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On Wednesday, March 23, it was announced that Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko invited the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan to manage Kiev’s gas transit pipelines to Europe. During his first official visit to Ashgabat, which supplies the bulk of Ukraine’s gas needs via Russia, Yushchenko said that Turkmenistan may join Russia and Germany in managing Ukraine’s ageing pipelines and building new ones to boost transit. But the Ukrainian leader did not say how he planned to persuade Russia to open up its pipelines for Turkmenistan to begin supplying gas outside the former Soviet Union. “Europe will have its energy balance...

ISLAMABAD: Britain does not share the objections raised by the US over the Iran-India gas pipeline through Pakistan as it believes that the project would bolster ties between New Delhi and Islamabad. United Kingdom does not share US objections over the gas pipeline project, Britain’s deputy high commissioner to Pakistan Simon Butt said. “I am not sure that we will have the same kind of objections that (US secretary of state Condoleezza) Rice expressed for understandable reasons,” he was quoted as saying by The News daily. Butt said besides viewing it as a commercial project, Britain also considered it as...

Being a conservative political writer is so blasted easy these days. Subjects to delve into are never lacking as there appears to be nary a single issue that Democrats and Republicans can agree upon. Like failed marriages, donkeys and pachyderms seem to have irreconcilable differences on virtually everything. Here are a ‘few fresh pickings from the political grapevine‘….taxes, tort reform, health care, homeland security, right to life issues, social security reform, war on terror, foreign policy, the deficit, judicial nominations, immigration, and, oh yes, the energy policy. That’s my pick of the day. Energy. I got energized when Congress rejected...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES NEW DELHI -- The United States is raising objections to a proposed $4 billion gas pipeline running from Iran through Pakistan to energy-hungry India, an issue likely to arise during a visit this week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. India sees the so-called "peace pipeline" project as a boost in its rising competition with China for energy resources and as a way of fostering economic cooperation with its historic rival Pakistan. But the United States, at odds with Iran over its nuclear program, has warned India that if it proceeds it could run afoul of the...

EU to assist Ukraine in Odessa-Brody-Plock pipeline completion Astana-Kiev. March 14. KAZINFORM. Draft proposal on feasibility study of Odessa-Brody pipeline completion to the Polish city of Plock was approved in Kiev at the tripartite meeting of Ukrainian-Polish-European work group, Kazinform refers to Ukrinform. To date there all premises for Ukraine to start an active realization of the pipeline completion project up to Plotsk, said counsellor of the Ukrainian secretary of state Alexander Todiichuk, who until recently had headed Ukrtransneft JSC. Signed programme Ukraine-EU led the EU to render technical aid to Ukraine, in particular, conduces to this. At the session...

On pipeline, India gets a gentle US reminder: Iran is big worry area US Ambassador Mulford tells Aiyar that Tehran’s N-programme causing deep concern in the Bush admn, no idea how events there are going to unfold NEW DELHI, MARCH 9: Ahead of Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s visit to Islamabad for trilateral talks on the proposed Iran-India gas pipeline, Washington has officially conveyed to New Delhi that the Bush administration continues to have serious concerns on Tehran and can’t foresee how events there will shape up. The veiled message—from US Ambassador David Mulford to Aiyar—is the first communication from...

Poland is interested in KazMunaiGas’s participation in Odessa-Brody-Plotsk pipeline Astana. March 5. KAZINFORM. Issues of bilateral relations in oil and gas sphere had discussed Uzakbai Karabalin, president of the National Company KazMunaiGas JSC and Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Poland to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Vladyslov Sokolovski at the meeting held March 2 in Astana. Ambassador emphasized the commodity turnover growth trend between Kazakhstan and Poland that reached last year 350 million USD. The Polish party expressed its interest in KazMunaiGas’s participation in the Odessa-Brody-Plotsk pipeline project and also confirmed intent of the Polish companies reconstructing the port Atyrau to keep...

Alaska's environmental organizations, for the most part, say they support building a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. One statewide coalition is even eager for construction to begin. "We are very anxious to see the natural gas pipeline built," said Tom Atkinson, executive director of the Alaska Conservation Alliance, a coalition of about 35 conservation organizations and 10 businesses across Alaska. ACA members include Trustees for Alaska, Denali Citizens Council and Tongass Conservation Society. "It's long overdue. It's a citizen resource that the citizens are not receiving the benefit of it yet," he said. "Nothing is ever black and...

The Yukon’s premier has made it clear he wants the Northwest Territories’ pipeline finished before construction on the Alaska Highway line ever starts. While on CBC Newsworld’s TV show Politics last Friday, Fentie told host Don Newman the Yukon wants the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, which travels through the N.W.T., to be completed first. Fentie has said he supports the construction of both lines. This, however, is believed to be the first time he has ever said he wants the Mackenzie line completed before work begins on building the Alaska Highway pipeline, which would travel through the Yukon. “It’s so frustrating...

WASHINGTON--Gov. Frank Murkowski had one "hardball" question for the U.S. oil industry's leading public representative on Monday afternoon in Washington, D.C. Last week, a New York Times headline reported that "Big Oil turns cool toward drilling in arctic refuge," and the story below it quoted two company spokesmen explaining why they weren't entering the debate over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "I think I'll throw you a hardball," said Murkowski, addressing Red Caveney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, who had just finished a presentation to the National Governors Association's Natural Resources Committee. Caveney said in his presentation...

TEHRAN, Feb 25 Asia Pulse - The Iranian-Ukrainian talks in the Iranian capital focused on the issue of Iranian gas transit via Ukraine to Europe. Iranian Ambassador to Ukraine Bahman Taherian Mobarake and Ukrainian Fuel Minister Ivan Plachkov exchanged views on the prospects for bilateral cooperation in the energy sphere. According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, Plachkov expressed Ukraine`s readiness to import Iranian natural gas and take part in the implementation of oil and gas recovery projects in Iran. The Iranian diplomat for his part came out in favor of calling a regular meeting of the joint energy committee...

TBILISI (AFP) - A top US official warned that privatisation of Georgia's main gas pipeline, which can thus fall into the Russian gas giant Gazprom's hands, could affect pipeline projects that link the resource-rich Caspian region to the West through Georgia. The United States had worked for Georgia's energy independence for years and "categorically oppose any action that would impair this process," Stephen Mann, US presidential advisor on the Caspian region, told the 24 Saati newspaper. In case the main pipeline was sold to Gazprom, "it would hinder the realisation of the Shah-Deniz project" that would link Azerbaijan's massive Shah-Deniz...

JUNEAU -- U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens on Thursday told Alaska lawmakers that barriers to building a North Slope gas pipeline should be removed so the state isn't crowded out of the market by a flood of imported liquefied natural gas. The key is to smooth the permitting process and develop the pipeline -- which is still only a concept estimated to cost $20 billion -- so that it's not hampered by lawsuits, said Stevens, R-Alaska. "This project will create up to 400,000 new jobs, and it must be started now -- this year," Stevens said.

21 February 2005 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said today an envisaged pipeline project to bring Iranian gas to India via Pakistan will encourage regional peace and trade. Kharrazi held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh in New Delhi as part of a two-day visit to boost trade and discuss the pipeline project. He will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later today and give a speech to the Indian Council for World Affairs tomorrow. Kharrazi said that the Indian government's recent approval of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline has created an "encouraging atmosphere for pushing ahead" with the project....

By Paula Dittrick Senior Staff Writer HOUSTON, Feb. 17 -- The availability of natural gas supplies to meet future demand hinges upon infrastructure development, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Pat Wood III told Cambridge Energy Research Associates' annual conference Feb. 16. Wood listed four areas of vital infrastructure in the following order: --Construction of a gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to the Lower 48 states. --Permitting and construction of additional LNG receiving terminals. --Rocky Mountain pipeline expansions and the creation of new capacity to meet demand. --Construction of additional gas storage. The Alaska gas pipeline, estimated to cost...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CALGARY (CP) - In a shift in business strategy, natural gas shipper TransCanada Corp. plans to build a $1.7-billion-US oil pipeline to transport about 400,000 barrels of heavy crude a day from Alberta to Illinois. The 3,000-kilometre Keystone Pipeline, announced by the Calgary company Wednesday, includes a proposal to convert one of TransCanada's existing natural gas pipelines from Alberta to Manitoba to carry oil instead. At a point southwest of Winnipeg, a new connector line would be built, taking the oilsands crude through the American Midwest and into hubs at Wood...

MOSCOW : Russia's pipeline monopoly said it had started to plan the construction of a vital pipeline from Siberian oil fields to the Sea of Japan with another branch leading to China. The announcement sets in motion a monumental project that in the coming decades could see Russia's oil spread over a large swath of Asia and potentially reach customers in the United States. Transneft head Simon Vainshtock told Russian President Vladimir Putin the pipeline's first branch would run from Taishet in Siberia's Irkutsk region to the town of Skovorodino some 1,600 kilometers (960 miles) to the east near China's...

[World News]: Almay (Kazakhstan), Jan 18 : Turkmenistan has said a feasibility study for a trans-Afghan pipeline that will bring natural gas to India has been completed, reports Xinhua. Turkmenistan's Oil and Gas Ministry said construction of the long-delayed project could begin in 2006. The feasibility study, funded by the Asian Development Bank and conducted by the British company Penspen, "serves to speed up" the plan for a trans-Afghan gas pipeline to the Indian city of Fazilka, near the Pakistan-India border. The study envisages a 1,680-metre-long pipeline that could carry 33 billion cubic metres of gas per year, the ministry...

PHOENIX (AP) -- Operators of two pipelines that bring gasoline from California refineries to neighboring Western states have shut down the lines as a safety precaution because of record rainfall in California. Houston-based pipeline operator Kinder Morgan Energy Partners shut the line down Sunday. In a fax sent Monday, the company cited "pipeline washouts and other related difficulties." The pipelines -- including one that supplies Arizona with about 70 percent of its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel -- transports gasoline to Arizona and Nevada as well as military bases and airports. Kinder Morgan said there were no immediate supply issues...

ISLAMABAD: Separatist rebels in Pakistan have blown up a gas pipeline in Balochistan province, bringing to the fore India's reservations on the proposed Iran gas pipeline project to be routed through this country. The blowing up of a gas pipeline by the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) separatists near Sui township Friday underlines India's concern of the possibility of sabotage of the proposed Iran-India pipeline by militant groups in Pakistan. It is one of the reasons cited by New Delhi for its reservations on an overland pipeline through Pakistan. Separatists of the BLF fired rocket and mortar shells in Lundi area,...