India orders RIL to supply gas
The Indian government ordered the private company Reliance Industries Ltd. to supply gas to Maharashtra state's Dabhol power plant once it begins production at its Andhra offshore fields, The Times of India reported.
The order requires RIL to provide similar supplies to other power plants, but it did not offer supplies to state-owned NTPC, India's largest power producer.
RIL will have to wait to produce gas at its Andhra fields, though, because there are two pending court cases that it is involved in right now.
The Bombay High Court has put a hold on RIL, and it's not allowed to begin producing until another case is resolved over a contractual violation filed by Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.
Once RIL is allowed to begin producing, it will have to give 40 percent of its natural gas to the power sector.
Cyprus pushes Mediterranean exploration
A Norwegian company commissioned by the Cypriot government will continue to explore for oil in the Mediterranean Sea despite a conflict with Turkey's government, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Turkey and Cyprus have been in an escalating conflict over, among other things, access to the Mediterranean Sea.
Cypriot President Demetris Christofias accused Turkey of harassing oil researchers operating within its economic zone, but Antonis Paschalides, commerce, industry and tourism minister of Cyprus, said they will go on with their exploration.
Cyprus has signed agreements with Egypt and Lebanon delineating undersea borders for the division of the oil and gas exploration rights, but not yet with Turkey.
Turkey has no diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cyprus; instead it supports, economically and militarily, the breakaway "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus."
Algeria invites Russia to join OPEC
Algeria's energy minister, Chakib Khelil, who is also the OPEC president, announced he has invited Russia, Norway and Mexico to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
If those nations do not choose to join OPEC, they were asked by Khelil to at least make similar production cuts to aid in bringing oil prices back up to around $75 per barrel, the Tehran Times reported.
"What we really want is for these countries to become members of OPEC," Khelil said. "I don't see why Russia can't be a full-fledged member of the organization. It's the best way to express solidarity."
Khelil made the announcement as crude oil reached a three-and-a-half-year low, with prices falling below $45 per barrel Thursday.
OPEC has been calling on its members to reverse or at least halt falling global oil prices.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said last week that Moscow had prepared a draft memorandum on cooperation with OPEC.
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Closing oil prices, Dec. 5, 3 p.m., London
Brent Crude oil: $44.70
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $46.53
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