Energy Blast – April 17, 2012

Rosneft and Exxon have finalized a major deal, overseen by Vladimir Putin, allowing the Texan company access to a cluster of Russia’s Black Sea and Arctic developments, whilst securing Rosneft subsidiaries ownership stakes in three Exxon projects in the US and Canada.  Rosneft’s president, Eduard Y. Khudainatov, described the level of cooperation as being of  ‘unprecedented scale.’  The Argentinian government is apparently likely to anger Spain with plans to forcibly take over more assets from oil company Repsol.  Plans to green-light further shale fracking in the UK, despite recent extraction causing seismic activities, has sparked concerns from an independent panel commissioned by the government which believes strict new controls must be introduced.  India has apparently overtaken China as Iran’s top oil customer, the result of a pre-sanctions purchasing splurge.  Oil and Gas Eurasia reports that between 2006 and 2011 the annual oil production by Gazprom Group increased by 18%.  Mid-sized Russian oil company Tatneft has posted a 32% rise in 2011 net profit thanks to higher oil prices.