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Saudis warn region is on the brink of war
Joel Brinkley, Sydney Morning Herald
Iraq is hurtling towards disintegration, and could drag the region into war, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, believes. “There is no dynamic now pulling the nation together,” he said on Thursday. “All the dynamics are pulling the country apart.”
Prince Saud said he was so concerned that he was taking this message “to everyone who will listen” in the Bush Administration. His remarks, some of the most pessimistic public comments on Iraq by a Middle East leader in recent months, were in stark contrast to the generally upbeat assessments offered by the White House and the Pentagon.
Prince Saud, in Washington for meetings with Administration officials, blamed several US decisions for the slide towards disintegration, though he did not refer to the Bush Administration directly. High among them was designating “every Sunni as a Baathist criminal”. …
(24 September 2005)
Nigerian militia leader urges calm after oil delta threats
Estelle Shirbon, Reuters
A detained militia leader from Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, whose followers threatened to blow up oil facilities over his arrest, has told them to refrain from violence, his lawyer said on Sunday. …
Asari’s lawyer, Uche Okwukwu, said the detained warlord wanted his followers to stay calm. “Asari gave me the instruction to tell them that nobody should harm any foreigner or do anything criminal. They shouldn’t do anything that could put his case in jeopardy. It’s not in the interest of the movement,” Okwukwu told Reuters. …
More than 100 armed militants on Thursday stormed a production platform operated by Chevron , which responded by closing the facility and another nearby, stopping a total of 28,400 barrels per day or 1 percent of Nigeria’s output.
With members of Asari’s militia leaving Port Harcourt for remote mangrove creeks where oil is produced, fears rose that disruption to oil production would worsen, but on Friday some of the group’s commanders backed away from threats of violence. Okwukwu said this was because he was able to talk to them after his release and pass on Asari’s plea for calm. Previously the warlord had been unable to get word out to his men, Okwukwu said.
(25 September 2005)
Energy pricing firms out of Britain
Julia Fields, Sunday Herald
Britain’s soaring energy costs will drive intensive manufacturing to other countries that have cheaper power bills and lower fuel costs, the chairman of British Polythene Industries has warned
Cameron McLatchie revealed that Greenock-headquartered BPI, the largest producer of polythene film, sacks and bags in Europe, has chosen to make a £3 million capital investment in its facility in Belgium rather than a plant in the southwest of England, solely on the basis of these expenses.
He added that a £1m investment to extend its recycling plant in Dumfries was also now in jeopardy. “ It could be that we don’t do it. It’s getting to the stage where power costs are starting to drive investment decisions. At the end of the day, you’re going to see energy-intensive processes leaving the UK because of energy prices. It needs urgent action.”
His warning comes as Scottish housebuilder Stewart Milne revealed that fuel costs were now being factored into its future investment decisions. Hamish Morrison of Stewart Milne Timber Systems, which has a 24% market share of timber-frame housing in the UK, told a Scottish parliament committee this month that the rising fuel costs being passed on by hauliers were a major factor in its consideration of whether to locate future factory facilities in Aberdeen.
McLatchie said BPI’s group energy costs would soar from £12m in 2005, to £20m in 2006. Generators worldwide are raising bills for industrial customers because of soaring costs of the wholesale oil and gas they use to generate electricity.
(25 September 2005)
The growing cost of growing wheat
Andy Porter, Union-Bulletin (US)
Nobody’s called it a “perfect storm,’ yet.
But between rocketing costs for fuel and fertilizer, low prices for their crop, increased shipping surcharges and worries over whether this will be another dry winter, local wheat farmers say the future is looking pretty grim these days.
“I’m not sure anyone is aware of it, but energy prices are quickly making the continuation of wheat farming questionable unless something begins to change soon,’ said Walla Walla County farmer Nat Webb.
Over a relatively short period of time, fuel prices have tripled and the cost of fertilizer has doubled, Webb and others said. At the same time, the price for soft white wheat, the type which accounts for 88 percent of the wheat grown in Washington state, is hovering slightly above $3 a bushel, “a 20-year low,’ said Harold Cochran, former national legislative chairman for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. …
“Three years ago I paid 80 cents a gallon (for diesel) and now I’m paying $2.60 a gallon,’ Cochran said. “Fertilizer has gone from 17 cents a pound to 37 cents a pound, which has more than doubled in the past year.
“We’ve had incremental inflation for years, but when things are doubling and tripling all of a sudden, there’s nowhere to turn,’ Cochran said. On his farm, Webb said tractors consume between 70 to 100 gallons of diesel per day and a combine can consume about 100 gallons a day. …
(24 September 2005)
See also Damage to New Orleans port slows grain exports (not too scary).-LJ
Fertilizer Costs Soar; Farmers Face Tough Decisions
FarmWeek (US)
Farmers this fall will have to scrutinize their fertilizer purchases like never before due to recent price hikes that have pushed the cost of anhydrous ammonia to new highs.
Illinois Farm Bureau senior economist Mike Doherty said the cost of anhydrous ammonia already had increased by an estimated 25 percent this year. And that was prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Now with the disruption of natural gas extraction and processing in the Gulf of Mexico due to hurricane damage, anhydrous ammonia prices are pushing $450 to $500-plus per ton across the Midwest, according at a fertilizer industry representative. Prior to 2005, the largest spring price quote for anhydrous ammonia (dating back to 1960) was $399 per ton in April 2001, USDA reported.
“Natural gas has been called the forgotten fuel because so much attention is being placed on high gasoline prices,” said Jean-Mari Peltier, president of the National Council for Farmer Cooperatives.
(23 September 2005)
High prices not only at the pump
Nate Jenkins, Lincoln Journal Star
High gas prices can burn up more than your transportation budget, and it doesn’t take an economics degree to understand why. Not all crude oil is converted into gasoline. …
A double-whammy of higher prices for petroleum and steel — both used in the manufacture of tires — has spiked the cost of putting new rubber on your car. Consider this, said Brian Dillon of Cross-Dillon Tire in Lincoln: Major tire makers normally boost the price of their products just once a year. “Now there’s several,” a year, he said, adding that about five gallons of oil are used in the production of one semi-trailer tire. Just this year, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. has announced three price hikes, with the most recent — a 5 percent to 8 percent increase, depending on models — taking effect earlier this month.
A few years ago, a ton of nitrogen-based anhydrous ammonia, a popular farm fertilizer, cost about $150. Now it’s more than $400 a ton, according to Harold Hummel, general manager of Farmers Co-op. The high-rising cost of natural gas — a primary ingredient of nitrogen fertilizers — is the primary culprit. Katrina won’t help matters. A lot of natural gas is produced in the Gulf Coast. …
(26 September 2005)
Interview – It’s the Crude Dude: Big Oil, War and the Fight for the Planet. (Radio)
Kennedy and Papantonio, Ring of Fire (Air America Radio)
Oil has always driven U.S. foreign policy, so why has the Bush administration tried to hide its real reason for invading Iraq? Bobby talks with Linda McQuaig, author of It’s the Crude Dude: Big Oil, War and the Fight for the Planet.
(24 September 2005)
The interview with Linda McQuaig is one part of the Sept 24 show, which should be available in the Ring of Fire archives. Jon S. of Peak Energy Seattle has a commentary on the segment, together with a list of links.
Ford CEO writes Bush for energy summit
CNN/Money
Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford Jr. is asking the White House to convene a summit to discuss the nation’s energy issues and the auto industry’s role in finding a solution.
Ford wrote a letter to President Bush in which he said he supported the Energy Policy Act that Bush recently signed into law, but there’s even more that should be done. The letter was released by the company’s Washington office.
The letter said tragedies like Hurricane Katrina underscore the need for businesses to help government explore long-term solutions.
…Not everyone is optimistic about the chances of success of such an energy summit. David Friedman, research director of clean vehicles for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, told the paper that previous Bush administration task forces on energy ended up downplaying conservation in national energy policy. Friedman said he is disappointed Ford had not made any specific commitment to higher fuel economy standards.
“This is more of the Bill Ford that we expected to see and have been hoping to see,” Friedman told the paper. “But you’ve got to take some concrete steps, too.”
Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, told the paper the industry lobbying group had not yet reviewed Ford’s letter, but that automakers are all fiercely committed to doing their part to achieve United States energy independence.
(23 September 2005)
The quote by the auto manufacturers in the last paragraph is perhaps a statement of intention. -BA
In Niger, hungry are fed, but farmers may starve
Natasha C. Burley, NY Times
NIAMEY, Niger – The images coming out of this impoverished, West African nation have been unrelentingly grim: hungry children with stick-thin arms and swollen bellies, mothers carrying babies hundreds of miles to look for food after a poor harvest and high prices put local staples out of reach. A few months ago, those images prompted a torrent of food aid from Western donors.
But now, after a season of good rains, Niger’s farmers are producing a bumper crop of millet, the national staple. This should be a cause for rejoicing, yet in one of the twists that mark life in the world’s poorest countries, the aid that was intended to save lives could ruin the harvest for many of Niger’s farmers by driving down prices.
The newly harvested millet and the donated food will reach market stalls at the same time, and with prices depressed, poor farming families may be forced to sell crops normally set aside for their own use and use the money to pay off debts. The effect would be a new cycle of hunger and poverty.
(22 September 2005)
Basra’s Governor orders end to cooperation with British
Blair dismisses arrest warrants
Tarek el-Tablawy, Associated Press
…In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair gave no ground in the continuing dispute with Iraqi officials in the southern oil hub of Basra, saying Sunday an arrest warrant against two British soldiers had no legal standing.
“We will do whatever is necessary to protect our troops in any situation,” Blair told the BBC.
Basra authorities issued the warrants after the two soldiers, working undercover, were arrested Sept. 19, prompting rioting when British armor surrounded the prison where the soldiers were detained. That night the armored vehicles crashed through the prison wall and freed the men. British authorities said they were in the hands of militiamen loyal to al-Sadr, not the police.
In the meantime, the Basra governor has demanded Britain apologize for the incident, in which five Iraqis reportedly died. Gov. Mohammed al-Waili also said Britain must pay compensation to victims, and he ordered government officials to end cooperation with the British.
Blair, in rejecting the warrants, said he had been surprised by the strength of the insurgency that has been tearing at Iraq since the late summer of 2003. …
(25 September 2005)
See this William Bowles article for other views on what happened in Basra.-LJ
The New Energy Crisis (humor)
The Onion
With winter fast approaching and oil prices at a 10-year high, the U.S. faces a major energy crisis. What is the government doing to combat the problem?
(27 September 2005 issue)
