Energy Blast – Dec 24, 2009

Despite the lack of a deal on supplies to replace the one that is about to expire, Russia is ‘unlikely‘ to stop crude deliveries to Belarus in 2010.  The IMF’s rejection of Ukraine’s request for a $2 billion emergency loan will not necessarily leave the country unable to pay its gas bills, as the government has at least as much in its central bank reserves, officials say. Gazprom has already extended Ukraine’s  December payment deadline by four days.  The company has ended a trade dispute with Turkmenistan that started in April after a pipeline explosion, saying it wants to build pipelines to carry Turkmen gas to Europe.  Transneft says Russian companies may take a stake in the Trans-Anatolian pipeline, joint partnered by Turkey’s Calik Group and Italy’s Eni, which aims to deliver Russian, Kazakh, and Turkmen fuel across Turkey.  Transneft is concerned that it will lose the support of the Bulgarian government on another pipeline in the same region.  Spain’s Gas Natural has sold $1.2 billion worth of Mexican assets to Japanese companies.  Novaar, a consortium led by a Saudi royal, is set to invest $750 million in an infrastructure project in Russia’s Urals region, ‘pointing to an upswing in business ties between the two largest oil producing countries‘, according to the FT.  Oil gluts this year mean business is booming for tank owners.