Gazprom’s Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District of Russia

With energy prices continuing to hit record highs, Gazprom is more influential than ever, both at home and abroad. Gazprom says that before 2014 it will surpass Exxon Mobil as the world’s largest publicly traded company — a goal that Mr. Medvedev himself endorsed before he became president.

[...]

Rich as it is, Gazprom faces big challenges in the Medvedev era.

Rising prices for steel, equipment and labor have caught the company at the outset of its largest capital program in two decades. Like other Russian companies, it invested little money maintaining or upgrading equipment in the 1990s. But the days of coasting on Soviet-era infrastructure are over, as output declines from fields first tapped in the 1970s.

To meet export commitments in Europe, as well as growing demand at home, Gazprom will have to spend at least $75 billion to bring its two largest fields in the Arctic into production within the next decade, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Yet exploring and extracting gas in a region where temperatures dip to 50 degrees below zero is technologically challenging, as well as expensive. Gazprom must build pipelines, gas processing plants, liquefied natural gas factories and a full panoply of supporting infrastructure like roads, railroads and ports. And to accomplish those feats, it moves thousands of tons of steel and heavy equipment to the middle of a vast, frozen swamp.

“The complexity and the size of it is what creates a huge challenge for Russia and for Gazprom,” said Vitaly V. Yermakov, director of research for the Russian and Caspian region at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union: Deserted Cities, Buildings, Bases and More and 7 (More) Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union: From Mining Towns to Oil Rig Cities.
I’d really like to visit Neft Daşları (Oil Rocks), located in the Caspian Sea about 45km offshore of Baku, but apparently getting permission from SOCAR is next to impossible.

Pretty cool, huh? Actually, this massive display of firepower was rolling through Red Square to celebrate Victory Day (День Победы), which commemorates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. This was the first time in 18 years that the Russians paraded their nuclear missile launchers across Red Square:

The United States expressed no alarm over the parade. Russia has become a leading global arms exporter again, but its wares are almost all items designed decades ago. A Pentagon spokesman, echoing a view common among military analysts, had characterized the planned military review as a hollow show of dated gear bearing fresh coats of paint.

“If they wish to take out their old equipment and take it for a spin and check it out,” said the spokesman, Geoff Morrell, “they’re more than welcome to do so.”

Oh, snap.

A few reasons why:
- Pineapple upside down cake
- Strongbow
- Russki Standart vodka
- Cookies with bacon in them (yes, bacon)
- oil rigs
Thanks, dudes.

Not much fun, are you, Boris? But I will admit that he has an awesome first name. And how can you not love the guy’s hairstyle?

Last Call on the London Tube:

London’s new mayor, Boris Johnson, left, said that he was banning alcohol on the city’s public transportation system, effective next month, in an effort to “end the problem of drunken and intimidating behavior on the Tube.” Some subway workers said they welcomed the move as a way to change the unpleasant late-night atmosphere in the subways. But Bob Crow, general secretary of the union representing transportation employees, said the plan had been put into place too hastily and would be difficult to enforce. “Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done,” he told Agence France-Presse.

When I first moved to the UK, I was pretty shocked to see people eating fast food and downing cans of beer on the Tube. It was a big change from the DC metro system, where they arrest 12 year olds for eating french fries in the stations.

We had Chinese food for lunch today. Of course, you can’t have Chinese food without fortune cookies. So I open mine up, and my fortune is “The job is well done.”

Whatever. So a few hours later I grab another cookie from the pile of leftovers, and my fortune is exactly the same as my previous one. WTF? Maybe this is a sign I should play the lotto numbers on the back.

The Facebook application speaks, via e-mail:

Your friends have voted on your strengths and weaknesses:

STRENGTHS:
person with the best smile
person with the best sense of humor
most powerful

WEAKNESSES:
nicest
merriest

My parents will be thrilled to know that those high orthodontist bills were worth it. I am not sure where this “most powerful” characteristic comes from, however, as I am just a typical worker in our nation’s capital. Still, I am vowing to make more of an effort to be merry, or whatever.

Not at all surprising:

A pipeline that Russia and Germany want to build under the Baltic Sea is facing so much opposition and scrutiny that the pipeline company, Nord Stream, has yet to obtain a single construction permit from any of the countries surrounding the sea, according to government officials.

[...]

Since the announcement of the pipeline deal nearly three years ago, Nord Stream has been beset by problems. It has been forced to alter the routes because of a boundary dispute between Denmark and Poland. It has been refused access to Estonia’s territorial waters. And last month, Nord Stream abandoned the idea of building platforms to support the pipes after objections, based on environmental considerations, by Sweden.

The costs have also increased, from around 4.5 billion euros, or $7 billion, to about 7.4 billion euros, according to the company.

The financing can only be finalized once the company has agreed on the final route with the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. They include Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden, which have to issue the permits, and four other countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. As yet, Nord Stream has received no permits to start laying the pipes in the Baltic Sea.

Came across this story on DCist this morning. There was a fire in the dorm that I lived in while I was a sophomore at GWU. It wasn’t until I watched the news report that I realized that the location where the fire started was my former bedroom. The window A/C unit caught on fire, or something. Honestly, I can’t say I’m very surprised. Schenley Hall SUCKED. I distinctly remember one morning when I ran into a friend and fellow Schenley Hall resident who inquired as to why my roommates and I were not outside for the 3am fire alarm that morning. I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently, all three of us slept straight through a fire alarm. Yeah GDub!

From an AP article reprinted in the Washington Post:

Forces from Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia shot down two unmanned Georgian spy planes over the territory Sunday, an Abkhazian official said.

Georgia denied the assertion and traded accusations with Russia, which is struggling with the West for influence in the country strategically located on the Caspian Sea. The two nations each say the incident indicates the other is preparing for war over the breakaway region.

Dude, where’s Georgia? NOT ON THE CASPIAN.