Russia’s state-backed gas company increased its sales to Europe by more than a third in the first half of the year, after cutting exports to Ukraine amid ongoing tensions with its nearest neighbour. Gazprom, Europe’s largest supplier of gas, said that it boosted European gas flows by 36pc to 109.4 billion cubic metres. However, the company’s European revenues rose by a smaller amount, climbing 20pc to 1.13trn roubles (£13.2bn) as the low price of oil and gas dragged down turnover. The jump in gas flows to Europe – including Germany, the Netherlands and the UK – more than offset the 22pc fall in the company’s exports to former Soviet Union countries, helping bolster Gazprom’s income above market expectations.
Telegraph 30th Aug 2016 read more »
A major donor to the Conservative party has condemned the government’s “chaotic” energy policy and urged Theresa May to appoint a panel of industry experts to help tackle the UK’s looming electricity supply shortage. Alexander Temerko, a Ukrainian-born businessman who is planning to build a £1.1bn electricity interconnector between the UK and France, said the prime minister was right to have put on hold the planned Hinkley Point nuclear power station. But he urged Mrs May to use her review of the £18bn project as the starting point for a wider reappraisal of government strategy for maintaining plentiful and affordable electricity supplies while phasing out coal-fired power. “The industry needs order because right now we have chaos,” said Mr Temerko, who is a big investor in the UK energy sector as well as being a prominent Tory donor: he and his companies have given more than £1m to the party. Mr Temerko said investor confidence in the UK energy sector had been undermined by erratic and politicised decision-making by a succession of ministers with little industry experience. A panel of “energy ambassadors” should be set up to provide expert advice and support more long-term strategic thinking, he proposed. These would be people with the industrial know-how that was lacking in the civil service, and with the credibility to help to drum up the multibillion-pound investments needed to modernise the UK’s energy infrastructure. “We do not need a 300-page plan; we need something that can be clearly expressed in a two-page document,” he said. “In the time we have been talking about Hinkley, France has built four reactors.”
FT 30th Aug 2016 read more »