Energy Blast – July 27, 2011

A group of NGOs including Greenpeace are concerned about the safety of Oleg Deripaska’s planned nuclear plant, amid claims that the technology to be used has caused lethal accidents on submarines in the past.  Analysts quoted by the Independent suggest that BP’s disappointing results are due to its failure to redefine its strategy in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill.  Bob Dudley speaks to Bloomberg about the results, saying he is ‘not satisfied’ with production at this point, but that the situation is improving, and says that BP has been ‘shouldering all’ of the financial responsibility for the Gulf spill (click for video).  BP is trading at a ‘remarkably low level’ says Prosperity Capital Management’s Ivan Mazalov.  Company executives say that Rosneft is ‘fully supportive’ of the Russian government’s plan to fully privatize its stake in the company.  Kuwait’s current level of oil production is at a 37-year-high.  Azerbaijan’s SOCAR has purchased BP’s stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field in the Caspian Sea for $585 million dollars.  The country is in the early stages of forming an agreement to provide Ukraine with LNG, and is to hold talks with Turkmenistan and the E.U. on natural gas transportation later this year.  TNK-BP Deputy Maxim Barskiy has confirmed the company’s plan to continue producing gas.  British Gas has been fined £2.5 million for neglectful dealings with customer complaints.  Germany’s RWE has pulled out of the Sidar wave energy project in Scotland, casting some doubt on this particular form of technology.