Energy Blast – July 23, 2010

VTB estimates that it lost $160 million in a bid to lease 12 oil-drilling rigs in 2007, due to the $5 million pricetag added on by a middleman.  A tropical storm approaching the Gulf of Mexico is driving BP relief efforts out of the area.  Is the UK heading for an energy crisis in the next decade?  The US Senate has dropped a climate change bill that would have capped carbon emissions by charging manufacturers for their carbon footprints, due to opposition from both Democrats and Republicans.  The Economist explains the nuclear fusion technology and costs behind ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.