Energy Blast – June 7, 2011

BP is, this report claims, preparing to sell half of its 50% stake in Russia’s third-largest oil producer TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft.  Russia has inaugurated a $1.1 billion gas pipeline to supply facilities of the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, which will bring gas to 250,000 customers in the area.   Germany’s ruling coalition is apparently in favor of Gazprom acquiring a stake in Germany’s largest utility E.ON, as the country backtracks on nuclear power.  Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko has sung the praises of nuclear energy post-Fukushima at a Moscow-based international conference on atomic power.  British concern about Russia’s stranglehold on Europe’s energy supplies is apparently revealed in leaked US diplomatic cables obtained by the Scotsman.  Russia’s pipeline monopoly Transneft has announced it has resumed receiving 161,000 barrels per day of oil to its pipeline, which was shut after the Urals arms depot blasts.  Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller told reporters that the company would not accept lower profits on deliveries to China than on sales to Europe or consider renegotiating the gas price for Ukraine in 2011 despite its calls for talks.