Energy Blast – Aug 31, 2011

ExxonMobil has replaced BP as Rosneft’s partner in a $3.2 billion tie-up.  ‘But in contrast to that [abandoned BP] partnership, with its proposed $16 billion share swap, Exxon and Rosneft are not talking about swapping equity. Instead, Exxon is offering Rosneft access to some of its projects in the Gulf of Mexico.’  The tie-up is ‘the most significant U.S.-Russian corporate deal since U.S. President Barack Obama began a push to improve ties,’ says Reuters.  The Independent wagers that ‘[t]he problem [for BP] is that Mr Dudley needs Russia.’  Ukraine has not yet given up hope that its gas contract negotiations with Russia will be resolved peacefully – the country is looking to cut its Russian supplies by two-thirds.  Iran is planning to increase its oil producing capacity by 150,000 bpd as of March next year, and is planning to privatise its oil refineries.  Poland’s PGNiG has posted a $7 million loss for the second quarter – two-thirds of its gas sales are imports from Russia, which restricts prices by linking them to the price of oil.