Energy Blast – March 20, 2012

A Reuters feature looks at energy waste in Russia, which is thought to be over two times less efficient than comparative European countries.  Saudi Arabia says it will take steps to return oil prices to ‘fair levels’, or around $100 a barrel.  Gazprom wants to increase domestic gas prices for industrial users by 26%.  Gazprom chief Alexei Miller has nominated the former Mayor of Hamburg to head the board of the South Stream pipeline project.  Momentum has slowed on Barack Obama’s nuclear agenda, says Reuters.  Rosneft has closed an estimated $444 million deal to acquire a 35.3% stake in Sberbank’s Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha.  The spar platform that Aker Solutions will build for Statoil in the Norwegian Sea is to be the world’s largest.