Russia, the world’s largest oil producer, has increased monthly crude output by 0.3 percent in May of 2013, to the highest level of the year,according to preliminary data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit.

Output of crude and condensate was 44.3 million metric tons, or 10.481 million barrels a day.

OAO Gazprom (GAZP), Russia’s gas export monopoly, boosted output by 5.8 percent to 353,000 barrels a day. OAO Rosneft (ROSN), the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer, and its subsidiary OAO TNK-BP produced 3.85 million barrels last month, up 0.3 percent from April, according to the data.

Russia set a post-Soviet-era production record of 10.49 million barrels a day in November. Soviet-era production in Russia peaked in 1987 at 11.48 million barrels a day. President Vladimir Putin has called for production to be maintained at more than 10 million barrels.

For more information on the Russian oil industry, contact RADA LLC, a leading provider of due diligence services in Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

RADA conducts due diligence and business intelligence investigations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

January 21, 2012: The Russian Energy Ministry expects crude oil production to edge up by 1 percent this year to a new record as a decline in output at traditional fields will be offset by a rise in new deposits, a deputy minister said today.

Last year, oil output in Russia, the world’s top crude producer, edged up 1.2 percent to reach a new post-Soviet high of 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd), or 511 million tonnes.

“Taking into consideration companies plans, this would be around 1 percent. We will add some 5 million tonnes,” said Sergey Kudryashov. The growth would slow further from 2.2 percent in 2010.

 

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RADA conducts due diligence and business intelligence investigations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

RADA was approached to perform due diligence on a technology company based in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A preliminary check of Russian corporate records showed that the company was, in fact, registered at the address given on their website.

A call to the phone number listed on the website, however, did not connect to the company in question, but rather to a credit company. The people at the credit company were very helpful, they advised that they had had the phone number for several years, and that they had never heard of the other company.

Various search engines showed that the number was, in fact, connected to the credit company; the only site with linking the number to the technology company was the technology company’s own site.

Several other companies seemed to be located at the address used by the technology company on their website. Several of them were contacted by telephone. None seemed to know about the technology company, and one provided contact information for the leasing agent. The leasing agent advised that they had been managing the property for several years, and that they had never heard of the technology company.

RADA’s client decided not to pursue business with the technology company, as it could not be located with any degree of reliability.

RADA conducts due diligence and business intelligence investigations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Russian natural-gas giant OAO Gazprom’s net profit in 2011 will probably rise 25% to $40 billion, Chief Financial Officer Andrei Kruglov said in an interview with Gazprom’s corporate magazine.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are expected to rise more than 30% to $60 billion, Kruglov said in the interview.

“The favorable external environment and a strict control of operations will bring the company increased profitability,” Kruglov said.

Gazprom expects higher prices for its gas sales in Europe, as well as higher export volumes, he said.

“Despite the increased tax burden on the gas industry, the company’s finances will continue to improve,” Kruglov said.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian, an American and a Dutchman to the International Space Station blasted off flawlessly from Russia’s launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on December 21, 2011.

Mission commander Oleg Kononenko and his colleagues, American Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are to dock with the space station on Friday.

The blastoff took place without a hitch and the spacecraft reached Earth orbit about nine minutes later. Video from inside the craft showed the three crew members gripping each others’ hands in celebration as the final stage of the booster rocket separated.

The three aboard the Russian spacecraft will join three others already on the ISS, NASA’s Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin. The six are to work together on the station until March 2012.

Vladimir Putin has announced that he will run for president in 2012.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il paid a quick visit to one of Russia’s largest hydroelectric power plants on August 21, 2011, and then boarded his armored train bound for Siberia, where he is expected to meet later this week with Russia’s president to press for economic aid.

Mr. Kim, who is said to fear flying, has made armored train his preferred conveyance to Russia in the past. Mr. Kim’s last foray into Russia was a four-day jaunt in Russia’s Far East that was little publicized.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Mr. Kim’s train Sunday left Amur in Russia’s Far East after he visited the power plant, and it is heading to Ulan-Ude for his summit with Mr. Medvedev, which will take place Tuesday at an army base.

Russia’s new stealth fighter jet, the Sukhoi T-50 made its public debut at the MAKS 2011 air show in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow.

General Aleksander Zelin, head of the Russian air force, said he expects the T-50 prototype to be ready in 2013, with “mass-produced aircraft” arriving in 2014 or 2015.

The aircraft is expected to become a staple of airborne defense for both Russia and India, who collaborated on its design, explained Mikhail Pogosyan, head of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation.

“The T-50 will be the newest main plane both for the Russian and the Indian air force,” Pogosyan said.

The Sukhoi T-50 cost the two governments about $6 billion to develop, with India shouldering about 35% of the cost. It is intended to match the U.S. F-22 raptor.

Taken at the 2010 Moscow Auto Show