Energy

In a bid for more revenue, Africa's top crude producer has restructured its offshore royalty deals -- putting billions of dollars of investment in production at risk.

Russia's high hopes of developing energy and infrastructure in the far north are meeting some cold, hard realities.

The government, expecting a windfall, has updated the terms of production-sharing contracts. But the move could dampen investment, leading to a falloff in revenue instead.

If Israeli forces were responsible, it would fit into a pattern of a more robust and increasingly expansive effort by Israel against Iran and its allies.

Cleaner and less expensive than oil, natural gas could be a godsend for Pakistan's economy. But between the country's energy bottlenecks and corruption probes, finding enough of the resource will be a problem.

A fuel supply dispute between the National Oil Corporation and the Libyan National Army besieging Tripoli could balloon into a supply disruption that would roil global markets.

Even if Saudi Arabia does not hit its goals for restoring production capacity after last week's Iranian assault, it may be able to ensure production returns to pre-attack levels of 9.8 million bpd.

The Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure have laid bare the massive disruptions that conflict in the Middle East can cause, raising several critical questions for companies and regional and global powers.

The Sept. 14 attacks left the world scrambling to offset the sharp loss of Saudi oil production. And now, emerging evidence of Iranian involvement could invoke a U.S. response.

Tehran has threatened for years that if U.S. sanctions stymied its oil flows, it would halt the region's energy exports in response. Iran is now demonstrating its willingness to follow through -- highlighting how little Saudi Arabia can do to stop it.