Two interesting stories today involving the Russians and energy.
On the one hand there is news that the Russians have ‘planted’ a flag on the sea bed beneath the North Pole. This is part of their quest to secure oil and gas reserves in competition with the Americans, Canadians, Norwegians and others in the Arctic.
There was a further story which examined how Hatfield Colliery was back from the dead and in no little part thanks to Russian investment. Whilst there undoubtedly is a place for clean coal technology linked to carbon storage under the North Sea, the fact that Russians see the largely moribund UK coal sector as one worth investing in is very illuminating.
These two stories seem to suggest that the Russians aim to be even bigger players in terms of energy supply in the years to come, whether it be oil, gas or coal, at the North Pole or in South Yorkshire.
