Energy Blast – June 17, 2008

AAR, the consortium of Russian shareholders in TNK-BP, is publicly attacking what it views as BP’s “arrogance”, with Mikhail Fridman also reportedly likening BP’s chairman Peter Suthland to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. Saudi Arabia’s offer of a further increase in production to halt the oil price has thus far failed to have any impact on the markets. Gazprom is examining plans to increase gas extraction from the Sakhalin-2 fields being developed with Royal Dutch Shell (RDS). Sakhalin-2 has obtained $5.3 billion in financing from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and has reportedly dropped plans to produce liquefied natural gas on the Yamal peninsula, another joint venture with RDS. The company has just opened its first African office, in Algeria, possibly “to forge closer ties with Sonatrach, the continent’s largest gas producer.” A “mystery suitor” has registered for a data room to be opened for potential buyers of OGK-1. Nuclear power agency Rosatom dismissed rumors of a radioactive leak at two plants in northwest and south Russia. Dmitry Medvedev has called for legal action to be taken against contractors who failed to meet their deadlines for the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline.