Energy Blast – September 17, 2010

A planned deal between Transneft and Summa Capital to purchase a controlling stake in Novorossiisk Commercial Sea Port, and combine it with their Primorsk port, would, according to Bloomberg, ‘further cement Russian state control over exports of energy resources‘, as the partners would have control of almost all crude loaded for export from European Russia.  As the scramble for the Arctic heats up, the foreign ministers of Russia and Canada have expressed their hopes that the United Nations will solve a dispute over underwater mountain range the Lomonosov Ridge, and accept their land claims in the resource-rich zone.  Both sides have emphasized that science should speak their cases for them.  ‘[W]asteful, unnecessary and totally against the logic of modern economy’:  Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko’s damning appraisal of the South Stream project.  In a display of staunch independence, the Foreign Ministry also reaffirmed Ukraine’s opposition to any sort of takeover of Naftogaz by Gazprom.