Thursday 12 February 2009

Gazprom Lifts the Gaiety of the Nation


In the gloom of a British winter, where better to turn for a morale-booster than the comedy turn that is Gazprom's annual London press conference, where we are solemnly informed that

"Gazprom plans cuts in European exports if gas demand slumps"

As opposed to ... continuing to stuff the gas into the pipes until they burst at the seams ? I'm trembling already, but it isn't with fear. Or the cold. Yes, Gazprom, your exports are indeed going to fall. And then, this:

"Gazprom aims to invest $2.5 bn in development of Nigerian gas"

Hint to Nigerians: it's one of those 419 scams, you know ? Gazprom has never been known to put its hand in its own pocket. Ever.

UPDATE: Gazprom have responded wittily to the (annual) rumours they are going to buy Centrica. It wouldn't be a cash offer, in any case: to repeat what we said above - Gazprom has never been known ...

ND

8 comments:

Letters From A Tory said...

People can bitch and moan about renewable energy all they want, but I'd much rather be free of these lunatics than complain about wind farms.

Anonymous said...

LFAT, the basic problem is you won't just be "free of these lunatics" - you won't have any energy. Solar, wind & tidal power cannot support this country's energy usage. The sums do not add up. They make green cretins happy (you know, the sort of people who thiunk there are too many people & who like forest fires so much they won't allow people to do controlled burns in Australian eucalyptus forest) but that's all they do.

roym said...

the theme of the week seems to be diversification.

ignore the greens, they cant seem to keep a consistent sensible line on renewables (see objections to tidal).

but if we have readily available clean energy, it surely makes sense to develop it as an exportable industry, and to deploy it alongside that other good stuff we have in abundance. coal!

AGW is the consensus, lets get on and encourage, and train the scientists and engineers that could give us something to sell to the rest of the world

Old BE said...

The Russians are really getting the hang of the "supply and demand" thing, aren't they?!

Interesting article here about whether wholesale gas prices are likely to fall as much as we would like...

Nick Drew said...

LFAT - fortunately, not a trade-off we need to make

SW - "won't have any energy": well, gas is in excellent supply, it's electricity where there's room for concern

roym - always a good principle (safety and certainty in oil lie in variety, and variety alone - Churchill)

Nick Drew said...

re your link, BE, the fact that 2010 prices are 10% above 2009 ('contango') reflects the current contango in oil. Interpreting forward price structures is a subtle business, but as a rule, contango is a symptom of a current supply surplus, and says little or nothing about what the supply/demand balance will be by the time we get to 2010. (It's vital to avoid the ultra-common error that forward prices are predictors of what spot prices will be in the future, or that they represent some kind of forecast. They categorically don't: and people who believe otherwise get creamed in the market every time)

But back to gas prices: it all depends on the buying policies of the suppliers (some may have a policy of buying 1 year ahead, e.g.), AND the degree of competition.

If there was adequate competition, bad buying decisions wouldn't get passed on to end-customers. But Brown's merry men have dropped the ball in the energy sector, as elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

ND: I've never known solar/tidal/wind to produce gas, so I should have thought the fact I was referring to lecky was obvious!

Anonymous said...

"safety and certainty in oil lie in variety, and variety alone" - Churchill

"Invade Norway" - Dearieme.