Energy Blast – Jan 18, 2011

Rosneft’s BP deal is part of a larger and long-standing plan to expand abroad, a response to ‘high domestic tax levels and uncertainty over future burdens‘, says this article.  Environmentalists in Russia are planning to appeal to the companies to abandon their plans to drill in the Arctic over concerns that a spill would be extremely difficult to resolve.  But they are unlikely to be deterred: ‘The US Geological Survey estimates that there are at least 90 billion barrels of oil waiting to be discovered‘ in the area.  Are TNK-BP’s yields at their lowest ever levels? This report says the company is suffering from rallying oil prices, despite a strong position in the Russian oil market.  The Guardian says that TNK-BP’s future is looking uncertain, in response to rumors that the company could be carved up by Rosneft before the end of the year.  Kuwait Energy has completed its acquisition of Pechora Energy and its two Russian oil fields.  An oil platform due to be placed near the Sakhalin operation is a major threat to the population of the endangered Western North Pacific gray whale, says WWF. Russia’s oil talks with Belarus remain stalled over pricing issues, as the latter teams up with Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta to supply the Odessa-Brody pipeline.  Gazprom and Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources have signed an agreement to maximize cooperative potential on natural gas transportation and utilization.