Energy Blast – Nov 26, 2010

South Stream’s Romanian segment has been completed, says Gazprom.  The combined profits of Sakhalin-1, Sakhalin-2, and the Kharyaga project (all still in development), could bring Russia $318 billion over the next four decades, by Bloomberg’s estimates.  Planned oil export duties for 2011 will be much lower than initially suggested, says the Kremlin, with fees for heavy oil products to rise to 46.7%, but with export fees for light oil products due to decrease.  The Economist says that the best protection against global warming is ‘global prosperity‘, but notes that some are benefitting from climate change: ‘As the melting ice allows access to the Arctic, Russia will become richer still in fossil fuels.‘  UK journalist Johann Hari writes that initiatives like Copenhagen and Cancun are not helping climate problems, and writes about a ‘new, deeply pessimistic framework for understanding the earth’s ecology‘.  Responding to claims that UK energy companies’ profit margins are increasing, Eon proposes that larger companies change their business models.