Energy Blast – March 9, 2010

A feud between Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Rosneft Chairman (and deputy prime minister) Igor Sechin over tax breaks for oil companies could damage growth in oil output and jeopardize exports to Asia, says Bloomberg.  Gazprom is seeking compensation of about $135 million from Lithuania for six years of losses that it says were caused by an alteration to a deal on heating prices, although the Lithuanian government says that it is merely a third party.  The Bosnian Serb Republic is set to join the South Stream gas pipeline project with a pipeline in northern Bosnia.  According to Rosatom, by the end of this year, Russia will provide its first batch of low-enriched uranium for a UN-regulated international nuclear fuel reserve bank.  The pipe-supplying business of a ‘longtime friend‘ and judo partner of Vladimir Putin has won a contract to work with Gazprom, but the energy giant says it’s all above board.  Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Co. issued $1 billion worth of eurobonds in a bid to boost the development of its giant South Pars gas field.