Iran has emerged as an unlikely champion of Europeans concerned by their growing dependence on Russia, giving the Nabucco pipeline project a fillip.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- One relatively obscure Western oil company managed to beat out competitors such as ExxonMobil to develop Turkmenistan's oil fields: Ireland's Dragon Oil.

For Iranian consumers, Turkmenistan's halting of natural gas deliveries to the Islamic republic on Dec. 31 has represented a bitter New Year's present, as the country endures its hardest winter in a decade. The weather has caused 21 deaths, and Iran's northern regions are covered with nearly 2 feet of snow.

Before the 1991 Soviet collapse, Russia dominated the economies of the other 14 republics. In the decade and a half since, Western companies have been angling to acquire a piece of the former Soviet Union's energy assets. In the last few years, however, China has become an increasingly important regional player, and in a nasty Christmas present for both Washington and Moscow, on Dec. 28 China National Petroleum Corp.'s subsidiary PetroChina announced it will invest $2.16 billion to underwrite construction of a planned Central Asia-China natural gas pipeline.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The year 2007 will be seen as a major turning point in the development of Caspian energy, perhaps the most significant 12 months since the 1991 collapse of communism opened up the possibilities of development of one of the world's last great oil frontiers.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is holding a four-day meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, starting Friday. While the summit will doubtless end with the usual flurry of statements emphasizing peace and prosperity for member states, the gathering will be most notable for what is absent from the declarations, a vision of what the grouping actually entails, particularly as regards energy exports.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The recent second Caspian Sea Littoral States Summit, which concluded earlier this week, saw a broader consensus developing among the five Caspian littoral nations than at any time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

ONGC to give service contracts to smaller firms; LUKoil to supply TGK-8 with gas from Caspian fields; Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan eager about pipeline

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- For an energy-starved world, the recently concluded summit in Tehran between the five Caspian littoral states is good news, as it brings the possibility of a final delineation of Caspian offshore waters closer.