Oil & Gas News

NEW DELHI: A ministerial delegation from Chad, which met external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh, has expressed willingness to allow India to participate in oil exploration in the country. India has offered Chad training in various sectors, including the petroleum sector, in exchange for participation in oil exploration in the West African country.

At present, there is no Indian participation in the oil and gas sector, while China is making its presence felt in a major way from oil exploration to building the country’s first oil refinery. The government, aware of these developments, is now actively looking at initiating oil talks with the landlocked country, especially as the Chad government plans to auction 20 blocks by the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008.

And the Chad government, which wants Indian expertise in setting up a fertiliser plant, a cement factory and technical know-how in the diary and leather industry, is only too willing to trade with oil blocks. Sources said the Chad government in response to the Indian interest has said it will look at giving oil blocks to India. Chad commerce minister Youssouf Abbassalah, who is leading the delegation, said, “I would like to mention that our minister of petroleum was in Delhi (for the India-Africa Hydrocarbon Conference) which is an indication that we are open for a partnership with the private sector. This co-operation could be either in upstream or downstream and in exploration.’’

He also said, “Since 2003, we have been producing 200 million barrels a year. We have a number of oil blocks which are unexplored.” Though he was unwilling to reveal the exact nature of talks with the government, he said, “We are open to any inquires in the petroleum field from India and its private sector.” Three years ago, Chad had put up four blocks for auction. China lost out at the time with one block going to the US and three blocks being bagged by Canada. But China came in last year, buying rights to an oil exploration block from Canada. Early this year, China National Petroleum Corporation announced that it struck commercial value oil for the first time in Chad.

An energy-hungry China has been fast gaining ground in Africa, which is being projected as the last frontier for developing oil and gas reserves and Chad is emerging as an important country for China. India’s policy in Africa is to build ties by offering “cost-effective and intermediate technologies” and human resource development and capacity building.

Officials here say the pattern of ties between India and Africa is different, and that it is a relationship based on technical help and capacity building and not just on assistance, whereas China’s labour policy and hunger for resources has generated bad press. However, China is also developing infrastructure in Chad from building new roads, providing irrigation and setting up mobile telephone networks. And the fact remains that India has lost out on oil exploration blocks to China in other parts of Africa.

But Chad is now open to an Indian presence. “If India comes, we will prefer India,” said Mr Abbassalah, adding that Chad also has a huge reserve of minerals, including uranium. “Yes, we have uranium reserves. We have already signed contracts with three companies for carrying out exploration activities. There are more blocks, and I would invite Indian companies,” he added.

Le constat a été fait hier, 29 novembre 2007, à l’ouverture du deuxième forum d’information sur cet oléoduc exploité depuis 4 ans déjà. Ledit forum s’achève ce jour par des recommandations.

A en croire la plupart d’invités à ce forum, le pipeline Tchad Cameroun, méga projet de plus de 3,5 milliards de dollar américain, rendu public en 1997 et approuvé par la Banque mondiale en 2000, est loin de combler les attentes des différentes parties prenantes. Surtout celles des populations riveraines qui, aujourd’hui encore, ont près de 400 plaintes liées à leur indemnisation, sur la table de la Cameroon oil exploitation company, Cotco. Selon Ndoumbe Kotto, représentant des Ongs de surveillance des activités de cet oléoduc, celles-ci continuent, sur le terrain, à collecter les doléances des différentes communautés concernées. Les plus lésés seraient les pygmées de Bipindi Lolodorf. En plus, les risques environnementaux demeurent. Beaucoup se sont souvenus avec amertume, de la frayeur causée par le déversement d’hydrocarbures le 15 janvier dernier, au niveau du Terminal de Komé-Kribi. Bien que jugé mineur par la Cotco, cet incident ne laisse toujours pas indifférents les participants au forum de Yaoundé.
Un membre de la Fondation camerounaise d’action rationalisée et de formation sur l’environnement, Focarfe, estime d’ailleurs que le dédommagement du gouvernement camerounais par la Cotco, à hauteur de 50 millions de Francs Cfa, par rapport aux dégâts environnementaux et sociaux liés à ce déversement de pétrole brut, ne doit plus se faire attendre. L’accident en question avait été causé par la corrosion d’un tuyau d’évacuation d’eau traversant une citerne de stockage de brut et débouchant sur la coque du terminal Komé-Kribi. Même si la Cotco continue de considérer cet incident comme mineur, le président du Comité de pilotage et de suivi des Pipelines, Adolphe Moudiki, Dg de la Snh, pense plutôt qu’il interpelle à nouveau, toutes les parties impliquées directement ou indirectement dans la gestion de l’Oléoduc, “ sur la nécessité de faire preuve d’une vigilance permanente ”.

Bilan élogieux !
Comme à son habitude, la Cotco n’a pas raté l’occasion de brandir ses lauriers. Près de 5,6 millions de dollars versés au trésor public camerounais pour le 1er trimestre 2007. Tandis que pour la même période, 13,66 millions de barils ont été enlevés au cours de 14 opérations d’enlèvement. Sur le plan social, elle cite pèle mêle la distribution de moustiquaires imprégnées aux communautés de Ngaoundéré et de Rey Bouba, la sensibilisation des élèves des établissements situés le long du tracé par des pairs éducateurs formés avec l’appui de la Cotco sur le Vih et ses conséquences ; le don de cahiers aux élèves ; la réhabilitation de la route desservant Belabo ; environ 15 millions de francs Cfa payés aux riverains en 2007 au titre des compensations des biens détruits ; des ordinateurs offerts aux écoles situées le long du pipe ; sans oublier l’emploi de nombreux Camerounais tant à la Cotco que sur les chantiers de l’oléoduc. Un bilan élogieux, selon le Dg de la Cotco. Mais pour le directeur des opérations de la Banque mondiale pour le Cameroun, Mary Barton Dock, il faut avoir le triomphe modeste. Car, qu’il s’agisse de la gestion des revenus pétroliers au Tchad ou des risques environnementaux et sociaux au Cameroun, il y’a des choses à redire. Pour elle, il faut continuer à travailler en synergie afin que le projet Pipeline Tchad Cameroun, à défaut d’être un modèle, soit un bon exemple de partenariat entre des gouvernements, des investisseurs privés, les organisations de la société civile et la Banque mondiale. 

IRRESPECTIVE of the objection by the Senate to the manner the Obasanjo Administration ceded the Bakasi Peninsula to the Cameroon, Nigeria will not renege on the hand-over agreement with Yaounde, Chairman of the Nigeria-Cameroun Mixed Commission, Prince Bola Ajibola, declared yesterday.

Fresh facts obtained by Vanguard yesterday showed that the Senate indeed received President Olusegun Obasanjo's letter seeking its ratification of the agreement with Cameroon.

The letter was read on the floor of the Senate on June 14, 2006, although both the letter and the agreement never went through the Senate process on account of what now appear to be intrigues.

This came on a day prominent lawyer, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), said "where an agreement is subject to ratification under the Nigerian Constitution, such as in the Nigeria/Cameroun Bakassi controversy, the signature, that of President Obasanjo, does not, in international law, establish consent by the Nigeria state to be bound."

Prince Ajibola emerging from a meeting with President Umaru Yar'Adua at the Presidential Villa, Abuja told State House correspondents that the Senate should do the right thing by "documenting the decision of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) without further delay."

He said Nigeria as a member of the United Nations, has no choice but to abide by the decision of the ICJ regardless of whether it is able to put its house in order by ensuring that the appropriate legislative agency ratify such a decision.

He said the fact that Bakassi was listed in the constitution of Nigeria was secondary to the ratification of the ICJ ruling by the National Assembly, pointing out that the meeting between the commission and President Yar'Adua "brought about a line of action on" Bakassi.

This includes that the displaced people of Bakassi are taken care off and resettled.

He said after the judgment, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo "acted promptly by sending a letter to the President of the Senate as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other relevant agencies" to act on it accordingly.

"It was a matter for the Senate to have ratified. Not doing that was not the problem of the then president. It cannot be otherwise because once you are apprised of a matter; you do your part because the law assumes that you have done it.

The problem is the internal problem of Nigeria and it is not relevant to the ruling. We cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time," he said.

He warned that the agreement ceding the relevant territories to Cameroon had four witnesses -Germany, Britain, France and the United States of America- and Nigeria must not take this with levity.

"If we do this, the world is watching us," he said, adding: "From the beginning, we had always brought the matter to the National Assembly. The world would always expect us to do the right thing.

The world is watching us if we fail to abide by the decision of the ICJ."

Prince Ajibola explained that in international law, "the act of the president of a country is the act of everybody in that country. Whatever he says is the position of that country and it is binding on everybody.

"There is nothing that will stop that assignment (ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon). The Senate is aware of the fact that it failed to do what it ought to have done and it (the Senate) will do it now.

The president did what he ought to have done and that burden of ratification is the end of it," he stressed pointing out that the verdict of the ICJ was a victory for Nigeria. If the judgment had not been passed the way it was, Nigeria would have been more impoverished as Cameroon would have taken over some of Nigeria's offshore oil wells, he said.

Letter was read in Senate on June 14

However, Vanguard can now confirm that the letter from former President Obasanjo seeking the Senate's ratification of the agreement handing over Bakassi to Cameroon was read on the Senate floor on Wednesday, June 14, 2006, although it never went beyond that stage apparently on account of intrigues.

Sources in the Senate confirmed yesterday that the then Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, read the covering letter conveying the agreement reached with Cameroon on June 14, 2006.

The letter was documented in the Senate's Votes and Proceedings for June 15 which was approved by Senator Nnamani. The Votes and Proceedings is the legislature's chronicle of the happenings in the chamber on any sitting day.

The former Senate President in an interview with Vanguard on Wednesday, had said he could not recollect reading the letter but had gone on to affirm that the Senate never ratified the agreement.

Vanguard learnt that the agreement was not tabled for ratification on the Senate floor because of the mood of the Senate which after the collapse of the third term had swung against the former President.

"It was generally known that if the agreement was brought up it would have been definitely thrown out because those that would have done it gauged the mood of the Senate," one source close to the happenings of the then Senate disclosed yesterday.

Following the reading of the letter, no one ever mentioned it again as the letter became stuck in the Senate bureaucracy.

Nevertheless, blame was still being heaped on former President Obasanjo for going ahead with the implementation of the agreement without the ratification of the National Assembly.

Senators who served in that Senate speaking in that vein also claimed not to recollect receiving the letter.

"There are a number of questions that people should ask. Did the Senate ratify any agreement or did the National Assembly ratify any such agreement?" Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw who moved the motion for the nullification of the handover of Bakassi to Cameroon said.

"I don't recollect that the agreement was ever discussed on the Senate floor. Even if the letter came to the Senate, he should tell us whether it came in form of a letter or a bill," he added.

The Senate Chief Whip, Senator Kanti Bello, who served in the last Senate spoke in the same vein.

"The question is this: if there was that letter, why did the Senate not do anything about it? Those who are saying that the Senate is reacting late should remember that we are reacting constitutionally. We cannot fold our arms when our citizens are being killed in the area. The Senate reacted to save our citizens," he said.

Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, while claiming ignorance of the letter said: "Whether it is a treaty, a bill or a letter he should have sent, we should focus on the real issue, which is that a territory of Nigeria as contained in the Constitution was being ceded to another country and that cannot take place until there is an amendment of the Constitution."

Akinjide speaks

Meanwhile, prominent lawyer, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), in a statement on the issue yesterday said "where an agreement is subject to ratification under the Nigerian Constitution, such as in the Nigeria/Cameroon Bakassi controversy, the signature, that of President Obasanjo, does not, in international law, establish consent by the Nigeria state to be bound.

The signature of President Obasanjo only qualifies the signatory state to proceed to the ratification of the document if it wants. But the signature does not create an obligation to ratify.

"Ratification involves two distinct procedural acts: the first is the act of the appropriate organ of the state, that is, the Senate in the case of Nigeria.

This is ratification in the constitutional sense under Section 12 of our Constitution or the Crown in the case of the United Kingdom or of the Senate in he United States of America.

The second is the international procedure which brings the treaty into force by a formal exchange by the state parties or the deposit of the instruments of ratification. Ratification in the latter sense is an important act involving consent to be bound. Before ratification, there was no consent by the state (here Nigeria) to be bound.

The provision in Section 12 of our Constitution is the express intention and notice to the world not to be bound by any agreement unless our Constitutional requirements are fulfilled just as the USA Senate.

"A treaty or an agreement is not binding on the state unless and until it comes into force.

The Nigeria/Cameroon so-called Agreement on Bakassi is not yet in force. It is therefore not binding on Nigeria.

"After a treaty is concluded, the written instrument, which provides formal evidence of consent to be bound by ratification, are placed in the custody of a depository which may be an international organization such as the United Nations.

The depository has functions of considerable importance relating to matters of form, including provision of information as to the time at which the treaty enters into force which must be after ratification. The United Nations Secretariat could play significant role in that respect.

Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations provides as follows:

lEvery treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the present charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretarial and published by it.

lNo party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph I of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations.

"This provision is intended to discourage secret diplomacy and to promote the availability of texts of agreements. The United Nations Secretariat accepts agreements for registration without conferring any status on them or the parties thereto which they would not have otherwise.

"Those who want to save the Bakassi Agreement cannot succeed by invoking the Article 46 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties because the violation here is manifest and concerns the rules of the Constitutional Law of Nigeria which is of fundamental importance hence the President wrote to the Nigerian Senate in abortive effort to get ratification.

"An important implication of Section 12 of our Constitution which provides for the mandatory approval of the Senate is that the consent of the Nigerian State is condition precedent before the Agreement can bind Nigeria and therefore the erga omnes principle is not applicable. In any event, the so-called 'agreement' with Cameroon is not yet in force."

ABIDJAN (AFP) — Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has inaugurated construction of an oil pipeline linking the economic capital Abidjan with the country's interior, the presidency said Friday.

The pipeline will be built at a cost of 110 billion CFA francs (167 million euros, 248 million dollars) and will stretch some 385 kilometres (241 miles) in length.

It will have a capacity of 1.6 million cubic metres annually. State-owned oil company Petroci will finance the project.

The pipeline is expected to be put in service in January 2009 and will allow for the replacement of transport by tanker trucks.

Gbagbo said Thursday at a ceremony to inaugurate construction that the Ivory Coast would "become an oil country not only as it relates to production, but also in the transformation, refining and transport of oil," a statement from the presidency said.

In addition to providing better petroleum distribution throughout the Ivory Coast, the pipeline would also facilitate exports to Mali and Burkina Faso.

"We will not yield to military, social and economic difficulties," the president said, referring to the Ivory Coast peace process in place to reunify the country after a 2002 attempted coup.

Petroci chief Kassoum Fadika said that the pipeline would reduce "atmospheric and noise pollution" and minimise fraud related to the oil industry, estimated at 15 billion CFA francs per year.

The country's oil production sharply increased in 2006 with new discoveries, reaching 80,000 barrels per day, according to a report from the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

Construction on the pipeline, the first of its kind in the Ivory Coast, came a week after work started on the country's second oil refinery.

Riyad, 19/11 – Le Président angolais, José Eduardo dos Santos, a déclaré dimanche, à Riyad, la capitale saudienne, que le 3è Sommet a été positif et a qualifié d`“une décision sage l`adhésion de l`Angola à l`Organisation des Pays Exportateurs de Pétrole (OPEP) depuis janvier 2007".

Eduardo Dos Santos qui a tenu ces propos à la presse, à l`issue du sommet de dimanche, s`est dit très "impressionné".

En marge des travaux du sommet, le Chef de l`Etat angolais s`est entretenu tour à tour, le même jour, avec ses homologues di Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar`Adua, et de Venezuela, Hugo Chaves.

José Eduardo dos Santos a abordé avec ses interlocuteurs des questions d`intérêt bilatéral et international.

Dans son intervention, le Président Dos Santos a affirmé que "l`Angola prétendait participer de façon construtive et active avec d`autres membres de l`OPEP dans la prise des décisions sur la fourniture du pétrole brut au níveau mondial, afin qu`il y ait un équilibre entre les intérêts des pays producteurs et pays consommateurs, en contribuant également à la stablité des prix.

Ivory Coast has started construction on its second oil refinery, a 60,000 b/d facility on a 400-hectare site in the Vridi district of Abidjan.

The facility is being funded by US energy firms Energy Allied International and WCW International, together with Ivory Coast's state-owned Petroci.

"The implementation of this new refinery is a much anticipated next step in our vision to make Abidjan and [Ivory Coast] a major center for refining and redistribution of high-end petroleum products along the West African Atlantic Basin," said Petroci general manager Kassoum Fadika.

Fadika said Angolan, Nigerian, and possibly Congolese crude will be treated in the refinery, which will target US markets.

State-owned refining firm Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage manages Ivory Coast's other refinery, which is in the same industrial area of Vridi, and it can process 70,000 b/d.

The SIR facility is 47.21% owned by the Ivorian government, while Burkina Faso owns another 5.39%. Four international oil companies—Total SA 25.3%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC 10.3%, ExxonMobil Corp. 8.1%, and Chevron Corp. 3.7%—own the remainder.

Earlier this month, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Calgary, said it secured a deepwater drilling rig for mobilization in the first quarter of 2008 at Baobab oil field off Ivory Coast (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2007).

Last September, Prosafe ASA said it received a contract to upgrade the floating production, storage, and offloading Espoir Ivoirien in Espoir field in Ivory Coast. No financial details were disclosed.

The contract, awarded by CNR International (Cote d'Ivoire) SARL (CNR), involved the addition of new separation and gas compression modules, and associated system modifications.

The upgrade will increase the unit's liquid handling capacity from to 70,000 boe/d from 50,000 boe/d, Prosafe said.

Ivory Coast has started construction on its second oil refinery, a 60,000 b/d facility on a 400-hectare site in the Vridi district of Abidjan.

The facility is being funded by US energy firms Energy Allied International and WCW International, together with Ivory Coast's state-owned Petroci.

"The implementation of this new refinery is a much anticipated next step in our vision to make Abidjan and [Ivory Coast] a major center for refining and redistribution of high-end petroleum products along the West African Atlantic Basin," said Petroci general manager Kassoum Fadika.

Fadika said Angolan, Nigerian, and possibly Congolese crude will be treated in the refinery, which will target US markets.

State-owned refining firm Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage manages Ivory Coast's other refinery, which is in the same industrial area of Vridi, and it can process 70,000 b/d.

The SIR facility is 47.21% owned by the Ivorian government, while Burkina Faso owns another 5.39%. Four international oil companies—Total SA 25.3%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC 10.3%, ExxonMobil Corp. 8.1%, and Chevron Corp. 3.7%—own the remainder.

Earlier this month, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Calgary, said it secured a deepwater drilling rig for mobilization in the first quarter of 2008 at Baobab oil field off Ivory Coast (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2007).

Last September, Prosafe ASA said it received a contract to upgrade the floating production, storage, and offloading Espoir Ivoirien in Espoir field in Ivory Coast. No financial details were disclosed.

The contract, awarded by CNR International (Cote d'Ivoire) SARL (CNR), involved the addition of new separation and gas compression modules, and associated system modifications.

The upgrade will increase the unit's liquid handling capacity from to 70,000 boe/d from 50,000 boe/d, Prosafe said.

PARIS (Dow Jones)--Le groupe pétrolier Total (TOT) a annoncé vendredi la découverte d'un nouveau gisement de pétrole en eaux profondes dans le cadre de l'exploitation du bloc Mer Très Profonde Sud au large du Congo.

La découverte a été réalisée à plus de 2.120 mètres de profondeur, a précisé le groupe pétrolier.

Total a indiqué que "les études techniques concernant ce pôle de développement seront lancées une fois faite l'évaluation des réserves associées".

Total exploite le bloc Mer Très Profonde Sud ou MTPS, à travers Total E&P Congo, qui en détient 40%. Les autres actionnaires du bloc sont ENI (E) et Esso (XOM), qui en contrôlent 30% chacun.

BowLeven to seek Cameroon development partner – Nov. 12, 2007

"We will look for someone with the right balance between political clout in the area and technical expertise ... It is a reasonable assumption this will happen in 2008," Chief Executive Kevin Hart told Reuters in an interview.

BowLeven has drilled three wells on the asset this year with varying degrees of success, and Hart said the firm would drill at least one more to prove the area could operate as a stand-alone concern.

The pre-production group reported a loss of 4.8 million pounds ($10.1 million) for the year to end June, but had cash resources of 53 million pounds at the year end. (Reporting By John Bowker, Editing by Mark Potter)

Oil’s price boom reshuffling the world order – Nov. 11, 2007

When Vladimir Putin was making Russia’s bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics last July, he reached into the country’s deep pockets, bulging with oil profits, and pledged 12-billion to turn a Black Sea summer resort into a winter- sports paradise. Russia, which was nearly bankrupt a decade ago, won the Games.

The prospect of triple-digit oil prices has redrawn the economic and political map of the world, challenging old notions of power. Oil-rich nations are enjoying historic gains and opportunities, while major importers — including China and India, home to a third of the world’s population — confront rising economic and social costs.

Managing this new order is fast becoming a central problem of global politics. Countries that need oil are clawing at each other to lock up scarce supplies, and are willing to deal with any government, no matter how unsavoury, to do it.

In many poor nations with oil, the proceeds are being lost to corruption, depriving these countries of their best hope for development. And oil is fuelling gargantuan investment funds run by foreign governments, which some in the West see as a new threat.

The basic calculus of expensive oil still holds: exporters enjoy a windfall and importers bear a heavier burden. But some unexpected countries are reaping benefits, as well as costs, from higher prices.

Consider Germany. Although it imports virtually all its oil, it has prospered from extensive trade to a booming Russia and the Middle East.

Throughout Europe, the rise of the euro has acted as a hedge against fluctuations in the dollar-denominated oil market.

“For Europeans,” said David Fyfe, a senior oil market analyst at the International Energy Agency in Paris, “100 oil is mostly symbolic.”

Elsewhere, it is much more. For developing countries, oil can be a tool of national transformation — whether the goal is a middle-class standard of living or a Utopian society.

In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez is pouring oil proceeds into a socialist revolution, creating free healthcare, free education and cheap food; enabling massive public spending that has helped fuel four years of economic growth.

The trouble, said Theresa Paiz, a Latin American director for the Fitch ratings agency, is that “it’s not really clear how the money is invested”.

Transparency International, an organisation that tracks corruption, ranked Venezuela near the bottom of its 2007 corruption index: 162 out of 179 countries.

Fears of corruption are even more pronounced in Nigeria and Angola.

Oil-rich Angola is taking in two-and-half times as much cash as it did three years ago. Hotels in the capital, Luanda, are booked months in advance, largely by foreign oil companies. Sales of luxury cars are booming, and the International Monetary Fund projects the economy will grow 24% this year, one of the world’s fastest rates. Yet analysts for the Catholic University of Angola’s research centre say two in three Angolans live on 2 or less a day, the same percentage as in 2002, when the country’s decades-long civil war ended.

The government is eager to show oil wealth is benefiting ordinary citizens. It has rebuilt 4000km of roads, refurbished four airports, and laid 700km of new railroad track.

But many Angolans take it as a given that oil has enriched public officials most of all. In 2003, a newspaper in Luanda identified the 20 richest people in Angola: 12 were government officials; five were former officials. Angola’s growing muscle — it is now the biggest oil supplier to China and the sixth biggest to the US — is leading it to rethink its place in the world. It recently joined the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and is limiting its co-operation with the International Monetary Fund.

In perhaps the most far-reaching change, China has become Angola’s financier, lending Luanda as much as 12-billion for the country’s reconstruction, in return for guaranteed oil supplies.

The contest among importers to secure access to oil supplies has become fierce.

China, a one-time oil exporter that now must import half its oil to lubricate its booming economy, is facing politically troublesome shortages of fuel.

India is potentially even more vulnerable than China, some analysts say. Although it consumes a third as much oil as China, it imports 70% of it. It also has no strategic reserves, and demand is growing faster than any other economy except China’s.

Like China, India subsidises fuel, particularly the kerosene used by lower- and middle-class families for cooking — a policy that costs it some 12-billion a year. If oil reaches 100 a barrel and stays there, analysts say, India will be forced to roll back those subsidies.

But there is a fear that raising fuel prices could ignite civil unrest in India and China.

In comparison, the problems faced by other oil producers seem almost benign. For them, the most burning question is what to do with all the money.

Norway, the world’s 10th-largest oil producer, has a fund earmarked to pay the future pensions of Norway’s 4.6 million people. “The discipline is structural,” said Johan Nic Vold, a consultant and former executive at Royal Dutch Shell. “Without it, the demands on politicians to use the oil revenue would be almost insatiable.”

Dubai has used the proceeds to pile into tourism, trade, property and construction. The oil sector now accounts for only 5% of Dubai’s gross domestic product.

Chinese-Chad cooperation boosts Chad's development – Nov 8, 2007

He said the cooperation is dynamic and is playing a great role in boosting Chad's economic development.

Doumgor expressed appreciation for China's fulfillment of the promises made at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November last year.

"Chad is one of the 48 African countries present at the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently. "China has honored what it pledged at the summit. In addition, China has offered Chad assistance more than it has promised, for example, donating equipment to the Ministry of Communication."

To forge a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership and strengthen cooperation in more areas and at a higher level, the Chinese government announced at the summit that it will take eight measures including doubling its 2006 assistance to Africa by 2009. Doumgor said that the cooperation between the two countries has expanded from the traditional health and agriculture sectors to oil and infrastructure sectors.

The two countries have agreed to develop several cooperation projects after the resumption of diplomatic relations. The projects include building an oil refinery in Chad, which would be the first oil refinery in this country, and building a cement factory.

"It is Africa's opportunity to cooperate with China," said the minister, "Chad wishes to learn from China's experience, fulfill the cooperation projects and promote the bilateral relationship."

He extended welcome to Chinese companies which have come to invest in Chad, saying that this is a result of bilateral cooperation, expressing the wish that more Chinese will come to invest in Chad to promote Chad's economic development.

The minister highlighted the high-level exchange of visit since the resumption of the diplomatic relations, saying that the two countries should develop communication in various levels for the benefit of long-term development of bilateral relations.

He suggested that the two countries develop activities such as exchange of visits between youth, cultural promotion and sports.

Chadian President Idriss Deby visited China in September when he met Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

China and Chad first established formal diplomatic links in 1972 but China severed diplomatic relations with Chad in 1997 when the country resumed the so-called "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan

RDC: pétrole, découverte des indices dans la cuvette centrale

La société britannique d’exploitation pétrolière et production pétrolièr ,Soco, a indiqué mercredi à Kinshasa des indices sur l’ existence du pétrole dans le bassin de la cuvette centrale du Congo. Des études scientifiques plus approfondies permettront de confirmer cette existence de pétrole, selon cette société,rapporte radiookapi.net

José Sangwa, directeur de la SOCO,a indiqué que son entreprise a découvert des indices de l’existence du pétrole dans ce bassin. Il est nécessaire de négocier avec l’Etat congolais afin qu’un contrat de partage de production soit conclu, a-t-il ajouté.

« Il n’ y a aucun danger quand aux méthodes d’exploitations utilisées du fait que se sont des méthodes qui respectent pratiquement l’équilibre de l’écologie c’est –à-dire qui n’affectent pas l’envirronnement et utilisent des paramètres naturelles ,elles ne provoquent pas mais enregistrent tous les paramètres naturelles et physiques qui existent, ce qui fait qu’on ne crée pas et on détruit pas », a déclaré M. Sangwa.

De son côté, le minitre des Hydrocarbures affirme attendre le rapport des experts du secrétariat général. Ce n’est qu’après cette étape qu’il pourra aller en discussion avec cette société.

Rwanda: Canadian Firm Starts Oil Exploration – Nov 7, 2007

Rwandans will have to wait for eighteen months to know whether their country sits on oil deposits.

The development follows an agreement that allows Canadian firm, Vangold Resources Ltd, to carry out a hydrocarbon potential evaluation over north western Rwanda.

The company announced on Friday that it will conduct a detailed and comprehensive study of the area to identify those areas of greatest prospective interest.

The reconnaissance aerial-geophysical survey will be conducted over a period of 18 months by either plane or helicopter. The cost of the surveys is estimated to be $1.2m (about Frw650m).

The area in the Kivu Graben, dubbed the 'White Elephant', is part of the great western East African Rift System.

The graben, approximately 90km wide and 200km long, trends North-North-East to South-South-West and straddles both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Structurally, according to the Vancouver-based company, Kivu Graben is the southern extension of the Albertine Graben in Uganda, where there has been major oil discoveries by Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil.

Over a period of a year, the company has been doing technical studies of the probable area that has now been narrowed to 1,631 sq kms.

The 'White Elephant' area had previously been curved to 2,708 sq kms in area representing 11% of the land mass of Rwanda.

Questions

There still remain loads of questions as to whether Rwanda shares some quantity of the oil find in South Western Uganda bordering Rwanda and DR Congo.

Government has kept low on the matter that even President Paul Kagame makes very guarded comments when asked.

Kagame has however maintained that it will never be a 'curse' like many African countries whose people are in biting poverty despite billions of oil revenue often siphoned off through corruption.

Officials are keen not to raise stakes among the people who would feel oil would come as a dream to solve all the problems hitting the country.

In the event that the oil is not found, it would be another issue to explain.

It's largely because of lack or low levels of minerals in the country that the post-Genocide government chose to invest heavily in human resources with a vision of building a knowledge-based economy.

But Vangold Resources says favourable petroleum systems exist supporting the 'generation, migration, accumulation and entrapment' of hydrocarbons (oil and other minerals like gas) in the area in question.

This means that the company is to a very large extent convinced that there are considerable deposits.

Vangold President and CEO Mr. Dal Brynelsen told The East African recently "There are indications of possible development of prospective sedimentary basins in Kivu Graben.

However, details in terms of actual basin-fill thicknesses of the individual basins in the graben area and their petroleum potential is unknown.

Vangold is committed to and prepared to underwrite this risk for the next 18 months."

High subsidies

The news also comes at a time when oil prices are sky-rocketing by the day on the international market that majority of Rwandans may not be able to afford a litter was it not for government subsidy. Oil products here are subsidized to about 70%.

Based also on structural similarity, it follows that the paleo-tectonic setting and graben-fill environment established in the Albertine Graben (Ugandan area) may have extended to Kivu Graben (Rwandan side), the company said.

Therefore, according to Francis Karanja, Vangold's geologist, "It is reasonable to conclude that the favorable petroleum systems resulting in the generation and entrapment of the hydrocarbons in Albertine Graben may have also existed in Kivu Graben."

The 1-year technical study also apparently shows positive indicators of hydrocarbons generation in Kivu Graben include the existence of methane and other higher molecular aliphatic hydrocarbons deep under Lake Kivu.

The higher molecular gases include ethane, propane, iso-butane and traces of n-butane.

Evidences to the existence of Miocene deep lakes and sedimentary basins where oil generating source rocks may have accumulated include the lacustrine sedimentary sequence outcrop of Gisakura Formation at Gisakura place and further the observed sub-lacustrine alteration of the Miocene basalts in Kivu graben, the company said.

It added: "Other evidence of the existence of Miocene lakes includes the shore-line deposited volcaniclastics sequences outcropping at Gisakura place. Sedimentary basins development in Kivu Graben includes East Kivu, West Kivu and Burundi's Rusizi basins with a zone of structural culmination (accommodation zone) located between the basins."

The 18-month survey will detect any oil seepage marking the beginning of Vangold's new venture programme to explore for hydrocarbons in the Rwanda concession area.

Experts say the hypothesis for oil and gas exploration suggests that whenever there is a leak or seepage in a water body it comes out in the form of bubbles and plumes.

Near to Lake Kivu, Lake Victoria and adjoining areas has shown proven occurrence of petroleum and natural gas in contact zone of Precambrian and Miocene clay, Vangold said.

The possibility of oil pool, as the firm explains, can also be confirmed along the contact zone of Precambrian and Miocene clay along the specific locations like Bisesero, Kibuye, Kayove and Nyamyumba and several others - all to the western region of Rwanda.

The survey-agreement signed by Energy and Communications State Minister Eng. Albert Butare for government grants Vangold 'Right of First Option' to negotiate and execute a Contract for the exploration and exploitation of the oil if found.

The deal also provides for dispute resolution by way of a 'Conciliation Committee' which shall consist of three members - meaning should be any misunderstanding over obligations, no courts will be involved.

Government and Vangold will appoint a member to the Committee with the third appointed by the nominated members.

Butare confirms

Meanwhile, Eng. Butare confirmed yesterday that Vangold Resources Ltd would immediately start the exploration exercise.

"They had come here before, but now they have returned saying they are prepared for the job.

They said they have helicopters and other necessary equipments," he said.

Asked when the firm would start the search, Butare said: "now. They are ready."

In a related development, the State Minister for Mines and Water, Prof. Bikoro Munyanganizi told The New Times yesterday, that an American company Loge Mining has requested to start the phase of exploring the quantity of gold deposits in Gicumbi District, Northern Province.

The firm, which has been involved in exploring gold in northern Rwanda for about two years now, is working with some Russian experts.

Bikoro said that the company submitted a brief report on its preliminary findings to the government, and is expected to submit a detailed one before the end of the year.

"Many companies have come and, after studies, confirmed existence of gold deposits in some parts of Rwanda, but none of them had undertaken to ascertain just how deep those quantities are.

That is what Loge Mining will do soon," he said.

Hungary's MOL to buy 40 pct stake in offshore block – Nov 6, 2007

"The Ngosso Permit is a shallow-water block in the prolific Rio del Rey Basin, in the proximity of existing oil fields in Nigeria and Cameroon," MOL said in a statement.

Sénégal: Skepticism Greets New US Africa Command – Nov 6, 2007

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Just a few years ago, the U.S. military was rarely seen in the oil-rich waters of West Africa's Gulf of Guinea. This year, it plans to be there every day.

The strategic importance of Africa and its natural resources is on the rise, and the Defense Department last month created a new unified U.S. military command for the continent called Africom.

The first American mission to Africa since that move began Monday when a Navy cruiser, the USS Fort McHenry, arrived in Senegal's capital to begin a half-year training exercise for African naval forces around the Gulf of Guinea.

For American commanders, Africom means consolidating responsibility for a continent previously split among three other regional commands, each of which viewed Africa as a secondary interest.

However, Africom's creation has provoked so much skepticism on the continent that one of the most basic questions — where it will be located — remains unresolved.

Some Africans are concerned the new command could draw the continent deeper into the global war on terrorist groups.

Others wonder if it is meant to protect America's competitive stake in African oil and other resources increasingly sought by rising powers like China and India. The continent has surpassed the Persian Gulf as the leading supplier of oil to the United States.

"Africans have a feeling Africom represents something more than what is being sold to them," said Wafula Okumu, an analyst at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies. "If it was packaged a different way and better explained, maybe it could be a success."

U.S. officials concede America's strategic interests come first. But Africom's deputy for military operations, Vice Adm. Robert T. Moeller, said the command will allow the United States "to do more with our African partners when it makes sense to do so and where it's in their interest to do so."

There is a misconception that Africom is part of "a U.S. effort to militarize Africa, and that's definitely not the case," Moeller said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The U.S. military is already well-entrenched in Africa, spending around $250 million a year on military assistance programs, said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Since 2002, about 1,800 American military personnel have been stationed in Djibouti as part of efforts to stifle terrorist networks in the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia. Money is also being poured into the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative, which has focused on training armies in western and northern African nations from Algeria to Nigeria.

Moeller said Africom will bring no new U.S. military bases to the continent and no substantial changes in America's military role here for the foreseeable future. Its aim is to help Africans with military training and support peacekeeping and aid operations crucial to stability and the prevention of conflict, he said.

Regional powers including Libya, Nigeria and South Africa have expressed deep reservations, partly because they believe Africom could undermine their influence, analysts said. So far, only Liberia has publicly stated a willingness to host Africom, though even critics like Nigeria welcome the continuation of the U.S. training programs.

Led by Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward, Africom is expected to be fully operational within a year, spending the next 12 months getting ready.

With a budget of $50 million this fiscal year, Africom is responsible for 53 countries in Africa and the island nations surrounding it — everything except Egypt, which will remain under the U.S. Central Command because of its proximity and importance to the Middle East.

Kurt Shillinger, an analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said the Pentagon has failed to allay concerns of Africans who see "this as a Trojan horse through which the U.S. will pursue and defend its key interests in Africa."

African nations supply the United States with more than 24 percent of its oil — more than the Persian Gulf, at 20 percent, the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration says. Much of that crude comes from or through the Gulf of Guinea.

Moeller said increasing security in the gulf is partly an issue of open markets. The U.S. wants to work with "African partners to make sure the resources that emanate from the continent are available to the global community," he said.

Internal conflict in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, has sporadically disrupted the flow of its crude, and offshore platforms along the western coast are little-protected because most countries have only small navies.

The U.S. naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea — measured by "ship days" — has increased more than 50 percent since last year, said Lt. Brian Badura, a spokesman for the 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy, which commands American warships in these waters. From just a handful of days in 2004, the Navy expects to have a daily presence over the next year.

In a first for America's global combat commands, Africom will have a deputy commander who is a civilian responsible for overseeing civil-military affairs and coordinating with other U.S. government agencies.

Africom officials say that post highlights the importance of humanitarian operations to U.S. goals in Africa, but even that has spurred controversy.

"Why should they be using the military to promote development when they already have institutions within the U.S. government that are better capable and more acceptable?" asked Okumu at the Institute for Security Studies.

Analysts said there has been criticism of the command within the U.S. government itself, notably from State Department officials.

Shillinger said some officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development worry their humanitarian programs could be "stigmatized" by direct links with the military, which has melded aid programs with combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan — wars unpopular in most of Africa.

Moeller said the command's relationship with Africa and other U.S. agencies will be "collaborative." It will "not be taking the lead" in aid operations or U.S. policy, he said.

For now, Africom has just over 200 staff members, and is based in Stuttgart, Germany.

Moeller said where it is established is an issue to be decided with "our African partners." Instead of one central headquarters, there may be smaller offices in five regions, each with one or two dozen staff, officials said.

Theresa Whelan, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, estimates 80 percent of the command's eventual staff of around 800 will be based outside Africa.

"Having a presence on the continent in some form is certainly a goal," Moeller said. But "ultimately it has to be agreed to by the Africans."

The cruiser now in the region, the Fort McHenry, can skirt the issue. The self-sustaining, helicopter-equipped warship can serve as a mobile base for training African forces in maritime security — and move on.