The Iraqi oil ministry is hoping to reactivate an agreement with a Chinese consortium for the development of the al-Ahdab oil field southeast of Baghdad by the end of August, in what would be the first agreement of its kind outside the Kurdish region since the US invasion in 2003.

BP announced on 12 August that it had temporarily halted oil deliveries through the Baku-Supsa pipeline and also stopped pumping gas into the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, citing security concerns after days of hostilities between Russia and Georgia in a dispute over the South Ossetia region.

At the end of last year Egypt was enjoying its highest GDP increase in years as it started to reap the benefits from sustained reforms.

Sudan has taken positive steps towards resolving the bitter dispute over the oil-rich border region of Abyei, where heavy sectarian fighting in May displaced some 50,000 people and threatened to drag the country back to civil war.

The rapid shuttling of Greek Minister for Development Christos Folias between Baku, Washington, Rome and Moscow during most of March and April 2008 indicated that Hellenic energy diplomacy was approaching a critical point.