With so much attention given to Gazprom’s moves to seal up supply in Central Asia, Iran, Northern Africa, the Gulf of Guinea, and Latin America, it seems that many have overlooked Russia’s quiet incursion into North America through the Canadian doorway. Two finance academics have an interesting column in the Montreal Gazette today detailing Gazprom’s LNG joint venture near Quebec City, which is just the tip of the iceberg.

Count on Gazprom to work in best interests of Russia Canada should be wary of dealing with state-owned gas giant ART DURNEV and PAT AKEY With gas prices at record levels, the announcement of Gazprom’s signature of a letter of intent with a Franco-Canadian consortium to supply liquefied natural gas is a good thing, right? The deal, as it currently stands, would have Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned oil producer, supply 100 per cent of the LNG to the plant located outside of Quebec City. However, Russia’s murky political scene and the highly charged nature of energy prices makes us wonder how good this deal actually is.