Energy Blast – Feb 24, 2011

The price of oil on world commodity exchanges could reportedly reach a 30 month-high on the basis of the Libyan situation, which investors feared could disrupt fuel supplies.  The Telegraph reports Nomura warnings that oil could hit $220 a barrel on the basis of escalating turmoil in the region.  ‘But the big worry is that spreading unrest will culminate in another shock akin to the oil embargo of 1973, the Iranian revolution or Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait’, says the Economist.  The king of Saudi Arabia has apparently announced $36 billion of extra benefits for his people in an attempt to prevent the wave of Arab uprisings from spilling into the world’s biggest oil exporter.  The soaring price of West Texas Intermediate oil will add 20% to the earnings forecasts of Russian oil producers, says HSBC.  Efforts for the evacuation of Tatneft Group of Companies employees and their families have been successfully completed in Libya.  Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have discussed Russian-French energy cooperation at talks in Paris.  The Nord Stream pipeline is making steady progress, it would seem from this report.  Russia’s No. 2 oil company, Lukoil has signed a deal with the Mineral Resources Agency in Romania for the exploration and development of two offshore blocks in the Black Sea.