Energy Blast – Oct 31, 2008

A boost in the price of crude oil helped Russia’s stocks to surge 20% yesterday, but the fluctuations in price are forcing some US oil majors to stall projects. Despite a record profit this quarter, Exxon Mobil is struggling to keep up with oil-producing nations who are keeping more oil for themselves in the face of falling prices. Moscow’s peacemakers working on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ‘are probably more concerned with increasing their political and economic influence in the crucial energy corridor’ of the Caspian.