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The Saudi Press Agency reports that Egypt and Jordan have inaugurated a partially underwater pipeline that will allow Egypt to supply energy-strapped Jordan with 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. The pipeline runs almost 250 kilometers across the Sinai Desert to the Red Sea, and then continues 15 kilometers underwater to the Jordanian port of Aqaba. The pipeline is scheduled to be extended in the coming years to northern Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus, and Europe. Egypt has potential gas reserves of 70 trillion cubic feet and hopes to become one of the world's top 10 exporters...

Iraq-Turkey Oil Pipeline Hit by Sabotage Tue July 8, 2003 04:09 AM ET By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's northern export pipeline to Turkey was damaged by a new sabotage blast over the weekend and repairs will take two weeks, a senior Iraqi oil ministry official said on Tuesday. The official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters Iraq was also facing what he called widespread "economic sabotage" along a pipeline from Iraq's southern oilfields. "The Iraq-Turkey pipeline was sabotaged 36 hours ago and will take two weeks to repair," he said. "It will take two weeks to...

MOSCOW (Bloomberg) -- ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, and ChevronTexaco, the second-largest U.S. oil company, may help finance and build an oil pipeline through Bulgaria and Greece, Bulgarian Regional Development Minister Valentin Tzerovski said. Tzerovski approached the two companies as the country was seeking financing for the pipeline. The two companies will consider whether to participate as equity shareholders or to finance the project. U.S. Eximbank is also interested in joining, provided the project has U.S. shareholders or a major contractor. LUKoil may also join the project, Tzerovski said. All interested in the project are expected to...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s northern export pipeline via Turkey was damaged by a new sabotage blast over the weekend in another setback for Baghdad's battered oil sector, a senior Iraqi oil ministry official said on Tuesday. The official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters Iraq was also facing what he called widespread "economic sabotage" along a pipeline from Iraq's southern oilfields. "The Iraq-Turkey pipeline was sabotaged 36 hours ago," he said. "It will take two weeks to repair if there are no new explosions and we still have several damaged areas on the pipeline...

TOKYO (Reuters) -- A proposed pipeline to bring east Siberian oil to Asia is not only vital to Japan's drive to diversify its energy sources, but can also make commercial sense, Japan's top energy official said Wednesday. "Oil is an international commodity and naturally customers want competitive prices in the international market. We will prove through detailed studies that we can meet this demand," said Iwao Okamoto, head of Japan's Natural Resources Agency. Eager to diversify its oil sources, import-dependent Japan is courting Moscow to persuade it to opt for a proposal to build a pipeline from eastern Siberia to...

Thu June 26, 2003 11:48 AM ET By Hassan Hafidh and Peg Mackey BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq was hit by a new oil pipeline explosion on Thursday, underlining concerns that a breakdown in security is undermining Baghdad's efforts to restore crude exports. News of the blast, the sixth in two weeks, came as Iraq's de facto oil minister Thamir Ghadhban told a news conference that sabotage could undermine the drive for oil exports needed to fund Iraq's post-war reconstruction. "Surely these are serious incidents and they will affect our performance, there is no doubt about that," he said. Ghadhban said...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S.-led administration lays out plans on Monday to create a new Iraqi army and pay off disgruntled members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s dissolved armed forces. Anger among unpaid soldiers boiled into violence last week when U.S. troops shot dead two protesters in a crowd that was stoning a military convoy as it drove into the administration's headquarters in Saddam's former palace compound in Baghdad. U.S. administrator Paul Bremer disbanded the armed forces, security agencies and ministries of defense and information last month, laying off an estimated 400,000 people, as...

Iraq oil pipeline 'blown up' Oil industry installations have been attacked several times Sabotage has been blamed for an explosion at a pipeline which supplies oil to the Iraqi capital. Flames were seen shooting into the sky after the blast late on Saturday near the town of Hit nearly 140 kilometres (90 miles) north-west of Baghdad. US officials say there are no reports of American casualties, but in what appears to be a separate incident in the same area, two American soldiers were hurt when their vehicle struck a landmine. Meanwhile, a US soldier was killed and another was...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An oil fire raged Sunday after saboteurs blew up a vital pipeline, threatening supplies to Baghdad's main refinery and fresh torment for drivers in the capital, Iraqi Oil Ministry officials said. It was the second major fire to damage Iraqi oil pipelines this month. U.S. officials blamed the first on a gas leak on the main export pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey. "This incident is an act of sabotage. The pipeline was blown up deliberately," said one Oil Ministry official of the latest blast. He did not elaborate and asked not to be named. A...

Mystery Blast Sets Iraq Oil Pipeline Ablaze June 22 — By Alistair Lyon BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An explosion set fire to a vital pipeline linking Iraq's northern and southern oilfields, and a separate land mine blast wounded two U.S. soldiers, a U.S. military spokesman said on Sunday. He said fire was still raging after the pipeline explosion near the town of Hit, 140 km (90 miles) northwest of Baghdad, but he had no word on what caused it or when it happened. "The cause of the fire was still under investigation," the spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties....

Iraq-Israel oil pipeline 'to reopen' By Anton La Guardia (Filed: 21/06/2003) Israel's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, predicted yesterday that the British-era oil pipeline from Iraq's northern oilfields through Jordan to the Israeli port city of Haifa would be reopened. "It won't be long when you will see Iraqi oil flowing to Haifa," Mr Netanyahu told a group of British investors in London. "It is just a matter of time until the pipeline is reconstituted and Iraqi oil will flow to the Mediterranean." The pipeline was closed during the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 and has never been used since. Its...

Fri June 13, 2003 09:14 AM ET By Michael Georgy and Steve Bryant BAGHDAD/ANKARA (Reuters) - The main oil export pipeline linking Iraq and Turkey, halted since the U.S.-led war on Baghdad, was hit by fire and explosions due to a gas leak, U.S. authorities in Iraq said on Friday. Turkey said investigations were under way to establish whether sabotage was to blame for the blast at the Iraqi section of the pipeline in northern Iraq late on Thursday. U.S. military spokesmen said there was no sign that sabotage had caused the explosions, which comes after occupying U.S. forces have...

Makhoul (Iraq): Fires blazed on the main export pipeline from Iraq's northern oilfields to Turkey on Friday after what residents said were twin bomb attacks aimed at sabotaging deliveries which the US-led coalition is poised to resume. An AFP correspondent saw two separate fires on the pipeline, 15 kilometres from the key refinery town of Baiji, close to the main highway between Baghdad and the northern regional capital Mosul. US military helicopters hovered overhead. Residents questioned by AFP at the nearby Al-Amin coffee shop said the pipeline had been attacked by Iraqis using explosives around 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, the...

LIMA, Peru, June 9 (Reuters) - Armed raiders on Monday kidnapped about 60 workers employed by an Argentine company to help build a natural gas pipeline in southeastern Peru, a government statement said. "They are asking for $1 million, high-tech communications equipment and explosives," said a police officer in Ayacucho, some 360 miles (600 km) southeast of Lima. The officer, who asked not to be identified, called the attackers "presumed terrorists" but a government statement described them as armed criminals. The statement said about 60 kidnappers struck at the Toccate construction camp in La Mar province, seizing a similar...

   TCS  Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter trailing only Saudi Arabia, has been itching for years to expand its global reach and oil export capacity. In just the past nine months, Russian oil tycoons have floated a number of proposals to leaders from Japan, China, Western Europe and even the United States about the construction of new pipelines that would allow these nations to reduce their dependence on Middle East oil exports. In late May, Russia finally signed an historic, 25-year, $150 billion energy pact with China. The deal will commit Russian oil major Yukos to deliver...

Offer cements renewed Bush-Putin strategic partnership forged in St. Petersburg yesterday.(referring to strained relationship over the Gulf War-ed)

http://www.atimes.com Middle East The geopolitics of pipelines By Paola Ceragioli and Maurizio Martellini Over the past 90 years Iran, with its huge oil reserves representing 9 percent of those of the world, has founded its strategic and economic interests in the Persian Gulf on oil. Its economy is based on oil export revenues, which contribute as much as 80 percent of its total export earnings and 40-50 percent of the government budget. In recent years, Iran has held a share in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production of 13-14 percent. In order to maintain this share, it needs...

BRUSSELS -- The European Union (news - web sites) Tuesday threw its political weight behind a controversial pipeline bringing oil from the Caspian Sea to Europe via Ukraine. Related Quotes DJIANASDAQ^SPC 8781.351556.69951.48 +179.97+46.60+18.26 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   EU support is crucial to the launch of the project, both in terms of political backing as well as loans, since the main buyers will be European countries, notably Poland and Germany. A political agreement on the pipeline, know as Odessa-Brody, was signed by the EU's top energy official and ministers from Ukraine and Poland at a meeting...

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of misleading him about oil deliveries from Iraq as they prepared to meet on the implications of the fall of President Saddam Hussein. Two years ago, Powell said, Assad assured him that oil from Iraq was not flowing through a pipeline to Syria. That, he said, turned out to be false. Powell said he had not forgotten that Assad made the promise.

Auburn, Washington....just heard on the radio....happened a few minutes ago...the explosion lasted a full ten seconds....huge flames....homes, schools, offices for a mile around are being evacuated...many government facilities closeby. No further news for now.