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Senate Democrats are working on plans to hold a vote authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline -- approval that Democrats believe might bolster the chances of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who faces a tough runoff election next month. It was not immediately clear Tuesday night whether Republicans would consent to proceeding with such a vote during the lame-duck session that begins on Wednesday -- especially given the high stakes surrounding Landrieu's reelection race. Such a move would also draw howls from the environmental movement who had hoped that President Obama would resolve a years-long dispute over a long-awaited energy...

BEIJING – The leaders of China and Russia have signed agreements to boost their energy cooperation, including an understanding to develop a second major route to supply the Chinese side with Russian natural gas following an initial $400 billion deal in May.

Vali Reza Nasr, a senior Obama administration advisor on Iran, has come to Iran. Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani and former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel may be behind the visit. "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was informed well after Nasr entered the country," Tabnak reported on Wednesday. Nasr was appointed senior advisor to Richard Holbrooke -- the special US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tabnak and Fararu claim the unannounced trip by the US official to be linked to the recent release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi.

Canada's Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Thursday the government remains committed to the Keystone XL pipeline project and that he believes "at the end of the day" it will gain approval. TransCanada Corp's $8 billion Keystone XL project would carry Alberta oil sands crude to the U.S. Gulf coast. The project has been awaiting presidential approval for more than six years, but this week's U.S. mid-term elections revived the issue after Republicans took control of Congress. U.S. Senate Republicans will push ahead early next year with a bill to approve the long-stalled pipeline. "We remain committed to the project,"...

Our Political Bureau NEW DELHI MANY functionaries of the United States State Department, who handled South Asia under the Clinton Administration, may have to face embarrassment when the Bush regime gets down to locating the factors that made it easier for terrorists to carry out the September 11 carnage. These functionaries, it is reliably learnt, ignored the warnings about the activities and intentions of the terrorist groups operating out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of such reports had come from Michael Sheehan, the head of counter-terrorism wing of the State Department. Sheehan’s report also listed the measures that the ...

On the Thursday after Democrats’ drubbing at the polls, White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest appeared on CNN where he doubled down on Barack Obama’s insistence that the areas where there was likely to be grounds for compromise were initiatives of key importance to the American left. In his speech yesterday, Barack Obama inexplicably cited “roads and bridges,” universal pre-kindergarten funding, and increasing the minimum wage as places where ascendant Republicans should compromise their principles. Each of these proposals are also, coincidentally, bullet points on the progressive wish lists he calls State of the Union Addresses. Somehow, Obama was unable...

TransCanada Corporation has announced that it is moving forward with its Vaughan pipeline project and associated facilities as part of CAN$ 475 million in pipeline and facility expansions within the Eastern Triangle portion of the Canadian Mainline system. This is the next step of development for natural gas infrastructure in southern Ontario and is the result of collaboration between TransCanada, Enbridge Gas Distribution, Gaz Metro and Union Gas. Construction of TransCanada's Kings North Connection, Parkway West Connection and Hamilton Area Project are expected to cost about CAN$ 255 million and be in-service in November 2015. The Vaughan pipeline and associated...

President Barack Obama should demonstrate his commitment to working with Republicans in control of Congress by permitting the Keystone XL pipeline, Sen. John Hoeven said Wednesday. Hoeven and other Senate Republicans are making plans to advance a bill authorizing the controversial project early next year, as one of their first legislative moves after taking control of the chamber. While some Senate races are not yet decided, Hoeven, R-N.D., said he already counts at least 60 votes in favor of his legislation to approve the pipeline using Congress’ authority under the Foreign Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Although that’s enough votes...

It would appear the first big test for President Obama's 'veto' pen will be no lesser issue than the Keystone Pipeline. Reuters reports that Republicans will quickly introduce stand-alone legislation in the first quarter of 2015 that would approve the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from Canada, Republican Senator John Hoeven said in an interview. "It's really a good chance to see if the president's willing to work with us," Hoeven said, suggesting they would pressure Obama to act one way or another by attaching the bill to some must-pass legislation leaving Obama's only option but to fold or shut...

When Don Sage of Concord, N.H., learned his electric bill could rise by as much as $40 a month he got flustered. He and his wife make do on a bit less than $30,000 a year in Social Security payments, and they pay close attention to their electric bills. "When the invoice comes in the mail to get paid, I have a target amount that we can fluctuate up or down, based on our fixed budget," Sage says. "They don't need my permission to hike up their rates, but the fact is we're the ones that are paying these increases."...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicted Tuesday that the GOP regaining control of the Senate would mean a signature from President Barack Obama on a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Getting approval for TransCanada’s pipeline, which has been waiting six years to break ground on the project, would be among the top priorities for a Republican-controlled Senate, Priebus told MSNBC’s Daily Rundown. “We will pass a budget in both chambers, number one, and we will pass the Keystone pipeline, number two,” Priebus said. “And I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline...

If Republicans take control of the Senate and hold the House in Tuesday’s midterm election, they’ll get busy passing bills, says Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). First up—“very popular” legislation to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline, Portman told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren on Monday evening. He called it “probably the biggest infrastructure project in America next year,” one that would create “20,000 to 40,000 new jobs.” “Jobs, lower gas prices, energy independence—what’s wrong with that?” he asked. “Let’s just do it.” Portman said Republican attempts to “do anything significant on Obamacare” probably would meet with a presidential veto, “but there...

Marathon Petroleum says it's assessing options for the future of the largest mainland US oil conduit- the 1.2 M/bd Capline pipeline. In recent years, the pipeline, which runs from St. James, Louisiana (the delivery hub for Light Louisiana Sweet crude) to Patoka, Illinois, has seen sharp declines in shipping volumes as midwestern refiners access the growing supply of Bakken and Canadian crude to replace expensive imports via Capline. Crude flows through the US have effectively reversed as less expensive US (primarily Bakken) and Canadian production pushes out imports delivered to the US Gulf coast. Several reversals and newly-built pipelines now...

Seems Canada is tired of waiting – and waiting – for a decision on the Keystone pipeline and has come up with an alternate plan for moving the oil to market. As Bloomberg reports: It would be Keystone on steroids, more than twice as long and carrying a third more crude. Its end point, a refinery in the blue-collar city of Saint John, New Brunswick, operated by a reclusive Canadian billionaire family, would give Canada’s oil-sands crude supertanker access to the same Louisiana and Texas refineries Keystone was meant to supply. And: … if you’re a fed-up Canadian, like Prime...

The federal government recently began its seventh year of considering whether to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Nearly all that time has passed under the administration of President Obama, who seems content never to decide the pipeline's fate. That way, it wouldn't be built, which would please the president's supporters on the liberal environmental fringe, but would never be explicitly rejected, which could offend everybody else. It's striking to see an administration stonewalling an issue with so much popular support on the other side. A Washington Post-ABC News poll in March found that 65 percent favor building the...

CIUDAD MIER, Mexico (AP) — Mexico adjusted 75 years of crony-corruption to reform its state-owned oil industry. As it prepares to develop rich Gulf Coast shale fields just south of Brownsville, and attract foreign investors. Brutal "drug" cartels rule Tamaulipas and are stealing billions of dollars' worth of oil from pipelines. Figures released by Petroleos Mexicanos last week show the gangs are have drilled 2,481 taps into the pipelines. Pemex estimates it's lost some 7.5 million barrels worth $1.15 billion. Pemex director Emilio Lozoya (a friend of Eric), called the trend "worrisome."

The proposed 1,200-mile Keystone XL pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska may be the second most famous crude oil pipeline in American history after the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline. One has yet to be built while the other has been operating since 1977, but the two pipelines share a common history marked by environmental controversy in its approval process. The TAPS line, as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline became known as, was proposed in 1969 to move the recently discovered Alaskan North Slope oil to the Lower 48 market via tanker from the Port of Valdez. The Prudhoe Bay oil...

The European Union is quietly increasing the urgency of a plan to import natural gas from Iran, as relations with Tehran thaw while those with top gas supplier Russia grow chillier. Two “ifs” - the removal of sanctions on Iran and the addition of some pipeline infrastructure - are not preventing EU planners preparing, a European Commission source involved in developing EU energy strategy told Reuters. “Iran is far towards the top of our priorities for mid-term measures that will help reduce our reliance on Russian gas supplies,” the source said. “Iran’s gas could come to Europe quite easily and...

The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills. [] reports the railroads filed with the federal government show that for the week that ended Aug. 22, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway — North Dakota’s largest railroad, owned by the billionaire Warren E. Buffett — had a backlog of 1,336 rail cars waiting to ship grain and other products....

Increasing production of crude oil in the Permian Basin in western Texas, and parts of New Mexico, has outpaced pipeline infrastructure to move the crude to refineries, causing prices for crude in the Permian Basin (at Midland, Texas) to fall below similar crudes priced at Cushing, Oklahoma. While the price difference between Midland and Cushing has been increasing for almost a year, recent refinery outages in the region caused it to widen substantially. Several infrastructure projects that will allow more crude to flow from the Permian to the U.S. Gulf Coast are expected to come online soon, which should cause...