• India's PFC inks pact with Exim Bank
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 12:31 PM
    NEW DELHI, May 16 (UPI) -- India's Power Finance Corp. has signed an agreement with U.S. Exim Bank to receive an $800 million loan.
  • India Oil to shelve refinery proposal
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 12:09 PM
    NEW DELHI, May 16 (UPI) -- State-run Indian Oil Corp. is contemplating shelving its 15 million-ton greenfield refinery in southern Tamil Nadu state.
  • India won't cut duty on oil imports
    Published: May 15, 2008 at 9:40 PM
    NEW DELHI, May 15 (UPI) -- Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said there will be no reduction in the duty charged on imported oil, despite soaring energy prices.
  • Fall River fights five-year battle against LNG facility
    Published: May 16, 2008 at 10:18 AM
    By JOHN C.K. DALY
    UPI International Correspondent
    WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- A five-year struggle continues between Fall River, Mass., residents and Weaver's Cove Energy LLC over a proposed LNG facility. While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project, the Coast Guard opposes it as an unacceptable safety risk.
  • UPI Energy Watch
    Published: May 15, 2008 at 12:19 PM
    OPEC cuts estimate of growth in world oil demand for 2008; The United Arab Emirates' crude oil output increased last month; Philippine government may cut taxes on oil and gas
  • Nigerian militants attack oil vessel
    Published: May 15, 2008 at 11:10 AM
    By CARMEN GENTILE
    UPI Energy Correspondent
    Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama have called for a resolution to the conflict between rebels intent on crippling Nigeria's petroleum industry and government officials.
  • Mongolia, coal and inflation
    Published: May 14, 2008 at 7:56 PM
    By JOHN C.K. DALY
    UPI International Correspondent
    WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Rising fuel and food costs are hitting Mongolia hard, with foreign investors exploiting the situation to pressure the country to open up its economy. Given the country's political isolation, sandwiched between China and Russia, its two major trading partners, Ulaanbaatar is being held over the proverbial barrel in negotiations with its giant neighbors, leaving its population of 2.9 million nervously awaiting further aftershocks from rising inflation.
  • Congress blocks administration from stockpiling oil
    Published: May 14, 2008 at 7:28 PM
    By ROSALIE WESTENSKOW
    UPI Correspondent
    WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Faced with growing pressure to decrease gas prices, U.S. senators voted to stop stockpiling oil in the national reserve yesterday, but they rejected a plan to increase domestic production.
  • UPI Energy Watch
    Published: May 14, 2008 at 3:47 PM
    IEA: Developing nations cause high oil prices; New oil, gas fields will add to Indonesia supply; Australia says oil, gas tax breaks to go

Basra official: not ready for own security


Published: Oct. 31, 2007 at 3:28 PM
BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A top official in Basra, Iraq’s oil capital, said Iraqi forces aren’t ready to tackle security, despite the prime minister’s pledge to do so by December.

“The security forces in Basra are working as hard as they can to establish a good security situation,” Basra Deputy Gov. Luaiy al-Battat said, the al-Mashriq newspaper reports. “However, the numbers of these forces and their equipment are insufficient to gain complete control of a large province like Basra.”

Violence has ebbed and flowed in the area, where gangs and militias -- a number associated with political parties -- battle over power and control of the oil sector and the lucrative oil and fuels black market.

But tensions within varying Shiite groups have largely eased upward, not down, as British forces begin withdrawing.

“The Iraqi forces will receive the security mission in Basra city from the British forces in mid-December,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during a ceremony marking the security file handover from U.S. to Iraqi forces in Karbala.

Karbala is the eighth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to take over its own security detail.

Battat said security forces lack equipment and numbers to control the border.


© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
» Next in Energy - Briefing: Iraqi ministers called out on non-spending