Energy Blast – Nov 24, 2008

Gazprom is pressing Ukraine to make a decision on gas imports, saying that if a contract is not signed before the end of the year, the security of gas supplies will be under threat.  In the meantime, the company may apply to international courts in order to take legal action against Ukraine if it does not pay its alleged gas debts.  Engineering companies, such as OGK-1 and TGK-11 are struggling to build new generating capacity.  Russian companies have ‘concrete projects‘ to drill for oil off the coast of Cuba, according to the Russian ambassador there.  The Sakhalin II project will begin delivering liquefied natural gas to Japan early next year.  China’s offshore oil explorer CNOOC says that, in spite of the financial crisis, it intends to increase deepwater exploration in the South China Sea as of next year, and plans to invest $29 billion until the end of the next decade.  The Venezuelan oil minister wants OPEC to cut production by a million barrels per day in an attempt to drive up prices.