December 26th, 2007:

Vidya Ram, 12.26.07, 2:30 PM ET
 
Iran doesn’t seem to be having any problems finding allies willing to help it develop its petroleum resources, whatever the objections of the U.S. government.

Iranian National Oil and Malaysia’s SKS Ventures signed a $6 billion contract to develop the Golshan and Ferdows offshore gas fields in Iran, which contain an estimated 60 trillion cubic feet of gas, Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Wednesday. He said that a second part of the deal to build plants to produce liquefied natural gas worth $10 billion would soon be ready for signing. read more

Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:12pm GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 (Reuters) – A fire broke out at Royal Dutch Shell’s oil refinery in the southwestern Malaysian town of Port Dickson on Wednesday, temporarily disrupting operations, the Star newspaper said in its online edition.

The fire, the second in five weeks, started at 6.45 A.M. (2245 GMT) and caused minor damage to the refinery’s flare stack, it quoted Shell as saying. The fire was extinguished about 20 minutes later.

“There were no casualties and no one was injured in the incident. There is minimal asset damage on the flare stack and activities to normalise operations were in progress,” it said. read more

11:13 AM CST on Wednesday, December 26, 2007
By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

WASHINGTON – Investors and ethanol producers, most of them in the Midwest, cheered last week when President Bush gave new life to the foundering fuel by approving a new national mandate for its use.

But so did some producers in Texas, where researchers say they’re making progress growing special crops that can make ethanol without the negatives of corn – too much water and land, and a tendency to drive up food prices. read more

By Celestine Bohlen
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

PARIS: During a visit this month to Paris, the Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, a one-time international pariah, thumbed his nose at his French hosts, accusing them of violating women’s rights and treating African immigrants poorly.

Halfway through Qaddafi’s stay, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, explained why he put up with his guest’s provocative antics: business. “I am really engaged in the battle for contracts,” he said. read more

Dec. 26, 2007

Gazprom opposes development of Russia’s subsoil by foreign companies, RIA Novosti reported with reference to Gazprom Deputy Executive Alexander Ananenkov.

According to Ananenkov, he wouldn’t like the situation with Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects to occur again. In essence, Ananenkov’s words could be viewed as response to the recent statement of Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev.

Under the government’s decision, Trutnev said, the companies with majority ownership of foreign capital would be able to bid at tenders for Russia’s strategic fields and deposits. The respective procedures are spelled out in amendments to the Subsoil Act, the minister pointed out. read more

EXTRACT: She helped coordinate a long struggle against Royal Dutch Shell, which drilled for oil in Nigeria’s Ogoni region without compensating the villagers. In early 1993, 300,000 people protested against Shell. Its executives pressured Nigeria’s government, and in 1994, 30 Ogoni villages were massacred. Leading activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged, and other protesters fled for their lives.

Stuart Low
Staff writer

(December 26, 2007) — Nwinle Anaa’s most treasured Christmas gifts this year were her five children. read more