Costa Rica cancels oil-exploration license to US firm (Harken)

[arcos]

Costa Rica cancels oil-exploration license to US firm

SAN JOSE, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The Costa Rican government on Wednesday canceled a license allowing the US-based firm Harken to search for oil in the northeastern part of the Central American country.

A spokesman of the Environment and Energy Ministry said the decision was made due to Harken's repeated breaches of contract, adding that Harken has not even conducted environmental impact studies.

The Harken Costa Rica Holding won the concession rights in 1998to explore for oil in the Caribbean province of Limon, 188 km northeast of the capital, San Jose.

<snip>

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/03/content_2642095.htm



This was pretty much expected since 2002, but it was made official now that US Courts dismissed a Harken lawsuit. Some more information regarding the $57 BILLION Harken was asking for, the participation of former Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli and CAFTA can be found here: http://www.alternet.org/story/18258

[lateo]

1. Uh oh...

Time for pre-emptive liberation...

[raysr]

2. If this catches on

it'll show the BFEE and the powers inside the US for what they really stand for, and it ain't freedom!

[applegrove]

3. Here you go Harken ....

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[Say_What]

4. Love it...

Costa Rica won't put up with US corporation bullshit!! Yee Haw!! :bounce:

[bpilgrim]

5. China and the US are going to be at logger heads over the reamining OIL

Mar 2, 2005
China fuels energy cold war
By Chietigj Bajpaee

HONG KONG - A notable feature of 2004 was the volatility in oil prices - New York light sweet crude prices reached a peak of US$55.67 on October 25, ending the year up 33.6% at $43.45 per barrel. While a number of supply-side and supply-chain factors have contributed to this situation, the most significant long-term factor contributing to rising oil prices is an increase in Asian demand, most notably from China. China's unprecedented growth not only makes it a driver of a long-term increase in energy prices, but also the most vulnerable to rising oil prices.

China, which has been a net oil importer since 1993, is the world's number two oil consumer after the US and has accounted for 40% of the world's crude oil demand growth since 2000. China's proven oil reserves stand at 18 trillion barrels, and oil imports account for one-third of its crude oil consumption.

China has initiated numerous policies to cope with its increasing energy needs, including stepping up exploration activities within its own borders, diversifying beyond oil to access other energy resources, such as nuclear power, coal, natural gas and renewable energy resources, promoting energy conservation and encouraging investment into energy-friendly technologies such as hydrogen-powered fuel cells and coal gasification.

China has also joined the United States and Japan in developing strategic petroleum reserves, with the creation of 75 days of emergency reserves in four locations in Zhejiang, Shandong and Liaoning provinces.

Nevertheless, in the face of sporadic power shortages, growing car ownership and air travel across China and the importance of energy to strategically important and growing industries such as agriculture, construction, and steel and cement manufacturing, pressure is going to mount on China to access energy resources on the world stage.

much more...

---

Mar 3, 2005

SPEAKING FREELY
The oil factor in Bush's 'war on tyranny'
By F William Engdahl

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing.

In recent public speeches, President George W Bush and others in the US administration, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have begun to make a significant shift in the rhetoric of war. A new "war on tyranny" is being groomed to replace the outmoded "war on terror". Far from being a semantic nuance, the shift is highly revealing of the next phase of Washington's global agenda.

In his January 20 inaugural speech, Bush declared, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world" (author's emphasis). Bush repeated the last formulation, "ending tyranny in our world", in the State of the Union address. In 1917 it was a "war to make the world safe for democracy", and in 1941 it was a "war to end all wars".

The use of tyranny as justification for US military intervention marks a dramatic new step in Washington's quest for global domination. "Washington", of course, today is shorthand for the policy domination by a private group of military and energy conglomerates, from Halliburton to McDonnell Douglas, from Bechtel to ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco, not unlike that foreseen in president Dwight Eisenhower's 1961 speech warning of excessive control of government by a military-industrial complex.


more...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GC03Dj02.html

psst... pass the word ;->

peace

[Dover]

6. Is there a link for the first article on China? n/t

[bpilgrim]

9. D'oh! here ya go ----------------------------------------> LINK

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GC02Ad07.html

Mar 2, 2005


China fuels energy cold war
By Chietigj Bajpaee

HONG KONG - A notable feature of 2004 was the volatility in oil prices - New York light sweet crude prices reached a peak of US$55.67 on October 25, ending the year up 33.6% at $43.45 per barrel. While a number of supply-side and supply-chain factors have contributed to this situation, the most significant long-term factor contributing to rising oil prices is an increase in Asian demand, most notably from China. China's unprecedented growth not only makes it a driver of a long-term increase in energy prices, but also the most vulnerable to rising oil prices.

China, which has been a net oil importer since 1993, is the world's number two oil consumer after the US and has accounted for 40% of the world's crude oil demand growth since 2000. China's proven oil reserves stand at 18 trillion barrels, and oil imports account for one-third of its crude oil consumption.

China has initiated numerous policies to cope with its increasing energy needs, including stepping up exploration activities within its own borders, diversifying beyond oil to access other energy resources, such as nuclear power, coal, natural gas and renewable energy resources, promoting energy conservation and encouraging investment into energy-friendly technologies such as hydrogen-powered fuel cells and coal gasification.

China has also joined the United States and Japan in developing strategic petroleum reserves, with the creation of 75 days of emergency reserves in four locations in Zhejiang, Shandong and Liaoning provinces.

Nevertheless, in the face of sporadic power shortages, growing car ownership and air travel across China and the importance of energy to strategically important and growing industries such as agriculture, construction, and steel and cement manufacturing, pressure is going to mount on China to access energy resources on the world stage.

As a result, energy security has become an area of vital importance to China's stability and security. China is stepping up efforts to secure sea lanes and transport routes that are vital for oil shipments, and diversifying beyond the volatile Middle East to find energy resources in other regions, such as Africa, the Caspian, Russia, the Americas and the East and South China Sea region.

However, just as China has for centuries engaged in competition for leadership of Asia, the developing world and status on the world stage, so the need for energy security has now raised the possibility of further competition and confrontation in the energy sphere.

This competition has so far been limited to the economic sphere through state-owned oil and gas companies such as China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), its subsidiary PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corporation. However, as oil prices rise and China imports an increasing amount of its energy needs, the competition is likely to spill over into the political and military spheres. There are already indications of this.

China's quest for energy resources on the world stage is creating a destabilizing effect on international and regional security. Fueled by the lack of a coherent multilateral approach to energy security in Asia and by China's already tense relations with neighboring states, the competition for energy resources may prove to be the spark for regional and international conflict. In many cases, China is vying for energy resources in some of the most unstable parts of the world. Its involvement in regions with raging conflicts could potentially draw it into the disputes, escalating a regional conflict into an international conflict.

more...
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GC02Ad07.html

peace

[arcos]

12. Very interesting, thanks!! nt

[yorkiemommie1]

7. GOOD!!!

n/t

[IndianaGreen]

8. There are WMDs in Costa Rica!

and they support Al-Qaeda. Invasion!

[Frances]

10. Do you think we will ever see articles like this in the U.S. press?

Everything I have been reading from the press of other countries says to me that the U.S. is losing the oil war with China--especially in South America and Russia.

And I don't think the average American has a clue about what is going on because the American media isn't telling us.

[Say_What]

17. NO WAY!! Only about 10% of International News gets to the US sheeple and

that number dwindles each year. It's pathetic how little the general public knows about international affairs. They're lucky if they know where Latin America or China is located.

[arcos]

19. No, but I was surprised to not see it anywhere...

just in this chineses news source. Not even European or South American press reported it.

[cliss]

11. Unbelievably interesting......

Is anyone besides me noticing some VERY interesting things happening in Central America and South America??????

Uruguay elected a new Socialist leader this week. Hugo Chavez was on hand to deliver hugs. There have been red-alert threads on the LBN about South America making a Left Turn at the Crossroads.

Red-alert time for the US.

This is incredibly amazing stuff going on. These countries are mobilizing, and it's not looking good for BeelzeBush.

[arcos]

13. we'll have elections in Costa Rica in a year...

The favorite is a right winger as usual, but he still pisses the Bush administration off. He's Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, who was strongly opposed to the war in Iraq.

But there's still a big chance we might elect center left's Ottón Solís... we'll see!

[Supersedeas]

15. opposition to the War in Iraq is equivalent to a vote of no-confidence

[arcos]

16. true... but the US will support him nonetheless...

He's the main supporter of CAFTA, and they really want it to be approved. The other major party who supports CAFTA is the Libertarian, and they are pro-online gambling, pro-drug legalization and pro-gay marriage so the GOP doesn't like them much either.

The US really doesn't have much of a choice on whom to support...

[Say_What]

18. Background article for you...

From the latest NACLA report released yesterday.

On edit: Not to worry, many of us paying attention to LatAm and the Caribbean :-)


<clips>

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP

One of the major contradictions in the Americas today is that between the included and the excluded—those who can regularly participate in the formal institutions of society, politics and the economy, and those who are able to do so only intermittently, or not at all. This Report examines the self-organization of the excluded into movements struggling for inclusion, and for the creation of “another world” within which that inclusion is possible.

Despite their great diversity, what unites the movements considered in this Report is their common global perspective: their loose integration into a broader global movement fighting against a world order called “neoliberal.” They have been drawn, that is, into global debates about democratic change, universal social justice and meaningful political participation.

In some cases, as with Brazil’s landless or southern Mexico’s insurgent peasantry, the exclusion of vast segments of the population dates back to the Iberian Conquests of the Sixteenth Century, and even earlier. In other cases, as with the working poor in Argentina and Venezuela, exclusion has been built into contemporary urban structures. But in all cases, it has been exacerbated to crisis proportions by the region’s current model of neoliberal social and economic development, a model premised upon the systematic exclusion of certain segments of the population from meaningful participation.

Neoliberalism arose in the early 1980s when, faced with falling commodity prices, rising international interest rates and a sizable debt burden contracted largely under dubious circumstances, most Latin American countries, as a condition for being “rescued” by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), were obliged to adopt a series of “market-based” economic reforms, including zero-deficit public budgets that quickly became “austerity budgets” throughout the Americas.

http://www.nacla.org/iss_theme.php?iss=38|5

[Judi Lynn]

14. Astonishing they would do something this overt!

Surely they know intimately the details of Harken's history and its relationship to _{George W. Bush.} I'd think it's a slap in the face, a kick in the pants, and the bum's rush to _Bush, wouldn't you? Very cool.

In 1983, Bush’s company was rescued from failure when Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation, a small oil firm owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds, bought it. Bush became chief executive officer. Harken Energy Corporation acquired Spectrum 7 in 1986, after Spectrum had lost $400,000. In the buyout deal, Bush and his partners were given more than $2 million worth of Harken stock for the 180-well operation. Bush became a director and was hired as a "consultant" to Harken. He received another $600,000 of Harken stock, and has been paid between $42,000 and $120,000 a year. By the spring of 1987, Harken was in need of cash. So Bush and his fellow Harken officials met with Jackson Stephens, head of Stephens, Inc., an investment bank in Little Rock, Arkansas (Stephens contributed $100,000 to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 and gave another $100,000 to the Bush dinner committee in 1990.) Stephens arranged for Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) to provide $25 million to Bush’s company in return for a stock interest in Harken. As part of the deal, Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh, a Saudi real estate tycoon and financier, joined Harken's board as a major investor. Stephens, UBS, and Bakhsh each had ties to the infamous, scandal-ridden Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). In 1990, Bush sold his remaining stock options and left the oil business. Writer Jack Colhoun revealed some details of that stock sale, referring to Bush by his childhood nickname “Junior”:

On June 22, 1990, George Jr. sold two-thirds of his Harken stock for $848,560-a cool 200 percent profit. The move was well timed. One week after Junior sold his stock, Harken announced a $23.2 million loss in quarterly earnings and Harken stock dropped sharply, losing 60 percent of its value over the next six months. On August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops moved into Kuwait and 541,000 U.S. forces were deployed to the Gulf.

"There is substantial evidence to suggest that Bush knew Harken was in dire straits in the weeks before he sold the $848,560 of Harken stock," asserted U.S. News & World Report. The magazine noted Harken appointed Junior to a 'fairness committee' to study possible economic restructuring of the company. Junior worked closely with financial advisers from Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company, who concluded "only drastic action could save Harken."
(snip/...)

http://www.famoustexans.com/georgewbush.htm