Energy Blast – Jan 30th, 2009

Alisher Usmanov has sold his majority stake in Yuzhno-Tambeiskoye, one of the biggest gas deposits in Russia, to Gazprom’s banking arm.  Energy sector leaders from around the world have told the World Economic Forum that the current price of oil is too low to allow them to make investments needed to ensure that they can meet energy demands in the future.  NATO officials meeting in Reykjavik say the race for territory in the energy-rich Arctic poses serious new security threats.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a government decree on customs duties on crude oil exported from Russia to countries outside of the zone of its existing agreements, setting the price at $100.9 per ton.  Japan’s National Tax Tribunal has rejected a request from Nippon Oil to nullify extra taxes imposed on it in 2006 on gains from energy derivatives trading.