Seeking Iraq’s oil prize
The Iraqi government that emerges from Sunday’s election may open its oil business to foreign investment, and international petroleum companies are jockeying to curry favor with the war-torn country.
Geopolitics & Military
Transatlantic alliance to secure fuel supplies
Oil consumers on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday outlined plans to secure energy supplies and reduce consumption amid growing concern over rising oil prices, potential terrorist threats and surging demand from avoracious China.
Chinese VP in Caracas to sign deals
Venezuela has hailed the visit of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong as a productive trip that will yield several multi-billion trade deals, mainly in the oil and gas sectors.
Japan vows to protect gas field from China
Japan says it will protect its offshore energy resources after its navy spotted two Chinese destroyers near a disputed gas field in the East China Sea.
The scramble for oil is globalizing the G-7
The Group of 7 leading industrialized nations is not what it used to be. That was amply demonstrated during the energy scare last year, when the most powerful economies stood impotent in the face of surging energy costs that threatened global growth.
Venezuela sidelines US oil companies
Access to some of the most coveted oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere is at stake, with Venezuela exporting about 1.2 million barrels of oil a day to the United States, or nearly 15 percent of American imports. But the overtures to the Chinese, Russians and Iranians have added to worries among private oil companies that Venezuelan policies toward them are becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Tehran Bomb Threats – China To The Rescue?
(Op-Ed) It seems rather unlikely that China would stand idly by and see Iran bombed ‘for the good of humanity’ and other strange reasons advanced from the deep and dark recesses of Washington think tanks.
U.S. tab for war closes in on $300B – six times original estimate
U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for another $80 billion for the war in Iraq, bringing the price tag for that invasion and ongoing operations in Afghanistan close to $300 billion, six times the original White House estimate.
OPEC and Bush 2’s New Economy rhetoric
OPEC no longer controls oil prices. This is not, as neoconservatives predicted, because a ‘liberated’ Iraq has broken ranks and flooded the market with cheap oil.
China’s VP heads to Latin America on trade visit
China’s Vice-President Zeng Qinghong headed for Latin America and the Caribbean on Sunday on a quest to feed the booming Chinese economy’s growing appetite for natural resources and energy.
The horror of Depleted Uranium is not limited to Iraq – it may well be at our doorsteps.
James Denver argues that the spreading of depleted uranium in Iraq may rank with the worst atrocities of all time.
U.S. Companies Eye Trans-Afghan Pipeline
American companies might join a long-delayed trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline project expected to be launched in 2006, the U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan said Tuesday.
