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Umbra, so how many US Govt agencies have you dealt with in court? What makes you such an expert to make the statement "I would stack this group against ANY United States governmental agency".
Everybody is always putting down the US Govt. Not that I believe you're British but how quickly you forgot about the US Govt saving the British in past Wars.
Oh, and if you want to see a great US Govt agency, turn on the TV. Weather and technical issues permitting, watch NASA FLY!!!!!!!!
ND9
PS - Happy 4th of July to all USA patriots.
Taiwan Foreign Minister to visit Sao Tome
*****************************************************
Foreign minister to visit Africa allies
2006/7/4
By Jane Rickards The China Post
Foreign minister James Huang will leave for Africa today to shore up ties with six allies there, amid China's growing influence over nations in this region.
Huang will visit Gambia, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso, Chad and Swaziland, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) department of African affairs director general Lee Chen-hsiung.
"Africa is very important to Taiwan," Huang said.
Beijing insists Taiwan is a renegade Chinese province with no right to conduct affairs as a sovereign state. It uses its considerable diplomatic and economic clout to ensure that the majority of the world's nations give it diplomatic recognition at the expense of Taipei.
Taiwan's six African allies are among the 25 nations in the world that choose to recognize Taipei rather than Beijing. Taiwan and China frequently accuse each other of dollar diplomacy -- poaching developing countries to be allies with promises of financial aid. Recently China's economic clout has allowed it to gain the upper hand.
Lee said Huang will lead an 18-member delegation consisting of MOFA officials and business leaders representing China Petrochemical Development Corp, Taipower and construction companies. A top Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) official will also go.
Also accompanying the delegation will be two Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers Chou Shou-hsun and Wu Sung-po. The delegation will return July 13.
Lee told journalists in a briefing that Taiwan was concerned about China's growing influence in Africa. He said Chinese President Hu Jintao visited three African nations in April and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited seven nations in June.
He said China had provided aid to African countries in return for these countries supporting "one China" and opposing independence.
He said aside from issues relating to Taiwan, China was positioning itself as a leader of third world countries and was looking for strong support from African countries internationally to balance itself strategically against Europe and the U.S.
"China wants to lead Africa and the third world as a balancing force against Europe and the U.S.," Lee said.
Lee said in addition to this, China's economy was developing rapidly and it had become the second-largest oil consuming country next to the U.S. China views African countries as a source of energy and minerals, he said.
He also said Africa was becoming one of China's major trade partners.
After the visit, foreign affairs officials will then evaluate whether President Chen Shui-bian was needed to visit Africa in Autumn, media reports said.
MOFA sources who asked not to be named said the Taiwan ally most vulnerable to poaching attempts from China was Chad. One foreign affairs source said Chad's political situation was unstable and rebels against the government were backed by the PRC.
Taiwan Foreign Minister to visit Sao Tome
*****************************************************
Foreign minister to visit Africa allies
2006/7/4
By Jane Rickards The China Post
Foreign minister James Huang will leave for Africa today to shore up ties with six allies there, amid China's growing influence over nations in this region.
Huang will visit Gambia, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso, Chad and Swaziland, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) department of African affairs director general Lee Chen-hsiung.
"Africa is very important to Taiwan," Huang said.
Beijing insists Taiwan is a renegade Chinese province with no right to conduct affairs as a sovereign state. It uses its considerable diplomatic and economic clout to ensure that the majority of the world's nations give it diplomatic recognition at the expense of Taipei.
Taiwan's six African allies are among the 25 nations in the world that choose to recognize Taipei rather than Beijing. Taiwan and China frequently accuse each other of dollar diplomacy -- poaching developing countries to be allies with promises of financial aid. Recently China's economic clout has allowed it to gain the upper hand.
Lee said Huang will lead an 18-member delegation consisting of MOFA officials and business leaders representing China Petrochemical Development Corp, Taipower and construction companies. A top Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) official will also go.
Also accompanying the delegation will be two Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers Chou Shou-hsun and Wu Sung-po. The delegation will return July 13.
Lee told journalists in a briefing that Taiwan was concerned about China's growing influence in Africa. He said Chinese President Hu Jintao visited three African nations in April and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited seven nations in June.
He said China had provided aid to African countries in return for these countries supporting "one China" and opposing independence.
He said aside from issues relating to Taiwan, China was positioning itself as a leader of third world countries and was looking for strong support from African countries internationally to balance itself strategically against Europe and the U.S.
"China wants to lead Africa and the third world as a balancing force against Europe and the U.S.," Lee said.
Lee said in addition to this, China's economy was developing rapidly and it had become the second-largest oil consuming country next to the U.S. China views African countries as a source of energy and minerals, he said.
He also said Africa was becoming one of China's major trade partners.
After the visit, foreign affairs officials will then evaluate whether President Chen Shui-bian was needed to visit Africa in Autumn, media reports said.
MOFA sources who asked not to be named said the Taiwan ally most vulnerable to poaching attempts from China was Chad. One foreign affairs source said Chad's political situation was unstable and rebels against the government were backed by the PRC.
Global group faults oil bid process in Nigeria
*************************************
Looks like these are different blocks (i.e., not JDZ) but this type of news won't help ERHC either.
ND9
*************************************
Global group faults oil bid process in Nigeria
July 2, 2006, 7 hours, 41 minutes and 42 seconds ago.
By ANDnetwork .com
The controversy over the last round bids for Oil Blocks took a new twist as The Federation of Global Watchdog, faulted the entire process and asked the President to review the whole process to ensure transparency.
The group in a statement issued at the weekend from its base in Finland, maintained that having followed with utmost concern and interest the controversy trailing the entire bid process for oil blocks licences in Nigeria, and given the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to several international protocols on transparency in the conduct of businesses, the FGW calls for a sanitisation of the process for bids to remove allegations of political victimisation, corruption and unethical conducts.
Mervi Nystrom, programmes co-ordinator of the FGW who issued the statement on behalf of FGW, said that her organisation "views with utmost disappointment and condemnation the alleged lack of transparency and ethical misconducts that characterised Nigeria’s 2005 Bid Round for licenses in the Oil and Gas Sector".
“Expectedly, the bid Round has been greeted with controversy, arising from alleged cases of tardiness” by officials of government.
While tracing the controversy to the decision of former Defence Minister, TY Danjuma’s Company, South Atlantic Petroleum Ltd, to go to court to challenge the federal government's decision on OPL 246 the Group insisted in a petition it forwarded to Transparency International that a correction of the wrongs in the whole process is needed because "this has cast a slur on the global reputation and integrity of Nigeria and put to test President Olusegun Obasanjo's well known war on corruption”.
IT added: "The level of alleged cases of ethical misconduct and victimisation have reached such an alarming proportion that the country’s former Defence Minister and an operator in the all-important Oil and Gas Sector, TY Danjuma has slammed a legal action against the presidency in a bid to seek constitutional redress. There are so many victims of this open abuse of transparency ...who, for fear of political victimisation, cannot raise their voices."
It would be recalled that the 2005 bid round for the award of licences in the oil and gas sector have been characterised by controversy, accusations of lack of tidiness and ethical misconducts.
The Finland Scandinavia based affiliate of Transparency International in its demands called on Obasanjo and all other global anti-corruption monitors to "intervene and ensure that correction of the wrongs is transparent, open and just, for anything short of this, would amount to an official endorsement of corruption by the Nigerian government".
She added: “We hereby call on president Obasanjo and the international community to investigate those involved in these alleged shady deals in order to institute a regime of transparency and global confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“This can only be done by ensuring that the wrongs in the 2005 bid rounds are corrected, the suppressed and short-changed are issued their licenses signatures or instruments without further delay, especially at a time when the rest of the world is looking up to Nigeria as a nation with the prospect of becoming Africa’s major hope. What is at stake is also indigenes firm because the oil majors are insignificant here."
They warned that oil and gas sector play a strategic role in Nigeria's development, the FGW urged the international community and Obasanjo to save the situation.
"The oil and gas sector holds sway in Nigeria, one of Africa's most significant nations. It is therefore against this background that the Federation of Global Watchdogs reiterate its call on President Obasanjo, global anti-corruption agencies and the international community to intervene in the worsening situation and controversy.
We however note with hope and optimism that Obasanjo has the capacity to effect these proposed far-reaching remedies, given his avowed stand against corruption.
This Day
Global group faults oil bid process in Nigeria
*************************************
Looks like these are different blocks (i.e., not JDZ) but this type of news won't help ERHC either.
ND9
*************************************
Global group faults oil bid process in Nigeria
July 2, 2006, 7 hours, 41 minutes and 42 seconds ago.
By ANDnetwork .com
The controversy over the last round bids for Oil Blocks took a new twist as The Federation of Global Watchdog, faulted the entire process and asked the President to review the whole process to ensure transparency.
The group in a statement issued at the weekend from its base in Finland, maintained that having followed with utmost concern and interest the controversy trailing the entire bid process for oil blocks licences in Nigeria, and given the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to several international protocols on transparency in the conduct of businesses, the FGW calls for a sanitisation of the process for bids to remove allegations of political victimisation, corruption and unethical conducts.
Mervi Nystrom, programmes co-ordinator of the FGW who issued the statement on behalf of FGW, said that her organisation "views with utmost disappointment and condemnation the alleged lack of transparency and ethical misconducts that characterised Nigeria’s 2005 Bid Round for licenses in the Oil and Gas Sector".
“Expectedly, the bid Round has been greeted with controversy, arising from alleged cases of tardiness” by officials of government.
While tracing the controversy to the decision of former Defence Minister, TY Danjuma’s Company, South Atlantic Petroleum Ltd, to go to court to challenge the federal government's decision on OPL 246 the Group insisted in a petition it forwarded to Transparency International that a correction of the wrongs in the whole process is needed because "this has cast a slur on the global reputation and integrity of Nigeria and put to test President Olusegun Obasanjo's well known war on corruption”.
IT added: "The level of alleged cases of ethical misconduct and victimisation have reached such an alarming proportion that the country’s former Defence Minister and an operator in the all-important Oil and Gas Sector, TY Danjuma has slammed a legal action against the presidency in a bid to seek constitutional redress. There are so many victims of this open abuse of transparency ...who, for fear of political victimisation, cannot raise their voices."
It would be recalled that the 2005 bid round for the award of licences in the oil and gas sector have been characterised by controversy, accusations of lack of tidiness and ethical misconducts.
The Finland Scandinavia based affiliate of Transparency International in its demands called on Obasanjo and all other global anti-corruption monitors to "intervene and ensure that correction of the wrongs is transparent, open and just, for anything short of this, would amount to an official endorsement of corruption by the Nigerian government".
She added: “We hereby call on president Obasanjo and the international community to investigate those involved in these alleged shady deals in order to institute a regime of transparency and global confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“This can only be done by ensuring that the wrongs in the 2005 bid rounds are corrected, the suppressed and short-changed are issued their licenses signatures or instruments without further delay, especially at a time when the rest of the world is looking up to Nigeria as a nation with the prospect of becoming Africa’s major hope. What is at stake is also indigenes firm because the oil majors are insignificant here."
They warned that oil and gas sector play a strategic role in Nigeria's development, the FGW urged the international community and Obasanjo to save the situation.
"The oil and gas sector holds sway in Nigeria, one of Africa's most significant nations. It is therefore against this background that the Federation of Global Watchdogs reiterate its call on President Obasanjo, global anti-corruption agencies and the international community to intervene in the worsening situation and controversy.
We however note with hope and optimism that Obasanjo has the capacity to effect these proposed far-reaching remedies, given his avowed stand against corruption.
This Day
Nigeria: Nigeria Ranks Third Poorest Country in World
June 30, 2006
Posted to the web June 30, 2006
Lagos
Head of delegation of the European Commission to Nigeria, Leonidas Tezapsidis, says Nigeria is ranked the third country with the highest number of poor people in the world.
Tezapsidis stated this at a workshop for Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSR) and Support to Reforming Institution Programme (SRIP) in Abuja yesterday.
Represented by Mostato Waker Risorrch, the EU boss said China and India were the only countries ahead of Nigeria.
"Doesn't Nigeria have enough oil to take care of its citizens? No, Nigeria is not rich," he argued.
He said oil alone could not eradicate poverty in Nigeria considering the proportion of poor people in the country.
"Nigeria may rival countries like Kuwait in oil and gas reserve but there are 50 times more Nigerians than Kuwaitis," Tezapsidis argued.
According to him, if every Nigerian was to receive an equal share of the current high oil revenue, poverty would still not be over.
The EU boss said the only way to eliminate poverty in Nigeria was to make wise use of the limited resources available in the country.
"Investment in sanitation and water facilities can indeed be a very worthwhile undertaking," he said.
Lezapsidis said recent studies had shown that an investment of N150 in this sector can yield a return of as much as N2,700.
He said although it was hard to put a price on health, well-being and comfort, yet an investment in better water supply could pay off many times over.
Lezapsidis said the European Community water funding programme would improve water delivery to more than 2 million Nigerians if the services were carefully planned and maintained.
Earlier, the Water Resources Minister, Mukhtari Shagari, represented by the Minister of State in the ministry, Mrs. Salome Jakoda, described the EU funding as a welcome development to the Nigerian water sector.
"The commencement of this programme marks the success of the water supply and sanitation sector programme introduced by this administration," he said.
NAN reports that more than 119 million euro was budgeted for the EU water programme for a period of two years.
Nigeria: Nigeria Ranks Third Poorest Country in World
This Day (Lagos)
June 30, 2006
Posted to the web June 30, 2006
Lagos
Head of delegation of the European Commission to Nigeria, Leonidas Tezapsidis, says Nigeria is ranked the third country with the highest number of poor people in the world.
Tezapsidis stated this at a workshop for Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSR) and Support to Reforming Institution Programme (SRIP) in Abuja yesterday.
Represented by Mostato Waker Risorrch, the EU boss said China and India were the only countries ahead of Nigeria.
"Doesn't Nigeria have enough oil to take care of its citizens? No, Nigeria is not rich," he argued.
He said oil alone could not eradicate poverty in Nigeria considering the proportion of poor people in the country.
"Nigeria may rival countries like Kuwait in oil and gas reserve but there are 50 times more Nigerians than Kuwaitis," Tezapsidis argued.
According to him, if every Nigerian was to receive an equal share of the current high oil revenue, poverty would still not be over.
The EU boss said the only way to eliminate poverty in Nigeria was to make wise use of the limited resources available in the country.
"Investment in sanitation and water facilities can indeed be a very worthwhile undertaking," he said.
Lezapsidis said recent studies had shown that an investment of N150 in this sector can yield a return of as much as N2,700.
He said although it was hard to put a price on health, well-being and comfort, yet an investment in better water supply could pay off many times over.
Lezapsidis said the European Community water funding programme would improve water delivery to more than 2 million Nigerians if the services were carefully planned and maintained.
Earlier, the Water Resources Minister, Mukhtari Shagari, represented by the Minister of State in the ministry, Mrs. Salome Jakoda, described the EU funding as a welcome development to the Nigerian water sector.
"The commencement of this programme marks the success of the water supply and sanitation sector programme introduced by this administration," he said.
NAN reports that more than 119 million euro was budgeted for the EU water programme for a period of two years.
Equator negotiating rigs for Block 2 JDZ.............
This article, last sentence, says, "Equator and its partners, the Korea National Oil Company, ONGC Videsh and Sinopec are aggressively negotiating to secure drilling rigs to commence exploration activities on OPL 323, OPL 321 and Block 2 JDZ.”
ND9
************************************************
New Nigerian oil-exploration campaign to begin soon
West African oil-and-gas explorer and developer Equator Exploration and Peak Petroleum Industries Nigeria will start drilling on their oil development, OML 122, in Nigeria soon, the companies said on Monday.
They were currently arranging finance for this project, and were hoping to start production during the third quarter of next year.
Equator announced on its website that an independent consultant’s report, compiled by Horizon Energy Partners BV, estimated the recoverable hydrocarbon volumes as 45-million barrels of oil and 730 bcf of gas.
Meanwhile, gas was also discovered in two zones on OML 122, with a total thickness of 61 m. Horizon estimated the gas-in-place to be 185 bcf, an amount capable of commercial production as a satellite to a gas development in the Bilabri field.
Meanwhile, Equator was also involved in two other prospects, in Nigeria.
The OPL 323 and PL 321 prospects were two deep-water blocks, which had been awarded to Equator, the Korean Oil company, NJ Exploration and Tulip Energy Resources Nigeria in the 2005 Nigeria licensing round.
Equator had its share of the signature bonuses for blocks OPL 323 and OPL 321 and has set aside $83-million to cover the work-programme obligations.
It has also funded its share of the signature bonus and work-programme obligation for Block 2 in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between São Tomé & Príncipe and Nigeria, which is adjacent to the recently-announced Chevron and Exxon discovery in Block 1 JDZ Sergio Ottochian.
Equator CEO Wade Cherwayko said: “The company is pleased with the significant progress which has been achieved in the targeting of first-oil production by the third quarter of 2007 from OML 122. In addition, Equator and its partners, the Korea National Oil Company, ONGC Videsh and Sinopec are aggressively negotiating to secure drilling rigs to commence exploration activities on OPL 323, OPL 321 and Block 2 JDZ.”
Equator negotiating rigs for Block 2 JDZ.............
This article, last sentence, says, "Equator and its partners, the Korea National Oil Company, ONGC Videsh and Sinopec are aggressively negotiating to secure drilling rigs to commence exploration activities on OPL 323, OPL 321 and Block 2 JDZ.”
ND9
************************************************
New Nigerian oil-exploration campaign to begin soon
West African oil-and-gas explorer and developer Equator Exploration and Peak Petroleum Industries Nigeria will start drilling on their oil development, OML 122, in Nigeria soon, the companies said on Monday.
They were currently arranging finance for this project, and were hoping to start production during the third quarter of next year.
Equator announced on its website that an independent consultant’s report, compiled by Horizon Energy Partners BV, estimated the recoverable hydrocarbon volumes as 45-million barrels of oil and 730 bcf of gas.
Meanwhile, gas was also discovered in two zones on OML 122, with a total thickness of 61 m. Horizon estimated the gas-in-place to be 185 bcf, an amount capable of commercial production as a satellite to a gas development in the Bilabri field.
Meanwhile, Equator was also involved in two other prospects, in Nigeria.
The OPL 323 and PL 321 prospects were two deep-water blocks, which had been awarded to Equator, the Korean Oil company, NJ Exploration and Tulip Energy Resources Nigeria in the 2005 Nigeria licensing round.
Equator had its share of the signature bonuses for blocks OPL 323 and OPL 321 and has set aside $83-million to cover the work-programme obligations.
It has also funded its share of the signature bonus and work-programme obligation for Block 2 in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between São Tomé & Príncipe and Nigeria, which is adjacent to the recently-announced Chevron and Exxon discovery in Block 1 JDZ Sergio Ottochian.
Equator CEO Wade Cherwayko said: “The company is pleased with the significant progress which has been achieved in the targeting of first-oil production by the third quarter of 2007 from OML 122. In addition, Equator and its partners, the Korea National Oil Company, ONGC Videsh and Sinopec are aggressively negotiating to secure drilling rigs to commence exploration activities on OPL 323, OPL 321 and Block 2 JDZ.”
Skills shortage may slow Africa oil growth
Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:57 AM GMT
Printer Friendly
By William Maclean
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Africa, an increasing supplier of global energy, may be unable to expand its output as fast as expected in coming years due to a shortage of industry skills.
Inadequate schools and relative poverty mean Africa is badly placed to compete for the expertise it will need to develop new fields, a situation only made worse by a wider international shortage of oil and gas engineers and geologists, analysts say.
Will that affect the pace of new oil coming onstream?
"Absolutely. That's going to be the issue. That's one of the main depressive themes for (Africa's oil) development," said Robert Taylor, business development manager for IHRDC, an energy industry training and consulting company.
"Nobody's talking about it in Africa. What they're talking about is creating jobs generally. But creating something like a petroleum engineer takes 10 years. As they start developing the big fields, you don't just go create a petroleum engineer job."
The United States already receives about 15 percent of its oil imports from Africa's Gulf of Guinea region. Analysts predict this may rise to 25 percent by 2015. Additional amounts come from Algeria and Libya.
But experts at an industry conference in Algeria on African energy said a shortage of exploration and development skills was looming from two sources: a global shortage of expatriate experts and a lack of homegrown talent in Africa itself.
"Oil companies, contractors and other enterprises are locked in a fierce competition for a skilled labour pool which is too small for the available work," said a briefing paper by AMEC, an energy services firm, cited by conference participants.
"Skill shortages are worst in Africa, the Middle East and parts of the former Soviet Union."
Experts said it was no longer possible to use expatriates on the scale of 20 years ago because there were simply too few of them, so training Africans was increasingly important.
"However, developing local capacity of this kind can take a decade and managers are particularly hard to find," said AMEC.
Ahmed El-Ghaber, technical adviser to the National Oil Corporation of Libya, told Reuters: "We need to get the technical gap (with the West) closed as much as possible."
"It's not an easy task. To make an expert will take you years and you need patience and care."
POACHING OF STAFF
Alexandre Bayonne, an energy consultant from Congo Republic, said the country needs to do more to train nationals to take over the complex, senior roles long dominated by expatriates.
"Accords with foreign operators on skills transfer are not enough. We want more investment in training per se," he said.
Dave Lafiaji, executive secretary of the African Petroleum Producers Association, said African governments had to realise that local mastery of skills attracted international investment.
Africa's race for oil talent is replicated in other regions of the energy sector, an industry with an ageing workforce suffering a lack of skills after years of cuts and layoffs with consolidations and mergers. The workforce's average age is 48.
But Africa's relative poverty means it is less able to keep talented people. Poaching of staff is a constant problem.
Ghaber was one of several executives at the meeting, who said north African state firms regularly lost talented nationals to energy companies in the Gulf who paid higher salaries.
"We make all efforts to keep our people but if he wants to go you cannot keep someone by force, you have to go back to your pool and train more young guys," said Ghaber. "The point is to see whether the company can handle such a drain over time."
In the West, Big Oil's image as a dirty industry with an uncertain, boom and bust record of layoffs deters young people. In Africa, the problem is that schools are hard put to educate young people adequately to embark on the engineering training.
China is pumping out engineering contractors, but experts at the conference said their expertise tended to be in downstream services. Upstream, western oil majors were at the cutting edge.
Taylor said it was a mistake to think the agreements with foreign operators on training were a sustainable solution.
"They (Africans) think it's going to be like a gift from foreign operators who will transfer technology -- but that's all on paper. How's it actually going to transform into finding young people who are going to be educated to take these skills?"
"Also, it's not easy to tell an expert 'go work 60 hours a week and then at the same teach and transfer your knowledge' and typically for no extra reimbursement."
"Transferring skills is a job in itself and oil companies will be pressed simply to have the expertise to extract the oil and gas."
Skills shortage may slow Africa oil growth
Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:57 AM GMT
By William Maclean
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Africa, an increasing supplier of global energy, may be unable to expand its output as fast as expected in coming years due to a shortage of industry skills.
Inadequate schools and relative poverty mean Africa is badly placed to compete for the expertise it will need to develop new fields, a situation only made worse by a wider international shortage of oil and gas engineers and geologists, analysts say.
Will that affect the pace of new oil coming onstream?
"Absolutely. That's going to be the issue. That's one of the main depressive themes for (Africa's oil) development," said Robert Taylor, business development manager for IHRDC, an energy industry training and consulting company.
"Nobody's talking about it in Africa. What they're talking about is creating jobs generally. But creating something like a petroleum engineer takes 10 years. As they start developing the big fields, you don't just go create a petroleum engineer job."
The United States already receives about 15 percent of its oil imports from Africa's Gulf of Guinea region. Analysts predict this may rise to 25 percent by 2015. Additional amounts come from Algeria and Libya.
But experts at an industry conference in Algeria on African energy said a shortage of exploration and development skills was looming from two sources: a global shortage of expatriate experts and a lack of homegrown talent in Africa itself.
"Oil companies, contractors and other enterprises are locked in a fierce competition for a skilled labour pool which is too small for the available work," said a briefing paper by AMEC, an energy services firm, cited by conference participants.
"Skill shortages are worst in Africa, the Middle East and parts of the former Soviet Union."
Experts said it was no longer possible to use expatriates on the scale of 20 years ago because there were simply too few of them, so training Africans was increasingly important.
"However, developing local capacity of this kind can take a decade and managers are particularly hard to find," said AMEC.
Ahmed El-Ghaber, technical adviser to the National Oil Corporation of Libya, told Reuters: "We need to get the technical gap (with the West) closed as much as possible."
"It's not an easy task. To make an expert will take you years and you need patience and care."
POACHING OF STAFF
Alexandre Bayonne, an energy consultant from Congo Republic, said the country needs to do more to train nationals to take over the complex, senior roles long dominated by expatriates.
"Accords with foreign operators on skills transfer are not enough. We want more investment in training per se," he said.
Dave Lafiaji, executive secretary of the African Petroleum Producers Association, said African governments had to realise that local mastery of skills attracted international investment.
Africa's race for oil talent is replicated in other regions of the energy sector, an industry with an ageing workforce suffering a lack of skills after years of cuts and layoffs with consolidations and mergers. The workforce's average age is 48.
But Africa's relative poverty means it is less able to keep talented people. Poaching of staff is a constant problem.
Ghaber was one of several executives at the meeting, who said north African state firms regularly lost talented nationals to energy companies in the Gulf who paid higher salaries.
"We make all efforts to keep our people but if he wants to go you cannot keep someone by force, you have to go back to your pool and train more young guys," said Ghaber. "The point is to see whether the company can handle such a drain over time."
In the West, Big Oil's image as a dirty industry with an uncertain, boom and bust record of layoffs deters young people. In Africa, the problem is that schools are hard put to educate young people adequately to embark on the engineering training.
China is pumping out engineering contractors, but experts at the conference said their expertise tended to be in downstream services. Upstream, western oil majors were at the cutting edge.
Taylor said it was a mistake to think the agreements with foreign operators on training were a sustainable solution.
"They (Africans) think it's going to be like a gift from foreign operators who will transfer technology -- but that's all on paper. How's it actually going to transform into finding young people who are going to be educated to take these skills?"
"Also, it's not easy to tell an expert 'go work 60 hours a week and then at the same teach and transfer your knowledge' and typically for no extra reimbursement."
"Transferring skills is a job in itself and oil companies will be pressed simply to have the expertise to extract the oil and gas."
Russia's Lukoil in talks with Ivorian oil company
Posted Tue, 27 Jun 2006
CÔTE D'IVOIRE
Abidjan – Officials of Lukoil, Russia's biggest private oil company, have been holding co-operation talks here with the management of the Ivorian National Oil Company (Petroci).
Petroci managing director Kassoum Fadiga, said the visit by the Lukoil team demonstrated the company's interest in the Ivorian oil sector.
"For Petroci and the whole country, this is a sign that we are making progress and our ambition in the oil sector is not a dream," he said at the end of the Russian delegation's audience with Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
"In the next few months, these first exchanges will be given concrete expression for Côte d'Ivoire to try and catch up with oil producing countries in the sub-region," Fadiga added.
Côte d'Ivoire produces about 40 000 barrels of oil a day, but data on the industry was incomplete.
Industry sources said the production was expected to increase following the 80bn CFA francs (about $153mn) recently earmarked by the government for the revitalisation of the sector and rehabilitation of oil facilities. -panapress
Russia's Lukoil in talks with Ivorian oil company
Posted Tue, 27 Jun 2006
CÔTE D'IVOIRE
Abidjan – Officials of Lukoil, Russia's biggest private oil company, have been holding co-operation talks here with the management of the Ivorian National Oil Company (Petroci).
Petroci managing director Kassoum Fadiga, said the visit by the Lukoil team demonstrated the company's interest in the Ivorian oil sector.
"For Petroci and the whole country, this is a sign that we are making progress and our ambition in the oil sector is not a dream," he said at the end of the Russian delegation's audience with Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
"In the next few months, these first exchanges will be given concrete expression for Côte d'Ivoire to try and catch up with oil producing countries in the sub-region," Fadiga added.
Côte d'Ivoire produces about 40 000 barrels of oil a day, but data on the industry was incomplete.
Industry sources said the production was expected to increase following the 80bn CFA francs (about $153mn) recently earmarked by the government for the revitalisation of the sector and rehabilitation of oil facilities. -panapress
China to spend $35 mln on WAfrica's biggest theater
Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:39am ET
DAKAR (Reuters) - China, keen to raise its profile in resource-rich Africa, will plow $35 million into building West Africa's biggest theater in Senegal, an adviser to Senegal's president said on Tuesday.
China is strengthening its political and economic ties with the world's poorest continent as it chases oil and raw materials to feed its fast-growing economy.
Beijing has funded the construction of sports stadiums around Africa but the theater in Senegal is one of its first major forays into the realms of high art. It also plans to build an arts museum in Senegal before the end of 2007.
"It will be the biggest (theater) and the most beautiful one in the sub-region," architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa and adviser to President Abdoulaye Wade told Reuters.
Atepa said the theater would combine classic and modern architecture and would be built on three levels with 18,000 seats and parking for 3,000 cars.
Beijing announced debt relief for Senegal worth 160 million Yuan ($20 million) after Wade's visit to China last week.
Senegal and China resumed diplomatic ties last October after Dakar broke its relations with Taiwan. China will also build a 250 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station in Senegal to help the country deal with power shortages.
China to spend $35 mln on WAfrica's biggest theater
Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:39am ET
DAKAR (Reuters) - China, keen to raise its profile in resource-rich Africa, will plow $35 million into building West Africa's biggest theater in Senegal, an adviser to Senegal's president said on Tuesday.
China is strengthening its political and economic ties with the world's poorest continent as it chases oil and raw materials to feed its fast-growing economy.
Beijing has funded the construction of sports stadiums around Africa but the theater in Senegal is one of its first major forays into the realms of high art. It also plans to build an arts museum in Senegal before the end of 2007.
"It will be the biggest (theater) and the most beautiful one in the sub-region," architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa and adviser to President Abdoulaye Wade told Reuters.
Atepa said the theater would combine classic and modern architecture and would be built on three levels with 18,000 seats and parking for 3,000 cars.
Beijing announced debt relief for Senegal worth 160 million Yuan ($20 million) after Wade's visit to China last week.
Senegal and China resumed diplomatic ties last October after Dakar broke its relations with Taiwan. China will also build a 250 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station in Senegal to help the country deal with power shortages.
Putin talks up Russian business prospects in Africa, Latin America
15:01 | 27/ 06/ 2006
MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian businesses have opportunities to expand their interests in Africa and Latin America, President Putin said Tuesday at a conference in the Foreign Ministry.
Russia has recently clinched a series of deals on sales of military hardware to Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and is developing contacts with Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It is also in talks with Uruguay on setting up a joint venture to produce dual-purpose military products.
"A broad field for constructive, creative work is opening here for Russia, for domestic business," Putin said, adding that Latin America and Africa were becoming actively involved in globalization, which demonstrated that the time of exclusive "zones of influence" was now history.
Russia's largest independent crude producer, LUKoil [RTS: LKOH], plans to place up to 25% of its oil production and some 30% of refining capacities abroad, including in the Middle East and Latin America, as well as West Africa.
Putin talks up Russian business prospects in Africa, Latin America
15:01 | 27/ 06/ 2006
MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian businesses have opportunities to expand their interests in Africa and Latin America, President Putin said Tuesday at a conference in the Foreign Ministry.
Russia has recently clinched a series of deals on sales of military hardware to Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and is developing contacts with Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It is also in talks with Uruguay on setting up a joint venture to produce dual-purpose military products.
"A broad field for constructive, creative work is opening here for Russia, for domestic business," Putin said, adding that Latin America and Africa were becoming actively involved in globalization, which demonstrated that the time of exclusive "zones of influence" was now history.
Russia's largest independent crude producer, LUKoil [RTS: LKOH], plans to place up to 25% of its oil production and some 30% of refining capacities abroad, including in the Middle East and Latin America, as well as West Africa.
Oil companies going deep in Gulf drilling
Business
Saturday, June 24, 2006
By STEVE QUINN
AP Business Writer
ABOARD THE DISCOVERER DEEP SEAS — Nearly three football fields long, the ship appears to be sitting idle on the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps even abandoned.
Beneath the deck, there's no such tranquility. A 200-person crew of geologists, engineers and technicians work around the clock at dimly lit keyboards, controlling every move of an adjoining oil rig as it uses an 16 1/2-inch pipe to bore through the ocean floor to a depth of more than five miles.
The Chevron Corp. crew is developing a deepwater oil field 190 miles off the Louisiana coast that's projected to produce 100,000 barrels of oil a day by 2008 and 500 million barrels overall.
It's the kind of discovery once thought to be out of reach, but with improved technology and climbing global oil prices, companies are spending billions developing oil fields the Interior Department says will substantially boost Gulf production.
Deepwater exploration — done in depths of 1,000 feet of water or greater — is also volatile, as companies face increasing development costs, a battle with the federal government over royalty payments and continued rig shortages. And hurricanes Katrina and Rita illustrated a seasonal threat that curbed deepwater exploration last year in addition to damaging 113 rigs and temporarily shutting down 28 percent of the nation's refining capacity.
When Chevron begins producing oil from this reservoir called Tahiti, it will be among several new major oil and natural gas projects in the Gulf over the next two years.
Within a year, BP PLC expects to have two Gulf projects producing oil designed to generate 450,000 barrels of oil a day. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will operate Independence Hub, also in the Gulf, slated to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.
Companies are also going global with deepwater production tapping the coastal shores of Nigeria, Angola and Brazil. Deepwater accounts for about 3.7 million barrels a day — or slightly less than 5 percent — of global production, according to estimates by energy consultant Wood Mackenzie.
"There are huge decisions ahead of us," said Paul Siegele, Chevron's vice president of deepwater production. "It's the challenge of exploring around the world as well as places like the Arctic and the middle of nowhere."
Deepwater drilling in the Gulf dates to 1979 when Shell Oil Co. began production, but development really didn't take off until the 1990s as technological advancements made it more feasible, according to Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.
By 2004, deepwater production accounted for 66.4 percent of Gulf production, a 10-year, 40-percentage point boost, according to the Energy Information Administration. And Minerals Management forecast that year that Gulf production would rise 36 percent through 2013 — even as older wells dry up — largely thanks to deepwater pursuits.
Even with the risk of hurricanes, companies say it's a safer investment than politically charged climates in Latin America and West Africa.
Chevron produced the biggest Gulf discovery last year, with a 34,189-foot well about 170 miles southeast of New Orleans and about 20 miles from the Deep Seas ship. Chevron, the largest leaseholder in the Gulf, has also drilled in the greatest water depths at 10,011 feet.
Chevron's focal point for now is drilling on the Deep Seas, a vessel owned by Houston-based Transocean Inc., and one of six deepwater ships operating in the Gulf.
Outnumbered almost five to one by the traditional rigs drilling in the Gulf, the ships are not your ordinary drilling machines.
The Deep Seas positions itself above the well site and sits virtually still, thanks to six 13½-foot propeller thrusters beneath the hull.
The thrusters help the ship withstand 20-foot waves, 80 mile-an-hour winds, and currents that would prevent traditional rigs from operating. The amount of power used to keep the ship stationary and drilling would light 40,000 homes.
The ship is connected to the Gulf's floor by 4,300 feet of metal casing that surrounds the pipe and is fastened to the sea floor by a valve, which helps prevent accidents and contamination.
Crews on the ship work at computer screens and control panels to push the pipe and a drill bit into the ground about 80 feet per hour. An unmanned mini-submarine is used to collect sediment samples on the sea floor and monitors drilling progress.
Drilling starts by setting a 36-inch diameter steel casing about 300 feet into the seabed. Smaller casing gets connected until the well resembles an inverted extended telescope. It takes more than 1 million pounds of pipe to complete a well.
The entire process takes place in water pressure reaching 20,000 pounds per square inch and temperatures hitting 400 degrees.
"Drilling 3,000-foot land wells versus 28,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico is like flying a Cessna versus flying the Space Shuttle," said Curt Newsome, Chevron's senior drilling superintendent. "You're drilling something that's five miles away, and all you have are indicators to look at. You can't see down there, but you have to figure out what's going on."
For now Chevron plans six wells, each taking about three to four months to complete. Once Chevron has finished drilling, it will link the wells to a production platform being built in Finland.
The project costs about $3.5 billion, including about $500,000 a day in crew and drilling-related costs. Significant delays from inclement weather or drilling mistake can double or triple the daily costs.
"There is enormous risk in the hunt, but the returns are huge," said Chevron's Siegele. "That's why it's such a high-stakes game."
Record profits, driven by soaring oil prices, drew the attention of federal lawmakers last month. The House approved a measure to correct an Interior Department mistake that suspended payments for drilling in federal waters from 1998 and 1999 leases. The measure bars oil companies from receiving new leases unless they renegotiate past contracts.
Companies also are struggling with a tight supply of rigs and an almost four-year waiting for drilling ships, caused by increased demand, longer drilling times, and last year's hurricane-related damage to 113 rigs. The backlog prompted Chevron to have Transocean build another ship, to be ready in three years
Oil companies going deep in Gulf drilling
Business
Saturday, June 24, 2006
By STEVE QUINN
AP Business Writer
ABOARD THE DISCOVERER DEEP SEAS — Nearly three football fields long, the ship appears to be sitting idle on the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps even abandoned.
Beneath the deck, there's no such tranquility. A 200-person crew of geologists, engineers and technicians work around the clock at dimly lit keyboards, controlling every move of an adjoining oil rig as it uses an 16 1/2-inch pipe to bore through the ocean floor to a depth of more than five miles.
The Chevron Corp. crew is developing a deepwater oil field 190 miles off the Louisiana coast that's projected to produce 100,000 barrels of oil a day by 2008 and 500 million barrels overall.
It's the kind of discovery once thought to be out of reach, but with improved technology and climbing global oil prices, companies are spending billions developing oil fields the Interior Department says will substantially boost Gulf production.
Deepwater exploration — done in depths of 1,000 feet of water or greater — is also volatile, as companies face increasing development costs, a battle with the federal government over royalty payments and continued rig shortages. And hurricanes Katrina and Rita illustrated a seasonal threat that curbed deepwater exploration last year in addition to damaging 113 rigs and temporarily shutting down 28 percent of the nation's refining capacity.
When Chevron begins producing oil from this reservoir called Tahiti, it will be among several new major oil and natural gas projects in the Gulf over the next two years.
Within a year, BP PLC expects to have two Gulf projects producing oil designed to generate 450,000 barrels of oil a day. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will operate Independence Hub, also in the Gulf, slated to produce 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.
Companies are also going global with deepwater production tapping the coastal shores of Nigeria, Angola and Brazil. Deepwater accounts for about 3.7 million barrels a day — or slightly less than 5 percent — of global production, according to estimates by energy consultant Wood Mackenzie.
"There are huge decisions ahead of us," said Paul Siegele, Chevron's vice president of deepwater production. "It's the challenge of exploring around the world as well as places like the Arctic and the middle of nowhere."
Deepwater drilling in the Gulf dates to 1979 when Shell Oil Co. began production, but development really didn't take off until the 1990s as technological advancements made it more feasible, according to Interior Department's Minerals Management Service.
By 2004, deepwater production accounted for 66.4 percent of Gulf production, a 10-year, 40-percentage point boost, according to the Energy Information Administration. And Minerals Management forecast that year that Gulf production would rise 36 percent through 2013 — even as older wells dry up — largely thanks to deepwater pursuits.
Even with the risk of hurricanes, companies say it's a safer investment than politically charged climates in Latin America and West Africa.
Chevron produced the biggest Gulf discovery last year, with a 34,189-foot well about 170 miles southeast of New Orleans and about 20 miles from the Deep Seas ship. Chevron, the largest leaseholder in the Gulf, has also drilled in the greatest water depths at 10,011 feet.
Chevron's focal point for now is drilling on the Deep Seas, a vessel owned by Houston-based Transocean Inc., and one of six deepwater ships operating in the Gulf.
Outnumbered almost five to one by the traditional rigs drilling in the Gulf, the ships are not your ordinary drilling machines.
The Deep Seas positions itself above the well site and sits virtually still, thanks to six 13½-foot propeller thrusters beneath the hull.
The thrusters help the ship withstand 20-foot waves, 80 mile-an-hour winds, and currents that would prevent traditional rigs from operating. The amount of power used to keep the ship stationary and drilling would light 40,000 homes.
The ship is connected to the Gulf's floor by 4,300 feet of metal casing that surrounds the pipe and is fastened to the sea floor by a valve, which helps prevent accidents and contamination.
Crews on the ship work at computer screens and control panels to push the pipe and a drill bit into the ground about 80 feet per hour. An unmanned mini-submarine is used to collect sediment samples on the sea floor and monitors drilling progress.
Drilling starts by setting a 36-inch diameter steel casing about 300 feet into the seabed. Smaller casing gets connected until the well resembles an inverted extended telescope. It takes more than 1 million pounds of pipe to complete a well.
The entire process takes place in water pressure reaching 20,000 pounds per square inch and temperatures hitting 400 degrees.
"Drilling 3,000-foot land wells versus 28,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico is like flying a Cessna versus flying the Space Shuttle," said Curt Newsome, Chevron's senior drilling superintendent. "You're drilling something that's five miles away, and all you have are indicators to look at. You can't see down there, but you have to figure out what's going on."
For now Chevron plans six wells, each taking about three to four months to complete. Once Chevron has finished drilling, it will link the wells to a production platform being built in Finland.
The project costs about $3.5 billion, including about $500,000 a day in crew and drilling-related costs. Significant delays from inclement weather or drilling mistake can double or triple the daily costs.
"There is enormous risk in the hunt, but the returns are huge," said Chevron's Siegele. "That's why it's such a high-stakes game."
Record profits, driven by soaring oil prices, drew the attention of federal lawmakers last month. The House approved a measure to correct an Interior Department mistake that suspended payments for drilling in federal waters from 1998 and 1999 leases. The measure bars oil companies from receiving new leases unless they renegotiate past contracts.
Companies also are struggling with a tight supply of rigs and an almost four-year waiting for drilling ships, caused by increased demand, longer drilling times, and last year's hurricane-related damage to 113 rigs. The backlog prompted Chevron to have Transocean build another ship, to be ready in three years
Devon, Pioneer, Noble possible take-over targets.....
Interesting how this article says that all 3 ex-ERHC Partners are take over targets....
ND9
**************************************************
Traders look ahead to Fed; stocks end flat
Anadarko's big energy deal causes excitement but does little for the indexes. Markets may react calmly when the Fed raises rates next week. A big hedge fund is under investigation.
Shares of Western Gas and Kerr-McGee soared 46% and 36%, respectively, on the day. But shares of Anadarko fell 8%. Investors could be worried about the high price Anadarko is paying: The $22 billion company is borrowing $24 billion from UBS, Credit Suisse and Citigroup to finance the deals.
The deals boosted the entire oil and gas exploration sector. Analysts Gheit and Hanold both mentioned Pioneer Oil and Gas (POGS, news, msgs) as a possible takeover target. That stock soared nearly 31%. Other names mentioned as possible takeover candidates include Devon Energy (DVN, news, msgs) and Noble Energy (NBL, news, msgs). Devon was up 5% on Friday, and Noble Energy was up 2.5%.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CNBC/Dispatch/060623markets.aspx
"Crude oil weeps profusely in Sao Tome and Principe" - that's from article below
ND9
**************************************************
An Embarrassment of Riches
Despite being marred by conflicts Mother Africa is blessed
Salisu Ahmed Koki (funspider)
Published 2006-06-23 07:41 (KST)
Africa is blessed in its people and its land.
From the rivers of the Rift Valley to the wild animals of the Kalahari Game Reserve there is more for tourists to see in Africa than anywhere else on Earth.
If you doubt this poor writer, kindly spare some hours out of your life to Google "tourism in Africa" and not "terrorism in Africa" and see the wonders for yourself.
Africa is blessed in its ability to nurse, nurture and preserve many of the world's most treasured and admired cultures and traditions. The Masai people and their robust culture prove my point.
Africans and people of African origin have done much to benefit the world. Think of Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan of the United Nations.
They have also shown military prowess and skill in foreign policy. Think of the number of black military officers that fought in the two Iraq wars, or the likes of Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell.
People of African origin have changed the fate of nations. Remember the boldness and charismatic energy of American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jnr. and Malcolm X.
Other famous Africans include Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Emperor Gabriel Hail Salasee and Sir Ahmadu Bello K.B.E. of Nigeria to name but a few.
In the field of the display of exceptional wit and intelligence, the exceptionally creative writer Professor Chinua Achebe, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, Professor Emeritus Ali Mazrui and Nobel Laureate Wawuru of Kenya are just some of the many great African intellectuals and thinkers.
To cut a long story short, Africa is stunningly and stupendously blessed with both human and natural resources.
Africa is also rich in minerals. Diamonds and gold are buried beneath the fertile soils of South Africa and Ghana. Crude oil weeps profusely in Sao Tome and Principe, the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria and the Sudan. Zambia and its neighbors are famous for their zinc deposits. Aquamarine, amethyst and other precious stones are scattered across the soil of Africa. The list goes on and on.
The so-called civilized people in the West used to brand Africa as the "Darkest Part of the World." Though painfully insulting, I find it very logical to agree with their assertion and their colossal condemnation of this blessed continent.
I agree simply because the larger part of Africa has been enclosed and enveloped by needless man-made wars and conflicts that tend to violently dwarf the socio-economic development of the continent.
War has affected Darfur, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Chad, Gambia and the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Greed, lust for absolute power and bad leadership bedevil Africa, and unless the situation is reversed the continent will forever remain the so-called "Darkest Part of the World."
However there is good news coming out of this ancient continent.
Nigeria's role as mediator relieved war-torn Liberia of its trouble and facilitated the installation through democratic means of the first African woman president in the person of Allen Johnson Sirlef.
African organizations like the Economic Community of West African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States have done a great deal of good by intervening in warzones as peace keepers.
Africa is important for everyone regardless of their color, race or religious inclination. Africa has the potential to be a business haven equal to Dubai. Let us hope that the great continent will rise out of its present chaos and assume its rightful place as one of the most marvelous places on Earth.
©2006 OhmyNews
"Crude oil weeps profusely in Sao Tome and Principe" - that's from article below
ND9
**************************************************
An Embarrassment of Riches
Despite being marred by conflicts Mother Africa is blessed
Salisu Ahmed Koki (funspider)
Published 2006-06-23 07:41 (KST)
Africa is blessed in its people and its land.
From the rivers of the Rift Valley to the wild animals of the Kalahari Game Reserve there is more for tourists to see in Africa than anywhere else on Earth.
If you doubt this poor writer, kindly spare some hours out of your life to Google "tourism in Africa" and not "terrorism in Africa" and see the wonders for yourself.
Africa is blessed in its ability to nurse, nurture and preserve many of the world's most treasured and admired cultures and traditions. The Masai people and their robust culture prove my point.
Africans and people of African origin have done much to benefit the world. Think of Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan of the United Nations.
They have also shown military prowess and skill in foreign policy. Think of the number of black military officers that fought in the two Iraq wars, or the likes of Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell.
People of African origin have changed the fate of nations. Remember the boldness and charismatic energy of American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jnr. and Malcolm X.
Other famous Africans include Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Emperor Gabriel Hail Salasee and Sir Ahmadu Bello K.B.E. of Nigeria to name but a few.
In the field of the display of exceptional wit and intelligence, the exceptionally creative writer Professor Chinua Achebe, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, Professor Emeritus Ali Mazrui and Nobel Laureate Wawuru of Kenya are just some of the many great African intellectuals and thinkers.
To cut a long story short, Africa is stunningly and stupendously blessed with both human and natural resources.
Africa is also rich in minerals. Diamonds and gold are buried beneath the fertile soils of South Africa and Ghana. Crude oil weeps profusely in Sao Tome and Principe, the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria and the Sudan. Zambia and its neighbors are famous for their zinc deposits. Aquamarine, amethyst and other precious stones are scattered across the soil of Africa. The list goes on and on.
The so-called civilized people in the West used to brand Africa as the "Darkest Part of the World." Though painfully insulting, I find it very logical to agree with their assertion and their colossal condemnation of this blessed continent.
I agree simply because the larger part of Africa has been enclosed and enveloped by needless man-made wars and conflicts that tend to violently dwarf the socio-economic development of the continent.
War has affected Darfur, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Chad, Gambia and the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Greed, lust for absolute power and bad leadership bedevil Africa, and unless the situation is reversed the continent will forever remain the so-called "Darkest Part of the World."
However there is good news coming out of this ancient continent.
Nigeria's role as mediator relieved war-torn Liberia of its trouble and facilitated the installation through democratic means of the first African woman president in the person of Allen Johnson Sirlef.
African organizations like the Economic Community of West African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States have done a great deal of good by intervening in warzones as peace keepers.
Africa is important for everyone regardless of their color, race or religious inclination. Africa has the potential to be a business haven equal to Dubai. Let us hope that the great continent will rise out of its present chaos and assume its rightful place as one of the most marvelous places on Earth.
©2006 OhmyNews
China: Engagement for Africa
June 23, 2006 17 46 GMT
Summary
China has ramped up strategic relationships with African countries over the past two years to secure energy and mineral resources and geopolitical influence, as evidenced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's June 17-23 tour through seven resource-rich and politically influential African countries. Wen's visit -- the latest in a series of high-level Chinese emissaries' trips to Africa -- underscores the degree to which China is outdoing the United States in efforts to build political capital in Africa.
Analysis
On June 17, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao began a seven-day visit to seven African countries: Egypt, Ghana, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Wen's visit began just two months after Chinese President Hu Jintao's trip to Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya. Over the past 18 months, nearly a dozen senior Chinese officials have completed more than 36 visits to 25 African countries. The trips have all been part of a twofold strategy for China: to seal lucrative agreements for strategic resources and secure a position of geopolitical prominence rivaling that of the United States.
No other country can match China's prolific deal-making in Africa. Beijing has deployed senior government officials to Africa to secure concessions critical to China's economy. Oil concessions acquired in Nigeria, Congo and Angola help fulfill China's domestic energy demands; combined, deals reached over the past two months provide China direct access to the kinds of strategic resources necessary to meet ever-increasing domestic energy and consumption demands. Arms sales to Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt generate jobs within China. Relations with strategic and influential African countries -- such as Morocco, and U.N. Security Council (UNSC) members Ghana and Tanzania -- give China access to port facilities in north, west and east Africa to project its interests.
Chinese officials' visits have resulted in major deals for oil, minerals, trade and geopolitical influence. Hu's April visit to Nigeria concluded with a $4 billion agreement for new oil drilling licenses, and other agreements on building power stations and giving China a controlling stake in Nigeria's oil refinery. Hu's visit preceded talks with Zimbabwe, which wanted to purchase Chinese fighter aircraft. Wen's visit to Africa is also proving productive for China. A $2 billion deal was struck June 21 in Angola to finance the development of new oil fields. Oil, gas and communication deals were signed days earlier in the Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Ghana. Wen departed South Africa on June 22, having reached a deal encompassing nuclear technology cooperation and uranium concessions, in addition to an agreement on trade in textiles and clothing. A June 23 visit to Uganda will result in copper and infrastructure agreements.
Not all visits by senior Chinese officials are driven by economics, however. Other high-level visits aim to gain China geopolitical influence among African powerbrokers at the United Nations, where China is a veto-bearing, permanent member of the UNSC. Congo, Ghana and Tanzania -- all currently serving two-year terms on the UNSC -- were the focus of multiple senior-level Chinese visits in 2005 and earlier in 2006 as China sought to recruit them as reliable voting allies.
Furthermore, China has designed its visits to gain influence among African countries and leaders with continental and regional leadership responsibilities. Presidential- and premier-level visits with Congolese President and current African Union (AU) Chairman Dennis Sassou-Nguesso and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who held the AU chairmanship in 2005, have put China in a position to influence continent-wide decision-making. China's already-close relations with Sudan will get even tighter as Sudanese President Omar al Bashir assumes the AU chairmanship in 2007. China has committed senior-level attention to South Africa, as Beijing is acutely aware that South Africa is not only the continent's economic powerhouse, but also a political and diplomatic hegemon that the United States relies upon in Africa. A China-Africa summit that Beijing will host in November will propel China's reputation among African countries as a core backer of African interests.
However, China's economic and political dealings in Africa have struck a chord among African politicians who fear a Chinese takeover of African interests. South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and South African trade unions have sought reassurances that trade between China and Africa flows both ways. During his visit to Africa, Wen has carefully countered accusations of self-interest with explanations that China's considerable economic and political clout, its developing-country status shared with African countries and its permanent seat at the UNSC would be used to promote African and Chinese interests on a global stage.
China's deployment of senior-level representatives to Africa highlights the considerable amount of political capital China devotes to achieving its economic and geopolitical interests in Africa. China has sent more senior delegations to Africa more frequently in the past 18 months than to any other country. Two-thirds of the Chinese visits to Africa were to secure energy and geopolitical agreements. Goodwill and mediation efforts made up the remaining one-third of the senior-level Chinese visits to Africa during 2005 and 2006.
During the same period, U.S. foreign policy toward Africa has involved selective engagement. Washington has paid some attention to supporting anti-terrorism activity in the Horn of Africa and to Nigeria's democratic consolidation, but most of U.S. involvement in Africa has been to support and consolidate conflict-resolution efforts. Seven senior U.S. officials completed 27 visits to 19 African countries and, in further contrast with China, Washington's delegations to African have served only goodwill and conflict-mediation purposes. Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's Jan. 16 inauguration attracted a prominent U.S. delegation led by first lady Laura Bush and including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Mediating Sudan's Darfur crisis monopolized U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's engagement with Africa. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, the most frequent senior U.S. visitor to Africa, has largely concentrated on goodwill and conflict mediation such as talks with Kenya and Ethiopia and post-conflict consolidation in Rwanda and Burundi. U.S. President George W. Bush traveled to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria, but that was in June 2003.
Though the United States has largely taken a low-key approach to Africa, China will exploit a perceived U.S. absence from the continent in order to show how Beijing is committed to high-level deal-making in Africa. The United States, in turn, is likely to deploy fresh political and economic resources in order to counter China's Africa policy --to have Africa "Look East" -- a strategy designed to garner strategic resources and geopolitical support.
The frequency and type of official Chinese and U.S. visits to Africa illustrates how different methods drive different foreign policies. The net result of U.S. foreign policy in Africa, while basically serving to avoid entanglements in the continent, will be a response to China's advances toward resource control and geopolitical influence. China, on the other hand, will seek maximum advantage for as long as possible during the lull in U.S. attention toward Africa.
China: Engagement for Africa
June 23, 2006 17 46 GMT
Summary
China has ramped up strategic relationships with African countries over the past two years to secure energy and mineral resources and geopolitical influence, as evidenced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's June 17-23 tour through seven resource-rich and politically influential African countries. Wen's visit -- the latest in a series of high-level Chinese emissaries' trips to Africa -- underscores the degree to which China is outdoing the United States in efforts to build political capital in Africa.
Analysis
On June 17, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao began a seven-day visit to seven African countries: Egypt, Ghana, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Wen's visit began just two months after Chinese President Hu Jintao's trip to Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya. Over the past 18 months, nearly a dozen senior Chinese officials have completed more than 36 visits to 25 African countries. The trips have all been part of a twofold strategy for China: to seal lucrative agreements for strategic resources and secure a position of geopolitical prominence rivaling that of the United States.
No other country can match China's prolific deal-making in Africa. Beijing has deployed senior government officials to Africa to secure concessions critical to China's economy. Oil concessions acquired in Nigeria, Congo and Angola help fulfill China's domestic energy demands; combined, deals reached over the past two months provide China direct access to the kinds of strategic resources necessary to meet ever-increasing domestic energy and consumption demands. Arms sales to Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt generate jobs within China. Relations with strategic and influential African countries -- such as Morocco, and U.N. Security Council (UNSC) members Ghana and Tanzania -- give China access to port facilities in north, west and east Africa to project its interests.
Chinese officials' visits have resulted in major deals for oil, minerals, trade and geopolitical influence. Hu's April visit to Nigeria concluded with a $4 billion agreement for new oil drilling licenses, and other agreements on building power stations and giving China a controlling stake in Nigeria's oil refinery. Hu's visit preceded talks with Zimbabwe, which wanted to purchase Chinese fighter aircraft. Wen's visit to Africa is also proving productive for China. A $2 billion deal was struck June 21 in Angola to finance the development of new oil fields. Oil, gas and communication deals were signed days earlier in the Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Ghana. Wen departed South Africa on June 22, having reached a deal encompassing nuclear technology cooperation and uranium concessions, in addition to an agreement on trade in textiles and clothing. A June 23 visit to Uganda will result in copper and infrastructure agreements.
Not all visits by senior Chinese officials are driven by economics, however. Other high-level visits aim to gain China geopolitical influence among African powerbrokers at the United Nations, where China is a veto-bearing, permanent member of the UNSC. Congo, Ghana and Tanzania -- all currently serving two-year terms on the UNSC -- were the focus of multiple senior-level Chinese visits in 2005 and earlier in 2006 as China sought to recruit them as reliable voting allies.
Furthermore, China has designed its visits to gain influence among African countries and leaders with continental and regional leadership responsibilities. Presidential- and premier-level visits with Congolese President and current African Union (AU) Chairman Dennis Sassou-Nguesso and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who held the AU chairmanship in 2005, have put China in a position to influence continent-wide decision-making. China's already-close relations with Sudan will get even tighter as Sudanese President Omar al Bashir assumes the AU chairmanship in 2007. China has committed senior-level attention to South Africa, as Beijing is acutely aware that South Africa is not only the continent's economic powerhouse, but also a political and diplomatic hegemon that the United States relies upon in Africa. A China-Africa summit that Beijing will host in November will propel China's reputation among African countries as a core backer of African interests.
However, China's economic and political dealings in Africa have struck a chord among African politicians who fear a Chinese takeover of African interests. South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and South African trade unions have sought reassurances that trade between China and Africa flows both ways. During his visit to Africa, Wen has carefully countered accusations of self-interest with explanations that China's considerable economic and political clout, its developing-country status shared with African countries and its permanent seat at the UNSC would be used to promote African and Chinese interests on a global stage.
China's deployment of senior-level representatives to Africa highlights the considerable amount of political capital China devotes to achieving its economic and geopolitical interests in Africa. China has sent more senior delegations to Africa more frequently in the past 18 months than to any other country. Two-thirds of the Chinese visits to Africa were to secure energy and geopolitical agreements. Goodwill and mediation efforts made up the remaining one-third of the senior-level Chinese visits to Africa during 2005 and 2006.
During the same period, U.S. foreign policy toward Africa has involved selective engagement. Washington has paid some attention to supporting anti-terrorism activity in the Horn of Africa and to Nigeria's democratic consolidation, but most of U.S. involvement in Africa has been to support and consolidate conflict-resolution efforts. Seven senior U.S. officials completed 27 visits to 19 African countries and, in further contrast with China, Washington's delegations to African have served only goodwill and conflict-mediation purposes. Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's Jan. 16 inauguration attracted a prominent U.S. delegation led by first lady Laura Bush and including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Mediating Sudan's Darfur crisis monopolized U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's engagement with Africa. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, the most frequent senior U.S. visitor to Africa, has largely concentrated on goodwill and conflict mediation such as talks with Kenya and Ethiopia and post-conflict consolidation in Rwanda and Burundi. U.S. President George W. Bush traveled to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria, but that was in June 2003.
Though the United States has largely taken a low-key approach to Africa, China will exploit a perceived U.S. absence from the continent in order to show how Beijing is committed to high-level deal-making in Africa. The United States, in turn, is likely to deploy fresh political and economic resources in order to counter China's Africa policy --to have Africa "Look East" -- a strategy designed to garner strategic resources and geopolitical support.
The frequency and type of official Chinese and U.S. visits to Africa illustrates how different methods drive different foreign policies. The net result of U.S. foreign policy in Africa, while basically serving to avoid entanglements in the continent, will be a response to China's advances toward resource control and geopolitical influence. China, on the other hand, will seek maximum advantage for as long as possible during the lull in U.S. attention toward Africa.
"Crude oil weeps profusely in Sao Tome and Principe" - that's from article below
ND9
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An Embarrassment of Riches
Despite being marred by conflicts Mother Africa is blessed
Salisu Ahmed Koki (funspider)
Published 2006-06-23 07:41 (KST)
Africa is blessed in its people and its land.
From the rivers of the Rift Valley to the wild animals of the Kalahari Game Reserve there is more for tourists to see in Africa than anywhere else on Earth.
If you doubt this poor writer, kindly spare some hours out of your life to Google "tourism in Africa" and not "terrorism in Africa" and see the wonders for yourself.
Africa is blessed in its ability to nurse, nurture and preserve many of the world's most treasured and admired cultures and traditions. The Masai people and their robust culture prove my point.
Africans and people of African origin have done much to benefit the world. Think of Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan of the United Nations.
They have also shown military prowess and skill in foreign policy. Think of the number of black military officers that fought in the two Iraq wars, or the likes of Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell.
People of African origin have changed the fate of nations. Remember the boldness and charismatic energy of American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jnr. and Malcolm X.
Other famous Africans include Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Emperor Gabriel Hail Salasee and Sir Ahmadu Bello K.B.E. of Nigeria to name but a few.
In the field of the display of exceptional wit and intelligence, the exceptionally creative writer Professor Chinua Achebe, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, Professor Emeritus Ali Mazrui and Nobel Laureate Wawuru of Kenya are just some of the many great African intellectuals and thinkers.
To cut a long story short, Africa is stunningly and stupendously blessed with both human and natural resources.
Africa is also rich in minerals. Diamonds and gold are buried beneath the fertile soils of South Africa and Ghana. Crude oil weeps profusely in Sao Tome and Principe, the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria and the Sudan. Zambia and its neighbors are famous for their zinc deposits. Aquamarine, amethyst and other precious stones are scattered across the soil of Africa. The list goes on and on.
The so-called civilized people in the West used to brand Africa as the "Darkest Part of the World." Though painfully insulting, I find it very logical to agree with their assertion and their colossal condemnation of this blessed continent.
I agree simply because the larger part of Africa has been enclosed and enveloped by needless man-made wars and conflicts that tend to violently dwarf the socio-economic development of the continent.
War has affected Darfur, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Chad, Gambia and the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Greed, lust for absolute power and bad leadership bedevil Africa, and unless the situation is reversed the continent will forever remain the so-called "Darkest Part of the World."
However there is good news coming out of this ancient continent.
Nigeria's role as mediator relieved war-torn Liberia of its trouble and facilitated the installation through democratic means of the first African woman president in the person of Allen Johnson Sirlef.
African organizations like the Economic Community of West African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States have done a great deal of good by intervening in warzones as peace keepers.
Africa is important for everyone regardless of their color, race or religious inclination. Africa has the potential to be a business haven equal to Dubai. Let us hope that the great continent will rise out of its present chaos and assume its rightful place as one of the most marvelous places on Earth.
©2006 OhmyNews
Oil, Luck or Misfortune?
By ARNALDO MUSA - musa.amp@granma.cip.cu -
The constant and prolonged presence of US Navy warships in the Gulf of Guinea, with patrols all along the western coast of Africa, has been justified by the Pentagon under the pretext that it has to protect oil reserves from supposed terrorist attacks.
US Navy warship in the Gulf of Guinea
Direct US military presence abroad, that reached its peak with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, forms part of the tools already used by Washington to assure control of important energy resources in the Persian Gulf and Caucasus-Central Asia regions including foreign policy pressuring and penetration by big capital and corporations.
This is nothing new. In February 2005, the USS Land launched an attack on the coastline of Cameroon and US Marines participated in land military maneuvers. Some time before they had announced that 80 US troops would be living there for some time in order to "provide their experience in the fight against Onchocerciasis, [the world’s second leading infectious cause of blindness] also known as "river blindness," and malaria."
Officially, the Yaundes, a Bantu-speaking people of the hilly area of south-central Cameroon who live in and around the capital city of Yaounde, are a high-ranking associate of the so-called struggle against insecurity in Central Africa. But the most important thing is that they help protect US investments in a part of the world that Washington has targeted to obtain about 25 percent of its oil and natural gas requirements.
This is part of a US action plan announced in June, 2005 under the title: African oil: A Priority for US National Security and African Development.
In that document some "noble ideas" are highlighted, including how the US should promote regional cooperation in energy with the African nations while at the same time easing the foreign debt situation of the countries that show a commitment and progress in this area.
Privatization is an essential element of this policy and will force the African nations to adopt it as a stepping stone in the search for foreign capital, aimed mainly at the oil and gas sector.
The US will also be backing a program aimed at developing relations in military matters with their African counterparts, including the training of personnel, selective transfer of military technology, providing ships and helicopters for coastal patrols.
This is the general plan for the whole of Africa, with emphasis on the sub-Saharan region. That policy will be complemented by the US Congress and the Bush administration by declaring the Gulf of Guinea "an area of vital interest" for the United States.
For a long time now, the US has been attempting to install a sub-regional command in that part of Africa, following a similar pattern as the American armed forces in South Korea.
Some may ask why such interest shown by certain US corporations and powerful sectors in the Gulf of Guinea and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, when in his last presidential campaign President Bush said he believed that Africa would not be a national strategic priority.
In an article titled: "Penetration of the United States in sub-Saharan Africa", published on the Rebelion Spanish language website, three main elements are explained:
1) The failure of the warmongering and hegemonic US foreign policy to create a "New World Order" by means of military force.
2) The growing energy needs generated by the high-level of consumption in the US economy.
3. The excellent prospects shown by oil exploration activities in the maritime platform off the African Atlantic coast.
Currently, the US is importing 15 percent of its oil needs from Africa, and the oil coming from the Gulf of Guinea is of high quality, plentiful, and has huge reserves in the high seas at a considerable distance from conflictive areas.
The proximity of the US Atlantic coast to these platforms, facilitates shorter supply routes, free from narrow straits and sea lanes, like the ones of the Near and Middle East, and which are farther away and susceptible to a blockade.
The US power structures offer aid in exchange for oil. Looking at this on paper, it may be thought that the abundance of hydrocarbons would create a prosperity zone with the possibility of it extending to nearby areas that have no other resources than agriculture. That's the advertising campaign the US is using.
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War games raise questions about NATO's role in Africa
Friday, June 23, 2006; Posted: 12:32 p.m. EDT (16:32 GMT)
MINDELO, Cape Verde (AP) -- NATO's first war games in Africa have thousands of allied troops pounding pretend terrorist bases, grappling with rioters and separating factions in a mock war over oil -- maneuvers that have many speculating on the alliance's potential role on the African mainland.
More than 7,000 troops from Europe and North America have flooded into in the dusty hills of Sao Vicente island, creating a vast boot-camp on the edge of Mindelo, a port city of 70,000 renowned for its musical traditions and pastel-painted Portuguese colonial architecture.
Exercise "Steadfast Jaguar" is billed as a crucial test for the new NATO Response Force -- a spearhead unit designed for rapid deployment around the world for missions ranging from humanitarian relief to lightning combat strikes.
Although NATO pulls out of Cape Verdehttp://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/06/23/nato.verde.ap/ ..... rest of article at
Sinopec signs agreement with McDonald's to open drive-throughs in China
UPDATED: 08:23, June 21, 2006
Sinopec Sales Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), signed an agreement with McDonald's China on Tuesday to open drive-throughs in Sinopec's gas stations around the country.
Pilot drive-throughs will be opened in China's major cities and their level of success will determine how many will be opened in future.
Sinopec will offer real estate and McDonald's will operate the restaurants, said a Sinopec Sales official surnamed Gao.
He said the profits will be divided between the both sides according to the turnover.
As China's top oil refinery, Sinopec operates over 30,000 gas stations around the country.
Developing non-oil products services has become a priority of Sinopec's sales sector, said Wang Tianpu, president of Sinopec.
McDonald's, which already has 760 restaurants in China, is targeting China's car owners who generally have a better income and are more accessible to Western food.
From last December to this January, McDonald's opened three drive-throughs in China, distributed in Dongguan and Foshan cities of Guangdong Province and Shanghai Municipality respectively.
Source: Xinhua
XOM, CVX, MRO, AHC also under investigation
Just a reminder to all that the US Govt is also investigating ExxonMobil, Amerada Hess, ChevronTexaco and Marathon. So if you think it's just our poor little EHRC being investigated, you're mistaken. Oh, and for those of you who keep crying about the super-majors, well, why don't you stop consuming energy for just 1 day and see if you can take it. I doubt it.
ND9
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SEC eyes oil payments to Equatorial Guinea
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining payments by four big U.S. oil companies to officials of Equatorial Guinea and businesses they controlled, as government inquiries related to the Riggs Bank affair proliferate.
Spokesmen for the companies — Amerada Hess (AHC), ChevronTexaco (CVX), ExxonMobil (XOM) and Marathon (MRO)— confirmed Friday that they had recently received letters from the SEC requesting information in a preliminary investigation. They said the companies were cooperating in the inquiry, which is being conducted by the SEC's office in Fort Worth.
SEC spokesman Matt Well in Washington declined to comment.
At issue is whether U.S. anti-bribery laws were violated in the companies' activities in Equatorial Guinea, a poor West African country cited by the State Department for human rights abuses, corruption and diversion of oil revenue to government officials.
In the course of an overall investigation of account transactions at Riggs, Senate investigators discovered large payments made by the oil companies to officials of Equatorial Guinea and their relatives. That raised concerns about possible corruption, voiced by senators at a hearing last month.
Executives defended the companies' actions in Equatorial Guinea, testifying that they have strictly complied with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and have entered only into legitimate business ventures there.
Spokesmen for Amerada Hess, ChevronTexaco and Houston-based Marathon reiterated that position Friday.
"Our policy is for all ChevronTexaco employees to fully comply with the law at all times," spokesman Stan Luckoski said from the company's headquarters in San Ramon, Calif.
Exxon spokeswoman Susan Reeves would say only that company received the request from the SEC on Thursday and planned "to cooperate fully."
The SEC and the Justice Department have pursued a number of cases recently under the law, which bars U.S. companies and individuals from bribing foreign officials.
The SEC has been formally investigating, for example, allegations that a Halliburton (HAL) subsidiary was involved in paying $180 million in bribes to get a natural gas project contract in Nigeria. The SEC and the Justice Department have asked Halliburton to cooperate and provide information.
The SEC inquiry concerning the four oil companies and Equatorial Guinea is preliminary and not formal and the companies' furnishing of information is voluntary.
News of the inquiry, first reported Thursday by The Washington Post, comes about a week after the disclosure that the Justice Department is investigating the federal regulator who oversaw Riggs during a period of deficient money-laundering controls and later became a senior executive at the bank.
The ethics investigation of R. Ashley Lee was triggered by a referral of the matter on July 20 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — where Lee was the lead examiner for Riggs — to the Justice Department. Inquiries into activities of current or former federal employees by Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility can sometimes develop into criminal investigations.
A report issued last month by the Senate investigators revealed that senior Riggs managers helped former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet conceal millions of dollars in assets from international prosecutors and U.S. regulators. The report said that when he was overseeing Riggs as an examiner, Lee instructed agency staff who had looked into the Pinochet accounts not to put their examination memos or supporting paperwork into the electronic files of the comptroller's office.
He denied having done so at the hearing, saying "I made no (such) instructions to anybody."
Also, a former Riggs senior vice president who was in charge of the Equatorial Guinea accounts, Simon Kareri, is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation. He invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the hearing and declined to answer questions on the bank's handling of the accounts, which have since been closed.
With $700 million in accounts and certificates of deposit for the Equatorial Guinea government, its officials and their relatives, the country easily became Riggs' biggest single customer. Using wire transfers, about $35 million was drained from an account that held oil revenue for the country's people and into offshore companies, according to the report by Senate investigators.
Riggs, an old-line Washington institution with deep roots in the diplomatic community, was fined a record $25 million in May by the comptroller's office for allegedly failing to report suspicious transactions in the Equatorial Guinea accounts and those controlled by Saudi diplomats in Washington. Riggs' parent agreed last month to be acquired by PNC Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh in a $779 million deal that will shutter the embassy and international businesses that were Riggs' hallmark.
Chinese premier to tour seven African nations
June 08 2006 at 02:13PM
Beijing - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will visit seven African countries next week to boost relations and promote cooperation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
The five-day trip, beginning June 17, includes stops in Egypt, Ghana, Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said at a regular press conference.
Wen plans to meet with top officials in each country to discuss international issues, Liu said without giving any more details.
Liu said Beijing was concerned about the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
EU, US and African officials have been urging Sudan to allow a large UN peacekeeping force to replace the current African Union mission in Darfur.
At least 180 000 people have been killed and 2,5 million driven from their homes by fighting in Darfur since February 2003, when rebels from ethnic African farming villages took up arms against what they consider discrimination and oppression by the Arab-dominated government.
Over the last five years, China's trade with Africa quadrupled to $40-billion (about R268-million) in 2005, according to Assistant Foreign Minister Lu Guozheng in January. - Sapa-AP
Chinese premier to tour seven African nations
June 08 2006 at 02:13PM
Beijing - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will visit seven African countries next week to boost relations and promote cooperation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
The five-day trip, beginning June 17, includes stops in Egypt, Ghana, Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said at a regular press conference.
Wen plans to meet with top officials in each country to discuss international issues, Liu said without giving any more details.
Liu said Beijing was concerned about the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
EU, US and African officials have been urging Sudan to allow a large UN peacekeeping force to replace the current African Union mission in Darfur.
At least 180 000 people have been killed and 2,5 million driven from their homes by fighting in Darfur since February 2003, when rebels from ethnic African farming villages took up arms against what they consider discrimination and oppression by the Arab-dominated government.
Over the last five years, China's trade with Africa quadrupled to $40-billion (about R268-million) in 2005, according to Assistant Foreign Minister Lu Guozheng in January. - Sapa-AP
Addax Petroleum initiated with "neutral"
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 10:06:41 AM ET
UBS
NEW YORK, June 13 (newratings.com) - Analyst Memet Kont of UBS initiates coverage of Addax Petroleum (ticker: AXC.TO) with a "neutral" rating. The 12-month target price is set to C$29.
In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company’s onshore discovery in Iraq, deepwater projects in the JDZ, offshore acreage in Cameroon and Gabon, and the Nigerian properties have significant exploration potential. The CEO, Jean Claude Gandur, has held various honorary diplomatic positions in several African countries in the past, which would provide Addax Petroleum a competitive advantage, the analyst adds.
Addax Petroleum initiated with "neutral"
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 10:06:41 AM ET
UBS
NEW YORK, June 13 (newratings.com) - Analyst Memet Kont of UBS initiates coverage of Addax Petroleum (ticker: AXC.TO) with a "neutral" rating. The 12-month target price is set to C$29.
In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company’s onshore discovery in Iraq, deepwater projects in the JDZ, offshore acreage in Cameroon and Gabon, and the Nigerian properties have significant exploration potential. The CEO, Jean Claude Gandur, has held various honorary diplomatic positions in several African countries in the past, which would provide Addax Petroleum a competitive advantage, the analyst adds.
Nigeria: Atiku: I Didn't Ask for Gratification From Jefferson
This Day (Lagos)
June 11, 2006
Posted to the web June 12, 2006
Collins Edomaruse
Abuja
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar yesterday, for the umpteenth time, denied demanding financial gratification from US Congressman William Jefferson, and accused his political opponents of waging media campaign of calumny against him.
Atiku was reported yesterday to have negotiated for $500,000 bribe and a stake in a technology venture in the country, according to statements Jefferson made to an FBI informant, details of which were contained in court documents filed in a bribery probe of the congressman. Jefferson allegedly told the FBI informant details of which were cenlained "African art," which authorities believe was code for cash, to the suburban Washington home of Jennifer, Atiku's wife at midnight last July 31.
But reacting to the report, Mallam Garba Shehu, press secretary, Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization, stated that "Our attention has been drawn to reports on Vice-President Atiku Abubakar concerning the on-going FBI investigation of the United States Congressman, Mr. William Jefferson."
"The facts of the case have clearly demonstrated the innocence of Vice-President Abubakar and for clarity purposes, we wish to state them again.
"That the Vice President Abubakar met Mr. Jefferson at the request of the Nigerian Embassy in the United States. Mr Jefferson was the Chairman of the United States House of Representatives Sub- Committee on Nigeria, a position which eminently qualified him for audience with Vice President Abubakar.
"That the correspondence of Mr Jefferson with Vice-President Abubakar was routed through the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC.
"And that the proposal from Mr. Jefferson for foreign investment in the Nigerian Communications sector was forwarded by the Office of the Vice President to the Nigerian Ministry of Communications for its attention."
The campaign organisation further said it was pertinent for readers and Nigerians to know that:
"The claim that Vice President Abubakar solicited money and collected $100,000 from Mr. Jefferson had been disproved by the FBI, which discovered the marked money wrapped in a foil and concealed in the refrigerator at the residence of the Congressman", he added.
The group, therefore insisted that: "For the avoidance of doubt, Vice-President Abubakar never solicited nor discussed any gratification with Congress-man Jefferson.
"We would like to advise those trying to score cheap political points with this matter to look elsewhere."
China gets foothold in Africa by staying out of politics
By Antoaneta Bezlova
Updated Jun 12, 2006, 10:39 am
China And Africa Seek A Win-Win (BlackElectorate.com, 04-2006)
Tanzania: Dar China Trade Reaches Climax (East African Business Week, 06-12-2006)
South Africa leader welcomes China investment (Africast, 05-25-2006)
BEIJING (IPS/GIN) - China is busy building railways and roads in Angola, Nigeria and Kenya, revving up trade volumes with South Africa and Zambia and, most of all, guzzling up Africa’s rich reserves of oil and minerals. Increasingly too, Beijing is courting resource-rich countries, like the Sudan and Zimbabwe, that have been marginalized in recent years by the West, and forging partnerships on the strength of its non-interfering foreign policy.
Countering the United States’ geopolitical clout in Africa appears to be at the heart of Beijing’s efforts, based on unease among Chinese commentators about resumption of diplomatic relations between Libya and the U.S.
The two countries have not had full ties for more than 25 years, but relations significantly improved after Libya decided in December 2003 to give up its nuclear weapons program. Last week, the Bush administration announced it would open an embassy in Tripoli and drop Libya from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism.
U.S. officials were frank in expressing their hopes that the move will encourage Libya to further open its underdeveloped oil industry, which is potentially one of the world’s largest, whose oil reserves are reported to rank among the top 10 worldwide.
Nervousness about this step forward for the U.S. in the oil-rich country was palpable in some of the opinions published in the Chinese press.
One of Beijing’s dailies, the Xinjingbao, ran a signed opinion on May 21 portraying Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi as a former “strong man” who in the past dared say “no” to the West, before noting that his “petroleum nationalism of early years has now been replaced by a mere pragmatism.” The official China Daily saw U.S.-Libya rapprochement as a potential impediment to China’s own aggressive push to expand its influence in Africa.
Yuan Peng, a researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, argued that after years of neglect of this “strategic vacuum area,” Washington has come to realize the importance of a fresh start with Africa.
“Both security interests and oil interests (in the restoration of U.S.-Libyan diplomatic ties) are at the service of a grander strategic goal —overhauling the U.S. African strategy,” Yuan wrote in the China Daily.
“Will a chain reaction in African-U.S. relations be triggered off by the U.S. increasing strategic input in the continent? This is a subject worth closely watching and following,” he concluded.
The U.S.-Libyan rapprochement comes at a time when Beijing’s clout in Africa is rising.
Diplomacy has been backed by a steady wave of investment in rebuilding and expanding infrastructure in the impoverished continent.
China pledged a loan of $1 billion to oil-rich Nigeria to help it repair its dilapidated railway system and another infrastructure deal was recently clinched between China and Algeria, also an important African oil producer. China’s Citic Group and China Railway Construction Group fended off rival bids from European and U.S. firms to build almost half of Algeria’s 756-mile East-West highway.
Last year China offered Angola a $2 billion dollar soft infrastructure loan in order to win a contract to develop an offshore oilfield, which India was also bidding for. In addition to bilateral donations, Beijing has also pledged $100 million to the Asian Development Fund and the Africa Development Fund.
Beijing has termed its double-pronged strategy of winning political friends and securing long-term supplies of natural resources on the continent as the new “win-win” concept of partnership with Africa.
“China plans to establish and develop a new type of strategic partnership with Africa characterized by equality and mutual trust on the political front, cooperation conducted on the basis of ‘win-win’ economics with reinforced cultural exchanges,” said a document released in the Malian capital, Bamako, in January at the end of China Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing’s visit there.
China believes the time to establish its presence firmly in the continent is limited. Chinese experts predict the next five to eight years will be a golden time for Chinese companies to invest in Africa.
“Africa has become a new focus for global investors, and Chinese companies will be presented with huge business opportunities if they enter the market early,” Chi Changsheng, an expert with the National Development and Research Commission, China’s top planning body, told a recent forum on Chinese investment in Africa.
Touring Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya last month, Chinese President Hu Jintao repeatedly emphasized that China would adhere to its long-standing non-interventionist policy in dealing with other countries. “We respect the political model chosen by the African people,” he was quoted as saying in Nairobi.
China gets foothold in Africa by staying out of politics
By Antoaneta Bezlova
Updated Jun 12, 2006, 10:39 am
China And Africa Seek A Win-Win (BlackElectorate.com, 04-2006)
Tanzania: Dar China Trade Reaches Climax (East African Business Week, 06-12-2006)
South Africa leader welcomes China investment (Africast, 05-25-2006)
BEIJING (IPS/GIN) - China is busy building railways and roads in Angola, Nigeria and Kenya, revving up trade volumes with South Africa and Zambia and, most of all, guzzling up Africa’s rich reserves of oil and minerals. Increasingly too, Beijing is courting resource-rich countries, like the Sudan and Zimbabwe, that have been marginalized in recent years by the West, and forging partnerships on the strength of its non-interfering foreign policy.
Countering the United States’ geopolitical clout in Africa appears to be at the heart of Beijing’s efforts, based on unease among Chinese commentators about resumption of diplomatic relations between Libya and the U.S.
The two countries have not had full ties for more than 25 years, but relations significantly improved after Libya decided in December 2003 to give up its nuclear weapons program. Last week, the Bush administration announced it would open an embassy in Tripoli and drop Libya from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism.
U.S. officials were frank in expressing their hopes that the move will encourage Libya to further open its underdeveloped oil industry, which is potentially one of the world’s largest, whose oil reserves are reported to rank among the top 10 worldwide.
Nervousness about this step forward for the U.S. in the oil-rich country was palpable in some of the opinions published in the Chinese press.
One of Beijing’s dailies, the Xinjingbao, ran a signed opinion on May 21 portraying Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi as a former “strong man” who in the past dared say “no” to the West, before noting that his “petroleum nationalism of early years has now been replaced by a mere pragmatism.” The official China Daily saw U.S.-Libya rapprochement as a potential impediment to China’s own aggressive push to expand its influence in Africa.
Yuan Peng, a researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, argued that after years of neglect of this “strategic vacuum area,” Washington has come to realize the importance of a fresh start with Africa.
“Both security interests and oil interests (in the restoration of U.S.-Libyan diplomatic ties) are at the service of a grander strategic goal —overhauling the U.S. African strategy,” Yuan wrote in the China Daily.
“Will a chain reaction in African-U.S. relations be triggered off by the U.S. increasing strategic input in the continent? This is a subject worth closely watching and following,” he concluded.
The U.S.-Libyan rapprochement comes at a time when Beijing’s clout in Africa is rising.
Diplomacy has been backed by a steady wave of investment in rebuilding and expanding infrastructure in the impoverished continent.
China pledged a loan of $1 billion to oil-rich Nigeria to help it repair its dilapidated railway system and another infrastructure deal was recently clinched between China and Algeria, also an important African oil producer. China’s Citic Group and China Railway Construction Group fended off rival bids from European and U.S. firms to build almost half of Algeria’s 756-mile East-West highway.
Last year China offered Angola a $2 billion dollar soft infrastructure loan in order to win a contract to develop an offshore oilfield, which India was also bidding for. In addition to bilateral donations, Beijing has also pledged $100 million to the Asian Development Fund and the Africa Development Fund.
Beijing has termed its double-pronged strategy of winning political friends and securing long-term supplies of natural resources on the continent as the new “win-win” concept of partnership with Africa.
“China plans to establish and develop a new type of strategic partnership with Africa characterized by equality and mutual trust on the political front, cooperation conducted on the basis of ‘win-win’ economics with reinforced cultural exchanges,” said a document released in the Malian capital, Bamako, in January at the end of China Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing’s visit there.
China believes the time to establish its presence firmly in the continent is limited. Chinese experts predict the next five to eight years will be a golden time for Chinese companies to invest in Africa.
“Africa has become a new focus for global investors, and Chinese companies will be presented with huge business opportunities if they enter the market early,” Chi Changsheng, an expert with the National Development and Research Commission, China’s top planning body, told a recent forum on Chinese investment in Africa.
Touring Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya last month, Chinese President Hu Jintao repeatedly emphasized that China would adhere to its long-standing non-interventionist policy in dealing with other countries. “We respect the political model chosen by the African people,” he was quoted as saying in Nairobi.
China's auto imports soaring by 80 pct in first five months
UPDATED: 09:18, June 13, 2006
China's auto imports soaring by 80 pct in first five months
China imported 87,000 motor vehicles in the first five months of 2006, a year-on-year increase of 80 percent, according to a news release from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
The country's imports of motor vehicles was 15,000 in May, a drop of 28.6 percent from April.
China's imports of machinery and electronic products in the first five months jumped 28 percent to 160.91 billion U.S. dollars, while the import of steel products dropped by 27.6 percent to 7.74 million tons.
Exports of machinery and electronic products grew 31.6 percent to reach 199.43 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, making up 57.4 percent of the country's total exports.
The export of high-tech products came to 101.26 billion U.S. dollars, up 33.1 percent.
The export of clothing was up 27.3 percent to 31.04 billion dollars, and that of other textile products rose 20.1 percent to 18.61 billion dollars.
Exports of crude oil dropped by 6.6 percent to 2.52 million tons and exports of processed oil dropped by 17.2 percent to 5.29 million tons.
Source: Xinhua
China's auto imports soaring by 80 pct in first five months
UPDATED: 09:18, June 13, 2006
China's auto imports soaring by 80 pct in first five months
China imported 87,000 motor vehicles in the first five months of 2006, a year-on-year increase of 80 percent, according to a news release from the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
The country's imports of motor vehicles was 15,000 in May, a drop of 28.6 percent from April.
China's imports of machinery and electronic products in the first five months jumped 28 percent to 160.91 billion U.S. dollars, while the import of steel products dropped by 27.6 percent to 7.74 million tons.
Exports of machinery and electronic products grew 31.6 percent to reach 199.43 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, making up 57.4 percent of the country's total exports.
The export of high-tech products came to 101.26 billion U.S. dollars, up 33.1 percent.
The export of clothing was up 27.3 percent to 31.04 billion dollars, and that of other textile products rose 20.1 percent to 18.61 billion dollars.
Exports of crude oil dropped by 6.6 percent to 2.52 million tons and exports of processed oil dropped by 17.2 percent to 5.29 million tons.
Source: Xinhua
China's oil imports rise 19%
Fu Chenghao
2006-06-13
CHINA'S crude oil imports rose sharply last month in annualized terms because of the low base a year ago and rising demand from refiners after the government raised retail fuel prices.
The country imported 19 percent more oil - 12.39 million tons - in May, or 2.93 million barrels per day, year on year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs yesterday.
However, last month's imports were only a moderate increase from that of April. China imported 12 million tons of crude in April, down 1.8 percent from a year earlier.
"It's mainly last May's low figure that contributes to the acute on-year rise, but we also believe that the government's move to raise gasoline and fuel prices also played a part," said Li Zhipeng, a Xiangcai Securities Co analyst.
The central government raised the prices of gasoline and diesel by more than 10 percent in May, the second time this year, to help the country's refining industry, which lost 9.8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in the first quarter.
The market expects more price increases this year as analysts, including David Hurd at Deutsche Bank AG, said the two hikes in March and May were still not enough to cover refining losses of big firms like Sinopec Corp.
"Such expectation (of a price rise) would also give more reason for refiners to import crude oil," Li said. "Domestic production rose stably in China, so the main factor to affect imports is the change in domestic demand."
China's oil imports rise 19%
Fu Chenghao
2006-06-13
CHINA'S crude oil imports rose sharply last month in annualized terms because of the low base a year ago and rising demand from refiners after the government raised retail fuel prices.
The country imported 19 percent more oil - 12.39 million tons - in May, or 2.93 million barrels per day, year on year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs yesterday.
However, last month's imports were only a moderate increase from that of April. China imported 12 million tons of crude in April, down 1.8 percent from a year earlier.
"It's mainly last May's low figure that contributes to the acute on-year rise, but we also believe that the government's move to raise gasoline and fuel prices also played a part," said Li Zhipeng, a Xiangcai Securities Co analyst.
The central government raised the prices of gasoline and diesel by more than 10 percent in May, the second time this year, to help the country's refining industry, which lost 9.8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in the first quarter.
The market expects more price increases this year as analysts, including David Hurd at Deutsche Bank AG, said the two hikes in March and May were still not enough to cover refining losses of big firms like Sinopec Corp.
"Such expectation (of a price rise) would also give more reason for refiners to import crude oil," Li said. "Domestic production rose stably in China, so the main factor to affect imports is the change in domestic demand."