Energy Blast – Jan 12, 2011

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller apparently believes that the energy exporter could reach pre-financial crisis levels of gas production by the end of 2011.  Australia’s devastating floods could reduce steelmaking coal supplies by over 5% this year.  Russian oil producers have suspended deliveries to Belarus as pricing negotiations continue at a sluggish pace.  Russia is, according to this report, expected to remain the world’s top oil producer in 2011.  Rosatom aims to expand its portfolio of foreign contracts by around $30 billion this year, the company’s head has told President Medvedev.  The EU hopes to move closer to securing natural gas from Azerbaijan in an effort to reduce dependence on imports from Russia.   Natalia Pereverzeva has become the second of the eleven Russian sleeper agents involved in last summer’s infamous spy swap to gain a position in a state corporation, with a job at pipeline maker Transneft.  The Telegraph has the reaction to the White House oil spill commission’s report on the Gulf of Mexico disaster.