive said:

“Despite weakening trading conditions globally, we expect to report underlying results for 2008 in line with our previous expectations. The unprecedented and rapid downturn faced by the car industry around the world will impact our results in 2009.

However, markets will recover in due course and we believe that Inchcape is best positioned to benefit from its strong market positions and its long standing relationships with the leading OEMs in the industry”.

For further information, please contact:

Group Communications, Inchcape plc

+44 (0) 20 7546 0022

Investor Relations, Inchcape plc

+44 (0) 20 7546 8316

Financial Dynamics (Jonathon Brill/Billy Clegg)

+44 (0) 20 7831 3113

Notes to editors

1. About Inchcape

Inchcape is the world’s leading car retailer with a geographically diverse portfolio, operating in 25 countries. The company has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1958 and operates both Distribution and Retail businesses, with multiple revenue streams (including sales of new and used vehicles, parts, service, finance and insurance), for the world’s most successful car brands.

Inchcape’s Core Purpose is to create the ultimate customer experience for its brand partners. Exceptional people are at the heart of the business, bringing this genuine Customer 1st approach alive through the Inchcape Advantage, a programme designed to make customers feel special everyday, every time, everywhere. The Group’s core markets are the UK, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Greece, Belgium, Russia and China.

2. This statement is based on information sourced from management accounts. Underlying results and operating margin are stated before any restructuring costs, goodwill impairment, amortisation of acquired intangibles and fair value adjustments relating to volatile financial instruments.

3. Statements made in this announcement that look forward in time or that express management’s beliefs, expectations or estimates regarding future occurrences are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the Group’s current expectations concerning future events and actual results may differ materially from current expectations or historical results.

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Leaders of the world’s major economies have drawn up an action plan to combat the burgeoning financial crisis and pull the global economy back from one of the worst downturns in decades.

Leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) industrialized and emerging market economies announced a series of immediate and longer-term actions to stabilize the financial system, stimulate domestic demand, help emerging and developing economies battered by the crisis, and strengthen the regulatory framework. They said they would hold a second summit by April 30, next year.

They stressed their commitment to ensuring that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and other multilateral financial institutions had sufficient resources to continue playing their role in overcoming the crisis. Japan has announced its intention to lend the IMF an extra $100 billion to boost its resources.

G-20 leaders line up for a joint photo at the summit. (photo: IMF)

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn welcomed the outcome of the two-day summit in Washington, calling the agreed action plan a significant step by the international community toward stronger cooperation aimed at resolving the global financial crisis and supporting the IMF’s capacity to contribute to these efforts. The declaration gives the IMF a central role both in terms of crisis response and suggesting how to reform world financial markets.

Broad-based summit

“I am very pleased about the G-20 leaders’ strong support for the important role of the Fund in crisis management and the reform of the international financial architecture,” Strauss-Kahn said. “In addition to helping some member countries that are facing difficult circumstances with rapid and effective support, we have also created a new short-term liquidity facility and continue to review our instruments and facilities.”

The G-20 comprises the seven major industrialized nations—Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, and the United States—plus Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey. It also includes the 27-nation European Union, which was represented by Spain. Also attending were the heads of the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank, and the Financial Stability Forum.

“Today’s Summit was significant because of the people present. A new world economic order is developing that is more dynamic and more inclusive than any we have yet seen,” Strauss-Kahn said. “The meetings are also significant because of what was agreed. The most important outcome of this weekend’s meeting is agreement on an action plan and the commitment of all participants to implement the plan vigorously and fully. The IMF will give strong support to these efforts.”

President Bush greets Strauss-Kahn at the start of the summit in Washington. (photo: IMF)

Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister who took over as head of the IMF a year ago, noted the G-20 leaders’ commitment to act together to meet global macroeconomic challenges, using both monetary and fiscal policy. Lower inflation risks provide room to ease monetary policy, he said, adding that this will be important, but will not be enough.

“I welcome the emphasis on fiscal stimulus, which I believe is now essential to restore global growth,” the Managing Director said, a point he had stressed in an earlier letter to G-20 finance ministers. “Each country’s fiscal stimulus can be twice as effective in raising domestic output growth if its major trading partners also have a stimulus package.”

He noted that the declaration recognizes that some countries have more room for maneuver than others. “We believe that those countries—advanced and emerging economies—with the strongest fiscal policy frameworks, the best ability to finance fiscal expansion, and the most clearly sustainable debt should take the lead,” he said, adding that the IMF stands ready to advise on which measures, such as tax cuts or additional spending, will be the most effective.

He said the global stimulus needs to be large, in the order of 2 percent of world GDP, to make a sizeable difference to global growth prospects. “We are going to work on this with countries in the coming weeks and months,” he added. He welcomed China’s recent announcement of a $586 billion stimulus plan, saying this would shift Chinese policy and economy in the right direction.

Reinforcing international cooperation

Strauss-Kahn noted the G-20′s endorsement of strengthening the IMF’s mandate in the areas of macroeconomic surveillance, lending to member countries in need, and providing assistance to build up capacity in emerging market and developing countries. He welcomed agreement that the role of the IMF in providing macro-financial policy advice would be enhanced, including the request that the Fund and others develop recommendations to mitigate pro-cyclicality in regulatory regimes. “This is very important at this time,” he added.

Strauss-Kahn noted that the action plan agreed at the summit pointed to the role of the IMF in supporting the plan’s implementation, including some immediate actions by March 31, 2009. He praised the agreement on principles for reform of financial markets, and especially the commitments to reinforce international cooperation.

“The IMF’s role in reform of financial markets is based on our responsibility for surveillance of the global financial system, which was part of the original Bretton Woods agreement,” he said. “It is also based on our capacity to analyze the relationships between financial markets and the real economy. We have already seen how important these relationships can be. The world must understand them better, and the IMF will do its part to make this happen.”

“I am particularly pleased that all G-20 members have committed to participating in the IMF’s Financial Sector Assessment Program,” he added. “This will ensure a transparent review of countries’ regulatory systems.”

Ensuring sufficient resources

Strauss-Kahn stressed to reporters the important role of the IMF in crisis response and developing early warning systems to spot when countries may be getting into trouble. He welcomed the leaders’ commitment to strengthen the IMF’s capacity to fulfill its mandate of macroeconomic surveillance, lending to member countries in need, and providing assistance to build up capacity in emerging market and developing countries.

“It is an important signal that the world is committed to ensuring that the IMF, World Bank, and other multilateral development banks have sufficient resources to help our members overcome the crisis,” he stated.

In a separate statement, Strauss-Kahn welcomed Prime Minister Taro Aso’s announcement that Japan is prepared to lend up to $100 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “This is a major contribution to maintaining the stability of financial and capital markets, and clearly demonstrates Japan’s leadership and strong commitment to multilateralism,” he said.

The IMF has acted quickly to help emerging markets caught up in the crisis. It has finalized loans for Hungary and Ukraine, and announced agreement in principle with Pakistan. A loan for Iceland is also due to be considered by the IMF’s Board on November 19.

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World Stock Markets continue to dive as the reality of recession and increasing unemployment sinks in to investors attempting to find a way through the financial disaster spreading across the globe.

Gordon “Prudent” Brown’s plan to invest heavily in banks with the plan rolled out across the world is found wanting as bank share holders realise that they will be hit with no dividends being paid.

So Gordon is not quite the savior of the planet he is attempting to portray.

Kick shareholders in the teeth and they will just cut and run.

Market slump suggests EU rescue package may be too late

LUCIA KUBOSOVA

Today @ 09:29 CET

As Europe rallies behind a rescue plan for the banking sector and the G8 club of most industrialised states are set to hold global talks on tackling the financial crisis, a fresh slump in stock markets indicates the reaction may have come too late to prevent a worldwide recession.

After an initially positive response by markets to earlier initiatives by G7 finance ministers (G8 minus Russia) and a rescue package by the 15-strong euro area at the weekend, gloom descended on stock markets once again on Wednesday (15 October).

After initial good news, fresh falls were reported Wednesday on US and European stock markets (Photo: wikipedia)

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US markets showed the biggest losses, with the New York Dow Jones index undergoing its worst one-day percentage fall in 20 years, closing down almost eight percent, while the Nasdaq lost 8.5 percent and the S&P nine percent.

Similar trends were reported from Asian and European markets, with London and Paris plummeting seven percent and the German DAX 30 6.5 percent.

Asked by journalists at an EU summit in Brussels the same day what would happen if the EU initiative fails to calm markets, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he is not ready to discuss alternatives to the current plan, stressing “it’s a good strategy.”

Analysts suggest that while the financial turbulence was sparked by insecurity over banks, the current downturn is mainly due to worsening economic indicators, both in the US and Europe, as well as by signs of a slow-down in major developing economies, such as China.

In the US, consumer confidence has been gravely affected by the constant stream of bad news on finance, with retail sales falling by 1.2 percent in September – the biggest drop for three years.

One of Europe’s largest economies, Britain, has seen a sharp jump in unemployment, a half percentage point to 5.7 percent in the second quarter, while analysts expect further rises up to some seven percent next year.

Original article

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