Cummins Inc. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with KAMAZ for the development of electrified power solutions for a new product line of KAMAZ battery-powered vehicles. Currently, KAMAZ, a Russia-based truck manufacturer, is actively developing a new electrified portfolio of battery-powered trucks and buses, while Cummins continues to expand its... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and GAZ Group have extended their manufacturing agreement for Volkswagen and ŠKODA models in Russia until 2025. Furthermore, the Volkswagen brand will in future supply 2.0 TDI engines for GAZ light commercial vehicles, opening up new business opportunities in international markets. Additionally, Volkswagen Truck & Bus signed... Read more →

by Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com On a global level, 2015 and 2016 marked the lowest level of new conventional oil discoveries since 1952. In 2016, only 3.7 billion barrels of conventional oil were discovered, roughly 45 days of global crude consumption or 0.2 percent of global proved reserves. Globally, exploratory... Read more →

According to a new international study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 38% of black carbon in the Russian Arctic originates from transport and 35% from residential heating sources, while open fires, power plants, and gas flaring are responsible for only 12%, 9%, and 6% respectively.... Read more →

by Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com Russia’s central bank recently warned about the growing financial risks to the Russian economy from Saudi Arabia encroaching upon its traditional export market for crude oil. Russia sends 70 percent of its oil to Europe, but Saudi Arabia has been making inroads in the European... Read more →

by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com Two men enter, one man leaves, two men enter, one man leaves, two men enter... —Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome November 27, oil consuming countries will celebrate the first anniversary of the Saudi decision to let market forces determine prices. This decision set crude prices on... Read more →

Ford Motor Company and St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University have reached the final phase of a large-scale, three-year research project aimed at enhancing vehicle communication technology. (Earlier post.) As a result of the work that leverages university telematics expertise in space robot communications, Ford has filed several patents on technologies... Read more →

by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com President Putin’s recent moves in the Middle East—to shore up Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria through deployment of combat aircraft, equipment, and manpower and build-out of air-, naval-, and ground-force bases, and the agreement in the last week with Iran, Iraq, and Syria on intelligence... Read more →

Researchers at the Skoltech Center for Electrochemical Energy Storage (CEES), a partnership between the MIT Materials Processing Center and Lomonosov Moscow State University, are focusing on the development of higher capacity batteries. CEES is a Center for Research, Education and Innovation (CREI) under the umbrella of the Skolkovo Institute of... Read more →

Nissan launched its Pathfinder range in the Russian market at the Moscow Motor Show. The Pathfinder made its debut alongside the new Russian-built Sentra sedan. Nissan’s all-new fourth-generation Pathfinder—which will be built in Russia—will be available with a standard 3.5L gasoline engine as well as the hybrid drive system. (Earlier... Read more →

Russian Government-owned Rusnano and I2BF have invested a combined $20 million in ultracapacitor maker Nesscap Energy Inc., subscribing for 50,955,000 and 2,681,842 Nesscap common shares, respectively. Nesscap will use the proceeds from this financing for the establishment of a full-scale production facility for ultracapacitors and accompanying research center in the... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting proposals for a project to provide assistance in developing and implementing assessment and mitigation activities for diesel sources of black carbon in the Russian Arctic. EPA anticipates awarding one Cooperative Agreement from this announcement, subject to availability of funds and the quality... Read more →

The East-Prinovozemelsky blocks on the Russian Arctic shelf have estimated resources of 35.8 billion barrels of oil and 10.3 tcm of gas, according to Rosneft. Inset at upper right shows location of blocks relative to larger Arctic. Click to enlarge. Rosneft and ExxonMobil have executed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement under... Read more →

Turnover of the US fleet under the three models of penetration. The circles represent the year in which new vehicle sales equal 100% alternative powertrains/fuel. Source: Belzowski and McManus. Click to enlarge. The US and China—as well as Western Europe, Japan and Brazil—could turnover more than 90% of their vehicle... Read more →

Li-ion manufacturer Ener1, Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Russia’s Federal Grid Company (FGC) to help develop new opportunities to use high-performance battery systems to improve the reliability and performance of the Russian electricity system, which is facing record setting demand on an aging grid. Rapid introduction of... Read more →

The Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RusNano) and Thunder Sky Group Limited (China) have signed an agreement establish the joint venture Lithium-ion Technology for the first Russia-based production of high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. (Earlier post.) The Russian plant will produce batteries which will be primarily used in electric buses and minibuses. The... Read more →

The supervisory board of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RusNano) has approved the state corporation’s participation in a project with China-based Li-ion battery manufacturer Thunder Sky to manufacture Lithium-ion batteries, the first such project in Russia. The Russia-based enterprise established under this project will produce, foremost, lithium-ion batteries for all... Read more →

by Jack Rosebro A view of Russian gas flaring based on satellite observations. Source: US NOAA and the World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership. (Video) Click to enlarge. The Russian government has ordered oil companies to take steps to capture up to 95% of the natural gases associated with... Read more →

by Jack Rosebro Gazprom, Russia’s state-run natural-gas export monopoly, earlier this month agreed to pay Royal Dutch Shell and two Japanese companies US$7.45 billion in cash by April 2007 for half of the Sakhalin II oil and gas project off Russia’s east coast. Shell, Mitsui Co. and Mitsubishi Corporation all... Read more →

Russia, the world’s second-largest oil producer and exporter, will start building its first major ethanol plant in 2007, according to a regional official speaking at Russia’s first Fuel Bioethanol conference in Moscow. The US$200-250 million plant will produce 300,000 tonnes of fuel ethanol a year (about 380 million liters, or... Read more →

PlugPower grid-parallel CHP system platform. Interros, a major Russian investment firm, and Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium, have agreed to make a $217 million cash investment in Plug Power, a provider of stationary PEM fuel-cell systems and systems for on-site hydrogen generation. The investment is... Read more →

Johnson Matthey has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the First Deputy Governor of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region, and the General Director of the Krastsvetmet Metal Company to secure a brown field site as the first step in a multi-million pound investment to build an autocatalyst manufacturing plant in Russia.... Read more →

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Nissan plans to develop a global strategic vehicle with an engine displacement of about 1 liter targeted at China, India and other emerging markets. The company reportedly will spend more than ¥100 billion (US$843 million) to produce about 600,000 units a year—nearly 20% of... Read more →

B-Series engine Cummins Inc. and KAMAZ Inc., the largest vehicle manufacturer in Russia, signed a joint venture agreement to produce Cummins B Series engines (120–275 horsepower) in Russia under the name ZAO Cummins Kama. The engines will be produced in two stages to comply with Euro 2 and Euro 3... Read more →

Major natural gas pipelines in Europe. Russia is the source, Ukraine a major bottleneck. As widely reported over the weekend, Russian halted natural gas deliveries to the Ukraine over a price dispute. The mechanism—halting pipeline deliveries to the Ukraine—is imprecise, and by Monday a range of European countries were reporting... Read more →

General Motors is opening a new R&D science office in Moscow to leverage Russian science institutes and universities on a broad array of technologies, including fuel cells, hybrid and electronic controls, and battery research. The initial project work will include materials, emissions control catalyst development, lightweight metal processing, hydrogen storage... Read more →

Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves: 47 trillion cubic meters (Tcm)—more than twice the reserves in the next largest country, Iran. (EIA) Unlike Russia’s oil industry, the gas industry is not booming. Growth of Russia’s natural gas sector has been stunted primarily due to ageing fields, state regulation,... Read more →