Lithuania, Poland in energy talks
Lithuania and Poland plan to sign an agreement next week to set up a joint venture that will link the power grids of the two countries, Lithuanian Minister of Economy Vytas Natickas told reports Monday.
"The Polish counterpart invited me to arrive in Warsaw on Feb. 12 to sign that important document," Natickas was cited as saying by media reports.
The Lithuanian power networks were integrated only with the grids of former Soviet republics and have no link with the West.
"This will be an agreement on a company that should work out an investment project," the minister said.
Lithuania expected to sign this document at an international conference for energy security in Vilnius last October.
However, Warsaw said that the country would take part in joint energy projects if it received one-third of electricity to be generated by a new nuclear power plant.
According to Natickas, the Baltic countries and Poland should also reach an accord pertaining to the project of the new nuclear power plant by June 2008.
In the summer, the partners will distribute the shares of electricity that the plant will generate, the minister said, adding that the study of the new nuclear power plant's environmental impact would need to be completed by that time.
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland plan to build jointly a new nuclear power plant by 2015. The new plant will be constructed instead of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which the European Union considers unsafe and which will be shut down in 2009 at Brussels' demand.
EU backs Nabucco Trans-Caspian gas pipeline
The European Union supports the Nabucco trans-Caspian gas pipeline project, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for external affairs and neighborhood policy, said.
Ferrero-Waldner arrived in Azerbaijan on Monday as part of the EU troika's trip to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, Itar-Tass reported.
Speaking at a news conference, the EU commissioner stressed that the European Union was planning to maintain interaction with Azerbaijan in order to implement these projects designed to transport natural gas to Europe via Central Asia.
The European Union was interested in diversification of sources and routes of energy supplies to Europe, Dimitrij Rupel, president of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council and Slovenian foreign minister, said.
He stressed that the Nabucco project was very significant both for Europe and Azerbaijan, which was transforming into one of the major centers of energy production and transportation.
Totally, cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan in the energy sector was one of the priorities at the talks in Baku. According to Rupel, energy interaction may have big significance and the EU intends to develop it with Turkmenistan. The EU troika is also expected to visit this country.
"Azerbaijan is ready to transport gas through its territory if Central Asian countries want this," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said.
Syrian minister on oil, gas production, consumption
Syria plans to produce 360,000 barrels of oil daily and 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas in 2008 as the country seeks to expand its cooperation on exploration with international oil companies that operate in Syria, according to a local report in Al-Ba'th.
Syria wants to increase the amount of refined oil products by building new oil refineries. The country also aims to compensate for the gradual drop in oil production, which reached 7.8 million barrels in 2007 compared with 2006.
According to local reports, Syria produced 7.8 billion cubic meters of gas in 2007, a 5 percent drop over 2006. Of the 22 million cubic meters of gas Syria produces daily, the country consumes 12 million while the rest goes to installations.
The gas is processed in four factories, and four other factories are scheduled to be built before the end of 2010.
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Closing oil prices, Feb. 5, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $89.02
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $88.54
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