QIA fund becomes strategic partner of ROSNEFT

HomeBusiness News Qatari fund becomes strategic partner of Russia’s Rosneft Published time: 7 May, 2018 11:47 Get short URL Qatari fund becomes strategic partner of Russia’s Rosneft Buildings are seen on a coast line in Doha, Qatar © Naseem Zeitoon / Reuters An agreement which provides for the acquisition of an 18.93 percent stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft by Qatar sovereign fund (QIA) is strategic, according to company spokesman Mikhail Leontyev. He told RIA Novosti that QIA will become a major shareholder in Rosneft, along with the British oil company BP. Under the deal which was announced Friday, QIA will own 18.93 percent of Rosneft, becoming the third-largest shareholder after the Russian state, which holds 50 percent and, BP with 19.75 percent. “A very strategically important deal took place... Qatar, represented by the QIA fund, becomes the direct shareholder and strategic partner for Rosneft,” Leontyev said, adding that the Russian company is satisfied with the decision. Read more © Nikolay KorchekovRussia targets strategic Chinese energy market “This is a completely different level of relations and cooperation. The market will see a range of bilateral international projects that we are going to develop together…” He explained that from the investment point of view, QIA is a very good partner with “obvious resources.” In 2016, the consortium of QIA and the Swiss commodity trader Glencore bought a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft. Later, they announced the sale of 14.16 percent of the shares in that stake to the Chinese energy company CEFC. The value of the transaction was estimated at $9.1 billion. On Friday, the agreement with CEFC has been terminated, with the stake intended for sale to the Chinese firm to be transferred to a subsidiary of QIA. The companies have also announced dissolving the consortium. Glencore will receive €3.7 billion as a result of the transaction and keep the 0.57 percent stake in Rosneft. According to Leontyev, Glencore has successfully completed its participation in the transaction and, as a trader, it has other tasks.

Iran unveils upgraded model for oil contracts

Associated Press Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, center, Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company, Roknoddin Javadi, right, head of parliament's energy committee Ali Marvi, left, and participants listen to Iran's national anthem during opening ceremony of Iran Petroleum Contracts Conference in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. Iran has unveiled a new model of oil contracts aimed at attracting foreign investment once sanctions are lifted under a landmark nuclear deal reached earlier this year. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) syndication.ap.org Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, center, Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company, Roknoddin Javadi, right, head of parliament's energy committee Ali Marvi, left, and participants listen to Iran's national anthem during opening ceremony of Iran Petroleum Contracts Conference in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. Iran has unveiled a new model of oil contracts aimed at attracting foreign investment once sanctions are lifted under a landmark nuclear deal reached earlier this year. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran unveiled a new model of oil contracts Saturday aimed at attracting foreign investment once sanctions are lifted under a landmark nuclear deal reached earlier this year, and said U.S. companies would be welcome to participate. The new Iran Petroleum Contract replaces a previous buyback model, in which contractors paid to develop and operate an oil field before turning it over to Iranian authorities. Iran has sweetened the terms, hoping to bring in $30 billion in new investment. The new contracts last 15-20 years and allow for the full recovery of costs. The older contracts were shorter term, and investors complained of heavy risks and suffering losses. Investors who produced more than planned amounts received no compensation for the additional barrels. But under the new model, the more they produce, the more they will earn. Foreign investors will also have an option to extend contracts an additional five years, up to 25 years. Some 50 upstream oil, gas and petrochemical projects are being introduced during a two-day conference in Tehran that began Saturday. Iran will pay foreign oil companies larger fees under the new contracts to provide greater incentives to investors. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told the conference that under the new contracts, foreign investors will be required to form a joint company with an Iranian partner to carry out exploration, development and production operations. "To continue to play the role (as a major oil supplier), we hope to enjoy working with reputable international oil companies under a win-win situation," he told the conference. Zanganeh welcomed U.S. investment in Iran's energy sector. "We have no objection to and problem with the participation of American companies. The way for the presence of these companies in Iran's oil industry is open," he said. Mahdi Hosseini, a senior official in charge of the new contracts, told the conference that the new model is an attempt to repair Iran's relations with the industrialized world. Iran is hoping to attract over $150 billion in foreign investment in five years to rebuild its energy industry. Iranian hardliners, however, condemned the new contracts as "unconstitutional", saying they will open the way for "infiltration" of the energy sector by Iran's enemies. "Zanganeh today unveiled contracts that effectively transfers the rights of exploration, extraction, exploitation and sale Iran's oil to foreign companies for 25 years," the conservative news website, rejanews.com, said. International sanctions on Iran's oil industry were tightened in 2012 over its controversial nuclear program. Western nations have long suspected Iran of secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, charges denied by Tehran, which insists the program is entirely peaceful. Under the agreement reached in July with the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, Iran will curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Oil Ministry officials said 137 foreign companies attended Saturday's conference, including Repsol, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Technip, Schlumberger, Eni, Enel, Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom, Inpex, Statoil and Daewoo. Iran, an OPEC member, currently exports 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day and hopes to get back to its pre-sanctions level of 2.2 million, last reached in 2012. Iran's total production now stands at 3.1 million barrels per day. Iran is hoping to boost oil production to 5.7 million barrels a day by 2021. Zanganeh said last week that Iran will export an additional 500,000 barrels of oil a day after sanctions are lifted — likely in early 2016 — to reclaim its market share despite low prices. Iran plans to begin exporting an additional 500,000 barrels of oil a day six months later in order to double its crude exports. ======================= Fri Nov 20, 2015 | 9:56 AM EST India's Petronet near to winning better gas terms from Qatar-sources India's Petronet near to winning better gas terms...X By Oleg Vukmanovic and Nidhi Verma MILAN/NEW DELHI Nov 20 (Reuters) - India's biggest gas importer Petronet LNG is close to renegotiating a major deal with its Qatari supplier Rasgas, lowering the cost of gas shipments and avoiding a $1.5 billion penalty fee for lifting less gas than agreed, two sources said. The renegotiation is another sign of how falling oil prices and a global gas glut are bringing producing giants such as Qatar to the negotiating table. Petronet, which has a 25-year contract with Rasgas to annually buy 7.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has reduced purchases by about a third this year due to high prices -- even though it is only allowed to take 10 percent less, making it liable for a $1.5 billion penalty. Petronet and Rasgas opened renegotiation proceedings during Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani's visit to New Delhi in March. If India manages to renegotiate a deal with Qatar it would be Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biggest diplomatic win in the energy sector since coming to power last year. Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan reinforced the need to renegotiate prices and quantity under the long term deal with Qatar during his visit to Doha this month. According to the sources the two firms are exploring the possibility of altering the contract's pricing formula, in which the LNG is valued based on a 60-month average of a basket of Japanese crude oil prices. Instead, a 3-month average of Brent crude is being considered, which would be a major coup for Petronet by lowering its LNG costs in line with sharply lower crude oil prices. Petronet currently pays about $12-$13 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for Qatari LNG under a deal that began in 2004, compared with around $7-$8 per mmBtu for LNG in the spot market. Petronet has been increasingly substituting costly Qatari LNG with spot shipments. But the proposed revision should allow it to step up Qatari imports as prices fall. Under the new deal, Rasgas will also grant relief to Petronet from paying a $1.5 billion penalty on the condition that the Indian firm lifts full volumes in subsequent years, said one of the sources. Rasgas was not immediately available for comment, while Petronet LNG's head of finance R. K. Garg did not respond to a request for comment. (Editing by William Hardy)

Protesters rally at Glenelg against exploratory oil drilling in the Bight

2004 Gulf of Mexico oil spill could leak another 100 years - report Published time: May 16, 2015 03:58 Get short URL Reuters/Daniel Becerril Reuters/Daniel Becerril Tags Biology, Ecology, Globalization, Oil, Politics, USA, Weather An oil leak that occurred when an offshore platform toppled during Hurricane Ivan in 2004 has continued to spill oil into the Gulf of Mexico – and could keep leaking for another 100 years, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The documents show that a century-long leak could occur if nothing is done to address the problem. The platform owners, Taylor Energy Company, tried to work with Department of the Interior "to resolve financial obligations for the leak" worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which were set aside to pay for leak-related work. Read more Shell Oil wins approval to drill in Arctic However, the company has tried to cover up the extent of the damage to the ecology of the Gulf, and the government has been unwilling to renegotiate the costs to the Taylor. Instead, it ordered them to do more work on the matter. "There is still more that can be done by Taylor to control and contain the oil that is discharged," said an Interior Department fact sheet obtained by AP. It is suspected, by officials, that the leak is coming from at least one of 25 wells that were buried under mounds of sediment from an underwater mudslide that was triggered by waves during Hurricane Ivan. The company ordered new wells drilled in order to plug nine of the wells that were suspected could leak oil, but company officials cited experts to argue that the best course of action is do no further drilling because of risks. In reviewing more than 2,300 Coast Guard pollution reports from 2008 onwards, the AP found that since September 1, 2014, the leaks have been getting greater. When they approached the Coast Guard about the uptick, reporters were provided with new estimates showing leaks 20 times greater than what the company claimed. Read more A drop in the ocean: Recovery projects worth $134 million proposed for BP oil spill Taylor claimed the site was leaking 4 gallons per day, but revised Coast Guard estimates show "shines as large as 1.5 miles wide and 14 miles long." They also show daily oily discharges ranging from 42 gallons to as high as 2,300 gallons, with a daily average of 84 gallons. AP said the company is now down to one full-time employee after its founder died, and it sold all its offshore leases and oil and gas interests in 2008. A spokesman for the company declined to comment to AP on Friday. ====================================== Protesters rally at Glenelg against exploratory oil drilling in the Bight Posted 24 minutes ago BP protesters at Adelaide Photo: Protesters rallying against BP's oil exploration plans in the Great Australian Bight draw attention at Glenelg. (ABC News: Tom Fedorowytsch) Related Story: Adelaide statue converted into oil spill during environmentalists' protest Map: Glenelg 5045 About 100 people have rallied at Glenelg in Adelaide to protest about plans by energy company BP to explore for oil in the Great Australian Bight. Other demonstrations have been held at Kangaroo Island, in Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast, as part of nationwide protests. Wilderness Society of SA director Peter Owen said Australia could not respond to a disaster on the scale of BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico if there was a spill in the Bight. "There was something like 40,000 people involved in that clean-up," he said. "Where is the infrastructure out in the Great Australian Bight to even start to grapple with the magnitude of that scenario? "It's simply not there. The risks are too high." BP is one of several big explorers looking to assess the region's potential, which is widely considered one of the most prospective, unexplored offshore basins in the world. BP said it welcomed scrutiny by the community to ensure its work was environmentally sound. Powered by Bing Topics: environment, environmental-impact, environmental-policy, mining-environmental-issues, community-and-society, glenelg-5045, penneshaw-5222, sa

BP Great Australian Bight Exploration

Payout from BP oil spill settlement tops $5 billion Wed, Apr 15 22:01 PM EDT image By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - The administrator overseeing a BP Plc fund to compensate people and businesses claiming they were harmed by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill said on Wednesday more than $5 billion has been paid out. A total of $5.037 billion has been paid to 62,162 claimants, the administrator, Patrick Juneau, said in a statement on his website for spill claims. The money is being paid under a 2012 settlement tied to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and caused the largest U.S. offshore oil spill. The fifth anniversary of the disaster will be April 20. BP originally said it expected to pay $7.8 billion to resolve claims under the settlement but by February of this year had boosted its estimate to $9.9 billion. The London-based oil company had long complained that Juneau was paying out too much, including to claimants who suffered no harm. But last month, BP ended a bid to oust Juneau, citing steps he had taken to reduce fraud. According to Juneau, more than half of the payouts so far have compensated businesses that suffered economic losses, with a significant percentage also going to the seafood industry. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) ============= Location: SA, Australia (Offshore) Project Value: TBC David Land ICN - SA P: (08) 8303 2138 E: click here Eddie Ivar ICN - SA P: (08) 8303 2170 E: click here Project Status Pending Project Owner BP Australia Project Details BP is one of the worlds leading international oil and gas companies. Through our work we provide customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants to keep engines moving and the petrochemical products used to make everyday items as diverse as paints, clothes and packaging. Across Australia and New Zealand, BP is engaged in a vast range of activities, from the exploration and production of oil, natural gas and liquefied natural gas; to refining, transporting and marketing petroleum and lubricant products. This vertical integration enables us to support the interests of our customers and the country, throughout the supply chain, as well as the communities in which we operate. Project Details BP was awarded four exploration permits off the coast of South Australia, approximately 300 km south-west of Ceduna in 2011. The exploration work proposed by BP included a 3D seismic survey of an area covering 11,400 square kilometres which was completed in 2012-13. The biggest potential for local input lies in a potential future development and production phase, which could only be considered if a commercially and technically developable discovery is made and proved by appraisal drilling. In the meantime, supply vessels and drilling rigs will require fuel, catering supplies and transport services from local ports during each activity and this may provide some opportunities for local companies. Operations Operations will receive equipment at a storage facility in Adelaide. Support vessels will operate out of Port Adelaide, which is approximately 40-50 hours sail to the rig. Personnel will be supported by helicopter out of a facility in the town of Ceduna and by fixed wing flights to/from Ceduna/Adelaide. Examples of services which could possibly be provided by locally based suppliers: • Logistics and warehousing • Machine shop • Environmental • Medical • Catering We will only select suppliers who are technically competent and commercially competitive and who have the organizational capability to support the delivery of safe and compliant operations to our time schedule.

Pakistan finalises $21b LNG deal with Qatar

Egypt says Vitol to supply nine LNG cargoes, in talks with BP Thu, Feb 19 11:10 AM EST CAIRO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Vitol will supply Egypt with nine LNG cargoes for two years starting June 2015, an Egyptian oil ministry statement said on Thursday. The statement said the ministry was also finalising talks with BP over a deal to supply the country with 21 LNG cargoes. The latest contracts were part of a highly sought-after tender to buy 75 LNG cargoes. (Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by David Holmes) ================== Pakistan finalises $21b LNG deal with Qatar By Zafar Bhutta Published: February 20, 2015 Share this article Print this page Email . The government has not clarified what the pricing formula is, though LNG contracts are typically priced at a 10-15% discount to Brent, the global benchmark of crude oil. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough, Pakistan has managed to secure a $21 billion long-term contract from Qatar to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) at a highly attractive price, a move that is likely to help alleviate some of the severe, chronic shortages of natural gas in the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Qatar will supply Pakistan with 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG under a pricing formula that translates to a current price of LNG of $7 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), a price lower than that paid even by Indian importers, who are currently paying close to $9-$10 per mmbtu. The government has not clarified what the pricing formula is, though LNG contracts are typically priced at a 10-15% discount to Brent, the global benchmark of crude oil. The price does not include the cost of shipping the LNG to Karachi, which can be substantial. While the new deal is likely to be a welcome injection of supply into the national gas grid, it will not come close to solving the overall natural gas shortages which have crippled large parts of the economy. Pakistan’s total production of natural gas is currently close to 4,000 mmcfd, while demand is closer to 6,000 mmcfd. The 500 mmcfd from Qatar would, therefore, only fill about a quarter of the current shortfall. The $7 per mmbtu price, while attractive relative to where the overall LNG market stands, is still more expensive than the $5 per mmbtu the government would currently have been paying had the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline been fully built and operationalised by now. Price differences between LNG imports and pipeline gas are natural: the price of the LNG includes the cost of chilling it down to minus 170 degrees Celsius, whereas pipeline gas does not have that cost. The United States has been pressuring Pakistan to import LNG from Qatar, even though gas from Iran would be cheaper because Washington wants to sustain sanctions pressure against Tehran in order to dissuade it from developing nuclear weapons. Several US and European oil companies also have a presence in the Qatar petroleum and natural gas industry. At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy on February 12, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been informed that the agreement with Qatar Gas had been finalised and that the price was set at a level lower than the ones paid by other countries in the region. Other countries had also expressed an interest in supplying LNG to Pakistan, but Qatar is the closest large supplier, which would reduce shipping costs significantly. The LNG import terminal at Port Qasim, being constructed by Engro Elengy, a subsidiary of the Engro Corporation, is expected to be completed by March 10, ahead of its March 31 contractual deadline. Two ships carrying 50,000 tons of LNG are expected to then start arriving at Port Qasim each month initially, a pace that would slowly be increased to four ships a month. Meanwhile, the petroleum ministry is negotiating with the industry association of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) retailers for the sale of the first shipment. Given the precarious finances of the energy sector, particularly with respect to the power sector, the government has tried to create a mechanism that would ensure a smooth flow of payments to LNG suppliers. At current prices, each LNG shipment would cost $30 million, which would be paid directly by the finance ministry to Pakistan State Oil, the importing entity, which would then pay Qatar Gas. The payments the finance ministry makes would be deducted from the subsidy payments it owes to independent power producer (IPPs). The IPPs would be required to provide standby letters of credit of between $20 million and $60 million and an operative letter of credit for one months’ supply of gas utilisation of $10 million to $30 million to PSO. Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2015.

Petrodollars: how the 3 will maintain investment levels and meet refinancing obligations ?

Yamal, Russia's gas megaplan, becomes symbol of sanctions defiance Fri, Sep 19 07:09 AM EDT image 1 of 3 By Katya Golubkova and Dmitry Zhdannikov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Dozens of Russian energy ventures are in jeopardy due to Western sanctions on technology and funding. Looming over them all, a giant project the Kremlin is bent on saving no matter what. The Yamal plan, a $27 billion investment to tap vast natural gas reserves in northwest Siberia, aims to double Russia's stake in the fast-growing market for liquefied natural gas. If it stays on track, it will also show the West that the world's largest energy industry is not cracking under sanctions. Russia has said it will make sure Yamal has the resources it needs to keep building. But that pledge will be tested: Yamal's gas is so far in the Arctic North that it requires specialised technology often provided by Western partners - many of which will not be able to operate because of the restrictions. And while Yamal's shareholders have already invested $6 billion in it, U.S. and EU action has now effectively cut off the Russian energy firm's access to Western lending. Nonetheless, bankers and analysts returning from a recent trip to Yamal said they were impressed by the project's status. Some said it was hard to tell that Yamal's controlling shareholder, gas firm Novatek, and its billionaire co-owner Gennady Timchenko were subject to some of the most severe U.S. and EU sanctions targeting Putin after he annexed Crimea in eastern Ukraine and lent backing to pro-Russia separatists. "I was astonished by the pace and amount of work that has been done," said Maxim Moshkov, oil analyst at UBS. Some 6,000 people are currently working on the project and the number will rise to 15,000 next year. "They work day and night... Having been there, I realised the project will most likely become a reality," Moshkov said. Andrey Polishchuk from Raiffeisen bank said: "They are building a new airport, storage tanks. Ships are coming to a nearby port one after another. Some are unloading goods, some are waiting to unload". POWERFUL PARTNERS Yamal has powerful partners - French oil major Total and China's CNPC. Total said this week that despite the sanctions it would not be stopping work on Yamal and has suggested that, given Europe relies on Russia for a third of its gas, it would be risky to slow down the project. Yamal will start exports from 2018 and has already pre-sold most of its future output to buyers in Europe and Asia. It will ultimately export 16.5 million tonnes of LNG a year - equal to 6 months of French gas consumption. Novatek, along with gas monopoly Gazprom, has so far escaped European sanctions, but the fact that it is on the U.S. sanctions list makes it almost impossible for it to raise money for the project. So Total is still clear to participate in Yamal. But its ability to finance its share in it through U.S. or European banks has been drastically limited. "Can we live without Russian gas in Europe? The answer is no. Are there any reasons to live without it? I think - and I'm not defending the interests of Total in Russia - it is a no," Total boss Christophe De Margerie told Reuters. Timchenko, co-owner of Novatek, is also a force to be reckoned with - his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin giving him heft even as it makes him a target for sanctions. In March 2014, the United States slapped the first round of sanctions on him, explaining: "Timchenko's activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin". Putin subsequently made Timchenko Russia's point person for business relations - including the development of key gas projects - with China. Timchenko has said China, which has a 20 percent stake in Yamal through CNPC, has agreed to lend $20 billion before the end of 2014. But there is still work to do to win that loan. "We have had communications from higher management over compliances that we shall strictly follow international rules," a Chinese banking executive told Reuters on condition of anonymity given the delicate nature of the negotiations. "Basic principles are - we shall not deal with entities that are sanctioned...We don't want the U.S. to find excuses to give us trouble." SUPPORT FROM HOME If China can't put up the money, Putin is likely to. The Russian government, which has accumulated the world's third largest forex reserves of $460 billion, has said it will invest money in profitable projects which can guarantee hefty payouts to state coffers in the future. Various officials have pledged support to Gazprom, state oil firm Rosneft and pipeline and railway monopolies Transneft and RZhD. And Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Novatek's chief and co-owner Leonid Mikhelson that Russia would support other companies too, irrespective of their ownership structure. "Should (their Chinese lending) plan fail, they can count on state support. The government has made it clear it will not allow it to fail," said a Western oil executive close to the project. The crunch point for Yamal will come next year when France's engineering firm Technip needs to deliver the core liquefaction plant - technology that Russia is lacking. Technip told Reuters this week it was moving forward with the project. It had earlier warned about the risks to its income from sanctions on Russia. If Technip should run into difficulties - the pace at which sanctions have evolved in the past months suggests more could yet be in the offing - Russia might be able to source the technology from China, which has in recent years become able to design and build large LNG plants. "There might be an opportunity lurking in terms of supplying our own gas liquefaction technology," said an engineering executive at CNPC. (Additional reporting by Aizhu Chen, Vladimir Soldatkin, Denis Pinchuk and Sandrine Bradley; Editing by Sophie Walker) ============ Sanctions against Russia could spur $150 oil – Former BP chief Published time: September 15, 2014 08:53 Edited time: September 15, 2014 11:53 Get short URL Reuters/Stefano Rellandini Oil, Russia and the global economy, Sanctions Western sanctions against Russia, coupled with ongoing political instability in Libya and the advance of ISIS militants in Iraq, could leave the global oil supply exposed and push up oil prices to $150 per barrel, former BP chief Tony Hayward has warned.

The former CEO of BP and now chairman of Glencore Xstrata said the recent boom in US shale production has painted an unrealistic image of the world’s global oil supply, and created a false sense in energy security. “The world has been lulled into a false sense of security because of what’s going on in the US,” Hayward said in an interview with the Financial Times. The hydraulic fracturing boom in the US began in 2008 and has increased US crude output by 60 percent, but Hayward warned it could wane. “When US supply peaks, where will the new supply come from?” Hayward said. Instability in oil producing countries in the Middle East, such as Libya and Iraq, in theory would have driven up oil prices to $150 per barrel, had it not been for the new supply from North America.

So far, Brent crude has fallen from about $108 a barrel at the start of the year to about $97 today. Hayward said oil supplies from the North Sea and Alaska are nearing maturity, and the world oil supply is dependent on new wells in places such as Russia, Iraq, and Canada. Rosneft's Bazhenov field may be even larger than the North Dakota Bakken shale shelf, which currently produces 1 million barrels of oil per day and has brought about the shale revolution in the America. Sanctions may stymie output Russia, the world’s second-largest oil producer, outputs about 10.5 million barrels of oil per day, shy of the record from the Soviet era. His comments followed decisions from the EU and US to widen sanctions against Russia on Friday, targeting state-run and private oil and gas companies, including Gazprom, Rosneft, Transneft, and Lukoil. They can no long obtain US or EU technology or equipment for extracting deep water, Arctic, or shale oil. Analysts believe there will be no sudden shock to the Russian oil and gas industry, but that future projects and long-term development are at risk. “Because of financial sanctions, the big gorillas are going to start cutting their activities,” Hayward said, speaking about Russian companies. The sanctions will also create problems for Western companies like Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and others, who have joint ventures worth billions in Russia. ExxonMobil, for example, has a joint venture with Rosneft to explore Russia’s Arctic, and also owns a 19.75 percent stake in the company. ======== Petrodollars: What do Russian oil companies do in the wake of sanctions? By Rosemary Griffin | September 15, 2014 12:01 AM Comments (0) Sanctions against Russia are moving closer to the country’s big oil companies. In this week’s Oilgram News column Petrodollars, Rosemary Griffin looks at the choices that companies such as Rosneft face. ——————————- EU sanctions introduced Friday limit some state-owned Russian oil companies’ access to European financing in a move that could drive Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft to look to alternative sources. The US added to the Russian oil sector’s woes later in the day, by further restricting Rosneft’s access to US financing, as well as blocking its four biggest crude producers from accessing technology essential to Arctic, deepwater and shale oil technology. In the short term, analysts see the latest measures as unlikely to significantly change the financial profile of the big three oil companies targeted, as previous sanctions had already seriously restricted Russian companies’ access to Western capital markets. But the measures have fuelled debate on how the three will maintain investment levels and meet refinancing obligations going forward. Company representatives declined initial comment, but analysts’ see Rosneft, with its significant debt portfolio as the most exposed to the latest restrictions. Rosneft has been on something of a spending spree in the past two years, most significantly swallowing up what was Russia’s third largest crude producer TNK-BP in 2013, in a mega-deal which saw Rosneft hand over a combined total of over $30 billion to former shareholders AAR and BP. Analysts estimate that Rosneft needs to refinance around $29 billion over 2014 and 2015. It has around $18 billion in cash to cover refinancing this year if necessary, and is expecting its cash flow to be boosted by pre-payments coming in next year. Rosneft holds a key position in the Russian economy, with the government highly likely to intervene if it seems to be in any kind of trouble, something officials have confirmed in recent weeks. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the government is looking into ways to support the company to maintain investment and production levels. Rosneft already asked for a massive Rb1.5 trillion (around $42 billion) injection from the state’s national welfare fund in mid-August, but whether the government will stretch quite so far, or promise to underpin all of the company’s ambitious capex plans, remains to be seen. ——————————- Meanwhile, analysts estimate that Transneft needs to refinance around $3 billion of debt in 2014/2015. The company has around $10 billion on its books, and some analysts have pointed to its smooth repayment schedule of around $1.4-$1.5 billion/year over the next few years, as well as its relative flexibility to cut investment compared to most other majors, as key advantages in dealing with the latest restrictions. If it does get into trouble, Transneft is likely to follow Rosneft’s approach. As the company responsible for crude and oil products shipments across Russia, it is a priority for the Russian government to build out infrastructure, particularly to boost crude movements to China. If the government balks at direct cash injections, it could also grant the company greater flexibility in imposing tariffs on its transportation services, although the government has attempted to limit state-owned companies’ tariffs in recent years. The two state-owned giants could also look to Asian partners to meet any shortfall in financing. Rosneft has already offered Chinese partners a direct stake in its most promising greenfield project in East Siberia Vankor, which analysts see as a direct consequence of financial pressure from Western sanctions. Asian investors are already present in many Russian projects and have said they are interested in opportunities arising from Russia’s shift in focus to Asian markets. They are likely to drive a hard bargain though, if Russian companies seem desperate to sell off stakes in their prize assets in return for financing. For Gazprom Neft the situation is slightly different. Some analysts see the company as less exposed as its refinancing requirements in 2014/2015 are estimated to be the smallest of the three, at $2 billion. The company has an estimated $3 billion in cash. Furthermore Gazprom was planning to scale back its investment program from next year, initially by around 10% year on year in 2015. There are indications that company is concerned about how sanctions could impact its financial operations, however. Gazprom took a significant hit from currency conversion rates this year, suffering a Rb5.3 billion (around $143 million) loss on its dollar-denominated debt in the first half, more than double equivalent losses in the same period of 2013. Some analysts believe restricted access to Western capital markets could drive the company’s bid to raise the proportion of its ruble-denominated debt and turn to domestic lenders. In the summer it was also the first Russian oil company to raise the prospect of shifting supply contracts away from the dollar to other currencies, such as the ruble or the euro if the situation continues to worsen.— Rosemary Griffin in Moscow

BP can bid for US government contracts again

Post by Mulla Sarpalas.

Published time: March 14, 2014 13:23 Get short URL Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010 file handout image.(Reuters / U.S. Coast Guard) Share on tumblrTags Big deal, Corporate Results, Energy, Oil, USA ​The Environmental Protection Agency in the US is again allowing BP to bid for US government contracts. The company had been barred following a guilty verdict in a case surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010. The move will allow BP to enter into new contracts with the US government, including in the Gulf of Mexico, meaning hundreds of millions of dollars of new business. It signifies a large step in the company’s recovery from the accident, which has been costly both to its finances and reputation. “After a lengthy negotiation, BP is pleased to have reached this resolution, which we believe to be fair and reasonable,” said John Mingé, Chairman of BP America in a statement. “Today’s agreement will allow America’s largest energy investor to compete again for federal contracts and leases,” he said. The agreement takes effect immediately and will be in place for five years. According to it BP is required to retain an independent auditor approved by the EPA who will conduct an annual review and report on BP’s compliance.

“This is a fair agreement that requires BP to improve its practices in order to meet the terms we’ve outlined together,” said Craig Hooks, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Administration and Resources Management in a statement. “Many months of discussions and assessments have led up to this point, and I’m confident we’ve secured strong provisions to protect the integrity of federal procurement programs,” he said.

The agreement additionally provides the EPA the authority to take appropriate corrective action in the event the agreement is breached. Since November 2012, 25 BP companies have been suspend and disqualified from federal contracts following the criminal conviction in the US Government’s Deepwater Horizon case. Deepwater Horizon was the biggest oil drilling accident in US history. In November, 2012 BP admitted guilt in the death of 11 workers in an explosion on a platform, the spill of millions of gallons of oil, and the contamination hundreds of miles of beaches. The company agreed to pay $4.5 billion compensation.

Sahara Islamists take hostages, spreading Mali war

Sahara Islamists take hostages, spreading Mali war Wed, Jan 16 18:54 PM EST 1 of 11 By Lamine Chikhi and Bate Felix ALGIERS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Islamist fighters seized dozens of Western and Algerian hostages in a dawn raid on a natural gas facility deep in the Sahara on Wednesday and demanded France halt a new offensive against rebels in neighboring Mali. Three people, among them one British and one French, were reported killed, but details were sketchy and numbers of those held at Tigantourine ranged from 41 foreigners - including perhaps seven Americans as well as Japanese and Europeans - to over 100 local staff, held separately and less closely watched. What is clear is that with a dramatic counterpunch to this week's French build-up in Mali, the region's loosely allied, al Qaeda-inspired radicals have set Paris a daunting dilemma and spread fallout from Mali's hitherto obscure civil war far beyond northwest Africa, challenging Washington as well as Europeans and shutting down a major gas field that pumps energy to Europe. The attack, which Algeria said was led by a veteran, Afghan-trained holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence, came just as French ground troops in Mali launched their first assault after six days of air strikes. The United States, which like European powers endorsed France's decision to intervene last week against Islamists who have seized vast tracts of northern Mali, confirmed Americans were among the hostages and said it would work to "secure" them. Western and African governments have been alarmed by a flow of weapons and fighters across the unmarked Sahara borders following the end of Libya's civil war in 2011 and fear that Mali, where Islamists drive the national army from the north nine months ago, could become an Afghan-style al Qaeda haven. The militants, who said they had dozens of fighters in the gas field, issued no explicit threat but made clear to media in neighboring Mauritania the hostages' lives were at risk. "We hold the Algerian government and the French government and the countries of the hostages fully responsible if our demands are not met and it is up to them to stop the brutal aggression against our people in Mali," read one statement from the group, which called itself the "Battalion of Blood". In other comments carried by the Mauritanian news agency ANI, the group said its fighters had rigged explosives around the site and any attempt to free the hostages would lead to a "tragic end". The unusually large numbers of gunmen and hostages involved pose serious problems for any rescue operation. After dark, ANI quoted a militant source saying fighters had repelled a raid by Algerian troops. He added that the hostage-takers' weaponry included mortars and anti-aircraft missiles. AMERICANS The militants said seven Americans were among the 41 foreign hostages - a figure U.S. officials said they could not confirm. Norwegian energy company Statoil, which operates the gas field in a joint venture with Britain's BP and the Algerian state company Sonatrach, said nine of its Norwegian employees and three of its Algerian staff were being held. Also reported kidnapped by various sources were five Japanese working for the engineering firm JGC Corp, a French national, an Austrian, an Irishman and a number of Britons. The Algerian government, which fought a bloody civil war against Islamists in the 1990s, said it would not negotiate. French media said the militants were also demanding that Algeria release dozens of Islamist prisoners from its jails. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: "I want to assure the American people that the United States will take all necessary and proper steps that are required to deal with this situation." He said he lacked firm information on whether there were links to the situation in Mali. Analysts pointed to shifting alliances and rivalries among Islamists in the region to suggest the hostage-takers may have a range of motives. In their own statements, they condemned Algeria's secularist government for "betraying" its predecessors in the bloody anti-colonial war against French rule half a century ago by letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali. They also accused Algeria of shutting its border to Malian refugees. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia told the state news agency APS there were about 20 hostage-takers led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian who fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and set up his own group in the Sahara recently after falling out with other al Qaeda leaders. Some of those held at the facility, near the small town of In Amenas, close to the Libyan border and about 1,300 km (800 miles) inland, had sporadic contact with the outside world. The head of a French catering company said he had information from a manager who supervised some 150 Algerian employees at the site. Regis Arnoux of CIS Catering told France's BFM television the local staff were being prevented from leaving but were otherwise free to move around inside and keep on working. "The Westerners are kept in a separate wing of the base," Arnoux said. "They are tied up and are being filmed. Electricity is cut off, and mobile phones have no charge. "Direct action seems very difficult ... Algerian officials have told the French authorities as well as BP that they have the situation under control and do not need their assistance." MALI OFFENSIVE Just days after a bold deployment of French troops to Mali, another former colony, that had largely silenced critics questioning his leadership after eight months in office, French President Francois Hollande faced a possible further escalation of the conflict, with Western targets at risk across Africa. He has called for international support against insurgents who France says pose a threat to Africa and the West, and admits it faces a long struggle against well-equipped fighters who seized Timbuktu and other oasis towns in northern Mali and have imposed Islamic law, including public amputation and beheading. Islamists have warned Hollande that he has "opened the gates of hell" for all French citizens. French army chief Edouard Guillaud said ground forces were stepping up their operation to engage directly "within hours" the alliance of Islamist fighters, grouping al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and Mali's home grown Ansar Dine and MUJWA. Residents said a column of some 30 French Sagaie armored vehicles has set off toward rebel positions from the town of Niono, 300 km (190 miles) from the capital Bamako. A Malian military source said French special forces units were taking part in the operation. Guillaud said France's strikes, involving Rafale and Mirage jet fighters, were being hampered because militants were sheltering among civilians. Many inhabitants of northern Mali have welcomed the French attacks though some also fear being caught in the cross-fire. Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian acknowledged that France faced a hard slog, particularly in western Mali where AQIM's mostly foreign fighters have camps: "It's tough. We were aware from the beginning it would be a very difficult operation." Hollande said on Tuesday that French forces would remain in Mali until stability returned to the West African nation. Hollande said France hoped, however, to hand over to African forces in its former colony, "in the coming days or weeks". West African military chiefs met for a second day in Bamako to hammer out details of a U.N.-mandated deployment that had been expected to start only in September but was suddenly kick-started by French intervention. They said their aim was to send in the first units of a 2,000-man emergency force on Thursday. Hollande's intervention in Mali brings risks for eight French hostages held by AQIM in the Sahara as well as the 30,000 French citizens living across West Africa. A French helicopter pilot was killed on Friday, France's only combat death so far. The conflict in Mali, a landlocked state of 15 million twice the size of France, has displaced an estimated 30,000 people and raised concerns across mostly Muslim West Africa of a radicalization of Islam in the region. "There is a great hope," one man said from Timbuktu, where he said Islamist fighters were trying to blend into civilian neighborhoods. "We hope that the city will be freed soon." (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher and Andrew Callus in London, Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, Laurent Prieur in Nouakchott, Daniel Flynn in Dakar, John Irish, Catherine Bremer and Nick Vinocur in Paris, David Alexander in Rome and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey) ======== Union of World Muslim Scholars:Serious efforts must be made to end war in Mali 16 January 2013 22:25 (Last updated 16 January 2013 22:29) Union of World Muslim Scholars underlined that France acted hastily in its military intervention in Mali. CAIRO The Union of World Muslim Scholars wanted the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and African countries to make serious efforts to end the war in Mali and find a peaceful solution. In a written statement released, the Union of World Muslim Scholars underlined that France acted hastily in its military intervention in Mali. We are very concerned with the developments in Mali, the Union of World Muslim Scholars stressed. " France acted very hastily with its military intervention inMali. Military intervention will bring damage, death and migration. The military intervention will make things worse in Mali," the union also said. ================== French defense minister: Difficult job 16 January 2013 13:29 (Last updated 16 January 2013 14:11) French Minister of Defense said that they knew the mission in Mali wouldn't be easy to carry on. PARIS French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday said, "We knew the military mission to be difficult in Mali from the very beginning" in regards to the hardening conditions while proceeding to the northern region of Mali. "The French troops on duty in Mali have worked to protect the civilians in the capital including French and EU citizens until this day. The troops started moving up north" said Le Drian to the RTL radio. The French Minister stated that they were intensifying air attacks on rebel camps to ease the work of the land forces. Stating that the situation in Mali was more favorable compared to the previous week, Le Drian said that the conflict would go on for a while. France has 800 soldiers in Mali at the moment and aims to increase this number to 2500 gradually. =========================== Algeria government says had to storm plant, action continues Thu, Jan 17 14:32 PM EST 1 of 11 ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's government spokesman confirmed some hostages were killed in a continuing military operation at a desert gas plant on Thursday but said troops had been forced to act to free them due to the "diehard" attitude of their captors. In the first official comments by the government on the day's events, Communication Minister Mohamed Said was quoted as telling state news agency APS that many militants had been killed and that efforts to free foreign hostages were going on. He acknowledged there had been "several deaths and injuries" among the hostages, but insisted Algeria, which fought a bloody war against Islamists through the 1990s, would not negotiate. "We say that in the face of terrorism, yesterday as today as tomorrow, there will be no negotiation, no blackmail, no respite in the struggle against terrorism," APS quoted Said as saying. Adding that Algerian forces had done all they could to ensure the hostages' survival and bring the siege to a successful conclusion, he blamed "the diehard attitude of the terrorists" for forcing the military to launch its operation. Western leaders whose citizens are among the hostages, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, said they were told of the assault only after it started. He told Britons to prepare for "bad news" and an aide said Cameron would have preferred to have been consulted before the raid began. Said said the militants' goals had been to destabilize Algeria and draw it in to the civil war in Mali. The guerrillas had demanded that France stop its offensive against Mali's Islamist rebels and that Algerian withdraw its cooperation with the French operation. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) =================== Irishman freed in Algeria hostage crisis Updated: 19:22, Thursday, 17 January 2013 Stephen McFaul rang his wife and family this afternoon to say he was safe The natural gas complex is now surrounded by Algerian troops Irishman held hostage in Algeria is freed Great relief amongst McFaul family Related Stories Irish oil worker kidnapped in Algeria The Irishman who was being held hostage at a gas facility in eastern Algeria has been freed. The Department of Foreign Affairs has said that Stephen McFaul contacted his wife and Irish diplomats this afternoon to say he was safe and well. Mr McFaul indicated he was in another part of the complex to the one attacked by Algerian forces earlier today. The 36-year-old, who works a Scandinavian oil company, was born in Belfast and lives in Antrim. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore this afternoon said: "I am extremely thankful and relieved to learn that the Irish national who was a hostage in Algeria has made contact with his family and is safe. "I spoke with his family yesterday, and I know how relieved they will be that he is well after his ordeal. This is the news that we all wanted to hear. "At the same time, my thoughts are with the other oil-field workers who are caught up in this terrible situation and with their families who are also waiting for news at this difficult time." DUP MP Ian Paisley Jnr has said he had been informed by the UK government that one of the hostages still being held was from his North Antrim constituency. However, Mr Gilmore has said there was no other person from Northern Ireland involved. There were reports earlier from a Mauritanian news agency that 34 hostages were killed in air strikes by the Algerian military. ANI news agency, which has been in constant contact with the militants, also said 14 kidnappers had been killed in the air strikes. A kidnapper told ANI that seven hostages are still being held. He said they were three Belgians, two Americans, one Japanese and one British citizen. A local source has told Reuters that 180 Algerian hostages managed to escape, while some are still being held. Reuters also reported that a local source had said six foreign hostages and eight of their captors were killed by a military strike on a vehicle being used by the kidnappers. The Algerian army has surrounded the remote desert gas pumping station in In Amenas where the kidnappers were holding the remaining foreigners captive. ANI quoted a spokesman for the kidnappers as saying they would kill the rest of their captives if the army approached. Governments around the world are holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades. The Tánaiste has been speaking to the Algerian Foreign Minister, and urged him to use "great care, caution, subtlety and patience" in dealing with the situation. Algeria has refused to negotiate with what it said is a band of about 20 fighters. A group calling itself the "Battalion of Blood" claimed responsibility for the attacks. It said it seized 41 foreigners, including Americans, Japanese and Europeans, after storming the pumping station and employee barracks before dawn yesterday. The attackers have demanded an end to the French military campaign in Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against rebels a week after France began firing on militants from the air. ================ Algeria says hostages killed in military raid on gas field, militants 'neutralised' AFP January 18, 20137:48AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email •Who is behind the BP Algeria attack? • Algerian forces raid BP gas field • Militants say 35 hostages killed Watch Algeria oil hostages reported dead after air strike Reports suggest hostages, among dozens of locals and foreigners held at an Algerian oil plant, have escaped, while others have been killed ... Algeria oil hostages reported dead after air strike .... REPORTS suggest 25 foreign hostages escaped and six were killed when Algeria launched a military raid at a natural gas plant held by Islamic militants. Algeria's state news agency APS reported about 7.30am AEST that the military operation to free hostages at a remote desert gas facility had ended, quoting an unnamed official source who gave no further details. Reuters is quoting "Algerian sources" for the casualty figures, which included eight of the militants being killed. Foreign governments have expressed growing alarm over the safety of their citizens as reports indicated the ongoing rescue operation had left many hostages dead. Algeria confirmed several captives had been killed or wounded when the Algerian army struck the militants' positions inside the In Amenas plant. Officials said fleeing Islamists had been "neutralised". Initial reports suggest at least four foreign national hostages have been freed. Stephen McFaul, a 36-year-old Irish electrician, phoned his wife early this morning to tell them he was safe. A family photograph of escaped Irish hostage Stephen McFaul, seen with his sons. Mr McFaul has contacted his family in Belfast to tell them he is safe, Ireland said. Picture: AFP/HO/Family album . His Belfast family says it cannot believe he's escaped from the Algerian hostage crisis - and never wants him to work in the oil fields there again. While dozens of families in many nations waited in hope for similar news, the McFauls jumped with joy and expressed tearful disbelief. His sobbing 13-year-old son Dylan said "I feel over the moon. ... I'll never let him go back there." He plans to give his father "a big hug, and I won't let go." Japan demanded the assault be "immediately" stopped, while Britain and the United States, both of which also have nationals among the hostages at the remote gas plant in the Algerian desert, voiced concern. British Prime Minister David Cameron cancelled a key speech he was to give today on the future of the European Union, citing the unfolding crisis. A photo of the In Amenas gas field in Algeria, where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign hostages on Wednesday. Picture: AFP/Statoil/Kjetil Alsvik . Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague will return early from his trip to Australia to deal with the Algeria crisis, the Foreign Office said. A spokesman said: "The Foreign Secretary will be returning to the UK earlier than previously planned, leaving Australia immediately after the high-level UK/Australia talks on defence, security and foreign policy issues.'' Earlier, the al-Qaeda-linked kidnappers claimed the army air and ground assault on the In Amenas complex had left 34 hostages dead. "The operation is ongoing," said Algeria's Communication Minister Mohamed Said, speaking on national television. "Several people" were killed or wounded, he added, saying an "important number" of hostages were also freed. Islamists raided the site on Wednesday in an attack that left two dead, in retaliation for a French offensive against Islamists in neighbouring Mali, demanding a halt to hostilities across the border. In Amenas

(Frame content direct link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=In Amenas, Algeria&hl=en&ll=32.287133,6.899414&spn=15.607967,47.592773&sll=30.202114,9.624023&sspn=18.141805,23.796387&t=h&hnear=In Amenas, Illizi, Algeria&z=5&iwloc=near&output=embed.)

. Algerian media reports said nearly 600 Algerian workers and four foreigners - two from Britain, one from France and one from Kenya - were freed during the rescue operation. A total of 41 foreigners had been reported among the hostages. "We are deeply concerned about any loss of innocent life and are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria,'' White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said US counterterrorism officials were in touch with their Algerian counterparts and that she planned to speak with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal today. The Irish government also said one of its citizens was freed, but Norway said it had no news of nine of its nationals. Japan's vice foreign minister Minoru Kiuchi, who is now in Algeria, urged the government to "stop the operation immediately" in a meeting with his local counterpart, the government's chief spokesman Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo. Cameron's spokesman said he would have preferred to have been told beforehand about the "very grave and serious" military operation. This video grab shows former al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar speaking at an undisclosed location. Picture: AFP . French President Francois Hollande said he was receiving regular updates on the "dramatic" situation, while Washington was seeking "clarity" about the reports of deaths in the raid. "We are certainly concerned about reports of loss of life. And are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. The kidnappers told Mauritanian news agency ANI they would "kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces succeed in entering the complex". The Islamists claimed the army air strike had killed 34 hostages and 15 Islamists. A foreign diplomat in Algiers confirmed that the rescue mission "did not go too well for the hostages". Fifteen foreigners and 30 Algerian hostages earlier managed to escape from the plant, jointly operated by British oil giant BP, Norway's Statoil and state-run Algerian energy firm Sonatrach, Algerian media reported. No Australians in Algeria attack - Smith Defence Minister Stephen Smith believes no Australians have been caught up in a terrorist attack in Algeria. Veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a one-eyed Algerian jihadist with al-Qaeda ties, has claimed responsibility for launching the attack. Belmokhtar, dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" for his illicit cigarette smuggling, was until recently one of the leaders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). But he was pushed out of the organisation towards the end of last year and set up a group called "Signatories in Blood". He has been blamed for previous abductions and the killings of both Algerians and foreigners. The chief hostage taker on the ground, Abu al-Baraa, was reported killed in the Algerian operation by ANI, which often carries reliable reports from al-Qaeda-linked groups. "We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow negotiations," Abu al-Baraa earlier told Al-Jazeera news channel. But Algeria has insisted it will not negotiate with "terrorists". ================ Japan's JGC says contacted three of its Japanese workers in Algeria Thu, Jan 17 18:36 PM EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp said on Friday that it had been able to contact three of its Japanese workers in Algeria, but that it was unable to reach 14 other Japanese employees. No other details were immediately available. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government was still checking on the situation. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher) ================ Hostage's family says Algerian army attacked hostage jeeps Thu, Jan 17 18:42 PM EST By Eamonn Mallie BELFAST (Reuters) - A hostage who escaped unharmed from Islamist militants in Algeria on Thursday said the Algerian army bombed four jeeps carrying fellow captives and probably killed many of them, his brother told Reuters. Irishman Stephen McFaul, who was among dozens of Western and local captives seized by militants at an Algerian natural gas plant on Wednesday, told his family that he survived because he was on the only one of five jeeps not hit by Algerian bombs, according to his brother Brian. "They were moving five jeep-loads of hostages from one part of the compound. At that stage they were intercepted by the Algerian army. The army bombed four out of five of the trucks and four of them were destroyed," Brian McFaul said. "The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom," he said. "He presumed everyone else in the other trucks was killed." Brian McFaul said he did not speak to Stephen directly, but got an account from Stephen's wife Angela after she spoke to him. The hostages had their mouths taped and explosives hung from around their necks, McFaul added. Thirty hostages and at least 11 Islamist militants were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed the desert gas plant in a bid to free many dozens of captives, an Algerian security source said. Western governments were unhappy at having been kept in the dark by Algeria before the raid and its bloody result. Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian. The nationalities of the rest, along with perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear. (Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Mark Heinrich) ==================== Thirty hostages reported killed in Algeria assault Thu, Jan 17 18:42 PM EST 1 of 13 By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Thirty hostages and at least 11 Islamist militants were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant in a bid to free many dozens of Western and local captives, an Algerian security source said. Details remained scant - including for Western governments, some of which did little to disguise irritation at being kept in the dark by Algeria before the raid and its bloody outcome. Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian. The nationalities of the rest, as well as of perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear. Americans, Norwegians, Romanians and an Austrian have also been mentioned by their governments as having been captured. Underlining the view of African and Western leaders that they face a multinational, al Qaeda-linked insurgency across the Sahara - a conflict that prompted France to send troops to neighboring Mali last week - the official source said only two of the 11 dead militants were Algerian, including their leader. After an operation that appeared to go on for some eight hours, after Algeria refused the kidnappers' demand to leave the country with their hostages, the bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman were found. So too was that of Taher Ben Cheneb, an Algerian whom the security official described as a prominent jihadist commander in the Sahara. The gunmen who seized the important gas facility deep in the desert before dawn on Wednesday had been demanding France halt its week-old offensive against Islamist rebels in Mali. French President Francois Hollande said the hostage drama, which has raised fears of further militant attacks, showed that he was right to send more than 1,000 French troops to Mali to back up a West African force in support of Mali's government. A Algerian government spokesman, who confirmed only that an unspecified number of hostages had died, said the tough response to a "diehard" attitude by the militants showed that, as during its bloody civil war against Islamists in the 1990s, Algiers would not negotiate or stand for "blackmail" from "terrorists". SECURITY IN QUESTION The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions, however, over the reliability of what was thought to be strong security. Foreign companies said they were pulling non-essential staff out of the country, which has only in recent years begun to seem stable after a decade of blood-letting. "The embarrassment for the government is great," said Azzedine Layachi, an Algerian political scientist at New York's St John's University. "The heart of Algeria's economy is in the south. where the oil and gas fields are. For this group to have attacked there, in spite of tremendous security, is remarkable." Algiers, whose leaders have long had frosty relations with the former colonial power France and other Western countries, may also have some explaining to do over its tactics in putting an end to a hostage crisis whose scale was comparable to few in recent decades bar those involving Chechen militants in Russia. Communication Minister Mohamed Said sounded unapologetic, however. "When the terrorist group insisted on leaving the facility, taking the foreign hostages with them to neighboring states, the order was issued to special units to attack the position where the terrorists were entrenched," he told state news agency APS, which said some 600 local workers were freed. A local source told Reuters six foreign hostages had been killed along with eight of their captors when troops fired on a vehicle being used by the gunmen at the Tigantourine plant. The standoff began when gunmen calling themselves the Battalion of Blood stormed the facility early on Wednesday morning. They said they were holding 41 foreigners. In a rare eyewitness account of Wednesday's raid, a local man who had escaped from the facility told Reuters the militants appeared to have inside knowledge of the layout of the complex and used the language of radical Islam. "The terrorists told us at the very start that they would not hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians and infidels," Abdelkader, 53, said by telephone from his home in the nearby town of In Amenas. "'We will kill them,' they said." Mauritanian agency ANI and Qatar-based Al Jazeera said earlier that 34 captives and 15 militants had been killed when government forces fired at a vehicle from helicopters. BAD NEWS EXPECTED British Prime Minister David Cameron said people should prepare for bad news about the hostages. He earlier called his Algerian counterpart to express his concern at what he called a "very grave and serious" situation, his spokesman said. "The Algerians are aware that we would have preferred to have been consulted in advance," the spokesman added. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he had been told by his Algerian counterpart that the action had started at around noon. He said they had tried to find a solution through the night, but that it had not worked. "The Algerian prime minister said they felt they had no choice but to go in now," he said. The incident dramatically raises the stakes in the French military campaign in neighboring Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against Islamist rebels after air strikes began last week. "What is happening in Algeria justifies all the more the decision I made in the name of France to intervene in Mali in line with the U.N. charter," Hollande said, adding that things seemed to have taken a "dramatic" turn. He said earlier that an unspecified number of French nationals were among the hostages. A French national was also among the hostage takers, a local source told Reuters. A large number of people from the former French colony live in France. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the kidnappers were loyal to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran Islamist guerrilla who fought in Afghanistan and set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local al Qaeda leaders. A holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" by some locals for his illicit cigarette-running business, Belmokhtar's links to those who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear. Britain said one of its citizens was killed in the initial storming on Wednesday and "a number" of others were held. The militants had said seven Americans were among their hostages. The White House said it believed Americans were among those held but U.S. officials could not confirm the number. "This is an ongoing situation and we are seeking clarity," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. FOREIGN FIRMS Norway's Statoil, which runs the plant with BP of Britain and Algeria's state energy company, said it had no word on nine of its Norwegian staff who had been held, but that three Algerian employees were now free. BP said some of its staff were being held but would not say how many or their nationalities. Japanese media said five workers from Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. were held, a number the company did not confirm. The Irish government said one Irish hostage was freed. Hollande has received public backing from Western and African allies who fear that al Qaeda, flush with men and arms from the defeated forces of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, is building a desert haven in Mali, a poor country helpless to combat fighters who seized its northern oasis towns last year. However, there is also some concern in Washington and other capitals that the French action in Mali could provoke a backlash worse than the initial threat by militants in the remote Sahara. The militants, communicating through established contacts with media in neighboring Mauritania, said on Wednesday they had dozens of men armed with mortars and anti-aircraft missiles in the compound and had rigged it with explosives. They condemned Algeria's secularist government for letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali and shutting its border to Malian refugees. The attack in Algeria did not stop France from pressing on with its campaign in Mali. It said on Thursday it now had 1,400 troops on the ground there, and combat was under way against the rebels that it first began targeting from the air last week. The French action last week came as a surprise but received widespread public international support. Neighboring African countries planning to provide ground troops for a U.N. force by September have said they will move faster to deploy them. Nigeria, the strongest regional power, sent 162 soldiers on Thursday, the first of an anticipated 906. A day after launching the campaign in Mali, Hollande also ordered a commando raid in Somalia on Saturday, which failed to free a French hostage held by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants since 2009. Al Shabaab said on Thursday it had executed the hostage, Denis Allex. France said it believed he had died in the raid. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Writing by Peter Graff, Giles Elgood, Philippa Fletcher and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey) ================ With no end-game in sight U.S. moves cautiously on Mali Thu, Jan 17 17:59 PM EST By Andrew Quinn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is responding cautiously to Mali's widening civil war, hoping to limit U.S. exposure even as French troops go on the offensive against Islamist rebels in the African country and U.S. citizens are caught up in a hostage crisis unfolding in neighboring Algeria. The escalation of fighting in northern Mali, where West African troops are joining French soldiers battling al Qaeda-inspired rebels, has emerged as the first foreign policy flashpoint facing U.S. President Barack Obama as he begins his second term next week. True to form, the Obama administration's approach has been measured and wary, promising U.S. logistical assistance but ruling out direct U.S. military involvement in an unpredictable conflict. "What we are seeing in Mali, in Algeria, reflects the broader strategic challenge, first and foremost for the countries in North Africa and for the United States and the broader international community," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. "Instability in Mali has created the opportunity for a staging base and safe haven for terrorists." Despite those concerns, however, analysts say the cautious U.S. approach demonstrates that Washington sees few immediate security implications for the United States itself and big risks in a French-led military action without accompanying political progress on the ground. A U.S. official on Thursday said the United States has agreed to a French request for airlift capacity to help France move its troops and equipment to Mali - a relatively modest expansion of U.S. assistance. "I think the administration is going to be very wary of getting involved in any direct military operations. That will be an absolute last resort," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It doesn't want the political aspect of this -- which is vital -- to get lost." The United States has said it stands behind France's decision last week to launch air strikes and send ground troops to its former colony, where Islamist rebels were pressing southwards after seizing the north of the country following a military coup in March. But the French move leap-frogged U.S.-backed proposals to concentrate on returning a legitimate government to the capital Bamako, which Washington had long insisted was an essential first step toward restoring order to the country. "You'd have to ask the French what their exit plan is," said one senior State Department official. WORSENING CONFLICT France argued that intervention was essential to prevent a worsening of Mali's conflict, which has displaced an estimated 30,000 people as fighters from groups including al Qaeda's North Africa branch, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and the local Tuareg Islamist group Ansar Dine seized Timbuktu and other towns. They imposed a harsh version of Islamic law, including public amputations and beheadings. But the United States, already accelerating plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan and fending off pressure for more robust action on Syria, shows little appetite for stepping into a more direct role in Mali. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other U.S. officials say the United States already has boosted intelligence sharing with France. Other potential areas of U.S. support could include refueling and surveillance including drones, although these are already in high demand in Afghanistan as well as other parts of Africa. "If we move one to Mali, for example, we take it from somewhere else, where it is also needed," a U.S. defense official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. But with U.S. law barring direct support to governments produced by coups such as the fragile interim administration in Bamako, the United States is concentrating on the ECOWAS group of West African nations which on Thursday sent its first deployment of troops into the conflict. "We do best if we are in a strong supporting and sustaining role, and not in a role in which we are taking the lead," the senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday. "This is primarily an African problem." The United States has offered training and non-lethal supplies, ranging from boots and medical kits to maps, to the African forces. It also stands ready to help transport them into Mali, although U.S. officials say this could be done through paying for third countries to airlift the troops rather than using U.S. military personnel or equipment. HOSTAGE FEARS Western fears that the al Qaeda-linked insurgents are expanding operations across Northern Africa were underscored on Wednesday when Islamist militants attacked a gas field in neighboring Algeria, taking dozens of foreigners hostage, including some Americans. While the attack illustrated that U.S. interests remain exposed across an unstable region, few analysts expect it to force a change in Washington's overall approach. Republican U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the parallel crises in Mali and Algeria, like the deadly September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, showed the need for a broad and sustained push to bolster unraveling security in the region. "You can't just handle Mali. You can't just handle the Tuareg. You can't just handle Benghazi. You have to have an overarching plan that puts pressure on these groups from all of it," Rogers told CNN on Wednesday. "And you can't just fire a few missiles and pack up and go home and hope for the best. It's not going to work." Some analysts expect the United States will continue to try to buy time, giving notional support to France while at the same time pressing for a more durable political solution for Mali. "Fundamentally we have to face the reality that what we have here is an insurgency, and we have to fight a counterinsurgency," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. "You cannot fight a counterinsurgency unless you have a legitimate government to rally around, and that is what we do not have in Mali right now." (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart. Editing by Warren Strobel and Doina Chiacu) ===============

What Oil Companies Do With Their $375 Million a Day Profits

By Rebecca Leber, ThinkProgress 26 July 12 he Big Five oil companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell – are slated to announce their 2012 second-quarter profits later this week. We can expect these companies, all of which rank in the top 10 of the “Fortune 500 Global Ranking,” to reveal billions of dollars more in profits, after earning $375 million in profits per day in 2011 ($261,000 per minute), and $368 million per day in the first three-months of 2012 — bringing their combined profits to $1 trillion from 2001 through 2011. Below is a quick look at just how much these Big Oil companies are making, and where they are spending their billions in profits. Big Oil’s Big Profits, In 24 Hours •The five biggest oil companies earned a combined profit of $375 million per day, or a record $137 billion profit for the year, in 2011, despite reducing their oil production. •In 60 seconds, these five companies earned $261,000 — more than 96 percent of American households make in one year. •These five oil companies received $6.6 million in federal tax breaks every day. •In 2011, the three largest domestic public oil companies spent $100 million of their profits each day, or over 50 percent, buying back their own stock to enrich their board, senior managers, and largest share holders. •The entire oil and gas industry spent on average $400,000 each day lobbying senators and representatives to weaken public health safeguards and keep big oil tax breaks, totaling nearly $150 million. •Each CEO of the Big Five companies received an average of $60,110 in compensation per day last year. On average, their pay jumped 55 percent in 2011. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson’s compensation came close to $100,000 per day last year. Millions in Political Contributions and Lobbying •Despite ranking as some of the most successful companies in the world, big oil and gas companies continue to receive $4 billion in tax breaks each year. •The oil and gas industry has already given over $30.5 million in federal campaign contributions this year, with a whopping 88 percent going to Republicans. •Big Oil has spent an additional $37 million on lobbying Congress this year, with the top spenders being Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Koch Industries and BP. •Their efforts are paying off. This is the most anti-environment Congress in history, with the House of Representatives averaging one anti-environment vote per day, or a total 247 votes through mid-June. The biggest beneficiary of these votes has been Big Oil. The House voted to enrich the oil and gas industry 109 times, a total 44 percent of its anti-environment votes. •The House is on track to collect a record amount of oil industry contributions this cycle, having already reached 2008 and 2010 levels. And these are direct donations only — it does not include Super PAC spending or other campaign assistance. Outside Interests and Big Oil Allies Spending Tens of Millions More to Influence the Energy Debate •Fueled by Koch Industries and other Big Oil interests, the industry is spending hundreds of millions to fund false ads in this year’s elections. According to the Annenberg Public Policy Center, 85 percent of the dollars have funded false ad, during a season where most advertising have focused on energy. •Pro-Romney outside interest groups spent $24.6 million on energy ads through June 24, according to Kantar Media CMAG data. This is more than ten-times the amount spent by pro-Obama groups, which spent $2.3 million on energy spots. •American Energy Alliance, Americans for Prosperity, American Future Fund, and Crossroads GPS – the top outside pro-oil and pro-Romney interest group spenders – have spent a total $24.9 million on deceptive ads, many of them energy-related, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center. •Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity has devoted more than 90 percent of its ad spending to energy ads. Two of the Americans for Prosperity ads pushed patently false claims — roundly debunked by fact checkers — that the stimulus funded jobs overseas. •Fact checkers have thoroughly debunked these anti-clean energy ads. Both Politifact and the Washington Post Fact Checker have given the ad their worst ratings of “pants on fire” and four Pinocchios, respectively. Politifact found all three examples used to be false, with the ad stringing together “alarming” soundbites that are “ultimately ridiculous.” Comments We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation. General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity. Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action. - The RSN Team +5 # Adoregon 2012-07-26 08:22 All the money in the world won't save these rapacious solipsists (hey, solipsists sounds better than calling them deranged fu*ks) and their children from the ecological collapse their actions are responsible for bringing about. +5 # JSRaleigh 2012-07-26 09:02 Quoting Adoregon: All the money in the world won't save these rapacious solipsists (hey, solipsists sounds better than calling them deranged fu*ks) and their children from the ecological collapse their actions are responsible for bringing about. I don't care anything about saving them or their children. I care about what they're doing to my family. +7 # reiverpacific 2012-07-26 08:38 They can't breath or eat their money and may yet choke on their lobbyist maintained lies -or are they building big McMansions in floating bubbles so they can watch the rest of us drown and/or suffocate? The planet has many tricks up it's sleeve and will hit back; already is in fact. Yet the damage marches on and we destroy ourselves, as the natives of this continent predicted. Let them eat tar-sands. +2 # paulrevere 2012-07-26 08:51 Add to all those number manipulations the costs of environmental remediation and health afflictions born by WETHEPEOPLE and these cretins are true vampires on the fiscal jugular of OUR treasury. +4 # Billy Bob 2012-07-26 09:52 The oil industry is using a lot of that money to undermine efforts to fix the environmental devastation they are creating. In another thread one of the right-wing commenters asked, in effect, "how much money was changing hands to 'support the green industry' ". It's not an exact quote, but that was the meaning of the remark. It doesn't deserve an exact quote anyway. Disingenuous arguments by the far right are just as pursuasive as the truth. That fact, alone, is the biggest threat to our ability to actually fix this and the global warming that is taking place as we speak. +8 # The Voice of Reason 2012-07-26 10:30 Well, someone FINALLY writes to complain about the porcine wealth of the Oil Companies and the politicians they own. What's the sudden rush? They have been ripping off the general public for 60 years or more without a complaint (as in 'shouldn't we be paying more for gas?) by selling us a product we don't need (fuel) and designing vehicles that waste this worthless fuel to guarantee their enormous riches. How do we not see this? and for so many, many decades. Until we demand an end to fuel based economies (or sucker economies) and the politicians who support them, we are indeed the suckers who pay for our own poverty. +3 # jwb110 2012-07-26 10:56 You can bet with the 6.6 million dollars in tax breaks that that us the first money to go into the Citizens United pot. So in effect the American Public is beng MADE to contribute to candidates that they may oppose. If this isn't a conflict of interest I don't know what is. +5 # thinkchip 2012-07-26 12:29 Let's not forget it's the deranged fu*ks in government that protect the people in these corporations from facing the consequences of their actions. I'm no fan of corporate oil goons, but what do government people do with the profits from their racket? Imprison millions of innocent people here and abroad, turn middle Eastern children into red mist, pad their own nests, etc. More powerful, better funded government is not the answer to this problem. No longer tolerating exploitation, fraud, theft, and violence wherever it's found is (even under the guise of government). Oh, and raising our children peacefully and respectfully so they never even consider submitting to or allowing this kind of crap. That's the real solution. -4 # Howard T. Lewis III 2012-07-26 13:35 B-A-A-A-A-A-A!! ! +1 # Howard T. Lewis III 2012-07-26 13:37 We are outnumbered by self-involved sheeple. A good overthrow would take care of these suckers just like the crooked bankers and pedophiles of the Bush cabal and various churches with their broad spectrum affronts to humanity. 0 # The Voice of Reason 2012-07-26 18:28 Wheeeeeee! The federal wrist slappers are coming!! 0 # geonomist 2012-08-08 17:25 Most people notice only the size of oil profit, not the kind. Oil companies do earn some money from extraction, transporting, refining, and retailing, but they reap their biggest harvest merely from the value of oil in the ground. Norway charges 80% of the world price to extract their oil yet oil companies still pay it because the other 20% is rewarding enough. Imagine if every government had the guts of Norway; oil companies would be about one fifth their current size and the public treasury that much richer. We could pay ourselves a dividend, invest in alternatives, have time to enjoy life. Let's act! ================== Deputy oil minister: 6 mln liters of gas oil is being smuggled from Iran daily 26 November 2012, 11:38 (GMT+04:00) About 6 million liters of gas oil is being smuggled from Iran each day, deputy oil minister said on Sunday. The prices of fuels in neighboring countries are 7 or 8 times higher than Iran, so smuggling gasoline and gas oil has created a great market for the smugglers, the ISNA news agency quoted Alireza Zeyqami as saying. "Iran needs to increase the price of fuels in order to prevent smuggling," Zeyqami said. Considering the official reference rate of 12,260 rials to the US dollar, the real price of gasoline in Iran is 10,000 rials (about 82 U.S. cents). Currently gasoline is sold at two prices: a 60-liter monthly allowance at 4000 rials (33 cents) per liter, and any amount above that at 7000 rials (57 cents) per liter. Last year the International Monetary Fund commended the Iranian government for the subsidy reform policy, which it said had led to a reduction in fuel consumption. ==================== U.S. judge approves settlement in BP class action suit Fri, Dec 21 21:11 PM EST * Settles claims for economic losses and property damage * Does not cover separate medical benefits settlement * BP expects to pay $7.8 billion to settle class action claims By Terry Baynes Dec 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday gave final approval to BP Plc's settlement with individuals and businesses who lost money and property in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The order only addressed the settlement of economic and property damage claims, not a separate medical benefits settlement for cleanup workers and others who say the spill made them sick. BP has estimated that it will pay $7.8 billion to settle more than 100,000 claims in the class action litigation. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier initially approved the deal in May, but held a "fairness hearing" in November to weigh objections from about 13,000 claimants challenging the settlement to resolve some of BP's liability for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. London-based BP's Macondo well spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days. The torrent fouled shorelines from Texas to Alabama and eclipsed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in severity. Lawyers for some affected parties had objected to the deal, reached in March between BP and lawyers representing plaintiffs ranging from restaurateurs, hoteliers, and oyster men who lost money from the spill. They argued that some claimants would be underpaid or unfairly excluded. But in a 125-page order approving the settlement, Barbier called the deal "fair, reasonable and adequate," citing the low number of class members who objected or opted out. BP welcomed the approval order in a statement, adding that the settlement resolves the majority of economic and property damage claims stemming from the accident. "Today's decision by the Court is another important step forward for BP in meeting its commitment to economic and environmental restoration efforts in the Gulf and in eliminating legal risk facing the company," BP said. Separate from the class action claims, BP has been locked in a year-long legal battle with the U.S. government and Gulf Coast states to settle billions of dollars in civil and criminal liability from the explosion. In a settlement with the U.S. government announced last month, BP agreed to pay $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to felony misconduct. The government also indicted the two highest-ranking BP supervisors aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig during the disaster, charging them with 23 criminal counts including manslaughter. The class action case is In Re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-2179. ==============

PRESS DIGEST - Sunday British Press - March 25

Sun, Mar 25 09:16 AM EDT

LONDON, March 25, (Reuters) - British newspapers reported the following business stories on Sunday:

SUNDAY TIMES

BA EYES RESCUE DEAL FOR TROUBLED AMERICAN AIRLINES

International Airlines Group (IAG), the company that owns British Airways, is examining plans to buy a stake in American Airlines in an effort to stop the carrier falling into the hands of a rival.

IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh is thought to be studying options including buying a stake in American Airlines, or becoming a minority partner in a joint venture takeover bid.

BP'S 2 BLN STG NORTH SEA SALE

BP has launched its largest ever auction of North Sea oil fields amid a new wave of interest sparked by Britain's tax breaks for the industry.

Assets worth close to 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) have been put on the block by the oil giant, according to industry sources. BP has hired Jefferies as an adviser.

In a separate North Sea deal, Kuwait's national oil company is in takeover talks with Ithaca Energy Inc , the 500 million pound producer listed in London and Toronto.

OSBORNE TO NAB ELECTION TAX BONANZA

Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne will net a pre-election tax windfall of 3.3 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) from his cut in the 50 pence tax rate, as high earners delay their income to take advantage of the lower levy.

CO-OP EYES CASH HANDLING UNIT SALE

The Co-Operative Group has hoisted the "for sale" sign over its Sunwin Services cash handling division as it seeks to raise cash to support its acquisition of more than 600 bank branches from Lloyds.

Buckingham Corporate Finance has been appointed to handle the sale, which analysts suggested could fetch 30 to 40 million pounds ($63.5 million).

RBS IN BID TO SAVE GAME

Taxpayers could end up with a stake in Game Group under a surprise rescue plan led by Royal Bank of Scotland Plc .

The state-owned lender is heading a consortium of the company's existing banks that has tabled a bid to buy the troubled computer games retailer out of administration.

888 BETS ON NEW BOSS

Online gaming group 888 Holdings is expected to appoint Brian Mattingley as its chief executive on a permanent basis. He has filled the role since the departure of Gigi Levy, the previous boss.

DEALMAKER TO LIST 2 BLN STG WAR CHEST

Edmund Truell, the veteran private equity dealmaker, is to list a new 2 billion pound ($3.2 billion) bid vehicle on the London Stock Exchange that will target banks, insurers and asset managers across Europe.

Truell is planning to raise between 500 and 600 million pounds of equity from investors, allowing him to target businesses worth up to 2 billion pounds. The yet-to-be-named vehicle is expected to be launched within weeks.

RETAIL PARKS IN 300 MLN STG SELL-OFF

Capital & Regional Plc, one of Britain's biggest owners of shopping centres, is preparing to sell its portfolio of retail parks for more than 300 million pounds ($475.9 million).

CITY DEAL FOR BLACKSTONE

Blackstone is poised to buy the London headquarters of Aon Corp, the world's biggest insurance broker, in a 330 million pound ($523.5 million) deal that will expand the American private equity firm's City property empire.

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

NBNK PLOTS FRESH LLOYDS BRANCH BID

NBNK - the new bank headed by Lord Levene and Gary Hoffman - is to make a fresh approach for the 632 branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group after concerns were raised that the proposed sale of the branches to The Co-Operative Group had hit regulatory hurdles.

The sweetened 1.5 billion pound ($2.4 billion) offer, due to be tabled on Monday, will propose Lloyds demerge the 632 "Project Verde" branches, float the business and allow NBNK to fully underwrite the demerger in cash.

PRU LEAK: THE FSA IS 'LUDICROUS'

Prudential is facing serious questions over its attitude towards the Financial Services Authority after a leaked email sent by the deputy chief executive of its UK business described the regulator's policy plans as "ludicrous" and "horrendous".

The email also reveals that Prudential and other major insurance companies have met Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, to discuss the impact Scottish independence could have on Britain's insurance firms.

BIRDS EYE'S OWNER PUT ON MARKET FOR 3 BILLION EUROS

IGLO Group, the owner of the Captain Birds Eye frozen food brand, is to be put up for sale with a price tag of almost 3 billion euros ($4 billion).

Europe's largest frozen food company, owned by private equity firm Permira, has appointed Credit Suisse to kick start an auction, which is likely to attract interest from buy-out rivals such as Blackstone, BC Partners and Cinven, as well as East Asian and Indian companies.

STAKE IN THAMES WATER UP FOR SALE

A stake in London water supplier Thames Water, believed to be around 8.7 percent, has been put up for sale for up to 700 million pounds ($1.1 billion).

According to City sources, Australian investment group Macquarie has been conducting an auction of a shareholding in Kemble Water, Thames Water's parent company.

MAIL ON SUNDAY

BETFAIR TO LAUNCH AS A BOOKIE

Online betting exchange Betfair Group Plc is to launch itself as a bookmaker in a move designed to prevent customers deserting to rivals such as William Hill Plc and Ladbrokes.

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

SEPTUAGENARIAN SELECTED TO CHAIR 20-YEAR HS2 PROJECT

Britain may announce on Monday the appointment of 71-year old former Crossrail executive chairman Douglas Oakervee as chair of High Speed Two, the 32.7 billion pound ($51.9 billion) rail network linking London, Birmingham and cities further north.

($1 = 0.6304 British pounds)($1 = 0.7540 euros)