As the production from Saudi Arabia continues to lag, even if transiently, Russian production and exports become more critical to world supply. And so we exchange the problems of getting oil from the sandy wastes of the Empty Quarter, with those of production from the icy wastes of Siberia. There are a couple of small issues, that I thought could be discussed, relative to this.

The first of these relates to gas supplies from that part of the world. It was interesting to note, in light of a number of comments made on this site about Gazprom’s acquisition of Western European pipeline company shares, that they now appear to be similarly interested in those of Portugal, as their strategy to control gas flows throughout Europe continues to succeed. The benefits, to them, of this policy are clear, for example in the negotiations over Kovykta, a field with 2 tcf of natural gas and over half a billion barrels of condensate. The plans were to sell some 2 bcf, largely locally, and then to expand deliveries through pipeline networks.

Unfortunately BP has noted:

TNK-BP cannot sell gas from its vast east Siberian Kovykta field or its smaller Rospan unit in western Siberia without Gazprom because of the Russian gas giant's monopoly control over Russia's pipeline network.

And here it has a problem, since the local market is not large enough to absorb the gas that the field can produce...