Simon Pirani

Business and finance in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and central Asia: an archive of articles

*  Turkmen gas after Niyazov – Gas Matters, January 2007

*  Structured finance: Russia’s new generation of borrowers – Trade Finance, December 2006

*  The IPO road to metals mergers ­ – Metal Bulletin Monthly, November 2006


*   Kudrin shields the cash from itchy pre-election fingers ­ – Emerging Markets, 19 September 2006

*  “Better to leave the oil in the ground” – ­ Emerging Markets, 18 September 2006

*  Russian independent gas output heads for 100 bcm – ­ Gas Matters, August 2006

*  Belarus business defies a hostile environment ­ – ­ Emerging Markets, 21 May 2006

*  Ukraine braced for the energy shock ­ – ­ Emerging Markets, 21 May 2006

*  Azeri oil deal shows the way ­ – ­ Trade Finance, April 2006 

*  Gas price increases hit Kyiv ­ – ­ Gas Matters, March 2006

*  Turkmenistan piles gas pressure on Ukraine – ­ Gas Matters, October 2005

*  Azeri deal pushes out the export finance frontier ­ – Trade Finance magazine, October 2005

*  Politics throws a shadow over Russia’s oil boom – ­ Emerging Markets, 23 September 2005

*  Wolfowitz angers France with rankings – ­ Emerging Markets, 22 September 2005

*  Big Russian oil gorges western loans – ­ ­ Euromoney, September 2005

*  Russia and Ukraine fight it out over gas ­ – Gas Matters, July 2005

*  MDM Bank shake-up may point to sale plans ­ – Emerging Markets, 19 May 2005

*  The Petersburgers move in to Russia’s gas industry ­ – Gas Matters, April 2005

*  Ukraine’s economy needs business plans, not champagne – Institutional Investor, March 2005

*  Commodity banks relish Chinese domestic market ­ – Metal Bulletin, 16 November 2004

*  Now or never for big metals projects – ­ ­ Project Finance magazine, October 2004

*  The $69 billion question hanging over Russia's largest gas field ­ – ­ Gas Matters, October 2004

*  How the Russian market is surviving Yukos and banking tremors – ­ ­ Credit magazine, September 2004

*  State-linked firms gorge loans as Yukos suffers – ­ Trade Finance, July 2004

*  Living and working in Moscow ­ – Efinancial Careers web site, July 2004 ­

*  Shell sweats over Sakhalin cost overruns ­ – ­ Project Finance, May 2004

*  Swiss steel trader ties knot with fair Ukrainian bride ­ – Metal Bulletin, 17 May 2004

*  Russian anger over Sakhalin cost overruns – ­ Emerging Markets, April 2004

*  Gas sector reform in Putin’s second term ­ – Gas Matters, March 2004

*  Russia’s biggest trade bank makes its presence felt ­ – Trade Finance, February 2004

*  High gold prices drive consolidation – Metal Bulletin, 9 February 2004 

*  Balancing between liberal marketeers and the 'men of force' – Financial News, 1 December 2003

  Cross-border deals help fire leasing boom – Trade Finance, September 2003

  Boys from the KGB go after the oligarchs – Guardian, 8 August 2003

  Sakhalin II bankers ponder LNG market changes –  Euromoney, July 2003

  Road to Chelski is paved with aluminium – Metal Bulletin, 15 July 2003

  Moscow demands derivatives, but legal framework lags – Futures & Options World, June 2003

*  Lending doors open to aluminium companies – Trade Finance magazine, May 2003

*  Long-term project finance options in Russia – Project Finance magazine, January 2003

*  Icebergs aplenty on the route to Russia's biggest gas project – Gas Briefing International, January 2003

*  How Yukos made Russia’s biggest corporate turnaround –  Financial News, December 2002

 The price of Russian acquiescence in war on Iraq? Oil – ZMag, October 2002

  Out of the shadows: who owns the Ukrainian metals industry – Business Eastern Europe, an Economist Intelligence Unit publication, September 2002

  The aluminium company with a rock bottom cost profile has a rocky ride to international markets – Metal Bulletin, 9 June 2002

  Ukraine is a bread basket again. But who’s holding the handles? – Gemini News Agency, 26 April 2002

  Project financiers are cooking up something special for the Russian hydrocarbons sector – Project Finance magazine, July 2002

  New managers at the helm. Where are they taking Gazprom? – Gas Matters, March 2002

  Scrutinising Russian Aluminium’s finances – Metal Bulletin, 18 March 2002

  Financing schemes for Russian aircraft manufacture get off the ground – Trade Finance, February 2002

  Structured finance appears more dependable as eurobond ride gets rough – Trade Finance, December 2001/January 2002

  State monopoly under challenge in Ukraine's upstream oil and gas operations – Energy Day, 29 November 2001 

  Feeling the gap in the Russian oil services market – Energy Day, 15 November 2001

  Russia's oil companies close in on Gazprom – Gas Matters, September 2001 

  Ukraine's power industry. Not for the fainthearted – Project Finance Global Power Report, September 2001 

  Treasury Bonds Weather Crises. How eastern European debt is surviving the Argentine effect – Financial News, 23-29 April 2001 

  Russian link-up with India. How India's national oil corporation carried off Russia's biggest piece of M&A yet – Corporate Finance magazine, March 2001 

  Siberia's great smelting pot. The bankers' dilemma over a vast new aluminium company that has risen in the wild east – The Observer, 18 February 2001 

  Turner's Russian roulette. A besieged independent TV company turns to Atlanta for help – The Observer, 4 February 2001

  Oligarch? No, I'm just an oil magnate.... Yukos chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky interviewed – The Observer, 4 June 2000 

  Yeltsin's personal debt to the IMF. The Fund admits it knew Russia had siphoned loans offshore – The Observer, 17 October 1999

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Last updated September 2008.