The indefinite strike by thousands of executives of public sector oil companies from Tuesday till December 2, has been deferred by one week.

In a press release, Amit Kumar, President, Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA), said an understanding had been reached between the association and the Union cabinet. He said that the association has received assurances from the central government that their demand for wage revision will be taken up for consideration by the Union Cabinet in this period.

“The Cabinet will meet on November 20 to take up the proposal for higher wages for PSU staff. In view of this, we have deferred the strike by one week,'' said Kumar.

Maputo - South Africa has partnered up with energy-rich Mozambique to build a new power station aimed at relieving energy shortages in Africa's largest economy before the 2010 football World Cup, Mozambique's Noticias newspaper reported Friday.

Berlin  - Russia's ambassador in Germany, Vladimir Kotenyev, affirmed Friday that the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea would be built.

Speaking two days after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Moscow would be just as ready to export its natural gas by ship, the ambassador said on ARD public television that Russia remained committed to the pipe.

"As far as Russia is concerned, this means a stable supply of gas to Europe," he said.

"Mr Putin was not making any threat," he added.

The controversy blew up as the Russians were about to meet with European Union leaders in Nice, France.

Dusseldorf - One of the main business backers of the Nord Stream gas pipeline to be built under the Baltic Sea, the giant German chemicals company BASF, affirmed the plan Thursday after seeming doubts in Russia.

"My most recent talks with Alexei Miller, the chief of Gazprom, confirmed that all the parties are working with firm resolve ... to create the Nord Stream pipeline in the time frame," BASF chief executive Juergen Hambrecht said.

His response was released by the German business daily Handelsblatt a day in advance of publication.

Vilnius - The Lithuanian foreign ministry said Thursday it backed a suggestion by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to abandon the Nord Stream gas pipeline project due to be built under the Baltic Sea.

On Wednesday Putin said Europe must decide whether it wants the 10-billion-dollar pipeline to link Russia and Germany or not.

New Delhi, Nov. 13: ONGC Videsh Ltd. and its partner IPR Red Sea Inc. have made a second oil discovery in the North Ramadan Concession, Gulf of Suez, Egypt.

The discovery in well North Ramadan-2 (NR-2) is the second oil discovery in this block. The discovery well, NR-2, is located on a separate fault block north of IPR''s first oil discovery, NR-1A ST1, which produced approx. 3,000 BOPD (barrels of oil per day) and 1.5 MMSCFPD (million standard cubic feet per day) during the testing phase.