WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- During Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Tashkent, he and Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed a series of agreements to sell Uzbek natural gas to Russia and upgrade two Soviet-era natural gas pipelines. The agreements represent yet another Western and American setback to securing Caspian and Central Asian energy resources for export to the West.

BEIJING, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao greeted foreign leaders in separate meetings on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- Since the death in December 2005 of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, Western energy firms have longingly eyed Turkmenistan's vast natural gas reserves, which even during the Soviet era were estimated at 10 trillion to 14 trillion cubic meters, exceeded only by those of the Russian Federation. Among the potential suitors for Ashgabat's favor, no firms were more ardent than U.S. companies. Alas, once again for Washington, the groom has been left at the altar.

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Tibet is no aberration; the world's worst human-rights offenders all find a friend in China.

WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- While Russia's Gazprom dominates Central Asian natural gas exports through its pipeline monopoly, the leaders of the "stans" are unhappy about the arrangement, as Gazprom buys cheap and sells dear to European consumers.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- In the mad Western dash for Central Asian energy resources, investors initially focused on Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Following the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006, Western energy firms fell over themselves courting Turkmenistan's new president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. Ten years before Niyazov's death, however, Malaysia's Petronas won Turkmenistan's first offshore drilling agreement and began prospecting in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian.

MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The recent visit by Adm. William Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, to Tashkent may signal a warming in U.S.-Uzbek relations.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A challenge has emerged from Uzbekistan to Transneft's "take it or leave it" policy, with potentially enormous implications for Gazprom's decade-and-a-half monopoly.

MOSCOW, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The last few months of 2007 were good for Russia, which has been fighting this year to affirm its leadership in the hydrocarbons market. And it may have spelled the end for the Nabucco pipeline, which Europe has wanted as a way to bypass reliance on Moscow.

Uzbekistan, Korea to hold energy talks; Gazprom Neft to increase number of board members; China's LNG capacity grows