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Gas fuels new cold war in the Arctic
IAN MATHER, Scotsman.com
ON A small island off the coast of the world’s most northerly town, workers are putting the finishing touches to a vast structure that will transform the politics of the Arctic.
Soon gas will flow from nearly 100 miles out at sea, and the great rush to exploit virgin territory that is estimated to contain 25% of the world’s undiscovered petroleum resources will have begun.
“This will be Europe’s new oil and gas province and will play a key role in energy supplies for Europe and the US for many years to come,” said Sverre Kojedal, a senior official with Statoil, the Norwegian state oil and gas company.
At first the gas will be used to test Europe’s first Liquefied Natural Gas plant, where the gas is to be frozen to minus 165 degrees so that it can be transported in liquid form in tankers to world markets. Then in 2007, full production will begin, with gas worth €2bn a year, equal in value to more than half the total energy consumption of Norway, being pumped through a 100-mile-long pipeline.
But already the project is the subject of bitter controversy. For the development of the Snohvit field (Snow White in English), which is entirely within Norwegian waters, is only the first step. Statoil calls it “the door-opener to the Barents Sea”, which has so far remained untouched.
(3 Jun 2006)
Iran threatens oil shipments if attacked by US
Kim Landers, ABC Radio (Au)
Iran has threatened to disrupt oil shipments from the Gulf region if it’s attacked by the United States.
The warning has been delivered by Iran’s Supreme Leader, as Iran continues its nuclear stand-off with the West.
It comes just days after a major policy shift from the United States, which has agreed to join its European allies in direct talks with Iran.
(6 Jun 2006)
USA out-flanked in Eurasia Energy Politics?
F. William Engdahl, GlobalResearch.ca
Curiously and quietly the United States is being out-flanked in its now-obvious strategy of controlling major oil and energy sources of the Persian Gulf, Central Asia Caspian Basin, Africa and beyond.
The US’s global energy control strategy, it’s now clear to most, was the actual reason for the highly costly regime change in Iraq, euphemistically dubbed ‘democracy’ by Washington. George W. Bush restated his democracy mantra as recently as May 28 at the West Point military graduating ceremony where he declared that America’s safety depends on an aggressive push for democracy, especially in the Middle East. ‘This is only the beginning,’ Bush said. ‘The message has spread from Damascus to Tehran that the future belongs to freedom, and we will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people in every nation.’
If the trend of recent events continues, it won’t be Bush-style democracy that is spreading, but rather, Russian and Chinese influence over major oil and gas energy supplies.
The quest for energy control has informed Washington’s support for high-risk ‘color revolutions’ in Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgystan in recent months. It lies behind US activity in the Western Africa Gulf of Guinea states, as well as in Sudan, source of 7% of China oil import. It lies behind US policy vis-à-vis Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela and Evo Morales’ Bolivia.
In recent months, however, this strategy of global energy dominance, a strategic US priority, has shown signs of producing just the opposite: a kind of ‘coalition of the unwilling,’ states who increasingly see no other prospect, despite traditional animosities, but to cooperate to oppose what they see as a US push to control it all, their energy future security.
Some in Washington are beginning to realize they might have been too clever by about half, as is evident in recent public statements to both China and Russia, two nations whose cooperation in some form is essential to the success of the global US energy project.
(3 Jun 2006)
Iran lawmaker urges re-examining OPEC membership
AP, CNN.com
Iranian lawmaker Kamal Daneshyar, chairman of the Parliament’s Energy Committee, said Tuesday that Iran should reevaluate its membership in OPEC because calls for members to raise production jeopardize the long-term yield of oil wells, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
(31 May 2006)
From an article entitled ‘OPEC expected to hold output level’ -AF
Japan: Pouring oil on troubled waters
Peter Alford, The Australian
JAPAN should aim to increase the proportion of crude oil supplies that it controls from 15 per cent to 40 per cent by 2030, according to a draft national energy strategy floated this week by government officials.
This ambitious target, if adopted, promises an intensification of competition for oil resources, particularly with China and India, though the document also calls for Japan to reduce its the proportion of crude oil in its overall energy consumption from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.
Japan has negligible hydrocarbon production and imports more than 75 per cent of its crude oil from the Middle East.
In order to increase reserves and utilisation of “independently developed” oil resources as dramatically as envisaged by the draft strategy, Japanese petroleum companies will need big exploration successes in Libya.
They will need to remain involved in Iran’s oil developments, despite mounting pressure from Washington to disinvest, and to win a large stake in Russia’s trans-Siberian pipeline and oilfield development.
In all these enterprises, the Japanese face intense competition from China and, increasingly, from India.
(31 May 2006)
Japan Curbs Oil Imports From Iran on Concern Over Disruptions
Bloomberg
Japan is curbing crude oil imports from Iran, its third-largest supplier, out of concern the standoff over the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program increases the risk of supply disruptions.
(31 May 2006)
Related: Iran plays China card with Japan on oil deal
Plenty of Oil, but Few Refineries for Iran
BRIAN MURPHY (AP), Houston Chronicle
Iran is flush with huge oil reserves and cash, but a refinery shortage leaves it heavily dependent on imported gasoline and diesel to keeps its cars and trucks rolling.
That’s one reason the country _ already beset with economic troubles _ is desperate to avoid U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program.
“Oil is where Iran is most vulnerable,” said Behzad Nabavi, a former lawmaker who also headed a state-directed oil company, Petropars. “It’s one of the great economic paradoxes.”
(31 May 2006)
Article available to subscribers only -AF
