Free Republic

MOSCOW, Russia (UPI) -- The energy watchdog founded by industrial nations after Arab nations launched an oil embargo is sounding alarms over Russia`s plans for Europe`s gas supply. One of the world`s largest natural gas producers, Russia is building a pipeline under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany in a venture that Poland and its Baltic state neighbors see as a prelude to commodity-based blackmail. The Kremlin has responded to such concerns by hiring former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who helped negotiate the project, as chairman of the so-called North European Gas Pipeline. But this week, the International Energy Agency...

MOSCOW, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian energy giant Gazprom said Thursday it would step up cooperation with Gaz de France on potentially supplying natural gas to France and neighboring countries through the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP). The agreement to build the 4.7 billion euro 1200-km NEGP was signed September 8 by Russian energy giant Gazprom and Germany's BASF AG and E.ON AG. The first leg of the pipeline, connecting the Baltic seashore near the Russian city of Vyborg with Germany's Greifswald region, is set to come on-stream in 2010. Offshoots may then be built to link it with...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An antitrust lawsuit filed Monday against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, says the two companies acted together to eliminate competition for the exploration, development and marketing of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to U.S. markets. "The only reason for them to collusively not to sell is to try to continue the scarcity that has driven natural gas prices to historic highs," said David Boies, the...

On Wednesday December 14 an event occurred which does not leave much space for doubts that the “gas blackmail” exercised by Russia has got nothing to do with the gas itself. The “Gasprom” stand with regard to the price of gas had undergone a miraculous change. The price that the Russian monopolist is demanding for its product has gone up from $160 per 1000 cubic meters to $230. This means that a fair price is absolutely out of the question if to consider the Russian motivation in this matter. Simply because prices for such a commodity never undergo rapid changes,...

WASHINGTON - House lawmakers opened the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one of their last acts of an all-night session Monday bringing their legislative year to a close. The House also narrowly passed a plan to cut deficits by almost $40 billion over five years in legislation hailed by GOP conservatives as a sign their party was returning to fiscal discipline and assailed by Democrats as victimizing medical and education programs that help the poor. The ANWR provision was attached to a major defense bill, forcing many opponents of oil and gas exploration in...

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan is due to open the valves Thursday on a major pipeline carrying oil to fuel-hungry China, establishing the energy-rich former Soviet republic's first oil export route that bypasses Russia. For the vast Central Asian nation, which is expected to become one of the world's largest oil exporters, the 625-mile pipeline opens a huge market. It is designed to carry 140 million barrels of oil annually to China. For China, the new route is a key achievement in aggressive efforts to secure foreign energy supplies for its booming economy. The pipeline is a 50-50 joint venture between state...

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder landed a job Friday as board chairman for a Russian-German gas pipeline that he championed while in office, a post that deepens his already close relationship with the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin. At a groundbreaking ceremony about 250 miles north of Moscow, Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant that holds a majority stake in the pipeline partnership, said the Schroeder-led board would be involved in "reaching all strategic decisions on all areas of the company's activity." In September, Schroeder and Putin signed an agreement on behalf of their...

Schroeder faces criticism over planned role at Russian gas consortium 23:26 2005-12-09 Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder faced criticism Friday over plans to take on a leading position at a consortium building a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. As chancellor, Schroeder enjoyed a close personal and professional relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But now critics question the ethics of him standing to gain personally from a major financial deal that he supported in his role as chancellor. "It stinks," said Reinhard Buetikofer, co-chairman of Germany's Greens, which had been the junior party in a coalition with Schroeder's Social...

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A pipeline supplying Venezuela's Amuay-Cardon refinery was damaged by an explosion and fire that government officials on Sunday blamed on sabotage, but exports were not affected. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said both damaged lines of the oil route carrying a total of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to Amuay-Cardon -- Venezuela's largest petroleum product-exporting plant -- should resume operations over the next five days. "Our exports are not being affected," Ramirez told reporters, adding that an oil tanker with 400,000 barrels was in the port and other tankers could be used as well in...

hina’s hunger for energy sources promises certain benefits for developing Kazakhstan’s oil and gas infrastructure, and Russia and China see Kazakhstan as an important transit route for increasing oil and gas supplies. Mesmerized by the huge hydrocarbon export opportunities offered by China’s rapidly developing Xinjiang province, last year Kazakhstan began building the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline to connect western China with oilfields in Aktobe region, western Kazakhstan. The daunting adventure, hailed as the project of the century in Astana, is now nearly complete. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and the head of the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC), Cheng Gen, exchanged congratulations...

Ukraine set to build oil pipeline section to Poland 14:27 | 22/ 11/ 2005 KIEV, November 22 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is ready to start construction on a stretch of oil pipeline to Poland in 2006, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Tuesday. He said Ukraine had held all the necessary political consultations and created the needed joint structures with Kazakhstan and Poland to start extending the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to the Polish city of Gdansk in 2006. Yushchenko also said Ukraine was concluding talks on the construction of an oil refinery in the western Ukrainian town of Brody with high...

SAMSUN (Turkey), November 17 (RIA Novosti) - The construction of the North European Gas Pipeline, which will stretch 1,200 kilometers from Russia to Germany and will cost at least 4 billion euros, will begin this year, the Russian industry and energy minister said Thursday. "We will witness the beginning of serious construction work in the near future that will drive toward a common factor - to increase the energy security of the European market," Viktor Khristenko said. The minister also said the $3.4-billion 757-mile Blue Stream pipeline, with a maximum capacity of 16 billion cu m, would not have only...

The economic impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be measured in a multitude of ways, but there's one that should be of note to Alaskans and others amid the discussion about building a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. It is the measure of the quantity and value of natural gas imports to the United States from Canada. Two separate reports released last week, one by the U.S. government and the other by the Canadian government, show the winner and loser in the post-hurricane natural gas market. Canada reported that its overall trade surplus grew to $7 billion...

The United States, in a renewed demand, has asked Pakistan to abandon the proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan. However, Islamabad has declined to oblige, saying a decision to this effect could be made after a thorough study of all political and economic aspects of the vital project, reported The Nation in its Tuesday issue. Quoting a senior official, the newspaper said that the government could not take a decision on the issue off the cuff as it required time to completely study the pros and cons of the project first. Pakistan's Foreign Office, whose comments were...

Russia, Poland at loggerheads over Gazprom move In Short: Poland sees its energy security seriously threatened by a recent request by Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom to re-negotiate its long-term gas delivery contract with Warsaw. Brief News: Russia's Gazprom has expressed its intention to revise its gas supply contract with Warsaw. The contract expires in 2022. According to Gazprom, it is normal business procedure to regularly revise pricing conditions of gas supplies. However, Poland, which receives 42% of its gas from Gazprom, sees no reason to re-negotiate the terms of the 1996 supply agreement. Gazprom's move follows protests by Warsaw...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Alaskan officials agreed to key terms of a contract with one of three oil companies negotiating to build a 2,100-mile (3370-kilometer) natural gas pipeline from Alaska through Canada and into the Midwest U.S. ConocoPhillips agreed to provide Alaska with a fair share of the revenues, access to the gas and job preferences for Alaskans on the pipeline, among other demands, said Gov. Frank Murkowski. "We're now one step closer to making an Alaska natural gas pipeline a reality,'' said Jim Bowles, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. "The journey has just started.'' Terms of the agreement with ConocoPhillips won't...

Last of two parts In 1967, I took on the Alaska Federation of Natives full time. The organization had only $9 in its bank account. I had a young family. I got behind three months on both house and car payments. One week we subsisted on one pot of beans. Those who formed AFN took time off from work and paid their own way: travel, hotel rooms and meals. None of them were ever really recognized for the price they paid. Harvey Samuelson once told me he had spent $20,000 to $30,000 (a lot more money in value at that...

Major fires hit oil, gas pipelines in southwest Iran TEHRAN (AFP) - Two major fires in oil and gas pipelines in Iran's southwestern province of Khuzestan have left one guard dead and disrupted the supply process, state television said. The first fire broke out during welding on a crude oil pipeline and was immediately extinguished, the Iranian police information centre said. The cause of the second inferno was not yet clear. State television said firefighters had been battling the second blaze for more than 13 hours. That fire, which broke out shortly before midnight Friday, was sparked by an explosion...

Gov. Frank Murkowski on Thursday delivered a contract to Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco Phillips for state terms on a natural gas pipeline, along with a refrain for the big-three oil producers: Take this deal, and take it fast. Murkowski declined to reveal the contract's key contents and wouldn't say whether he'll call the Legislature into special session before the end of the year to ratify it. But he said he's hopeful the producers will accept the contract offer within a few days, after which state lawmakers and the public would have a chance to see and comment on it....

Moscow denies its Baltic gas pipeline will bypass Poland 2005-10-06, 09:57 Russian authorities informed that the new pipeline to be built on the bottom of the Baltic sea would have links to a number of European countries including Poland. The Russian ambassador to the European Union said that the new pipeline should connect not divide. Financial analysts, however, stress the fact that regardless of the political importance of the project, its financial side is one big mystery – there is no source of financing and it is unclear if Russians can provide sufficient amounts of gas to make the whole...