Energy Blast – Oct 3, 2011

Following reports of price issues at the end of last week, Turkey has decided to sever its gas contract with Gazprom under which it bought 6 billion cubic meters of gas annually.  Since the state pipeline company Botas announced the decision, Russia’s gas export monopoly has been considering new deals in the Turkish state.  Belarus will apparently receive Russian gas in 2012 for a significantly reduced price.  Prime Minister Putin has pledged that the government is playing ‘close attention’ to the situation surrounding recent raids on subsidiaries of Gazprom.  According to Energy Ministry figures, oil output in Russia reached a new post-Soviet high of 10.3 million barrels per day in September compared with 10.28 million bpd in August.  Bulgaria and Russia have agreed to postpone a decision on the Belene nuclear power project for another six months.  The FT reports on how three gas pipelines projects, Nabucco, the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, are vying to carry Caspian gas to Europe.  Could Blackpool, England’s top seaside resort become the new epicenter of the UK’s gas industry?  Cuadrilla Resources has estimated that 200 trillion cubic feet of gas may be buried in the local area.