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Posted on 05/26/2002 8:38:08 PM PDT by Lady In Blue
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This is an excellent example of Presidient Bush's creative problem solving and leadership. Thanks!
I was away all day, so I hadn't. Thanks for the heads-up, my friend.
This will pay enormous dividends down the road, and it's unfortunate that most of the country will never hear about it.
Thanks for the ping Miss Marple.
Shermy is this going about the way you saw it coming before most of us did?
Dog Gone, would appreciate your input on this.
This is just another example our our Stealth President doing his job under the radar screen of the Rats in charge of the NY Slimes, LA Slimes, DC Compost, NewWeak and of course CBSABCNBCCNNCSPAN.
The reason why none of them are commenting about it is simple. They don't report on real news anymore. They are just a propaganda spin arm of the Rat Socialists in power.
Also, they have not developed an attack mantra and team to attack this. They were as usual caught with their pants down while pandering with each other. They are incapable of doing some real news reporting. They can only create/manufacture phoney news stories like Enron caused our energy problems in Kali and try to transfer Davis's problems to Enron and GW.
The left wing maggots who pretend to be News People have zero skill at being news people. They sit and wait for their Rat editors/publishers/phoney news directors to come up with a new attack on GW. Then they spring into action with more creative fiction than the boys at Disney have now. Then their editors/publish fine tune their fiction into a true hate hit piece on GW. Then it is released as news, the screaming Rat heads on TV and the talking mantra heads pretend that their hate attack is news.
This article appeared in the New York Times on May 5, 2002.
Russian Oil and U.S. Security
By Leon Aron
With another oil shock looming thanks to Saddam Hussein's decision to suspend Iraq's oil exports and to the turmoil in Venezuela--not to mention Saudi Arabia's recent, brief waving of "the oil weapon"--the need to broaden the range of America's energy sources has become urgent.
One underappreciated source is obvious: Russian oil. Russia is the world's single largest non-OPEC oil exporter, with 10 percent of currently known oil reserves and 9 percent of world output. Yet Russia's irregular, "spot market" deliveries to the United States are a fraction of 1 percent of American imports. By contrast, Iraq's share of American imports last year was 7 percent; between them, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iraq, OPEC members all, accounted for 34 percent. To be less dependent on any one of these sources would help stabilize oil prices and lessen American vulnerability to political blackmail. Americans are not in the habit of looking to Russia for help in enhancing our security. But Russia has been transformed in the last 10 years, and Vladimir Putin's solidarity with the United States since Sept. 11 has sealed that transformation.
A decade of privatization of the Russian oil sector has been a success. Since the mid-1990's, Russia's "big six" oil companies have invested an estimated $5 billion in exploration, equipment and rehabilitation of oil fields damaged by Soviet policies. Twenty years ago most experts thought Russia would have to import oil. Instead, it has increased production by 15 percent in the past two years and is poised to pump 11 percent more this year than last. Last February, Russia pumped more oil than Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, Russia has striven to create the conditions for private business--domestic and foreign--to thrive. From demilitarization, privatization and de-Bolshevization in the Yeltsin era to last year's flat 13 percent income tax and other pro-business measures, Russia has progressed enormously since the end of the cold war.
Moscow has also guarded its freedom to maneuver in oil politics. Through the fall of 2001, Russia resisted OPEC's demand to reduce exports, thus shielding the American and European economies from higher energy costs. The other two leading independent exporters, Mexico and Norway, followed suit. Moscow eventually said it would cut exports by 150,000 barrels a day--but went on to increase production, showing that it remains fully independent of OPEC.
Russia is awash in oil, and while Russian companies are busily acquiring assets in Europe, the ultimate prize is America. President Vladimir Putin is likely to raise the issue of Russian oil with President Bush at the summit on May 23 to 25 in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The obstacles to Russian oil exports to America, however, are formidable. The first problem is transport. Russia's major oil fields are thousands of miles away from the deep-water ports that oil tankers require.
Getting Russian oil to America's West Coast from terminals on the Pacific Ocean in the Russian Far East--the shortest route--will require spending billions to put in pipelines from western Siberian oilfields and to develop the rich Magadan and Chukotka shelves in the extreme Northeast. Although the Russians can tackle parts of the problem themselves--the state pipeline company Transneft announced last month that it would invest $5 billion in a pipeline from southern Siberia to the Sea of Japan--drilling in eastern Russia and transporting the oil will not be possible without outside investment.
Partnership with American oil companies is critical. There have been some joint ventures in recent years: the acquisition in 2000 of Getty Petroleum Marketing by Russia's largest oil company, Lukoil, for example, or Exxon's $4 billion partnership last year with Russian, Japanese and Indian companies for deep-sea drilling around Sakhalin. But American companies remain wary of getting too close to Russian counterparts that only recently abandoned some very unscrupulous business practices, including strong-arming minority shareholders and wresting some of the richest oil fields away from foreign co-owners through corporate shenanigans.
American oil companies are perfectly able to gather information and make their own investment decisions. Nonetheless, given our need to broaden our range of energy sources for security reasons, Congress and the White House ought to collaborate on legislation giving tax incentives to American oil companies investing in Russia. In exchange, President Bush should seek the Russian government's commitment to enforcing fairness, transparency and predictability in regulation, taxation and repatriation of profits.
The Bush administration should also consider applying some pressure to the European Union. The union's current rule--no more than 30 percent of total E.U. imports can come from a single outside source--greatly hampers Russia's ability to bring more oil to the world market.
Even if the Russians were to succeed in getting the capability to reach American oil buyers, there should be no illusions: the displacement of the Persian Gulf in America's energy market is going to be neither total nor swift. Yet a sizable Russian presence in American markets over the next decade will be enough to provide a critical safety margin for energy prices and increase stability in American oil supplies.
Leon Aron is a resident scholar at AEI.
Russia: Prospects Brighten For Becoming Key U.S. Oil Supplier
By Michael Lelyveld
Hopes for energy cooperation with Russia have been rising following a meeting of ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations in the United States. Experts say Russia could offer an alternative source to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, but the prospect remains uncertain.
Boston, 8 May 2002 (RFE/RL) -- Analysts are becoming optimistic about the prospect that Russia could become a key oil supplier to the United States, helping to reduce its reliance on the volatile Middle East.
The outlook for a link between the world's biggest oil consumer and the second-largest producer seemed to brighten last week with a meeting in Detroit.
The forum of energy ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations gave Moscow a chance to repeat its message that Russia is prepared to play a major role in world energy affairs.
Energy Minister Igor Yusufov declared "Russia's readiness to become the guarantor of stability at the world market of energy resources," according to the official news agency RIA-Novosti. Russia reportedly offered to serve as a stabilizing supplier within a group of producing and consuming countries, including Russia, the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.
RIA-Novosti quoted sources as saying Russia's role "could be that of a guarantor of deliveries of energy materials to all the major economic systems of the world in case of crises."
The offer was underscored by Mikhail Khodorkovskii, the chairman of Russia's second-largest oil company Yukos, who said the country could boost its oil output from 7 million to 9 million barrels per day.
Yusufov made the same points during a meeting with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney last week. On 7 May, RIA-Novosti reported that the two men discussed possible imports of Russian fuel for the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
After months of Russian proposals, Western analysts have started to respond positively to the approach.
Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, wrote last week in "The New York Times": "Americans are not in the habit of looking to Russia for help in enhancing our security. But Russia has been transformed in the last 10 years, and Vladimir Putin's solidarity with the United States since 11 September has sealed that transformation."
Aron noted that Russia had promised the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last December that it would support oil prices by cutting exports by a modest 150,000 barrels per day. He said Russia then raised its production, "showing that it remains fully independent of OPEC."
In another commentary last week, the industry newsletter Petroleum Argus wrote: "Much is made of Russia's potential as an OPEC alternative. But the rhetoric could be about to turn into reality."
Both analyses cited obstacles that stand in the way. Among them is the distance of Russia's Siberian oil fields from the U.S. market. Even so, Petroleum Argus argued that Russia is planning new export routes that could bring its resources closer.
The first is the Druzhba-Adria pipeline, which could pump Russian oil west to the Adriatic through Croatia. The second is a far more ambitious eastward line from Angarsk to Nakhodka, a project that could supply the western United States from Russia's Far East.
One measure of the new hope for Russia's plan may be that it is being taken seriously, despite the fact that the eastern line would stretch 3,800 kilometers and cost $5 billion, according to the investment bank Troika Dialog. Such large numbers would have been greeted with skepticism only a year ago.
Russia's improved ties to the United States and its oil output have both encouraged the new outlook. In the first four months of 2002, Russia's oil production rose 8.8 percent from a year earlier, the Interfax news agency said this week.
But there are also reasons to be cautious about prospects for rapid change, or the notion that Russia will supplant Saudi Arabia as the traditional "swing producer" with the spare oil capacity to assure price stability and steady supplies.
Russian producers like Yukos have argued for months that they cannot simply turn their frozen Siberian oil fields on and off to suit OPEC. By the same token, they may be unable to match Saudi Arabia's flexibility to keep prices stable for long.
Any replacement in the U.S. market is likely to be slow. While Saudi Arabia accounted for 18 percent of U.S. crude imports last year, Russia barely registered as a source, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. OPEC countries supplied 51 percent of U.S. oil imports last year.
While Russia has offered energy cooperation with the United States, it has promised similar cooperation with the European Union. It also continues to say that it is cooperating with OPEC, as well as individual members like Iraq and Iran. The extent of cooperation in each case is unclear. But if Russia tries to be all things to all countries, it may not have enough resources and cooperation to go around.
Russia has made clear in the past week that it also has demands that may go with its energy supplies. On 7 May, RIA-Novosoti reported that Yusufov told the energy ministers that in return for sending more energy to the EU, Russia expects "an adequate reply with investment, technologies and managerial experience, as well as unimpeded transit of energy resources across Europe."
Yusufov also "warned European countries" that the opening of their energy markets should not lead them to revise long-term contracts with Russia or keep them from concluding new ones. The concern about EU energy policy has been a favorite theme of Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom, but the strong language suggests that Moscow's energy cooperation could have a high policy price.
Gregory was embarassed and shown to be a grandstanding, biased show-off on live television.
These folks cannot stand thinking they are out of the loop, uncool, and not taken seriously. I intend to call the local stations tomorrow and ask them if I just missed the report on this energy agreement, and when it was aired. If it wasn't aired, I am going to assume an aura of intellectual superiority and condescendingly tell them that all of the environmental people know about this, why don't they? (A little psy-ops there.) Maybe I can get the local stations to start doing some reporting. At any rate I will be doing something!
I have often said that anyone who has contact with these folks should not treat them like celebrities, but like less than appealing regular joes. If you own a restaurant, make them eat by the kitchen. If you work for an airline, make them wait like everyone else. Mock them as they walk by. Keep their shirts for an extra day at the cleaners. Ask for their ID EVERY TIME they cash a check or use a credit card.
My whole trouble is that I need minions. Without minions, this is a hard plan to carry out. LOL!
Plus, not mamny Americans hear Radio Free Europe. Thanks for looking, though.
It is aggravating beyond all get-out that we cannot get any NEWS from the media. Car chases, Chandra, and Daschle-speak is most of what appears disguised as news.
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Leaders To Sign Energy Accord 
copyright The St. Petersburg Times 2002
