Apparently U.N. inspectors have found 'nothing to be worried about' upon their first examination of the formerly clandestine uranium enrichment site in Qom in Iran.  'The [Obama] administration must consider whether it makes sense to grant the regime two more months of grace' says an op-ed in the Washington Post.  'Prospects for a breakthrough with Iran have narrowed dramatically since a high-level meeting in Geneva on Oct. 1', the paper adds, quoting a senior European diplomat.  Good news for Nord Stream - after considerable environmental concerns, it has received approval from both Finland and Sweden.  The construction of the Russia-Germany pipeline could spell the demise of Ukraine as a transit country, suggests the Wall Street Journal.   Lukoil has lost out on initial rights to develop Iraq's much-coveted West Qurna field, with an an Exxon ...

Naftogaz Ukrainy has apparently released a statement admitting that a 'dire economic situation' means that the company is struggling to pay its October gas bill.  The Moscow Times reports however that Ukrainian Energy Minister Yury Prodan has assured Russia that it will pay its $470 million bill on time - although there are hints that it will have to borrow the money - possibly from Moscow.  According to Reuters, the new gas deal between Polish and Russian companies will be approved within weeks.  Total and Statoil have both recorded a steep decline in third-quarter profits.  Lukoil will expand its trading business in the Asian zone, especially in naphtha and fuel oil, in the first six months of 2010.  A factbox on the buying and selling of European refineries here.  Gazprom has apparently made a ...

Winter is upon us, and the last couple of days have seen rumors rumbling about the possibility of another gas interruption - due to payment problems at Ukraine's end.  It is alleged that Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko alerted Vladimir Putin to the fact that President Viktor Yushchenko was impeding 'the normal partnership between the Central Bank, which had the gold reserves at disposal, and the government', thus jeopardizing payment.The good news for those in Europe looking forward to a toasty winter is that analysts are suggesting that this talk is more hot air fueled by political rivalry between Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko (who will race each other ,along with Victor Yanukovych, to the post of ...

Iran is 'unwilling to accept' a deal that would see most of its enriched uranium shipped abroad. 'Tehran is obviously probing to see whether President Obama can play hardball or whether he can be played.'  Russia will share the 'prize' that is the giant Yamal gas resource, but only because Gazprom can't handle the challenge on its own, argues Rossiyskaya Gazeta.  Ecuador's President Rafael Correa made his first visit to Russia this week to court support for a planned overhaul of his country's energy industry.  Signing a series of agreements on arms and energy (particularly hydropower), President Dmitry Medvedev heralded 'the beginning of cooperation'.  Will state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom take the place of Germany's RWE in the Belene nuclear power plant?  Speaking at the Solar Power International Conference, being held in California this week, Robert Kennedy ...

A new World Bank report says that Russia is likely to bear the brunt of changes to regional climate brought on by global warming.  Gazprom, currently feuding with Rosneft over blocked access to energy infrastructure, may rework its 'tough line' of fining European customers that do not buy the minimum-stated amount of gas each month.  Rosneft has outlined plans for $6 billion worth of offshore investment for the next few years.  The question of Iranian nuclear capability continues to be debated in the press.  '[U.S.] administration officials claim to have won Moscow's agreement to join in sanctions should Iran refuse to make a deal,' says the Washington Post, but the paper is also running this Reuters story: 'the Kremlin said that sanctions against Iran are highly unlikely in the near future.' Naftogaz October gas bill from Russia is to be ...

Rosneft has been fined $180 million by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service for deliberately driving up wholesale prices for gasoline and other oil products in the first half of 2009, and Lukoil was warned that it could face a similar penalty...in which case, it's going to need the $1.5 billion it is trying to raise by selling dollar-denominated debt to international investors.  The state-owned Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant was raided by riot police yesterday as part of a probe into an August flood that killed 75 employees.  Iran agrees with the 'general framework' of the UN-brokered proposal that it send most of its enriched uranium to Russia for processing into reactor fuel, but plans to make some changes.  'One common reaction is: 'If the foreigners are prepared to agree to this, there must be something wrong with this from Iran's point ...

In a meeting with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin made a surprise announcement that the South Stream pipeline, a joint project between Gazprom and Italy's Eni, could be finished before its official start-up date of 2013.  Plans for South Stream's expanded volume were discussed by Russia's Energy Ministry in Bulgaria this week, as was the controversial plan to use the existing Bulgarian gas transit network to aid this expansion. Transneft says it will complete its China pipeline by the end of the year. Russia's Energy Minister is leaving the question of Rosneft's privatization open, with the possibility of selling a 75% stake not to be considered until 2011. Canada-listed mining group SouthGobi Energy Resources has secured a $300 million loan from CIC (China Investment Corp). More on Russia's surging oil industry.  ...

An interesting opinion piece today by Vladimir Ryzhkov in the Moscow Times sees one of the last bastions of media freedom - Ren TV - looking like it may have to fight for its independence.  The increasingly popular station, the only one in Russia to offer a critical interpretation of the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam disaster and cover the Dissenter's Marches in Moscow and St Petersburg, may be fettered by management 'restructuring'.Controlled by National Media Group, owned by Putin ally Yury Kovalchukm, Ren will have a new Director General and will find new lodgings alonside state-controlled RIA-Novosti and the tow-the-line RT.  Ryzhkov recollects Gazprom's Media's overhaul of NTV which followed similar lines: could this be another nail in ...

Gazprom has expressed an interest in acquiring a U.S. shale-gas producer, to access the know-how to develop similar resources domestically, says the Moscow Times.  GDF Suez has said it has discussed a 10-20% increase in its Russian gas supply with Gazprom, as part of broader negotiations to usher the French company into the Nord Stream gas project.  Electricite de France may acquire a stake in Gazprom's South Stream pipeline to supply its increasing number of power plants.  Turkey's government has apparently approved geological exploration work for South Stream in its Black Sea economic zone.  The partnership behind the Nabucco pipeline project is, says Bloomberg, 'confident' it will have enough fuel, including gas from the Azeri Shah Deniz field.  Russian oil and petrochemical exporters reported a 45% decrease in revenue in the first nine months of 2009 to ...

The first ever visit by a Russian President to Serbia has yielded another 'strategic partnership', this time soldered with a $1.5 billion loan to the debt-hit nation.  A certain diplomatic interdependence between the two countries seems to be a de facto necessity, as the Balkan state relies upon Moscow for backing in the U.N. Security Council to counter the secession of Kosovo.  For Russia, on the other hand, who vociferously opposed the bombing of Serbia by NATO in 1999, the area is 'an arena for Moscow's effort to resurrect its former status as a world power', the Washington Post suggests.A deal in Eastern Europe wouldn't be a deal without some whiff of gas.  Gazprom Neft has reason ...