Energy Blast – May 13, 2011

The United States, Russia and other nations are set to sign an agreement on search and rescue in the Arctic, and will consider how to prevent oil spills, in what was described by Sergei Lavrov as ‘a milestone in the Arctic Council’s work’.  The New York Times has called the agreement ‘very limited’.  The high profile eight-nation Arctic Council meeting took place as Wikileaks cables reportedly revealed fears of heated scramble for mineral resources in the region, with one cable quoting comments from the head of the Russian navy that ‘one cannot exclude that in the future there will be a redistribution of power, up to armed intervention’.  Following President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Russia, it has been reported that Pakistan will make an offer to Gazprom to participate in two multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline projects, the Iran-Pakistan and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India projects.  Gazprom Neft has announced that its first-quarter net profit rose by 91%, year-on-year, to $1.437 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations.  According to Reuters, a minority shareholder in BP’s Russian venture TNK-BP plans to sue the British oil giant in a Siberian court for $5-$10 billion in damages over its tie-up with Rosneft.