Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Moscow - Russia opened its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant Wednesday on the Pacific coast in a bid to reach new clients in Asia and the continental United States.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the plant based on Russia's Sakhalin Island only about 160 kilometres from Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

"It's a wonderful day, we have launched a large-scale project," Medvedev was quoted by Interfax as saying boisterously. "For us, especially, this is a new direction in our country's eastern policy."

Vienna  - The price for oil produced

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Expo

Paris

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned energy group Vattenfall on Thursday posted a drop in operating profits for the fourth quarter of 2008, and a slight decrease of its full-year electricity production.

Operating profit before tax and interest was 6.5 billion kronor (796 million dollars), down 2.8 per cent year-on-year.

Fourth-quarter turnover increased by 22 per cent to 46 billion kronor while a lower Swedish tax charge contributed to the 10 per cent net profit increase to 4 billion kronor, Vattenfall said.