Gazprom’s acquisition of a majority stake in NIS is Russia’s “first big reward for supporting Serbia in trying to stop Kosovo from declaring unilateral independence”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has asked Libya to release the head of oil giant Lukoil‘s overseas office in Libya who was detained in late 2007 and reportedly involved in a commercial spy case. The United States agreed to join an energy summit in Kiev later this year, a move that supports Ukraine‘s attempts to arrange alternatives to Russian supplies of crude oil and natural gas. Russia’s oil exports to China in 2007 amounted to 14.5 million tonnes, 9% lower than in 2006. New data from the Fuel and Energy Dispatch Cente says that Russian oil companies increased exploration drilling by 20.6% in 2007. Russia-focused Imperial Energy said its Russian-registered hydrocarbon reserves grew 229% last year to 372 million barrels of oil equivalent.