For the Love of Oil: Pakistan PM Assassination by Americans & USA-British Iran Coup

Pakistan's first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated by America By Abdus Sattar Ghazali, The Milli Gazette Online Published Online: Apr 27, 2015 Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister, was assassinated on October 16, 1951 while addressing a public meeting in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. His assassin, later identified as Saad Akbar Babrak was shot dead on the spot. Saad Akbar Babrak was an Afghan national and a professional assassin. For more than 63 years controversy continued about the motives and perpetrators after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan. Conspiracy theories abounded with little to substantiate. However, the controversy is now coming to end as declassified documents of the US State Department disclosed that Americans murdered the first elected prime minister of Pakistan through the Afghan government. The US documents, released several years ago but highlighted recently by the Pakistani media and social media. A leading English newspaper of Pakistan, the Nation and also the Express News reported on April 17: The United States wanted to get contracts of oil resources in Iran. Pakistan and Iran enjoyed cordial ties and Afghanistan used to be the enemy of Pakistan during 1950-51. The neighboring Afghanistan was the only country that didn’t accept Pakistan at that time. The US demanded Pakistan use its influence in Tehran and persuade it to transfer control of its oil fields to the US. Liaquat Ali Khan declined to accede to the request, saying that he would not use his friendship for dishonest purposes. On which, then US President Harry Truman had threatened Liaquat Ali Khan. Not only that, Liaquat Ali Khan also asked US to vacate air bases in Pakistan within next 24 hours, dropping a bombshell on Americans. Americans didn’t find a suitable person in Pakistan and then turned to Afghanistan for this purpose, according to the documents. Washington contacted the US Embassy in Kabul, offering Zahir Shah to search a murderer. Afghan government had found a man Syed Akbar to take the job and also made arrangements for him to be killed on the spot. All three stayed at a local hotel in Rawalpindi. Akbar fired and Liaquat Ali Khan fell, saying Allah help Pakistan. Two persons killed the murderer of Liaquat Ali Khan at the spot while crowd also massacred the two persons in order to leave no sign of the conspiracy. The bullets used to kill the Pakistani prime minister were not easily available in the market. Coup against Mossadegh Not surprisingly, August 1953 the CIA staged a coup against the Iranian nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh to safeguard the west's oil interests in the country. In April 1951 Iranians democratically elected the head of the National Front party, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, as prime minister. Mossadegh moved quickly to nationalize the assets in Iran of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (the forerunner of today’s BP) a step that brought his government into confrontation with Britain and the US. Britain’s MI6 military intelligence then teamed up with the CIA and carried out a coup that ousted Mossadegh in August 1953 and returned Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power. In August 2013, 60 years after the coup, the CIA admitted staging a coup against Mossadegh though at least two US Presidents, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama, have publicly acknowledged the US role in the Iranian coup. "The military coup that overthrew Mossadegh and his National Front cabinet was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government," reads a previously excised section of an internal CIA history titled The Battle for Iran. The declassified documents, under the US Freedom of Information Act, related to CIA’s TPAJAX operation that sought regime change in Iran through the bribery of Iranian politicians, security and army high-ranking officials, and massive anti-Mossadegh propaganda that helped to instigate public revolt in 1953. Mossadegh was replaced with Iranian general Fazlollah Zahedi, who was handpicked by The  CIA and M16. Mossaddegh was later sentenced to death, but the Shah never dared to carry out the sentence. Mossadegh died in his residence near Tehran in 1967. The Shah’s pro-Western dictatorship continued for 27 years and ended with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which paved the way for today’s Iran, where anti-American sentiments remain strong. The 1953 coup still casts a long shadow over Iranian-US relations. Liaquat Ali Khan visits USA Going back to the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan which came almost two years after his visit to the United State in May-June 1950. His visit perhaps set the tone of Pakistan's foreign policy because he disregarded an invitation to visit the Soviet Union. In December 1949, Liaquat Ali Khan received an invitation from President Truman to visit the USA. This was readily accepted and the visit took place in May 1950. While on US soil, Liaquat confirmed that he intended to visit the Soviet Union. Liaquat's visit to USA brought the two countries closer. This was shown by Pakistan's support for the use of force by the UN in June 1950 against North Korea to secure its withdrawal from South Korea, as also support for the peace treaty negotiations with Japan in 1951. The Soviet Union opposed both of these developments. In October 1949, the Communists came to power in China. The US strongly opposed this development and refused to recognize the Communist regime. It continued to recognize the ousted Kuomintang regime of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek as the legitimate government of China. The US also managed to prevent most countries in the world from recognizing Communist China which was thus kept out of the UN as well. However, Liaquat Ali Khan decided to extend recognition to Communist China in January 1950. The Chinese Ambassador arrived in Karachi in September 1951, a month before Liaquat's death, and the first Pakistani Ambassador presented credentials in Beijing in November 1951. Pakistan thus became the first Muslim country, and one of the few countries in the world, to establish diplomatic relations with Communist China. This shrewd decision laid the foundation for strong relations with China that have since become a pillar of Pakistan's foreign policy. When Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan visited the USA, Pakistan was non-aligned between the US-led Western Bloc and the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc and it had recognized the Communist-led People's Republic of China, ignoring Washington's opposition to Peking. It was Pakistan's membership of US backed military pacts in 1954 that aroused Soviet hostility. The Soviet veto on Kashmir was not applied until 1957. The Soviets themselves have never put the blame for unfriendly relations on the inability of Liaquat Ali Khanto visit the Soviet Union. As the declassified documents of the US State Department reveal, Liaquat Ali Khan, was victim of politics of oil resources grab by the U.S. and British oil companies. Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www.journalofamerica.net) email: asghazali2011 at gmail.com blog comments powered by Disqus Social-icon-fb Social-icon-tw Social-icon-ml Social-icon-yt Social-icon-rss http://www.milligazette.com/news/12191-pakistan-s-first-prime-minister-liaquat-ali-khan-was-assassinated-by-america COMMENT Thought this was a pretty cool article.  Didn't know that the US had assassinated a Pakistani PM. The Iran coup also probably demonstrates how the US managed to pull off the Ukraine coup.  Bribery of key figures & propaganda work just as well today as they did in the 50s.

Chechnya, Caspian Energy & the Great Game

CHECHNYA NSFW Corp (Pando) Washington’s highly-politicized position on Chechen separatists dangerously misguided policy in which Chechen radicals have been protected and nurtured neocon-fronted US geopolitical strategy in Chechnya rank cynicism of US policy in Chechnya Why would so many sleazy neocons — Islam-bashers, terror-mongers and Cold War Reaganites — support armed Chechen separatists? Bill Kristol, James Woolsey, Frank Gaffney, Richard Perle, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and over 100 others put together the K Street lobby powerhouse ... "American Committee for Peace in Chechnya" (ACPC) Among the "distinguished" names were notorious Islamophobes Frank Gaffney and Michael Ledeen; Jon Podhoretz’s parents, Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, along Jon’s brother-in-law Eliot Abrams, a convicted felon over his role in Iran-Contra; and Abrams’ fellow Iran-Contra convicts Caspar Weinberger and Robert McFarlane. Many of the same figures lobbying for Chechen separatism fronted for Bush’s invasion of Iraq. ... notorious neocon outfit, Freedom House Freedom House was linked to a string of pro-US "color revolutions" in eastern Europe and elsewhere —the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia, the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, the failed "Tulip Revolution" in Kyrgyzstan, and the failed 2002 coup in Venezuela to overthrow Hugo Chavez. Jamestown Foundation, a right-wing Cold War propaganda outfit founded by Reagan’s CIA director William Casey in the early 1980s. Russophobia; its politics are right-wing, pro-military, and pro-Big Oil.   Jamestown board members have included Dick Cheney, Zbigniew Brzezinski, James Woolsey, and another ex-CIA director, Michael Hayden. The president of the Jamestown Foundation, Glen Howard, served as the executive director of the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya.  Before joining Jamestown, Howard had worked as an analyst at SAIC, one of the largest private contractors serving the CIA and Pentagon. Howard also bills himself as a consultant to oil majors operating in the Caspian Sea region. ... support for the Chechen separatist leaders was strong in both Saudi Arabia and the US and Britain. Al Qaeda links Empire and oil are the two constants in the "human rights" campaign for Chechnya. Big Oil is what made the neocons’ hearts bleed. money interests can turn Islamophobes into bleeding-heart apologists for Chechen terrorism breakup of the Soviet Union = excitement in the oil and gas industry over the vast unexploited oil and gas reserves in weak, newly-independent Muslim states, all bordering the Caspian Sea: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and to a lesser extent, Turkmenistan. Century prior = Royal Dutch Shell was one of the Caspian oil fields’ biggest profiteers Bolsheviks nationalized the oil fields after they took power in 1917, closing off the Caspian energy resources from Western control [FALL SOVIET UNION] Western oil reps were crawling around the ruins of Gorbachev’s empire, slavering over the Caspian region EXTRACTS ONLY - Full Article by Mark Ames:   https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/prisoners-of-the-caspian-part-one/ Really like this guy's article.  Heaps of interesting information. The above is only some of the information that caught my attention. Days later, I need to familiarise myself again, so I might have to go back and have another look.  Takes me ages to remember things. Article goes on to say that oil interests took precedence over US national security interests in the Caspian region, to the point of US protecting terrorists and that a CIA official (Robert Baer) resigned as a result. How bad must it be if even the CIA are disgusted? Baer's Time mag's intelligence columnist and has written for a bunch of other publications, including Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. The rest of the stuff on his Wikipedia page doesn't even register.  Sounds like a movie.  None of it feels real to me. The 'free press' is nonsense.  The press is corporate owned and it wouldn't surprise me if a good percentage of reporters were spies or ex-spies, while those that aren't are readily bribed (see CIA bribery revelation of Udo AlfKotte, German journalist >> German press is a PR appendage of NATO.). Ames' article points out that there's an OVERLAP between big oil, foreign policy and lobbyists (pro Chechnya lobbyists, in this case). Regional control boils down to control of resources and pipelines. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline gets a mention.  Looked that up the other day, probably as a result of reading this. Bill Clinton was at the centre of this Caspian struggle. In 1999, while Russia was embroiled in a Chechnya war (a look-up job for me), Clinton made a surprise 'Ta-da, we're building a pipeline in Azerbaijan' announcement, which seemed to have seriously pissed off Yeltsin, who went as far as reminding the US that the Russians have nuclear weapons.  What?  Here's the cool bit:  this is where Vladimir Putin comes into the picture, as new Prime Minister (making it 15 years of leadership for Putin). Hey, this calls for Putin video insert (I actually like this and think it's cute.  Ummm, is that warped?): The writer's quite funny.  Said Yeltsin nearly launched the world's first and only nuclear suicide bombing over the US usurping the goodies in Azerbaijan. Article goes into Russia backing various parties in the region and causing destabilisation of newly independent states, but that's probably US propaganda.  Even if it's not, this is Russia's backyard and they have more right to seek influence in the region than the West. Another funny:  the West 'goes Alex Jones' on Russia, presumably over their earlier backing of players in the region.  That Jones guy sure is strange.  Wonder what his trip is?  As for the US, what hypocrites. And that's pretty much it in part one, as far as my interest are concerned.  Might have to follow up on the other parts somewhere down the track.  I'm having enough trouble absorbing what's going on so far. Below is info regarding the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline /crude oil Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan crude oil pipeline Operator BP Connects Baku (Caspian), #Azerbaijan to #Georgia & #Turkey Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline /crude oil Operator:  BP PARTNERS > BP > SOCAR > Chevron > Statoil TPAO > Eni Total SA > Itochu Inpex > ConocoPhillips > Hess Corporation 70% funding = 3rd party World Bnk (International Finance Corp) Euro Bank for Reconstr & Devel 7 nation export agencies 15 banks ----------------------------------- Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline / Crude oil  >> Azerbaijan (Caspian) to Georgia Turkey [INSERT PIE CHART] >> BP (#UK)   30.1% >> SOCAR (Azerbaijan) 25% ... largest stakes >Chevron (USA) 8.90% >ConocoPhillips (USA) 2.50% >Hess Corporation (USA) 2.36%      Total:  13.76% Statoil (Norway) 8.71%  TPAO (Turkey) 6.53% Eni (Italy) 5.00% Total (France) 5.0% >Itochu (Japan) 3.4% >Inpex (Japan)  2.50%    Total:  5.9% [Wikipedia] Don't know why they didn't just call it the Baku pipeline to make it easier to remember. The biggest stakeholder is British BP, followed by combined US interests (not counting Azerbaijan).  Then comes Norway, Turkey. Japan, and Italy and France at 5% each. That Norway is in there is interesting.  Being Statoil, it is probably a state government company.  Yeah, the Norwegian government owns 67%.   It's massive: "Statoil operates oil and gas fields in Australia, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, China, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, United States, and Venezuela." and it's looking for more business in Mexico, Qatar & UAE. It's probably also worthwhile noting it has: "processing plants in Belgium, Denmark, France, and Germany." Looking at information on some of these large companies is a dwarfing experience. The companies seem so huge and kind of intimidating when sizing them up, in contrast to government.  But government only seems 'small' in comparison to the large corporations because we're lulled into believing we're somehow stakeholders in government, and that it's a benign, appointed caretaker ticking along in the background doing all the right things on our behalves. So government's huge and corporations combined are probably even mightier than government. I'm finding it hard to get a feel for just how big the machinery of the state-corporate partnership is.  Compared to the tiny and disposable individual, it's colossal. If you look at the tussle over energy, profits, regional control, strategic advantage here in this article, it probably sums up 'the meaning of life' in politics.  This is it.  This is all there's ever been.  There's nothing more.  And people are killed and continue to lose their lives over these kinds of struggles.  Over and over again. P.S.  This gives the game away in the Middle East, then Human Rights = empire & oil (agenda) Certainty = backing dangerous terrorists to do one's regional bidding

USA: Angola and Rawanda

Whenever I see that people have checked out the blog I get really anxious, because I'm aware that among my posts there's most likely a fair bit of crap conclusions I've drawn, particularly when I first began the blog ... with the zeal of a thousand manic bloggers. Seriously, I knew next to nothing about politics and I was forever confusing Libya and Syria.  The knowledge I have remains limited.  I know trivia from all over, but I don't have a good, solid understanding of any one country.  Feel a bit guilty about my not so pleasant posts about political figures (kind of like I do whenever I'm not nice on twitter), but I'm going to let things stand as they are rather than edit, even though I'll sound like a dick. Seem to be going nowhere with the posting.  Get some draft form thing happening, but I like to 'work' in one hit (it's never the same going back).  But as I leave the drafting until I'm just about ready to drop, there's not much drive left in me and it all sort of gets set aside for editing that somehow doesn't eventuate. Also, some things that I feel really strongly about at the time aren't that big a deal down the track.  Which is just as well. Spent the night fiddling with something , even though I was mean to get some zzz's.  Why is there never enough time in the day?  It is such a horrible feeling to feel time racing and slipping away like it seems to, while you remain at a sort of standstill feeling like you're striving for something -- but never getting anywhere. What's even worse than that?  Knowing it's a crazy-lady pursuit. Addiction to news information is a weird addition to have. What news did I find interesting? ANGOLA | RAWANDA #Angola Foreign Minister saw John Kerry to discuss Syria, Israel, Palestine, #Ukraine& 'challenges'  Angola to face as new member #UNSC. #Angola appears to have some role in peacemaking re 'Great Lakes crisis'/ Kerry brings up #Congo violence against women. Shared obligations. #Angola #Congo Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - No. 1 threat to stability in region [Kerry] - http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/464957.html #Rawanda US supports ending threat of the FDLR, incl "demobilization & robust military efforts" [John Kerry] - http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/464957.html Demobilisation =  process of standing down nation's armed forces from combat-ready status by (1) peaceful resolution OR  (2) victory in war. Democratic Forces for the Liberation of #Rwanda = has 6 months to surrender gracefully - expires January 2nd, 2015 #Rawanda If FDLR do not surrender 2/1/15: DRC military (ie Congo) & #UN 'peacekeeping' mission must act to end FDLR threat once & for all. #Angola - #USA "On issue after issue, our interests are aligning like never before" [John Kerry] - http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/464957.html #Angola & #USA collaboration: >maritime security >combating piracy >combating illegal fishing >discussion: human trafficking [newsroomamerica] #Angola To join Chemical Weapons Convention, a 'treaty of conscience'; duration 100 years. [John Kerry] Kerry brings up #Syria & removal of 'chemical weapons' from Syria. Mentions Daesh. Removal ' providential choice'. MIRACLE! #Angola US investments improving business climate & integration AND "leveraging Angola’s leadership" [John Kerry] http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/464957.html Port of Luanda energy companies are presumably responsible for this 'leveraging' LOL ... Kerry mentions visit to execs. #USA African Growth & Opportunity Act /AGOA = trade preferences 4 quota & duty-free entry to US Criticism: dominated by oil & raw materials #Angola US sphere via AGOA (raw materials to US, primarily OIL) & TIFA (pre Free Trade Agreement) - http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/464957.html 2013 #Angola produced 1.8 million barrels per day Total, Chevron, ExxonMobil & BP - deepwater fields http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=ao #Angola - economy dependent on oil production. Oil revenue accounted for almost 80% of total govt revenue 2011. [IMF] #Angola High dependence oil revenue (2011 @ 80%, IMF) = vulnerable to oil price volatility. Oil export revenues = $68 billion (2012) #Angola #Lucapa Interest = Chevron Chevron (& oil industry generally ) 'leveraging' Angola regional leadership. -- http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=ao What I see here is a state that is very much dependent on oil companies and appears close to USA, who seems to be (along with oil companies, most likely), promoting Angola as a regional leader. What has Angola got to do with Ukraine?  Nothing, aside from Angola being a member of the UNSC.  Hey, that's in favour of the US.  Angola can vote how the US votes and everybody's happy.  Well, US energy is. Chemical weapons and Syria got a mention, just to reinforce the US narrative.  Otherwise, it would have been enough to merely state that Angola's coming the Chemical Weapons Convention party. Sounds like there's a declaration of war against Rawanda.  Democratic Forces for the Liberation has until 2 January to disarm, or else.  Kerry says: 'peacekeeping' mission must act to end FDLR threat once & for all. So that sounds like an or 'else threat' to me and the 'once and for all' sounds ominous. This is the laziest blogging ever.  Really, should check to see who the group is that's being targeted.  It may not necessarily be a war on the country; it could just be a group of insurgents. No sleep and ready to drop, so I'm over look-ups.  It was just something I thought I'd quickly share.  Big day ahead of me, with no sleep.  Uh-oh.  This could turn out badly. ----------------------------------------------- ADDENDUM Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda Rwandan Hutu rebel group in east of Congo. aka FDLR after its original French name: Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda. [Source:  Wikipedia]

RUSSIA - US & EU Sanctions - Foreign Oil Companies Affected

FACTBOX-EU, U.S. players in Russian energy sector MOSCOW, Sept 11 Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:54pm IST (Reuters) - The United States and European Union may stop billions of dollars in oil exploration in Russia by the world's largest energy companies in a new round of sanctions, U.S. government sources said. Following is a factbox on key projects in Russia in which energy firms from the European Union and the United States are involved or plan involvement: BP - BP obtained a 19.75 percent stake in state-controlled Rosneft as part of a deal that saw the British firm sell Rosneft its stake in the Anglo-Russian oil producer TNK-BP for $55 billion last year. - The companies agreed to explore Russia's hard-to-recover oil deposits. BP's head, Robert Dudley, a U.S. citizen, sits on Rosneft's board. EXXONMOBIL - Is involved in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project off the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin, which produces more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day. ExxonMobil owns 30 percent in the project, while Rosneft has a 20 percent stake. Other stakeholders are Japan's Sodeco and India's ONGC. - Rosneft and Exxon agreed to develop West Siberia's hard-to-recover oil, where resources are estimated to be bigger than those in the Bakken formation in North America. ExxonMobil pledged to provide financing worth up to $300 million. - Rosneft and Exxon will tap the offshore reaches of the Russian Arctic. The acreage in the Chukchi Sea, Laptev Sea and Kara Sea spans approximately 600,000 square km (150 million acres). Exploration drilling in the Kara Sea began in August. - Both companies have agreed to tap Black Sea reserves. STATOIL - Rosneft and Norway's Statoil are due to develop the Domanik shale formation in the Volga region. - Rosneft and Statoil will jointly work on the Norwegian continental shelf in the Barents Sea, where Rosneft was awarded a 20 percent stake in the license PL713. - Both companies will also work in Russia's Perseevsky area in the Barents Sea and the Kashevarovsky, Lisyansky and Magadan 1 areas in the Sea of Okhotsk. - Statoil owns 30 percent stake in Kharyaga oil project in northern Russia. ENI, CONOCOPHILLIPS - Along with Rosneft, Italy's Eni will develop the Fedynsky, Central Barents blocks in the Barents Sea and the Western Chernomorsky block in the Black Sea. - Rosneft has the Polar Light project with ConocoPhillips in the Russian Arctic. ROYAL DUTCH SHELL - Royal Dutch Shell works with Gazprom Neft, the oil unit of state gas company Gazprom, via Salym Petroleum, which produces 140,000 barrels of oil per day. - Salym Petroleum is also exploring for unconventional oil at the Bazhenov formation in West Siberia. - Gazprom Neft and Shell created another joint venture last year to explore for shale oil at three deposits in West Siberia. - Shell owns 27.5 percent at the Sakhalin-2 project, which produces over 100,000 barrels of oil per day and around 10 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas. Gazprom has 50 percent stake, Japan's Mitsui - 12.5 percent, Mitsubishi - 10 percent. TOTAL - Total holds a 40 percent stake and leads Kharyaga oil project with production of around 30,000 barrels per day. - Total agreed with Lukoil to explore the Bazhenov formation. Seismic acquisition should start this year and exploration drilling is due to follow in 2015. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Katya Golubkova, editing by Elizabeth Piper/Jeremy Gaunt) http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/11/ukraine-crisis-russia-energy-idINL5N0RC1B320140911

Nice list of foreign interests in oil exploration in Russia.

Thought I'd set it aside here for an easy find when wanted.

check it out.

US - OFF-SHORE DEEP-WATER FRACKING - BRAZIL, AFRICA, GULF OF MEXICO

Fracking’s next frontier: Energy giants seek bigger offshore payoffs with deep-water fracking fleets David Wethe, Bloomberg News | August 7, 2014 | Last Updated: Aug 7 2:59 PM ET Energy companies are taking their controversial fracking operations from the land to the sea — to deep waters off the U.S., South American and African coasts. Cracking rocks underground to allow oil and gas to flow more freely into wells has grown into one of the most lucrative industry practices of the past century. The technique is also widely condemned as a source of groundwater contamination. The question now is how will that debate play out as the equipment moves out into the deep blue. For now, caution from all sides is the operative word. Offshore fracking is a part of a broader industrywide strategy to make billion-dollar deep-sea developments pay off. The practice has been around for two decades yet only in the past few years have advances in technology and vast offshore discoveries combined to make large scale fracking feasible. While fracking is also moving off the coasts of Brazil and Africa, the big play is in the Gulf of Mexico, where wells more than 100 miles from the coastline must traverse water depths of a mile or more and can cost almost US$100 million to drill. Those expensive drilling projects are a boon for oil service providers such as Halliburton, Baker Hughes Inc. and Superior Energy Services Inc. Schlumberger Ltd., which provides offshore fracking gear for markets outside the U.S. Gulf, also stands to get new work. And producers such as Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc may reap billions of dollars in extra revenue over time as fracking helps boost crude output. Fracking in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to grow by more than 10% over a two year period ending in 2015, said Douglas Stephens, president of pressure pumping at Baker Hughes, which operates about a third of the world’s offshore fracking fleet. [...] Pancaked Layers Deep-water wells cut through multiple pancaked layers of oil-soaked rock, and each layer must be fracked to get the most oil out — a task that can take a full day to get to the bottom of the well. Halliburton and others have figured out a way to save time and money by fracking all those layers in one trip down the well, instead of doing each layer separately. The more intense fracking means larger volumes of water, sand and equipment are needed to coax more oil out — and bigger boats to carry it all. “It’s getting more sophisticated,” James Wicklund, an analyst at Credit Suisse in Dallas, said in a phone interview. “The volumes needed, especially for these lower tertiary fracks, are huge.” http://business.financialpost.com/2014/08/07/frackings-next-frontier-energy-giants-seek-bigger-offshore-payoffs-with-deep-water-fracking-fleets/?__lsa=730c-e6c4

Just imagine what these corporations are doing to the environment:

Cuprits:

• CHEVRON
• SHELL
• BP

US & EU - Hit Russia with further sanctions

Reuters Article

U.S. hits oil giant Rosneft, other firms with toughest Russia sanctions

By Anna Yukhananov and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:29pm EDT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama imposed the biggest package of U.S. economic sanctions yet on Russia on Wednesday, hitting Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and other energy, financial and defense firms, with what he called significant but targeted penalties.

Obama's latest round of sanctions came after close consultations with European leaders, who announced a less-ambitious package. The ultimate impact of the U.S. sanctions likely depends on whether the European Union follows suit.

The extent of the sanctions against key parts of the Russian energy and financial industry, including Gazprombank (GZPRI.RTS), was intended to serve notice to Moscow that its refusal to curb violence in eastern Ukraine has consequences.

The targeted companies also include Russia's second-largest gas producer, Novatek (NVTK.MM), Vnesheconombank, or VEB, a state-owned bank that acts as payment agent for the Russian government, and eight arms firms.

The U.S. Treasury Department said the measures effectively closed medium- and long-term dollar funding to the two banks and energy companies. But the sanctions did not freeze those four companies' assets, or otherwise prohibit U.S. firms or companies from doing business with them. [WOULD NOT RECOMMEND BUSINESS IN USA ... LOL]

It is the first time the United States has imposed such narrowly targeted measures as it seeks the maximum impact on Russia, a huge energy producer, while avoiding any immediate shock to global oil markets or U.S. and EU companies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking in Brasilia, said the sanctions would damage U.S. energy companies, and bring relations with Russia to a "dead end."
...

POSSIBLE FURTHER SANCTIONS

Obama said the United States could impose further sanctions if Russia did not take concrete steps to ease the conflict.

The United States has already imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian senior officials since the start of the violence, including Rosneft's chief executive, Igor Sechin. But the sanctions have had only a limited impact on the Russian energy industry, a cornerstone of the country's $2 trillion economy.

It is not yet clear how large an impact the new measures will have on Rosneft ...

Sechin, who like Putin was speaking in Brasilia, said the sanctions would not affect Rosneft's current project with ExxonMobil (XOM.N), but would damage the shareholders of U.S. companies cooperating with Rosneft.

The new sanctions would not appear to prevent Rosneft from selling its oil, but may raise questions about the company’s more than $15 billion worth of oil-related finance arrangements with companies including BP (BP.L), which now owns almost a fifth of Rosneft, and Glencore.

Morgan Stanley (MS.N), which is selling the majority of its global physical oil trading operations to Rosneft, declined to comment.

The sanctions stopped short of targeting Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), the world's largest natural gas producer and provider of much of Europe's energy supplies. Gazprombank is 36 percent-owned by Gazprom.  [Gazprom, as I understand, only provides about 30% of European energy supplies.]

RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE
...
The new measures were announced on the same day that EU leaders met in Brussels and agreed to expand their own sanctions on Russia.

The new U.S. sanctions also include Feodosiya Enterprises, a shipping facility in Crimea, and senior Russian officials, several of whom had already been targeted by the European Union.
...
The new sanctions were unlikely to please Republican lawmakers, many of whom have been calling for the imposition of sanctions on entire Russian industries, rather than specific companies, as the best way to control Putin.

...
EXTRACTS ONLY
SOURCE - Reuters - here.

---------------------------------------------
COMMENT

Whatever happened to free trade and free market prinicples?  LOL

Any Russians with bank accounts in the US, might want to start withdrawing fast.