Oil looms large on Bush-Putin summit agenda

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2005/02/23/2003224295

ENERGY SECURITY: Amid the breakup of Yukos, the US is concerned that oil production in Russia -- the world's main non-OPEC supplier -- could decline

AP , MOSCOW
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005,Page 12
Although Russia is a comparatively minor feeder of the US' giant hunger for petroleum, concern over Russia's oil industry is one of the main items on the agenda for this week's summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush.

Turmoil over the breakup of Russia's largest oil company Yukos has raised worries that the nation's production could decline -- driving up already-high world oil prices -- and sparked questions about the rule of law, property rights and taxation policies. New restrictions on foreign bidding for the nation's biggest oil and gas deposits deepened the unease for US oil companies looking to invest in projects to extract Russia's massive reserves.

Russia provided only about 1.9 percent of the US' crude oil imports as of December, according to the US Department of Energy, but its vast untapped reserves and its contribution to the world oil supply make upheaval in Russia's energy sector a significant issue for Washington.

Yukos Chief Executive Steven Theede told a US Senate committee last week that the destruction of Yukos and the jailing of its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky directly endanger America's energy security. The strength of the US economy depends largely on the stability and reliability of global oil supplies to maintain it, he said.

Bush, in an interview with the ITAR-Tass news agency, said of the oil issue: "The dialogue is `You've got a lot of it and we don't have much' ... But Russia has to make up her mind as to whether or not she wants to attract outside capital, which is really what the energy dialogue is about."

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[brokensymmetry]

1. Peak Oil?

I think so. And when it hits, everything changes...

[cthrumatrix]

2. I thought "democracy" was the BIG thing on the agenda .....???????

like Iraq

[LynnTheDem]

3. Democracy = Oil. Same thing, to bush & his Cartel.

It's just the silly ignorant rightwingnut rubes who haven't caught onto this yet. bush doesn't want to shock them into reality, hence the codeword "democracy".

;)