Energy Blast - July 3, 2009

The European Commission's Gas Co-ordination Group has warned Europe to brace itself for a potential gas disruption, and suggests that EU countries need to prepare themselves more actively for the possibility.  The turnaround in Europe's attitude towards nuclear power, stoked by a desire to diversify away from Russian energy supplies, is the subject of an article in the FT.  The Economist suggests that the Ukraine-Russia gas war, rather than emphasizing Europe's dependence on Russian gas, has simply made it a far less attractive prospect.  Hungary's Mol may lose the license that its Russian joint venture owns to an oil and gas deposit in western Siberia.   In Russia the State Council Presidium has assembled to discuss energy efficiency.  Gazprom is looking for deals in Africa and the Caspian Sea area, where it feels it needs to be 'strategically present'.  The company has started exploration as part of the Sakhalin-3 project.  Egyptian company Maridive may sign contracts to build pipelines in Russia and India.  Russia is apparently not producing enough oil to fill a new $4 billion pipeline to the Baltic.  Barack Obama is expected to urge Russia to change its attitude to alternative energy supplies.