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Nigeria: The main armed group claims to have destroyed a Shell pipeline LAGOS - The main armed group in southern Nigeria, Mend said they had destroyed Thursday evening a "significant pipeline" and belonging to Anglo-Dutch company Shell. At 17:30 GMT, "fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have destroyed with powerful explosives, a major oil pipeline belonging to Shell Development Company," in Rivers State in southern Nigeria's oil, said a press release the group.

The European Union has offered to help Nigeria develop plans for a trans-Saharan pipeline to take gas from Nigeria to Europe. The offer was made during a visit by the EU's energy commissioner to the Nigerian capital. The move is part of plans to reduce EU reliance on Russian energy supplies. It comes after Russia's Gazprom expressed interest in the pipeline and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian government. The memorandum covers co-operation in the exploration, development and transportation of gas reserves. Europe is increasingly worried about its dependence on Russian gas, especially after Russia's action in Georgia...

The statement by Yuriy Buligin, a representative of the Russian chamber of commerce, that the ratification of the natural gas and oil agreement by the Serbian Assembly does not also mean that the construction of South Stream will begin has once more raised the question of what the actual future is of that alternative gas pipeline, which is supposed to be an energy link between Russia and Europe. Buligin's position is interpreted as an effort to occupy a better starting position on the eve of the resumption of Serbia's negotiations with Gazprom concerning the construction of South Stream and the...

A group of suspected smugglers are to go on trial for pumping thousands of litres of cheap Russian vodka into the European Union through an underwater pipeline. The accused built a 2-kilometre pipeline through a reservoir that marks the Russian-Estonian border, and managed to pump 6,200 litres of spirits across before getting caught.

WASHINGTON - On her only visit to Canada, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska traveled to Whitehorse, the capital of neighboring Yukon territory, where she advocated for a proposed oil pipeline and discussed mutual border concerns, according to public reports. On the day trip in June 2007, Palin met with Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie to discuss the possible benefits to Canada from a new pipeline that will tap Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil reserves, and both pledged to lobby to ensure that new American passport regulations would not hamper trade and tourism between Alaska and the adjacent Yukon.

The European Union, increasingly anxious to reduce its dependence on Russian gas following the conflict in Georgia, has offered Nigeria financial and political backing for a €15bn ($21bn, £12bn) trans-Saharan pipeline to pump its gas directly to Europe. Renewed European interest in the project comes against a backdrop of mounting fears that Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, is intent on winning access to Nigeria's vast gas reserves as part of a strategy to tighten its grip on energy supplies to Europe. Gazprom, which has also offered to back the planned 4,300km pipeline, appeared to steal a march on its European...

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) made headlines this week by decrying the export of LNG from Alaska to Japan and complaining about the high price of natural gas. Oh, the hypocrisy. Wyden and other Left Coast liberals such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and my governor, Ted Kulongowski (D-OR), have done everything they can to stonewall LNG terminals proposed for the West Coast, including three proposed terminals right here in Oregon. There are currently no LNG terminals on the U.S. West Coast, the nearest terminal is across the border from San Diego in Baja California. The Baja terminal just opened two...

ANCHORAGE — When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project. Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent. “And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence,” said Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. “That...

Palin’s Pipeline Is Years From Being a Reality By SERGE F. KOVALESKI and MIKE McINTIRE ANCHORAGE — When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project. Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent. “And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline...

PEOPLE ARE still buzzing about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. But while her style has been minutely analyzed, very little commentary has focused on one of the few substantive claims she made about her brief tenure as governor of Alaska: that she "fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history . . . a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence." Is Ms. Palin right about the importance of the pipeline and her role in moving it forward? Ms. Palin is indeed correct about the need...

Surprisingly positive editorial in the Washington Post about how Gov. Palin stood up to Big Oil for the benefit of the people of Alaska. ### PEOPLE ARE still buzzing about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. But while her style has been minutely analyzed, very little commentary has focused on one of the few substantive claims she made about her brief tenure as governor of Alaska: that she "fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history . . . a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence."...

Piecing together the Palin puzzle Statements made during her campaign shed light on Alaska governor-elect’s strategies and plans regarding major oil and gas issuesAlan BaileyPetroleum NewsSarah Palin’s gubernatorial campaign slogan “New Energy for Alaska” promised a fresh look at Alaska’s future and hinted that the energy industry would feature high on her administration’s agenda. But now that the campaign dust has started to settle, it’s worth a look at what the governor-elect said and what it might mean for Alaska’s oil and gas industry.The hoped-for North Slope natural gas pipeline clearly sits at the top of the new administration’s priorities....

To most Americans, Senator John McCain's [R-Ariz.] choice of running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is a new face. To Alaskans, however, she's the woman who got a giant natural gas pipeline project off the ground, in part by telling big oil companies they'd get no sweetheart deals. Despite the national debate about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [ANWR], Alaskans largely favor development of their natural resources, a huge source of revenue for the state. For years, Alaskan officials have been dickering with the state's largest producers, ExxonMobil (XOM), BP (BP), and ConocoPhillips (COP), over construction of a...

It’s official. Gov. Sarah Palin has signed bills passed by the Alaska Legislature in special session in early August starting TransCanada Alaska on its way toward a proposed gas pipeline from the North Slope to market and providing relief for Alaskans from the high cost of energy. The governor signed bills for an energy rebate and related measures Aug. 25. On Aug. 27 at an Alaska AFL-CIO conference in Anchorage she signed the bill approving the issuance of an Alaska Gasline Inducement Act license to TransCanada. TransCanada, although it won’t receive its AGIA license for 90 days, has already started...

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, intensified the Kremlin's pressure on Europe over energy supplies by demanding a fresh completion date for a pipeline project linking its resources to Asia. The announcement on the eve of Monday's Brussels summit on Russia's occupation of Georgia To stave off tough measures, including possible sanctions, Moscow has sent a variety of signals that it will use its energy clout to retaliate against any European reprimand for its refusal to implement a ceasefire with Georgia. Russia's Asian pipeline is a technically challenging effort to link the oilfields of Eastern Siberia to Russia's Pacific coast...

Palin, for example, represents the frontier. Alaska and its energy development are at the forefront of American interests. As oil prices soar to record levels, the state's oil and gas could free the U.S. from the tyranny of hostile foreign oil suppliers — including Russia, Iran and Venezuela — that are using high prices to amass power and create trouble abroad. Palin has been a strong voice for liberating her state's energy for the benefit of the nation. Her recent legislative victory establishing a 7,200-mile natural gas pipeline across North America — after 30 years of failure — is a...

Presidential candidate Barack Obama is touting the Alaska natural gas pipeline. Obama included the project in the energy plan he announced this week, calling for working "with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process." That brought the Democrat kudos from Gov. Sarah Palin, who some pundits are pushing as a possible vice presidential running mate for Republican John McCain...

On Aug. 1, the same day the call for a vote on drilling began on the House floor, the Alaska state Senate approved a package of measures to license a new natural gas pipeline. ... The legislature had been trying for 30 years to authorize something like this and, up until now, had blown it. Palin got it through...

Saturday, August 30, 2008 Joe Biden and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's choice for vice president, has been a senator since 1972. He is one of only five senators who were present in 1973 when Congress passed legislation authorizing construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline system (TAPS). Biden, then 30, was the youngest member of the Senate and not a leader in the lengthy debate over the pipeline. But his voting record is striking - at least to an Alaskan interested in history. Biden was a reliable "no" on TAPS. In July,...