Saudi crude exports to China have surged, strengthening the Asian country's hand in a price dispute with Iran.
Last month's exports of Saudi crude to China rose by 32 per cent over the same period last year to 4.81 million barrels per day (bpd), almost half of the kingdom's current production, Chinese customs data released yesterday showed.

• December 21, 2011

Ukraine wants to pay its sole gas supplier Russia no more than $250 per thousand cubic metres, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Wednesday.

• December 21, 2011

Truth be told, the worst thing in the world that could happen – next to a nuclear war between Pakistan and India – would be a nuclear conflict in northeast Asia and the Korean peninsula. In both cases, millions, or tens of millions, could die. And it’s possible to envision a disoriented, paranoid North Korean leadership triggering a war with South Korea and its allies, with the ever-present danger that such a war could escalate if North Korea used its stockpile of nuclear bombs. In addition, the flow of countless refugees across the border into China would likely involve Beijing in the crisis instantly.

• December 20, 2011

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev discussed the possibility of Kyrgyzgaz's privatization by Gazprom with the company's head Aleksey Miller in Moscow on Monday, RIA-Novosti reports.

• December 20, 2011

Ukraine will reach a compromise deal with Russia on gas supplies in a few days, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Monday, contradicting previous statements by Moscow which expected no deal to be made this year.

• December 19, 2011

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received an official statement from Bulgaria confirming the Balkan country's decision to abandon the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

• December 15, 2011

Russia, hoping to keep its largest export market from collapsing, will give at least $10 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help support the struggling euro currency, an aide to President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

• December 15, 2011

President Serzh Sargsyan invited Italian companies to participate in the implementation of various projects in Armenia, including the construction of a new unit for Armenian nuclear power plant during a meeting with Italy’s president Giorgio Napolitano, Sargsyan’s press office reported Tuesday.

• December 14, 2011