Iran presses India for IPI pipeline answer
Tehran wants New Delhi to commit to the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, as negotiations between Pakistan and India have stalled. Meanwhile China wants India's share of Iran's natural gas.
"Other countries are also eager to join," said Mohammad al-Hosseini, spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, the Fars News Agency reports. "China is putting a lot of pressure. We don't have a lot of time."
The so-called peace pipeline would cost $7.5 billion and run 1,700 miles. It would send 3.2 billion cubic feet of Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to India each day by 2011.
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System found to have overcharged shippers
Alaska's Supreme Court affirmed a regulator's 2002 decision that state shippers were overcharged between 1997 and 2002 by 57 percent.
"This decision is momentous for the State of Alaska," Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin said in a statement issued by the governor's office. "Our Supreme Court has greed that the owners of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline are required to charge fair rates based on their costs, and will be held accountable for refunds when they have overcharged their shippers. This decision supports our efforts to make sure that the rates charged for shipment through a future gas pipeline are just and reasonable."
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska decided in 2002 that refunds were due to shippers because of overcharges. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also has a case before it brought by shippers.
The TAPS is owned by BP, ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips, Chevron and Koch Industries.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart told the Anchorage Daily News "we are considering our legal options."
Burgas voters reject Russia pipeline, but vote not to count
More than 96 percent of voters in Burgas, Bulgaria, voted against the proposed Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline that would send Russian oil through the Black Sea and Bulgaria and on to neighboring Greece.
But the turnout was only 27.9 percent, well below the 50 percent turnout needed to make the vote valid, the Sofia News Agency reports.
Mayor Dimitar Nikolov said the voters stated their case and considers it good enough to send to the European Commission. Evros province in Greece is also to vote amid public opposition.
Bulgaria, Greece and Russia have agreed to the pipeline and declare it an international matter that can't be decided by local governments who worry about potential environmental damage.
Syria says it has completed Phase 1 of Arab Gas Pipeline
Sufian al-Alaw, the Syrian minister of petroleum and mineral resources, said the Syrian Petroleum Co. has completed work necessary to accept gas from Egypt and send it to Jordan.
Alaw said pressure tests were completed and ready to test with Jordan once it finished work on its end, the Syria Arab News Agency reports.
The pipeline is projected to be a multi-country effort to serve Middle East demand for gas as well as Europe by way of Turkey. Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon will be connected and when security allows, Iraqi gas will be sent as well.
Syria will consume as well as be a transport state for the gas. Phase 2, connecting Syria to the Turkish border, is expected to be completed in a year and a half.
