Energy Blast – April 5, 2011

Japan has asked Russia to send it a vessel used to dispose of liquid nuclear waste from decommissioned submarines, as it attempts to deal with ‘several million times the legal limit‘ of radioactive water spewing into the sea. The bonuses paid out to executives of Transocean Ltd, who are thought to be at least partly responsible for the explosion at its Gulf of Mexico rig last year, indicate that the company ‘just doesn’t get it‘.  Russia has set its sights on a 5% share in the global biotech market by 2020.  Ukraine will hold its first shale gas tender this summer.  Gazprom is planning a North Sea asset swap with Germany’s Wintershall, which will be included in the Urengoi field in exchange.  UK and Saudi oil officials underscored the need to build ‘greater understanding between consumer and producer countries‘ in order to lower oil prices, which are only just short of a record high.