On February 19, a piece of news from Itar-Tass news agency attracted the attention of Western media: Commander Vysotsky of the Russian Northern Fleet announced: "After 10 years of waiting, the Northern Fleet is about to return to the Mediterranean." This is even more surprising. What is of concern is that Russia's only aircraft carrier, the "Marshal Kuznetsov", appeared on the list of ships that p

The European Union and Japan signed a cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy on the 27th. This is another new cooperation agreement signed between the three major nuclear energy development countries and groups after Japan and the United States, and Euratom and the United States signed similar agreements.

France's large energy companies, GDF and Suez, announced on the 27th the contents of their rapid merger plan costing 40 billion euros. French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Thierry Breton said that the merger will be a complete acquisition of Suez by GDF, and the entire merger process is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Statistics Netherlands says overall energy consumption in the Netherlands will decrease in 2005, the first decrease since 1999.

German energy giant E.ON announced on February 21 that it had offered 29.1 billion euros ($34.8 billion) to acquire Spain's largest power company, Endesa Electricity Company. The acquisition could become the largest-ever transaction in the global utility sector.

On February 16th, Austria's "News" published a headline article on its front page entitled "The flight from oil has begun", stating that developed countries in Europe and the United States are paying renewed attention to the development of alternative energy sources to oil, but they need to formulate a convincing action plan to avoid the dangers of oil.

In order to provide the energy needed for India's rapid economic growth, India's series of diplomatic initiatives are increasingly tilted towards the oil and natural gas field and are becoming increasingly pragmatic.

According to a recent report by Indian newspaper "Business Standard", Indian Oil and Natural Gas Corporation may soon bid $2 billion to acquire part of Russia's Yugansk Petroleum Company. This is another major energy move by India in recent times.