OPEC leaders claim no control over oil prices; China quake cuts oil demand temporarily; Kazakhs threaten to sanction Agip

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- As Kazakh oil exports continue to rise, Turkey is seeking to position itself as a major transit hub for Kazakh hydrocarbons. Despite Turkish aspirations, however, a number of obstacles exist to Kazakhstan diversifying its export routes to include Turkey.

TOKYO, May 6 (UPI) -- Kazakhstan and Japan have signed a deal to work together on atomic energy.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Kazakhstan said it will increase its oil output by 3.7 percent during 2008, the Middle East North Africa Financial Network reported.

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.

Kazakh-Eni talks on Kashagan continue; Iraq to S. Korea: Halt oil work in KRG or face consequences; Chavez proposes oil-for-goods deal

MOSCOW, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The success of the informal energy summit held by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in Vilnius, Lithuania last week will be judged later, when the agreements reached there become reality.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- In the increasingly fractious scramble for the Caspian's burgeoning oil and natural gas energy reserves, resource-poor but strategically vital Eastern Europe is positioning itself to provide both consumer markets and transit routes to Russia for the former Soviet states bordering the world's largest inland sea.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Kazakhstan suspended work Monday on the Kashagan oil deposit operated by Italy’s Agip for three months for ecological violations, the government said.