Energy & Oil

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  New challenges for Russian takeover of Spain's Repsol

  Spanish bank La Caixa is no longer in talks with Russia's LUKOIL to sell all or part of its 12.7% stake in oil firm Repsol, it announced on Monday in a one paragraph stock exchange announcement.

• Sunday, December 28th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil unveils plan to expand ethanol sales in Asian market

  Brazil's giant oil and gas corporation Petrobras has plans to open next year its first service stations in Japan to promote the distribution of ethanol, of which Brazil is the world's second leading producer, according to a report from O Estado de Sao Paulo. Petrobras already operates an oil refinery in Japan.

• Saturday, December 27th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Landlocked Paraguay short of fuel because of shallow rivers

  

  Land locked Paraguay is suffering a shortage of fuel because a serious drought has left the main river, and lifeline, too shallow for vessels with a plus ten feet draught, according to the capital Asunción press.

• Wednesday, December 24th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Era of cheap gas is coming to an end warns Russia's Putin

  The era of cheap gas is coming to an end, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told ministers from the world's major gas-exporting countries. Putin said the cost of extracting gas was rising sharply therefore “the era of cheap energy resources, of cheap gas, is of course coming to an end”.

• Saturday, December 20th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Europe Asia plagued by recession and internet collapse

  Internet and phone communications between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have been seriously disrupted after submarine cables were severed. It is thought the FLAG FEA, SMW4, and SMW3 lines, near the Alexandria cable station in Egypt, have all been cut. A fault was also reported on the GO submarine cable 130km off Sicily.

• Saturday, December 20th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Oil price collapses in spite of promises of further supply cuts

  OPEC will continue to cut crude production until prices stabilize said the cartel's president Chakib Jelil on Friday during a conference of oil producing and consuming countries in London.

• Saturday, December 20th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  OPEC asks “confused” PM Brown to also look at high oil taxes

  Oil producers rounded on UK PM Gordon Brown on Friday for complaining about prices while raking in huge fuel taxes. A senior OPEC figure branded the Prime Minister “confused” for demanding the cartel maintained output levels to control prices rather than reducing domestic duty.

• Thursday, December 18th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Oil hovers near $40 despite record OPEC cut

  

  U.S. crude hovered near $40 a barrel on Thursday, around its lowest price since July 2004, amid doubts in OPEC's ability to curb output quickly after the group announced record production cuts.

• Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile helps Paraguay crack neighbours' “energy siege”

  

  Energy rich Paraguay and Chile reached an agreement for the supply of electricity which will transmitted through Argentine territory and at “a considerable higher value than that paid by Brazil”.

• Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Oil markets more focused on mounting reserves than OPEC

  

  OPEC announced Wednesday an unprecedented production cut of 2.2 million barrels a day in an effort to shore up the price of crude. It's the biggest production cut in the history of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries which pumps more than a third of the world's daily crude supply.