Free Republic

Legal analyses show that Russian-German gas pipeline may be illegal From Poland A.M. Even though there is still a chance for halting the construction of the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany through the Baltic Sea, the Polish government has not undertaken any legal action to block the construction. According to analysts, in order to block the investment the new government should first of all call into question the agreement signed between the two countries. Legal analyses have revealed that the document violates certain free trade principles. Robert Amsterdam from the Amsterdam & Peroff law office claims that Poland could...

U.S. House committees approve legislation to open ANWR to oil and gas drilling; speed Alaska gas pipeline construction by limiting loan guarantee Rose Ragsdale Petroleum News Contributing Writer Proposals to open Alaska’s arctic coastal plain to oil and gas drilling and to place a two-year sunset on federal loan guarantees for the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline are part of new energy packages adopted Sept. 28 by U.S. House committees on Resources and Energy and Commerce. Congress is revisiting various energy proposals in response to the havoc wreaked by recent hurricanes on the nation’s energy supplies. With crude oil prices expected...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina did more damage to underwater oil and natural gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico than previously thought, according to the U.S. agency that oversees offshore energy production. The head of the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, Johnnie Burton, said two weeks ago that Katrina did not do as much damage to offshore pipelines as Hurricane Ivan did a year earlier. However, Burton's estimate turned out to be too optimistic, and the damage is much worse. "It appears that way," said MMS spokesman Gary Strasburg, who pointed out that Burton's comments were based on initial...

Russia and Germany are on the verge of signing a multibillion pound pipeline deal that has the potential to alter Europe's political landscape and seriously aggravate the Kremlin's relations with its former Soviet neighbours. The Russian gas monopoly Gazprom is expected to ink the deal tomorrow to build a pipeline under the Baltic sea that will bring vast supplies of gas to western Europe. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will endorse the deal with German chemicals manufacturer BASF as he visits the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The north European gas pipeline will allow Russia to bypass...

China Exclusive: Oil/gas supply line being built along ancient Silk Road in NW. China URUMQI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China is building an energy supply artery along the ancient Silk Road in a bid to transport oil and gas from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and from the adjacent central Asian nations to the eastern and central parts of China. There are bonanzas of oil and gas resources in nations along the ancient Silk Road, providing a wonderful opportunity for China to build an energy supply line. China, which desperately needs energy to fuel its robust economic growth, has...

Home Gas Business and Pipe Politics He made a proposal that they could not refuse. And that is the end of the story about joint European interests, about new and old Europe, about authoritarian regime of Putin and young democracies. All this history fits into the folder with contract for construction of gas pipe that goes in the bottom of Baltic Sea and bypasses young Europe. It goes to good old Germany. This is a modern replica of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. One cannot deny Moscow the beauty of the maneuver and cannot deny Germany the ability to get the profit....

Russia Makes Transit Strike Lithuania is against Northern European Gas Pipeline Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Brazauskas announced yesterday that construction of the Northern European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) between Russia and Germany will turn into a catastrophe for the Baltic Sea. It is a first real attempt to prevent accomplishment of the project, and, possibly, a beginning of the war of Baltic countries and Poland against the Russian-German gas-political alliance. Ecological Alarm The project of the gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea should connect the Russian town Vyborg and German Greifswald, bypassing Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. For...

Lithuania starts ‘gas war’ against Russia September 16, 2005 Posted: 15:21 Moscow time (11:21 GMT) MOSCOW — Lithuania’s authorities object to plans to build a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, citing environmental concerns. This is the first attempt to block the project, signaling perhaps the beginning of a war by the Baltic states and Poland against the Russian-German gas and political alliance. The new gas pipeline could disturb stockpiles of Hitler’s chemical weapons resting on the bed of the Baltic Sea, which would lead to an environmental disaster, Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas said. “Being...

Gov. Frank Murkowski proposed that the state invest $4 billion in a pipeline to transport North Slope natural gas to market in the Lower 48. In a speech Wednesday at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce convention in Valdez, the governor said the state investment is part of a "comprehensive draft proposal" for a gas line contract he submitted to the three major North Slope oil companies Tuesday. The $4 billion is based on a 20 percent state ownership stake in the proposed line, and the state could end up paying more if the project ran into cost overruns. ......

Tricky Question Goes down the Tubes Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schroeder Insure Themselves against Politic Risks in Ukraine. First Persons Russian President Vladimir Putin flew to Berlin yesterday and met with both candidate for chancellor and was on hand for the signing of the agreement between Gazprom and the German concerns E.ON and BASF on the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline. In addition, Putin commented with glee on yesterday's events in Ukraine. His comments were somewhat mystifying, in the opinion of Kommersant special correspondent . Gazprom head Alexey Miller looked like the ca that ate the mouse as...

Doubts over Russian-German Gas Contract 09.09.2005 The construction of Russia-Germany gas pipe line seemed a great achievement yesterday but now when the smoke cleared it is far less certain. Honorary president of the German Liberal Party Otto Lambsdorff stated today there were no financial guarantees for the project. The most probable future German chancellor Angela Merkel added in a press interview that she supported the idea of strategic partnership but it must not happen at the expense of Poland and the Baltic states. Russian press is even more full of doubts. The main question asked by the opinion-making economic journal...

From Russia With Love Vladimir Putin visited Berlin yesterday to give his old friend Gerhard Schröder a boost during the last days of an election battle -- and to sign a deal for a new gas pipeline that leaves Poland out in the cold. Gerhard Schröder and Vladimir Putin have always been pals. Putin, for one thing, speaks fluent German (he used to run a KGB bureau in Dresden). Russia also sells a lion's share of oil and natural gas to Germany; and it's just good politics for the German chancellor to be seen smiling and shaking hands with the...

Major pipeline that distributes gasoline to the Eastern United States is running at full capacity. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A major pipeline supplying refined crude products from the Gulf to the East Coast is now running at full capacity and is delivering into all locations along its system. The Colonial Pipeline, based in Alpharetta, Ga., returned to full operating conditions late Monday and full commercial electrical power has been restored to the pipeline, the company said in a statement.

Half of Damaged Refineries Near Restarting JACKSON (AP) - As half of the Gulf Coast refineries damaged by Hurricane Katrina begin to ramp up production this week, industry experts have this message: be patient... Eight major refineries that produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and heating oil were knocked out of commission and the output at two others was cut by last week's killer hurricane and the flooding that followed. That cut overall U.S. refining capacity by more than 10 percent and contributed to a surge in retail gasoline prices and spot shortages around the country. Motiva Enterprises LLC, Marathon...

Poland and Ukraine plan new pipelines and joint investments 14:53 Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – At the breakthrough of September and October, during the visit of President Aleksander Kwasniewski to Ukraine, the declaration of co-operation in energy sector will be signed and a “road map” approved with common oil-gas projects enumerated. “I have recently met the representatives of Ukraine fuel and energy ministry. We have agreed on the document which should be ready till the end of this week”, Piotr Rutkowski, deputy Minister of Economy said. The following companies will be engaged in the co-operation: PGNiG, PKN Orlen and PERN Przyjazn...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 2 - Saboteurs shut down Iraqi crude oil exports to Turkey for virtually all of the past year, but the oil is flowing again after Iraq's government put in place elaborate new security measures and decided to move its product in what is essentially a clandestine operation. In the new export system, described over the last two weeks by officials in two state-owned oil companies, the Iraqi armed forces and a deputy prime minister, officials secretly open Iraq's northern pipeline to send batches of oil to Turkey and then shut it down again before insurgents can attack....

As a commercial diver for the past 15 years, Mark Atkinson said he has worked numerous times in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic Ocean. But his recent work about 100 miles out in the gulf off Caillou oil field along the Louisiana coast might well become his most memorable project since he helped to secure a 24-inch pipeline that pumps 175,000 barrels of oil daily. Contracted by Hilcorp Energy Service for Shell Oil Co. pipelines and facilities, Atkinson and three other divers from DiveCon LLC, of Harvey, La., began a pipeline installation project Aug. 21 as...

Update in pdf format. It would seem to me that at $70/bbl that they would have, let's say, an emergency generator.

NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. pipeline carrying gasoline and other refined oil products from the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast, will be running at 86 percent of normal capacity by the end of this weekend, a Colonial official said on Friday. The pipeline, which runs from Texas to New York Harbor, was flowing on Friday at 70 percent of its 2.3 million barrel-per-day capacity. Recovery of the pipeline, shut by electrical outages caused by Hurricane Katrina, has been quicker than anticipated. Colonial had expected to be back by 60 percent by Friday. "Current plans would...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information, call: Susan Castiglione, Senior Manager, Corporate & Public Affairs, (678) 762-2211 COLONIAL PIPELINE RESTARTS SYSTEM August 31, 2005 Colonial Pipeline today announced that it is safely restarting its pipeline. The initial restart of Colonial's Main lines 1 and 2 is scheduled to begin within the next several hours. Initial service restoration will provide between 25% and 35% of Colonial's normal operating capacity. Both gasoline and distillate service is included in this system restart. Colonial's first priority through all of these restart activities is the protection of public safety and the environment.