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NIGERIA REBELS SAY MAJOR OIL PIPELINES DESTROYED - 26 MAY 2009
Nigeria's main rebel group said it destroyed several major oil pipelines in southern Nigeria early Monday in response to a military offensive.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had put "out of operation" a major Chevron oil storage facility by destroying the pipelines and flow stations that feed it.
"Fighters from MEND destroyed major trunk lines," the group said in a statement emailed to media.
US oil giant Chevron made no immediate comment but MEND has staged several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Delta state as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the oil wealth to local people.
Nigeria's oil production has been cut by a quarter because of the militant campaign over the past three years.
MEND -- which named the affected flow stations as Alero creek, Otunana, Abiteye, Makaraba and Dibi -- said its latest attacks were in response to a government offensive over the past 10 days in Delta State.
It said it was "applying the same measure of treatment the impoverished oil bearing communities suffered in the hands of government troops by ensuring huge collateral damage."
Local media have quoted residents fleeing Gbaramatu Kingdom, the main target area of the military operations, as accusing armed forces of indiscriminate bombing of civilians and burning of homes.
The Joint Task Force, the army-police unit deployed in the region, says it is only conducting a "cordon and search" operation and focusing only "on the areas where there are militants and their hideouts where hostgages were being kept".
The JTF says it has released groups of Filipino, Ukranian and Nigerian hostages seized in raids on vessels. Most recently it says it rescued three Filipino seamen on Saturday and a further three on Sunday.
MEND disputed that the three freed on Sunday were rescued.
"The JTF did not free the remaining three hostages as being claimed...we dropped them off at the Oporoza jetty," the group statement said.
MEND and the JTF blame each other for starting the new violence. MEND accuses the armed forces of having launched an unprovoked attack on the camp of an allied armed group while JTF says one of its patrols was fired on my militants.
Gbaramatu Kingdom is accessible only by boat and residents of Warri, the nearest major town, say the army has stopped boat traffic in the area.
Hostage taking is common in the Niger Delta, with several hundred people, most but not all of them linked to the oil industry, kidnapped there in the past three years.
MEND renewed its threat of bringing Nigeria's oil industry to a standstill.
"The Joint Task Force has been chasing shadows for the past two weeks and has not achieved any military success. We will continue our cat and mouse tactics with them until oil export ceases completely," the group threatened.
International oil prices have spiked in recent days, partly because of the MEND attacks and the military offensive in Nigeria's main oil producing region.
Unrest in the Niger Delta region has reduced Nigeria's daily output to 1.76 million barrels compared with 2.6 million barrels in January 2006.
Nigeria has been overtaken by Angola as Africa's main oil producer.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had put "out of operation" a major Chevron oil storage facility by destroying the pipelines and flow stations that feed it.
"Fighters from MEND destroyed major trunk lines," the group said in a statement emailed to media.
US oil giant Chevron made no immediate comment but MEND has staged several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Delta state as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the oil wealth to local people.
Nigeria's oil production has been cut by a quarter because of the militant campaign over the past three years.
MEND -- which named the affected flow stations as Alero creek, Otunana, Abiteye, Makaraba and Dibi -- said its latest attacks were in response to a government offensive over the past 10 days in Delta State.
It said it was "applying the same measure of treatment the impoverished oil bearing communities suffered in the hands of government troops by ensuring huge collateral damage."
Local media have quoted residents fleeing Gbaramatu Kingdom, the main target area of the military operations, as accusing armed forces of indiscriminate bombing of civilians and burning of homes.
The Joint Task Force, the army-police unit deployed in the region, says it is only conducting a "cordon and search" operation and focusing only "on the areas where there are militants and their hideouts where hostgages were being kept".
The JTF says it has released groups of Filipino, Ukranian and Nigerian hostages seized in raids on vessels. Most recently it says it rescued three Filipino seamen on Saturday and a further three on Sunday.
MEND disputed that the three freed on Sunday were rescued.
"The JTF did not free the remaining three hostages as being claimed...we dropped them off at the Oporoza jetty," the group statement said.
MEND and the JTF blame each other for starting the new violence. MEND accuses the armed forces of having launched an unprovoked attack on the camp of an allied armed group while JTF says one of its patrols was fired on my militants.
Gbaramatu Kingdom is accessible only by boat and residents of Warri, the nearest major town, say the army has stopped boat traffic in the area.
Hostage taking is common in the Niger Delta, with several hundred people, most but not all of them linked to the oil industry, kidnapped there in the past three years.
MEND renewed its threat of bringing Nigeria's oil industry to a standstill.
"The Joint Task Force has been chasing shadows for the past two weeks and has not achieved any military success. We will continue our cat and mouse tactics with them until oil export ceases completely," the group threatened.
International oil prices have spiked in recent days, partly because of the MEND attacks and the military offensive in Nigeria's main oil producing region.
Unrest in the Niger Delta region has reduced Nigeria's daily output to 1.76 million barrels compared with 2.6 million barrels in January 2006.
Nigeria has been overtaken by Angola as Africa's main oil producer.
OIL INVESTMENT TUMBLES - 25 MAY 2009
Oil producers have cancelled or delayed 170 billion dollars' worth of investment in recent months, the IEA said in comments published Monday, underlining the impact of the economic crisis.
Falling oil prices, tight credit markets and slumping demand have stunted investment, the International Energy Agency's chief economist Fatih Birol was quoted as saying by France's specialist Petrol Industry Bulletin.
"In recent months, petrol groups have cancelled or postponed about 170 billion dollars (122 billion euros) in investment," he said, adding that the cancelled and postponed projects cut production by 6.2 million barrels per day.
Daily world oil production is about 83 million barrels per day, according to the IEA, which has also predicted demand will drop by three percent this year, the sharpest fall since 1981.
Birol said oil investment was hit hardest in North America and the North Sea, while the Middle East was relatively spared since production costs are lower there.
Falling oil prices, tight credit markets and slumping demand have stunted investment, the International Energy Agency's chief economist Fatih Birol was quoted as saying by France's specialist Petrol Industry Bulletin.
"In recent months, petrol groups have cancelled or postponed about 170 billion dollars (122 billion euros) in investment," he said, adding that the cancelled and postponed projects cut production by 6.2 million barrels per day.
Daily world oil production is about 83 million barrels per day, according to the IEA, which has also predicted demand will drop by three percent this year, the sharpest fall since 1981.
Birol said oil investment was hit hardest in North America and the North Sea, while the Middle East was relatively spared since production costs are lower there.
KEN GILL DIES AT 81 - 25 MAY 2009
Ken Gill, who died on May 23 aged 81, was general secretary for 18 years of the technical union Tass and its successor, MSF, one of the most effective, and respected, trade union leaders of his generation. Ken was a lifelong communist who fought valiantly and tirelessly for working class people everywhere. A committed internationalist and socialist he supported the Great Miners' Strike lending his support in any way he could. Ken will be sadly missed by all those who knew him and the many people he represented.
OIL PRICES RISE, BUT UNLIKELY TO SPIKE AGAIN - 24 MAY 2009
BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil prices are likely to continue rising, but there will be no major spike in the market in the coming months as world oil consumption still remains weak, analysts said.
Global crude prices, which plummeted from 147.27 U.S. dollars per barrel to below 40 dollars last year, have witnessed a moderate yet steady rebound over the past months, reaching 61.5 dollars on Thursday at the New York oil market, marking a three-month high.
The reason for the recent rally is that the U.S. government reported a surprise decline in crude and gasoline inventories as the driving season approaches, Wall Street Strategies' senior research analyst, Conley Turner, said.
"The rally in oil is also supported by the fact that there is a sense of growing optimism among market participants that the economy is not getting worse and is in fact, turning a corner," Turner said.
However, analysts also warned that the current oil price levels were not in line with the underlying weak global economic conditions. They said that runaway crude oil prices were therefore unlikely to be seen in the coming months.
"If you have a look at the fundamentals in the market at the moment, the inventories in the U.S. are still at 19-year highs and there's no real indication that demand has re-entered the market yet," Ben Westmore, an energy analyst at the National Australia Bank, said.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday that global oil demand would hit a 28-year low this year because optimism about an economic recovery was not reviving the appetite for energy.
The rebound in oil prices is largely connected with the performances of the financial markets, instead of the balance of supply and demand, the Paris-based organization said, adding that the world's oil demand has shown no signs of recovery with the absence of fundamentals to back the oil market.
Xie Guozhong, an independent economist in China, also believes that the recent price rebound cannot be explained by analyzing the balance of supply and demand, as financial markets play a major role in pushing up prices.
The large scale stimulus packages launched by some developed economies boosted capital flow into the international oil market raising prices, Xie, a former Morgan Stanley chief economist for the Asia-Pacific region, said.
Judging by the current global economic situation, analysts said oil prices may occasionally rise above 63 U.S. dollars per barrel, but it was unlikely to see any major price hikes this year. They said for the most part oil prices would fluctuate between 50 and 60 dollars.
According to a short-term outlook released last week by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Energy Department, prices are expected to average about 55 dollars per barrel for the rest of 2009, and 58 dollars per barrel in 2010.
www.chinaview.cn
Global crude prices, which plummeted from 147.27 U.S. dollars per barrel to below 40 dollars last year, have witnessed a moderate yet steady rebound over the past months, reaching 61.5 dollars on Thursday at the New York oil market, marking a three-month high.
The reason for the recent rally is that the U.S. government reported a surprise decline in crude and gasoline inventories as the driving season approaches, Wall Street Strategies' senior research analyst, Conley Turner, said.
"The rally in oil is also supported by the fact that there is a sense of growing optimism among market participants that the economy is not getting worse and is in fact, turning a corner," Turner said.
However, analysts also warned that the current oil price levels were not in line with the underlying weak global economic conditions. They said that runaway crude oil prices were therefore unlikely to be seen in the coming months.
"If you have a look at the fundamentals in the market at the moment, the inventories in the U.S. are still at 19-year highs and there's no real indication that demand has re-entered the market yet," Ben Westmore, an energy analyst at the National Australia Bank, said.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday that global oil demand would hit a 28-year low this year because optimism about an economic recovery was not reviving the appetite for energy.
The rebound in oil prices is largely connected with the performances of the financial markets, instead of the balance of supply and demand, the Paris-based organization said, adding that the world's oil demand has shown no signs of recovery with the absence of fundamentals to back the oil market.
Xie Guozhong, an independent economist in China, also believes that the recent price rebound cannot be explained by analyzing the balance of supply and demand, as financial markets play a major role in pushing up prices.
The large scale stimulus packages launched by some developed economies boosted capital flow into the international oil market raising prices, Xie, a former Morgan Stanley chief economist for the Asia-Pacific region, said.
Judging by the current global economic situation, analysts said oil prices may occasionally rise above 63 U.S. dollars per barrel, but it was unlikely to see any major price hikes this year. They said for the most part oil prices would fluctuate between 50 and 60 dollars.
According to a short-term outlook released last week by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Energy Department, prices are expected to average about 55 dollars per barrel for the rest of 2009, and 58 dollars per barrel in 2010.
www.chinaview.cn
US AND ITALY SIGN AGREEMENT ON CLEAN COAL - 23 MAY 2009
A day ahead of the opening of the G-8 summit of energy ministers in Rome, the United States and Italy signed a cooperation agreement on clean coal and carbon capture technology.
The accord on clean coal and carbon capture technology was the first signed by the United States with a foreign nation. U-S Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the problem of carbon capture has still not been resolved.
His Italian counterpart, Italy's Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola said the aim of the accord is to exchange know-how, coordinate joint projects, develop new technologies and identify sites to store carbon dioxide.
The bilateral energy meeting between the United States and Italy came one day ahead of the opening of the G-8 summit of energy ministers in Rome.
The Italian minister Claudio Scajola said this is the major energy event that is taking place in 2009, which accounts for 80 percent of all energy consumption and production in our world.
The theme of the meeting is: Beyond the crisis: towards a new world energy leadership.
Scajola says Italy is now developing a new energy policy and its goal is to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, to increase the production of renewables and to restart nuclear energy.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the United States generates 20 percent of its electricity with nuclear energy but the last nuclear power plant that was started was in the late 1970s and so there has been a long dry period where the United States has not begun to manufacture new plants. "We intend to begin to restart that industry to develop safer reactors, more economical reactors and again we are looking very much forward to working with Italy and other countries in restarting this industry," he said.
The two-day meeting will be attended by the G8 member countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 23 nations are taking part including emerging economies such as Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. Also attending are 8 international organizations and 20 of the world's largest energy companies.
By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
23 May 2009
The accord on clean coal and carbon capture technology was the first signed by the United States with a foreign nation. U-S Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the problem of carbon capture has still not been resolved.
His Italian counterpart, Italy's Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola said the aim of the accord is to exchange know-how, coordinate joint projects, develop new technologies and identify sites to store carbon dioxide.
The bilateral energy meeting between the United States and Italy came one day ahead of the opening of the G-8 summit of energy ministers in Rome.
The Italian minister Claudio Scajola said this is the major energy event that is taking place in 2009, which accounts for 80 percent of all energy consumption and production in our world.
The theme of the meeting is: Beyond the crisis: towards a new world energy leadership.
Scajola says Italy is now developing a new energy policy and its goal is to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, to increase the production of renewables and to restart nuclear energy.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the United States generates 20 percent of its electricity with nuclear energy but the last nuclear power plant that was started was in the late 1970s and so there has been a long dry period where the United States has not begun to manufacture new plants. "We intend to begin to restart that industry to develop safer reactors, more economical reactors and again we are looking very much forward to working with Italy and other countries in restarting this industry," he said.
The two-day meeting will be attended by the G8 member countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 23 nations are taking part including emerging economies such as Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. Also attending are 8 international organizations and 20 of the world's largest energy companies.
By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
23 May 2009
Annual Bentley Memorial
Scottish Coal cuts 600 jobs.
Scottish Coal announced on Friday that it had gone into liquidation. Almost 600 jobs were lost as KPMG were called in. Scottish Coal operates six open cast mines in Scotland. The NUM and other Unions will seek discussions with KPMG and interested parties to retain as many jobs as possible going forw
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GERRY GIBSON INQUEST
The five day inquest into the death of Gerry Gibson who died aged 49 at Kellingley Colliery when a section of the roof in the tailgate of the 502 coalface collapsed on 27th September 2011 has concluded with the Coroner instructing the jury to return a narrative verdict.
Our thoughts and sympathies
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FUNERAL FOR THATCHER
Margaret Hilda Thatcher divided the country while alive and it would appear so in death. The decision by the British Government to hold a ceremonial funeral with military honours, a tribute usually reserved for senior members of the royal family, can only be seen as divisive.
To cap it all th
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DEATH OF THATCHER
Margaret Hilda Thatcher (13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013)
The former UK Prime Minister who held office from 4 May 1979 until 28 November 1990 died 8 April 2013. To her family our condolences.
The legacy of what the Conservative Government did to British Industry under Thatcher is not one to
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