July, 2007:

The rules of the game
July 31, 2007

The current century began in an intensely violent manner and there are no signs of a let up. Two and a half deadly wars are being fought in our neighbourhood and threaten to spread further and may even affect India in the years ahead.

These are the results of great power politics, ambitions and economic needs. It is therefore interesting to go through some of the statements by Western strategists and political analysts from time to time. There is a common thread running through them – that seeks total dominance over the rest of the world. read more

Wednesday, August 1, 2007. Issue 3711. Page 7.
By Yulia Latynina
 
The president and owner of Russneft, Mikhail Gutseriyev, wrote an open letter in which he accused authorities of “unprecedented persecution” in an effort to make him “more compliant.” Gutseriyev also announced that he would leave his post in order to keep the company intact. It is widely known that Oleg Deripaska, who is one of the Kremlin’s favored oligarchs, will buy Russneft. In this context, it is important to remember Deripaska’s interview with the Financial Times in which he said he was prepared to hand his company over to the state if requested to do so. read more

Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, former
Governor of Bayelsa State

By Martin Ayankola, Lagos

Former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was on Friday released from the Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos, following the expiration of the two-year jail sentence handed down to him on Thursday by a Federal High Court in Lagos. The release came after a plea bargaining arrangement that resulted in Alamieyeseigha pleading guilty to charges against him and the Judge sentencing him to 2 years imprisonment with forfeiture of assets. read more

By Oliver Adelman in London
Published: July 31 2007 15:01 | Last updated: July 31 2007 15:01

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In their latest round of misleading statements about hot fuel, Big Oil executives made one thing clear: Their customers don’t matter.

Testifying last week on Capitol Hill, the executives tried to convince Congress to let the companies continue selling gasoline from pumps that do not adjust for temperature.

Shell Oil Vice President Hugh Cooley said his company “does not believe that the American consumers are harmed in any way.”

But they are. In warmer months, gasoline expands and — if retail pumps aren’t adjusted for this — motorists get less energy than they pay for. read more

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Bush administration is opening the back door to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by letting Shell Oil begin drilling off the coastline this summer. This leaves the entire area vulnerable to a massive oil spill, which is inevitable.

With only one oil spill, there will be a permanent toxic waste site that can never be cleaned up — because the oil industry has no proven methods for cleaning up oil spills in icy waters.

The irony is that the Bush administration has already predicted that at least one oil spill is “likely to occur,” and they are also aware that a toxic oil spill would spread into migratory routes, which would endanger bowhead whales, polar bear birthing grounds and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. How can this administration be so completely insensitive to anything but profit? It astounds me. read more

Associated Press – July 31, 2007 10:25 AM ET

HOUSTON (AP) – Marathon Oil has agreed to buy Western Oil Sands for $5.5 billion in cash and stock.

The deal announced today would give Houston-based Marathon a stake in Canada’s oil sands market.

As part of the deal, Western is required to spin off WesternZagros, its wholly-owned subsidiary with interests in Kurdistan.

The closing is expected in the fourth quarter of this year.

Marathon says the agreement will give it a 20% interest in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in Alberta — currently held by Western Oil. read more

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:07 a.m. EDT

LONDON — OPEC’s oil and gas export revenue surged 22 percent to a record $649 billion in 2006 as crude prices hit an all-time high and the exporter group pumped close to full tilt, an OPEC report showed on Tuesday.

In the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia income from petroleum exports, including crude oil, condensates and natural gas liquids, hit $194 billion last year, a rise of 20 percent, OPEC said in its Annual Statistical Bulletin. read more

Tuesday, 31 July 2007 
Áine Ryan

DR MARK GARAVAN was last week formally notified of the European Commission’s Environment Directorate’s intention to conduct a preliminary investigation into the Corrib gas project. Alleged breaches of several EU Directives were formally highlighted by Dr Garavan through the offices of the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee.

The former Shell to Sea spokesman has welcomed the efficiency of the EU’s response to the complaints, observing that the Irish Government seemed to be regularly in breach of directives which then resulted in significant fines. read more

Tuesday, 31 July 2007, 09:50 GMT 10:50 UK 

Unknown gunmen in speedboats have kidnapped a Pakistani construction worker in Nigeria’s oil region.

Seven men dressed in red seized the man, named as Tahri, in Bodo city in Ogoniland, security sources say.

The man works for Italian firm Gitto. Such kidnappings are common in the region and most hostages are released unharmed after a ransom is paid.

More than 150 foreigners – mostly oil workers – and many Nigerians have been kidnapped in the region this year. read more

By Jason Simpkins
31 July 2007

A group of U.S. pension funds, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), the New York State Common Retirement Funds, and New York City Pension Funds, have leveled pointed criticisms at several oil and gas companies for their involvement in Iran’s energy sector.  The letter went out to such prominent global energy giants as Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (NYSE: RDS.A), Total (NYSE: TOT), Eni (NYSE: ENI), Repsol (NYSE: REP), and Gazprom (NYSE: GAZP). read more

31 Jul 2007 12:01:58 GMT
Source: Reuters

Background
Nigeria violence
More  By Tom Ashby

LAGOS, July 31 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s new government and militant groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta are moving towards talks that could restore lost output from the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter.

An 18-month campaign of guerrilla attacks on Western oil facilities has prompted thousands of foreigners to leave Africa’s top producer, reduced output by a fifth and helped oil prices rise to record highs. read more

31 July 2007

Yesterday the participants of WWF whalewatching expedition returned to Moscow from Sakhalin.The preliminary results gathered during the expedition revealed that most likely construction works have rendered negative impacts on grey whales.

In the immediate future WWF in partnership with other organizations is planning to analyze various data on this problem and to make the final conclusion.

The main objective of WWF expedition was to reveal earlier possible the negative impacts on grey whales during the *Piltun-Astohskaya-B* (*Sakhalin-2* project) platform construction and to notify the company and State institutions about this influence. read more

By Eduard Gismatullin

July 31 (Bloomberg) — OAO Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company, plans to offer customers crude and fuel exports at auctions to improve sales.

The company is developing a set of regulations for tenders, which may be approved by the end of the year, said a Rosneft spokesman who declined to be identified. The company has recently offered some export volumes to a limited number of customers to test the market, the spokesman said today by phone from Moscow. read more

By Mike Cohen

July 31 (Bloomberg) — Workers at South African refineries owned by Chevron Corp. and PetroSA went on strike after their employers refused to meet their demands for an immediate 8.5 percent wage increase, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union said.

Workers walked off the job at Chevron’s refinery in Cape Town today, the union said today in an e-mailed statement. PetroSA’s workers struck yesterday.

South Africa has six refineries, owned by Chevron, PetroSA, BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Sasol Ltd. and Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s Engen unit. Unions have been pushing them to increase wages above the inflation rate of 6.4 percent, saying workers should benefit more from high oil prices and expanding demand. read more