Two interesting pieces of news coincide today from the sordid world of Russian energy politics.  First, permissions to build the 403-meter "Gazscraper" tower in St. Petersburg were muscled through local government by Valentina Matvienko over the protests of preservationists, while hours later news came down that Italian firms Eni and Enel had finalized the sale of $1.6 billion worth of former Yukos assets back to Gazprom, which it had originally acquired in a controversial rigged auction. Back when the auctions of Yukos assets were taking place (which was illegal in the first place under Russian bankruptcy law, which calls for non-core assets to be sold first), it was alleged that the ...

Bret Stephens has a new one in the Wall Street Journal, teeing off on Vladimir Putin for his surprisingly public betrayal of Oleg Deripaska, scapegoating him as a "cockroach" whose inordinate greed costs the jobs of so many Russian workers.

Welcome to the third stage of Putinism. In Stage One, Mr. Putin played the role of the determined technocratic modernizer who wanted to do nothing more than impose the rule of law on a young democracy spinning into anarchy. This stage ended in October 2003, with the arrest and subsequent conviction and imprisonment of oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky on dubious charges of tax evasion and fraud.

In Stage Two, Mr. Putin dispensed with the technocratic mien and, Bonaparte-like, effectively crowned himself czar, surrounded by a new breed of loyal oligarchs and ex-KGB cronies. They generously help themselves to other people's investments, foreign energy companies especially. This stage lasted as long

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We've been carefully following Gazprom's efforts to break into the U.S. market for several years now, but they don't seem to be getting anywhere closer.  Despite opening a trading office in Houston and holding vague talks with a variety of potential partners, the Kremlin arm of foreign policy hasn't been able to make the numbers work to tap into the energy veins of North America.Today, however, they took a step in this direction with a small but important deal with Royal Dutch Shell to break into the U.S. market - from the West, to California.  From the Wall Street Journal:The world's largest gas producer and the world's largest natural-gas market have finally come together. Gazprom and Shell announced a deal that will send gas from Russia's far east to LNG terminals on the ...

With Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) new oil discovery off the coast of Brazil - the latest in a series of such offshore finds and potentially the largest Western Hemisphere discovery in three - the South American nation has taken another giant step in its quest to become a global energy superpower.

Exxon’s Azulao-1 well tapped a reservoir that reportedly contains as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, says Luiz Lemos, a partner at TozziniFreire Advogados, a Brazilian law firm that represents foreign energy companies.

“This is very huge,” Lemos told Bloomberg News.

So is the potential benefit for Brazil. If Lemos’ estimate is accurate, this new Azulao find will rival the nearby Tupi oil field as the largest discovery on this side of the planet since Mexico’s Cantarell field was discovered in 1976.

Lemos’ estimate is unconfirmed, but Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex

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Should we be excited or scared for our portfolios on the face of an Obama presidency?

First of all, let's take a deep breath, because this was a truly historic election. And while I was disappointed in the general lack of substance from both candidates over the course of the campaign, there are two things that this election has done for the United States on the most broad level that are undeniable. First, despite the focus on the negative dimensions of the campaigns, the tone of the debate was a fundamental shift toward less partisan rancor and more the interest of the nation. We had gotten ourselves in a Bush/Clinton rut that was fundamentally dysfunctional. And hopefully the U.S. is back on track now and can focus more clearly on the national, as opposed to the partisan interest.

Second, this election will be a boon to how the United States

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