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.  ...

In 1996, Frederic Scheer had a vision when he began to market the concept of compostable plastics. This vision led Cereplast from a pioneer to a leader in the bioplastics industry. Yesterday, the vision of Mr. Scheer and the team at Cereplast provided a breakthrough announcement that will change the face of their industry forever with the transformation of algae into bioplastics.

Cereplast has developed breakthrough technology to transform algae into bioplastics with the intention to launch a new family of algae-based resins that will complement the company’s existing line of Compostables and Hybrid resins.

If successful, Cereplast algae-based resins could replace over 50% of the petroleum content used in plastic resins, possibly having a profound effect on the oil industry. Such companies as Exxon and BP have started to invest money in the algae production business because of the potential in their industry.

Mr. Scheer, who is not only

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Kafkaesque. The former Russian oil tycoon, who stood up to Putin, is back before his judges. Here is the story. [The following is a translation of an article published in the French publication Le Point.]

Le Point, October 15, 2009

Accused Khodorkovsky, Stand Up!

From our special envoy Marc Nexon

He stands up, opens his spiral notebook and pulls out 3 sheets of paper he has scribbled with his fine handwriting. He pats the microphone installed in his glass cage. "Can you hear me?" he asks, addressing the judge. Then he starts with a clear voice: "I know that in his eyes I embody absolute evil, but I would like to ask quietly a few questions to the witness of the prosecution..."

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Australia has ambitions to dethrone Qatar as the world’s largest LNG producer by the end of the next decade. The Australian government’s current goal is the production of 60 million tons of LNG per year for export. The Australian government is looking to achieve their goal largely through the Gorgon LNG Project. In Greek mythology, a gorgon is a hideous monster, but this Gorgon is a ‘monster’ of liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia.

Gorgon’s network of fields is believed to hold as much as 50,000 billion cubic feet of gas and the 40-year project is expected to produce 15 million tons a year, which is equal to 8 percent of current global capacity.

The Gorgon project has already attracted ready and eager buyers for the LNG that will be produced. PetroChina, China’s largest energy company, agreed to buy $41 billion worth of Gorgon LNG over a 20 year time period.

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One Natural Gas Company Worth Looking Into… Now And Later

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

These days, the US natural gas market finds itself weighted down by doom and gloom.

With North America choking on the stuff and underground storage of natural gas potentially approaching 4 trillion cubic feet, pundits keep saying that the market will see prices plunge to $2 per million BTU, where it will stay for years.

To contrarian investors such as myself, that type of talk couldn’t sound any more sweet…

Despite the gloom, we can still see a few glimmers of light in the natural gas market, such as drilling grinding to a multi-year low, barely a year after reaching its all-time high. Or the fact that some producers have voluntarily reduced output, deeming the present value of gas in the ground superior to current prices.

One way or another,

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Vladimir Putin told a meeting of international oil company heads that he is seeking 'stable and long-term' cooperation for gas extraction in the Yamal peninsula, which the country hopes could lead to a 25% share of the world's LNG market.  'Mr Putin indicated that favourable fiscal treatment might be on offer' at his warm reception for the companies, the Times says.  Putin's unusually solicitous welcome is the mark of 'desperation', the Telegraph suggests and argues that if Western companies consider their previous altercations with Russia in the oil industry, the luster of Putin's offers may fade.  Oil and Gas Eurasia details which former Yukos assets belonged to SeverEnergia, the Italian firm in which Gazprom has just bought a controlling interest.  Russia plans to ship 4.5% more Urals and Siberian Light crude oil from four Baltic and Black ...

Gazprom is apparently making plans to construct and run power plants in Turkey in partnership with the country's own Aksa.  Kazakhstan will postpone a feasibility study for a gas pipeline along the Caspian coast to Russia until 2010 while the line's capacity is figured out.  Ukraine has reassured investors that Naftogaz will not default on the payments of its $1.6 billion loan.  Gazprom has completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in SeverEnergia from Italy's Eni and Enel.  Debt-addled EDF is close to agreeing a major asset swap with E.ON, although it may also consider selling a 20% stake in nuclear operator British Energy.  Oil output in Russia may reach 530-535 million tons by 2030, a figure which is apparently not a projection, but a target.  Oil and Gas Eurasia reports that South Ossetia's new gas ...

67 WALL STREET, New York – September 22, 2009 – The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Alternative Energy/Clean Energy/Power Generation/Utilities Report report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 83 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Long Term Perspective on Alternative Energy Industry — Leading Indicators for Alternative Energy Components Companies — Mergers and Acquisitions in the Alternative Energy Industry — Break Even Business Fundamentals for Carbon Free Energy Providers — Development of Carbon Free Energy Production Infrastructure — NAT GAS Act — New Players in the Alternative Energy Industry — Solar Power Cell Manufacturers Market Strategy — Demand Response for Raw Materials for Solar Cell Production — Alternative

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The risk factors surrounding the nation’s oil industry are through the roof. The action is costing unprepared investors a lot of money. For proof, ask Delta Petroleum (NYSE:DPTR) shareholders.

Even a first grader can look at this market and know anything but fundamentals are driving the action. Fortunately for guys like me, few grade-school can figure out why.

These days, it is all about the macro-economy. More specifically, the only thing anybody cares about is the value of the dollar. When the greenback is up, the market is down (like today). When the dollar is weak, the market rallies – like last week.

There are several reasons for the trend: flight to safety, inflation, political risk… you name it.

What matters for us as traders is the pattern is unwaveringly true for the crude markets. With oil settlement denominated in dollars, the ever-important energy source is tied directly to the greenback.

The correlation

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LNG Makes It A Really G’Day, Mate

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

They don’t call Australia the lucky country for nothing.

It must be luck to have such abundant amounts of energy, metals, minerals and agricultural commodities, not to mention residing so close to China and India, two countries with large populations and a seemingly insatiable appetite for such natural resources.

And that luck shows again in the recently approved, multi-billion dollar, Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which is spreading good fortune to the foreign companies involved in the venture and the investors who know that Australia is where it’s at…

Australia currently has the 14th largest known gas reserve in the world, and many expect it to make the world’s top ten list in that category sooner than later. Dr. Graeme Behtune, the director of research firm Energy Quest, estimates the

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