Libya war and Big Oil

This video from London, England is called Libya: Stop the War Coaliton protest at Downing Street 19.04.11.

By Patrick O’Connor:

Oil companies prepare for post-Gaddafi Libya

17 June 2011

The major American and European oil conglomerates previously active in Libya are preparing to resume business in the event that the illegal NATO-led war achieves its objective of “regime change”, with Muammar Gaddafi forced from power and a more pliant administration installed in Tripoli.

The International Energy Agency yesterday forecast a relatively slow but steady resumption of oil production. “By next year, the political dynamics should be settled, one way or another, and by 2013 capacity restored to just below pre-crisis levels, with a full recovery by 2015,” an IEA report declared. Paolo Scaroni, the CEO of Italian oil giant ENI, similarly declared on Wednesday: “We think that everything will return to normal in Libya … any government that comes to power in Libya will have to re-start production working with the companies that already know the country. When we look a year from now, we look with optimism.”

Executives with other major oil firms that have suspended operations in Libya—including America’s ConocoPhillips and Britain’s BP—have been more circumspect, while scrambling behind the scenes to secure their stake in the oil-rich North African state.

The Washington Post last week noted that representatives of ConocoPhillips and other American oil companies recently met with a delegation from the so-called Transitional National Council based in “rebel”-held Benghazi. The executives reportedly received assurances that all the contracts they negotiated with the Libyan government would be honoured.

Nansen Saleri, chief executive of Houston-based oil engineering firm Quantum Reservoir Impact, told the Washington Post: “Now you can figure out who’s going to win, and the name is not Gaddafi. Certain things about the mosaic are taking shape. The Western companies are positioning themselves… Five years from now, Libyan production is going to be higher than right now and investments are going to come in.”

Despite the suspension of extraction operations due to the war, the transnational oil companies continue to actively pursue new opportunities in Libya and across the North African region. According to a report published last week in the Oil & Gas Journal, Canadian-based Sonde Resources has assessed as commercially viable a field in the Mediterranean Sea shared by Libya and Tunisia that contains an estimated 362 million barrels of oil and 981 billion cubic feet of gas.

French lawyers sue Sarkozy over crimes against humanity in Libya: here.

Nato jets continued to pound Tripoli today, just 24 hours after Libyan government officials said talks to reach a peaceful settlement to the war were moving forward: here.

Nadia Prupis, Truthout: “House members announced on Wednesday that they are filing a lawsuit against President Barack Obama for his approval of US military action in Libya. The bipartisan ruling accused Obama of failing to consult with Congress before sending troops to intervene, thereby violating the War Powers Resolution”: here.

Libya: Barack Obama ‘overruled top legal advice’: here.

Yale Law Prof Bruce Ackerman on Obama & Libya: “Obama is bringing US closer to imperial presidency than Bush ever did”: here.

Sen. Al Franken: Congress must vote on military action in Libya. “I understand [Obama’s] take…I don’t agree”: here.

Britain faces no serious threat, yet keeps waging war. While big defence exists, glory-hungry politicians will use it: here.

As heavy fighting between the government and opposition militants continued in Yemen, the US carried out further air strikes in the south of the country: here.

The upsurge of industrial struggle by Egyptian workers that preceded the January revolution shows no sign of diminishing: here.

Chris Hedges, Truthdig: “Tim DeChristopher is scheduled to be sentenced in a Salt Lake City courtroom by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on July 26. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $750,000 fine for fraudulently bidding in December 2008 on parcels of land, including areas around eastern Utah’s national parks, which were being sold off by the Bush administration to the oil and natural gas industry. As Bidder No. 70, he drove up the prices of some of the bids and won more than a dozen other parcels for $1.8 million. The government is asking Judge Benson to send DeChristopher to prison for four and a half years. His prosecution is evidence that our moral order has been turned upside down”: here.

USA: Oil Industry Forms New Astroturf Group to Manipulate 2012 Republican Primary in Iowa: here.