WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Italy to get more gas in 2008
Italian oil and gas company Eni will have fewer concerns about its gas supplies as it expects a 20 percent increase in the country's import capacity following the completion of a number of major new projects, Paolo Scaroni, chief executive, said.
"Next winter will be the last when we may have risks of problems with gas supplies," he told a conference.
The projects include an 8 billion cubic meter offshore liquefied natural gas import terminal at Rovigo, slated for the end of 2008, and two gas import pipeline upgrades: the expansion of the Transmed pipeline from Algeria from 27 bcm to 33.5 bcm and the expansion of a further pipeline from Russia.
Italy imports 85 percent of its natural gas demand from imports, and the country aims to diversify its supplies after experiencing shortfalls in Russian imports in early 2006 during a particularly cold winter.
Ukraine, Russia in swap deal talks
Top officials from Russia and Ukraine held talks about the possibility of Russia allowing Ukraine to develop its gas deposits in return for a share in a consortium to run Ukraine's gas transport system.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian foreign minister, said Russia is considering the deal.
Speaking during a studio interview on 5 Kanal, Yatsenyuk said: "The gas transport consortium is not going anywhere for the time being, because the proposal about the possibility of extracting gas in the Russian Federation that was made several months ago has not been elaborated. For the time being, these proposals are fanciful. It is wrong to work on such things without, in the first place, having a clear understanding of the role and the mission of the Ukrainian gas transport system."
Yatsenyuk continued: "It is necessary first to sort out the issue of the effective operation of (state oil and gas company) Naftohaz Ukrayiny, and only then move on to the problematic issues -- these are extraction of gas in Russia, deliveries, changing the intermediaries, and our demands that concern a move to exclusively interstate relations in the energy sphere."
Speaking at a news conference in the Kremlin on Feb. 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "I would like to meet (Ukrainian President) Viktor Yushchenko in the near future, and possibly the chairman of the Ukrainian government, to discuss their proposals, which are currently being worked on at the level of experts in Russia, too. These proposals are about pooling the assets: our Ukrainian partners would like not only to set up a gas transport consortium; they would also like to have a share of the extraction assets in Russia. As a rule, we do not do this. But if we agreed to this when building relations with our European partners -- for example with Germany's BASF, I believe we shall soon settle things with E.ON, and we have agreed it in principle with Italy's Eni -- then why should we not do it with the Ukrainians?"
Court slams gas project under Long Island Sound
Connecticut officials declared a decisive victory Monday in the court fight against a 40-mile proposed natural gas pipeline under Long Island Sound.
According to the Hartford Courant, Connecticut officials have objected to the project because of concerns about what effect dredging operations would have on water quality and underwater habitats, including those for oysters and clams. At the same time, they questioned what benefits the state might get from the project, since the pipeline's main purpose is to increase the natural gas supply on Long Island.
But after seven years and tens of millions of dollars, KeySpan Energy and Spectra Energy -- the two companies behind the proposal -- may not be abandoning the project. The two companies said plans by a third company, Iroquois Gas Transmission System, to increase the capacity of an existing cross-Sound pipeline was not a reason to abandon the pipeline plans.
Judge Stefan R. Underhill in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport reversed a 2004 ruling by U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans that had cleared the way for the project to proceed.
The Commerce Department, which can appeal Underhill's ruling, declined comment Monday, the Hartford Courant reported.
The companies can appeal Underhill's ruling. In addition, they are awaiting a ruling from the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on a water-quality permit needed to start construction but that the Department of Environmental Protection has twice denied.
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Closing oil prices, Aug. 22, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $69.36
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $70.70
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