Agencies

Washington lawmakers who have expressed opposition to CNOOC’s US$18.5 billion bid for Unocal Corp have received more than US$100,000 in campaign contributions from rival bidder Chevron since 2002, the Financial Times reported, citing publicly available filings in the US.

Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President George Bush.

China’s railway system is near collapse and the Chinese economy seems to have entered a vicious cycle.

With all Iraq’s oil exports halted by sabotage, gunmen killed a top Iraqi oil official on Wednesday in a new blow to an interim government reeling from violence two weeks before U.S.-led occupation formally ends.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants killed at least nine Saudis and seven foreigners in a string of attacks in an oil-industry city Saturday, then took hostages and fled with security forces in hot pursuit.