ME's Crescent Group to ink 2 deals with Russia in 2013 

(MENAFN) Crescent Group's Managing Director, Badr Jafar, stated that the parent company of Middle East's oldest private oil and gas firm Crescent Petroleum, will ink two major deals in 2013 to boost expansion in Russia, reported Emirates 24/7.

Jafar, who is also the CEO of Crescent Enterprises, Crescent Group's non-energy conglomerate that controls the world's largest privately owned ports operator Gulftainer, said that the two contracts will include investments in the field of ports and logistics.

Jafar added that in 2010, the company collaborated with Russia's oil giant Rosneft to explore upstream projects in the Middle East, with the Russian firm joining Crescent Petroleum in the exploration of the 1,250 square kilometers Sharjah Onshore Concession.

He noted that the first exploration well was drilled in November 2011, and during the first half of the current year, the companies will carry out the drilling of a second exploration well.

Meanwhile, in the coming 5 years, Gulftainer will invest more than USD300 million in Russia, to boost its port coverage in the Baltic and the Black Sea area.

In the 5-year period, Gulftainer plans to handle 7.5 m TEU of cargo and over 2.5 million TEU containers capacity in its ports.

It is worth noting that both Russia and the UAE produce 36 percent of the world's total oil output, in addition to 29 percent of global gas production.