Energy Blast – Dec 4, 2009

As expected, Eni and Gazprom have signed an agreement authorizing EdF to join the South Stream pipeline, with conditions to be outlined in the coming months.  The central bank is considering various measures to discourage an inflow of speculative capital from investors ‘keen to cash in on high oil prices‘.  A Morgan Stanley representative in Russia says ‘there is still no obvious case for letting foreign investors participate in the Russian energy industry‘.  The UK government’s solar power energy scheme has run out of money.  How will completion of the Nabucco pipeline affect Russia’s energy policy?  The winter is here, and analysts are speculating about impending gas issues between Russia and Ukraine. ‘On the whole, the risk of a new gas disruption is small. The only relevant party that may have an interest in a new Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict is Mr Yushchenko, who is toying with the tactic, ‘the worse the better’.‘