Energy

Crude Oil Trades Near $48 as U.S. Recession Deepens, Stockpiles Increase Crude oil traded little changed after falling yesterday on signs the economy in the U.S., the world’s biggest energy consumer, contracted further in November and December, pushing oil inventories higher.

Apache, Santos Seek to Revive $651 Million Australian Natural Gas Project Apache Corp. and Santos Ltd. are seeking to revive a A$900 million ($651 million) natural gas project in Australia after signing an accord to sell the fuel to an iron ore venture proposed by Citic Pacific Ltd.

Russia Reduces Natural-Gas Supply to Europe in Price Dispute With Ukraine OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas-export monopoly, threatened to cut gas deliveries through Ukraine if it holds up fuel meant for customers in central and western Europe.

Nippon Oil, Nippon Mining to Cut Mizushima Refining Capacity on Low Demand Nippon Oil Corp. and Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., which last month agreed to merge and form Japan's largest refining company, plan to reduce processing capacity at two of their refineries to cope with falling demand.

PetroChina's Biggest Refinery Processes 7% More Crude as New Units Start PetroChina Co. increased crude-oil processing at its biggest refinery by 7 percent to a record last year after new units started operations.

Obama May Use Chavez as First Test for Pledge to Engage With Adversaries In a mirrored office tower overlooking Caracas, a top Venezuelan official says his government is ready to accept Barack Obama’s offer to talk with U.S. adversaries -- if the president-elect scraps George W. Bush’s division of the world into friends and foes.

Skilling's Fraud Conviction Upheld in Enron Collapse; Resentencing Ordered A U.S. appeals court upheld ex-Enron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling’s fraud conviction while ordering him resentenced due to a procedural mistake, a decision some experts said is unlikely to significantly change his 24-year prison sentence.

Dow to Seek More Than $2.5 Billion in Damages After Kuwait Cancels Venture Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker, plans to seek more than $2.5 billion from Kuwait for canceling a joint-venture agreement and will consider a new partner to invest in its basic-plastics business.

Gran Tierra Energy Has 70-80 Percent of Oil Production Offline in Colombia Gran Tierra Energy Inc., a Canadian oil company drilling wells in southern Colombia, lost as much as 80 percent of its production since late November as protests over pyramid schemes shut down pipeline access.

Taiwan's November Coal Imports Drop 10% as Economic Slowdown Curbs Demand Taiwan, which imports all of its coal, reduced purchases by 10 percent from a year earlier in November as demand from steelmakers and electricity producers dropped.

Vietnam May Raise Electricity Prices by 5% This Year, Tuoi Tre Reports Vietnam may increase electricity prices by as much as 9.5 percent this year, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing Deputy Trade Minister Bui Xuan Khu.

Nymex Gas Falls on Concern Demand Will Fall Further as Recession Deepens Natural gas in New York fell on concern demand for the fuel will decline further as a recession deepens.

OPEC Oil Production Fell 475,000 Barrels a Day in December, Survey Shows OPEC, supplier of more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, cut output 1.5 percent in December to the lowest in 16 months to counter the first annual drop in prices since 2001, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Medvedev Says Gazprom Supplies to Europe `Deteriorating' Due to Dispute OAO Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev talks with Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua about Russia's dispute with Ukraine over natural gas prices and transit fees and the impact on supplies to Europe.

Commerzbank's Weinberg Says Ukraine Reserves `Comfortable' in Gas Dispute Eugen Weinberg, a senior commodity analyst at Commerzbank AG, talks with Bloomberg's Rishaad Salamat about the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Zero Growth in China Is '09 Black Swan Event: Commentary by William Pesek Anyone who said a year ago that China’s economy was crisis-bound was dismissed out of hand. Today, skeptics have lots of company.

Taiwan's November Coal Imports Drop 10% as Economic Slowdown Curbs Demand Taiwan, which imports all of its coal, reduced purchases by 10 percent from a year earlier in November as demand from steelmakers and electricity producers dropped.

Vietnam May Raise Electricity Prices by 5% This Year, Tuoi Tre Reports Vietnam may increase electricity prices by as much as 9.5 percent this year, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing Deputy Trade Minister Bui Xuan Khu.

Nymex Gas Falls on Concern Demand Will Fall Further as Recession Deepens Natural gas in New York fell on concern demand for the fuel will decline further as a recession deepens.

OPEC Oil Production Fell 475,000 Barrels a Day in December, Survey Shows OPEC, supplier of more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, cut output 1.5 percent in December to the lowest in 16 months to counter the first annual drop in prices since 2001, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

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