From Russia with Love

                            We need jobs.  We need energy.  We need a new administration.
 

According to the initial plan, Russia will supply 68 billion cubic meters of gas annually through two pipelines to China for at least 30 years.

China's apparent consumption of natural gas, which includes domestic production and imports, but excludes exports, reached about 100 billion cu m last year.

"China didn't take the chance to solve the price disparity issues during the financial crisis when prices were low. We hope the meeting between the two countries' top leaders will help accelerate the pace of negotiations and lead to major breakthroughs," Sheng said.

However, he said it's not easy to reach any conclusions when energy prices are rising.

An almost 1,000-kilometer oil pipeline linking China and Russia became operational on Jan 1.

It is scheduled to transport 15 million tons of crude oil from Russia to China annually for 20 years. Prior to the pipeline, Russian oil was transported to China by rail.

Sino-Russian cooperation in the energy sector, including petroleum, gas, coal, electricity, and renewable energy, still has big potential, Li Hui, China's ambassador to Russia, said.

"The two countries' cooperation will provide a cash infusion for Russia, while reducing China's heavy reliance on oil imports from the Middle East for the sake of energy security," said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.

Industry experts expected that China's foreign oil dependence ratio will grow to 60 percent after reaching a new high of 55 percent in 2010.

Obama Admin Objects to Alaska Oil and Gas Development Bill

"We have a permitting problem, we don't have a leasing problem," Murkowski said, pointing to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to deny a bridge proposal by ConocoPhillips to access its lease in NPR-A. The decision was remanded late last year by the agency's Pacific Division.
The Army Corp said it is waiting to receive more information from the company on the "logistical probability of directional drilling" for a project that would involve a pipeline underneath the Colville River and a "roadless" drill site. No timeline has been set to issue a decision on the remanded permit.
"Producing oil and natural gas in the NPR-A is pointless if there's no way to get it out of there," said Hastings, fresh off a trip last week to NPR-A with Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R). "The real problem is the federal government's blocking and delaying of permits for necessary roads, bridges and pipelines needed to transport the energy out of the NPR-A."