As part of the Russian and Iranian energy ministries’ road map for long-term cooperation a joint bank will be established to help fund bilateral projects. Royal Dutch Shell has announced that its LNG venture with Gazprom on Russia’s Sakhalin Island has reached operational profitability. Is Russia’s attempt to get RWE on board of South Stream a sign of desperation, as some would have it? The BBC has an interesting report on the possible privatization of Georgia’s gas transit pipeline and what it means for relations with Russia. In a wave of ‘resource nationalism‘, the Kazakh government has announced plans to introduce a duty on most crude exports, a major change in the production deals it has with two international oil consortium. Siemens is planning to enter Russia’s wind turbine market with a strategic partnership, says the FT. Chevron Corp. looks interested in exploring shale deposits in northeastern Bulgaria near the Romanian border. BP Plc bonds are apparently yielding more than those of affiliate TNK-BP: Bloomberg reports.