Energy Blast – May 12, 2011

Good news for Gazprom, the Moscow Times reports, as the French National Assembly’s decision to revoke licenses for shale fracking reinforces the position of conventional gas suppliers.  After its deal to buy a stake in the Elephant oil project from Italian group Eni was interrupted by the civil war, Gazprom Neft has voiced hopes that it will manage to return to Libya.  The Telegraph reports that BP has refused to accept liability for losses on the part of businesses whose interests were damaged by the ban on deepwater drilling imposed in the Gulf of Mexico post-Macondo.  Iran has reportedly received a new shipment of nuclear fuel from Russia for the now-running Bushehr power plant, says the New York Times.  A committee appointed by Chancellor Angela Merkel in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan has apparently recommended that Germany should close all of its nuclear power plants by 2021 and turn entirely to other forms of energy.