Energy Blast – July 13, 2011

Akademik Fyodorov, the research vessel on an Arctic mission to determine the boundaries of Russia’s continental shelf, has begun its seismic studies.  Coking coal miner Raspadskaya will likely be bought by VEB for $5.3 billion.  Rosneft and Lukoil are in talks to buy two Belarusian refineries, as the country struggles to secure funds for its troubled economy.  Ukraine says that it is ready to begin building a new structure to replace the one currently covering the damaged nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, having amassed $940 million from international donors. Russia’s oil field services industry is facing a deficit of skilled workers and a lack of financial help from regional governments, which are stunting innovation in the sector.  Bezimyanne, a village in Ukraine, is the site of the newly opened Novoazov wind generation facility – 10 windmills have been built, with another 33 planned. According to the International Energy Agency, 2.4 million bpd of crude distillation capacity will be added globally, with 25% of that coming from China.