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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.
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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
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EITI Plus Plus gets praise, encouragement
Published: April 18, 2008 at 5:51 PM
New World Bank project will help governments make better oil deals and spend revenue fairer, but civil society warns it must be partner.
The EITI Plus Plus initiative, announced this week by World Bank President Robert Zoellick, would give governments of resource-wealthy countries technical assistance for capacity building across the "entire value chain," from contracting to oversight to collecting and spending what international corporations pay.
"Revenue windfalls from high commodity prices must translate into tangible improvements in the lives of poor people living on the fringes of the global economy," Zoellick said. "The EITI Plus Plus will help client countries to build capacities to draw sustainable benefits from their natural resources."
The World Bank said it will "develop national capability to handle the boom in commodity prices, and channel the growing revenue streams into fighting poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, and disease."
The program is based on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, aimed at forcing companies and governments to report all exchange of money.
"We welcome the Bank's initiative to extend transparency in the oil, mining and gas sector beyond revenues to look at how concessions are awarded, contracts negotiated, and how the money is spent," said Radhika Sarin, international coordinator for the Publish What You Pay coalition.
She sounded an alarm, however, similar to other organizations this week that feared the EITI Plus Plus initiative will be a government-industry-only club. The fear is that as the price for oil and gas increases, the competition to access the wealth will increase as well. Such a drive has led to human-rights abuses, the concentration of a country's income into the hands of those in power, and opposition from citizens and civil society groups quashed, such as Nigeria and Sudan.
"The World Bank has an important role to play in protecting these activists and promoting their ability to work without fear of intimidation," said Karin Lissakers, executive director of the Revenue Watch Institute.
"Extractive resources need to provide real benefits for the peoples of the countries where these minerals are located," said Haguette Labelle, head of Transparency International's board of directors. TI co-founded EITI.
Next week TI will release its evaluation of the world's Top 42 oil and gas companies on revenue transparency.
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