Belarus seeks to reduce its near total dependence on Russian oil by diversifying the range of supplier countries and import routes. Belarus’ massive oil-processing industry is largely export-oriented and a top currency earner for the national economy. It processes some 22 million tons of crude... MORE

On December 11 in Ashgabat, the top officials of four participant countries signed agreements on a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, favored on and off (currently on again) by the US government. Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai, and Pakistan’s Asif Ali Zardari,... MORE

Framework agreements on a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) are scheduled for signing by high-level officials of the four countries on December 11 in Ashgabat (Turkmen Television, Press Trust of India, December 8, 9). Its economics and its political symbolism aside, TAPI’s implementation is hardly conceivable on... MORE

China and Burma (Myanmar) are reportedly finalizing a detailed plan that could start work on a high-speed railroad connecting the two countries in as quickly as two months, with some reports indicating that the railroad will be completed by 2015 (China Daily, November 22, Xinhua... MORE

Turkish Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, welcomed the recent progress in Turkey’s first nuclear power plant project that will be built by Russia and underscored Ankara’s determination to develop nuclear energy through foreign partnerships. Yildiz told reporters that Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, signed the inter-governmental agreement,... MORE

A few years ago it was common to refer to Russia as an “Energy Superpower.” High global energy prices prior to the global financial crisis and Russia’s control over Central Asian oil and gas exports underscored the seemingly irrefutable proposition of Moscow’s influence. Yet, this... MORE

Vienna’s Prosecutor Office announced on November 17 that it has brought charges against OMV’s oil and gas company CEO, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, following the Austrian financial regulators’ investigation into OMV’s sale of a large stake in Hungarian MOL to Russian Surgut Neftegaz (Austria Presseagentur, November 17,... MORE

The European Commission is calling for changes to the Bulgarian-Russian inter-governmental agreement on the South Stream gas project. The project agreements, just signed for the Bulgarian section of this Gazprom-led project (EDM, November 16) are also generating serious complications in and for Bulgaria.On November 15... MORE

Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and Gazprom CEO, Aleksei Miller, have collected Bulgaria’s signature on the South Stream project on November 13 (“Bulgaria Rejoins Gazprom’s South Stream Project,” EDM, November 16).The signing marks the latest move in a rapid expansion of Kremlin-controlled energy companies into... MORE

On November 13 in Sofia, Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and his Bulgarian counterpart, Boyko Borissov, witnessed the signing of Bulgaria’s accession to Gazprom’s South Stream project (Interfax, BTA, Novinite, November 13, 14; Dnevnik, 24 Chasa, November 14, 15; Kommersant, Vedomosti, November 15, 16).Bulgaria holds... MORE