...ources and to extend its influence towards the Indian Ocean. Two Saudi Arabian oil companies were also involved. During the same years, the Taliba... ...or of Political Friends, an independent Russian think-tank, in an interview in the Canadian daily, National Post. These are not trivial concerns. R... ...atives to Russian gas, for instance. As the recent $7 billion investment by British Petroleum proves, Russia - and, by extension, central and east ... ... denied by President Vladimir Putin in a phone call to Bush - and ridiculed by the companies ostensibly involved. Russia exported c. $5 billion of ... ... would insist on honoring all prewar contracts signed between Iraq and Russian oil companies and worth of billions of dollars - and on the repaymen... ... attractive investment opportunity as the recent takeover of Tyumen Oil by British Petroleum proves. Still, the long-term risk of being unseated by... ... really "just a farce" and its members mostly "petty despots" as Conrad Black, The Canadian media mogul, has it in recent interviews? Or, paradoxic... ...ddle Eastern petrochemicals sector is reliant on the kindness of strangers: Indian, Canadian, South Korean and, lately, Chinese. Singapore and Malay... ... that followed the atrocities in September 2001? Back to oil. According to British Petroleum's Statistical Review of World Energy 2002, the United ...