Quotes by Chris Weafer

“The international banks are facing enormous pressure to get people on the ground in Russia. The market keeps going up, the number of international investors keeps rising and this looks to continue next year.”

“Russia is saying you cant have your cake and eat it. If youre in the Russian sphere of influence, you get cheap energy. If you arent, you dont.”

“We are about to move into a new phase when Russian state-controlled energy companies are opened for investment with cooperative foreign firms. It makes sense to have someone with international experience ? either corporate or political ? leading that process at the head of those companies.”

“The two groups are clearly vying for a dominant position in energy. The only thing we are sure of is that ultimately a state company will be dominant.”

“A safe number is probably double that (72 billion barrel) figure. But its not impossible its three times as high.”

“In practice, we are not expected to see much volume in the following two weeks.”

“Of itself, it wont have an effect on the share price.”

“When they make that adjustment, it should lead to one-off demand of around $8 billion from [large mutual] funds. Thats one of the drivers of the share price.”

“Russia is risking losing credibility as a reliable energy supplier by cutting off supplies to an external customer on the same day it takes over as leader of the G-8.”

“Russias position is very tight.”