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Reuters WARSAW -- Poland will ask the United States to back efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies in exchange for agreeing to allow a U.S. anti-missile defense system on its territory, a Polish newspaper reported Monday. Rzeczpospolita cited diplomatic sources as saying Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski would discuss ways the United States could help increase Poland's access to Central Asian supplies when he visits Washington later this month. Poland, a U.S. ally in Iraq, hopes the United States will push through a project to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea that could link Kazakh and...

Another 1,200 miles of U.S. pipelines, including those run by BP in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, would fall under rigorous inspection and safety rules under a proposal released by pipeline regulators Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The proposed rules for rural, low-stress pipelines would require regular cleaning of the lines by so-called "scraping pigs," internal inspections by "smart pigs" and a comprehensive corrosion monitoring and prevention program. "A strong and clearly defined pipeline safety program is an absolute minimum," said Thomas Barrett, administrator for the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The rules have been in the works for two years...

When Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Riga on July 18, the overriding topic of discussion was how best to send Kazakh oil to energy-hungry markets in Europe and Scandinavian via Latvia. Nazarbayev did his best to give the impression of a pragmatic leader unburdened by the political strains caused by the long-standing disputes between his closest ally -- Moscow -- and West European powers over energy issues. His time in Riga provided an impressive display of his multi-vector approach to interstate relations. Answering questions from Latvian journalists, Nazarbayev stressed that Kazakhstan has no intention of constructing a transportation route to...

Iraqi, U.S. Troops Team up to Protect Pipelines Bastogne soldiers of 101st Airborne Division train Iraqi battalion to guard oil pipelines. By Capt. Lyn Graves 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment KIRKUK, Iraq, April 11, 2006 — The Iraqi Strategic Infrastructure Battalion soldier stands on top of a liquid gold mine. That is, he stands atop six percent of the world’s known oil reserve, deep beneath the sands of northern Iraq, in and around Kirkuk. "This is very different, so it will take us time to adapt and to learn this new way; but, this new way is better, more...

Oil prices rose in late morning trade here on further worries about potential supply disruption in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer of crude oil, dealers said. At 10:52 am (0252 GMT) New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was at 64.38 usd a barrel compared with 64.26 usd in late trade Friday in the United States. 'The market is showing signs of really extending gains from last week. The focus is on the supply disruption, primarily out of Nigeria,' said Victor Shum, an analyst with Purvin and Gertz. A bomb attack on a pipeline owned by Italian...

* Group advises disrupting oil supplies best way to hurt US economy and destabilise Saudi royal family DUBAI: Al Qaeda has advised followers to attack pipelines in Saudi Arabia and Iraq but to steer clear of oil wells because they are the lifeline of Muslim states, according to a two-year-old document recently posted on the web. The guidelines in Al Qaeda’s war against “crusaders” and US-allied governments were laid out in a manifesto written by Abdulaziz al-Enezi, arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and described by the Saudis as a prominent ideologue of Al Qaeda. In the manifesto, which was...

Mr Kinakh thus commented on his own statements, which he made during his latest visit to Poland about Ukraine contemplating options for leasing its underground gas depots. Mr Kinakh refuted reports alleging that Ukrainian underground gas holders were long ago leased to a foreign company. Ukraine's underground gasholders are and will remain Ukraine's property, the NSDC Secretary reassured. Mr Kinakh also confirmed Ukraine's readiness to cooperate with relevant nations and organisations, which are interested in storaging their national resources in Ukrainian gas holders "on transparent market terms."

President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Moscow of serious acts of "sabotage" yesterday after explosions ripped apart gas pipelines cutting off supplies to Georgia and neighbouring Armenia. Mr Saakashvili said the blasts were the "attempted sabotage" of his country's energy system and dismissed Russia's explanation - that the attacks were the work of "extremist groups" intent on causing "material damage" - as "unconvincing and contradictory".... "They happened at the same time, and basically they didn't affect supplies to Russia proper, so we can conclude that it was a very well-organised act."

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- There has been a lot of coverage about how Russian natural gas giant, Gazprom, has recently sought to raise the price it charges Ukraine from a below-market $50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $230 --just below the $250 per cubic meter average paid by Western European nations for Russian gas. Gazprom has been portrayed as the bully in this affair, but the truth of the matter is that it should be paid a market price for the gas it sells. Indeed, it was neither in Gazprom`s nor Russia`s interest to sell gas to Ukraine...

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko only has to look in the mirror and see his pockmarked, disfigured face – the result of chemical poisoning – to know that the KGB is still in charge in Moscow. Since the beginning of this year we all know it, too. Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom cut the supply of gas to Ukraine after the latter refused to pay the new price Russia is charg

Trans-Alaska pipeline named in online manual "Jihad groups" in Canada are being urged to cross the border to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States, a Washington research group says. A 12-page document recently posted on an al-Qaeda-affiliated Internet forum says small groups of terrorists with explosives expertise should enter the United States from Canada. The scenario is reminiscent of the 1999 attempt by extremists in Montreal to bomb Los Angeles airport — except this time the targets are oil and gas fields, refineries and pipelines. The port of Valdez and the Trans-Alaska pipeline are specifically named as targets:...

Russia says it will pump more gas to Europe after various countries said their supplies had fallen by up to 40% after Moscow cut Ukraine's provision. France, Italy, Germany and Poland were among those reporting falling volumes. Russia said it was sending an extra 95m cubic metres a day to make up for gas "stolen" by Ukraine. Ukraine denies it has siphoned off $25m (£15m) worth of gas from a pipeline crossing its territory after Russia cut off its supply in a price dispute. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom raised the price of 1,000 cubic metres of gas from $50 to...

TALLINN, December 22 (RIA Novosti, Nikolai Adashkevich) - Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said in Moscow Thursday that Estonia could eventually join the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) project through a pipeline between Estonia and Finland, which were debating the wisdom of its construction. "The idea of building a natural gas pipeline is being discussed at the moment in terms of its economic viability. So far, it is difficult to speak about the cost of such a project," the minister said. "Although we have been receiving natural gas from Russia, any new sources would enhance the country's energy security." Paet...

Gov. Rick Perry's ceremonial signing of the eminent domain bill Monday in Waco didn't get a positive reaction from his rival for his 2006 reelection, Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, or from Richmond resident and private property rights activist Jack Myska. Strayhorn accused Perry of grandstanding and said the bill is filled with loopholes, and Myska concurred. "I agree with her wholeheartedly," Myska said Tuesday morning, adding he has not yet read the bill thoroughly. Perry officially signed the law into effect on Sept. 1, but the ceremonial signing was postponed due to hurricanes Rita and Katrina. He said Monday...

THE OPPORTUNITIES FROM HIGH GAS PRICES Wow, people are hysterical about gas prices. I heard from one guy who actually said he couldn’t afford a $1 donation for hurricane relief because of gas prices. He emailed this to a long list of people, urging everyone to write Congress to demand oil companies freeze prices at pre-hurricane levels, claiming that oil company profits were too high to begin with. I was embarrassed for the guy. The Fortune 500 company he works for is more profitable than many oil companies. His company showed a net income of 7.6% in 2004. That’s more...

Standing 60 feet above sea level on this oil platform 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, Rab Bruce pointed to where the huge wave slammed into a tangle of grated steel and multicolor pipes. The Petronius deep-water platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September, is now back on line. "I was just in shock at the damage," said Mr. Bruce, a longtime field coordinator on Chevron's Petronius deepwater platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September. "I had never seen anything like this. Everything was busted, dangling and messed...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukraine wants Iran to ship its natural gas to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines, a top Ukrainian official said Tuesday. In a statement released in Kiev, Petro Poroshenko, head of the National State Security and Defense Council, said some 128 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia, Turkmenistan and other countries go through Ukrainian pipelines annually, meeting about 50 percent of European demand. ADVERTISEMENT Given growing European needs for gas, Iran should look to use Ukraine's pipelines in the future, the statement said. "European countries' demand for gas may increase to 480 billion cubic meters a...

MOSCOW (Igor Tomberg, for RIA Novosti) - Ukraine is set to become the first target of a radical change in Russia's gas strategy in the post-Soviet space. Having realized that subsidizing neighbors by providing gas at cut-rate prices does not bring any political dividends and even leads to sizeable economic losses, Russian gas giant Gazprom has declared its intention to raise prices to European levels for CIS countries as well. Previously, the switch to world prices was restrained by Russia's integration ambitions, but now the most important thing is solvent demand, determined by the practical absence of any alternative to...

TIJUANA, Mexico - The men flocked to the cafe under the sign with the cedar tree, symbol of their Mideast home. Here, in this alien border land, it was the beacon that led to an Arab "brother" who would help them complete their journey from Lebanon into America. They would come, sometimes dozens a month over a three-year period, to find Salim Boughader Mucharrafille — the cafe owner who drove a Mercedes and catered to some of Tijuana's more affluent denizens, including workers at the U.S. consulate only a short stroll away. His American customers were unaware that the savvy...

from the May 25, 2005 edition Pipeline politics give Turkey an edge A pipeline that brings Caspian oil to Turkey's coast opens Wednesday. By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor ISTANBUL – Turkey's heartland of Anatolia - the massive plateau that serves as a land bridge between Asia and Europe - is dotted with the remains of 13th-century inns, reminders of the merchant caravans that traveled the fabled east-west Silk Road. Some 800 years later, Turkey is again trying to take advantage of its strategic location. Today, instead of caravansaries it is building pipelines, and instead of...