Free Republic

A 935-mile pipeline to the northern port of Murmansk will enable Russia to sell to the USA 10% of its oil imports by the year 2007, increasing Russia’s dimension as a swing producer of oil and putting it into the super league of producers, along with the OPEC countries. While it is true that there are some months in which Russia already produces more oil than Saudi Arabia, the pipeline and the subsequent increase in sales it will guarantee will bolster production on a sustained and sustainable basis. As Russia seeks to maximise revenue from its vast mineral resources, at...

Parts of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline's support system were shaken loose and tossed to the ground about 150 miles south of Fairbanks as a result in Sunday's 7.9 magnitude earthquake. No crude leaks were reported and the pipe itself appears undamaged at first assessment, said Mike Heatwole, a spokesman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. "We have a pretty extensive seismic monitoring system," Heatwole said. "When the earthquake registered, the system started a shutdown. We manually took over and shut it down by 2:12 p.m." Heatwole couldn't say how long the pipeline would be shut down while engineers completed an assessment...

Turkmen gas pact likely this month An agreement to build a massive gas pipeline across Turkmenistan to Pakistan, stalled by two decades of civil war in Afghanistan, is expected to be signed here later this month, a source told. The presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan "plan to sign an accord on the construction of the Turkmen-Afghan-Pakistan pipeline in the Turkmen capital from October 26 to 27," an official in the Turkmen oil and gas ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A meeting of the heads of a committee set up to implement the pipeline plan is to take...

Pakistan hosts trilateral summit to kick off huge gas pipeline project Wed May 29,10:57 AM ET ISLAMABAD,Pakistan - The leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan (news - web sites) arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday to participate in a landmark summit and sign an agreement to build and maintain a 1,460-kilometer (907-mile) gas pipeline. The pipeline would supply natural gas from Turkmenistan's huge Dauletabad-Donmez field, which holds over 100 trillion cubic feet in gas reserves — about half of the country's total natural gas yield — to Afghanistan and Pakistan and, possibly, India. The draft of a memorandum of understanding was finalized...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan signed a $2 billion deal Thursday to bring natural gas from Central to South Asia. Starting from the Daulatabad gas field in Turkmenistan, the nearly 1,000-mile pipeline is to pass through Afghanistan before entering Pakistan. The $2 billion project will bring Central Asian natural gas to a Pakistani port for export. The Pakistani towns of Gwadar and Karachi are the nearest warm water ports for Central Asia's vast energy resources. Major oil companies have shown interest in bringing Central Asian gas and oil to the Pakistani ports ever since the collapse of the...

WASHINGTON – Despite opposition from environmentalists and Imperial County officials, federal regulators yesterday reaffirmed their approval of a natural gas pipeline to fuel new power plants in Mexicali. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said "no basis" exists for doing more environmental analysis of the Mexican plants. Opponents of the plants and the Environmental Protection Agency said FERC's initial analysis was flawed. The commission also stood by its original conclusion that the pipeline will contribute to a reduction in air pollution in the Mexicali area by providing a source of clean-burning natural gas for residents and industries. "The Commission has...

ANKARA, Turkey -- A sponsor group led by BP has agreed on a plan to finance a pipeline project to carry 1 million barrels per day of Caspian crude oil to Turkey's southern coast, a Turkish energy ministry official said Tuesday. The pipeline will stretch 1,730 kilometers from the Azeri capital Baku to the Mediterranean Turkish port of Ceyhan through Georgia's capital Tbilisi and has a price tag of about $2.9 billion. "Between 20 percent and 30 percent of the cost will be financed by the sponsor group companies in cash," said a senior energy ministry official, who declined to...

<p>Nearly three months after Enron went bankrupt, President Bush has responded with a call for greater corporate accountability.</p> <p>"A good business always respects the boundaries of right and wrong," he said last week.</p> <p>That would be "good," I suppose, compared with "evil" businesses that trespass willy-nilly upon ethical boundaries.</p>