Crude hits 10-month high after Saudi pipelines blast

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229508.html

Oil prices have soared to their highest level in the past ten months following reports of an explosion of pipelines in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

Brent North Sea crude is trading at nearly $ 127 per barrel while West Texas Intermediate is trading above $ 109 a barrel.

Meanwhile, light, sweet crude for April delivery soared to as high as $110.55 a barrel after it settled for Thursday at $108.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.77 from Wednesday's closing level. Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange also rose to $128.40 a barrel.

On Thursday evening, an explosion in Saudi Arabian city of Awamiyah in the east of the kingdom destroyed the pipelines feeding one of the most important oil hubs in the world.

The major pipeline starts in Abqaiq and ends at Ras Tanrua oil terminal carrying nearly six million barrels of oil every day.

Last week, oil prices rose to a nine-month high due to Iran's cutting of crude exports to certain European Union states in response to the EU oil sanctions imposed against Iran.

Azeri police disperse anti-govt. rally

Azerbaijan's police officers detain opposition activists taking part in an anti-government rally in central Baku, on April 2, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172767.html

Azeri riot police have attacked and dispersed a rally of anti-government protesters, who were calling for democratic reforms, in the capital city of Baku

On Saturday, Azeri riot police prevented protesters from Musavat and Popular Front opposition parties from gathering in Baku's Fountains Square by sealing off the streets leading to the square, an IRIB correspondent reported.

Protesters demanded that the government resigns and cried, “We want freedom."

Leader of the Musavat opposition Party Isa Qambar says more than 200 protesters have been arrested.

The Baku Prosecutor General's Office had summoned Qambar and chairman of Popular Front party Ali Karimli, warning them against organizing the rally on Saturday.

Azeri authorities had taken security measures in Baku and other cities, and arrested tens of members of Musavat and Popular Front parties during past week.

The Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, which had not supported the April 2 rally, has announced that it would probably hold a rally in Azadliq Square on April 8.

The Baku government's anti-religion agenda has caused uproar in the predominantly Muslim nation. Baku bans Azeris from openly observing their religious rites.

Protesters want to the government to respect religious values and prevent Azerbaijan from falling into a crisis.

Muslim communities in Azerbaijan blame the growing non-democratic secularism in the country on Tel Aviv and accuse Israel of being behind anti-Islamic programs in the country.

Shia Muslims make up a vast majority of the population in Azerbaijan.

New pipeline to link Caspian Sea to PG

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159513.html


Iran plans to construct an oil pipeline which links the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, the deputy oil minister and director of the Iranian National Oil Company says.

“Currently, this pipeline is in the planning stage, and when completed, it will have the capacity to transfer the oil output from the Caspian Sea's oil producing states to the Persian Gulf,” Seifollah Jashnsaz told reporters in the southern Khark Island.

“With the opening of the Jask oil pipeline, the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf are to be linked," he added.

Jashnsaz said the 1,550-kilometer pipeline is expected to be completed within five years.

He said a budget of USD 3-3.5 billion has been allocated for the project.

Turkish pipeline ablaze after blast

Iraqi workers repair a damaged pipeline in 2004.


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133272§ionid=351020204


An explosion has blown up a section of a pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to southern Turkey and set it on fire.

The blast occurred on Saturday near the town of Midyat in the southeastern province of Mardin, but the cause is still unknown, Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported.

Firefighters have arrived on the scene, but the fire is still raging, according to the latest reports.

The 970-kilometer (600-mile) twin conduit pipeline begins in Iraq's northern oil hub of Kirkuk and ends in the port of Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, from where the crude is shipped to world markets by tanker.

Last year, the pipeline carried 167.6 million barrels of oil, according to Turkish government statistics.

Over the past few years, the pipeline has been targeted several times by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast for 26 years.

The PKK militants launch their attacks from Iraq's Qandil Mountains in the areas under the control of Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani. Israel and Israeli firms are also operating in the Qandil mountain range.

Clinton arrives in Baku

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133273§ionid=351020406



US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has flown to Azerbaijan's capital where she is scheduled to hold talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.

Clinton arrived in Baku overnight on Saturday and is to discuss regional issues in the Caucasus with Aliyev.

Among the issues high on the agenda will be the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is currently controlled by ethnic Armenians.

At the Group of Eight summit in Toronto last week, Russia and the US called for a "peaceful solution" to the conflict and urged the leaders of the two countries to "start working on a peace accord."

On Friday, Clinton was in Ukraine as part of her major tour of Russia's near abroad, where she told officials in Kiev that the door to NATO membership was still open.

The visit came amid concerns over Ukraine's shrinking economy.

In late 2009, the International Monetary Fund decided to halt disbursement of a $16.4 billion rescue loan package due to Kiev's violations of the fund's austerity rules.

Clinton said the United States was ready to help Ukraine by investing in its energy industry "including in the nuclear energy sector, as well as helping developing the gas sector."

The Ukrainian energy sector suffered a major blow in early 2009 after a dispute between Kiev and Moscow over the former's outstanding gas debts led the latter to stop its energy exports to Ukraine.

Following her visit to Baku, the US secretary of state is also scheduled to make brief stops in Armenia and Georgia on Monday.