Energy Blast – Feb 15, 2012

Turkey is not planning to cut its Iranian oil imports, and has not asked to increase its volume of Saudi Arabian oil as previously thought.  Poland’s gas monopoly PGNiG has offered to auction off up to 70% of its gas to potential rivals in 2013-15, part of a plan to liberalise the Polish gas market.  Lukoil is planning to spend $29 billion to develop oil and gas fields in the North Caspian through to 2025.  Gazprom is beginning its offshore explorations in the Dominican Republic.  The EU’s energy chief, Guenther Oettinger, says that the recent cold spell has emphasised the need for streamlined energy links throughout Europe, warning that ‘we’re still living in a world of 19th-century principalities’.  The Indian government has ordered Coal India to guarantee 20 years of supplies to private power producers, a bid to stamp out chronic electricity shortages.