Energy Blast – Jan 26th, 2009

Diplomatic sources reportedly believe that Iran’s stockpile of yellow cake uranium, without which it cannot support a sustained nuclear program, could be exhausted within months, triggering an international race to prevent it from importing more.  Could Turkey turn out to be the ‘real winner‘ in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute?  Hungary wants EU members to seek compensation for the supply cuts.  Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov seems to agree with the increasingly popular idea that ‘natural gas transport routes to Europe must be diversified’, saying that Russia has ‘no aversion‘ to the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline from central Asia to Europe, which is intended to bypass Russia.  Is this because Uzbek President Islam Karimov pledged his support on Friday to a new trans-Russian gas pipeline?  Gazprom has contacted Norway for informal discussions about the possibility of shipping gas through its pipelines.  Kuwaiti firm Noor Financial Investment is forming two joint ventures with Gazprom.  Participation in OPEC’s recent cut has been high, which has helped the oil price stabilize, says the New York Times.  An oil spill from the Sakhalin II project over the weekend has killed hundreds of birds.