Energy Blast – March 25, 2011

An arbitration panel in Stockholm has blocked BP’s $16 billion share swap and Arctic exploration deal with Rosneft, handing ‘a major victory‘ to TNK-BP, whose Alfa-Access-Renova shareholders have been fighting the deal since it was first announced.  The BBC has a video report on the news, which caused BP’s share price to drop this morning.  Shell says that Japan’s earthquake disaster provides ‘an impetus‘ to ongoing discussions with Gazprom on new liquefaction capacity at their Sakhalin fields.  Russia says it supports the creation of international rules to prevent nuclear plants being built in earthquake-prone areas, but Turkey says that its first nuclear power plant, to be built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport 25km from a seismic fault-line, should be operational by 2019, despite warnings from Greenpeace about the area’s vulnerability to earthquakes.  Russia is to perform tests on all of its nuclear reactors to see whether or not they can withstand seismic shifts, and says it is prepared to share the results with the U.S.  RIA Novosti reports that the tests will be undertaken jointly with the U.S.  ‘A danger in the debate is that nuclear is often portrayed as a single, undifferentiated energy source. This is not only wrong, but also risks losing the opportunity we have to debate the role that new technologies — not only of fusion and fission, but also hybrid methods — can play.‘  The BBC visits TNK-BP’s Uvat oil field in Siberia.  Russia will increase its tariffs for oil products exported to Tajikistan, in what looks to some to be a ‘political‘ issue.  Novatek is to buy a 25% stake in Yamal LNG for $526 million.  This FT blog looks at the likelihood of Serbian involvement in the South Stream pipeline.