Oil looms large on Bush-Putin summit agenda

Although Russia is a comparatively minor feeder of the US’ giant hunger for petroleum, concern over Russia’s oil industry is one of the main items on the agenda for this week’s summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush.

Turmoil over the breakup of Russia’s largest oil company Yukos has raised worries that the nation’s production could decline — driving up already-high world oil prices — and sparked questions about the rule of law, property rights and taxation policies. New restrictions on foreign bidding for the nation’s biggest oil and gas deposits deepened the unease for US oil companies looking to invest in projects to extract Russia’s massive reserves.