Russia and Exxon Mobil sign Black Sea oil and gas deal..France agrees to sell warships to Russia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12298061
Russia’s Rosneft and US firm Exxon Mobil have signed a deal to develop offshore oil and gas in the Black Sea.
The value of the deal, signed in Davos, is not known. Exxon Mobil will invest $1bn (£626m) into exploration.
Earlier this month, Rosneft, controlled by the state, and BP agreed to swap shares and create a joint venture to exploit Russia’s Arctic shelf.
BP’s Russian partners in another joint venture, TNK-BP, have taken legal action over the Rosneft-BP partnership.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-25/france-russia-sign-deal-on-assault-warships.html
France’s government on Tuesday signed an agreement to sell four assault warships to Russia, finalizing a deal that has raised concerns in the United States, Georgia and other countries.
French Defense Minister Alain Juppe and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin signed the deal Tuesday in the western French city of Saint Nazaire. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was also present.
The ships will be able to carry helicopters and armored vehicles, allowing Russia to land hundreds of troops quickly on foreign soil. Sarkozy said two ships will be built in France and two others in Russia.
When the deal was initially announced in December, officials said Russia had agreed to buy at least two Mistral-class ships, which cost about euro400 million to euro500 million ($525 million to $655 million) each. French companies DCNS and STX and Russia’s OSK are to build the ships.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has raised concerns that the deal would send the wrong message to U.S. allies in central and eastern Europe. U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed the depth of tensions the plans provoked between Washington and Paris.
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following on from our post last week on bp and rosneft signing deals heres another..and those french again on the periphery..selling warships to russia..no real enemies is there?
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