Robert Amsterdam

The Georgian conflict has raised the oil price by sparking fears of disrupted supply. BP is “on alert” after Russian forces targeted the BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Tbilisi, but left “no visible damage”. BP’s production is said to have suffered from the conflict. “The flare-up of major hostilities between Russia and Georgia has been dubbed by some ‘the pipeline war’.” Honghua Group, the world's second-largest maker of onshore oil rigs, has won a $200 million contract to sell drilling rigs in Russia. TNK-BP’s Robert Dudley has been fined $21 for labor violations. Gazprom Neft wants to swap a stake in one of its own projects for a 49% stake in Kazakh oil firm MangistauMunaiGas.