A dispute between Belarus and OAO Gazprom that threatens to interrupt gas supplies to the European Union next week may lead to a more integrated EU energy policy and greater diversification of energy sources.
Gazprom changed a June demand that Belarus pays four times more for its gas next year into a request this week [...]

National Thermal Power Corp informed that the company will be signing a Memorandum of Agreement on December 29, 2006 with Government of Sri Lanka and Ceylon Electricity Board for development of a 2X250 MW coal based power project at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka.
The project would be developed through a joint venture company between the company [...]

Westar Energy, Inc. announced that it continues to evaluate potential plans and possible sites for a future base load coal plant, but that it is postponing a decision to allow further study. Earlier the company indicated that it expected to announce a preferred site for a plant by year end. The company cited sharply higher [...]

Environmental groups have appealed a state board’s approval of the air-quality permit for waste coal-fired power plant.
Wellington Development LLC officials have said the $800 million plant would be fueled by 3.1 million tons of waste coal from piles at abandoned mines in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties. The plant would burn 85 percent waste [...]

Independent Nickel Corp. has closed the non brokered flow-through financing of $2,800,000, announced on December 19, 2006.
The Company paid finder’s fees of $121,835 and issued 348,100 finder’s warrants in respect of the financing. Each finder’s warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a purchase price of $0.35 for a [...]

Lukoil has sold its 100% share in LUKOIL Shelf Limited and LUKOIL Overseas Orient Limited which owned and operated the Astra jackup to OOO Eurasia Drilling Company.
Transaction price was US$40.3 million.
The Astra is designed for offshore field exploration in the Caspian Sea, and represents a 3-pole platform with the mount height of 66 meters, which [...]

China plans to invest more than CNY1 trillion ($128 billion) by 2020 to convert coal to oil and chemicals, for which demand is stronger, the official China Daily reported Thursday, citing a government document.
The investment will be used for the production of coal-based oil, methanol, dimethyl ether and olefins, the report said, quoting a draft [...]

The board of San Antonio-based Exploration Co. has approved the company’s most ambitious drilling program ever, with plans to spend as much as $75 million to drill as many as 103 wells in 2007, company officials said Wednesday.
Drilling 103 wells would represent a 70 percent increase over 2006’s target of 60 wells. But Exploration [...]

The state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation informed that it has acquired second rig Atwood Beacon to expedite exploration drilling at its Krishna Godavari basin block, KG-OSN-2001/3.
The company planned to drill six more exploration wells in the block in 2007 and expects the third rig to join the project in July 2007. GSPC has so far [...]

Pakistan’s plan to mine parts of its border with Afghanistan has come under criticism from United Nation officials who said the move was likely to add to civilian casualties in the region, already proliferated with artillery. Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary on Tuesday had announced plans to mine and fence sections of its border with Afghanistan in [...]