http://www.columbiatribune.com…
Published Monday, November 24, 2008
HAVANA (AP) - Russian oil companies could soon begin searching for oil in deep Gulf of Mexico waters off Cuba, a top diplomat said just days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the island.
Russian oil companies have “concrete projects” for drilling in Cuba’s part of the gulf, said Mijail Kamynin, Russia’s [...]

The increase in pirate attacks interests me, especially as Blackwater wants to take on that task. A little created terror, anyone?
http://blog.wired.com…
Indian Frigate 1, Pirate ‘Mother Ship’ 0
Noah Shachtman
A Somali pirate “mother ship” is now in flames, after a firefight with an Indian frigate in the Gulf of Aden.
The INS Tabar intercepted the pirate ship [...]

1. Pirates capture Saudi oil tanker…
Pirates have seized a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean off the Kenyan coast and are steering it towards Somalia, the US Navy reports.

2. CNN: Scooter Libby may have requested Bush pardon…
As President Bush gets closer to leaving the White House, expectations are mounting that he will follow [...]

Guardian.co.uk
Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:22 UTC
Tehran - Iran has converted financial reserves into gold to avoid future problems, an adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in comments published on Saturday, after the price of oil fell more than 60 percent from a peak in July.

http://www.legitgov.org…
KBR Awarded Disaster Relief Contract by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Under Initiative for Emergency Power
11 Nov 2008
KBR today announced it has been awarded a disaster relief contract, valued at up to $75 million [...]

1. Targeted L.A. restaurant donates to group challenging Prop. 8…
El Coyote Mexican Cafe came under fire after a manager gave $100 to the campaign to ban same-sex marriage. Employees make an online donation of $500 to an advocacy group challenging the ban.
2. El Coyote: Anger, Tears–and Maybe Hope?…
But protesters, the majority of whom were El [...]

http://www.nytimes.com…
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
BAGHDAD — North Oil, an Iraqi-owned company, has signed a contract with a Chinese state-owned oil corporation, CNPC, that was first negotiated during Saddam Hussein’s government, an official in Iraq’s Oil Ministry said Tuesday.
The deal is worth $3.5 billion, said the official, Ahmed al-Shamaa, the deputy oil minister. It is the first major [...]

1. Iraq Provincial Elections On For Jan 31st…
Finally, Iraqi authorities have confirmed the date of long-postponed provincial elections. There will be a roughly two month campaign season and elections on January 31.
2. Four More Years of Keith Olbermann…
MSNBC has voted for four more years of Keith Olbermann and the top-rated “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” it [...]

http://www.bloomberg.com…
Steven Bodzin and Jose Orozco
Venezuela and Russia agreed to form a $4 billion joint bank to pay for development projects, along with 14 other agreements between the oil-exporting countries.
Officials from OAO Gazprombank and state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela SA signed a memorandum of understanding between the two countries yesterday in Caracas, in a ceremony [...]

RIA Novosti
MEXICO CITY - A Russian floating platform will start to drill deep test wells on November 7 to prospect natural gas fields in the Gulf of Venezuela, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday.
In 2005, Gazprom won a tender to prospect and develop natural gas blocks Urumaco 1 and Urumaco 2 in the Gulf of [...]