Energy Blast – Jan 12, 2010

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Russia in search of gas deals, but some reports suggest his visit may raise the East-West problematic for the potential transit hub nation.  Gazprom has claimed that the amounts of Azeri gas that it will buy will have no upper limit.  Hungary’s state development bank MFB Zrt. and Gazprom are looking to reach a deal on a joint venture to operate the Hungarian segment of the South Stream gas pipeline.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that sanctions against Iran should be used to target the country’s ruling class; the six nations will reportedly meet at the end of this week to discuss potential stratagem.  This from Politicus in the New York Times: ‘While no sanctions may be capable of diverting Iran from its ambitions to become a nuclear power, can the allies be certain without trying the toughest among those theoretically on the table?’  An article on Bloomberg argues that the inefficiency of sanctions in other cases (such as Cuba and Myanmar) suggests such measures on Iran are not likely to reap rewards.  More problems for Britain’s gas supply due to snow havoc.  Apparently Naftogaz Ukrainy is on the verge of default.  The Vice-President of Rosneft, Dmitry Bogdanov, has left the company at the behest of the shareholders.  According to Oil and Gas Eurasia, Poland and Russia have yet to sign a gas deal due to Gazprom owing Warsaw around $410 million.