Energy Blast – Feb 4, 2011

‘AAR does not have any interest in destroying Rosneft’s $16 billion deal with BP. But equally Mr Sechin is unlikely to stand in Mr Fridman’s way when he demands that BP compensate AAR handsomely’: such is the Economist’s take on the BP-Rosneft affair.  Rosneft has denied reports that it is in talks to buy out the Russian shareholders in TNK-BP as a way of settling the dispute between BP and its oligarch partners.  The quarrel will be resolved, says sanguine presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich.  A Louisiana court ruling which has questioned the independence of BP’s $20 billion Gulf of Mexico claims fund will, says this article, stymie the company’s hopes of resolving compensation claims quickly.  According to the New York Times, regulatory delays mean that Royal Dutch Shell has renounced its plans to drill for oil in Alaskan Arctic waters this year, but has not ruled out future exploration in the area.  Europe’s biggest oil company has posted earnings that failed to meet analyst estimates for the first time in a year.  In an apparent move to expand his energy assets, Putin ally and Gunvor head Gennady Timchenko has acquired the Murmansk Commercial Sea Port for $250 million, industry sources have told Reuters.