Oceania
Rival trade pacts vie for Pacific hegemony
China is proposing a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) in a race with the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.
Tag: control of oil
East Asia
China and Japan can’t stop fighting World War II
China impounds a Japanese vessel over an unpaid wartime debt, as Japan builds a military base near the disputed Senkaku Islands. This World War II nostalgia is getting too real.
Europe
Ukraine, austerity and gas
The IMF imposes austerity on Ukraine as Russia jacks up gas prices. Meanwhile, the global industry exploits the crisis to fast-track exports of fracked gas as a "lever against Russia."
Iraq
Iraq: oil output surges —with terror attacks
Iraq's oil production surged to its highest level in over 30 years last month—as insurgent and terrorist attacks claim more lives than at any time since 2007.
North Africa
Libya: North Korea oil export to spark civil war?
Pressure is mounting on Tripoli to act against "federalist" rebels in Cyrenaica after they allowed a North Korean-flagged tanker to ship from a port under their control.
Europe
Ukraine crisis threatens Russian pipeline plans
In light of the Crimea crisis, the EU is reconsidering approval of Russia's pending South Stream and Nord Stream pipelines, that would strategically bypass Ukraine.
North Africa
Libya: parliament, oil-field targeted by protesters
Libya's parliament moved to a Tripoli hotel after armed demonstrators stormed the building, while a key oil-field remains under occupation by Tuareg protesters.
Central America
Costa Rica to sue Nicaragua over offshore oil blocs
Costa Rica is preparing a new complaint against Nicaragua at The Hague, accusing Managua of offering Costa Rican maritime territory to international oil companies.
Greater Middle East
Syria: NATO intervention —against al-Qaeda?
A Turkish military incursion against Qaedist rebels in Syria comes amid claims that al-Qaeda affiliates have seized the country's oilfields and are planning attacks on the West.
Africa
South Sudan: Yes, another war for oil
South Sudan may be developing into proxy war, pitting US client states Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia against Khartoum in a struggle for control of pipeline routes.
Central America
Panama, Nicaragua canal plans stalled
Amid multiple legal challenges, Nicaragua's interoceanic canal project could be delayed for a year, while the rival Panama Canal expansion faces massive cost overruns.
The Andes
ELN bomb Colombia oil pipeline infrastructure
Colombia's ELN guerillas blew up four crude-oil holding pools along the Caño Limon pipeline, sparking a large blaze and causing the local population to flee.