Energy Blast – Dec 30, 2008

The New York Times reports on how the once mighty Gazprom has fallen on hard times to negotiate a govt. bailout, while the company offsets this news with financial reports from the second quarter that profits had tripled before the crash of the oil price.  Ukraine’s Naftogaz is said to be negotiating a $2 billion loan to settle the supply dispute with Gazprom, which should put an end to fears of another New Year’s Eve cut off.  Year-to-date, natural gas exports from Russia have grown by 5.6% while oil exports have contracted by 7.5%.  British firm Rolls-Royce has won a major contract from Gazprom to supply pumping turbines for the Nord Stream project.  Imperial Energy is likely to accept the takeover bid from Indian state-owned company ONGC this afternoon.  Rosneft expects a slight growth in oil output for 2009, but below expectations because of the financial crisis.