Russian energy summit seeks to chart new era

Global energy security will be the focus of a summit of top producers and consumers in Moscow next week, with prospects for a new era of international cooperation clouded by political rows and vested interests.

Russia hosts energy officials from the Group of Eight nations, the OPEC oil export cartel and the booming economies of China and India — where explosive energy demand is outstripping supply and keeping oil prices at a heady $60 a barrel.

..Russia, which supplies Europe with 30 percent of its energy needs, has raised oil output by half since Putin took office in 2000. But its output growth is slowing and analysts see the world continuing to rely on the Middle East for many years.

Reuters