Energy policy of Russia and in a few cases explicit political demands are evident. Starting 1 January 2007 Gazprom increased the price of natural gas to Azerbaijan from US$110 to $235 per thousand cubic metres. (At the time, Gazprom charged the EU US$250.) Azerbaijan refused to pay this price and the gas supply to Azerbaijan stopped. On its side, Azerbaijan stopped oil exports to and via Russia. A year earlier, pro-Russian Armenia was hit with the same 100% price increase as Western-oriented Georgia, Vladimir Socor has observed. The Russia-Belarus energy dispute began when Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom demanded an increase in gas prices
Crown corporations of Canada the public that otherwise would not be economically viable as a private enterprise, or don't fit exactly within the scope of any ministry. They are involved in everything from the distribution, use, and price of certain goods and services to energy development, resource extraction, public transportation, cultural promotion, and property management. In Canada, Crown corporations, within either the federal or provincial spheres, are owned by the monarch, as the institution's sole legal shareholder; this follows the legal premise that the Crown, as an institution, owns all the property of state. Crown corporations although owned in right of the Crown, are