Talks between Belarus and Russia's state-owned energy provider Gazprom ended Tuesday without agreement, raising the possibility of a natural gas cut-off next week if Belarus does not agree to a sharp price hike.

Azerbaijan will provide 1 million cubic meters of gas per day to Georgia during a winter period, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told reporters after talks with the Azerbaijani leadership in Baku on December 25.

Georgia has still to rely mostly on import of Russian Gazprom's expensive gas in the beginning of 2007 as launch of gas supply from Shah-Deniz field is delayed, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said.

After rejecting Russian gas, Georgia looks to Azerbaijan and Turkey for emergency supplies.

Gazprom announced today that it has concluded a deal with Georgia to supply natural gas at the price of $235 for 1,000 cubic meters beginning January 1.

The specifics of Ukraine's coal initiative have been made more clear since Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych first floated the idea during his visit to the United States.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said today that Russian state-controlled natural gas giant OAO Gazprom will acquire a 50 percent-plus-one share stake in the Sakhalin-2 energy project from Royal Dutch Shell and Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi, for $7.45 billion.

The Armenian government on Thursday stopped short of explicitly denying reports that the ongoing work on a major natural gas pipeline from Iran will not be complete, as planned, by the end of this month.

President Saakashvili hinted on November 29 that Azerbaijan is willing to provide Georgia with natural gas, as Tbilisi desperately seeks alternative supplies to ease energy dependency on Russia.

The U.S. will not approve Georgia's long-term energy-related cooperation with Iran, but it seems it may turn a blind eye on short-term Georgian-Iranian deals envisaging emergency gas supplies during the winter period.