While violence is likely to persist next year in the oil-rich Niger Delta, Africa's largest energy producer capped 2008 with the capture of a leading member of the country's most notorious militant group.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The noted Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes once wrote, “Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States.” Substitute “Central Asia” for “Mexico” and “Russia” for the “United States,” and one begins to have an idea of the energy exports problems facing Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. For the three easternmost former Soviet “Stan” republics, 2008 has been a year of stress and possibility. Given their geographic isolation, despite their independence, all three nations have been forced to acknowledge the reality of Russia’s ongoing regional influence, despite the collapse of communism in 1991.
Once firmly atop the list of Africa's top oil producers, Nigeria slipped behind Angola -- albeit temporarily -- during the course of 2008, while other African countries received even more attention from eager foreign investors like China.
MOSCOW, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said Wednesday it would cut gas supplies Jan. 1 if Ukraine did not settle its $2 billion debt by the end of the day.
NEW DELHI, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Videsh Ltd., a branch of the Indian state oil company, closed a deal Wednesday to buy British oil firm Imperial Energy after receiving shareholder consent.
DERBY, England, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Rolls-Royce, the English power system developer, announced it was awarded a compressor contract for the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Europe.
TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Advisers to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani were in Tehran Wednesday to discuss oil on deferred payments and the so-called Peace Pipeline.
MIAMI, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Latin America's petroleum-producing nations had their dreams of windfall riches dashed when record-high oil prices in 2008 plummeted to their current levels.
MIAMI, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Brazilian state energy firm Petrobras is planning to open gas stations in Japan with the intent of distributing its sugar-based ethanol to the energy-hungry nation.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic signed a deal Tuesday with the government of Georgia for the purchase of 22 regional gas distribution companies.
NEW DELHI, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Energy production from the Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corp. is lagging woefully behind the rise in domestic consumption in a growing economy, analysts say.
MADRID, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Spanish pension bank La Caixa withdrew its interest in selling its 12.5-percent share in Spanish oil group Repsol to Russia's LUKoil, corporate filings show.
MOSCOW, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The Ukrainian energy minister led a delegation to Moscow to make a final attempt to resolve a row over gas debts with Gazprom before supplies are disrupted.
MOSCOW, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Russian energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday its net sales of oil and gas condensate rose around 80 percent during peak market conditions in the summer.
BERLIN, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Record high oil prices and the lowest in four years, separated by just six months -- volatile oil and gas prices shocked Europe in 2008.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Caspian energy production has been severely affected by slumping prices and the global recession. On July 11 oil reached its historic record high of $147.27 per barrel. In the worst of times a severe global recession has ensued since those heady summer days, and oil prices have slumped 73 percent. The former Soviet Caspian producing states of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have seen the slowdown deplete their export earnings and foreign reserves, forcing their governments to intervene to attempt to stabilize their economies and lessen the recession's impact.
MOSCOW, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Emerging liquefied natural gas technology and the formation of an international gas cartel may place Moscow at the top of the world energy sector, analysts say.
U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 as former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, her husband Mark Kelly (R) and Vice President Joe Biden look on in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on February 10, 2012. UPI/Pat Benic...
