More to follow.....
26 December, 2009
24 December, 2009
Africa Oil, Puntland State of Somalia Amend PSAs.
Africa Oil Corp.
12/24/2009
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=84698
Africa Oil and the Puntland State of Somalia have entered into amending agreements modifying the terms of the existing January 17, 2007 Production Sharing Agreements made in respect of the Dharoor Valley Exploration Area and the Nugaal Valley Exploration Area. The revised agreements were signed by the parties in Garowe on December 8, 2009 and the amending agreements were ratified by the parliament of the Puntland State of Somalia on December 23, 2009.
With the conclusion of the negotiations and the execution of the amending agreements, the Production Sharing Agreements, as amended, now provide for initial exploration periods in respect of both blocks that have been extended from 36 months to 48 months with a revised expiry of January 17, 2011. In addition, the terms of the exploration programs have been amended so that Africa Oil can, at its option, drill one exploratory well in each of the Nugaal and Dharoor Valley Exploration Areas, or two exploratory wells in the Dharoor Valley.
In consideration of the extension of the exploration period, Africa Oil agreed to voluntarily relinquish twenty-five percent of the original agreement area on or before January 17, 2010 and has agreed to pay a US$1 million bonus within 30 days of a commercial discovery in each of the production blocks. Africa Oil also agreed to certain enhanced abandonment and environmental safety measures and to make a one time US$ 1,050,000 payment to the Puntland government for development of infrastructure.
Africa Oil President and CEO, Keith Hill, commented, "We are very pleased that we have been able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement which will allow us to recommence operations in our Puntland, Somalia blocks. Our plan is to immediately commence operations with an intent to spud the first exploration well by mid-2010. We consider these blocks to have world class exploration potential and to be a continuation of the prolific Yemen rift system."
Africa Oil is an exploration focused company based in Canada with ongoing operations in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The Company is currently drilling an exploration well in Block 9 in Kenya and has recently completed a seismic acquisition program in the Adigala Block in Ethiopia. The rift basins of East Africa on which the company has acquired over 200,000 square kilometers of gross acreage are highly under-explored and analogous to recent major discoveries in the Albert Graben in Uganda. The Company plans an aggressive exploration seismic and drilling program to evaluate this potential in the next two years.
12/24/2009
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=84698
Africa Oil and the Puntland State of Somalia have entered into amending agreements modifying the terms of the existing January 17, 2007 Production Sharing Agreements made in respect of the Dharoor Valley Exploration Area and the Nugaal Valley Exploration Area. The revised agreements were signed by the parties in Garowe on December 8, 2009 and the amending agreements were ratified by the parliament of the Puntland State of Somalia on December 23, 2009.
With the conclusion of the negotiations and the execution of the amending agreements, the Production Sharing Agreements, as amended, now provide for initial exploration periods in respect of both blocks that have been extended from 36 months to 48 months with a revised expiry of January 17, 2011. In addition, the terms of the exploration programs have been amended so that Africa Oil can, at its option, drill one exploratory well in each of the Nugaal and Dharoor Valley Exploration Areas, or two exploratory wells in the Dharoor Valley.
In consideration of the extension of the exploration period, Africa Oil agreed to voluntarily relinquish twenty-five percent of the original agreement area on or before January 17, 2010 and has agreed to pay a US$1 million bonus within 30 days of a commercial discovery in each of the production blocks. Africa Oil also agreed to certain enhanced abandonment and environmental safety measures and to make a one time US$ 1,050,000 payment to the Puntland government for development of infrastructure.
Africa Oil President and CEO, Keith Hill, commented, "We are very pleased that we have been able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement which will allow us to recommence operations in our Puntland, Somalia blocks. Our plan is to immediately commence operations with an intent to spud the first exploration well by mid-2010. We consider these blocks to have world class exploration potential and to be a continuation of the prolific Yemen rift system."
Africa Oil is an exploration focused company based in Canada with ongoing operations in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The Company is currently drilling an exploration well in Block 9 in Kenya and has recently completed a seismic acquisition program in the Adigala Block in Ethiopia. The rift basins of East Africa on which the company has acquired over 200,000 square kilometers of gross acreage are highly under-explored and analogous to recent major discoveries in the Albert Graben in Uganda. The Company plans an aggressive exploration seismic and drilling program to evaluate this potential in the next two years.
Gazprom-Led Consortium Wins Rights to Iraqi Oil Field.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
12/24/2009
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=84666
The Iraqi Oil Ministry on Thursday announced a consortium led by Russian energy giant Gazprom had won rights to develop an oil field near the border with Iran.
Gazprom, Malaysia's Petronas and South Korean and Turkish companies promised to boost production from the Badra field, some 170 kilometers south of Baghdad, to 170,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), Oil Ministry official Abdel-Karim Laibi told reporters.
In exchange, the group will get 5.50 dollars per barrel, he said. Most other contracts awarded since Iraq opened bidding to develop its oil fields have provided for a return of less than half that amount.
The deal to develop the Badra field came amid rising protests from Iraqi Sunni leaders over reports that Iranian troops last week had raised the Iranian flag over an oil well near the border.
"The Badra field, while near the border with Iran, is located inside Iraqi territory in the town of Badra," Laibi told reporters Thursday, announcing the deal.
"There is no problem with the Iranian side," he said.
Iran dismissed as a "misunderstanding" controversy over an Iraqi general's report on Friday that Iranian troops had "occupied" the Number 4 oil well on the al-Fakkah field.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who spent much of the 1980s in exile in Iran, pleaded for calm and said the incident was being dealt with through diplomatic channels.
But Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, issued a strongly worded protest over the reported incursion. Protests have been reported at a nearby university, and a Sunni tribal leader has announced the formation of an armed force to protect oil wells on the border.
The force, which Sunni tribal leader Sheikh Mohammed al-Zidawi said was drawn from 126 Iraqi tribes, "is not a militia or terrorist group, but a national tribal force," Iraq's al-Sumaria news agency quoted him as saying.
12/24/2009
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=84666
The Iraqi Oil Ministry on Thursday announced a consortium led by Russian energy giant Gazprom had won rights to develop an oil field near the border with Iran.
Gazprom, Malaysia's Petronas and South Korean and Turkish companies promised to boost production from the Badra field, some 170 kilometers south of Baghdad, to 170,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), Oil Ministry official Abdel-Karim Laibi told reporters.
In exchange, the group will get 5.50 dollars per barrel, he said. Most other contracts awarded since Iraq opened bidding to develop its oil fields have provided for a return of less than half that amount.
The deal to develop the Badra field came amid rising protests from Iraqi Sunni leaders over reports that Iranian troops last week had raised the Iranian flag over an oil well near the border.
"The Badra field, while near the border with Iran, is located inside Iraqi territory in the town of Badra," Laibi told reporters Thursday, announcing the deal.
"There is no problem with the Iranian side," he said.
Iran dismissed as a "misunderstanding" controversy over an Iraqi general's report on Friday that Iranian troops had "occupied" the Number 4 oil well on the al-Fakkah field.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who spent much of the 1980s in exile in Iran, pleaded for calm and said the incident was being dealt with through diplomatic channels.
But Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, issued a strongly worded protest over the reported incursion. Protests have been reported at a nearby university, and a Sunni tribal leader has announced the formation of an armed force to protect oil wells on the border.
The force, which Sunni tribal leader Sheikh Mohammed al-Zidawi said was drawn from 126 Iraqi tribes, "is not a militia or terrorist group, but a national tribal force," Iraq's al-Sumaria news agency quoted him as saying.
Rwandan Green Party officials react on "leaked" intelligence report.
256 News
By Godwin Agaba
24 December 2009
Rwandan Green Party officials reacted to an intelligence report about their party published a few days ago.
Party officials called 256 News' desk last evening.
256 News published the report which claims that some of the ruling RPF party members are subscribers to the new party.
Frank Habineza, the interim president of the party, refuted the
report denying all the allegations.
“All these allegations that were raised in the report are aimed at undermining the Green Party’s registration process,” Habineza said over the phone.
Green Party Secretary General, Charles Kabanda, also reacted by saying
that, “It is our primary objective to recruit every Rwandan adult of
sound mind into our party, but at the moment none of the people
mentioned in the report are members.”
Green Party officials made it clear that none of the mentioned
people are Green Party members or are funding the party.
Habineza clarified that the Green Party is only based on non-violent political principals like all other green parties in the world.
“We attain power through peaceful means such as general elections but not by force,” he added.
He said the report is aimed at giving a pretext to the Rwandan government to start harassing the mentioned politicians, Green Party leaders and members so as to tarnish the credibility of the party.
Other reports believe this security report might have leaked intentionally so that security organs act on it in order to deny the Green Party’s registration process.
The report claims senior members of the RPF and the Rwanda Defence Forces are behind the Green Party.
By Godwin Agaba
24 December 2009
Rwandan Green Party officials reacted to an intelligence report about their party published a few days ago.
Party officials called 256 News' desk last evening.
256 News published the report which claims that some of the ruling RPF party members are subscribers to the new party.
Frank Habineza, the interim president of the party, refuted the
report denying all the allegations.
“All these allegations that were raised in the report are aimed at undermining the Green Party’s registration process,” Habineza said over the phone.
Green Party Secretary General, Charles Kabanda, also reacted by saying
that, “It is our primary objective to recruit every Rwandan adult of
sound mind into our party, but at the moment none of the people
mentioned in the report are members.”
Green Party officials made it clear that none of the mentioned
people are Green Party members or are funding the party.
Habineza clarified that the Green Party is only based on non-violent political principals like all other green parties in the world.
“We attain power through peaceful means such as general elections but not by force,” he added.
He said the report is aimed at giving a pretext to the Rwandan government to start harassing the mentioned politicians, Green Party leaders and members so as to tarnish the credibility of the party.
Other reports believe this security report might have leaked intentionally so that security organs act on it in order to deny the Green Party’s registration process.
The report claims senior members of the RPF and the Rwanda Defence Forces are behind the Green Party.
23 December, 2009
SPLA's Matip Named Jarch Advisor.
Sudan Tribune
23 December 2009
Jarch Management Group, US private investment company claiming rights over agriculture investments in southern Sudan today said that Mr. Gabriel Matip has joint its board of advisors.
Gabriel Matip is the eldest son of General Paulino Matip Nhial, deputy commander-in-chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). He is also the head of Leac for Agriculture and Investment Company Limited.
In January 2009, Jarch purchased a 70% interest in the southern Sudanese company and leased approximately 400,000 acres of land claimed by General Matip.
"Gabriel has extensive knowledge of the Southern Sudanese system and will help the Company work in South Sudan both prior to its independence and after South Sudan achieves its independence," said Jarch in a statement released today.
In November 2007 Jarch said that Paulino Matip Nhial, deputy commander-in-chief of the SPLA, joined the advisory board of Jarch Management as vice chairman.
23 December 2009
Jarch Management Group, US private investment company claiming rights over agriculture investments in southern Sudan today said that Mr. Gabriel Matip has joint its board of advisors.
Gabriel Matip is the eldest son of General Paulino Matip Nhial, deputy commander-in-chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). He is also the head of Leac for Agriculture and Investment Company Limited.
In January 2009, Jarch purchased a 70% interest in the southern Sudanese company and leased approximately 400,000 acres of land claimed by General Matip.
"Gabriel has extensive knowledge of the Southern Sudanese system and will help the Company work in South Sudan both prior to its independence and after South Sudan achieves its independence," said Jarch in a statement released today.
In November 2007 Jarch said that Paulino Matip Nhial, deputy commander-in-chief of the SPLA, joined the advisory board of Jarch Management as vice chairman.
Rwandan Green Party Members fear oppression from the Undemocratic Rwandan Government as Mysterious "Leaked" Report Appears.
World News Journal
23 December 2009
Last week, the Rwandan newspaper Umuseso published a story with the names of 2 senior people alleged to be behind the Rwandan Democratic Green Party: Patrick Mazimpaka (former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union's African Commission, and former Special political Advisor to President Kagame) and Col. Joesph Karemera (former Rwandan Minster of Health and Minister of Education). This information reportedly came from a "leaked" intelligence report submitted to Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Last weekend, the Rwandan newspaper Umuvugizi published more details and names. Below is the original article Umuvugizi and its translation from Kinyarwandan and the 256 News article. WNJ did not translate the document and therefore cannot take responsiblity for any errors contained therein. There is also another article below that originated from Uganda's 256 News Agency carrying the same information.
This is potentialy very bad news for the Greens because RPF party and RDF army officials are on the list. Many of these individuals have had a falling out with the RPF/RDF and some are considered dissidents and have been illegally detained in the past. According to Green Party sources, none of the names listed are members/supporters and they never have been. They fear the state will use this information as a political weapon to stigmatize them through the fallacy of assocation with RPF supporters who consider those listed as dissidents and also members of the general public who do not support the RPF. Green Party members also fear arbitrary detentions, torture, and oppression of their right to peacful assembly, as well as freedom of speech and press as they have experienced in the past during their peaceful assemblies.
The Green Party plans to hold its National Committee meeting on December 24th to discuss how to respond to these false allegations. They plan to hold a press conference and provide a press release before the end of the week to refute these allegations.
Translation of Umuvugizi Newspaper Article, on Page 4, Vol. 66, of 18-27th December 2009.
"LIST OF RPF-INKOTANYI HEAVYWEIGHTS SUSPECTED IN A PLAN TO OVERTHROW KAGAME’s GOVERNMENT."
A few days ago, Umuvugizi received an intelligence report submitted to the President indicating that some of historical members and children of RPF-INKOTANYI are planning to overthrow it and are hiding behind new political parties.
This is a result of an investigation. This rumor started in the former Umutara province, where those who made the report came out with a new term, “RPF Moderate’’, that was created in the region.
Those who follow very closely what happens in Umutara Province say that former Governor MUTSINDASHYAKA had people who considered him their best ally since they were always together. They reported there are some members who trusted him more than the RPF elders and those members were suspected to be in “RPF Moderates”.
Very soon after that rumor spread the Rwandan Green Party was born, led by a young man born in Uganda together with the former first President of RPF-INKOTANYI, Charles KABANDA. He has fallen out with RPF for a long time and is very angry with it because he is prevented from sharing its success though he contributed to its achievements.
Before giving you the list of those members who are alleged to be behind the Green Party, we would like to give some clarifications of how this started.
Charles KABANDA, as the first President of RPF - INKOTANYI, is known as someone who has a big heart and always stands by his word and never breaks his commitments. Even before 1990, he led a group of soldiers to attack Rwanda but without permission from General Fred RWIGEMA. Among them was the Commissioner General of Police, GASANA, Col. Tom, Captain RUSHEMA, and others. During that time, it was said that the group was mislead by the late Dr. BAYINGANA, who denied it. Charles KABANDA was put in prison for it, but later was released by General Paul KAGAME, at the time leader of the Ugandan Military Intelligence Department.
Information received by the newspaper “UMUVUGIZI” confirmed that Charles KABANDA’s relatives, mother and father’s side, called a meeting in which the participants were mostly from RPF–INKOTANYI.
The information we received confirmed that the meeting was led by the General Commissioner Police, GASANA, Ambassador GATETE, Dr. Major Ben KARENZI, Colonel KAREMERA, Colonel KAMIRI and others whose names were not given.
There is also another group suspected to be in close contact with the Senior Adviser to President MUSEVENI whose name is NTAGENDA (Nagenda), who is known as the one who paid the school fees of Green Party President Frank HABINEZA. It is said that NAGENDA could be the uncle of Frank HABINEZA. NAGENDA is from Gahini by origin.
The reason why those who made this report talked about him is because they link him with another politician from Gahini, Patrick MAZIMPAKA, who may be related to him.
Something else is that, up to now, since Patrick MAZIMPAKA came back to the country, he has avoided appearing in any political capacity. Those who meet with him are only his family, professional colleagues, or fellow businessmen. His strange actions are one of the reasons for suspecting him to be behind the Green Party, as they don’t know exactly what he is thinking.
When you analyze that report, you will find out that it is talking about two categories of people. The first category does not have a common understanding with General NZIZA or relatives and friends of Charles KABANDA. Another category is Patrick MAZIMPAKA’s friends. The report has a clause showing that some of Charles KABANDA’s relatives have some connections with General KAYUMBA-NYAMWASA. Because of this reason, he cannot escape from being associated as part of group behind the formation of the Green Party.
The truth about this report is that many people confirm this report is an action aimed at chopping off the heads of some of the RPF–INKOTANYI members. Some people are on that list because of political disagreements with the group of “Abahigi”.
There are also others like Ambassador RWAMASIRABO. It was expected that President KAGAME was going to make him the Secretary General of the RPF–INKOTANYI. This is to the reasons behind the political marginalization of Protais MUSONI, who is currently politically weak. Also, we cannot forget Théoneste MUTSINDASHYAKA, who worked with the “Abahigi” during the period of land distribution in Umutara province. The reason for his departure is that he was not protected when he was one of people who was trusted and had power in RPF–INKOTANYI.
The list is composed of the following:
1. MAZIMPAKA Patrick (former Minister of Presidency and Deputy Chairman of the African Union Commission)
2. Ambassador RWAMASIRABO (former Vice Chancellor of the National University of Rwanda and former Ambassador to Japan)
3. Senator Joseph KAREMERA (former Minister of Education and ambassador to South Africa)
4. Colonel MUDENGE (Director of Rwanda Regulatory Agency)
5. Sam NKUSI (former Minister of Energy)
6. Commissioner General GASANA (current police chief)
7. Commissioner RWIGAMBA Andrew (former police chief)
8. Ambassador NGOGA Pascal
9. Dr. Major Ben KARENZI (former Secretary of Health)
10. Senator INYUMBA Aloysie (former minister)
11. General Ambassador KAYUMBA-NYAMWASA (former Army Chief of Staff, now Rwandan Ambassador to India)
12. General RUTATINA (Security Advisor for President Kagame)
13. Colonel ZIGIRA
14. Dr. BIHOZAGARA (former Ambassador)
15. NKONGORI John (former Chief of Civil Aviation Authority)
Our dear readers, this received information confirms that this report may be not real given that the people it reveals were among the first ones to condemn Charles KABANDA for leaving the RPF and the report from that meeting was submitted to their superiors.
It is said that others are in confusion because they don’t know anything about the report, suspected to be made by NTAZINDA, RUSHEMA, RUTAGENGWA, and others not yet known. We wanted to talk to the people who appeared in this report, but we were not successful. As soon as we get further information, we will let you know in the future we are still alive.
Written by John Bosco Gasasira.
N.B. Items in brackets are our additions.
Rwandese Behind Green Party Named
By Godwin Agaba
256 News
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
It has emerged, following a leak by Rwandan security sources, there is a
team of RPF/Inkotanyi historicals who have fallen out with the party
over the years that formed a new Rwandan political party, the Rwandan Green Party.
According to a leaked security brief, a copy of which some Media
Houses including 256 News has seen, has some of the named men and
women behind the Green Party of Rwanda and have been coordinating
clandestinely through emails and phone calls to politically wrestle President
Kagame out of power in the 2010 elections.
According to a leaked security brief addressed to Rwanda President
Gen. Paul Kagame by intelligence officers, it lists John Nagenda, a
senior adviser to President Museveni of Uganda, to be related to some of the big names behind the Green Party's formation.
According to the brief, Nagenda is a maternal uncle to interim Green Party President Frank Habineza, and it was Nagenda who paid Habineza’s
school fees during his school days.
Another fact is that Nagenda is a long time close friend to Charles Kabanda, who is the Green Party's Secretary General, and Gen. Kayumba-Nyamwasa who is currently the Rwandan ambassador to India and former RDF Chief of Staff, who is also on the list.
Kabanda, who hails from the present Ugandan district of Ntungamo, was
the first president of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in the 1990’s but he
was later dropped by RPF.
According to the leaked security brief, some of the other names listed who all have served the RPF in various portfolios include; Patrick Mazimpaka, Ambassador Rwamasirabo, Senator Joseph Karemera, Col. Mudenge, Sam Nkunsi, Brig. Gen. Charles Gasana, Ambasador Pascal Ngonga, Dr. Maj. Ben Karenzi, Senator Aloysia Inyumba, Gen Kayumba-Nyamwasa, Gen. Rutatina, Col. Zigira, Dr. Bihozagara, and John Nkongori.
According to the brief, the argument of these people is that President Kagame
has ruined their chances.
When contacted over the matter, Frank Habineza the interim president
of the Green Party, refuted the report.
“None of the mentioned people are Green Party members or are funding
us, these are false allegations,” Habineza told 256 News today over the
phone.
According to military sources, top security officials are investigating
strongly the addressed matter.
One RDF senior officer who is a historical who spoke to 256 News
over the matter but preferred anonymity said, “I have absolutely no knowledge
about any coup plot against our government, defections in the RPF, or any rift within the RPF but if there is we have the capacity to crush it.”
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda is in the midst of controversy surrounding its quest to register as a political party in Rwanda.
23 December 2009
Last week, the Rwandan newspaper Umuseso published a story with the names of 2 senior people alleged to be behind the Rwandan Democratic Green Party: Patrick Mazimpaka (former Deputy Chairperson of the African Union's African Commission, and former Special political Advisor to President Kagame) and Col. Joesph Karemera (former Rwandan Minster of Health and Minister of Education). This information reportedly came from a "leaked" intelligence report submitted to Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Last weekend, the Rwandan newspaper Umuvugizi published more details and names. Below is the original article Umuvugizi and its translation from Kinyarwandan and the 256 News article. WNJ did not translate the document and therefore cannot take responsiblity for any errors contained therein. There is also another article below that originated from Uganda's 256 News Agency carrying the same information.
This is potentialy very bad news for the Greens because RPF party and RDF army officials are on the list. Many of these individuals have had a falling out with the RPF/RDF and some are considered dissidents and have been illegally detained in the past. According to Green Party sources, none of the names listed are members/supporters and they never have been. They fear the state will use this information as a political weapon to stigmatize them through the fallacy of assocation with RPF supporters who consider those listed as dissidents and also members of the general public who do not support the RPF. Green Party members also fear arbitrary detentions, torture, and oppression of their right to peacful assembly, as well as freedom of speech and press as they have experienced in the past during their peaceful assemblies.
The Green Party plans to hold its National Committee meeting on December 24th to discuss how to respond to these false allegations. They plan to hold a press conference and provide a press release before the end of the week to refute these allegations.
Translation of Umuvugizi Newspaper Article, on Page 4, Vol. 66, of 18-27th December 2009.
"LIST OF RPF-INKOTANYI HEAVYWEIGHTS SUSPECTED IN A PLAN TO OVERTHROW KAGAME’s GOVERNMENT."
A few days ago, Umuvugizi received an intelligence report submitted to the President indicating that some of historical members and children of RPF-INKOTANYI are planning to overthrow it and are hiding behind new political parties.
This is a result of an investigation. This rumor started in the former Umutara province, where those who made the report came out with a new term, “RPF Moderate’’, that was created in the region.
Those who follow very closely what happens in Umutara Province say that former Governor MUTSINDASHYAKA had people who considered him their best ally since they were always together. They reported there are some members who trusted him more than the RPF elders and those members were suspected to be in “RPF Moderates”.
Very soon after that rumor spread the Rwandan Green Party was born, led by a young man born in Uganda together with the former first President of RPF-INKOTANYI, Charles KABANDA. He has fallen out with RPF for a long time and is very angry with it because he is prevented from sharing its success though he contributed to its achievements.
Before giving you the list of those members who are alleged to be behind the Green Party, we would like to give some clarifications of how this started.
Charles KABANDA, as the first President of RPF - INKOTANYI, is known as someone who has a big heart and always stands by his word and never breaks his commitments. Even before 1990, he led a group of soldiers to attack Rwanda but without permission from General Fred RWIGEMA. Among them was the Commissioner General of Police, GASANA, Col. Tom, Captain RUSHEMA, and others. During that time, it was said that the group was mislead by the late Dr. BAYINGANA, who denied it. Charles KABANDA was put in prison for it, but later was released by General Paul KAGAME, at the time leader of the Ugandan Military Intelligence Department.
Information received by the newspaper “UMUVUGIZI” confirmed that Charles KABANDA’s relatives, mother and father’s side, called a meeting in which the participants were mostly from RPF–INKOTANYI.
The information we received confirmed that the meeting was led by the General Commissioner Police, GASANA, Ambassador GATETE, Dr. Major Ben KARENZI, Colonel KAREMERA, Colonel KAMIRI and others whose names were not given.
There is also another group suspected to be in close contact with the Senior Adviser to President MUSEVENI whose name is NTAGENDA (Nagenda), who is known as the one who paid the school fees of Green Party President Frank HABINEZA. It is said that NAGENDA could be the uncle of Frank HABINEZA. NAGENDA is from Gahini by origin.
The reason why those who made this report talked about him is because they link him with another politician from Gahini, Patrick MAZIMPAKA, who may be related to him.
Something else is that, up to now, since Patrick MAZIMPAKA came back to the country, he has avoided appearing in any political capacity. Those who meet with him are only his family, professional colleagues, or fellow businessmen. His strange actions are one of the reasons for suspecting him to be behind the Green Party, as they don’t know exactly what he is thinking.
When you analyze that report, you will find out that it is talking about two categories of people. The first category does not have a common understanding with General NZIZA or relatives and friends of Charles KABANDA. Another category is Patrick MAZIMPAKA’s friends. The report has a clause showing that some of Charles KABANDA’s relatives have some connections with General KAYUMBA-NYAMWASA. Because of this reason, he cannot escape from being associated as part of group behind the formation of the Green Party.
The truth about this report is that many people confirm this report is an action aimed at chopping off the heads of some of the RPF–INKOTANYI members. Some people are on that list because of political disagreements with the group of “Abahigi”.
There are also others like Ambassador RWAMASIRABO. It was expected that President KAGAME was going to make him the Secretary General of the RPF–INKOTANYI. This is to the reasons behind the political marginalization of Protais MUSONI, who is currently politically weak. Also, we cannot forget Théoneste MUTSINDASHYAKA, who worked with the “Abahigi” during the period of land distribution in Umutara province. The reason for his departure is that he was not protected when he was one of people who was trusted and had power in RPF–INKOTANYI.
The list is composed of the following:
1. MAZIMPAKA Patrick (former Minister of Presidency and Deputy Chairman of the African Union Commission)
2. Ambassador RWAMASIRABO (former Vice Chancellor of the National University of Rwanda and former Ambassador to Japan)
3. Senator Joseph KAREMERA (former Minister of Education and ambassador to South Africa)
4. Colonel MUDENGE (Director of Rwanda Regulatory Agency)
5. Sam NKUSI (former Minister of Energy)
6. Commissioner General GASANA (current police chief)
7. Commissioner RWIGAMBA Andrew (former police chief)
8. Ambassador NGOGA Pascal
9. Dr. Major Ben KARENZI (former Secretary of Health)
10. Senator INYUMBA Aloysie (former minister)
11. General Ambassador KAYUMBA-NYAMWASA (former Army Chief of Staff, now Rwandan Ambassador to India)
12. General RUTATINA (Security Advisor for President Kagame)
13. Colonel ZIGIRA
14. Dr. BIHOZAGARA (former Ambassador)
15. NKONGORI John (former Chief of Civil Aviation Authority)
Our dear readers, this received information confirms that this report may be not real given that the people it reveals were among the first ones to condemn Charles KABANDA for leaving the RPF and the report from that meeting was submitted to their superiors.
It is said that others are in confusion because they don’t know anything about the report, suspected to be made by NTAZINDA, RUSHEMA, RUTAGENGWA, and others not yet known. We wanted to talk to the people who appeared in this report, but we were not successful. As soon as we get further information, we will let you know in the future we are still alive.
Written by John Bosco Gasasira.
N.B. Items in brackets are our additions.
Rwandese Behind Green Party Named
By Godwin Agaba
256 News
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
It has emerged, following a leak by Rwandan security sources, there is a
team of RPF/Inkotanyi historicals who have fallen out with the party
over the years that formed a new Rwandan political party, the Rwandan Green Party.
According to a leaked security brief, a copy of which some Media
Houses including 256 News has seen, has some of the named men and
women behind the Green Party of Rwanda and have been coordinating
clandestinely through emails and phone calls to politically wrestle President
Kagame out of power in the 2010 elections.
According to a leaked security brief addressed to Rwanda President
Gen. Paul Kagame by intelligence officers, it lists John Nagenda, a
senior adviser to President Museveni of Uganda, to be related to some of the big names behind the Green Party's formation.
According to the brief, Nagenda is a maternal uncle to interim Green Party President Frank Habineza, and it was Nagenda who paid Habineza’s
school fees during his school days.
Another fact is that Nagenda is a long time close friend to Charles Kabanda, who is the Green Party's Secretary General, and Gen. Kayumba-Nyamwasa who is currently the Rwandan ambassador to India and former RDF Chief of Staff, who is also on the list.
Kabanda, who hails from the present Ugandan district of Ntungamo, was
the first president of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in the 1990’s but he
was later dropped by RPF.
According to the leaked security brief, some of the other names listed who all have served the RPF in various portfolios include; Patrick Mazimpaka, Ambassador Rwamasirabo, Senator Joseph Karemera, Col. Mudenge, Sam Nkunsi, Brig. Gen. Charles Gasana, Ambasador Pascal Ngonga, Dr. Maj. Ben Karenzi, Senator Aloysia Inyumba, Gen Kayumba-Nyamwasa, Gen. Rutatina, Col. Zigira, Dr. Bihozagara, and John Nkongori.
According to the brief, the argument of these people is that President Kagame
has ruined their chances.
When contacted over the matter, Frank Habineza the interim president
of the Green Party, refuted the report.
“None of the mentioned people are Green Party members or are funding
us, these are false allegations,” Habineza told 256 News today over the
phone.
According to military sources, top security officials are investigating
strongly the addressed matter.
One RDF senior officer who is a historical who spoke to 256 News
over the matter but preferred anonymity said, “I have absolutely no knowledge
about any coup plot against our government, defections in the RPF, or any rift within the RPF but if there is we have the capacity to crush it.”
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda is in the midst of controversy surrounding its quest to register as a political party in Rwanda.
‘US mounted secret raids into FATA.'
Daily Times
23 December 2009
A British newspaper has reported that US special forces conducted multiple clandestine raids into the Tribal Areas between 2003 and 2008 as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand drone strikes. The Guardian quoted a former NATO officer as saying that the incursions – only one of which has been previously reported – occurred between 2003 and 2008, involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night, and were never declared to the Pakistani government.
“The Pakistanis were kept entirely in the dark about it. It was one of those things we wouldn’t confirm officially with them,” said the officer, who had detailed knowledge of the operations.
Public opinion in Pakistan has grudgingly tolerated CIA-led drone strikes in the Tribal Areas, but any hint of American “boots on the ground” is greeted with virulent condemnation. The only publicly acknowledged US special forces raid, in September 2008, was followed by a Foreign Office condemnation, while the military threatened retaliatory action. The military source said that was the fourth raid of previous years. Two of the others targeted Taliban and Al Qaeda “high-value targets” near the border, while the third was conducted to rescue a crashed drone.
23 December 2009
A British newspaper has reported that US special forces conducted multiple clandestine raids into the Tribal Areas between 2003 and 2008 as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand drone strikes. The Guardian quoted a former NATO officer as saying that the incursions – only one of which has been previously reported – occurred between 2003 and 2008, involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night, and were never declared to the Pakistani government.
“The Pakistanis were kept entirely in the dark about it. It was one of those things we wouldn’t confirm officially with them,” said the officer, who had detailed knowledge of the operations.
Public opinion in Pakistan has grudgingly tolerated CIA-led drone strikes in the Tribal Areas, but any hint of American “boots on the ground” is greeted with virulent condemnation. The only publicly acknowledged US special forces raid, in September 2008, was followed by a Foreign Office condemnation, while the military threatened retaliatory action. The military source said that was the fourth raid of previous years. Two of the others targeted Taliban and Al Qaeda “high-value targets” near the border, while the third was conducted to rescue a crashed drone.
22 December, 2009
Sudan is considering joining OPEC oil cartel: official.
Sudan Tribune
22 December 2009
The Sudanese government announced today that it is considering joining the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as a full fledged member, the country’s deputy energy minister said Monday.
OPEC headquarters in Vienna Azhari Ibrahim told reporters on Monday at the oil cartel meeting in Luanda that joining OPEC is “under discussions within the government of Sudan” but no final decision has been made. Sudan is currently an observer in the organization.
The Sudanese official has said that his country is currently producing about 500,000 barrels a day of oil and expects to maintain this level of output next year.
Joining OPEC is a prestigious step for oil producing nations but for other countries it carries with it the unnecessary burden of adhering to production quotas though its members have routinely violated it.
OPEC is made up of 13 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have the biggest reserves in the world.
22 December 2009
The Sudanese government announced today that it is considering joining the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as a full fledged member, the country’s deputy energy minister said Monday.
OPEC headquarters in Vienna Azhari Ibrahim told reporters on Monday at the oil cartel meeting in Luanda that joining OPEC is “under discussions within the government of Sudan” but no final decision has been made. Sudan is currently an observer in the organization.
The Sudanese official has said that his country is currently producing about 500,000 barrels a day of oil and expects to maintain this level of output next year.
Joining OPEC is a prestigious step for oil producing nations but for other countries it carries with it the unnecessary burden of adhering to production quotas though its members have routinely violated it.
OPEC is made up of 13 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have the biggest reserves in the world.
21 December, 2009
Al-Shabaab fighters training in Uganda.
The Observer
20 December 2009
By Hussein Bogere
The UPDF has been shaken by the discovery that some of the battle-hardened Al Shabaab militants it is fighting in the volatile Somalia were trained here at home.
Highly placed military sources have told The Observer that the commander of the Ugandan peacekeeping contingent in Somalia, Maj. Gen. Nathan Mugisha, has advised the Commander of the Lands Forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, to put the UPDF and other security agencies on “extra alert” as the Ugandan-trained Islamists could plan a terrorist attack in the country.
The UPDF has been secretly training Somali forces at Bihanga Military Training School in the Western Uganda district of Ibanda. The Observer has been told that the UPDF was shocked when it discovered that one of the Al Shabaab fighters killed in the recent fighting near Medina Hospital in Mogadishu was one of those trained by the Ugandan army at Bihanga.
Another Islamist fighter who was injured in the same fighting was also Uganda-trained, raising fear that the UPDF was unknowingly training fighters for Al Shabaab, a suspected extension of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda.
“AMISOM has discovered that one [of the Islamist fighters] who died and one of the injured were trained by UPDF,” our source in Somalia said.
He added that this had confirmed fears that some of the Somalis trained in Uganda had turned their guns on the peace-keeping troops. According to this source, the injured Al Shabaab fighter who is now undergoing treatment at the UPDF’s field hospital in Mogadishu, would be interrogated after his recovery.
Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the Army Spokesman, told The Observer that he was not surprised that some of the Somali forces trained in Uganda had defected to Al Shabaab and turned the guns against their trainers. “If Jesus was betrayed by his own disciples, how about human beings?” he asked.
Kulayigye explained that the Somalis are being trained at Bihanga under the African Union mandate. Since 2007, one and a half battalions have been trained there.
“It is to build capacity for the peace team. We have trained Somali police and so has Kenya and other neighbouring countries,” Kulayigye said in a brief phone interview on Saturday.
The development comes hot on the heels of another revelation by the African Union Special Representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, that some of the Al Shabaab fighters were actually Ugandans.
According to AMISOM Spokesman, Maj Ba-Hoku Barigye, the three Al-Shabaab fighters he met spoke Luganda, Kifumbira and Ateso. He said one of the Ugandans told him he was a member of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group that operated in the Rwenzori Mountains along Uganda’s western border with the DR Congo.
Uganda and Burundi are the only African countries that have committed forces to the volatile Somalia that has not had a functional government since 1991 when President Siad Barre was overthrown. Although there is a transitional government in place today, its stint has been disrupted by tribal fighting.
Uganda’s presence in Mogadishu has caused some discomfort in Kampala, after one of the insurgents’ leaders, Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, threatened in a statement in October that Al Shabaab would attack Bujumbura and Kampala in retaliation for an incident involving the peacekeepers, in which about 30 civilians died.
In response, President Museveni warned that the Al Shabaab would regret its decision if it ever attempted to make good its threat.
“Those terrorists, I would advise them to concentrate on solving their problems. If they try to attack Uganda, then they will pay because we know how to attack those who attack us. Al-Shabaab wants to drag us into their war, they shell us and then they also shell Bakara, then they tell people there it was AMISOM (AU peacekeepers) who killed civilians,” said Museveni, said at the closure of the African Union summit on refugees.
More than 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced and living in improvised camps, while hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country. According to reports, some three million people - half the population – are now in dire need of food aid.
20 December 2009
By Hussein Bogere
The UPDF has been shaken by the discovery that some of the battle-hardened Al Shabaab militants it is fighting in the volatile Somalia were trained here at home.
Highly placed military sources have told The Observer that the commander of the Ugandan peacekeeping contingent in Somalia, Maj. Gen. Nathan Mugisha, has advised the Commander of the Lands Forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, to put the UPDF and other security agencies on “extra alert” as the Ugandan-trained Islamists could plan a terrorist attack in the country.
The UPDF has been secretly training Somali forces at Bihanga Military Training School in the Western Uganda district of Ibanda. The Observer has been told that the UPDF was shocked when it discovered that one of the Al Shabaab fighters killed in the recent fighting near Medina Hospital in Mogadishu was one of those trained by the Ugandan army at Bihanga.
Another Islamist fighter who was injured in the same fighting was also Uganda-trained, raising fear that the UPDF was unknowingly training fighters for Al Shabaab, a suspected extension of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda.
“AMISOM has discovered that one [of the Islamist fighters] who died and one of the injured were trained by UPDF,” our source in Somalia said.
He added that this had confirmed fears that some of the Somalis trained in Uganda had turned their guns on the peace-keeping troops. According to this source, the injured Al Shabaab fighter who is now undergoing treatment at the UPDF’s field hospital in Mogadishu, would be interrogated after his recovery.
Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the Army Spokesman, told The Observer that he was not surprised that some of the Somali forces trained in Uganda had defected to Al Shabaab and turned the guns against their trainers. “If Jesus was betrayed by his own disciples, how about human beings?” he asked.
Kulayigye explained that the Somalis are being trained at Bihanga under the African Union mandate. Since 2007, one and a half battalions have been trained there.
“It is to build capacity for the peace team. We have trained Somali police and so has Kenya and other neighbouring countries,” Kulayigye said in a brief phone interview on Saturday.
The development comes hot on the heels of another revelation by the African Union Special Representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, that some of the Al Shabaab fighters were actually Ugandans.
According to AMISOM Spokesman, Maj Ba-Hoku Barigye, the three Al-Shabaab fighters he met spoke Luganda, Kifumbira and Ateso. He said one of the Ugandans told him he was a member of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group that operated in the Rwenzori Mountains along Uganda’s western border with the DR Congo.
Uganda and Burundi are the only African countries that have committed forces to the volatile Somalia that has not had a functional government since 1991 when President Siad Barre was overthrown. Although there is a transitional government in place today, its stint has been disrupted by tribal fighting.
Uganda’s presence in Mogadishu has caused some discomfort in Kampala, after one of the insurgents’ leaders, Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, threatened in a statement in October that Al Shabaab would attack Bujumbura and Kampala in retaliation for an incident involving the peacekeepers, in which about 30 civilians died.
In response, President Museveni warned that the Al Shabaab would regret its decision if it ever attempted to make good its threat.
“Those terrorists, I would advise them to concentrate on solving their problems. If they try to attack Uganda, then they will pay because we know how to attack those who attack us. Al-Shabaab wants to drag us into their war, they shell us and then they also shell Bakara, then they tell people there it was AMISOM (AU peacekeepers) who killed civilians,” said Museveni, said at the closure of the African Union summit on refugees.
More than 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced and living in improvised camps, while hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country. According to reports, some three million people - half the population – are now in dire need of food aid.
Total, CNPC in Talks on Iran, Venezuela Deals; China Gas.
by Simon Hall and Jason Dean (WSJ)
Dow Jones Newswires 12/21/2009
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=84448
BEIJING (Dow Jones), Dec. 21, 2009
France's Total SA is planning a joint bid with China National Petroleum Corp. for a Venezuela oil block, is talking to CNPC about joining an Iranian gas project, and hopes to agree within weeks on terms on jointly developing part of China's biggest gas field, the company's chief executive said Monday.
The three projects, two of them in politically sensitive areas, are among a raft of ventures the French company is working with CNPC on, and which it will be discussed in Beijing this week.
The executive is among a team of executives accompanying Prime Minister Francois Fillon on a trip to China.
Total had advanced technology and deep experience internationally and "there is a real opportunity for Chinese companies and Total to work together...in countries where we have experience, like in Africa, in Latin America, definitely we are better together than separately," Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told Dow Jones.
Earlier this month, Total and CNPC lost out in their joint bid to develop Iraq's super-giant Majnoon oil field, but the two, in partnership with Malaysia's Petronas, won the rights to the smaller Halfaya oil field.
Total and CNPC, China's largest oil producer by capacity, will make a joint bid to develop a heavy oil block in Venezuela, in that country's Carabobo oil licensing round, he confirmed.
"We are with CNPC on Carabobo...we have decided to bid with CNPC," de Margerie said, referring to the expected auction early in 2010 of several heavy oil blocks in the eastern Orinoco region.
Each block could cost between $10 billion and $20 billion, and could include construction of an upgrader to turn the tar-like crude into lighter oil.
He said Total is talking to CNPC about possibly joining it in developing part of Iran's giant South Pars gas field and exporting liquefied natural gas from it.
Any deal would require Iranian government approval, and "Iran, for the time being, has stopped discussing about LNG...frankly, to say we are active (in talks with Iran) would be a little bit too much."
In June, Iran and CNPC signed a contract for the upstream development of phase 11 of South Pars, replacing Total, which had long been in negotiations with Tehran about its role in an integrated development of the huge gas field.
"We have been always favoring the full integrated project (in South Pars). Upstream, downstream, production, liquefaction, export. And we've always been very strict in saying...we consider that an integrated chain is bringing more value to the country and to the partners," de Margerie said. "CNPC and Iran separated the two, upstream from LNG, and we've said that was not our cup of tea."
He also said he was confident Total and CNPC would by end-January 2010 agree terms on a multibillion dollar project to develop part of China's biggest gas field.
Once CNPC and Total finalize the plan for the technically difficult South Sulige gas field in northern China's Ordos Basin, the project would go to the government's economic planning agency for its approval.
"Jan. 31 is the deadline for CNPC and Total to agree (on) the terms for the project and for submitting it to the National Development and Reform Commission," he said.
Asked whether the project would get the green light, he replied: "Yes...I'm always confident. I don't think it (NDRC approval) will be the most difficult part. The NDRC has been supporting it from day one."
Total has been doing advance work for several years on the 2,390 sq. km block, after having signed an initial agreement in March 2006.
Total's investment in the South Sulige project "will be multibillions of dollars...it is several billion, but for the initial investment, this is far less, but still more than $1 billion," he said.
In May, 2009, CNPC said once the South Sulige project is formally launched, Total could drill around 2,000 wells over the life of the field, projected at 20-25 years.
CNPC said peak production from is forecast at near 3 billion cubic meters annually.
The Sulige reserve is characterized as a "tight" gas area, as the impermeability of the rock layers in the area means many more wells are needed to extract the gas than is the case usually.
Total's chief representative in China, Jacques de Boisseson, said Monday he didn't expect production from South Sulige before 2013.
Beijing wants natural gas to account for 10% of the nation's energy mix by 2020, up from 3% in 2005.
It is doing this by building a network of liquefied natural gas import terminals, by importing gas by pipeline from central Asia -- and in due course from Myanmar -- and by developing domestic reserves, partnering with foreign companies in technically difficult projects.
In November, CNPC and Chevron Corp. got approval from the NDRC for the first phase of a $4.7 billion, 30-year pact to develop a gas field in central China's Sichuan province.
Dow Jones Newswires 12/21/2009
URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=84448
BEIJING (Dow Jones), Dec. 21, 2009
France's Total SA is planning a joint bid with China National Petroleum Corp. for a Venezuela oil block, is talking to CNPC about joining an Iranian gas project, and hopes to agree within weeks on terms on jointly developing part of China's biggest gas field, the company's chief executive said Monday.
The three projects, two of them in politically sensitive areas, are among a raft of ventures the French company is working with CNPC on, and which it will be discussed in Beijing this week.
The executive is among a team of executives accompanying Prime Minister Francois Fillon on a trip to China.
Total had advanced technology and deep experience internationally and "there is a real opportunity for Chinese companies and Total to work together...in countries where we have experience, like in Africa, in Latin America, definitely we are better together than separately," Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told Dow Jones.
Earlier this month, Total and CNPC lost out in their joint bid to develop Iraq's super-giant Majnoon oil field, but the two, in partnership with Malaysia's Petronas, won the rights to the smaller Halfaya oil field.
Total and CNPC, China's largest oil producer by capacity, will make a joint bid to develop a heavy oil block in Venezuela, in that country's Carabobo oil licensing round, he confirmed.
"We are with CNPC on Carabobo...we have decided to bid with CNPC," de Margerie said, referring to the expected auction early in 2010 of several heavy oil blocks in the eastern Orinoco region.
Each block could cost between $10 billion and $20 billion, and could include construction of an upgrader to turn the tar-like crude into lighter oil.
He said Total is talking to CNPC about possibly joining it in developing part of Iran's giant South Pars gas field and exporting liquefied natural gas from it.
Any deal would require Iranian government approval, and "Iran, for the time being, has stopped discussing about LNG...frankly, to say we are active (in talks with Iran) would be a little bit too much."
In June, Iran and CNPC signed a contract for the upstream development of phase 11 of South Pars, replacing Total, which had long been in negotiations with Tehran about its role in an integrated development of the huge gas field.
"We have been always favoring the full integrated project (in South Pars). Upstream, downstream, production, liquefaction, export. And we've always been very strict in saying...we consider that an integrated chain is bringing more value to the country and to the partners," de Margerie said. "CNPC and Iran separated the two, upstream from LNG, and we've said that was not our cup of tea."
He also said he was confident Total and CNPC would by end-January 2010 agree terms on a multibillion dollar project to develop part of China's biggest gas field.
Once CNPC and Total finalize the plan for the technically difficult South Sulige gas field in northern China's Ordos Basin, the project would go to the government's economic planning agency for its approval.
"Jan. 31 is the deadline for CNPC and Total to agree (on) the terms for the project and for submitting it to the National Development and Reform Commission," he said.
Asked whether the project would get the green light, he replied: "Yes...I'm always confident. I don't think it (NDRC approval) will be the most difficult part. The NDRC has been supporting it from day one."
Total has been doing advance work for several years on the 2,390 sq. km block, after having signed an initial agreement in March 2006.
Total's investment in the South Sulige project "will be multibillions of dollars...it is several billion, but for the initial investment, this is far less, but still more than $1 billion," he said.
In May, 2009, CNPC said once the South Sulige project is formally launched, Total could drill around 2,000 wells over the life of the field, projected at 20-25 years.
CNPC said peak production from is forecast at near 3 billion cubic meters annually.
The Sulige reserve is characterized as a "tight" gas area, as the impermeability of the rock layers in the area means many more wells are needed to extract the gas than is the case usually.
Total's chief representative in China, Jacques de Boisseson, said Monday he didn't expect production from South Sulige before 2013.
Beijing wants natural gas to account for 10% of the nation's energy mix by 2020, up from 3% in 2005.
It is doing this by building a network of liquefied natural gas import terminals, by importing gas by pipeline from central Asia -- and in due course from Myanmar -- and by developing domestic reserves, partnering with foreign companies in technically difficult projects.
In November, CNPC and Chevron Corp. got approval from the NDRC for the first phase of a $4.7 billion, 30-year pact to develop a gas field in central China's Sichuan province.
Nigeria: Oil Majors Shun New Projects, Target Ghana.
This Day
21 December 2009
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku And Ejiofor Alike
Lagos — Uncertainty over the soon-to-be-passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has prompted International Oil Companies (IOCs) to suspend new investments, especially in deep offshore, where PIB imposes stiffer conditions on the operators.
THIS DAY investigations revealed that oil majors are citing lack of enabling legislation, multiple taxation, issues affecting the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) as reasons for channelling major investments to Ghana, Angola, Senegal, Garbon, Australia and Brazil. Some of the companies, which have since embarked on cost cutting, THISDAY also learnt, have put on hold investments in major oil and gas projects as well as on new ones pending the passage of PIB.
Unresolved issues in the PIB and the uncertainty over its passage, sources said, have made the IOCs to adopt a "wait-and-see" attitude on new projects and compelled some of the companies to relinquish some of their assets in the country.
Although, the Federal Government and the National Assembly pledged to modify some areas in the PIB amid serious concerns expressed by stakeholders, industry sources said oil and gas companies are counting their losses due to the financial crunch and would want to invest in countries where they are sure of recouping their investments without delay.
"I can tell you that investments worth billions of dollars are now channelled to neighbouring countries by oil majors and even the new entrants in Nigeria. They are all blaming the PIB," an oil industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday.
Major oil companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, Exxonmobil, Chevron, and Eni Corporation recorded drop in both their second and third quarters earnings owing to declining oil prices and the financial crunch. Shell, whose oil production in Nigeria suffered a lot of setbacks due to years of unrest in the Niger Delta, disclosed in July plans to reduce capital spending by about 10 per cent next year and make further "substantial" job cuts, saying the economy won't recover any time soon.
THIS DAY reported yesterday that amidst the speculation of harsher terms on foreign operators in the Nigerian oil industry next year, Shell has offered some of its oilfields in the Niger Delta valued at up to $5 billion for sale. Uncertainty over the content of the PIB was also a source of worry to both local and foreign operators, who identified the circulation of many versions of the bill, provision for higher royalty payments, multiple taxes on profits and revenue sharing as main areas of dispute.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Gas, Hon. Igo Aguma, reportedly confirmed at an economic summit last week that the government had sent six amended versions of the legislation to the National Assembly since President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua submitted the initial bill last year.
The operators are also opposed to the provisions, which allow the government to renegotiate old contracts, impose higher costs on oil companies and retake oil fields that oil companies are yet to explore. With these provisions, the deep offshore assets of Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total are being threatened.
It was gathered that the passage of the bill is being delayed by these disputes between government and foreign oil firms over the fiscal terms for their operations. Aguma also said the initial bill was submitted without a fiscal regime and this has led to a lot of debate and negotiations with the government and the IOCs. But foreign oil companies had warned that the provision of the bill could threaten billions of dollars of investment.
"We don't want to pass a bill that tomorrow... someone goes to court and challenges it," Aguma said. A top official of Chevron, who craved anonymity, told THISDAY last night that the IOCs want clarity over the provisions of the bill before they embark on new investments. "I think it is natural for government to try to get more from oil but they have to find a way of doing it without harming investment.
Reform is good but you have to take a second look at any reform that will harm your investment. In times of uncertainty, the normal thing for businesses to do is to just sit down and watch what will happen. They (IOCs) want clarifications before they think of new investment. It is not unusual and that is simply what is going on," he explained. Apparently referring to President Yar'Adua, a Shell source said the absence of key officials of government had stalled negotiations between the government and the operators, worsening the uncertainty and strengthening the resolve of the companies to scale down investments.
He said: "The absence of people who take decision for the country is not helping matters. Engagement was going on in high places before this thing (President's absence) happened and they (oil companies) don't know how long they will wait." THIS DAY reported that the proposed sale by Shell would coincide with the decision of industry operators to weigh the plan by the Federal Government to hand over control of the industry to domestic firms.
With new projects in the Gulf of Mexico and Qatar near completion, it is understood that Peter Voser, Shell's chief executive, is now keen to reduce its (Shell's) operations in Nigeria. Sinopec, one of China 's state-owned oil groups, has requested information on the oil fields being offered for sale. It is thought that indigenous companies such as Oando, Nigeria's largest independent group, and London-listed Afren, could also pick up some fields.
Shell declined to comment but sources involved in talks with the company said the assets in question could be worth up to $5 billion. It is not selling its offshore blocks, which are less vulnerable and have more generous royalty terms. THISDAY gathered that the sale may not be unconnected with tough operating conditions, which have pitched Shell against several oil-producing communities.
21 December 2009
By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku And Ejiofor Alike
Lagos — Uncertainty over the soon-to-be-passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has prompted International Oil Companies (IOCs) to suspend new investments, especially in deep offshore, where PIB imposes stiffer conditions on the operators.
THIS DAY investigations revealed that oil majors are citing lack of enabling legislation, multiple taxation, issues affecting the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) as reasons for channelling major investments to Ghana, Angola, Senegal, Garbon, Australia and Brazil. Some of the companies, which have since embarked on cost cutting, THISDAY also learnt, have put on hold investments in major oil and gas projects as well as on new ones pending the passage of PIB.
Unresolved issues in the PIB and the uncertainty over its passage, sources said, have made the IOCs to adopt a "wait-and-see" attitude on new projects and compelled some of the companies to relinquish some of their assets in the country.
Although, the Federal Government and the National Assembly pledged to modify some areas in the PIB amid serious concerns expressed by stakeholders, industry sources said oil and gas companies are counting their losses due to the financial crunch and would want to invest in countries where they are sure of recouping their investments without delay.
"I can tell you that investments worth billions of dollars are now channelled to neighbouring countries by oil majors and even the new entrants in Nigeria. They are all blaming the PIB," an oil industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday.
Major oil companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, Exxonmobil, Chevron, and Eni Corporation recorded drop in both their second and third quarters earnings owing to declining oil prices and the financial crunch. Shell, whose oil production in Nigeria suffered a lot of setbacks due to years of unrest in the Niger Delta, disclosed in July plans to reduce capital spending by about 10 per cent next year and make further "substantial" job cuts, saying the economy won't recover any time soon.
THIS DAY reported yesterday that amidst the speculation of harsher terms on foreign operators in the Nigerian oil industry next year, Shell has offered some of its oilfields in the Niger Delta valued at up to $5 billion for sale. Uncertainty over the content of the PIB was also a source of worry to both local and foreign operators, who identified the circulation of many versions of the bill, provision for higher royalty payments, multiple taxes on profits and revenue sharing as main areas of dispute.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Gas, Hon. Igo Aguma, reportedly confirmed at an economic summit last week that the government had sent six amended versions of the legislation to the National Assembly since President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua submitted the initial bill last year.
The operators are also opposed to the provisions, which allow the government to renegotiate old contracts, impose higher costs on oil companies and retake oil fields that oil companies are yet to explore. With these provisions, the deep offshore assets of Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total are being threatened.
It was gathered that the passage of the bill is being delayed by these disputes between government and foreign oil firms over the fiscal terms for their operations. Aguma also said the initial bill was submitted without a fiscal regime and this has led to a lot of debate and negotiations with the government and the IOCs. But foreign oil companies had warned that the provision of the bill could threaten billions of dollars of investment.
"We don't want to pass a bill that tomorrow... someone goes to court and challenges it," Aguma said. A top official of Chevron, who craved anonymity, told THISDAY last night that the IOCs want clarity over the provisions of the bill before they embark on new investments. "I think it is natural for government to try to get more from oil but they have to find a way of doing it without harming investment.
Reform is good but you have to take a second look at any reform that will harm your investment. In times of uncertainty, the normal thing for businesses to do is to just sit down and watch what will happen. They (IOCs) want clarifications before they think of new investment. It is not unusual and that is simply what is going on," he explained. Apparently referring to President Yar'Adua, a Shell source said the absence of key officials of government had stalled negotiations between the government and the operators, worsening the uncertainty and strengthening the resolve of the companies to scale down investments.
He said: "The absence of people who take decision for the country is not helping matters. Engagement was going on in high places before this thing (President's absence) happened and they (oil companies) don't know how long they will wait." THIS DAY reported that the proposed sale by Shell would coincide with the decision of industry operators to weigh the plan by the Federal Government to hand over control of the industry to domestic firms.
With new projects in the Gulf of Mexico and Qatar near completion, it is understood that Peter Voser, Shell's chief executive, is now keen to reduce its (Shell's) operations in Nigeria. Sinopec, one of China 's state-owned oil groups, has requested information on the oil fields being offered for sale. It is thought that indigenous companies such as Oando, Nigeria's largest independent group, and London-listed Afren, could also pick up some fields.
Shell declined to comment but sources involved in talks with the company said the assets in question could be worth up to $5 billion. It is not selling its offshore blocks, which are less vulnerable and have more generous royalty terms. THISDAY gathered that the sale may not be unconnected with tough operating conditions, which have pitched Shell against several oil-producing communities.
20 December, 2009
Is Gadaffi after Uganda’s oil?
Sunday Monitor
20 December 2009
Editor's Note: The Ugandan government says claims that Col. Gaddafi is after Ugandan oil are untrue.
Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadaffi plans to buy up to 10% shares in Eni, the Italian company that on Friday signed a deal with Heritage to take over its oil fields in Uganda.
That would make Libya the second biggest shareholder of the company after the Italian state, which has a 30% stake. Libya already owns 2% of Eni.
Heritage, the operator of two of Uganda’s largest oil fields, on Friday signed a sales and purchase agreement to sell its interests to Eni for $1.5b, formalising a preliminary agreement made on November 23.
Gadaffi has, on three occasions in the past year, announced his interest in Eni, according to the Italian media.
He first mentioned it in August 2008 after the signing of a ‘friendship treaty’ under which Italy would pay compensation for misdeeds during its colonial rule of Libya.
“It (the treaty) allows for something that in different times would have been absolutely impossible, such as a foreign state that enters with a stake of 5 to 10% in your national oil company, which is what we would want to do,” Gaddafi was quoted in the Italian newspaper La Republica.
Gadaffi’s interest in Eni was confirmed in December last year by the Libyan ambassador to Italy, Hafed Gaddur.
Libya would be interested in buying up to 10% of Italian oil giant Eni as one of a number of investments it is considering in Italy, he told Italian newspapers.
Describing the investment in Eni as financial, Gaddur said Libya would look to getting a seat on the board of the company.
And in May this year, Libyan energy minister Shokri Ghamen, reiterated his country’s interest in acquiring up to 10% of Eni as well as a stake in Italy’s electricity company, Enel, the world’s second largest energy provider.
“I would like to see a good participation in Eni. I believe Eni is a company that is able to strengthen itself, to improve itself. It is a company with a great future and the leadership of (Eni boss) Paolo Scaroni adds a lot,” he was quoted as saying.
The Libyan Investment Authority, the country’s investment arm, has $80b in cash to invest, according to its chairman. Already Libya owns 5% of Unicredit, Italy’s biggest bank. “Libya has emerged as a leading source of capital for Italian companies and an important energy partner,” Reuters noted.
Special relationship
Eni, particularly, has a special relationship with Libya. During international sanctions at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, Eni stayed in the country while British and US oil companies pulled out.
The US imposed economic sanctions after a terrorist bombing at a discotheque in West Berlin frequented by American military personnel in 1986.
UN sanctions followed in 1992 when Libya was implicated in the 1988 bombing of an American plane over Lockerbie in Scotland, leading to Libya’s political and economic isolation for most of the 1990s.
During that time, Eni consolidated its presence and grew to become the biggest foreign oil group in Libya. In 2007, the company signed a strategic agreement with Libya which strengthened its already dominant position and paved the way for increased production of oil and gas.
At the time the agreement was signed, Eni was already producing around 280,000 barrels of oil and natural gas in Libya every day.
The accord entailed an investment of $28b by the Italian group for over 10 years. It also extended existing contracts to exploit Libyan sites by a further 25 years. This means that Eni can continue to extract oil in Libya until 2042 and gas until 2047.
In addition, Eni won the right to widen its drilling areas beyond the current limits. Libya is the second-largest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria, and has the continent’s biggest oil reserves – five billion barrels.
In comparison, Uganda has a total estimated oil reserve of two billion barrels. Italy has more than tripled its oil imports from Libya since sanctions were lifted in 2003 and the African country now provides about 30% of Italy’s daily oil needs.
Gadaffi held talks in Rome with Eni boss as recent as June. Discussions focused on the extension of joint ventures with Libya’s National Oil Corporation and boosting Libyan gas supplies to Europe. By buying into Eni, Gadaffi would extend his interests in the oil industry in Uganda.
Libyan state-owned company, Tamoil, has already secured the contract to construct the Kampala fuel storage terminal and the Eldoret-Kampala oil pipeline extension at $250m. The terminal will serve Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. However, works for both projects, due to begin in April, have not yet started.
The Gadaffi-Berlusconi connection
The $5b friendship treaty signed in 2008 was portrayed by Gadaffi as reparation for colonial wrongs. More than 100,000 Libyans are said to have died during Italy’s violent occupation from 1911 to 1943.
But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi provided a different spin. He reportedly quipped during the signing ceremony that the treaty was about “less migrants” and “more oil”.
Berlusconi was voted back into office last year mainly because of a promise to crack down on migration and crime. In May this year, for the first time, Gadaffi agreed to take back African migrants intercepted by the Italians in international waters.
His remark about “more oil” was clearly a reference to Eni’s ventures in Libya and Gadaffi’s interest in investing in the company.
But the two leaders are connected by more than oil and political opportunity. Their families have a common business interest, according to John Hooper of The UK Guardian. Both Gadaffi’s and Berlusconi’s family investment vehicles have taken up shares in Quinta Communications, a cinema company.
Quinta Communications and the Berlusconi-founded TV empire, Mediaset, own each a quarter in a new satellite TV channel for northern Africa, called Nessma TV, which targets Libya as one of its markets.
As a result, Berlusconi and the project’s founder have handed part of the station’s ownership to the Libyan regime. “It will be interesting to see the extent to which Nessma’s journalists will feel free to criticise Gadaffi’s running of the country,” wrote Hooper.
Gadaffi’s ambitions
Observers see Gadaffi’s interest in Eni as one way to extend his grip on Africa and its natural resources. Another way is to woo Africa’s traditional chiefs and kings. The Libyan leader has not made a secret of his ambition to become the first president of a united Africa.
After his failed bid at the AU summit in Accra, Ghana, in 2007, he has been trying to sell his vision of a United States of Africa, with a common army, through the traditional leaders. Convinced that the chiefs and kings still wield influence in Africa, he wants them to create a grassroots movement to press their political leaders to sign up to his vision.
Some 700 African tribal leaders gathered in Tripoli in September this year at the first “Forum of Kings, Sultans, Princes, Sheikhs and Mayors of Africa” to celebrate 10 years of the African Union.
The Forum was formed a year earlier in a grand ceremony in which the traditional rulers bestowed the title “king of kings” on Gadaffi. Sunday Vision learned that some 50 Ugandan royals and chiefs have visited Gadaffi at least three times in the past year, twice in Tripoli and once in Addis Ababa during his inauguration as AU chairman.
Last month, a group of 20 chiefs from eastern Congo, which shares the oil-rich Lake Albert basin, made the journey to Libya, according to intelligence sources. Ibrahim Bamariki, a Hema notable, and chief Akobi of the Ngiti tribe, both from the Ituri region, joined their colleagues in Tripoli on their way back from Mekka.
Besides lecturing them about the need for a united Africa, Gadaffi also helps them establish community projects. The Bunyoro king is setting up a kingdom radio station with Libyan funds, according to a source close to him, and has also been promised a school and a hospital in Hoima, the centre of the oil explorations.
Asked what the visits are about, one of the Ugandan royals said: “It is about power and natural resources, yes, but above all about a United States of Africa and his leadership position on the continent.”
20 December 2009
Editor's Note: The Ugandan government says claims that Col. Gaddafi is after Ugandan oil are untrue.
Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadaffi plans to buy up to 10% shares in Eni, the Italian company that on Friday signed a deal with Heritage to take over its oil fields in Uganda.
That would make Libya the second biggest shareholder of the company after the Italian state, which has a 30% stake. Libya already owns 2% of Eni.
Heritage, the operator of two of Uganda’s largest oil fields, on Friday signed a sales and purchase agreement to sell its interests to Eni for $1.5b, formalising a preliminary agreement made on November 23.
Gadaffi has, on three occasions in the past year, announced his interest in Eni, according to the Italian media.
He first mentioned it in August 2008 after the signing of a ‘friendship treaty’ under which Italy would pay compensation for misdeeds during its colonial rule of Libya.
“It (the treaty) allows for something that in different times would have been absolutely impossible, such as a foreign state that enters with a stake of 5 to 10% in your national oil company, which is what we would want to do,” Gaddafi was quoted in the Italian newspaper La Republica.
Gadaffi’s interest in Eni was confirmed in December last year by the Libyan ambassador to Italy, Hafed Gaddur.
Libya would be interested in buying up to 10% of Italian oil giant Eni as one of a number of investments it is considering in Italy, he told Italian newspapers.
Describing the investment in Eni as financial, Gaddur said Libya would look to getting a seat on the board of the company.
And in May this year, Libyan energy minister Shokri Ghamen, reiterated his country’s interest in acquiring up to 10% of Eni as well as a stake in Italy’s electricity company, Enel, the world’s second largest energy provider.
“I would like to see a good participation in Eni. I believe Eni is a company that is able to strengthen itself, to improve itself. It is a company with a great future and the leadership of (Eni boss) Paolo Scaroni adds a lot,” he was quoted as saying.
The Libyan Investment Authority, the country’s investment arm, has $80b in cash to invest, according to its chairman. Already Libya owns 5% of Unicredit, Italy’s biggest bank. “Libya has emerged as a leading source of capital for Italian companies and an important energy partner,” Reuters noted.
Special relationship
Eni, particularly, has a special relationship with Libya. During international sanctions at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, Eni stayed in the country while British and US oil companies pulled out.
The US imposed economic sanctions after a terrorist bombing at a discotheque in West Berlin frequented by American military personnel in 1986.
UN sanctions followed in 1992 when Libya was implicated in the 1988 bombing of an American plane over Lockerbie in Scotland, leading to Libya’s political and economic isolation for most of the 1990s.
During that time, Eni consolidated its presence and grew to become the biggest foreign oil group in Libya. In 2007, the company signed a strategic agreement with Libya which strengthened its already dominant position and paved the way for increased production of oil and gas.
At the time the agreement was signed, Eni was already producing around 280,000 barrels of oil and natural gas in Libya every day.
The accord entailed an investment of $28b by the Italian group for over 10 years. It also extended existing contracts to exploit Libyan sites by a further 25 years. This means that Eni can continue to extract oil in Libya until 2042 and gas until 2047.
In addition, Eni won the right to widen its drilling areas beyond the current limits. Libya is the second-largest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria, and has the continent’s biggest oil reserves – five billion barrels.
In comparison, Uganda has a total estimated oil reserve of two billion barrels. Italy has more than tripled its oil imports from Libya since sanctions were lifted in 2003 and the African country now provides about 30% of Italy’s daily oil needs.
Gadaffi held talks in Rome with Eni boss as recent as June. Discussions focused on the extension of joint ventures with Libya’s National Oil Corporation and boosting Libyan gas supplies to Europe. By buying into Eni, Gadaffi would extend his interests in the oil industry in Uganda.
Libyan state-owned company, Tamoil, has already secured the contract to construct the Kampala fuel storage terminal and the Eldoret-Kampala oil pipeline extension at $250m. The terminal will serve Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. However, works for both projects, due to begin in April, have not yet started.
The Gadaffi-Berlusconi connection
The $5b friendship treaty signed in 2008 was portrayed by Gadaffi as reparation for colonial wrongs. More than 100,000 Libyans are said to have died during Italy’s violent occupation from 1911 to 1943.
But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi provided a different spin. He reportedly quipped during the signing ceremony that the treaty was about “less migrants” and “more oil”.
Berlusconi was voted back into office last year mainly because of a promise to crack down on migration and crime. In May this year, for the first time, Gadaffi agreed to take back African migrants intercepted by the Italians in international waters.
His remark about “more oil” was clearly a reference to Eni’s ventures in Libya and Gadaffi’s interest in investing in the company.
But the two leaders are connected by more than oil and political opportunity. Their families have a common business interest, according to John Hooper of The UK Guardian. Both Gadaffi’s and Berlusconi’s family investment vehicles have taken up shares in Quinta Communications, a cinema company.
Quinta Communications and the Berlusconi-founded TV empire, Mediaset, own each a quarter in a new satellite TV channel for northern Africa, called Nessma TV, which targets Libya as one of its markets.
As a result, Berlusconi and the project’s founder have handed part of the station’s ownership to the Libyan regime. “It will be interesting to see the extent to which Nessma’s journalists will feel free to criticise Gadaffi’s running of the country,” wrote Hooper.
Gadaffi’s ambitions
Observers see Gadaffi’s interest in Eni as one way to extend his grip on Africa and its natural resources. Another way is to woo Africa’s traditional chiefs and kings. The Libyan leader has not made a secret of his ambition to become the first president of a united Africa.
After his failed bid at the AU summit in Accra, Ghana, in 2007, he has been trying to sell his vision of a United States of Africa, with a common army, through the traditional leaders. Convinced that the chiefs and kings still wield influence in Africa, he wants them to create a grassroots movement to press their political leaders to sign up to his vision.
Some 700 African tribal leaders gathered in Tripoli in September this year at the first “Forum of Kings, Sultans, Princes, Sheikhs and Mayors of Africa” to celebrate 10 years of the African Union.
The Forum was formed a year earlier in a grand ceremony in which the traditional rulers bestowed the title “king of kings” on Gadaffi. Sunday Vision learned that some 50 Ugandan royals and chiefs have visited Gadaffi at least three times in the past year, twice in Tripoli and once in Addis Ababa during his inauguration as AU chairman.
Last month, a group of 20 chiefs from eastern Congo, which shares the oil-rich Lake Albert basin, made the journey to Libya, according to intelligence sources. Ibrahim Bamariki, a Hema notable, and chief Akobi of the Ngiti tribe, both from the Ituri region, joined their colleagues in Tripoli on their way back from Mekka.
Besides lecturing them about the need for a united Africa, Gadaffi also helps them establish community projects. The Bunyoro king is setting up a kingdom radio station with Libyan funds, according to a source close to him, and has also been promised a school and a hospital in Hoima, the centre of the oil explorations.
Asked what the visits are about, one of the Ugandan royals said: “It is about power and natural resources, yes, but above all about a United States of Africa and his leadership position on the continent.”
Turkey and Iran sign strategic deal to carry gas to Europe.
Asbarez
29 October 2009
Iran and Turkey signed a number of deals to facilitate the efficient flow of gas through Turkey to Europe, including accords on allocating some of Iran's South Pars gas field to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), allowing Iranian gas to be transported via Turkey and allowing Turkmenistan's natural gas to be pumped to Turkey via Iran, during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Turkey's south-eastern neighbour.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the deals provided advantages for Turkey in the use and the sale of some phases of the South Pars gas field.
"Its conditions and prices will be negotiated later," the minister added.
Iran, which has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, is Turkey's second-biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. Turkey had signed a preliminary deal in November 2008 for Iranian gas to be exported to Europe through Turkey and for Turkey to produce gas in the South Pars field.
The investment would amount to $ 3.5 bn. But this deal has been delayed by objections from the United States, which opposes new energy deals in Iran as part of Western efforts to isolate Tehran over its nuclear program.
Iranian media said earlier that Iran had agreed to a Turkish request for a three-month extension of a deadline to finalize the South Pars deal in order to clarify pricing and other details.
"We have more steps to take on the economy, trade, oil and gas to promote cooperation," Erdogan said. Iran is under US and UN sanctions over nuclear work Tehran says is for peaceful power generation but which the West says is aimed at making bombs.
Turkey has said that Iranian gas can help the planned Nabucco pipeline supply Europe and lessen the continent's dependence on Russian deliveries. The agreement, which was signed by Minister Yildiz and Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi under the supervision of Erdogan and Iran's vice president, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, also envisaged the establishment of a joint working group to study the possibilities of substituting fields in the South Pars region which were formerly allocated to Turkey with richer fields.
Yildiz said Turkey's step towards Iran is in accordance with its policy of establishing "zero-problem" relations with its neighbours and advancing to a maximum level of energy cooperation with surrounding countries.
"As you would know, the transfer of property rights of oil and natural gas deposits is not a matter of discussion, as set out in their Constitution. All you can get is the land tenures of these fields, for temporary periods of time. We will have the right to sell, for instance, half of the gas extracted from the field. Of course additional conditions and the prices will be discussed later. After a series of studies on the fields, a ballpark quantity of the deposits beneath the earth will be determined," the minister said about the process.
TPAO will later start exploring and extracting the gas reserves and will also be able to establish platforms to drill into the earth up to 150 meters in search of gas. Following that, the company will start production and sales.
In addition to increased energy cooperation, the two countries further agreed to strengthen their banking and transport ties in a drive to almost treble trade between the two neighbours to $ 20 bn in the next few years. As of the end of 2008, total trade volume was roughly $ 7 bn.
"The two countries are determined to expand their bilateral relations in all fields," Rahimi told attendees of a joint news conference with Erdogan.
Erdogan, on the other hand, said he welcomed an Iranian call for trade volume to eventually reach $ 30 bn.
Rahimi said the two sides reached a series of agreements, including building two power plants, setting up a free industrial zone on both sides of the border and on Iranian and Turkish banks opening branches in the other country.
29 October 2009
Iran and Turkey signed a number of deals to facilitate the efficient flow of gas through Turkey to Europe, including accords on allocating some of Iran's South Pars gas field to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), allowing Iranian gas to be transported via Turkey and allowing Turkmenistan's natural gas to be pumped to Turkey via Iran, during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Turkey's south-eastern neighbour.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the deals provided advantages for Turkey in the use and the sale of some phases of the South Pars gas field.
"Its conditions and prices will be negotiated later," the minister added.
Iran, which has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, is Turkey's second-biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia. Turkey had signed a preliminary deal in November 2008 for Iranian gas to be exported to Europe through Turkey and for Turkey to produce gas in the South Pars field.
The investment would amount to $ 3.5 bn. But this deal has been delayed by objections from the United States, which opposes new energy deals in Iran as part of Western efforts to isolate Tehran over its nuclear program.
Iranian media said earlier that Iran had agreed to a Turkish request for a three-month extension of a deadline to finalize the South Pars deal in order to clarify pricing and other details.
"We have more steps to take on the economy, trade, oil and gas to promote cooperation," Erdogan said. Iran is under US and UN sanctions over nuclear work Tehran says is for peaceful power generation but which the West says is aimed at making bombs.
Turkey has said that Iranian gas can help the planned Nabucco pipeline supply Europe and lessen the continent's dependence on Russian deliveries. The agreement, which was signed by Minister Yildiz and Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi under the supervision of Erdogan and Iran's vice president, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, also envisaged the establishment of a joint working group to study the possibilities of substituting fields in the South Pars region which were formerly allocated to Turkey with richer fields.
Yildiz said Turkey's step towards Iran is in accordance with its policy of establishing "zero-problem" relations with its neighbours and advancing to a maximum level of energy cooperation with surrounding countries.
"As you would know, the transfer of property rights of oil and natural gas deposits is not a matter of discussion, as set out in their Constitution. All you can get is the land tenures of these fields, for temporary periods of time. We will have the right to sell, for instance, half of the gas extracted from the field. Of course additional conditions and the prices will be discussed later. After a series of studies on the fields, a ballpark quantity of the deposits beneath the earth will be determined," the minister said about the process.
TPAO will later start exploring and extracting the gas reserves and will also be able to establish platforms to drill into the earth up to 150 meters in search of gas. Following that, the company will start production and sales.
In addition to increased energy cooperation, the two countries further agreed to strengthen their banking and transport ties in a drive to almost treble trade between the two neighbours to $ 20 bn in the next few years. As of the end of 2008, total trade volume was roughly $ 7 bn.
"The two countries are determined to expand their bilateral relations in all fields," Rahimi told attendees of a joint news conference with Erdogan.
Erdogan, on the other hand, said he welcomed an Iranian call for trade volume to eventually reach $ 30 bn.
Rahimi said the two sides reached a series of agreements, including building two power plants, setting up a free industrial zone on both sides of the border and on Iranian and Turkish banks opening branches in the other country.
US fighter jets enter Pakistani airspace.
The Nation
20 December 2009
US fighter jets were on Saturday seen flying over Mohmand tribal region bordering Afghanistan for almost two hours, local residents and officials said, reported Indian news agency PTI.
The jets, which were flying at low altitude, intruded almost 50 kilometers into the Pakistani airspace. They were seen flying over Soran Darra, Ghanam Shah, Shaikh Baba, Matai and Khazeena Chinari, which are located west of Ghalanai, the main town of Mohmand Agency.
Officials of the local political administration also confirmed the intrusion by the US jets. Local residents said the US aircraft flew across the Afghan border at around 8:00 am and remained in the Pakistani airspace for almost two hours.
This development has sprung a wave of panic among the local population, who are already terrorized by the continued US drone attacks as such attacks are claiming lives of innocent people.
The tribesmen protested against the intrusion by the US fighters, saying international norms do not allow aircraft of a foreign country to fly over an independent nation without its permission.
Tribal elders asked the government to take up the matter with the UN and vowed to defend Pakistan against ‘any foreign aggression’.
20 December 2009
US fighter jets were on Saturday seen flying over Mohmand tribal region bordering Afghanistan for almost two hours, local residents and officials said, reported Indian news agency PTI.
The jets, which were flying at low altitude, intruded almost 50 kilometers into the Pakistani airspace. They were seen flying over Soran Darra, Ghanam Shah, Shaikh Baba, Matai and Khazeena Chinari, which are located west of Ghalanai, the main town of Mohmand Agency.
Officials of the local political administration also confirmed the intrusion by the US jets. Local residents said the US aircraft flew across the Afghan border at around 8:00 am and remained in the Pakistani airspace for almost two hours.
This development has sprung a wave of panic among the local population, who are already terrorized by the continued US drone attacks as such attacks are claiming lives of innocent people.
The tribesmen protested against the intrusion by the US fighters, saying international norms do not allow aircraft of a foreign country to fly over an independent nation without its permission.
Tribal elders asked the government to take up the matter with the UN and vowed to defend Pakistan against ‘any foreign aggression’.
More Ethiopian Troops Reach Central Somalia.
Shabelle
19 December 2009
Hundreds of Ethiopian troops have reportedly reached at Kalaber intersection about 25 km north of Beledweyne town in central Somalia, witnesses said on Saturday.
Residents say the Ethiopian troops armed with armed vehicles and other military trucks made a base in Kalaber, a strategic junction that connects central and southern regions of Somalia.
The Ethiopian troops left from Ferfer in eastern Ethiopia and crossed the border early on Saturday. Former Somali government officials are following the Ethiopian troops.
The motive behind the arrival of the Ethiopian troops is not known. Ethiopia denies frequently that its troops re-entered Somalia.
The Ethiopian troops pulled out from the country in January 2009 after two years of ill-fated occupation.
19 December 2009
Hundreds of Ethiopian troops have reportedly reached at Kalaber intersection about 25 km north of Beledweyne town in central Somalia, witnesses said on Saturday.
Residents say the Ethiopian troops armed with armed vehicles and other military trucks made a base in Kalaber, a strategic junction that connects central and southern regions of Somalia.
The Ethiopian troops left from Ferfer in eastern Ethiopia and crossed the border early on Saturday. Former Somali government officials are following the Ethiopian troops.
The motive behind the arrival of the Ethiopian troops is not known. Ethiopia denies frequently that its troops re-entered Somalia.
The Ethiopian troops pulled out from the country in January 2009 after two years of ill-fated occupation.
Colombia to build new military base on Venezuelan border.
AFP
19 December 2009
Colombia has announced it will build a new military base near its border with Venezuela, in a move likely to further strain its tense ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said Friday that the base, located on the Guajira peninsula near the city of Nazaret, would have up to 1,000 troops. Two air battalions would also be activated at other border areas.
"It is a strategic point from a defense point of view," Silva said.
The 1.5-million-dollar facility, paid for with Colombian tax funds, would also have a care facility for indigenous Wayuu people who live in the area, he added.
Army Commander General Oscar Gonzalez meanwhile announced Saturday that six air battalions were being activated, including two on the border with Venezuela.
Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia have been spurred by a US military deal with Bogota allowing US forces to run operations from Colombian bases.
Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 28 in response to the US-Colombian military base deal.
The agreement, signed on October 30, involves seven Colombian bases and sparked consternation throughout the region, particularly irking Caracas.
Venezuela shares a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) border with Colombia and has denounced the deal, saying it poses a military threat to the sovereignty of Latin American countries.
In November Chavez called upon his countrymen to "prepare for war" and Colombia's defense minister said Friday that "for the first time in decades, the Columbian defense ministry must study how "to prepare to face a foreign threat."
19 December 2009
Colombia has announced it will build a new military base near its border with Venezuela, in a move likely to further strain its tense ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said Friday that the base, located on the Guajira peninsula near the city of Nazaret, would have up to 1,000 troops. Two air battalions would also be activated at other border areas.
"It is a strategic point from a defense point of view," Silva said.
The 1.5-million-dollar facility, paid for with Colombian tax funds, would also have a care facility for indigenous Wayuu people who live in the area, he added.
Army Commander General Oscar Gonzalez meanwhile announced Saturday that six air battalions were being activated, including two on the border with Venezuela.
Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia have been spurred by a US military deal with Bogota allowing US forces to run operations from Colombian bases.
Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 28 in response to the US-Colombian military base deal.
The agreement, signed on October 30, involves seven Colombian bases and sparked consternation throughout the region, particularly irking Caracas.
Venezuela shares a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) border with Colombia and has denounced the deal, saying it poses a military threat to the sovereignty of Latin American countries.
In November Chavez called upon his countrymen to "prepare for war" and Colombia's defense minister said Friday that "for the first time in decades, the Columbian defense ministry must study how "to prepare to face a foreign threat."
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