HissyFit'nPaminifarm
February 9th 04, 08:00 PM
Hello,
See the mess?
This is the No. 7 on the famous "urls"
page i keep telling you to watch:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :confused:
http://www.caspianstudies.com/recent%20event%20(6%20february).htm#US-Russia_oil_row_worsens_
Moscow May Undermine US-Backed Oil Pipeline Project
February 6, 2004
Moscow - Signaling once again its unhappiness about a U.S.-backed pipeline
being built to take Caspian oil to the Mediterranean via Georgia and Turkey,
Russia has insisted that the project is not economically viable.
Moscow's special Caspian envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny,
told reporters in the capital that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline
project was "excessively politicized" and economically "problematic."
The BTC, which is half-completed, aims by 2005 to carry crude from Caspian
oilfields in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan some 1,760 kilometers to Turkey's
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
Russia opposes the plan because the new route will bypass Russia, thus denying
it transit tariffs.
Kalyuzhny raised the specter of Kazakhstan - whose crude the BTC project
expects to carry - not using the new pipeline, warning that the project would
be in serious difficulty without Kazakh crude.
Russia has built its own, alternative transit route - a 1,500 km-long pipeline
from Kazakhstan oil fields to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.
The alternative pipeline, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), crosses
Russian territory, and Moscow earns transit fees.
If Russia can persuade Kazakhstan not to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,
the project could be in trouble.
Moscow's latest warning about the BTC pipeline came a day after Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey - the three countries through which the pipeline will
stretch - signed a series of finance agreements worth $2.6 billion with oil
firms, government agencies and banks.
The bulk of the funds for the project come from a banking syndicate including
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Roughly one third of construction costs are to be covered by the BTC's shareholders,
which include BP, Eni, Itochu, Unocal, Statoil, ConocoPhillips and Total.
The BTC's capacity of one million barrels per day was designed largely on
the premise that Kazakh oil would be part of the flow stream.
Back in 1999, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a protocol pledging
that his country would use the BTC, although he said subsequently the protocol
merely signified intention, since new oil deposits in Kazakhstan had not
yet been confirmed.
The following year, however, the giant Kashagan oil fields were discovered
off Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea coast.
In March 2001 Nazarbayev, reportedly under acting on U.S. urging, confirmed
Kazakhstan's intention to join the BTC.
Since then, however, Kazakh officials have spoken about their country possibly
using multiple routes, perhaps including a southward passage to the Gulf,
via Turkmenistan and Iran.
As the tussle for oil revenues and influence in the strategic region drags
on, Russia continues to press Kazakhstan to sign a long-term agreement to
transport its oil through Russian territory, along the CPC pipeline.
CNSNews
Top
=============================
US-Russia oil row worsens
February 6, 2004
revoking of licences bothers Washington
MOSCOW: US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow said yesterday that the
United States is concerned about the revoking of a Russian oil license that
two US companies had won over a decade ago.
The Russian government’s decision to annul the tender for the Far East Sakhalin-3
oil fields that a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. and ChevronTexaco Corp.
won in 1993 could “set back our bilateral energy cooperation,” Vershbow said.
He was speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Russia investment conference.
The consortium, which also included Russia’s state-owned Rosneft oil company,
won the tender in 1993, but the government license was never issued in the
absence of a legal framework for production-sharing agreements, known as
PSAs.
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko said last week that the government
had annulled the 1993 tender and decided that there are “currently no grounds
for issuing licenses for the oil fields either on PSA terms or regular tax
regime,” according to a statement posted on the Cabinet’s Web site.
If the government decided that the development of Sakhalin-3 was necessary,
it would conduct a new tender, Khristenko added.
Exxon Mobil has called it a violation of the company’s property rights and
warned that it sends a negative signal to the foreign investment community.
n MOSCOW: Russia’s economic and trade minister German Gref said yesterday
extra taxes on the oil industry would not exceed $2-$3 billion a year, alleviating
fears a much larger increase was planned.
Gref said the government should protect the impressive oil output growth
in Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, and planned only to heavily
tax windfall profits.
“We are not talking about dozens of billions of dollars, we are taking about
extra taxes of $2-$3 billion,” he told an investors’ conference.
His comments echoed December remarks by President Vladimir Putin, who threw
his support behind a move to raise taxes on the oil industry to help generate
balanced economic growth but said any hike would not bring in more than $3
billion.
The government is currently collecting tax changes proposals from different
ministries to put into one document, which should be approved by parliament
this year to become effective from 2005.
The energy ministry had offered this week a new version of the mineral extraction
tax, which would have raised taxes by at least $6 billion.
“We are currently talking to oil firms and will take a final decision in
February. The tax burden will become heavier when oil prices are high — above
$25 per barrel,” said Gref.
“We are not planning radical changes so as to maintain the dynamic development
of the sector and keep the flow of investment in this industry high,” he
said.
Russia’s oil output has been booming for the past five years and the Energy
Ministry said last week it expected the growth to remain high at around six
to eight percent this year compared to a record 11 per cent in 2003.
This will allow Russia to achieve a level of output of 10 million barrels
per day by the end of 2004, approaching the production capacity of the world’s
top oil nation, Saudi Arabia. – Agencies
AP
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
See: John 8:44 and Rev.3:9
Get Your Free "In God We Trust" Labels:
http://paminifarm.faithweb.com/
Truth Will Set You Free (John 8:32),
So Get Some At The Famous "urls" Page:
http://paminifarm.jeeran.com/urls.html
Proof America is a Christian Nation or
Israel maynot be a Jew Nation:
http://paminifarm.jeeran.com/christnation.html
See America's Future Living Conditions:
http://www.iap.org
President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Ph: 202-456-1111
email:
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
<><><><><><><> The Worlds Uncensored News Source <><><><><><><><>
See the mess?
This is the No. 7 on the famous "urls"
page i keep telling you to watch:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :confused:
http://www.caspianstudies.com/recent%20event%20(6%20february).htm#US-Russia_oil_row_worsens_
Moscow May Undermine US-Backed Oil Pipeline Project
February 6, 2004
Moscow - Signaling once again its unhappiness about a U.S.-backed pipeline
being built to take Caspian oil to the Mediterranean via Georgia and Turkey,
Russia has insisted that the project is not economically viable.
Moscow's special Caspian envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny,
told reporters in the capital that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline
project was "excessively politicized" and economically "problematic."
The BTC, which is half-completed, aims by 2005 to carry crude from Caspian
oilfields in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan some 1,760 kilometers to Turkey's
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
Russia opposes the plan because the new route will bypass Russia, thus denying
it transit tariffs.
Kalyuzhny raised the specter of Kazakhstan - whose crude the BTC project
expects to carry - not using the new pipeline, warning that the project would
be in serious difficulty without Kazakh crude.
Russia has built its own, alternative transit route - a 1,500 km-long pipeline
from Kazakhstan oil fields to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.
The alternative pipeline, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), crosses
Russian territory, and Moscow earns transit fees.
If Russia can persuade Kazakhstan not to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,
the project could be in trouble.
Moscow's latest warning about the BTC pipeline came a day after Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey - the three countries through which the pipeline will
stretch - signed a series of finance agreements worth $2.6 billion with oil
firms, government agencies and banks.
The bulk of the funds for the project come from a banking syndicate including
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Roughly one third of construction costs are to be covered by the BTC's shareholders,
which include BP, Eni, Itochu, Unocal, Statoil, ConocoPhillips and Total.
The BTC's capacity of one million barrels per day was designed largely on
the premise that Kazakh oil would be part of the flow stream.
Back in 1999, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a protocol pledging
that his country would use the BTC, although he said subsequently the protocol
merely signified intention, since new oil deposits in Kazakhstan had not
yet been confirmed.
The following year, however, the giant Kashagan oil fields were discovered
off Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea coast.
In March 2001 Nazarbayev, reportedly under acting on U.S. urging, confirmed
Kazakhstan's intention to join the BTC.
Since then, however, Kazakh officials have spoken about their country possibly
using multiple routes, perhaps including a southward passage to the Gulf,
via Turkmenistan and Iran.
As the tussle for oil revenues and influence in the strategic region drags
on, Russia continues to press Kazakhstan to sign a long-term agreement to
transport its oil through Russian territory, along the CPC pipeline.
CNSNews
Top
=============================
US-Russia oil row worsens
February 6, 2004
revoking of licences bothers Washington
MOSCOW: US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow said yesterday that the
United States is concerned about the revoking of a Russian oil license that
two US companies had won over a decade ago.
The Russian government’s decision to annul the tender for the Far East Sakhalin-3
oil fields that a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. and ChevronTexaco Corp.
won in 1993 could “set back our bilateral energy cooperation,” Vershbow said.
He was speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Russia investment conference.
The consortium, which also included Russia’s state-owned Rosneft oil company,
won the tender in 1993, but the government license was never issued in the
absence of a legal framework for production-sharing agreements, known as
PSAs.
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko said last week that the government
had annulled the 1993 tender and decided that there are “currently no grounds
for issuing licenses for the oil fields either on PSA terms or regular tax
regime,” according to a statement posted on the Cabinet’s Web site.
If the government decided that the development of Sakhalin-3 was necessary,
it would conduct a new tender, Khristenko added.
Exxon Mobil has called it a violation of the company’s property rights and
warned that it sends a negative signal to the foreign investment community.
n MOSCOW: Russia’s economic and trade minister German Gref said yesterday
extra taxes on the oil industry would not exceed $2-$3 billion a year, alleviating
fears a much larger increase was planned.
Gref said the government should protect the impressive oil output growth
in Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, and planned only to heavily
tax windfall profits.
“We are not talking about dozens of billions of dollars, we are taking about
extra taxes of $2-$3 billion,” he told an investors’ conference.
His comments echoed December remarks by President Vladimir Putin, who threw
his support behind a move to raise taxes on the oil industry to help generate
balanced economic growth but said any hike would not bring in more than $3
billion.
The government is currently collecting tax changes proposals from different
ministries to put into one document, which should be approved by parliament
this year to become effective from 2005.
The energy ministry had offered this week a new version of the mineral extraction
tax, which would have raised taxes by at least $6 billion.
“We are currently talking to oil firms and will take a final decision in
February. The tax burden will become heavier when oil prices are high — above
$25 per barrel,” said Gref.
“We are not planning radical changes so as to maintain the dynamic development
of the sector and keep the flow of investment in this industry high,” he
said.
Russia’s oil output has been booming for the past five years and the Energy
Ministry said last week it expected the growth to remain high at around six
to eight percent this year compared to a record 11 per cent in 2003.
This will allow Russia to achieve a level of output of 10 million barrels
per day by the end of 2004, approaching the production capacity of the world’s
top oil nation, Saudi Arabia. – Agencies
AP
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
See: John 8:44 and Rev.3:9
Get Your Free "In God We Trust" Labels:
http://paminifarm.faithweb.com/
Truth Will Set You Free (John 8:32),
So Get Some At The Famous "urls" Page:
http://paminifarm.jeeran.com/urls.html
Proof America is a Christian Nation or
Israel maynot be a Jew Nation:
http://paminifarm.jeeran.com/christnation.html
See America's Future Living Conditions:
http://www.iap.org
President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Ph: 202-456-1111
email:
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
<><><><><><><> The Worlds Uncensored News Source <><><><><><><><>