For some of you who regularly read this blog, you may want to file this note under "Gazprom - Preemption" - because it's a topic we have seen come up time and time again. We have written quite a bit in this space about Russia's energy interests in Bolivia, but I find it particularly interesting to the note the devastating timing of the latest announcement that they are forming a new $4.5 billion joint venture in the tumultuous Andean country with Total and Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), the state-held entity. You see, what is extraordinary about this major energy deal is that Gazprom is pushing it through at precisely at a time in which nearly any other rational minded foreign investor would be running for the hills. Bolivia is the midst of one of President Evo Morales's biggest political ...

BP has finally agreed to a peace deal with its Russian partners over the future of their joint venture, TNK-BP. The oil firm announced yesterday that embattled chief executive Robert Dudley will leave TNK-BP by the end of the year, as part of an agreement hammered out with the four Russian billionaires who also own the business. Not surprisingly, the deal appeared to have been closely coordinated with the Kremlin. It follows an unprecedented campaign by state agencies against TNK-BP that prompted Dudley to flee Russia, citing harassment. Serbian government officials earlier today insisted that an energy deal with Russia is of the utmost national interest, but the opposition Liberals described it as humiliating. Well, it's not humiliating yet...