Energy Blast – Dec 18, 2009

A Kremlin aide says Russia will contribute $200 million to a multibillion-dollar fund to support poor nations, but won’t sign a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions by 25% unless other major carbon dioxide emitters also agree to cuts.  Ukraine will receive the $2 billion loan it requested from the IMF, part of which will be used to help it pay for supplies of Russian gas this winter, hopefully preventing a repeat of last year’s crisis. The new head of TNK-BP (from 2011), Maxim Barsky, says that the company isn’t helped by having billionaires on its management team, but that ‘it would be suicide‘ to get rid of them, as it would mean foregoing the ‘colossal connections‘ that accompany such wealth.  No wonder he received a unanimous vote.  TNK-BP is planning to boost production by two million tons next year. ‘The failure of the international community to reach a deal with Tehran is sparking fears of an atomic arms race,‘ says The Times.