Daily Archives: April 10, 2012
U.S.-Iran Talks: Set Up To Crash And Burn
The U.S. ultimatum to Iran: Surrender or Die.
The United States and Iran will meet in Istanbul on Saturday, April 14, to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and other issues.
But don’t hold your breath. The likelihood of a compromise from both sides is very low. Many informed analysts believe that the list of demands by the Obama administration to Iran are deliberately high and unrealistic so as to make Iran look like the one who is spoiling the good vibes and unwilling to commit to peace.
Paul R. Pillar, a former CIA official, summed up the nature of the talks by saying:
The Western message to Tehran seems pretty clear: we might be willing to tolerate some sort of Iranian nuclear program, but only one consisting of facilities that would suffer significant damage if we, or the Israelis, later decide to bomb it. In other words, we insist on holding Iranian nuclear facilities hostage to armed attack. Not the sort of formula that inspires trust among Iranian leaders and gives them much incentive to move toward an agreement.
If the goal is to further the deadlock between Iran and the West then the Obama administration’s strategy of high demands will succeed, and pave the way for war. Trita Parsi, the director of the National Iranian American Council, says: “The problem is not necessarily the demands, but the imbalance between what is demanded and what is offered.”
America is taking the Godfather’s approach to diplomacy, making offers that amount to: surrender, or die. That is not statesmanship; that is thuggery. Is the whole world supposed to be afraid of the Big Bad America and collapse at its feet of clay like slaves? Death is a better option.
The U.S. stand-off against Iran is so crazy because Iran already compromised, twice, but the U.S. rejected Iran both times. In 2003, shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iran offered America the “Grand Bargain” but the Bush administration spat in the face of Iran and told it to go to hell.
The second time was in May 2010, when Brazil and Turkey reached an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program after President Obama specifically requested that they get together and strike a deal. But President Obama quickly turned his back on the deal and decided instead to impose sanctions on Iran. That is why Obama is known as a two-faced rat.
Obama and his masters always wanted to bomb Iran. The peace talks is just a stalling tactic. How can anyone trust two-faced rats like Obama and Netanyahu to sit down like gentlemen and make peace? They have no respect for Iran or for any nation. Like Bush and Cheney, Obama deserves the death penalty, not a Nobel peace prize.
Posted by Saman Mohammadi at 3:43 PM
Related articles
- The CIA’s ‘Persia House’ Has Been Sending Stealth Drones Deep Into Iran For Years (businessinsider.com)
Gulf Oil returns to Houston, branding 50 stations
The Gulf Oil logo is coming to Houston, as the fuel supplier launches plans to rebrand 50 gasoline stations in the area, according to executives.
Gulf Oil, a Massachusetts-based fuel wholesaler, has contracted to rebrand 50 ExxonMobil service stations beginning mid- May. Gulf Oil is partnering with Petroleum Wholesale LP, a distributor based in The Woodlands, to supply the stations.
The move is part of Gulf Oil’s aggressive move to expand the brand’s presence across the country, said Rick Dery, senior vice president of sales and marketing.
The company’s logo had been absent from Texas for decades, but returned to the state last year when it branded five stations in Austin. The company was launched in 1901 in Beaumont.
“We are very excited about the re-emergence in the Houston market,” Dery said. “We are going to come back in a much more significant way. The excitement here is bursting.”
The company stores and distributes branded fuels. It currently supplies 3,000 Gulf Oil and other stations, Dery said.
The Gulf Oil-Petroleum Wholesale partnership plans to brand at least 15 new fueling stations each year for the next decade, Dery said.
Gulf Oil is a fuel retailer and distributor, without refining operations. The company is expanding its presence at a time when retailers with refineries are struggling against stagnant fuel demand and competitive pressure.
“Margins have been tight with $4 gasoline and retail customers are becoming hyper sensitive to price,” Dery said. “It’ll get challenging for retail operators, the publicity for our industry isn’t the best.”
Related articles
- Gulf Oil History (mb50.wordpress.com)
Apache Hires Drillship for Ops Offshore Kenya
Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL reports that the Kenya L8 licence operator Apache Kenya Limited (Apache) has secured the use of the deepwater drilling ship Deepsea Metro 1 to drill the giant Mbawa Prospect.
Apache is anticipating a spud date within Q3 2012, with the actual date depending on when the drilling rig is finished with its current operations.
The well is expected to take some 45 to 60 days to complete to a planned total depth of 3,250m subsea in water depth of 860m, easily within the range of modern equipment.
Pancontinental has a 15% interest “free-carried” through Mbawa drilling by Tullow Oil plc up to a “cap” of US$ 9 million (as may be reduced by other exploration expenditure). Pancontinental now expects to have contribute more to the well cost due to increased well cost estimates.
Pancontinental estimates that Mbawa has maximum potential to contain 4.9 Billion Barrels of oil in place at the main Tertiary / Cretaceous level with significant additional potential also to be tested by the well at the deeper Upper Jurassic level and shallower Tertiary levels. Only drilling is capable of verifying the oil and gas volumetric potential (if any) of the Mbawa Prospect.
Pancontinental has four projects offshore Kenya covering more than 18,000 square kilometres in licence areas L6, L8, L10A and L10B, with the L8 / Mbawa project being the most advanced and Mbawa being the first prospect to be drilled.
Pancontinental’s CEO Barry Rushworth commented;
“Pancontinental is in the unique position of having sizeable interests in a number of Kenyan and Namibian offshore licences and having substantial leverage to any Mbawa drilling success. We are very pleased that a drilling rig contract has now been signed by our operator Apache for the L8 Mbawa Prospect. We are pursuing what we see as a major oil play rather than a gas play offshore Kenya and we are doing the same offshore Namibia. The economics of oil developments are often far better than those for gas, with potential for much earlier cash flow and much lower development costs compared to LNG, for example. Apache is now leading the L8 venture in an aggressive exploration programme and in our other Kenyan blocks L10A and L10B we also have fast-moving activity led by BG Group”.
Related articles
- Cyprus: Ocean Rig Receives LoA for its UDW Drillship (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Ensco in $645m drillship buy (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Pacific Scirocco Drillship Begins Work in Nigeria (mb50.wordpress.com)
- South Korea: Seadrill Confirms Samsung Drillships Contracts (mb50.wordpress.com)
- ENSCO Orders Drillship with Retractable Thrusters!? (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Ophir Begins with Drilling Operations Offshore Tanzania (mb50.wordpress.com)
- French Guiana: Shell to Begin Guyane Drilling in Mid 2012 (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Anadarko Finds Hydrocarbons Offshore Sierra Leone (mb50.wordpress.com)
- South Korea: Pacific Drilling Extends Option for its 7th Drillship (mb50.wordpress.com)
Spain: Ibercisa Provides Deck Machinery for McDermott’s Vessel North Ocean V
Ibercisa has supplied deck equipment for the lay vessel “North Ocean V” for the North American Company McDermott, built at the Vigo shipyard Metalships & Docks.
The supply includes combined anchor winches for 60 mm diam. chain, mooring winches machinery and pedal driven Capstan bollards.
This is the third vessel for which Ibercisa has supplied this type of equipment in the Vigo shipyard which has also sold the machinery to the Norwegian company Ocean, to McDermott and the French company Technip.
From the start, IBERCISA was characterized by its loyalty to the boat-building industry, its innovation, deriving from its experience and knowledge of the people of the sea , in perfect combination with its highly qualified engineers and technical staff and an outstanding “international” spirit which sees its machinery present in all the oceans of the world and in more than 30 countries.
Related articles
- Huisman to Build 500mt Yard Crane and 150mt Flexlay System for Technip (France) (mb50.wordpress.com)
- McDermott signs agreement for spool base services in Gulf of Mexico (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Norway: North Sea Giant Stays with Technip (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Technip Wins Lucius Field Contract from Anadarko (mb50.wordpress.com)
- USA: ECO Shipyard Christens New Icebreaker Built for Shell (mb50.wordpress.com)
Brazil: Oil Leak Found at Petrobras’ Roncador Field
Brazil’s state controlled oil company, Petrobras, announces that on Sunday afternoon, April 8, a subsea inspection discovered seepage of oil coming from its Roncador oil field’s seabed in Campos basin.
The inspection was carried out using a Remotely Operate Vehicle (ROV), at the field located approximately 120 km off the coast of from the coast of São Tomé Cape, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, near the Chevron operated Frade field where two seeps – one in November, 2011 and the second in early March, 2012, occurred.
According to the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), the ROV was submerged approximately 500 meters to the East from the Frade field border line, where it collected oil samples which should help with identifying the source of the leak.
So far, no oil slick can be seen on the surface of the sea.
Related articles
- Petrobras: Production Starts at Cascade Field (USA) (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Brazil: Petrobras Agrees Contracts for 26 Drilling Rigs (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Repsol Sinopec Makes High-Impact Discovery Off Brazil (mb50.wordpress.com)
- In Brazil, Chevron’s Lone Gunman Shoots Again (forbes.com)
- Chevron execs may get criminal charges in Brazil (cbsnews.com)
- Petrobras Oil Spill Update: Industry Executives Await Official Response from Brazil (gcaptain.com)
Marathon Sells Alaska Assets
Marathon Oil Corporation announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Hilcorp Alaska LLC, under which Hilcorp will purchase substantially all of Marathon Oil’s Alaska assets.
The companies expect to close the transaction, subject to completion of the necessary Government and regulatory approvals, by this fall.
With an effective date of Jan. 1, 2012, the sale includes 17 million barrels of oil equivalent of net proved reserves across 10 fields in the Cook Inlet, as well as natural gas storage, and interests in natural gas pipeline transmission systems.
In 2011 net production averaged approximately 93 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 112 barrels of oil per day.
Additionally, Marathon Oil had approximately 12.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas in storage at the end of 2011.
Related articles
- Exxon, Conoco and BP Plan Alaska LNG Exports (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Energy: Texas Tops Finds From Brazil to Bakken as Best Prospect (mb50.wordpress.com)
- North Alaska may hold 80 trillion cubic feet of shale gas (mb50.wordpress.com)
Continents of the World
Mb50's "Liquid Mud" Rant 
