Energy Blast - Oct 28, 2008

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Wen Jiabao, his Chinese counterpart, will meet today to discuss the details of a potential oil export deal, which could see China offering Russia a $25 billion loan. Vietnam, meanwhile, has signed an oil exploration deal with Gazprom. The UK’s BG Group has agreed to buy Australia's Queensland Gas Company for $3.4 billion. ‘We do have to see what happens with the world oil price before jumping to conclusions about impending economic collapse in Russia.’ Russia’s duty on crude oil exports is to drop at the end of the year by roughly $70 per ton. Chevron Corp has displaced BP as the world’s third-largest, non-state oil company.