Energy Blast – May 30, 2008

The Interior Ministry is accusing a top executive, who was partly responsible for the creation of oil venture TNK-BP in 2003, of evading nearly $1 billion in taxes. Russian shareholders in TNK-BP failed to show up for a board meeting in Cyprus this week. During his visit to France, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he welcomed European investment in Russia’s energy sector. “Gas prices that make drivers queasy at the pump are a relatively new occurrence in the United States, but persistently high prices forced Europeans to curtail their fuel consumption long ago.” America’s leading commodities regulator has begun a series of detailed inquiries over concerns that energy speculators are behind the rising oil price. “Not everybody is paying higher prices for oil.”