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Kazakhstan will have Chinese help in developing oil and gas resources on the continental shelf of the Caspian Sea, according to a joint communiqué issued last week. The two governments also agreed that they would build a natural gas pipeline to be completed by the end of 2009 to eventually pump some 30 billion cubic meters a year to China from Central Asia. (4/15, #4)

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Turkmenistan, Central Asia's top natural gas exporter, cut its gas production in the first quarter of 2008. Russia's Gazprom, currently the only buyer of Turkmen gas, agreed last year to pay $130 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) in the first half of 2008 and $160 per tcm in the second. In 2007 Gazprom bought Turkmen gas at $100 per tcm. (4/15, #5)

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The US, the world's biggest nuclear power producer, will start between four and eight new reactors in 2016 to 2017. The exact number will depend on manufacturers' capacity, electricity prices and capital costs. (4/15, #14)

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US crude oil imports from Venezuela fell 18.3 percent in February from January. The steep drop corresponds with Venezuela's Feb.12 decision to cut off oil sales to ExxonMobil Corp. March crude imports from Venezuela averaged 927,000 barrels a day, down 208,000 barrels a day from February, and 16.9 percent, or 188,000 barrels a day from a year earlier, according to the EIA data. (4/16, #6)

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Venezuelan lawmakers gave final approval to a new tax on oil companies meant to grab a bigger share of the windfall oil revenue in times of high prices. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the new tax should generate roughly $760 million a month, or more than $9 billion a year. The funds will go directly into the Fonden development fund, President Chavez's favorite spending fund.(4/16, # 8) Unlike the previous oil tax boosts, this latest move to tap more money from the oil sector will increase the tax burden on its own state oil company, hitting PDVSa harder than it will the private oil producers. (4/20, #7)

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Poland and Ukraine stepped up plans to extend an oil pipeline that bypasses Russia, a move that could help diversify supplies and reduce Moscow's energy clout in the region. Last October, Poland, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Lithuania set up the "Sarmatia" consortium to build a new pipeline by 2011. (4/16, #16)

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Baghdad and the Kurdish region government have reached a deal on an oil law, including a method for weighing the validity of the oil deals the Kurds have signed with foreign firms. US imports from Iraq averaged 780,000 b/d in February up 44 percent or 237,000 b/d over January. (4/17, #5, #6)