The Oil Drum

In advance of the European Union – Latin America and Caribbean summit, the Portuguese prime minister, José Sócrates, visited Venezuela. During two days, more than twenty economic agreements were celebrated between the two countries, where energy had a major role.

Among the entourage where representatives of some of the largest companies operating in Portugal, with the objective of firming protocols in the vein of “oil for goods”, towards which the Venezuelan executive has been showing great openness.

Well the traveling tourist (not really, it was real-job related) is back in town to change suitcases and be off for a couple more days, but I will be back to more regular posting after Wednesday. However, without having had the chance to read any of the posts over the past two weeks, (though I will) I did catch a comment in Platts this morning that echoes a theme that I have been posting on intermittently. This is the anticipated supply of LNG from the Shtokman field to the U.S. The current report notes that President Putin is considering redirecting the gas from the US to its more traditional market in Western Europe.

"I can inform you that Gazprom is examining this possibility and could make a decision on this issue very soon," Putin said Saturday at a press conference following a summit with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.