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Oil War? No Election
Hello, See the mess? This is the No. 7 on the famous "urls" page i keep telling you to watch: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 |
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