Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has signed an international charter on the capture and storage deep underground of carbon dioxide, also involving Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, China, Russia, Britain and the US. This Sequestration Leadership Forum is developing schemes to capturing CO2 at source and storing it for thousands of years deep underground, probably in depleted oil and gas wells, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN the days of the Soviet Union, many millions of men and women had a choice of one state-manufactured brand of shampoo, toothpaste or soap. If anything, the authorities managed to limit even further access to such “indulgences” as perfume.…

BY MARK ROWE
SALES of the Order of the Pheonix have proved swift at the Moskva chain’s flagship bookstore in Moscow. In Russia, a book that sells 50 copies in a month in a shop is considered to have a good run but the Phoenix, has already far outstripped that with sales topping “several hundred” according to staff at Moskva.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been authorised to negotiate a cooperation agreement with China on developing peaceful uses of nuclear energy. With the decision following Beijing’s move to become involved in the international fusion energy project ITER, one of the areas of joint-effort between the European Union (EU) and China will be “controlled thermonuclear fusion.”…

BY MARK ROWE
THE RUSSIAN and Iranian governments have signed a protocol to cooperate in developing Iran’s coal industry. Russia’s energy ministry said it would work to improve all aspects of the industry, from coal production to processing. The Russians will initially help develop operations in the southern Iranian city of Yazd, the centre of Iran’s major coal producing region.…

BY MARK ROWE
ISRAEL’S Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company is swapping Egyptian crude oil for Russian this month (June), the final stage of a plan to transport Russian and Caspian crude to Eilat, on the Red Sea, for easier sale into Asia. The company last month awarded a tender to swap Egyptian crude oil for Russia’s sour Urals crude.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STORAGE of CO2 deep underground in uneconomic coal seams is one key option being considered by the (carbon) Sequestration Leadership Forum, which has just been joined by the European Commission. Other members are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, China, Russia, Britain and the US.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PARLIAMENTARY Assembly of the Council of Europe is debating a plan to extend the European Convention on Human Rights with an additional protocol, guaranteeing European citizens decent environmental standards. If the proposal is carried forward, it would entail international lawyers drafting a clear definition of “a healthy environment” and the convention extension would “oblige states to protect individuals from environmental nuisances harmful or dangerous to health;” it is being promoted by the council’s committee on environment, agriculture and local and regional affairs.…

BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA’S Natural Resources Ministry has announced plans to increase national oil reserves by 400 million metric tonnes this year compared to a 279 million tonne increase last year. Natural gas reserves will be boosted by 900 billion cubic metres in 2003.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is giving Euro 40 million to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to help it fund Russia’s cleansing of the radioactive contamination in the Barents Sea caused by its aging decommissioned nuclear fleet. The money will be channelled through the nuclear-related budgets of the EBRD-managed Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) Support Fund.…