Energy Blast – Jan 23rd, 2009

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says that the gas price of $450 per 1,000 cubic meters, agreed by Russia and Ukraine for 2009, is ‘fair‘, but a Moscow Times report suggests Tymoshenko will try to negotiate a discount on Russian gas supplies for 2010.  Meanwhile supporters of President Viktor Yushchenko claim that Tymoshenko didn’t have the authority in the first place to negotiate gas prices and sign an agreement with Putin, and consider the deal a ‘defeat’. Russia plans to increase its renewable energy output from 1% to 4.5% by 2020.  Norway likes to think of itself as a good custodian of the environment, says The Economist, but the country is also a ‘prodigious polluter’.  GDF Suez wants the European Union to consider reaching a framework agreement on energy with Russia and not intervene on supply contracts.