RELEVANT TO RUSSIA

curiositycounts: The effects of political and civic unrest in...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:59:23 -0400

The effects of political and civic unrest in Egypt and Libya on global oil prices, in an infographic timeline.

nickturse: Stratfor provides an invaluable map of foreign...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:58:44 -0400

Stratfor provides an invaluable map of foreign energy interests — the big multi-national oil companies — in Libya, including Exxon-Mobil, Shell and BP. It helps to provide context about Qaddafi’s Libya, the current civil war, the Western intervention and answer questions about who profits and who pays.

Oil Soars as Libyan Furor Shakes Markets - FEB 22

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:22:16 -0400

HOUSTON — The political turmoil sweeping the Arab world drove oil prices sharply higher and stocks much lower on Tuesday despite efforts by Saudi Arabia to calm turbulent markets.

The unrest that has spread from Tunisia to Libya pushed oil prices to a two-year high and has spurred an increase in gasoline prices. The specter of rising energy costs and accelerating inflation in turn unsettled investors.

Oil is now at a price not seen since the recession began, and it is more than $20 above goals set in recent months by Saudi officials as strong enough to satisfy the top producers but not so strong they might suffocate the global economic recovery.

Although there are still plentiful supplies of oil and gasoline in the United States and in much of the world, American consumers are now paying an average of $3.17 a gallon for regular gasoline, a steep rise of 6 cents a gallon over the last week, according to the AAA daily fuel gauge report. With consumers paying roughly 50 cents more a gallon than a year ago, analysts are warning that prices could easily top $3.50 by the summer driving season.

“Higher energy prices act like a tax on consumers, reducing the amount of discretionary purchasing power that they have,” said Lawrence R. Creatura, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors. “It represents an additional, potential headwind for retailers.”

Those concerns helped send the Dow Jones industrial average down 178.46 points, or 1.44 percent, to 12,212.79. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index declined 27.57 points, or 2.05 percent, to 1,315.44, while the Nasdaq composite index lost 77.53 points, or 2.74 percent, to 2,756.42. Markets in Asia and Europe were also lower. Treasury prices rose in the United States.

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister sought to reassure the markets on Tuesday, saying that OPEC was ready to pump more oil to compensate for any decline. At least 50,000 barrels a day of output has already been halted in Libya. That is only a fraction of the country’s production, but with foreign oil companies beginning to shut down operations and evacuate workers and with local ports closing, more output could be lost.

“OPEC is ready to meet any shortage in supply when it happens,” the Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said at a news conference after a meeting of ministers of oil producing and consuming nations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “There is concern and fear, but there is no shortage.”

Europe appears most immediately vulnerable to the strife in Libya, which produces almost 2 percent of the world’s oil. More than 85 percent of its exports go to Europe; more than a third goes to Italy alone. Libya sends only a small fraction of its oil to the United States, but because oil is a world commodity, Americans are not immune to the price shock waves.

In New York, crude oil for March delivery gained $7.37, or 8.6 percent, to $93.57 a barrel, while oil for April delivery rose 6.4 percent, to $95.42 a barrel. Brent crude, a European benchmark traded in London, rose 4 cents, to $105.78. Refineries on the East and West Coasts also depend on Brent crude, meaning that the higher prices paid by Europeans are also pushing up gasoline and heating oil prices paid by many New Yorkers, New Englanders and other Americans.

Tom Kloza, the chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, estimated that the Saudis could pump an additional 1 million to 1.5 million barrels in a matter of days. As the largest producer, Saudi Arabia is by far the most influential member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, with a reserve capacity to deliver an additional four million to five million barrels to the world markets after several weeks of preparation. That is more than twice the oil that world markets would lose if production were halted completely by unrest in Libya.

“Unless this unrest spreads to the streets of Jeddah and Riyadh,” Mr. Kloza said, “I think it’s a very manageable situation and prices are closer to cresting than they are to exploding higher.”

While Libya has been the immediate cause for the spike in oil prices recently, oil experts said traders were driving up prices because of concerns that a long period of instability in the Middle East was just beginning. They identified the protests in Bahrain in particular as a disturbing sign that neighboring Saudi Arabia might not be immune to the spreading political contagion.

Bahrain produces little oil, but it is connected to the oil-rich eastern region of Saudi Arabia by a 15-mile causeway. The island nation has a majority Shiite population with cultural and religious ties to the Saudi Shiite minority that lives close to some of the richest Saudi oil fields.

Saudi rulers have long feared that its regional rival, Iran, could try to destabilize Bahrain as a way to cause trouble for the Saudi royal family. Iran’s intentions became all the more worrisome to the Saudis when it decided this month to send two warships through the Suez Canal for the first time in more than 30 years.

“No one knows where this ends,” said Helima L. Croft, a director and senior geopolitical strategist at Barclays Capital. “A couple of weeks ago it was Tunisia and Egypt, and it was thought this can be contained to North Africa and the resource-poor Middle East countries. But now with protests in Bahrain, that’s the heart of the gulf, and it’s adding to anxieties.”

Middle Eastern oil fields are generally well defended and far from population centers, but energy analysts say the continuing turbulence potentially threatens supply lines and foreign investment that producers like Libya and Algeria depend on to increase production.

World oil prices started rising sharply when demonstrators overwhelmed downtown Cairo earlier in the month because of concerns that unrest could block the Suez Canal and Sumed pipeline through which three million barrels of crude pass daily. Labor unrest continues to roil the canal, though shipments have continued without incident.

Unrest in Yemen potentially threatens the 18-mile-wide Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, a shipping lane between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East that serves as a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean through which nearly four million barrels of oil pass daily. Security for tanker traffic in the area became a concern after terrorists attacked a French tanker off the coast of Yemen in 2002.

Russian Revolution? No Thanks. - MARCH 2

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:17:00 -0400

MOSCOW — On Feb. 21, the Libyan air force swooped in on protesters in Tripoli, opening fire on a crowd that had joined the uprising against Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi. That same day, Boris Yakemenko, a high-ranking ideologist for the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, decided it was a good moment to offer his own take on events.

“Libyan leader Col. M. Qaddafi has shown the whole world how to treat provocateurs who aim for revolution, destabilization, and civil war,” Yakemenko wrote in an essay titled “The Right Path,” posted on his blog and on Nashi’s official website.

“He started to destroy them. He used rockets and everything he has,” Yakemenko wrote. “This is the most accurate path to ending American ‘revolutionary’ technologies.”

His words would seem like the ravings of a madman — if they did not ring so close to statements made by Russia’s leadership since the unrest riling the Middle East broke out in January. Intrinsically frightened by revolution and by recent polls showing widespread agitation and mistrust of the government, the Kremlin is striking pre-emptively: hinting that the revolutions are Western-backed overthrows of troublesome regimes and issuing paranoid statements designed to shift the blame for Russia’s ills away from itself.

Yakemenko is no outsider. He’s one of the top officials in Nashi, the brother of its leader, and a member of the Public Chamber, a government oversight committee made up of presidential appointees. Nashi, the group he represents, is an explicitly counterrevolutionary body, formed by the Kremlin in 2005 in the wake of the so-called color revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine. In the West, those uprisings were viewed as two post-Soviet countries throwing off the remaining shackles of Russian influence. Inside the Kremlin, the color revolutions were seen as victories for Western spy agencies bent on bringing Russia to its knees.

“[At the time,] President Putin and other officials really used the rhetoric of ‘the next day it’ll happen in Moscow,’” said Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. Nashi, which counts tens of thousands of Putin-loving youths as members, was designed to pre-empt that day.

But Nashi’s representative wasn’t the only one egging on autocratic dictators in the Arab world. As events in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya unfolded, Russia’s leaders remained uncomfortably quiet before responding with the same level of high-alert paranoia. Igor Sechin, a secretive deputy prime minister and one of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s closest confidants, used a rare interview to blame the unrest entirely on Google, hinting at the role of Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who anonymously ran a Facebook page that gathered thousands of supporters for Egypt’s revolution. “We need to more closely examine what has happened in Egypt,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “See, well, what senior managers of Google have been doing in Egypt, what kind of manipulations of the energy of the people took place there.”

Hours after the interview was published on Feb. 22, President Dmitry Medvedev made his first statements on the unrest, warning that “fanatics” were attempting to come to power in the Arab world. “This will mean fires for decades and the spread of extremism,” he warned.

Most striking, however, was Medvedev’s remark that an unidentified “they” were preparing similar unrest at home.

“They have prepared such a scenario for us before, and now more than ever they will try and realize it,” Medvedev said, without making any attempt to elaborate on who “they” might be. “In any case, this scenario won’t succeed.”

It’s an age-old tactic of stirring anti-Western paranoia, seeking to blame Russia’s own troubles on “some evil source over there orchestrating evil,” said Lipman. The site of Medvedev’s speech was significant: He spoke at a meeting of his anti-terrorist committee in Vladikavkaz, a city in Russia’s southern republic of North Ossetia that is seen as the gateway to the restive Caucasus. He had flown there four days after suspected Islamist extremists gunned down three tourists from Moscow on their way to a ski resort on nearby Mount Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak. It was the latest terrifying twist in a years-long insurgency that has reached new heights in recent months, with rebels carrying out devastating suicide attacks in Moscow twice in the past year. (On Tuesday, March 1, the deputy head of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, seen here as a Western pawn, of organizing the January attack on Domodedovo airport that left 37 people dead — an attack that Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov has already taken responsibility for.)

If “they” are stirring up trouble in Egypt and Libya, it’s convenient for Moscow to argue that “they” might also be at the root of Russia’s problems in the Caucasus and elsewhere.

But Russians don’t seem to be buying the excuse. A creeping dissatisfaction appears to be setting in, not merely based on Moscow’s inability to stop terrorist attacks, but also on the government’s ineffective actions at pulling the country out of the global financial crisis. Unemployment and inflation remain high, while corruption has become a way of life. A Levada Center poll carried out on the day of President Hosni Mubarak’s fall in Egypt found that 34 percent of Russians thought the mass protests rocking Cairo could happen in Russia too. Another poll conducted in late February by the Public Opinion Foundation, found that 49 percent of Russians were so dissatisfied that they were ready to go out and protest; never before had the percentage been this high. A third polling agency, VCIOM, found that both Medvedev’s and Putin’s approval ratings have fallen below 50 percent — a rare low.

Russia’s struggling opposition is hoping to seize on these numbers. “In Russia, there is a high level of social discontent, a political monopoly, and corruption — it’s an ideal atmosphere for social protest,” said Ilya Yashin, a 27-year-old leader of Solidarity, an umbrella group that unites Russia’s democratic opposition. “That’s the combination that we saw in Egypt, and a year ago no one expected anything like what we saw to happen there.”

Yet Yashin’s group doesn’t appear to have the passionate, albeit covert, following of opposition movements in the Arab world. The monthly protests it organizes, once banned but now permitted under the leadership of Moscow’s new mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, rarely garner more than 1,000 people. Around 500 showed up for its latest gathering in central Moscow on Feb. 12 — a low turnout Yashin blamed on the weather, which was a frigid -13 degrees Fahrenheit. “If you had such a temperature in Arab capitals, you wouldn’t have seen so many people turn out there either,” he said.

Russia’s more radical groups tend to garner more support. The far-right protests held by some of Russia’s most racist groups regularly gather at least 5,000. On the left, Russia’s pensioners, often its most politically active citizens, stuff Communist Party rallies to the brim.

It’s barely the stuff of revolution — but nonetheless, Russia’s leaders are growing uneasy. In a country whose sprawling bureaucracy remains staffed with a batch of Soviet-era apparatchiks, reverting to paranoid outbursts is almost normal. “A regime like this, a soft authoritarian regime, has an inherent precariousness about it,” said Lipman.

As the international community binds together in the face of Qaddafi’s growing ruthlessness, Medvedev has suddenly changed tack, issuing a statement on Feb. 25 condemning the use of force against civilians and warning that the Libyan leadership could face war crimes charges if it refused to rein itself in. On March 1, an unnamed Kremlin source told the Interfax news agency that Qaddafi was now considered a “political corpse.” This week, Russia, with uncharacteristic quiet and ease, joined in international efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on Libya, even though it stands to lose a reported $4 billion in arms contracts as a result.

Yakemenko, the Nashi ideologue, didn’t buy the about-face.

“President Medvedev said what happened in the Arab world will not happen in Russia. That means he understands that what is happening in the Middle East is a process that is orchestrated from the outside,” Yakemenko told me on March 1.

“There are provocateurs that are enemies of the country — and not just in Libya,” he said. “The Americans have set themselves the task of changing control of these regions, and they will do anything to achieve it. Yes, there are masses of unhappy people, but they are being used.” As Russia’s leaders pursue the dual course of deflecting attention from problems at home while boosting the belief that outsiders are to blame for their own country’s problems, they will continue to need someone like Yakemenko on their side.

As for Yashin, he says he simply needs spring: “As the weather warms up, people will come out more and more.” But winter in Russia can last a long time: Egypt’s Mubarak led the country for nearly 30 years; Qaddafi has been in charge for almost 42. Putin, Russia’s paramount leader, has been at the helm as president or prime minister for just over a decade. “Yes,” said Yashin, “but if we speak only about the level of corruption, compared to Putin, Mubarak was an honest man.”

President Dmitri Medvedev made a series of paranoid comments, claiming Libya would be overtaken by “fanatics” and “fire for decades.” He also took the opportunity to warn Kremlin opponents, saying: “They have prepared such a scenario for us before, and now more than ever they will try and realize it. In any case, this scenario won’t succeed.”

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:16:10 -0400

Italian Energy Company Suspends Gas Pipeline to Libya - FEB 22, NOTE MENTION OF RUSSIAN OIL

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:13:49 -0400

ROME — Concerns rose about Italy’s natural gas supplies on Tuesday, after the country’s main energy company, ENI, said it had suspended supplies through its Greenstream pipeline, which runs from Libya to Sicily and supplies 10 percent of Italy’s natural gas.

In a statement, ENI said it was “still able to meet its customers’ demand for gas,” while a spokesman for ENI, Gianni di Giovanni, told the Sky Tg24 news channel that the company was “moderately concerned” about the suspension. He said Italy could draw on energy imports from Russia, Algeria and Norway, as well as its own reserves.

ENI temporarily closed the pipeline after the supplies feeding into it were disrupted. The ANSA news agency reported that the closure was a precautionary measure after many of ENI’s employees in Libya did not show up for work.

Italy’s minister for economic development, Paolo Romani, said Italy was not at risk and that a meeting had been called for Wednesday to discuss the nation’s energy supplies.

Italy depends on natural gas imports for the bulk of its energy needs. On Tuesday, Emma Marcegaglia, the president of Confindustria, the Italian industrialists’ organization, warned that rising oil prices would take a devastating toll on Italy’s struggling economy.

Relations with Libya, a former Italian colony, have long been a cornerstone of Italian foreign policy and ENI has operated in Libya since 1959.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spoke by telephone with the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. It did not elaborate.

Members of the center-left opposition have called on Mr. Berlusconi to use his close ties with Colonel Qaddafi to push him to stop the bloodshed in Libya. Mr. Berlusconi made his first public comments about days of unrest in Libya on Monday evening, expressing concern “about the unacceptable use of violence against the civilian population.”

In 2008, Mr. Berlusconi signed a bilateral accord with Colonel Qaddafi in which Italy pledged $5 billion over 20 years in exchange for Libya blocking the flow of illegal immigrants to Italy and giving favorable treatment to Italian companies seeking to do business there, including ENI.

Nicolò Sartori, an energy market expert at the Institute for International Affairs, a Rome-based think tank, noted that no matter what happened to the Qaddafi regime, Libya would remain dependent on Italy and ENI. “Libya will have to export its gas, and the only way to export its gas is Greenstream,” he said.

With thousands of miles of Mediterranean coastline, Italy is also concerned about a wave of immigrants arriving from North Africa following the unrest across the region.

“We’re worried about the concrete risk of a civil war in Libya that would have devastating consequences for the potential flow of migrants to Europe, a flow of absolutely epochal dimensions,” Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday.

Russia and Libya strike 1.3 billion euro military deal - JAN...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:57:03 -0400

Russia and Libya strike 1.3 billion euro military deal - JAN 2010

Libya and Russia to cooperate

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:55:41 -0400

Libya and Russia to cooperate

Libya & Oil

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:42:34 -0400

Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa, followed by Nigeria and Algeria (see graph below). According to Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Libya had total proven oil reserves of 41.5 billion barrels as of January 2007, up from 39.1 billion barrels in 2006. About 80 percent of Libya’s proven oil reserves are located in the Sirte basin, which is responsible for 90 percent of the country’s oil output. Libya remains “highly unexplored” according to reports by Wood Mackenzie, and only around 25 percent of Libya is covered by exploration agreements with oil companies. The under-exploration of Libya reflects the impact of former sanctions and also stringent fiscal terms imposed by Libya on foreign oil companies.

Production

According to the International Crude Oil Market Handbook, Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) would like to raise oil production from 1.80 million bbl/d in 2006 to 2 million bbl/d by 2008 and to 3 million bbl/d by 2010-2013. In large part, NOC’s production goals depend on its ability to finance its share of development costs. Future foreign investment into the oil sector is likely, especially with the improved investment climate that stems from the United Nations and United States lifting sanctions. Previously, sanctions had caused delays in a number of field development and EOR projects and had deterred foreign capital investment. Overall, Libya is considered a highly attractive oil province due to its low cost of oil recovery (as low as $1 per barrel at some fields), the high quality of its oil, and its proximity to European markets.

Exports

With domestic consumption of 284,000 bbl/d in 2006, Libya had estimated net exports (including all liquids) of 1.525 million bbl/d. According to 2006 official trade data as reported to the Global Trade Atlas, the vast majority of Libyan oil exports are sold to European countries like Italy (495,000 bbl/d), Germany (253,000 bbl/d), Spain (113,000) bbl/d and France (87,000 bbl/d). With the lifting of sanctions against Libya in 2004, the United States has increased its imports of Libyan oil. The United States imported an average of 85,500 bbl/d of total Libyan oil exports in 2006, up from 56,000 bbl/d of oil imports in 2005. Libyan oil is generally light (high API gravity) and sweet (low sulfur content), but can also be thick and waxy. The country’s nine export grades have API gravities that range from 26o – 44o. While the lighter, sweeter grades are generally sold to Europe, the heavier crude oils are often exported to Asian markets. Most Libyan oil is sold on a term basis, including to the country’s Oilinvest marketing network in Europe; to companies like Agip, OMV, Repsol YPF, Tupras, CEPSA, and Total; and small volumes to Asian and South African companies.

Field Development and Exploration
With state-operated oil fields undergoing a 7-8 percent natural decline rate, Libya’s challenge is maintaining production at mature fields, while finding new oil and developing new discoveries. In November 2005, Repsol YPF (operator) announced that it had discovered a significant new oil deposit of light, sweet crude that extends over two licenses in the Murzuq Basin. Industry experts believe the discovery to be one of the biggest made in Libya for several years. The discovery is partly located in license NC-186, which currently produces around 60,000 bbl/d. Production on the license is expected to increase over the next 4-year period (2007-2011) by 100,000 – 150,000 bbl/d as oil from the discovery comes online. Repsol YPF is joined by a consortium of partners that includes OMV, Total and Norsk Hydro. Also located in Murzuq Basin is Eni’s Elephant field. In October 1997, an international consortium led by British company Lasmo, along with Eni and a group of five South Korean companies, announced that it had discovered large recoverable crude reserves (around 700 million barrels) at the NC-174 Block, 465 miles south of Tripoli. Lasmo, which was purchased by Eni in 2001, estimated that production from the field would cost around $1 per barrel. Elephant began production in February 2004 at around 10,000 bbl/d. In 2006, Eni indicated that Elephant was producing at around 125,000 bbl/d, and the company was hoping to see the field reach full capacity of 150,000 bbl/d by 2008. Waha Oil Company’s (WOC) Waha fields currently produce around 350,000 bbl/d, down from around 1 million bbl/d in 1969 and 400,000 bbl/d in 1986. However, WOC expects to increase Waha output by around 200,000 bbl/d over the next couple of years. In 2005, ConocoPhillips and co-venturers reached an agreement with NOC to both return to its operations in Libya and to extend the Waha concession by 25 years. ConocoPhillips operates the Waha fields with a 16.33 percent share in the project. NOC has the largest share of the Waha concession 59.17 percent, and additional partners include Marathon (16.33 percent), and Amerada Hess (8.17 percent).

REFINING & DOWNSTREAM

According to OGJ, Libya has five domestic refineries, with a combined capacity of 378,000 bbl/d. Libya’s refineries include: 1) the Ras Lanuf export refinery, completed in 1984 and located on the Gulf of Sirte, with a crude oil refining capacity of 220,000 bbl/d; 2) the Az Zawiya refinery, completed in 1974 and located in northwestern Libya, with crude processing capacity of 120,000 bbl/d; 3) the Tobruk refinery, with crude capacity of 20,000 bbl/d; 4) Brega, the oldest refinery in Libya, located near Tobruk with crude capacity of 10,000 bbl/d; and 5) Sarir, a topping facility with 8,000 bbl/d of capacity. Libya’s refining sector reportedly was impacted by UN sanctions, specifically UN Resolution 883 of November 11, 1993, which banned Libya from importing refinery equipment. Libya is seeking a comprehensive upgrade to its entire refining system, with a particular aim of increasing output of gasoline and other light products (i.e. jet fuel). As of early June 2007, NOC was evaluating investment proposals for upgrading the Ras Lanuf refinery. Total cost of the upgrade is estimated at $2 billion. NOC is also expected to re-tender an engineering, procurement and construction contract for upgrading the Az Zawiya refinery. In addition to refinery upgrades, Tamoil Africa and Occidental Petroleum Corporation reportedly have plans to build new refineries near Melitah. Overseas Investment

In addition to its domestic refineries, Libya has operations in Europe through its overseas oil retail arm, Tamoil. Through Tamoil, Libya is a direct producer and distributor of refined products in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Egypt. Tamoil Italia, based in Milan, controls about 7.5 percent of Italy’s retail market for oil products and lubricants, which are distributed through 3,000 Tamoil service stations. Libya’s ability to increase the supply of oil products to European markets has been constrained by the fact that Libya’s refineries are in need of upgrading, specifically in order to meet stricter EU environmental standards in place since 1996. In June 2007, United States-based Colony Capital reached a agreement to take over 65 percent of Tamoil, while the Libyan government will retain 35 percent. Libya will continue to control Tamoil Africa, which operates retail stations in Egypt and Burkina Faso among other African nations. Sector Organization

Libya’s oil industry is run by the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), along with smaller subsidiary companies, which combined account for around half of the country’s oil output. Of NOC’s subsidiaries, the largest oil producer is the Waha Oil Company (WOC), followed by the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco), Zueitina Oil Company (ZOC), and Sirte Oil Company (SOC). In addition to NOC’s subsidiaries, several international oil companies are engaged in exploration and production in Libya including Repsol YPF (Spain), Eni (Italy), OMV (Austria), and Total (France). United States-based oil companies, after the lifting of sanctions in 2004, were allowed back into Libya. In September 2003 the UN Security Council officially lifted its sanctions over Libya. On February 26, 2004, following a declaration by Libya that it would abandon its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs and comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), the United States rescinded a ban on travel to Libya and authorized U.S. oil companies with pre-sanctions holdings in Libya to negotiate on their return to the country if and when the United States lifted economic sanctions. On April 23, 2004, the United States eased its economic sanctions against Libya, and the White House issued a press release stating that: “U.S. companies will be able to buy or invest in Libyan oil and products. U.S. commercial banks and other financial service providers will be able to participate in and support these transactions.” On the same day, Libya’s NOC announced its first shipment of oil to the United States in over 20 years. On June 28, 2004, the United States and Libya formally resumed diplomatic relations, severed since May 1981. Finally, on September 20, 2004, President Bush signed Executive Order 12543, lifting most remaining U.S. sanctions against Libya and paving the way for U.S. oil companies to try to secure contracts or revive previous contracts for tapping Libya’s oil reserves. The Order also revoked any restrictions on importation of oil products refined in Libya, and unblocked certain assets. Licensing Rounds

On January 30, 2005, Libya held its first round of oil and natural gas exploration leases since the United States ended sanctions against the country. In October 2005, Libya held a second bidding round under EPSA IV, with 51 companies taking part and nearly $500 million worth of new investment flowing into the country as a result. In December 2006, Libya held its third bidding round; however, production-sharing agreements (PSAs) awarded in the round were still being signed by NOC as of April 2007. Industry experts noted that the third round attracted smaller players, including ones from Russia, as opposed to larger international oil companies (IOCs), which participated in the previous two rounds. In July 2007, Libya plans to announce its fourth round, which is likely to focus on natural gas assets. Winners of Libyan exploration acreage are determined largely based on how high a share of production a company is willing to offer NOC. Whichever companies offer NOC the greatest share of profits is likely to win. In addition, oilfield developers initially bear 100 percent of costs (exploration, appraisal, training) for a minimum of 5 years, while NOC retains exclusive ownership. Also included in Libyan licensing rounds is open competitive bidding and transparency, joint development and marketing of non-associated natural gas discoveries, standardized terms for exploration and production, and non-recoverable bonuses.

Photo

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:36:14 -0400

number 11

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:31:19 -0400

Top 15 Countries Supplying Crude Oil to America

Below are 15 countries that sold the most crude oil to the U.S. in 2009. Oil shipments from these nations account for 91.2% of all crude oil delivered to American importers last year.

Canada … $37 billion (19% of total imports, down 41.3% from 2008)
Venezuela … $24.6 billion (12.7%, down 43.7%)
Mexico … $22.1 billion (11.4%, down 40.5%)
Saudi Arabia … $21 billion (10.8%, down 60.6%)
Nigeria … $18.3 billion (9.4%, down 49.1%)
Iraq … $9.1 billion (4.7%, down 58%)
Angola … $9 billion (4.6%, down 51.4%)
Algeria … $7.9 billion (4.1%, down 47.9%)
Brazil … $5.8 billion (3%, down 26.1%)
Colombia … $5.2 billion (2.7%, down 12.6%)
Russia … $4.9 billion (2.5%, down 1.5%)
Kuwait … $3.7 billion (1.9%, down 44.9%)
Ecuador … $3.4 billion (1.8%, down 51.6%)
Pict Pict Pict Pict Pict Congo … $3 billion (1.5%, down 39.7%)
United Kingdom … $2.4 billion (1.2%, down 7.8%).

Not one of these countries improved their crude oil sales to the U.S. in 2009. Russia and the U.K. both had single-digit declines. Led by Saudi Arabia’s 61% fall, the remaining 13 countries endured painful double-digit cutbacks in U.S. crude oil orders.

Skip to 2:15 Vitaly Churkin, Russia Ambassador to the United...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:07:59 -0400

Skip to 2:15

Vitaly Churkin, Russia Ambassador to the United Nations, said while Moscow did not completely agree with the resolution, they had chose to abstain in the vote, rather than veto it, as they were “persistent firm advocates of the protection of the civilian population.”

“Guided by this basic principle, as well as by common humanitarian values which we share with both the co-sponsors and the other Security Council members, Russia did not prevent the adoption of this resolution. However, we are convinced that the quickest way to ensure robust security for the civilian population for the long-time civilisation situation in Libya is an immediate cease fire,” added Churkin.

Putin and Medvedev differ on UN resolution on Libya

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:46:49 -0400

The conflict in Libya caused an unusual rift on Monday between Russia’s two leaders, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin and his protégé, President Dmitri A. Medvedev, who typically choreograph their statements and refrain from criticizing each other.

Mr. Putin appeared to displease Mr. Medvedev on Monday by harshly assailing the airstrikes by coalition forces in Libya. Mr. Putin said the United Nations Security Council resolution that authorized the attacks was “deficient and flawed.” Russia abstained from voting on the resolution last week, deciding not to use a veto to block it.

“In general, it reminds me of a medieval call for a crusade,” Mr. Putin said.

Mr. Putin is widely considered Russia’s paramount leader, but Mr. Medvedev, as president, is in charge of foreign policy. Later in the day, Mr. Medvedev called a news conference where he pointedly rejected Mr. Putin’s language, though he did not mention Mr. Putin by name

“Under no circumstances is it acceptable to use expressions that essentially lead to a clash of civilizations — such as ‘crusade’ and so on,” said Mr. Medvedev, who spoke to reporters while wearing a bomber jacket with the presidential seal.

“It is unacceptable,” Mr. Medvedev said. “Otherwise, everything may end up much worse compared to what’s going on now. Everyone should remember that.”

The apparent tension between the two men set off speculation about whether they were starting to jockey for attention in advance of presidential elections next year. Both have said that they are considering running, though they have emphasized that they would decide together who would be the candidate and not compete against each other.

Mr. Medvedev referred more positively to the United Nations resolution, saying that it was important to remember that the Libyan leadership had committed crimes against the Libyan people.

Mr. Putin did not offer any response to Mr. Medvedev, and it was unclear Monday night how serious the schism was.

Mr. Putin served two terms as president but was barred by the Constitution from a third consecutive term. He then anointed Mr. Medvedev, a close aide, as his successor in the 2008 election.

The focus on Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev on Monday overshadowed a visit to Russia by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was in St. Petersburg before heading to Moscow for meetings with Mr. Medvedev and other senior Russian officials.

In St. Petersburg, Mr. Gates addressed the next generation of Russia’s military leadership — midcareer naval officers — and urged them to “work with multilateral coalitions to achieve common security objectives.”

He listed areas of cooperation between the United States and Russia, including stabilizing Afghanistan, curtailing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and countering terrorism and the narcotics trade.

Mr. Gates, who holds a doctorate in Russian and Soviet studies and, during a lengthy career at the C.I.A. and on the National Security Council, became one of the government’s most senior Kremlinologists, wrote an assessment in the early 1980s that remains relevant today.

As recounted in Mr. Gates’s memoir, “From the Shadows,” his memo on relations between Washington and Moscow cited the many times “a promising dialogue had been cut short by events. There are all too many places these days where such events can take place. It will take considerable skill and luck just to keep things from getting even worse.”

That assessment of the unsteady nature of ties remains relevant today, Mr. Gates said. But, speaking in advance of Mr. Putin’s comments on Libya, Mr. Gates said the current relationship could not be derailed by any single disagreement.
“I would say we’re probably not there yet, but it’s not nearly as fragile as it was 30 years ago,” Mr. Gates said.

India, China, Russia oppose air strikes on Libya New Delhi, March 20

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:46:22 -0400

India, China and Russia Sunday opposed the Western air strikes on Libya, with Moscow demanding a dialogue to end the ”bloodshed”.
The Indian foreign ministry said nothing should be done that aggravates the worsening situation for the people of Libya, where a revolt erupted in February against the four-decades rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

“India views with grave concern the continuing violence, strife and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya. It regrets the air strikes that are taking place,” a ministry statement said.

It said the Indian government hoped that the air attacks would not lead to greater harm to innocent civilians, foreigners and diplomatic missions and their personnel still in Libya.
“As stated earlier by India, the measures adopted should mitigate and not exacerbate an already difficult situation for the people of Libya.”

New Delhi urged all parties “to abjure use of or the threat of use of force and to resolve their differences through peaceful means and dialogue in which the UN and regional organisations should play their roles”.

Russia and China echoed similar sentiments.
“Moscow notes with regret this armed action, taken in conjunction with the hastily passed UN Security Council resolution 1973,” the Russian foreign ministry said Sunday.

Moscow called for an immediate end to the “bloodshed” in Libya to allow for dialogue.
India, China and Russia were among five countries that Thursday abstained from voting on the UN resolution which authorised the use of force and the creation of a no-fly zone in Libya.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing “as always does not agree with the use of force in international relations”.

Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China believed that all countries should respect Libya’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity”.

“We hope stability can be restored in Libya as soon as possible so as to avoid more civilian casualties caused by the escalation of military conflict,” she said.

Gaddafi has vowed to defend his country against “colonial aggression” after the first air strikes against Libyan defences and the enforcement of the UN-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya.

China Friday said it had “serious reservations” about a part of the UN Security Council resolution that authorized a no-fly zone over Libya.

Brazil and Germany also abstained from voting on the resolution. The US, France and Britain were among 10 countries that voted in favour.

French, British and American jets and ships are targeting key targets in Libya to prevent government forces from overrunning rebels who have vowed to topple Gaddafi.

Russian Duma calls for immediate halt to violence in Libya - 23 March, 2011

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:43:11 -0400

The lower house of the State Duma will call upon the Western states to immediately halt their military actions against the Gaddafi regime in order to avoid civilian casualties.

“The State Duma expresses concern over the scale and form in which the military force is used against Libya and calls for parliaments of France, Great Britain, United States, Italy, Canada and other states that are conducting the military operation to assist the immediate end of combat that damages the peaceful Libyan infrastructure and most importantly causes new casualties among civilian population,” reads a State Duma draft statement the international affairs committee has recommended adopting on Wednesday.

The Duma “joins the UN Security Council demands on immediately working out a ceasefire and absolutely stopping violence and all attacks on civilians and their cruel treatment and is calling on the leaders of Libya and the coalition member-states to strictly follow the spirit and the letter of relevant resolutions in their practical actions,” the statement continues.

Of the 450 deputies of the State Duma, 341 voted in favor of the resolution.

The lower house will hold a final vote on the document on Wednesday evening after discussing the amendments to it.

The resolution stresses that Russia joins the demands of the UN Security Council to immediately stop all violence against civilians, and that Russia calls for both the Libyan authorities and the coalition countries to base their actions on the corresponding resolutions.

Meanwhile, the Russian parliamentarians approved of their country’s decision to abstain from voting on the UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which provided the coalition forces to employ “all necessary means” for protecting Libyan civilians from the violence that has shaken their country since anti-government protesters took to the streets against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has been in power since 1969.

“The decision was a choice adequate to the situation,” the Duma statement reads.

The parliamentarians said they regretted that a draft UN Security Council resolution proposed by Russia, which was aimed at peacefully settling the crisis in Libya through the involvement of a special representative of the UN secretary-general, and other international organizations, failed to win significant support.

The Russian lawmakers stressed that one of the major flaws of Resolution 1973 is that is failed to restrain the use of excessive military force.

Resolution 1973 “declared primarily the need to protect Libya’s civilian population, including through the imposition of a no-fly zone, but this resolution failed to set clear limits on the use of military force,” the Russian lawmakers said.

Russian parliamentarians stressed that the realization of the UN resolution allowed certain countries to pursue different goals when delivering missile and bomb strikes on Libyan territory, targeting sites that had no immediate relation to enforcing the no-flight zone.

Given such “indiscriminate use of military force,” the lawmakers said, the prospects for the normalization of affairs in Libya may take much longer than necessary, while also prompting other states to develop their own weapons of mass destruction.

Russia has abstained in the UN Security Council vote on the resolution authorizing the use of force in Libya, but President Dmitry Medvedev amended the Russian legislation in accordance with the resolution, banning the sales of arms to Libya and also refusing Gaddafi and his close circle the right to enter the Russian Federation. At the same time, Russian officials have repeatedly criticized the resolution and warned that it could lead to a lengthy war with numerous casualties.