Energy Blast – March 18, 2010

The court injunctions Yukos has won against Rosneft are, according to Bill Browder, a ‘huge weapon’ in their battle against the company.  The oil company’s stock has plummeted on talk of seizures due to the rulings.  US Army General David Petraeus has refuted claims that the Obama administration sees Iranian nuclear development as forcibly leading to an atomic bomb.  The administration apparently does feel a certain ‘urgency’ about the program, a topic to be broached during Clinton’s Moscow stay.  Has Russia finally softened up on sanctions?  President Medvedev has defended Russia’s right to pursue land claims in the Arctic.  US producer ConocoPhillips is apparently considering halving its stake in LUKoil to 10% and selling the remaining 10% back to the company itself, though the Russian company has apparently denied these suggestions.  According to Bloomberg, Europe will not be able to mine the abundance of shale gas that the US can: good news for Gazprom.  Will TNK-BP be reimbursed if it loses the Kovykta gas field license?  Not necessarily…