Energy Blast – Feb 2, 2012

Gazprom is receiving more requests from export markets than it can handle, as the current freeze drives demand.  Shipments to the Czech Republic and Italy have reportedly fallen.  Despite 2011 profits of roughly $40 billion, Gazprom will come second to ExxonMobil as the world’s most profitable publicly-traded energy company.  Exxon’s two failed shale-gas wells in Poland could stand in the way of the country’s plans for energy independence.  Russian oil production set another post-Soviet record last month.  Transneft plans to spend $614 million to build housing for its workers in remote areas over the next 8 years.  Russia’s Sberbank is selling its Eastern Siberia oil assets to state-controlled Rosneft.