Energy Blast – Feb 7, 2012

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin wants the government to bypass normal privatization procedures to sell its stake in Novorossiisk Commercial Sea Port directly to Rosneft, which would consolidate the state’s energy oil services division ‘into a single state player’.  The move ‘could set Rosneft on a collision course with one of Russia’s biggest investors in port infrastructure, the Summa Group’, says Reuters.  Italy has had to take emergency measures to deal with critical gas shortages of Russian gas yesterday, although overall, E.U. supplies are picking up.  GDF Suez says deliveries still remain 20% lower than levels stipulated by long-term contracts, and prices have risen sharply due to increased demand.  Vladimir Putin says that Rosneft and Gazprom will remain state-controlled for the time being, saying that the decision relates to price control.  The European Union will have to invest $274 billion in gas and power grid upgrades if it wants to become a single energy market by 2014, says Guenther Oettinger.  China plans to prohibit its airlines from paying European Union charges on carbon emissions.  Iran has given India’s cautious ONGC a one-month deadline to sign a contract for the development of the Farzad-B gas field.  Turkmenistan’s state gas company has halved natural gas exports to Iran.