Aramco Attack Likely State-Sponsored Terrorism

The strike on Saudi Arabia's oil fields appears to be an example of state-sponsored terrorism. State-sponsored terrorism involves terrorist acts on a state or government by a state or government.

That is the official view of the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which believe that Iran launched the missiles. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of perpetrating an "act of war" after the strikes on Saudi oil facilities, saying the attack had the "fingerprints of the Ayatollah."

However, some doubt remains as to who actually is responsible. Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani insists the attack came from Yemeni forces against whom a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting since March 2015.

However, as Pompeo told reporters, the claim that Houthi rebels launched the attack "doesn't change the fingerprints of the Ayatollah as having put at risk the global energy supply."

Saudi Aramco President Amin Nasser said the synchronized attacks were timed to create "maximum damage" to the Saudi oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Eighteen drones and seven cruise missiles bombarded the facilities in an assault described as a “Pearl Harbor-type" attack.

The attack knocked out an estimated 5.7 million barrels of daily oil production, slightly over five percent of the global daily crude production.

Related reading: Jacques Derrida on Terrorism; Killing and Dying to Marry Virgins; Terrorists Target African Christians; Boko Haram Spreads Terror; 10 Dead and 50 Injured in Quetta Terrorist Attack

Terrorists Strike Punjab Gas Lines

RAHIMYAR KHAN/LAHORE: Supply of natural gas to industrial units in most parts of Punjab was suspended on Sunday night after blasts in three pipelines near Yousafabad, some 30km from Rahimyar Khan.

Describing the explosions as an act of terrorism, the managing director of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, Arif Hameed, said the gas left in the system was utterly insufficient to meet the demand of domestic consumers in the province.

He appealed to people to switch off their gas heaters and geysers to save the fuel for cooking.

He said supply to independent power plants in the province had also been suspended.

Mr Hameed told Dawn that the restoration work could take up to three days. He said no one could go near the blast sites due to heat.

He said gas supply in the 24-, 18- and 16-inch-diameter pipelines had been suspended but the fire would take time to die down. He said the blasts and subsequent fire had burnt some dwellings as well.

Rescue 1122 teams reaching the affected area along with police reported that at least one woman had died in the explosions.

They said the losses would be assessed once the fire was extinguished. Raging flames after the first explosion forced villagers in a radius of 4km to flee their homes. Some sugarcane fields also caught fire.

The first explosion took place at 9.33pm, the second at 10pm and the third a few minutes later.

The flames could be seen from afar.

The villages of Shahbaig, Bahudipur Quraishian, Shahpur, Rangpur, Nabipur and Sikandarabad were affected.

This was the first such incident in the district. The gas pipelines from Sui to parts of Punjab had been hit in the past in Rajanpur district.

Source: Pakistan Dawn

Russia's Nuclear Power Contract with Iran

On September 23rd, Russia announced that it had handed over operational control of the Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran. However, Russian specialists would remain at the facility throughout its 2-year “warranty period.”

The nuclear facility at Bushehr was the focus of a considerable amount of controversy, especially in the United States. The reactor was being built under an agreement between the Russian and Iranian governments for $800-million. Although originally intended to be the location of a German-built reactor in the 1970s, the new reactor was to be built to Russian design specifications, though the original reactor buildings exterior appearance would remain essentially the same. There were two reactors at Bushehr, one was in an advanced stage of completion the other had not been worked on for some time and was not scheduled to be completed as of 2006.

Iran was a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), though it had not ratified two additional protocols to the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Program 93 + 2, which was designed to prevent states from developing nuclear weapons covertly, despite IAEA inspections, as Iraq was able to do prior to the Gulf War. Iran maintained that it would not ratify 93 + 2 due to it being denied civilian nuclear technology for Bushehr, despite its positive record with the IAEA.

Nuclear power industry contacts between Iran and Russia were based on the inter-governmental agreements of 25 August 1992, on cooperation in the civil use of nuclear energy and in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran.
Additional Reactors

Iran had also been considering the construction of three to five additional reactor facilities, which might or might not be located at Bushehr, for an estimated cost of $3.2 billion. A 5 September 2001 Moscow Times report indicated that the Russians would be submitting plans for the construction of additional reactors at Bushehr and that negotiations could begin as soon as December 2001, though the number of reactors being proposed was unclear and it was not apparrent how much the project might cost. It was estimated that the total cost of building the reactor complex at Bushehr may be roughly $4-6 billion since construction began in 1976.

During a March 2001 Moscow summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, Khatami confirmed plans to order a second reactor after the first was delivered, possibly by late 2002. The Iranian leader signaled his intention to proceed with a second contract that could be worth up to $1 billion.

On 26 July 2002 the Russian government indicated that it planned to continue building new nuclear reactors in Iran as part of a draft plan outlining potential areas of economic, industrial and scientific cooperation with Iran over the coming decade. The document approved by Prime Minister Mikhail M. Kasyanov outlined plans to build three more reactors at the Bushehr site. The document also indicated that Russia would offer to build two more reactors at a new nuclear power station at Ahwaz, a city about 60 miles from Iran's border with Iraq. These plans were apparently shelved after complaints by the United States.

In was reported on by IRNA on 26 August 2003, that Iran had received from Russia feasibility studies for a second reactor at Bushehr. According to that report, Russian specialists believed that it would be more practical to build two reactors from scratch rather than continue working on the reactor that had been abandoned by Siemens under pressure from the United States. The studies had been achieved by the time of Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev's visit to Tehran in December 2002.

Calls for additional power plant construction were made again by the Chairman of Majlis Energy Commission in October 2004, who sought approval for 9 more power plants. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said in November 2006 that the AEOI had been given 20 licenses for the establishment of additional nuclear power plants. However, by July 2008 Iran was said to be looking to build only 19 more reactors, six of them by 2020. One of these reactors was reported to be planned for construction in Darkhoyen, construction of which had been announced in December 2005.
Beginning of Operations at Bushehr

On 13 August 2010, the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) announced that the first reactor at the Bushehr NPP would be loaded with nuclear fuel on 21 August 2010 and would henceforth make the Bushehr facility qualified as an operational nuclear power plant. The process for transferring the fuel to the pool located near the heart of reactor was estimated to take seven to eight days. It was expected at that time that the Bushehr NPP would come online by September 2010. It was reported on 27 November 2010 that the plant's reactor was fully loaded after numerous delays. Russia's contractor Atomstroiexport confirmed this on 2 December 2010.

In February 2011, it was reported that the fuel rods were being removed from the Bushehr NPP. Iranian officials stressed that the activities and associated delays were entirely normal and routine. Foreign observers believed that the issues were more a matter of technical competence or issues regarding the Russian technology used to build the reactor, rather than issues stemming from release of the Stuxnet computer virus into computers related to Iran's nuclear infrastructure in the fall of 2010. The Stuxnet virus has primarily affected uranium enrichment operations, such as the operation of centrifuges at Natanz. Iranian authorities later blamed the delays on the Russian contractors.

In early September 2011, Iran reported that the Bushehr NPP had been reloaded with fuel and successfully connected to the nation's power grid. The facility had come online on 3 September 2011, with the power of 60 megawatt after successfully passing a number of unspecified tests. The plant was officially launched on 12 September 2011 after numerous delays. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said during a press conference that "The power plant will be disconnected for different tests some time after the connection. The tests might take several weeks. The power plant will regain the power and will obtain its 100 percent power of 900-1000 megawatt." The Bushehr nuclear power plant had joined Iran's national power grid with a capacity of around 60 megawatts at 11:29 p.m. (1859 GMT) 10 September 2011.

Source:  Global Security

"Fuelling Poverty" Banned in Nigeria

A film documenting corruption in the management of oil profits has been banned in Nigeria.

“Fuelling Poverty” examines the mismanagement of Nigeria's oil wealth in the context of protests against fuel subsidy suspensions in 2012.

Produced in partnership with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), filmmaker Ishaya Bako told Media Rights Agenda (MRA) that the film examines “real issues, on everyday life."

Issues, it seems, that are too real for the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to want to share. In a letter dated 8 April 2013, the NFVCB states that “Fuelling Poverty” is not permitted to be distributed, aired or exhibited, due to contents that "are highly provocative and likely to incite or encourage public disorder and undermine national security”, according to the Media Rights Agenda (MRA).

The film was released in November 2012, but was only banned when Bako submitted a request to show the film publically, the Associated Press reported.

In NFVCB's letter to Bako, the young filmmaker was warned that "all relevant national security agencies are on the alert" to ensure that he does not exhibit or distribute the film, said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

 



"Instead of banning the documentary 'Fuelling Poverty,' authorities should look into the important questions it raises about corruption and impunity in the country's oil sector and at the highest levels of government," said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita from New York. “We urge Nigeria's National Film and Video Censors Board to overturn this censorship order."

Contrary to the NFVCB's intentions, however, the ban has only increased the popularity of the documentary. News reports cited by CPJ says that activists have been sharing the film on social media since the ban was issued; as of 24 April the video has over 57, 000 views on YouTube.

The film has also gained international recognition. CPJ notes that “Fuelling Poverty” was screened at the 20th New York African Film Festival this month. It also recently won “Best Documentary” at the 2013 African Movie Academy Awards.
Media Rights Agenda is still seeking to understand the reasoning behind the ban.

On 18 April, the group submitted a Freedom of Information request to the director-general of the NFVCB, asking for detailed information about the decision-making process that led to the ban.

Bako himself is also considering appealing the board's decision, says CPJ.

From here.


Related reading: Britain and Nigeria Cooperate on Energy; Nigeria and Corruption

No One is Laughing Now

Addis Ababa, Jan 29, IRNA -- Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that the 20-percent nuclear fuel sheet will be installed in Tehran research reactor facility next month. Salehi made the remarks to the reporters on the sidelines of the 18th African Union Summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, January 29.

'After our partners refrained from fulfilling their commitments with regard to procurement of fuel of Tehran research reactor, we attempted to enrich the required uranium to the level of 20 percent in accordance with our legal rights,' he added.

Salehi pointed out although our partners did not believe that IR Iran could achieve the technology of uranium enrichment to the level of 20 percent and converting it into fuel sheet, they will witness Iran’s installation of fuel sheets in Tehran research reactor within next month.

Socially Responsible Investors Balance Values and Returns

American Socially Responsible Investors Don't Want to Sacrifice Returns, Wharton Study. -  "Investors interested in socially responsible investing do not necessarily expect to sacrifice a portion of their gains. Thus, to encourage socially responsible investing, its returns should be comparable to returns for conventional investing."

Fortunately, the conclusion generally drawn from the dozens of studies indicate that over the long term, socially responsible-ethical investors don't have to sacrifice returns. However, this study does contradict many surveys that show SR-ethical investors would tolerate lower returns if they are invested in industries and companies that relate to their values.

It could be that many newly converted SR-ethical investors, investing in green-sustainable companies, don't really share the same values of the more traditional SR-ethical investors.

Socially Responsible Investing, by Olivia S. Jung, January 12, 2012, Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Reported by Ron Robins at Investing for the Soul

US Opposes Iran-Paki Energy Cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Despite reiterating its support for Pakistan’s efforts to overcome its energy crisis, the United States did not make any commitment during two days of talks here to finance the $11 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam or to persuade its oil and gas companies to invest in the country’s gas exploration and development projects.

As if that was not enough, the US delegation at what has been termed US-Pakistan energy dialogue stiffened its opposition to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project now in the implementation phase and asked Islamabad to intensify its efforts to develop its own indigenous hydrocarbon resources to avoid possible impact of US and UN sanctions against Iran.

The US delegation is led by Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs Carlos Pascual.
Reliable sources told Dawn that Pakistan made two specific requests relating to the multi-billion dollar dam and gas exploration to the US delegation during the dialogue. Insiders said the Pakistani authorities pointed out that US exploration and development companies known for their expertise and modern technology were investing all over the world looking for oil and gas reserves but were conspicuous by their absence in Pakistan.

“The US companies should be part of gas exploration and development process in Pakistan and we look forward to the US government playing an active role here,” a member of the Pakistani team was quoted as telling the US delegation. “They (the US firms) should come to Pakistan” was the response from the visiting delegation.

The sources said the Pakistani side also wanted the US team to commit to financing the Diamer-Bhasha dam and help the country in persuading institutions like the World Bank to become financing partner in the mega project capable of producing 4,500MW of relatively cheap hydropower, necessary to improve hydel-thermal ratio.

The sources said that although USAID officials had earlier hinted at financing the Diamer-Bhasha dam and even indicated that an announcement to the effect would be made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, yet the visiting delegation was in no mood to make a formal commitment at least at this stage.

An official statement issued at the end of the fourth round of the energy dialogue said it “concluded with a reaffirmation from the US side for its commitment to help Pakistan in its endeavours to resolve the energy crises which is affecting the socio-economic progress of the country and the US offered its support to establishing a commercially viable and sustainable power sector in Pakistan”.

“There are no quick fixes to this crisis, but the United States and international partners are willing to help. We will continue to support Pakistan in its efforts to resolve this energy crisis,” Mr Pascual was quoted by the US embassy in Islamabad as saying.

Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, who led the Pakistani side, appreciated the keen interest of the US in development of Pakistan’s economy by addressing its growing energy requirements and said that lack of sufficient energy resources had come out to be one of the biggest impediments in growth of Pakistan’s economy as energy resources happened to be the fuel for any economy.

The US delegation was also updated on various ongoing reforms, including the status of transformation of the power sector from an integrated public sector utilities model to a competitive market regime.

The issues hampering the progress on various reforms, including but not limited to circular debt, fuel availability constraints, soaring high prices of oil, and the worsening fuel mix due to more dependence of thermal projects especially based on oil because of fast depleting natural gas reserves, were also discussed in detail.

Ambassador Pascual stressed the importance of improved governance, efficiency regulatory reforms to enhance private sector participation and financial management as key to achieving success.

The US side highlighted its ongoing energy programmes saying these would bring more than 900MW of power to the Pakistani grid by 2012. The programmes include construction and rehabilitation of three hydropower plants (Satpara, Gomal Zam and Tarbela) and three thermal power plants (Guddu, Muzaffargarh and Jamshoro). “This extra energy will bring power to approximately 7 million people, eradicate 20 per cent of Pakistan’s existing power shortage, reduce annual oil imports by more than one million barrels and help store water for irrigation and flood control,” it said.

Source:  Pakistan Dawn

Germans Exit Nuclear Energy

Germany announced Monday it would become the biggest industrial power to completely give up nuclear energy following the crisis at the Fukushima plant in Japan, saying that all nuclear reactors would be shut by 2022. The announcement caps a startling reversal in which Chancellor Angela Merkel was strongly in favor of nuclear power before she was against it. Yet coming after weeks of discussions, “the German government has made it clear that it is serious with its U-turn on nuclear energy,” notes Der Spiegel.

After a long night of talks, Germany’s Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced the details of the plan that would force all of the country’s nuclear plants to go offline by 2022 at the latest. Specifically, the seven plants that were shut down after the Fukushima disaster in Japan and one that had already been taken offline would remain shut. Six would then go offline by the end of 2021 and the three most modern plants would have until 2022 to be shut, according to a plan outlined by Roettgen. The agreement “may be even more ambitious than the nuclear exit planned when the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens were in power in 2000,” details Reuters.

Read it all here.

Obama Omnipotence in Washington, Impotence Abroad

Dinesh D'Souza writes about how President Obama thinks for Forbes:

Barack Obama is the most antibusiness president in a generation, perhaps in American history. Thanks to him the era of big government is back. Obama runs up taxpayer debt not in the billions but in the trillions. He has expanded the federal government's control over home mortgages, investment banking, health care, autos and energy. The Weekly Standard summarizes Obama's approach as omnipotence at home, impotence abroad.

The President's actions are so bizarre that they mystify his critics and supporters alike. Consider this headline from the Aug. 18, 2009 issue of the Wall Street Journal: "Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling." Did you read that correctly? You did. The Administration supports offshore drilling--but drilling off the shores of Brazil. With Obama's backing, the U.S. Export-Import Bank offered $2 billion in loans and guarantees to Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras to finance exploration in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro--not so the oil ends up in the U.S. He is funding Brazilian exploration so that the oil can stay in Brazil.

More strange behavior: Obama's June 15, 2010 speech in response to the Gulf oil spill focused not on cleanup strategies but rather on the fact that Americans "consume more than 20% of the world's oil but have less than 2% of the world's resources." Obama railed on about "America's century-long addiction to fossil fuels." What does any of this have to do with the oil spill? Would the calamity have been less of a problem if America consumed a mere 10% of the world's resources?


The oddities go on and on. (more here...)

Israel Finds Oil and Gas at Rosh Ha'ayin

The Givat Olam umbrella organization confirmed for investors in Jerusalem on Monday the discovery of a large commercially-viable oil field in central Israel.

Hundreds of investors from around the world, many of them Christian Zionists, have been pouring money into Givat Olam for years in the hopes of helping secure Israel's energy independence.

"For many years we drilled wells without success," chief geologist Tuvia Luskin told the investors. But the Meged 5 exploratory well near the central Israel town of Rosh Ha'ayin had finally provided results which Luskin compared to "the giving of the Torah."

Luskin and his team first struck oil at Meged 5 in early July. They conducted 189 hours of production tests, during which 3,015 barrels of oil were produced. According to Luskin, when it reaches its capacity, Meged 5 will likely be able to produce 450 barrels of oil a day.

A final report on the size of the oil field is expected next month.

Israeli officials have hailed the find as a major breakthrough that could drastically alter Israel's fortunes, both by reducing dependence on foreign energy sources and by providing an enormous boost to the economy.

An Israeli oil exploration company on Thursday announced that it had found a huge amount of oil and gas during drilling below the city of Rosh Ha'ayin this week.

Givot Olam Oil Exploration Limited Partnership said that more than 60 percent gas was measured in the drill, indicating the first such find in Israel.

Read more here.

Pakistan Grants Contract to Israeli Firm

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan State Oil, a government-run oil company, has awarded a contact to an Israeli-based firm, Turpak-Orpak, despite the government’s ban on any kind of trade or agreement with an Israeli entity.

The matter was taken up by the Senate Standing Committee on Interior at its meeting on Monday.

The committee did not only deal with the matter of awarding a contract to any Israeli firm but also expressed doubts over the operation of the company close to sensitive installations in the country.

“It is an Israeli military establishment-funded company which is being headed by a military general,” committee’s Chairman Senator Talha Mehmood told Dawn.

“We have learnt that the company had installed its equipment close to sensitive installations and, therefore, I have ordered an inspection of the equipment to ascertain whether they are being used for monitoring purpose,” the senator said.

Mr Talha said that under SRO 76 (1) issued on Sept 2009, no Israeli company could operate in the country, but the PSO management awarded the contract to the firm in 2008.

PSO officials who attended the meeting said the contract had been awarded by the previous management and they had nothing to do with it.

The committee sought a report from PSO on the grant of the contract in violation of rules and regulations.

“The award of contract caused a great loss to the national exchequer as well as serious risk to the national security as the PSO supplies oil to sensitive institutions of the country and a foreign company has installed sensitive equipment on different petrol pumps which was a matter of great concern,” the senator said.

He asked the PSO managing director to look into the matter and give a report within 15 days to the ministry of interior for further investigation and action.

The committee was of the view that a treason case should be registered against officials involved in the award of the contract to the company.

From here.

BP's Obstruction of Independent Journalists

I caught this satellite photo from a Saudi News source.

SOURCE: Reporters Without Borders
(RSF/IFEX) - Between 2.9 and 4.9 million barrels of oil have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since the explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig on 20 April 2010. It is a major environmental disaster that is rapidly turning into a national disaster. Yet the media have often found it impossible to obtain verifiable, independent information and have had to settle for what they are told by BP. And it took until 12 July for the restrictions BP imposed on journalists covering the spill to be lifted.

The journalists questioned by Reporters Without Borders for the most part said they had been shocked by the lack of information.

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed restrictions on overflights on 9 June, three weeks after the oil started pouring into the gulf. It announced that the media could not fly over the affected area at an altitude of less than 3,000 feet (914.4 metres) "for safety reasons" (http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_5100.html#areas).

The New York-based Associated Press news agency objected in a letter to the White House on 10 June: "We disagree strongly that journalists could not be permitted to fly safely below 3,000 feet ( . . . ) Media aircraft covered the spill without incident from between 500 and 1,000 feet before the Temporary Flight Restriction was imposed."

Ted Jackson, a photographer who has worked for the New Orleans-based "Times-Picayune" newspaper for the past 26 years, said: "It has changed since then and now we can fly lower. But during the third week of the oil spill, when the limit was 3,000 feet, I could not even go there because I said I was media. I was in a plane and I was denied access because I said I was a media photographer. But worse still, the decision was taken by a BP consultant, not by anyone from the government!"

CBS News journalists were threatened with arrest when they tried to visit polluted beaches on 20 May to do a report on the environmental damage. According to the Associated Press, there were at least four incidents of this kind involving journalists from 6 to 13 June.

Louisiana announced on 30 June that anyone approaching within 65 feet (20 metres) of any of the booms deployed to block oil slicks risked a fine or a felony conviction. Florida followed suit on 3 July. A felony conviction is punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison and a fine of $40,000.

All these restrictions have been widely reported and commented on by journalists on the Internet. According to Tamara Lush, the AP's correspondent in New Orleans, AP president Tom Curley wrote to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs as early as 5 June requesting better access to information. Gibbs replied that if journalists had any complaints, they should call an information centre being operated by the federal government and BP at Houma (southeast of New Orleans).

But if you call the centre, it turns out that its job is not to field to media complaints but to manage clean-up operations. In fact it is run by the US Coast Guard. One of its employees nonetheless said: "We did not receive complaints in the past two and a half weeks. If a journalist is having a particular issue, he or she would have to send the complaint by phone or letter for us to take that request and take care of it. But I work for the coast guards so it would have to deal with the coast guards."

Such confusion is commonplace and it is hard for journalists to know where to turn. Mac McClelland of the magazine "Mother Jones", who has been down in the gulf covering the disaster since the outset, offers this advice: "If you are having encounters with police officers, you should ask them if they are private security for BP or actually Louisiana cops. Some wearing Louisiana cop uniforms can earn extra money by being a security guard for BP."

After so much bad publicity, the US authorities reaffirmed the supremacy of the First Amendment on 12 July, making it possible for more media to cover the oil spill. One of the first organisations to react was the American Civil Liberties Union. Its Louisiana representative, Marjorie Esman, said: “This change is needed to ensure public access to information about this catastrophe. This was a significant improvement for media but it still was not enough because it does not allow the general public the access that they are entitled to have. Everybody has the right to access the beaches. They are public land.”

Read it all here.

BP to Sell Assets in Pakistan and Vietnam

NEW YORK: BP Plc said on Tuesday it plans to sell company assets in Vietnam and Pakistan to help pay for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A spokesman for the British oil giant said the company has notified the governments of both countries about its plans.

Spokesman David Nicholas said BP would use proceeds from the sale of various facilities in those countries to help raise $20 billion for a Gulf spill relief fund.—AP

Pakistan "not fighting America's war"

LARKANA, Pakistan June 21: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday stunned most people in the country by declaring that Pakistan would abide by any US sanctions on Iran, which was certain to jeopardise the much-needed Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project.

Until now Pakistan had faithfully abided by all kinds of sanctions imposed by the United Nations, whether they were against Iraq, Iran or any other country. But Islamabad rarely adhered to similar sanctions imposed by one country on another as a result of political or diplomatic rows, especially if they were against its national or economic interests.

However, speaking to reporters after participating in the birth anniversary celebrations of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Mr Gilani clearly suggested that Pakistan would abide by such restrictions imposed by the United States.

“If the US imposes sanctions, they will have international implications and Pakistan as a member of the international community will follow them,” he said in response to a question at a news conference.

His surprising remarks came a day after the visiting US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, advised Islamabad against finalising the $7.6 billion gas pipeline project with Iran, with a warning that such a move could hit Pakistani companies involved in the project.

Mr Holbrooke’s warning was linked to a current move in the US Congress where a legislation to further tighten sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme was in final stages.

Experts believe that abandoning what has come to be known as a ‘peace pipeline’ agreement may severely affect Pakistan’s plan to meet its energy needs in the next two decades.

The experts were of the view that over the next two decades Pakistan was likely to depend primarily on timely realisation of two key projects -- to import gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LNG), the former from Iran through a multi-million dollars pipeline.

The agreement with Iran, which was said to be in its final stages, entails first gas inflows by the end of 2014 which could be advanced by one year if domestic gas companies were engaged to construct about 750 kilometres of the pipeline.

Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan and India could not afford war because they were facing a number of issues, including poverty, unemployment and terrorism. He said that dialogue, and not war, was the only solution to the problems.

Mr Gilani said he had talked to Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who agreed to discuss core issues and find solution through negotiations. “I received a letter from the Indian prime minister yesterday (Sunday) and he has expressed his willingness to initiate dialogue in line with our earlier talks.”

He said the country was not fighting America’s war. “We are fighting the war in Pakistan’s interest and for our existence. We want to improve relations with our neighbouring countries on the basis of equality.”

From here.

Obama's Drilling Ban

Obama’s six-month ban on deep-sea drilling won’t slow oil production in the short term. The president was careful not to curb existing offshore efforts, and he even exempted new shallow-water oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico.


The ban also won’t slow the political licking Obama is getting from voters unhappy with how he’s handled the crisis thus far. The president will get credit for taking personal responsibility, but that means he also gets personal blame. Around half now say he’s doing a poor job of responding to the spill and a looming environmental disaster. Claiming to be in charge of an effort most voters feel is a failure is a mixed bag.

Read it all here.

Two Agencies to Monitor Offshore Drilling

Tuesday, May 11, 2010


WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is proposing to split up an Interior Department agency that oversees offshore drilling, as part of its response to the Gulf Coast oil spill.

An administration official who asked not to be identified because the plan is not yet public said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will urge that Congress approve splitting the Minerals Management Service in two. One agency would be charged with inspecting oil rigs, investigating oil companies and enforcing safety regulations, while the other would oversee leases for drilling and collection of billions of dollars in royalties.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

US Pressures Pakistan over Iran Pipeline

WASHINGTON: The United States urged Pakistan on Thursday to reconsider its deal with Iran for building a multi-billion-dollar pipeline intended to bring the much-needed natural gas to the energy starved country.

“We do not think it is the right time for doing this kind of transaction with Iran,” US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake told a briefing in Washington.

Mr Blake, who looks after South and Central Asian affairs at the State Department, returned this week from a trip to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Belgium where he discussed the current situation in South Asia with his European colleagues as well. The US official told reporters at a briefing in Washington that the issue of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was raised in his meetings in Pakistan, particularly in public discussions.

“We have advised Pakistan to seek other alternatives,” he added, explaining that because of Iran’s dispute with the international community over its nuclear programme, the US opposed large investments in any Iranian project.

Pakistan and Iran signed an operational agreement for the proposed pipeline on March 16, a month after the signing was delayed because Islamabad was unable to arrange funds for the project.

The pipeline was initially mooted to carry gas from Iran to Pakistan and on to India. India withdrew from negotiations last year after signing a nuclear deal with the United States, but has kept open the option of rejoining the project at a later stage.

On Thursday, Pakistan said it would provide India with security guarantees for the pipeline from the South Pars gas complex in Iran as an incentive to join the project.

Referring to these problems, Mr Blake said the project still faced “many challenges.”

When a reporter asked if the US would also advise India not to join the pipeline project, Mr Blake said: “This is a very sensitive time in relations with Iran and we prefer that all countries avoid such transactions with Iran.”



Water Crisis

At the briefing, Pakistani journalists were particularly concerned about a potentially explosive dispute between India and Pakistan over water and they put several questions to the US official on this issue.

Mr Blake said the US would not get involved “in bilateral issues” between India and Pakistan. “We think the World Bank is the right place” for resolving such disputes.

The United States, however, will help both countries in developing their water resources.

On Thursday, an influential US newspaper — Wall Street Journal — reported that the water feud between India and Pakistan was threatening to derail peace talks between the two neighbours.

The countries have harmoniously shared the waters of the Indus River for decades. A 50-year-old treaty regulating access to water from the river and its tributaries has been viewed as a bright spot for India and Pakistan.

Now, Pakistan complains that India is hogging water upstream, which is hurting Pakistani farmers downstream. Pakistani officials say they will soon begin formal arbitration over a proposed Indian dam.

At a meeting that started on Sunday, Pakistan raised objections to new Indian dam projects on the Indus River and asked for satellite monitoring of river flows.

India denies it is violating the treaty. New Delhi blames Pakistan’s water shortage on changing weather patterns and the country’s poor water management.

The latest dispute revolves around India’s plans to build a 330-megawatt hydroelectric power project on the Kishenganga River, a tributary of the Indus. India says it is well within its rights to build the dam.

Pakistan says New Delhi’s plans to divert the course of the river will reduce its flow by a third in the winter. That would make it unfeasible for Pakistan to move ahead with its own plans for a hydroelectric dam downstream.

Pakistan wants to put the Kishenganga project before an arbitration panel—the first time that mechanism of the treaty will have been used.

Mr Blake also referred to this panel, set up under the Indus Water Treaty, and hoped that they would be able to resolve this dispute through arbitration as they did in the past.

He told the briefing that the water dispute came up at every meeting he had in Pakistan.

Mr Blake said that both India and Pakistan were facing acute water shortages because of their rapidly increasing populations and expanding economies.

“So the water issue is a real challenge for both.”

Pakistan, he said, needed to change it irrigation practices and offered US assistance to help overcome the problem.


Anti-India Militant Groups:

Mr Blake called on Pakistan to curb anti-India militants, praising Islamabad’s recent efforts against extremism but saying it could do more to improve ties with New Delhi, adds AFP

Blake hailed the “enormous” progress in Pakistan in fighting Muslim extremists, pointing to its offensives against Taliban in its restive northwest and recent arrests of militant leaders.

“I think one can argue there is a lot of important progress that has been made but we think there also needs to be progress against these Punjab-based groups,” Blake told reporters.

He was referring to groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Moham-med.

Blake said that Punjab-based militants “are targeting Pakistan as well,” pointing to attacks in Lahore including a deadly 2009 ambush on Sri Lanka’s visiting cricket team.

Blake said he also relayed to Pakistan the concerns of New Delhi that militants were infiltrating India to carry out attacks.

“I reminded them that from 2004 to 2007 both of those countries made quite important progress in their bilateral relations, and that progress was made possible in part by the significant efforts the government of Pakistan made at the time to stop cross-border infiltration,” he said.

 
From here.

Indigenous Peoples Angry About Alaska Drilling

Copenhagen, Denmark - Alaska Natives from the Chukchi Sea to Copenhagen are reeling today after the announcement that the Obama administration has approved Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (RDSa.L) plan to drill for oil off Alaska's northwest coast as early as next summer. In a move revealing of the US agenda at Copenhagen, the Department of the Interior has endorsed drilling for fossil fuels in the climate-effected ecosystems of the Arctic, where global warming already impacts Alaska Natives and entire villages are in danger of losing their lands and way of life.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will address the COP 15 conference on Thursday at 12:45 local time at the US Center Meeting Room in the Bella Center. REDOIL representatives will be onsite and available to media to respond to his remarks.

"Shell says 'the Chukchi Sea could be home to some of the most prolific, undiscovered hydrocarbon basins in North America,' but we're here to remind Salazar and Shell that it is our home and our lives that will be devestated by the drilling," said Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of REDOIL, who is attending the Copenhagen Climate Talks. "More fossil fuel drilling will only bring more pollution to the Chukchi Sea, and ultimately, more devastating climate change to the world. Salazar should know: We must leave those fossil fuels in the ground and invest in real renewable solutions that uphold Indigenous Peoples rights."
The effects of global warming in Alaska include thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, declining fish populations, migratory and habitat disruptions of key subsistence resources -- all direct, disruptive impacts that Alaska Natives are already experiencing. Alaska Native communities are struggling with forced relocation as coastlines no longer protected by sea ice erode, and are now, in essence, "climate refugees."

"As Alaska Natives, our ancestral ways of life and homelands are imperiled by devastating proposals for fossil fuel drilling and development," said Colleen Swan of Kivalina, a community located adjacent to the Chuckchi Sea who is in Copenhagen this week on her first international journey. "These fossil fuels are carbon that will compound climate change, and the ecological devastation we see is also compounded by the impacts of climate change, and so it is a lose-lose. That's why we are here in Copenhagen to tell the world our story, and demand real action by the Obama Administration."

REDOIL is a network and movement of Alaska Natives who are challenging the fossil fuel and mining industry and demanding our rights to a safe and healthy environment conducive to subsistence. The REDOIL network consists of grassroots Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Gwich'in, Eyak and Denaiana Athabascan tribes. We aim to address the human and ecological health impacts brought on by the unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel and mining industry. REDOIL strongly supports self-determination rights of tribes in Alaska, as well as a just transition from fossil fuel and mineral development to sustainable economies, and promotes the implementation of sustainable development on Alaska Native lands. Visit: http://www.ienearth.org/redoil

Iran-Pakistan Gas Deal

TEHRAN, May 25: There are no outstanding issues impeding the project for laying a gas pipeline between Pakistan and Iran and a final deal will be signed in three weeks, an Iranian official said on Monday.

“The final contract will be signed between the National Iranian Gas Export Company and Interstate Gas System of Pakistan in three weeks,” chief executive officer of the National Iranian Gas Company, Reza Kasaizadeh, told ISNA news agency.

Read it all here.

Iran-Pakistan 'Peace Pipeline'

TEHRAN, May 24: President Asif Ali Zardari and his Iranian counterpart Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signed on Sunday an inter-governmental framework declaration to support a gas pipeline agreement between the oil ministries of Pakistan and Iran.

According to APP, a gas sale-purchase agreement was signed by the managing directors of the National Iranian Oil Company and the Inter-State Gas System (ISGS) under which Iran will provide 750 million cubic feet of gas a day to Pakistan over the next 25 years.

The deal, called ‘Peace Pipeline’ by Iran’s oil ministry, was signed on the sidelines of a tripartite summit of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran on eliminating terrorism, drugs and human trafficking.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin and Adviser to Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain attended the signing ceremony. About 1,100 kilometers of pipeline for gas supply would be laid inside Iran and 1,000 kilometers in Pakistan. The pipeline will be completed in five years.

Dr Asim Hussain said the two sides also signed the final consultative process document. Kalbe Ali adds from Islamabad: A delegation member told Dawn that work on the project design would start soon.

“Pakistan has already appointed the German company ILF for designing the pipeline,” petroleum ministry sources said, adding that the pipeline would enter Pakistan near Gwadar and it would be connected with the national gas distribution network near Nawabshah.

The project, originally called the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, was conceived in 1995. India quit the project in 2008.

Read it all here.