Energy Blast – September 23, 2009

Reuters reports that the Russian government may sell part of its 75% stake in the country’s largest oil producer, Rosneft.  Andrei Sharonov, a former deputy economy minister, has said that the government could sell up to 25% without any significant consequences.  RusHydro’s plans to build a $20 billion Evenkia dam on the Lower Tunguska River have been shaken by public protests, says the Moscow Times.  Lukoil hopes to start production in the Caspian Sea oilfields in March 2010.  Enel Spa will complete the sale of a stake in SeverEnergia, a natural gas explorer in Siberia, to Gazprom ‘in the next few weeks‘.  A Royal Bank of Scotland report picked up by Reuters says that uranium demand will exceed supply in 2014 as China and Russia develop nuclear power stations.  Total has suggested that Russian companies may bid for European plants as they pursue expansion abroad; the company is also hoping to work with Petrobas in Brazil.  Companies developing the Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea have so far invested $500 million.  Iranian and Russian officials have highlighted the need for studying major issues related to the Caspian Sea’s legal status only in the presence of all the five littoral states.