“Despite the global financial crisis and price drop for energy resources, the era of cheap energy, including cheap gas, is coming to an end.”
— Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, a Moscow powwow of the world’s top gas-exporting countries. Putin’s point is that rising production costs globally practically assure high prices in the future — which is exactly what this group, likened by some to an OPEC-style cartel, wanted to hear.