07/12/2012 World Business Report

hundreds more are still missing. Those are the latest headlines from

BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with World Business

Report. Welcome to the programme, your

chance to catch up on all the latest in the world of business and

money. Let's take a look at the headlines: Turning up the gas power,

Russia begins work on a new pipeline to southern Europe that

critics say will tighten its grip on the EU energy market. Hong

Kong's biggest debut in two years. Plus, US jobs numbers to take a hit

as Superstorm Sandy blows America's recovery off course.

Let's begin with gas. Later this Friday Russia will launch a project

that critics say will tighten its grip on the European energy market.

President Putin will attend a ground-breaking ceremony on the

Black Sea Coast for a major new gas pipeline to southern Europe. Russia

already supplies almost 40% of Europe's gas, in parts of Eastern

Europe it's effectively 100%. In the past most Russian gas came

through Ukraine. A series of disputes in 2005-2006 has led to

shortages in Europe sparking a race to open alternative routes. The new

South Stream route under construction from today will go

under the Black Sea to Bulgaria, bypassing Ukraine. This will

supplement the NordStream route which opened in 2011, pumping

Russian gas under the Baltic Sea direct to Germany. But all this has

raised fears in Europe that it is over dependent on Russian gas. A

group of companies backed by the EU has been trying to get a plan

called Nabucco off the ground. A pipeline would pump gas from

Central Asia to Europe via Turkey, cutting out Russia altogether.

Lilit Gevorgyan is a Russian analyst at IHS Global Insight. Nice

to have you with us. Another pipeline. Here is the problem, it

diversified as the route, it does not -- diversify supply.

Russians are at -- arguing, forget the problems we had with Ukraine

and the galleries, it was not their fault. -- Belarus. The new pipeline

will show that. The critics will go, this pipeline titans Russia's grip

on the EU energy supplies. Winnie Degas, we buy their gas, we are not

bringing it in anywhere else. -- we need their gas. We have a big

supplier, we should take advantage of it. At the same time, the EU has

new regulations such as the third energy package. That make sure

there is no monopoly on the supply. There could be consequences. Russia

has not really cleared its way when it comes to EU regulations.

Diversified routes are important in terms of energy security. Russia

could be the best supplier, but any customer would like to have

diversified routes. We will see how it goes. Yes, it is a wait and see.

Does it make any difference to European consumers? It is not

really about the supply, it is about the competition. That is why

the routes after be done. Thank you. -- have to be done. The People's

Insurance Company of China has made its debut on the Hong Kong stock

market. Let's speak to Sharanjit Leyl in the BBC's Singapore bureau.

Some are calling this a bit of a bright spot in an otherwise dismal

year for initial public offerings? You are right. Some people are

saying that. PICC doing well. Up 8%. All of this on its debut in Hong

Kong. That is despite the tough market conditions. This is the

state owned insurer. It was the biggest share sale in Hong Kong in

two years. It has priced its stock at the bottom of its indicated

range. 348 Hong Kong dollars every share. Hong Kong has seen fewer and

fewer major listings in its once very hot share market. PICC was

founded in 1949. The first in China. It has 130 million customers. 2.4

million institutional clients as well. The investment environment

has been subdued this year because of the slowdown in China. Some

companies looking to go public have delayed a lot of their planned

listings. They have dramatically reduced the amount to be raised.

These shares were helped by individual retail investors. All of

this is helping to boost the Hun Sen index. A nice little bright

spot to end the air on. We are not there yet, but close. -- the year.

It's that time of the month when global markets await key employment

numbers from the US. America has been adding jobs in recent months

but figures for November due later this Friday are expected to show a

sharp drop in hiring. Economists blame Superstorm Sandy for the loss

of jobs, which comes on top of the closure of Hostess, the maker of

Twinkies resulting in more than 15,000 layoffs.

Hoboken in New Jersey looks very different today from a few weeks

ago. Residents new Hurricane Sandy was coming, nobody expected it to

hit this hard. This is what is left of the storm ravaged business.

of the furniture go damaged. As you can see, the floor has buckled.

staff are now in limbo. How many employees? 3. What has happened to

them? They are out of work. Three employees may not seem like a lot,

but it adds up across the north- east. Instead of seeing a seasonal

boost to employment, jobs are being lost. It will definitely show up in

the national numbers even though it was a regional event. We know that

from past experience, in 2005 there were two hurricanes, what we saw in

the immediate aftermath that job growth slowed by 75%. In Hoboken

sandy has not just destroy jobs, this station is closed.

This is a snapshot of the US labour market. Capturing the devastation

caused by Superstorm Sandy. The task of rebuilding should bring

with it jobs, that may ease some of the pain in the months ahead. There