Nigerian oil minister returns, doubters circle, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Stalled oil reforms hold key to unlocking investment

* Refining, gas, Niger Delta are major challenges

* Nigeria has vast latent petroleum potential

By Joe Brock

ABUJA, July 7 - Nigeria's returning oil minister may have the support of the president but with Africa's largest energy industry stalling she will need to show swift progress to prove her critics wrong and attract much-needed investment.

President Goodluck Jonathan showed his faith in Deziani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria's first female oil minister by re-appointing her on Saturday after she spent less than a year in his cabinet prior to April's elections.

Libya imports gasoline from Italy's Saras, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Transfers gasoline via Tunisia to Libya-bound vessel

* Libya's GNMTC not on U.N. sanctions list

* Italian refiner was major trading partner with Libya

(Updates with Saras statement, adds link to U.N. list, adds links to graphic on Libya's oil and gas industry, oil factbox)

By Jessica Donati and Emma Farge

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Libya imported gasoline from Italian refiner Saras in early April, taking advantage of a loophole in United Nations sanctions that permits purchases by companies not on a U.N. list of banned entities.

Senator Proposes Bill on Lease Extension and Energy Security, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem

Senator Kay Hutchison has proposed the Lease Extension and Energy Security Act,(LEASE) Act for a fair and reasonable restoration of the time lost from the Department of the Interior’s moratorium.

The proposed Act also allows domestic energy producers to continue exploration without having to worry about leases expiring.

Addressing congressional reporters on Wednesday on the bill, Senator Hutchison indicated that the LEASE Act extends offshore leases impacted by the U.S. Department of Interior’s drilling moratorium for an additional 12 months.

In this way, she stated, the LEASE Act returns to leases the lease time taken from them during the moratorium, as well as increase domestic energy production and protect American jobs.

According to the Senator, the DOI has the authority to issue a “suspension of operations” which would have put the leases on a “time out”, however the DOI failed to act.

Due to this failure to act, she added, thousands of leaseholders in the Gulf of Mexico are paying rent to the government for access to develop federal lands while losing time on the leases.

Companies are said to invest millions of dollars and spent nearly a decade in the exploration phase before “first oil” is reached. Following a precise and meticulous timeline, Hutchison said, is extremely important as loss time can sabotage entire operation.

Extending the leases provides the leaseholders with certainty to continue making investments on its lease, including investing in the local workforce.