Energy Blast – June 13, 2011

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin officially stepped down from the board of Rosneft following Medvedev’s purge of government officials from state corporations.  The former chairman has reiterated what he views as BP’s culpability in terms of the failed Arctic deal, stating the British giant ‘should have ensured agreement with its partners and this was not done […] This was their responsibility’.  Another international company abandons collaboration with Russia: U.S. oil major Chevron has apparently quit a $1 billion drilling project with Rosneft off the Black Sea coast.  If Japan could not cope with a nuclear disaster, how would developing countries manage nuclear industries? wonders Reuters.  As Russia refuses to slash prices for natural gas, Ukraine has reiterated its commitment to building a $1.5 billion liquefied natural gas terminal on the Black Sea.