You've got to respect Global Witness ... for a watchdog NGO, they bring a lot of creativity and innovation to their cause (see this past campaign for another example).  GW has also done a tremendous job in the past unearthing all the corruption surrounding RosUkrEnergo, a subject which has come up again and again (let's just say the corruption scandal reaches pretty high).  Today they published another hot report to remind the European Commission how they've got it all wrong in selling out human rights and democracy to the brutal dictatorship in Turkmenistan in exchange for eventual access to natural gas ... including a collaboration with the political cartoonist David Rees.Click here ...

Total (TOT) and GdF-Suez recently signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) partnering with KazMunaiGas (KMG), Kazakhstan’s state oil company, for the development of the Khvalynskoye field. Following the agreement, Total and GdF-Suez are holders of 25% interest (Total 17%, GdF-Suez 8%) in the field, from the initial 50% stake held by KazMunaiGas. Lukoil (operator) is the owner of the remaining 50% interest in the project.   Khvalynskoye is a conventional gas condensate field located offshore in the Caspian Sea on the border between Kazakhstan and Russia. The gas produced from this field will be transported to Russia.   Through this agreement Total increased its presence in Kazakhstan (especially Caspian Sea) – a region that is expected to play an important role in counterbalancing Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC’s) dominance of world oil markets in the coming two decades. The company is already a partner of KMG developing ...

The Financial Times enumerates Gazprom's problems: are its ambitions to increase production any more than pipe dreams?  Competition for energy reserves in the Arctic Circle could prompt friction between Russia and NATO, a new commander at the alliance has warned.  Bloomberg reports that the holder of the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, Turkmenistan, is ready to export natural gas to European collaborators if they build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to transport the fuel.  According to Oil and Gas Eurasia, Russia needs a total of $310 billion to fully carry out its program for the analysis and exploration of its continental shelf, a deputy natural resources minister has announced.  Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko has said that Russia has been invited as an observer to the December meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.  Finnish environmental ...

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 ...

Integrated oil and gas major StatoilHydro ASA (STO) recently discovered a new oil and gas location in the Nona prospect, 10 kilometers south east of the Asgard field in the Norwegian Sea.

The well 6407/2-5S was drilled to a depth of 3,289 meters below sea level. Based on preliminary calculations, the size of the find is between 13 and 31 million barrels of oil and 1–2 billion standard cubic meters of gas. Management is optimistic about the discovery and affirms the possibility of other new finds in this area.

Despite maturity of the Norwegian Continental Shelf region, the Norway-based company is well positioned to sustain its production from this area at current levels for the next few years. Internationally, Statoil plans to continue a high level of exploration activity to develop the company's resource base.

Our Outperform rating on StatoilHydro reflects its growing upstream presence in the emerging

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After drilling an appraisal well in the northeastern segment of the Smorbukk deposit (part of the Asgard field in the Norwegian Sea), StatoilHydro (STO) has confirmed the existence of oil, gas and condensate.

The result is encouraging, and development in association with the Asgard B platform will be considered. The company said that production may start in three to four years. The proven resources are estimated to be between 15 and 25 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

The Asgard field development includes 58 production and injection wells divided on 16 subsea templates. Two vessels and one platform are located on the field. Discovered in 1984, the Smorbukk field has been on stream since 1999.

As of year-end 2008, StatoilHydro had approximately 5.58 billion oil-equivalent barrels in proved reserves. It is the operator of 39 producing oil and gas fields, and accounts for 60% of all Norwegian petroleum production. Due to

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Shell has begun building a $100 million lubricant blending plant in Torzhok, which is the first to be constructed by an international firm in Russia.  After talks with Polish premier Donald Tusk in Gdansk, Vladimir Putin will meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to discuss natural gas among other matters.  The oil minister of Qatar has said that Russia has promised to support OPEC's production cuts.  Petrobas shareholders are worried by the new plans Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula has for the company to explore new and extensive oil fields.  The corporation dropped in value by $7 billion in one day, as the President's plans would allow the state to increase its stake in the company.  Turkmenistan is planning to create a naval base on the Caspian Sea, a move that could be seen as ...

The Russian government plans to invest as much as $1.9 trillion in its energy sector by 2030 in an attempt to increase idling oil and gas output.  Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdori has proposed that a Russia-Mongolia natural gas pipeline could be built as the two countries attempt to develop their 'strategic partnership'.  Russia looks set to open a pipeline supplying gas to South Ossetia, bypassing Georgia.  The Nord Stream pipeline group has asked banks to bid for $5.6 billion financing.  Gazprom expects exports to increase over the second half as gas prices have fallen.  A group of Russian investors plan to obstruct any attempt by Ukraine's Naftogaz to restructure a $500 million bond that matures next month.  Uranium supplies will not match demand after 2015 as Russia, the US, India and China develop ...

Yesterday's fatal accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant will present a considerable setback in Russia's attempts to increase its power production, says the New York Times.  It will take 'years rather than months to restore three of the 10 turbines' that were destroyed.  President Medvedev has said that Russian oil enterprises should increase their presence in the Caspian Sea to reenforce the region's economy.  Lukoil has announced that hydrocarbon production in the first six months of the year increased 2% on last year and crude production by 4%.  Oerlikon has won a solar order worth $277 million from Nano Solar Technology, a business partly owned by Viktor Vekselberg, who has a controlling interest in Oerlikon itself.  Turkey may call off a tender for its first nuclear power reactor in order to create a new framework under ...

Oil has risen to over $70 a barrel for the first time in a month.  Bulgaria's new government will continue to support the South Stream gas pipeline, but is as of yet undecided on whether to abandon its nuclear power plant, which was set to be constructed by Atomstroiexport.  Oil and Gas Eurasia reports that the country's Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, has pledged Bulgaria's determination to continue to work both on Nabucco as well as the Russia-backed pipeline.  Russia increased its gas exports by 20% in July compared with June as prices fell.  The New York Times looks at the questions surrounding Ukraine's recently brokered loan from international lenders as doubts surface about whether the money will suffice to ward off a winter gas crisis.  The $1.7 billion loan is considerably smaller than the $4 ...