This article makes an important point. Although we are fighting the ‘Oil Wars’ the demand for gas is expected to grow twice as fast as oil.
I have previously posted. Thus our invasion of oil rich Iraq has triggered a massive arms buildup throughout the world, many of which are nuclear, as countries scurry to defend themselves in anticipation of the imminent Oil Wars and the establishment of the New World Energy Order.#msg-2479385
Case in point, Nigeria, who is ramping up gas projects.
Nigeria being a smart nation and watching what has happened to Iraq and other oil and gas producing countries immediately sets out to buy nuclear weapons…...from Pakistan.
Ooops wait…it seems this was all a miscommunication. The stunning claim that a top Pakistani General, currently visiting the country, had offered its armed forces "military assistance, including nuclear power" was reversed within 12 hours with the official spokesman, Bellu Nwachukwu, explaining away the original reference to "nuclear power" as a "typographical error". And none of this would have happened if the people from India and Pakistan would only speak slower.
Well…..I’m relieved.
ANALYSIS-West Africa seeks its part in gas export boom Reuters, 03.04.04, 7:32 AM ET
LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Natural gas has found a new hotspot in West Africa, where a drive to develop under-exploited reserves for export has spawned a flurry of projects.
One Nigerian liquefied natural gas plant is up and running, Equatorial Guinea plans another, and four more West African gas export projects are at critical stages before approval.
Energy majors are pumping billions of dollars into the developments, which they and the host countries hope will boost revenues by tapping into an unfolding global gas market, where demand is expected to grow twice as fast as for oil.
The gas boom, which will help oil producers diversify away from crude and implement long-planned reductions in wasteful gas flaring, is led by growing demand for gas in the Atlantic basin, and pushed along by technological improvements.
"In LNG (liquefied natural gas) we have seen significant reductions in the costs of liquefaction and LNG ships," said independent gas consultant Andy Flower.
"Secondly, gas prices have strengthened, especially in the U.S., making it a potential market for West African LNG."
For OPEC Nigeria, ramping up gas projects has the added advantage of bypassing the cartel's limits on crude production growth.
And the more exports are sent to consuming regions, the more competition will reduce price pressure, as the exported gas helps make up for declining domestic production.
LNG, whereby gas is liquefied for transport by ship, has been the medium of choice for expansion.
Nigeria's Bonny Island LNG project, owned by Royal Dutch/Shell, Eni, Total, and the state run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has three liquefaction trains -- production units -- up and running. A fourth and a fifth are under construction, and a sixth is in the final stages of consideration.
Six operating trains would take production to around 22 million tonnes of LNG per year, and four million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas.
Tony Hanna, vice president for Africa at Shell Gas and Power, said little stood in the way of a final decision on the sixth train, which should be made this year.
LNG EXPANSION
A second Nigerian LNG venture near Eni's Brass River oilfield is also in the works, planned by a consortium of ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips (nyse: COP - news - people), Eni and NNPC.
The Brass LNG plant would produce some 10 million tonnes of liquefied gas per year using two trains.
ChevronTexaco's manager responsible for Africa, Larry Robison, said the project was only one or two months away from a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage, preceding a final investment decision.
Another project for a four- to five-million-tonne-per-year (tpy) LNG plant in Angola, with stakes held by ChevronTexaco, Total, BP, ExxonMobil and state-owned Sonangol, was also very near to the FEED stage, Robison added.
"They are very close to FEED. In each project there are just a couple of crucial issues that have to be cleared up," he said.
And in Equatorial Guinea, Marathon (nyse: MRO - news - people) Oil has won permission to build a 3.4-million-tpy LNG plant. The U.S. independent has said it sees potential for the Bioko Island site to rival production in the Caribbean island of Trinidad -- where there is a plant with a nine-million-tpy capacity.
Forecast demand for LNG in the United States has been a major driver in the expansion of gas projects, with the industry National Petroleum Council predicting demand growth to as much as 15 billion cubic feet (425 million cu metres) per day by 2025, from a current figure of less than two billion.
West Africa's situation relative to the United States Gulf Coast affords it easier access to the most prominent LNG market than many competitors. Nigerian LNG production was initially aimed at European buyers, but anticipated U.S. demand has turned dealmakers' eyes westwards.
"It does go down to position," Robison said. "Just the transportation advantage is tremendous."
But he also pointed to the presence of associated liquids, which can be sold as condensate to generate extra revenue, and the relative cleanliness of West African gas relative to Middle Eastern finds, as additional advantages.
GROWING GAS DEMAND
Globally, demand for gas is seen growing about twice as fast as that for oil, at between two and three percent per year.
The gas developments are part of a wider boom that has seen Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Algeria and others building LNG capacity, while a proposed Nigerian gas-to-liquids project would join operational or planned units in South Africa, Malaysia, and Qatar.
GTL is seen as an important diversification into other fuel markets to avoid dependence on LNG.
Europe will provide the market for the proposed ChevronTexaco (nyse: CVX - news - people) and Sasol <SOLJ.J> Escravos gas-to-liquids plant. Robison said the 34,000-barrel-a-day unit, which will consume some 350 million cubic feet of gas per day, was due for a final investment decision this year.
The diesel produced would be sold into Europe on the spot market, unlike the majority of LNG, most of which is currently sold under long term agreements.
"It would be more like a crude market, where it is cargo by cargo," he said.
Locally, ChevronTexaco is also planning to build an 800-km (550-mile) pipeline connecting Nigerian gas supplies to Ghana, Benin and Togo.
West African states have a long-standing commitment to phase out gas flaring. With little or no domestic industry to use the gas produced on oil fields, most of it has historically been burnt off.
Angola and Nigeria both want to end flaring, which will allow them to boost revenues as well as reducing damage to the environment.
Early last year, Nigeria brought forward its deadline for the end of flaring to 2004 from 2008.
Nigeria has said it hopes to earn 50 percent more than its current oil revenues when projects designed to end gas flaring are completed.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, MARCH 04, 2004 11:09:04 PM ]
Mirza Aslam Baig.
NEW DELHI: Islamabad's run of disastrous luck on the nuclear front continued on Thursday with Nigeria first making — and then withdrawing — the stunning claim that a top Pakistani General, currently visiting the country, had offered its armed forces "military assistance, including nuclear power".
The claim — made in a Nigerian defence ministry statement about the visit of the chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff Gen Mohammed Aziz Khan — was reversed within 12 hours with the official spokesman, Bellu Nwachukwu, explaining away the original reference to "nuclear power" as a "typographical error".
While its writ lasted, however, the astonishing Nigerian "typo" sent a jittery Pakistani establishment — already reeling from recent revelations about the clandestine links between Dr AQ Khan and Libya, Iran and North Korea — into a rage. "We are denying it. This is baseless. (Gen Aziz Khan) said nothing of this kind," a Pakistani military spokesman said, angrily.
Nigerian military officials told The Times of India there was no question of any nuclear cooperation with Pakistan and that there had obviously been some "miscommunication".
They said Gen Aziz Khan had boasted of Pakistan's nuclear capability in his meetings with Nigerian defence minister Rabiu Kwankaso and chief of defence staff Gen Alexander Ogumudia and, separately, had offered to help Nigeria produce defence equipment. "But somewhere, these two things seem to have got mixed up. All you people from India and Pakistan speak too fast."
Those Iranians they really know how to crash a bash.
The guests are arriving. The race for oil and gas in Africa is on in earnest. The United States must vie for hydrocarbons not only with China and other countries but now Iran.
All of the components of another Iraq are present at our new party in Africa as al Qaeda and a horde of terrorists set up camp around unsightly rigs and the United States builds a military presence while profoundly worrying about the well-being of Africa amidst heavy competition for the oil and gas they crave. #msg-2380231
Note, for an African ally Iran has singled out Nigeria who very recently and through a bizarre misunderstanding with Pakistan almost found themselves the proud owners of nuclear weapons much to their chagrin. #msg-2527152
Tehran, March 3 (IranMania) -- According to Iran's State News Agency (IRNA) Iran's Minister of Cooperatives Ali Sufi said expansion of economic, political and cultural ties with African states is a priority for Iran. Sufi told The Nigerian President Olusengun Obasanjo that detente is the pivot of of Iran's foreign policy and it is necessary for Iran and Nigeria to promote mutual cooperation at the international level. Calling as "important" Iran-Nigeria cooperation within the UN, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the south-south group of states, Sufi stressed the need to hold commercial fairs of Iranian goods in Nigeria. He said regular holding of trade fairs should be taken as a suitable tools for transfer of technology and experience between the two sides. Highlighting existing capacities for expansion of industrial, economic and trade ties between Iran and Nigeria, Sufi said Iran is ready to export technical and engineering services to Nigeria to promote mutual trade and commercial ties. Sufi is in Nigeria to attend the first joint commission meeting of Iran and Nigeria.
Equatorial Guinea has a big oil discovery and now it has a big problem. An American registered plane filled with mercenaries supposedly sold only last week to a South African firm and operated by British based Logo Logistics was detained on its way to Equatorial Guinea.
There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea.
Obiang seized power from his uncle in 1979 and has been wooed by Nigeria and Western oil firms. Last year the country pumped 350,000 barrels per day, ranking third in sub-Saharan Africa behind Nigeria and Angola.
The discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared. www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=4775955
The plane, which reportedly took off from South Africa, is registered to a U.S. company, Dodson Aviation based in Kansas. But a Dodson spokesman says it sold the aircraft to a South African firm, last week. The operator of the plane, British based Logo Logistics, says the men were headed for the Democratic Republic of Congo to work as security guards at mines. www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1C7BB416-16F9-4ACB-8216BC8D7DAF2A30
An initial check of US Federal Aviation Administration records showed N4610 to be registered to Kansas-based Dodson Aviation Inc., but a Dodson official said it sold the plane about a week ago to an African company called Logo Ltd. http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
The operator of the plane, Logo Logistics, said Tuesday that the men had been bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo to work as security guards on mines, and that the aircraft had only stopped in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment.
Charles Burrows, a senior executive at Logo Logistics, said that most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract with four mining companies in Congo.
Burrows, whose company is registered in Britain's Channel Islands, denied any connection between the group detained in Harare and the people arrested in Equatorial Guinea. http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
In Zimbabwe, 'mining equipment' is a euphemism for military hardware as it is the same tactic used by President Mugabe's government to cloak its heavy involvement in the DRC since war broke out.
His account appeared consistent with intelligence information indicating the plane was on its way to West Africa, perhaps headed for a threatening coup in Equatorial Guinea, a small former-Spanish colony wedged between Cameroon and Gabon. http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/plane7.1519.html
In Zimbabwe, officials said that the detained plane was carrying "military materiel." State television footage of the plane's cargo showed sleeping bags, satellite phones, knives, bolt-cutters and camouflage uniforms, but no firearms. http://www.iht.com/articles/509522.html
DAKAR (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third-biggest oil producer, says it has arrested about 15 suspected mercenaries who it says were the advance party of a group seized by Zimbabwe at the weekend.
The 15 people detained comprised white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia, officials said on Tuesday.
"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here...and it was connected with that plane (seized) in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu said by telephone from the capital Malabo.
Senior diplomats in Malabo said the group was linked to the men grounded in Harare and that the arrests in Equatorial Guinea on Monday evening had thwarted a plot to seize power.
"There was an attempted coup which was foiled. It was intense yesterday evening but now the tension has dropped. The town is calm," one diplomat said.
The leader of the group detained had been presented to some members of the diplomatic community on Tuesday.
"The situation on the ground is under control. There seems to be a big military presence out on the street, but there is no unrest as far as we know," another diplomat said.
Zimbabwe seized a cargo plane on Sunday it said was carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and military gear.
The plane's operator said the men were on a civil mission to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Equatorial Guinea launched a clampdown on illegal immigrants on Saturday amid growing tensions within President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's clan, whose members hold most top positions in the former Spanish colony.
Residents said the swoop involved heavily armed troops.
COUP SPECULATION
There has been recent speculation among exiled opposition politicians living in Spain and some oil industry officials that a coup was in the offing in Equatorial Guinea.
Obiang seized power from his uncle in 1979 and has been wooed by Nigeria and Western oil firms. Last year the country pumped 350,000 barrels per day, ranking third in sub-Saharan Africa behind Nigeria and Angola.
The discovery of massive oil reserves has boosted the economy by as much as 70 percent a year but critics say the new found wealth has been far from evenly shared.
Human rights groups have criticised Obiang's record, saying opposition politicians have been locked up and tortured.
Nfuma said the suspected mercenaries arrived in the tiny nation, which borders Gabon and Cameroon, in December.
He said one of the men had said the group was acting on behalf of Ely Calil, a Lebanese businessman close to Severo Moto, self-proclaimed president of a so-called Equatorial Guinean "government-in-exile" in Spain.
Sources close to Calil, authorised to speak to Reuters, said on Tuesday he denied involvement and believed he was being made a scapegoat because of his friendship with Moto.
Moto was arrested in 1997 in Angola on suspicion of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea and expelled to Spain. Reuters
War on Terror hits Africa: More oil, more colonies
By, Mike Whitney
Al-Jazeerah, March 9, 2004
War on Terror hits Africa; more oil, more colonies by, Mike Whitney
The Pentagon is signaling that it will be expanding its efforts in the war on Terrorism on a new front; Africa. The news only reinforces the widely held belief among skeptics that the war on terror is a shameless deception aimed at stealing the remainder of the world’s dwindling resources.
In a recent report by the Associated Press, “Al Qaida may be looking to Africa”, the AP makes the case that “al Qaida may be looking in the desserts and jungles of Africa as a haven where terrorists could train recruits and plan new attacks.” These are the conclusions of Deputy Commander of the United States European Command Air Force Gen. Charles Wald. “Key among U.S. military proposals to fight back is deploying American units of about 200 soldiers to train armies throughout the continent, patrol alongside them, or hunt terrorists on short notice if necessary.”
"We need to drain the swamp," Wald beamed, in the thinly veiled vernacular that is particular to America’s new colonial elite.
Wald said some terrorists had been “sent to Iraq from North Africa, and there were indications that al-Qaida has established a presence and tried to recruit in North Africa over the past two years.”
In response to these dubious observations the Pentagon will be undergoing “a major reconfiguring of its forces” under the European Command to address the suspicions that a few rogue al Qaida members might be collecting in the African “outback”. This is an attempt to conceal the real motive behind the intervention; a desire to project American military power in the region.
As Senator Robert Byrd recently opined, “I might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night!”
The new arrangements for troop deployments focus almost entirely on oil producing countries that are considered critical to America’s energy needs. (Nigeria, Sudan, Gabon, Chad) These countries could very well supply nearly 25% of the petroleum the US consumes yearly.
Not surprisingly, the infestation of terrorist groups always seems to crop up in these oil-rich locations. It almost seems like someone in al Qaida caught a glimpse of Mr Cheney’s secret “energy papers” and is working out a parallel strategy.
Typical of most reporting from the Associated Press, it takes a bit of “sorting out” to wade through the political spin and figure out the gist of what is going on. In this case, once again, we see the US Military is being implemented as A PUBLICLY FUNDED SECURITY APPARATUS FOR PRIVATE INDUSTRY. (excuse the bold print) This, of course, is the modern-day function of the military, although many Americans still believe the nonsensical rhetoric that it operates in the interests of national defense.
It does not. It is entirely devoted to RESOURCE ACQUISITION AND SECURITY FOR THOSE SAME RESOURCES.
There’s no reason for the US to be in Africa, anyone can see that. (Although, The Heritage Foundation, a conservative U.S. think tank, is pushing for the U.S.-based Central Command to take over responsibility for the entire continent. So, we can see that these imperial aspirations are not limited to the White House.) And, we know what Africa’s real problems are; the AIDS epidemic, famine, poverty, disease and political instability. Any of these eclipse the dangers of terrorism.
The Bush Administration has done next to nothing to tackle these pressing needs. (The commitment 2 years ago to provide $15 billion to AIDS in Africa has dissipated into a paltry $2 billion, mostly provided to “abstinence only” programs; the medieval approach to birth control) Instead, they are embarking on another military adventure that will guarantee massive suffering and strip the people of the resources that might lift them out of their dire predicament.
Just more grist for the Bush-mill.
The African deployment demonstrates how the administration is trying to corner to world’s oil market while camouflaging their intention to do so. As always, they are more than willing to sacrifice innocent lives to achieve their objectives.
How long will the American people accept the War on Terror as an excuse for intervention, aggression and plunder?
Any “swamp draining” should be limited to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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