Energy Blast - October 15, 2009

According to ITAR-TASS, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has commented that Russia does not object to selling energy resources using domestic currencies.  How done is the Russia-China gas deal? wonders the the FT.  Gazprom will buy 500 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan next year.  The Times has a piece on the 'take-and-pay' system which is now causing friction between suppliers and buyers.  Norway's Aladdin has signed a five-year contract to provide gas from a field in the Komi republic to a Gapzrom subsidiary.  ConocoPhillips is apparently 'non-committal' on a possible sale of its 20% stake in Lukoil.  Serbia expects as much as $13.4 billion to be invested in modernizing its energy sector by 2015, and is working with Gazprom.  Iraq has given a consortium led by Eni the right to develop its colossal Zubair field.  The International Energy Agency has announced a series of measures to extend cooperation with India, China and Russia, three nations of increasing weight in the global energy markets.  A Cambridge professor has warned that in 20 years the Arctic will be ice-less during summer due to global warming.