Eesti Energia Doubles Lobbying Expenses
With election year in the US, Eesti Energia - or Enefit, as it is known abroad - has boosted its lobbying efforts.
Alongside such competitors as Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Genie Energy and Total SA, the Estonian state-owned power company is hunting for access to some of the world's largest oil shale resources, in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
A US Senate report shows that, in the final quarter of last year, Eesti Energia paid US lobbyists 22,600 euros - twice as much as in the preceding quarter, reported Äripäev.
Last year, Eesti Energia acquired Oil Shale Exploration Company for 29 million euros, giving it access to the biggest - an estimated 3.1 billion tons - and most complex private oil shale reserves in the state of Utah. The company has said its potential investment in US oil shale resources could be up to 3.7 billion euros. But it will take seven to eight years to finish building the oil shale plant, according to Eesti Energia.
Through its other projects, Eesti Energia currently mines 15 to 17 million tons and produces 1.3 million barrels of shale oil annually.