Energy Blast – October 5, 2010

BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley has said that the path may be clear for TNK-BP to purchase $1 billion worth of Vietnamese assets as the company may not invite other parties to bid.  TNK-BP is apparently looking to increase its presence in the gas sector by buying a 50% stake in independent producer Itera.  Apparently the reason Russia plans to increase its combat presence in the Arctic is to fend off competition by energy-lacking China, which may be seeking a part of the region’s mineral plunder.  Gazprom is considering increasing gas supplies to Macedonia.  Germany’s Wintershall, the oil and gas structure under BASF, will join the South Stream pipeline, Oil and Gas Eurasia reports.  Following a meeting between Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the Prime Ministers of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and of Georgia, Nikoloz Gilauri, Bulgaria has asserted its participation in the Nabucco pipeline, in coordination with Turkey and Georgia.