The Guardian Reveals: Britain leads dash to explore for oil in war-torn Somalia
This is the true face of Britons involvement in Somalia.
“European officials and other countries which are under America’s political pressure… should consider their national interests and not deprive themselves of Iran’s oil to help US officials achieve their secret aims.”
Iran has said an oil embargo adopted by European Union foreign ministers over the country’s nuclear programme is “unfair” and “doomed to fail”.
The measures would not prevent Iran’s “progress for achieving its basic rights”, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. The sanctions ban all new oil contracts with Iran and freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank in the EU.
The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran’s oil exports. (source)
Western oil firms remain as US exits Iraq
While the US military has formally ended its occupation of Iraq, some of the largest western oil companies, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell, remain.
On November 27, 38 months after Royal Dutch Shell announced its pursuit of a massive gas deal in southern Iraq, the oil giant had its contract signed for a $17bn flared gas deal.
Three days later, the US-based energy firm Emerson submitted a bid for a contract to operate at Iraq’s giant Zubair oil field, which reportedly holds some eight million barrels of oil.
Earlier this year, Emerson was awarded a contract to provide crude oil metering systems and other technology for a new oil terminal in Basra, currently under construction in the Persian Gulf, and the company is installing control systems in the power stations in Hilla and Kerbala.
Iraq’s supergiant Rumaila oil field is already being developed by BP, and the other supergiant reserve, Majnoon oil field, is being developed by Royal Dutch Shell. Both fields are in southern Iraq.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iraq’s oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks second in the world, only behind Saudi Arabia. The EIA also estimates that up to 90 per cent of the country remains unexplored, due to decades of US-led wars and economic sanctions. (Read More)
Nigeria: A man covers his hands in crude oil during an anti-Shell protest after a spill at the Bonga oilfield. (EPA via Guardian)
“I give the south three alternatives for the oil. The north is to continue getting its share, or the north gets fees for every barrel that the south sends to Port Sudan. If they don’t accept either of these, we’re going to block the pipeline.”
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has threatened to shut pipelines carrying South Sudan’s oil if a deal on oil is not reached before it secedes in July. (source)
“All of these people we talk to, all of these countries, at all these conferences, with their great grand speeches - we appreciate [them] from the political side, but in terms of finances they are a complete failure. Our people are dying.”
The Libyan rebels’ top oil official, Ali Tarhouni told Reuters news agency. Most of Libya’s oil installations are in the rebel-held east but much of the infrastructure has been damaged by war. (source)
“The regime controls the businesses, and the oil which it is selling on the black market, and it has access to the state treasury.”
Libya’s defecting labor minister was reported on Wednesday as saying the Libyan government is selling oil on the black market as Muammar Gaddafi struggles to hold onto power. (source)
BP oil spill: The environmental impact one year on
In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people and resulted in 4.9m barrels of oil being discharged, threatening marine life and hundreds of miles of coastline. Yet, one year on, what environmental impact did one of world’s largest accidental oil spills have on the region’s wildlife and habitats, and has it been as bad as it was feared at the time?
Which Countries Are Most Reliant on Libya for Oil?
As unrest continues to mount and conflict rages on in Libya, questions surrounding the North African nation’s oil exports remain in the air. The international Energy Agency said in March 2011 that the country’s oil production has “slowed to a trickle” as the fighting has prompted international companies to halt their operations and close ports.
What does this mean for the countries that receive shares of Libya’s typical daily output? Here’s a breakdown of which ones depend most on the turbulent but oil-rich nation. (via Good)
Oil price surge could hit recovery and push up pump prices
Amid warnings that serious unrest in Saudi Arabia could push oil prices to unheard-of levels, there are fears that the record price of Brent crude could put the brakes on the UK’s recovery. Read More
Libyan rebels 'sign oil export deal with Qatar' | BBC
Libyan rebels say they have signed an oil contract with Qatar to export oil from rebel-held territory.
“We are producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day, we can easily up that to about 300,000 a day,” rebel spokesman Ali Tarhouni told the Associated Press.
He said that shipments of crude would start in “less than a week”.
The rebels say their main concern is obtaining insurance for any tankers taking oil from Libya.
Libya produces 1.6m barrels per day of oil but analysts believe this has fallen by at least two-thirds since unrest began last month.
Oil is seen on the creek water’s surface near an illegal oil refinery in Ogoniland, outside Port Harcourt, in Nigeria’s Delta region.
Oil firm projects showcased ahead of Nigerian poll
According to the AP: Shell oil co. flew journalists in a helicopter over a cleared area in the delta where locals ran makeshift refineries turning stolen crude oil tapped from pipelines into diesel and kerosene. The company blamed nearly all of its oil spills in 2009 on sabotage from thieves and militants. Environmentalists and community activists routinely blame Shell for the spills, pointing at the company’s aging pipelines and poor cleanup efforts. Full story.
A view of an illegal oil refinery is seen in Ogoniland outside Port Harcourt in Nigeria’s Delta region March 24, 2011.Crude oil thieves — known locally as “bunkerers” — have been a fact of life for years in Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry, puncturing pipelines and costing Nigeria and foreign oil firms millions of dollars in lost revenues each year. (Akintunde Akinleye / Reuters)
“I wish that those who only see oil, gold mines and underground treasures when they look in [Libya’s] direction, would see the region through glasses of conscience from now on.”
Prime Minister of Turkey Tayyep Erdogan Using incendiary language directed at France in a speech in Istanbul. Tension mounts over military action as Ankara accuses Sarkozy of pursuing French interests over liberation of Libyan people.
Protect The Oil Zone, BY JOHN DARKOW
