Energy Blast – May 20, 2010

Russia and China are on board, but will the rest of the UN Security Council back sanctions against Iran?  ‘The only country capable of stopping Iran is Iran’ argues this article in the New York Times.  Brazil and Turkey have defended the nuclear swap deal.  A close ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has apparently said that the measures have ‘no legitimacy’.  Shell has announced that it will invest more than $2 billion in reducing gas flaring in Nigeria, which is believed to have harmful effects on the local environment and population.  The company has apparently made Russia an offer for developing LNG in the Yamal peninsula.  The UAE’s Crescent Petroleum and Russia’s Rosneft may collaborate in joint deals in the Middle East and North Africa, previously uncharted territory for the Russian gas giant.  Russia’s government will discuss the possibility of zero oil extraction duties for the Arctic region of Yamalo-Nenets and less taxes on smaller deposits in order to encourage new development.  Gazprom is apparently considering its first foray into shale gas.