Energy Blast – May 24, 2010

A Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry spokesperson has anounced that Russia’s nuclear company Rosatom has agreed to collaborate in the building of nuclear power plants in the energy-poor country.  According to Reuters, Vladimir Putin is apparently comfortable with the price of oil hovering at around $70 or $80 per barrel.  Problems for Belarus: Gazprom claims that the country is refusing to pay the agreed prices for oil supplies.  Germany’s Wintershall Holding and France’s GDF Suez are apparently in talks with the Russian gas giant to attain greater flexibility in their long-term contracts.  As part of closer Russia-Ukraine ties, it has been reported that Naftogaz would like to gain access to Russian gas production assets.  According to the Moscow Times, it may be difficult for Poland to negotiate lower prices for gas as demand increases and its market remains uncompetitive.  ITAR-TASS reports that Russia has proposed that Poland participate in the construction of a Baltic nuclear power plant.  Global miner Rio Tinto is up in arms about a new Australian ‘Resources Super Profits‘ tax.   Bloomberg looks at the motivation behind Namibia’s current  focus on uranium.