Despite facing gas production shortfalls (relative to internal and external supply commitments) post-2010, Russia is multiplying its supply offers to European consumer countries through South Stream and other pipeline projects. Gazprom signed bilateral agreements on building South Stream with state-controlled Italian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian... MORE

On a December morning in 1973, an ear-splitting blast ripped through the fashionable Salamanca district of Madrid, shaking the walls of this reporter’s home. The first frenzied reports on the Spanish state-controlled media spoke of a gas main explosion.  A journalist’s instinct said this was... MORE

On May 21 the newly elected Moldovan parliament fell one vote short of the three-fifths majority necessary for electing the head of state. All the 60 deputies from the nominally communist party voted for the party's presidential candidate, incumbent Prime Minister Zenaida Greceanai, who is... MORE

Gazprom's extensive network of loyalists, often act as "men of sacrifice," devoted to cleansing the image of the Russian state owned gas monopoly. Working out of a modern office building in Berlin owned by Gazprom Germania, a German registered company fully owned by Gazprom Export... MORE

Gas and oil supplies to energy-hungry Europe have always featured as the key topic in talks between Astana and EU officials, concerning Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship in 2010. Stifled by the precarious situation in the energy sector, the EU has often ignored the heavy-handedness of the... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has launched a major reshuffle of his team ahead of the upcoming presidential election and a possible early parliamentary election. Yushchenko accepted the resignation of the controversial head of his secretariat, Viktor Baloha, and replaced him with his long-time ally Vira... MORE

Moldova's newly elected legislature convened for its first full-fledged sitting on May 12 and elected the outgoing head of state, Vladimir Voronin, as Chairman of Parliament. Having completed two presidential terms (2001-2009), and barred by the constitution from seeking a third, Voronin continues as acting... MORE

With its underdeveloped multi-party system and state institutions, dysfunctional law-enforcement and internal security apparatus, budget revenues drying up amid an international financial crisis, and the unresolved Transnistria conflict simmering on the back burner, Moldova now faces the risk of a constitutional crisis.The nominal Communist Party,... MORE

On May 16 in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL signed an agreement to acquire a 10 percent stake in Pearl Petroleum, the holder of exploration and production rights in two gas fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The... MORE

On May 7, in Prague, the Eastern Partnership Project (EPP) was initiated with the participation of Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Belarus. Perhaps reflecting a response to the concerns of several European leaders, Belarus was not represented by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka or Prime Minister... MORE