A last-minute power lunch attended by Rosneft’s new chief executive, Igor Sechin and the heads of Russia’s oil companies demonstrated the former deputy PM’s undeniable clout within the sector, says Reuters. The AAR consortium, BP’s partners in TNK-BP, had apparently asked French oil major Total if it was interested in buying them out of the partnership. A US envoy has described the failure to make progress in talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency as ‘disappointing’ and a testament to Tehran’s lack of commitment to the UN nuclear watchdog. It has been reported that Gazprom is the likely buyer of Sutton Bridge, an 819 megawatt EDF station in England’s south-east Lincolnshire. Gazprom’s oil arm, Gazprom Neft, will decide by the end of 2012 whether it will continue with the Elephant oil project in Libya. Despite reports of blackouts due to unpaid bills, Greece has apparently been managing to pay for Russian gas deliveries on time. North Korea has denied rumors it is planning to test a nuclear weapon ‘at present’. Fracking provider Halliburton seeks out supplies of guar gum.