Energy Blast – Dec 16, 2010

Shareholders in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium have unanimously agreed to invest $5.4 billion in expanding the pipeline which links landlocked Kazakhstan with the Black Sea.  The capacity of the pipeline will increase to 1.5m barrels a day from its current capacity of 730,000 barrels per day.  Rosneft and Transneft are, according to Reuters, seeking 25% stakes in a planned Turkish oil pipeline, linking the Turkish ports of Samsun and Ceyhan.  Nigeria has dropped bribery charges against former US Vice-President Dick Cheney who was alleged to have, in his former capacity as chief executive of oil company Halliburton, paid bribes to secure contracts for the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in the Niger delta.  The oil arm of Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom is conducting a valuation of Lotos, the operator of Poland’s second biggest refinery in Gdansk, following a declaration of theoretical interest.