Following the hydropower plant disaster, President Medvedev instructed the government 'to provide uninterrupted energy supply to industrial enterprises, social institutions and the population'. Apparently Rushydro will not raise its prices to offset the cost of repairs.  Russian regions reportedly owe Gazprom in the range of $2 billion for natural gas.  Regions that 'can pay, should pay' says First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.  Poland's talks with Russia on gas supplies, planned for the end of August, have been canceled.  No new date has been set as of yet.  Bloomberg suggests this may lead to dramatic gas shortages, as the country needs an extra 2.3 billion cubic meters of gas a year from 2010.  Abu Dhabi National Energy Company TAQA has said that it has made a deal with Gazprom on a joint gas storage project in ...

Reuters reports that Poland and Russia are unlikely to reach a deal on gas when Putin visits Warsaw in September, and negotiations could continue until the end of the year, meaning Poland may, in the meantime, have to seek supplies elsewhere.  Ukraine will accelerate attempts to restructure the debts of state energy giant Naftogaz by opening talks with bonds investors imminently.  A new government bill will give wholesale electricity markets special access to stations that are powered by associated gas.  The government has decided that 95% of associated gas extracted must be used by 2012.  Pipeline maker Transneft's net profits have fallen by 17% year on year.  Petrom and ExxonMobil are initiating a seismic study of 3,000 km2 in the Black Sea.  The state-controlled Chinese chemicals company Sinochem has agreed to buy London-listed Emerald Energy for $879 million, with ...

Institutional investors that own debt issued by Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-owned gas firm, are waiting to learn their fate as the $500m worth of Eurobonds September 30th due date rapidly approaches. While some may have initially assumed that continued IMF largesse–$10bn of a $16.4bn standby loan program has now been disbursed–would render restructuring talk kaput, the country’s acting finance minister continues to insist that a restructuring will go ahead. Meanwhile, prices for the corporate debt, once considered almost sovereign in nature given the company’s government ties, fell over twenty percent last week, prompting cynics to speculate that the government was trying to manipulate prices downwards and hence make them easier to pay.  Finally, Moody’s, while downgrading the debt in question to Caa2 from Caa1, announced on Friday that “the probability of extraordinary government support to prevent a default should now be classified in the low rather

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Lukoil is apparently contemplating a joint refinery investment with ConocoPhillips on the East Coast of the US.  ConocoPhillips says it has no plans to build a new US refinery.  Russian gas exports to countries other than ex-Soviet bloc fell 50% year on year in January to May.  As the Ukraine-Russia gas problem rumbles on, the EU has been attempting to put together a loan for Kiev as it hits another payment deadline for its gas debt to Russia.  Ukraine's state firm Naftogaz could secure up to $4 billion in financing with the help of Russian investment bank Troika.  The world's biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, Korea Gas Corp., and Mitsubishi Corp. have agreed to jointly consider the possibility of developing gas reserves in Venezuela and purchasing stakes in liquefied natural gas plants in Australia and ...

The Energy Ministry is investigating ways of reducing taxes on undeveloped gas fields, having seen that even with high oil prices most projects would not be financially solvent.  Ukraine's energy company Naftogaz has said that to avoid the possibility of a gas suspension, European firms should consider buying Russian gas and storing it in Ukraine.  Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine fell 45.5% in January-May 2009, year-on-year.   The European Commission has cautioned Gazprom and Naftogaz to secure a long-term contract to maintain steady supplies of gas to Europe.  Sergei Lavrov has met with EU ambassadors and 'positively assessed Russian-EU cooperation' over this issue.  The FT reports that a lack of investment in modernizing the energy infrastructure of central and eastern Europe is an obstacle to guaranteeing upplies.  If oil rises to $90 a barrel next year ...

Oil prices have soared to their highest since October at $72 a barrel, amid talk of an economic recovery and International Energy Agency predictions of an increase in global demand.  A BP reports calculates that there is enough oil to last for 42 years at current production rates.   Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has appealed to the government to take urgent steps to stabilize the national energy company Naftogaz which is in a 'critical' state.  The President has reiterated concerns about the gas deal agreed with Russia, as the Kremlin could demand a $5 billion fine if Kiev buys less gas in the first two quarters than agreed.  Russia will keep foreign investment in the oil and gas industry to 25% of the total to help domestic companies remain profitable.  Russia, Iran and Qatar will discuss the ...

With stores tripping over themselves to offer steep holiday season discounts, their efforts were largely in vain, as many consumers simply weren’t financially able to take full advantage. Even the beast that is Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) struggled to make much headway. As we reported yesterday, Thomson-Reuters projected a 2.8% same-store sales rise for the firm in December. But the actual results proved otherwise.

Considered to be a beneficiary of the tightened household budgets, the company reported a paltry 1.7% increase in same-store sales. As a result, it cut its earnings outlook.

Thomson-Reuters was right about one thing, though: Higher-end retailers got spanked - some of them quite dramatically. For example, Saks (NYSE: SKS) posted a 20% decline in same-store sales, while Gap (NYSE: GPS) sales sank by 14%.

So how can investors play this? If you’re like me, when bad news hits, you look to snap up

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