Free Republic

With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe. While the Russian-German pipeline offers clear energy benefits to Western Europe, Central and Eastern European leaders fear it could lead to a new era of gas-leveraged Russian domination of the former Soviet bloc. With its gas wealth and eyebrow-raising network of personal ties, Russia has divided members of the European Union that have vowed to act collectively to protect their security. Currently, Russian gas has to be piped through...

Pipeline at Risk By Michael Lelyveld 2009-09-14 China’s Central Asia gas pipeline project is increasingly at risk amid ethnic unrest in Xinjiang. BOSTON—Renewed unrest in Xinjiang has come at a critical time for China’s energy development as the country prepares to open its first gas import pipeline through the western region by the end of the year, experts say. Central Asian countries report they are on schedule for the mid-December startup of the 2,000-km (1,240-mile) pipeline from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, forming part of an ambitious 7,000-km project to supply China’s eastern cities. On Aug. 14, China National Petroleum...

The fight over global warming and Canadian oil is heating up, and Minnesota, which gets 80 percent of its oil from Canada, is sitting on the griddle. A group of oil companies and big industries launched a TV and radio ad campaign this week to try to snuff out rules that might raise the cost of piping Canadian tar-sands oil through the Dakotas to refineries in the Twin Cities. Meanwhile, environmentalists on Thursday appealed a federal decision that allows construction of another major pipeline across northern Minnesota to bring in even more tar-sands oil from Alberta.

As Palin pointed out to Salazar, the USGS assessment "estimates that Arctic Alaska has mean technically recoverable resources of approximately 30 billion barrels of oil, 6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids and 221 trillion cubic feet of conventional natural gas."

There would be sweet Zionist vindication were the Dead Sea rehydration project to actually be implemented with full Jordanian, Palestinian and world partnership. After all, the vision of refilling the Dead Sea, using water from the Mediterranean, was floated back in Theodor Herzl's seminal 1902 Altneuland. True, Herzl envisioned the project for generating hydroelectric power, while today's updated version of his dream would call for channeling Red Sea water for desalination purposes. Yet there's no denying that the very notion captures the imagination and raises our hopes of peaceful cooperation belying the ever-rampant regional belligerence and boldly charting the mutually...

SNIPPET: "Bashir al-Ameriki, born Bryant Neal Vinas, was in the right place at the right time. He caught a wave of online jihadi activism dominated by some really interesting and aggressive individuals, and he rode that wave all the way to glory - sort of. Now he's a prized possession of the United States of America. I have to assume there are a number of indictments either pending or under seal, because Bashir likes to talk."

Palin Vs. Kerry (And MoveOn.org) By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:20 PM The political death of Sarah Palin has been greatly exaggerated. In a devastating op-ed in the Washington Post, Alaska's governor exposes the cap-and-tax fraud that has nothing to do with earth's temperature and everything to do with government control of the economy. She also exposes the stealth socialism ambitions of the Democratic left and once again points out the availability of abundant "shovel-ready" resources under America's soil, off America's shores and even in America's rocks. Judging from the reaction from Sen. Kerry and...

Politics: John Kerry, replying to an op-ed Sarah Palin wrote on cap-and-trade, suggests the Alaska governor "check the view from her front porch." What she sees from there, senator, is energy wealth going to waste.The political death of Sarah Palin has been greatly exaggerated. In a devastating op-ed in the Washington Post, Alaska's governor exposes the cap-and-tax fraud that has nothing to do with earth's temperature and everything to do with government control of the economy. She also exposes the stealth socialism ambitions of the Democratic left and once again points out the availability of abundant "shovel-ready" resources under America's...

Oil Surges Toward $71 on Nigeria Attack By REUTERS Published: June 25, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than $2 to near $70 a barrel on Thursday after Nigerian rebels attacked a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline, raising worries about supply from the OPEC-member nation. Crude also got a lift as Wall Street rallied on hopes for an economic recovery and as gasoline futures rebounded heading into the peak of the U.S. summer driving season. U.S. crude futures for August rose $2.18 to $70.85 a barrel by 1730 GMT. London Brent crude rose $2.09 to $70.42 a barrel. In...

A new deal between Russia and China in the sum of about $100 billion became the largest deal that has ever been signed between the two countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said as a result of the meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. The two presidents signed a large package of documents, including those in the oil and gas industry, in Moscow. “It became possible owing to the use of the mechanism that we invented with the leader of the People’s Republic of China a year ago,” Medvedev said. Dmitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao conducted negotiations about the shipments...

Quick, what was the biggest Sarah Palin story of the past week or so? Was it her rousing introduction of Michael Reagan in Anchorage where she eloquently spoke of his father, President Ronald Reagan? And how about in her speech where she took President Barack Obama, and his big government policies, head on? Maybe it was her trip to Auburn, NY where she celebrated the life of former Secretary of State William Seward, in conjunction with Alaska’s 50th year of statehood, an event that saw Palin draw over 20,000 people. Seward is the one who pushed for the purchase of...

Energy: Exxon Mobil's surprise decision to join Trans-Canada on a vast Alaska gas pipeline project is a big step toward making the U.S. self-sufficient in domestic energy. By defying naysayers, Sarah Palin is now vindicated.It must be sweet vindication for Alaska's governor. Against critics who said her 1,712-mile natural gas pipeline project would never get off the ground, who should the project bag but the "big gorilla" of American energy — Exxon Mobil. In a major surprise, Exxon announced Thursday that it had forged a partnership with TransCanada, the Canadian pipeline company that holds the state license for Palin's $126...

Thursday, June 11, 2009 TransCanada and Exxon Join Forces on the Natural Gas Pipeline to the Lower 48 - Major Victory for the Palin Administration! By Joseph Russo Alaska Governor Sarah Palin celebrates a landmark agreement between TransCanada and ExxonMobil to partner together in building Alaska’s natural gas pipeline – the largest and most complex construction project in North America. Governor Palin, center, is joined by (left to right) Marty Massey, Joint interest Manager for Exxon Mobil; Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Marty Rutherford; Rich Krueger, President of Exxon Mobil Production Company; Hal Kvisle, President and CEO of...

The TransCanada Press Release: ANCHORAGE, Alaska – June 11, 2009 – TransCanada Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada) today announced that TransCanada and ExxonMobil have reached an agreement to work together on an Alaska gas pipeline. TransCanada’s Alaska Pipeline Project is designed to deliver a reliable and secure source of clean energy to markets for decades to come. With an initial forecasted capital cost of US$26 billion, the project would provide a variety of benefits to Alaska and Canada, as well as the rest of the United States, including substantial revenues, jobs, business opportunities and new, long-term stable supplies of natural...

Washington to cut Iran in on Nabucco pipeline DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive April 28, 2009, 11:26 AM (GMT+02:00) Iran is about to become a major fuel supplier to the West, DEBKA-Net-Weekly reports. For the sake of dialogue and cooperation, Washington is ceding Tehran the chance to feed its natural gas into the 3,000 kilometer-long Nabucco pipeline project (from the Caspian to the EU via Turkey). The strategic-economic consequences of the Obama administration's major perk for Iran is analyzed in the coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly's issue out Friday.

MOSCOW, April 27 (Reuters) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev got a frosty reception from Russia's leaders on Monday and expressed no clear hopes that a gas pipeline deal with Moscow would be reached during his two-day official visit. Not only did President Dmitry Medvedev unexpectedly postpone his meeting with Stanishev with no official explanation, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took a jab at Bulgaria during his welcome speech that evoked load groans from the crowd. .... Speaking at a welcome event alongside Stanishev, Putin took an apparent jab at Bulgaria's meagre investments in Russia. "If Russia's investments (into Bulgaria)...

It was pretty much tit for tat as Denali and TransCanada faced off in front of the Senate Resources Committee and the House Special Committee on Energy recently. The companies have competing proposals for a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline from the North Slope to markets in the Lower 48. Bud Fackrell of Denali -- The Alaska Gas Pipeline and Tony Palmer of TransCanada updated legislators on the progress of the proposals. TransCanada is the state's licensee under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, and in exchange for $500 million in state money for specific work the company committed to meet...

Russia will next week complete construction of the first stage of a pipeline that will carry oil to Asia and the Pacific, including the 15 million tonnes a year to be supplied to China in exchange for a $25 billion loan. Oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has laid 2,672 km (1,670 miles) of the route, leaving only 21 km of the first stage remaining, company spokesman Igor Dyomin said on Monday. "Next week we plan to complete work on laying the pipeline route," Dyomin said by telephone. Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, is building the pipeline to move oil from...

The Russian state oil pipeline Transneft will finish the laying of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline to the Chinese border within weeks, said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Monday when presenting to the State Duma, lower house of parliament, a government report. "In just a few weeks, the phase during which the pipeline will reach the Chinese border will be over and we will go further to the Pacific Ocean," the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying. Russia and China signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of an ESPO branch toward China and long-term Russian oil...

Enbridge Inc., Canada's largest pipeline company, said it will assess shipper interest in a possible line to transport natural gas from the Haynesville shale region in Texas to Louisiana. The LaCrosse pipeline would run from Carthage, Texas, to Washington Parish in southeastern Louisiana, Calgary-based Enbridge said Wednesday in a statement. The pipeline, which would include about 500 kilometres of pipe with diameters of 42 inches and 36 inches, would be able to transport at least one billion cubic feet of gas per day and could be completed by late 2011 or early 2012, the company said. Shale formations are providing...