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Does this link work for you?
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/profile.asp?user=69504
Instruct, I have to say you have a great ibox. It's very informative and I refer to it often. One update needed, though: Block 4 Centurion bought out Hercules couple of weeks ago.
Thanks for all your hard work in providing the rest of us this information and links in one place.
Thanks, BB and Dadd. eom
Dadd, I'm not familiar with Barry from Upstream except for what I've seen on this board. Is he a "blogger" like Joe or is he a journalist? Also, is his information typically accurate? Just looking for your opinion here. Thanks.
OT: This has been happening frequently lately. Here's a board dedicated to following the stocks that are restricted:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=6401
Edit: and here's a post that, imo, sums up the situation.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=12474260&txt2find=heart
Ruby, isn't this the first written confirmation that ERHC still has rights in Blk 5 & 6? And, would you consider this "solid"? (i.e. when PSCs are signed ERHE will still have these). Tia.
Edit: And, thanks for posting this information.
Just found this on the "Brokers Restrict Online Trading Board":
Posted by: croampe
In reply to: None Date:8/24/2006 12:04:16 AM
Post #of 761
you can add ACTC to the scottrade restricted trades
Spec, here ya go:
swalsh@herald-leader.com
Edit: sorry, see you got it already
Jim, I had the same question and this is the email I sent yesterday. So far no response.
Dear Ms. Walsh,
I am very interested in a statement you made regarding the investigation into U.S. Representative Jefferson. This is the statement that I’m referring to “The FBI is interested in at least seven other companies, according to court documents. Those who have been identified thus far in connection with the case are;”.
I have a PACER account and have been unable to find any information in court documents suggesting that ERHC has any connection with this inquiry. There is a statement made by the DOJ stating that ERHC is under investigation for FCPA violations but I think this connection is tenuous at best. Therefore, can you please indicate under what file number or name these documents can be found?
Thank you very much for any assistance you are able to provide.
AOL chief technology officer resigns:
All Reuters NewsNEW YORK (Reuters) - AOL chief technology officer Maureen Govern, who oversaw the division responsible for accidentally releasing search data for more than a half a millions Internet users, has resigned from the company, according to an internal company memorandum.
John McKinley, AOL's former CTO, will take over on an interim basis, according to the memo obtained by Reuters on Monday. Govern joined the company last September.
AOL apologized on August 7 for releasing information onto the Web about 20 million keyword searches from about 658,000 anonymous users over a three-month period. Disclosing the data was against company policy, AOL said at the time.
The release of data by the online division of media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. drew the ire of privacy advocates, who called for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to review the company's customer data retention practices.
Collecting and sharing Internet user data for any purpose is under close scrutiny by privacy watchdogs. Internet search leader Google Inc. won plaudits for refusing to comply with U.S. government demands to hand over search data.
A researcher in AOL's technology research department and the employee's supervisor have also left the company in the wake of the disclosure, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.
In response to a torrent of criticism across the Internet, AOL also said it plans to create a task force to review its customer information privacy policy.
"We have to earn their trust each and every day and with each and every action we take," AOL Chief Executive Jonathan Miller wrote in a separate memo obtained by Reuters.
The task force, headed by AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis and AOL General Counsel Randy Boe, plans to review the company's data collection and retention policies, according to the memo.
AOL currently stores search data that can identify users for 30 days. Anonymous search data, the kind divulged by AOL in early August, is stored indefinitely, the source said.
Privacy advocates such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a complaint with the FTC last week requesting an investigation into AOL's privacy practices, arguing that the Internet provider did not need to store such search data.
AOL's task force will also review other measures to protect users, including ways to prevent the storage of any sensitive data in the research database that include 16 digits, like those of many credit cards, the source said.
Time Warner shares fell 5 cents to $16.45 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Copyright 2006 Reuters
Back to News Home
SloJon, I'm a little "slo" myself at times - will you translate for me? :)
'nanotech' app.e
OT: SloJon - Mho, your oil portfolio should be safe for a good long while.
Top 100
Steorn to Push Tipping Point for Magnet Motor Technology
To solidify the credentials of a radical, new energy approach, Irish Company intents to select jury of 12 hard-core skeptics with high academic qualifications to review existing data, then design testing procedure, test, and publish the results.
PESN Interview with Sean McCarthy, Steorn CEO, Aug. 21, 2006
by Sterling D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News (PESN)
Copyright © 2006
DUBLIN, IRELAND -- Irish high-technology firm, Steorn, has stirred the imagination of the world's scientific community with their recent posting of an advertisement in The Economist on Aug. 18 announcing that they have a working free-energy technology. The full-page ad stated that their independently-tested technology is capable of providing the world with "an infinite supply of pure energy," so that the need to recharge a phone or refuel a car becomes obsolete. The brief announcement stated that they are seeking a jury of twelve scientists who are "the most qualified and the most cynical" to test the technology and publish their findings.
Discovering and Refining a Magnet Motor
The mystery technology turns out to be an all-magnet motor, with no electromagnetic component involved. Current-day Physics says such a thing is impossible.
"We thought it was impossible too," said Sean McCarthy, CEO of Steorn, in an interview with Sterling D. Allan, Executive Director of PES Network, which over the last four and a half years has been apprised of some twenty different claims to operational magnet motor systems, none of which have been validated.
Specializing for many years in technology to help combat counterfeiting and fraud in the plastic card and optical disc industries, the group at Steorn accidentally stumbled onto this free energy phenomenon three years ago in the course of developing another project. "It wasn't so much a Eureka moment as a get-back-in-there-and-check-your-instruments moment," said McCarthy. (Ref.)
Sean McCarthy, CEO of Steorn, with a test rig during development. This is not part of the design to be tested by the scientific jury.
"What we have developed is a way to construct magnetic fields so that when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position, you have gained energy," he told Ireland's RTE radio.
More at http://pesn.com/2006/08/21/9500298_Steorn_free_energy_gauntlet/
Not sure, but would it be unethical to "summarize" for the rest of us?
NAMC, again.
We’ve spoken about Focus Media Holdings (NASDAQ: FMCN) a few times in the past and on Friday the stock fell down $4.85 to close at $57.70 after they announced that their second quarter net profit was $16.7 million, or 31 cents per American Depositary Share compared to $4.35 million, or 13 cents per American Depositary Share for the same period a year ago. Keep in mind that advertising in China is building up and they are the only show in town when it comes to the digital signage business in China, so I would not bet against this one just yet as you can very well see the stock push back into the $60 range with ease. We have covered the digital signage industry on the Investors Corner as the progression from static out of home advertising to dynamic digital content is just happening more rapidly not only in China but here in the United States as well. I know that we’ve spoken about Impart Media Group (OTCBB: IMMG) a few times in regards to this industry but to date they seem to have the most comprehensive digital signage solution, not only here in the U.S. but globally. Their major problem, as we have said is the exchange that they trade on, this is why we like this company so much, it is undiscovered for now and for this to be said on Wall Street to Main Street as it relates to an OTCBB stock should prompt an investor to, at the very least, look into the industry as advertisers are looking to reach more consumers out of the home and are spending billions of dollars a year doing it.
http://press.namct.com/content/view/6727/139/
Only 9 Nigeria's oil rigs working —OPEC
By Hector Igbikiowubo
Posted to the Web: Monday, August 21, 2006
LAGOS—A RECENT survey by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed that only nine rigs were operational in Nigeria as at last month, a far cry from what obtains in other member nations of the organisation and an indication that the country’s oil and gas exploration and production may not be competitive after-all.
The recent survey showed that Nigeria’s African neighbour and member of OPEC, Algeria, had 27 rigs in operation last month, Indonesia had 45, Iran 46, Kuwait 13, Libya 10, Qatar 10, Saudi Arabia 63, UAE 16 and Venezuela 88, while no data was available for Iraq.
Altogether, 327 rigs were operational in OPEC member countries, with implications for sustained and increased crude oil exploration and production.
Although the organisation said total rig count might not add up due to independent rounding, enquiries at the Department of Petroleum Resources showed that the survey might not be far from the true position.
An official of the department who pleaded anonymity said several rigs had left the area because of the problems in the Niger Delta where a little under one million barrels of crude oil remains shut in due to the activities of militants.
At the last count, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) had 462,000 barrels per day shut in, down from 635,000 barrels per day. A statement from the company said 173,000 barrels per day production was restored last week.
Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) still has over 120,000 barrels per day shut in due to community and youth militants related activities.
Shut in output for Total Upstream Companies is said to be between 180,000 and 200,000 barrels per day, while that of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company is put at about 80,000 barrels per day.
Daukoru on output
Speaking on the amount of shut in output, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, Minister of State for Petroleum and OPEC President, said the affected output was as a result of pre-emptive action by the multinationals. He said as soon as the security of lives of the personnel of the multinationals was guaranteed, they would return to their locations and that production would be restored. However, he did n ot put a time frame.
Investigation revealed that OPEC crude production fell by 260,000 b/d to 29.69 million b/d in July from 29.95 million b/d in June as new closures in the Niger Delta cut Nigeria’s output and Iraq was forced to stop exporting crude from Turkey.
OPEC’s July output was also impacted by a drop in Venezuelan production after one of the country’s heavy crude upgraders was shut down for maintenance during the period under review.
The 11- member organisation, excluding Iraq, pumped an average 27.62 million b/d in July, down 210,000 b/d from June’s 27.83 million b/d, and under-producing their notional 28 million b/d output ceiling by 38,000 b/d.
Production shortfall
Production shortfall totaling 380,000 b/d from Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela was partly offset by 120,000 b/d of increased production from Iran, Libya and the UAE.
The losses from Nigeria — where rising deepwater output is only partly offsetting the volume of production shut in as a result of deliberate attacks on oil installations and accidents — and Venezuela alone amounted to 300,000 b/d.
The organisation has also lowered its estimate for world oil demand in 2006 due to slowing economic growth, the cartel said in a report, weekend. It said demand was now expected to grow by 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) to average 84.5 million bpd, a downward revision of 80,000 bpd from last month’s figure. This was due to “an unexpected decline in OECD consumption in the second quarter of this year.” The OECD zone comprises 30 leading economies, including the US, Japan and Western Europe.
The previous forecast estimated demand for OPEC crude in 2006 to average 29.1 million b/d, representing an upward revision of 0.2 mb/d versus the previous month.
In 2007, the estimated demand for OPEC crude is expected to average 28.3 mb/d, representing a decline of 0.8 mb/d versus 2006. On a quarterly basis, the forecast shows that demand for OPEC crude is expected at 29.3 mb/d in the first, 27.2 mb/d in the second, 28.1 mb/d in the third and 28.7 mb/d in the fourth quarter.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/august06/21082006/f321082006.html
Wow, Tina! Great board. I just found it when looking at your profile to see what boards you were now moderating. There's so much great information here and the timing is perfect. I was just getting ready to set up accounts for my girls and think I'd prefer to use one of these educational sites geared towards kids. Thanks.
Brez, you may still be onto something - for some reason I always thought Anadarko got the rig in January 2007. But just went to check and this was on original press release (9/05) so not sure if there have been updates.
"Anadarko executed a three-year drilling contract with Dolphin Drilling Ltd. to secure the Belford Dolphin drillship at a cost of $459 million. It is anticipated the vessel will be released to Anadarko beginning in mid-2007."
Ram man, I'm also new to this industry and found this post helpful in understanding future events. If you follow the thread forward there's some more enlightening posts.
Posted by: dbernet
In reply to: condor1 who wrote msg# 69624 Date:8/12/2006 11:48:15 AM
Post #of 70254
"proven reserves/exploratory well"
These are not one event as you well know. I think you argue for arguement's sake. Block one has an exploratory well. It does not have proven reserves. An exploratory well in any of our blocks may raise the sp to over a buck. Each successful well in any of our blocks will raise the shareprice further. As companies in each block establish and announce proven reserves, a simple calculation at current valuations of 10 to 20 dollars a barrel for proven reserves will move the share price. As posted by Nightdaytrader, the centurion web site shows they think there is between 2.5 and 3.5 Billion barrels in block 4 alone. A single exploratory well will move the share price, but as each additional well in any of blocks 2,3,and 4 will also move the share price. As each announces net pay and estimates reserves the stock will move. Finaly, formal announcements of proven reserves, after multiple exploratory wells, using industry adn investment standards, will certainly move the share price. And there will be such an announcement for each field in each block.
To say, as you are saying, that "proven reserves/exploratory well" will move the share price one time and their will be not further impetus to stock price till we have produced enough oil to pay costs is so far from reality that I suspect your motives. To treat this as a single event in the stock price future is silly. All the above listed events, give or take a few, will take place in each block before "oil is pumping to recoup costs."
I fail to see why you would take such a weak position.
db
Brez, what you say makes sense to me. But, why do you think they will leave their current location? It sounds like they've finally had some success where the are from this which was updated on 8/1.
"The deep water drill ship Belford Dolphin, after drilling 14 consecutive dry holes since it was hired in November 2003 under Sagar Samriddhi Project was shifted to KG-DWN-98-2 where Trans Ocean’s Discoverer Seven Seas had discovered gas. Well U-1 drilled to depth of 2424 m in 1265 m water depth found gas. The well flowed 6,69,991 cmd of gas through 40/64” choke from interval 2218-2226 m at 2395 psi flowing tubing head pressure during production testing. ONGC had bought 90 % stake in this block from Cairn. The drill ship than drilled W – 1 in the same block to 2670 m in 1283 m water depth and again discovered gas at 2170 m. The well flowed 252765 cubic meters of gas per day through 24/64” choke. The drill ship is now drilling GD-6-1 targeted to drill down to 4024 m in 1035 m water depth."
And, again, I'm a layman when it comes to this stuff, but thought you also brought up a good point re: transit time. How long would it take to get from it's current location to the JDZ? Just trying to understand the timing of getting there, drilling an exploratory well and then getting to Anadarko.
Oh, also, I guess I should've included my email to Dolphin Drilling, but my whole premise was "interested in JDZ exploration". I would think that if they were planning on moving it to the JDZ, he would've indicated such or at least said something like "we are unable to discuss customer's plans at this time".
LITL
they [reiqzembuqd@eareview.com]
There has been some speculation that ONGC may give up the Belford Dolphin early (based on article in post below) and maybe, just maybe this rig would be available to one of our partners. So, I emailed Dolphin Drilling and this is the response I received.
Edit: Sorry about the double response - just saw Balance's post.
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=12716984
Thank you for your attached e-mail received via our Houston representative yesterday. I am afraid your article from the Indian press is to an extent out of date and there have never been any approaches by ONGC to terminate our contract early. We therefore expect the Belford Dolphin to transfer directly from ONGC to Anadarko some time late this year/early next. We understand Anadarko has been approached by a number of companies to discuss the possibility of sublets but to date it seems that Anadarko is focusing on using the vessel for its own needs.
Regards,
Homeport - Thanks for the info. I tend to believe that the "chief" is an accurate designation as he's mostly referred to that way in the Nigerian press. And, as always, I appreciate your continued posting of "local" news.
Below says it was updated 8/1/06. This really doesn't mean anything to me as I don't even understand 1/2 of what it's saying but thought others may find it useful. But from a "layman's" standpoint, it sounds like they are continuing current operations.
"The deep water drill ship Belford Dolphin, after drilling 14 consecutive dry holes since it was hired in November 2003 under Sagar Samriddhi Project was shifted to KG-DWN-98-2 where Trans Ocean’s Discoverer Seven Seas had discovered gas. Well U-1 drilled to depth of 2424 m in 1265 m water depth found gas. The well flowed 6,69,991 cmd of gas through 40/64” choke from interval 2218-2226 m at 2395 psi flowing tubing head pressure during production testing. ONGC had bought 90 % stake in this block from Cairn. The drill ship than drilled W – 1 in the same block to 2670 m in 1283 m water depth and again discovered gas at 2170 m. The well flowed 252765 cubic meters of gas per day through 24/64” choke. The drill ship is now drilling GD-6-1 targeted to drill down to 4024 m in 1035 m water depth."
http://www.petrodril.com/latest.htm
Picture of Belford Dolphin for any interested: page 13
http://www.bonheur.no/arch/_img/9049269.pdf#search=%22%22belford%20dolphin%22%20nigeria%22
What are you trying to "learn"? That's why I put a "?" after my first sentence, there's so much info on this forum that it's difficult to know where to direct you.
There are a lot of great posters on this site who are willing to help. If you can be more specific in your interests, I'm sure you'll get lots of replies on where to look or who to ask.
Glty.
"Beginner" to otcbb/pinks? Try this:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=4850
Nigeria: Obasanjo Orders Crackdown to Curb Oil Region Hostage Taking
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
August 16, 2006
Posted to the web August 16, 2006
Abuja
President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered an immediate security crackdown on armed gangs in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta region after hostage takers seized 14 expatriate oil workers in the past fortnight.
"We are going to be firm and say 'no' to violence and hostage-taking," Obasanjo said after a top-level national security meeting in the capital Abuja on Tuesday. "Wherever we find hostage-takers now, we will hunt them down. We will not accept this any longer," he was quoted as saying in an official statement.
Governors of the key oil region states of Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta attended the meeting along with military and police chiefs as well as representatives of oil multinationals operating in the Niger Delta.
Despite the Niger Delta's massive oil reserves the 70,000 sq km region's more than 20 million inhabitants remain largely impoverished, fuelling widespread resentment against the Nigerian government and oil companies. Hostage-takers often demand ransom or jobs and amenities for their communities in return for the release of their captives.
Obasanjo said as Nigeria is a signatory to international conventions categorising seizure of hostages in non-conflict situations as terrorism, Nigeria was ready to hunt down those responsible for the recent attacks and meet them "force for force".
He ordered the setting up of joint military and police operations at strategic locations in the delta region as well as round-the-clock patrol of the country's coastal waters to enable rapid response to attacks by militants and armed gangs.
Four foreign oil workers seized from a supply vessel offshore Bayelsa state last week were freed by their captors on Tuesday. The two Ukrainians and two Norwegians are employees of Norwegian oil service company Trico Supply.
Bayelsa police commissioner Hafiz Ringim said no ransom had been paid to secure their release. However, hostage taking has become big business as the hostage taking gangs believe ransoms will be paid.
Two British nationals, an Irish and a Polish citizen seized by gunmen from a nightclub in the oil industry hub of Port Harcourt on Sunday night are yet to be released. Also being held is a German abducted in the same city last week.
In recent years some armed militia groups in the delta have resorted to political demands, seeking local control of the oil wealth that is the mainstay of Nigeria's economy.
Attacks since the beginning of the year on oil installations claimed by the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have cut a quarter of Nigeria's daily exports of 2.5 million barrels. MEND has distanced itself from the recent spate of kidnappings.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
Homeport, I know your specialty is STP but was wondering if you know what "tribe" Offor is Chief of? Just trying to understand the Nigerian culture a little better and with so many distinct ethnic groups, thought it would be best to research the correct one? I think it's Ibgo but haven't been able to confirm. Thanks in advance for anything you're able to offer.
"Also seems like ERHC and others involved in the JDZ would have seen this coming, planned ahead, and had the rigs set up or at least on a shorter wait list. I find it hard to believe they would just now be "making arrangements to get rig slots."
PSCs were just signed this year. My guess is they started looking as soon as they signed.
"Maybe there's a good offshore rig stock to invest in. Might make a good return while waiting at .40 for another year with ERHC."
RIG is a great buy right now, imo.
FCYI - received today
Edit: This is who it's from but I can't copy anything else on email...weird...
Marlin Leslie [qeccentric8@cinternet.net]
OT: LBM, what's the "I feel lucky button"?
Another interesting google feature - google "moon", click on first link that comes up. Then "zoom" all the way in.
Or just click on this link and then "zoom".
http://moon.google.com/
Hey, m_a_d, great new board. I don't follow this one but will look into it further. Glty.
China Oil Imports Skyrocket
WORLDWATCH: ASIA September 2006
The rate at which the world’s most populous country is guzzling oil is rising at a dizzying pace. This fact has serious global ramifications. China imported 12.4 million tons of crude oil in May—an incredible 20.5 percent jump from May 2005.
China’s ballooning need for imported oil is the single greatest cause of increasing strain on global oil supplies. A mere decade ago, China was a net exporter of oil; but it has since become the world’s second-largest oil importer (behind the United States)—accounting for fully 40 percent of global growth in oil demand over the four years between 2001 and 2004. These latest statistics suggest this demand will become significantly steeper in the years ahead.
Unfortunately, though demand is ballooning, supplies aren’t: In fact, many experts say global oil production appears to be approaching its peak. Existing oil fields are already working at or close to full capacity—and, in many cases, have already started to decline in output—and new discoveries aren’t expected to make up the difference.
This means that global competition for what oil does exist is about to get vicious. To understand where these events will lead, see our special March 2006 Trumpet issue on “The Coming Global Resource War.”
Semi-ot: No mention of jdz but interesting article
Oil-addicted America finds a temporary fix in Africa
By Paul Salopek
Chicago Tribune
KUNI TAKAHASHI / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Felicia, left, Titi and Beatrice, daughters of fisherman Sunday Jeremiah, head for school in Itak Abasi, Nigeria. The village is closest to offshore fields supplying the South Elgin, Ill., Marathon station. Exxon Mobil helped renovate the village school, but the U.S. company is resented for not doing more for the impoverished area.
Related
Part 1 | Oil crisis: It's only just begun
Second of four parts
From last fall to early spring the crude oil flowing from offshore fields near the Akwa Ibom River tropical delta in Nigeria supplied the South Elgin, Ill., Marathon gas station 8,000 miles away with roughly one-quarter of its oil.
That was just part of the torrent of foreign-bought crude that prompted President Bush, one of the most oil-friendly presidents in history, to concede in his latest State of the Union speech that "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world."
Fifty-eighty percent of all petroleum burned in the United States comes from abroad, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says in its 2005 annual report. That stark dependency on outsiders, analysts say, will grow even if the last pockets of oil in America are drilled.
"We know how important this issue is," said Laura Binning, 37, a regular customer at the South Elgin Marathon. "But it's so big. It's hard to get your head around it."
Binning pulled her black H2 Hummer into the station one afternoon when Qua Iboe crude from Nigeria made up about 26 percent of her $72 gas purchase. She was taking her son Parker, 8, to Little League. She estimated, sheepishly, that her vehicle gets 10 mpg.
"At first it's on your mind," Binning said. "But then you get so busy. I got screaming kids. My mom's got cancer. And I work as a real-estate marketer out of my house. So you forget."
Laura, her husband, Tim, and their three children live in a grand home on 2.7 acres in St. Charles, an upscale suburb adjoining more working-class South Elgin. Their swimming-pool heating bill in October topped $2,000.
She winced hearing herself describe the Hummer as "something that signals success to our clients." But as it happened, the Binnings were among the few gas-station customers to ponder America's energy future beyond tomorrow's uptick in gas prices. They grappled with buying an electric-gasoline hybrid vehicle as their next car. They fretted over the kind of world their three boys would inherit.
In the end, like most Americans, they were optimists. Their livelihood — selling property in suburbia — rests primarily on a dubious supposition: the continuing abundance of cheap crude.
"Are there problems coming? Maybe. But I prefer to think the glass is half-full," said Tim, 37. "When shortages jack up oil prices permanently, someone will have the incentive to invent another fuel. That's how the market works."
Oil and anger in Nigeria
Back in Nigeria, Felicia, Beatrice and Comfort were running through their village of Itak Abasi. They clutched packets of rehydration salts.
The medicine was free, distributed by health officials. The village wells were tainted with fecal matter. And people were dying of acute gastric infections, possibly cholera. Two children had succumbed that day. Another two would die the next week. The doctors were angry.
Itak Abasi — "Foundation of God" in the local Ibibio language — is a rural slum festering atop a sandbar at the mouth of the Akwa Ibom River. Its hovels squat half a mile from the Exxon Mobil oil-export terminal that supplied the bulk of African crude purchased by Marathon and sold in South Elgin. Since 1971, the facility has funneled billions of dollars' worth of petroleum to the United States. Itak Abasi seethes next door with neither plumbing nor electricity.
"The oil companies are no good," said villager Sunday Jeremiah, 40. "We are crying daily."
He is a fisherman. And the young girls — ages 10, 11 and 13 — are three of his seven children. Exxon Mobil's local subsidiary, Mobile Producing Nigeria, pumps the local oil fields in a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. The U.S. oil giant has a complex relationship with its destitute neighbors. It helped renovate the village's schoolhouse, but it also spilled at least 40,000 barrels of crude into the sea in 1998. Fishermen say the spill permanently destroyed the village's traditional livelihood.
The Texas-based giant is both courted and reviled by the Ibibio people. The Nigerian central government for the most part is invisible. Asked why villagers didn't dig latrines — a simple way to blunt fatal gastrointestinal epidemics — Itak Abasi's old, bald-headed chief snapped, "That's the oil company's job!"
Seeking new sources
Few Americans realize it, but they have hitched their wagon — or rather their 210 million cars and trucks — to Africa's troubled star.
The planet's only remaining superpower is rattling its half-empty oilcan at the poorest continent in the world.
This state of affairs has come about because two-thirds of the world's oil is controlled by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and most of it is pooled in the Middle East. Chronic instability in that region — today stoked by the U.S. intervention in Iraq and Israel's battle with Hezbollah — has further encouraged the United States to hedge its oil bets elsewhere.
U.S. companies have trudged to Central Asia looking for low-quality oil. They are punching wells into the ecologically fragile shallows of the Caspian Sea. And they are investing billions in upgrading huge but risky oil fields in business-hostile Russia.
Nigeria, Africa's oil heavyweight with 36 billion barrels of reserves, boasts one-seventh of Saudi Arabia's bounty. Still, African crude has its advantages. It is light and low in sulfur — well-suited to pollutant-sensitive U.S. refineries. Its reservoirs are closer.
Americans already get more oil from Africa than from Saudi Arabia. By 2015, oil experts say, African states will supply one-quarter of U.S. imports, up from 15 percent today. The United States quietly signaled this shift in 2002, when the State Department declared African oil a "strategic national interest," meaning in diplomatic code that U.S. troops may intervene to protect it.
"I think the U.S. military would find our swamps worse than Iraq," snorted Austin Onuoha, a Nigerian human-rights activist who specializes in oil issues. "But at least they might build some infrastructure after they invade. Americans always do this, right?"
Onuoha's sarcasm was well-earned. He was talking from his blacked-out house in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The electricity in Africa's petro-giant had winked out again. And this fit sourly into his main thesis: Oil is rotting Africa's frail democracies.
According to the World Bank, 80 percent of Nigeria's $340 billion in oil revenue has been pocketed by 1 percent of the population — a cast of thugs who include the world's most venal politicians and generals. In short, geysers of easy petrodollars corrupt weak African institutions. They unleash reckless government spending. And they usually stoke internecine fighting.
Port Harcourt, the decaying commercial center of the Niger Delta, should be the booming capital of a tropical oil kingdom that spouts as much crude as three Alaskas. Instead, it's a handmade slum. Foreign oil workers zip around in curtained minivans, hoping to avert kidnapping by criminal gangs and ethnic militias. The hotels are guarded by men sporting aviator sunglasses and Kalashnikovs.
Rounding out the picture is world-class pollution (at least 4,800 oil spills over 20 years), "bunkerers" (oil thieves who drill into pipelines, often incinerating themselves and hundreds of others), and brutish military tactics (Nigerian troops torching thatched villages and strafing oil smugglers' barges with helicopter gunships). Nobody knows the death toll in the delta.
The tightest crude market in 30 years is turning Nigeria's obscure swamp skirmishes into a global energy flash point. Nigerian insurgents announce their next attack on a Shell platform — and crude futures quiver in Tokyo and New York. Oil first hit the $50-a-barrel mark in 2005 when an SUV-driving warlord named Mujahid Dokubo-Asari threatened "all-out war" in the delta.
"We know the world covets Nigerian oil more than ever," said Onengiya Erekosima, a Bible-quoting spokesman for the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, one of many militias in the lawless squalor of Nigeria's oil patch.
About one-quarter of Nigeria's 2.3 million-barrel-a-day crude flow is regularly choked off by the likes of Erekosima.
"We will force the international community to respond to our suffering," he said, "because we can cut off their crude at any time."
Exxon Mobil says it paid coastal communities millions of dollars in restitution after the huge 1998 spill. Company spokeswoman Susan Reeves said Exxon Mobil's subsidiary, in cooperation with the Nigerian national oil company, also spends $10 million to $12 million a year on community development, most of it on education, health, roads, micro-enterprises and agricultural assistance. Little of such money is evident in Itak Abasi, however.
The future of sprawl
Tim Binning's cellphone rang. It did this on average 60 to 70 times a day. He has a 4,000-minute-a-month account. This time it was Laura. A washing machine at one of the Binnings' rental units was on the fritz.
"Go ahead, buy the new one," he advised.
Tim was at work in his car, a Volkswagen Phaeton, a luxury sedan the couple decided to purchase instead of a hybrid.
A landscape utterly decoupled from Chicago's core slid past Tim's windshield in icy tableaux: Starbucks, horse pastures, big-box stores and old houses marooned amid strip malls. This suburban backdrop is where more than half of Americans now live.
Tim noted that U.S. houses are vastly more heat efficient today than 20 years ago, but added that all those energy savings are eroded by constantly ballooning dream houses: The number of homes larger than 2,400 square feet has doubled since 1987, even as U.S. families continue to shrink.
"Look at what people have now," he said. "Two cars is the norm. So is two or three color TVs. Who in the 1950s had that?"
James Howard Kunstler, a writer of some renown in urban-planning circles, is the Ghost of Christmas Future for people who subscribe to the theory that the era of oil is in decline. He paints a harsh vista of oil-deprived life ahead.
"America finds itself nearing the end of the cheap-oil age having invested its national wealth in a living arrangement — suburban sprawl — that has no future," Kunstler asserts in his 2005 book "The Long Emergency."
"Suburbia has a tragic destiny."
He envisions the car-dependent landscape of the suburbs decaying into "slums of the future." He sees doors of oversize, unheated tract homes flapping open forlornly to the chill Midwest winds. Big-box retailers that rely on trucks that get, at best, 8 mpg to deliver sneakers made in China simply will implode, he says.
In this bleak vision, only trains and barges will be efficient enough to move goods. And millions of Americans will return, painfully, to their agrarian roots. Huge amounts of manual labor will be needed for survival-level farming.
Many call such predictions hysterical. But a high-powered study released last year by the Department of Energy warns that even with a concerted national effort it could take decades to transition from oil to fuel alternatives, and that "without timely mitigation, the economic, social and political costs will be unprecedented."
With crude prices soaring into orbit, powerful people are listening. Peak-oil theory, espoused by the likes of one of Bush's billionaire friends, Richard Rainwater, helped persuade the president to insert the "addicted to oil" phrase into the State of the Union speech, according to Washington insiders.
Back in his car, Tim called Laura to arrange a meeting at a mall eatery 12 miles away. Lunchtime congestion was thickening. He sat, just another commuter alone with his cellphone, in a long line of vehicles at a red light.
Americans consume about 2.3 billion gallons of gasoline each year simply idling in traffic. That equals the annual oil output of Equatorial Guinea, Africa's most promising new petro-state.
Semi-OT: The below was taken from another board and while it discusses "companies posting on message boards", I think the content is applicable to PR companies, too.
(Edit: I'm not suggesting Keeney shouldn't post press releases here, just thought this was a good explanation of why there are no responses to people's follow up questions/posts.)
"interesting info about companies posting on message boards...
http://www.realcorporatelawyer.com/faqs/faqcybersmears.html#j
J. Companies Who Participate on Message Boards
Should a company communicate with investors on message boards?
Probably not - but several companies have tried it.
There are several ways that company participation on boards can expose a company to liability for its messages. For example, if a company chooses to post a message - even to counter or correct employee misstatements - the issue of selective disclosure arises since dissemination of information on the Web does not comply with exchange rules. See more @ wide dissemination. Then, the company must consider if it has a duty to update its messages. See more @ whether a company has a duty to update.
Perhaps even more important is that a company may not be able to follow its "no comment" policy once it posts a message. See more @ ability to say "no comment" after posting a message.
There is also the practical issue of cost. The few companies that have tried to respond to investor queries on boards found that the practice is time consuming - particularly since investors tend to post more questions if they know that a company responds.
Some commentators believe that the SEC should adopt measures that would limit liability for companies that participate on boards solely for the content of the messages that they post - they would not have liability for what other parties post. They also argue that companies should not be liable if they do not monitor message boards.
Source: An article that includes interviews with companies that tried to respond to messages is "Who are these People? Investor Chat Rooms Give Companies Fits," Signals (September 10, 1998) at www.signalsmag.com. The Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities of the Business Law Section of the ABA noted that the SEC should take action to limit liability for monitoring and third-party messages in its August 2, 2000 comment letter on Release 33-7856 (May 4, 2000).
Dbernet, I'm very new to this industry and really appreciated this post. It was very helpful to me in visualizing the string of events that are likely to occur over the next few years.
A couple of questions, though. "Typically" can you tell proven reserves from the first drilling? Or will each block need multiple drillings to determine? And, do they wait to analyze results before begining a second exploratory well or since they have a rig do they begin it immediately to confirm?
(My question arises from the way CVX has handled their drilling in Block 1.)
Thanks for any information you're willing to provide.
OT: LOL! I know I finally had to print it and read it that way. Glty.
Just got this from TD Waterhouse re: PBOF. I was originally told I'd have them 8/10.
"Due to the fact that MESU and PBOF trade in physical certificates and not electronic or book entry format, this exchange will take sometime. Currently TD Ameritrade is awaiting delivery of the certificate containing the shares you had purchased. Once received, it will be sent to the transfer agent to be re-registered to TD Ameritrade for benefit of your account. At this time the exchange would occur and once the new certificate was received the shares would post to your account. Because we are unsure if the delivering broker has had the shares re-registered to their name yet, we must expect 2 to 4 weeks for delivery.
If you have any questions and wish to contact us via e-mail, please log into your account and send your inquiry using the "E-mail Us" link, which can be found in the navigation bar at the left side of any page within your account. Select the Reorganization & Dividend Inquiry Form.
Sincerely,
Cody K.
Apex Reorganization and Safekeeping, TD AMERITRADE Division of TD AMERITRADE, Inc."
OT: Condor, I posted this link awhile ago and although it's not exactly along the lines of what you were asking for, it's a very interesting read re: the future of oil.
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S9515.pdf