Energy Blast – Jan 28, 2010

US President Barack Obama has warned Iran that it will encounter ‘growing consequences’ over its continuing nuclear program.  Following a meeting in London with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Russia is ‘very willing’ to work with the US on tougher measures.  Lavrov apparently stopped short of telling the press whether Russia had agreed to sanctions.  Russia and Belarus have reached a deal on oil transit, putting an end to weeks of dispute.  A subsidiary of Japanese Mitsubishi Corp., Petro-Diamond Company, has become the first Japanese company to buy Siberia-produced oil.  Eni Spa is apparently planning to invest in $18 billion of joint projects with Petroleos de Venezuela.  Bloomberg reports that Poland’s predominant gas company, Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, has reached a new supply deal with Gazprom.  Ukrainian presidential frontrunner Viktor Yanukovich has expressed an interest in involving the country in the Nord and South Stream pipelines, and if elected hopes to convince Moscow to double gas transit across Ukraine.  How to avoid a new gas war.  Whether or not Nabucco will be built depends, quite simply, on whether there is sufficient demand, says Austria’s OMV, according to RFE/RL.