Intro4u2u

Dozens of women posed naked on their bicycles on a bridge over one of Amsterdam’s historic canals Sunday – a unique sight even in a city famed for its relaxed attitude toward nudity and sex.

They were among 2,000 men and women who participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick.

The first and largest composition was in a decidedly prosaic location: a parking garage on the outer ring of the city.

But what the location lacked in romance, it made up for in style. Participants lined the railings of the garage’s twin circular towers, creating a pattern of multicolor stripes against the white building and an overcast sky.

The women on bikes were selected from the larger group and posed with their chins pointed triumphantly upward toward the sky.

Other compositions included a group of men posing together near the parking garage and a mixed group of men and women on another bridge.

Tunick, from Brooklyn, N.Y., has become famous for photographing thousands of naked people in public settings worldwide, from London and Vienna to Buenos Aires and Buffalo. He set a record for naked photography with a photo of 18,000 people in the buff in Mexico City last month.

Photos from Sunday’s session were to be exhibited at an Amsterdam club later Sunday

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Dozens of women posed naked on their bicycles on a bridge over one of Amsterdam’s historic canals Sunday - a unique sight even in a city famed for its relaxed attitude toward nudity and sex.

They were among 2,000 men and women who participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick.

The first and largest composition was in a decidedly prosaic location: a parking garage on the outer ring of the city.

But what the location lacked in romance, it made up for in style. Participants lined the railings of the garage’s twin circular towers, creating a pattern of multicolor stripes against the white building and an overcast sky.

The women on bikes were selected from the larger group and posed with their chins pointed triumphantly upward toward the sky.

Other compositions included a group of men posing together near the parking garage and a mixed group of men and women on another bridge.

Tunick, from Brooklyn, N.Y., has become famous for photographing thousands of naked people in public settings worldwide, from London and Vienna to Buenos Aires and Buffalo. He set a record for naked photography with a photo of 18,000 people in the buff in Mexico City last month.

Photos from Sunday’s session were to be exhibited at an Amsterdam club later Sunday

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Bilateral Energy Diplomacy—or BP: Blair Petroleum

During the first leg of what has been dubbed British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s farewell Africa tour, a spokesperson announced that BP was returning to Libya, after a more than thirty-year absence, in a large gas exploration deal. It was not a coincidence timing-wise, although the deal was by no means hammered out in talks between Blair and Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi alone. Talks between Libya’s National Oil Corp. (NOC) and BP delegations have been more or less ongoing since 2004. While some accusations were voiced over the prime minister jumping the gun and announcing the deal before it was signed late last night, it is clear that it was in part political will that sped up the process, prompting NOC chief Shukri Ghanem to confirm Blair’s announcement of the deal before it was signed too. The BP delegation, led by its new chief executive Tony Hayward, were to find out about the agreement’s signing on the news.

After years of sanctions and international isolation for Libya, in late 2003, Britain played a leading role in encouraging the country to give up its biological, chemical and nascent nuclear programme. British government sources suggested that yesterday’s planned meeting was “in recognition” of Qadhafi’s groundbreaking decision in December 2003 to renounce such weapons, and reach a final settlement for the 200 victims of the 1988 Lockerbie air crash, which has been a major source of tension between the two countries. Blair said relations with Libya have been “transformed” and are now “completely productive”. He said he found the relationship with President Qadhafi on a personal level “very easy”, while also suggesting that such a relationship would undoubtedly endure beyond his time as British premier - no doubt the oil deals have been a way to cement the opening up of Libya, as well as Britain’s friendship with it, prompting some journalists to call yesterday’s deal “BP - Blair Petroleum”.

The VIP Lane to Libyan Oil and Gas

While having held regular licensing rounds for companies interested in exploring and developing Libyan assets, this is not the first time that one of the oil majors has been allowed to enter Libya and been given acreage outside the framework of the rounds. In 2004, following Blair’s last visit, Royal/Dutch Shell signed a large gas agreement, giving it access to some of Libya’s export facilities in exchange of developing the country’s infrastructure and output potential. This was a very convenient route for Libya to get access to the latest LNG technology from a single player with the abilities to execute large-scale development projects.

Libya has, not unlike other oil and gas producers suffering from international isolation, two main problems it needs to address rapidly: it must raise funds for an ailing economy; and gain technology in order to be able to develop its potential and arrest declining production from mature fields. In this regard Libya seems to have opted for a very clear-cut two-tier strategy. The first tier involves minnows and mid-sized IOCs being invited to bid for acreage, thereby raising cash and making sure that large exploration areas are covered by as many players as possible so as to quickly reach development and production phases in many fields at the same time. These licensing-round frameworks have increasingly become low-margin ventures, with Libya raising taxes and fees, but have on the other hand also involved prospecting and production rights in relative low-risk areas, thereby guaranteeing a fair turnout as long as the opportunities are viewed as high. The second tier involves addressing the technology problem, attracting international majors by providing a lane outside the bulk deals struck during the licensing rounds for them to secure promising acreage and participate in large-scale, demanding projects with higher potential and risk. These deals come with better conditions and seem to guarantee far more attractive margins.

BP’s Deal

Although further details of BP’s deal are bound to be presented at a later stage, we do know that BP has entered a US$900-million exploration deal, covering an area of 54,000 sq. km, divided over acreage in the prolific Ghadames and Sirte basins. The first 17 wells are to be drilled in the Sirte basin, where Shell has also been exploring for gas. The deal is thought to be geared towards eventual finds becoming the base for LNG production and exports, with Britain already being named as a natural market, although the NOC has expressed interest in becoming a principal exporter in the whole Atlantic Basin market.

Outlook and Implications

Libya has in the past built up several bilateral relationships with international oil and gas majors. During the country’s long isolation, Libya nurtured close co-operation with Italy’s Eni, in order to get at least some access to investment and technology and to encourage a friendly relationship across the Mediterranean. Later, as mentioned, Shell and ConocoPhillips provided not only investment, but also political ties, affirming the newly re-opened relationships with the United Kingdom and the United States. Interestingly, the BP deal confirms that what could still be viewed as deals being made through diplomatic necessity are actually being part of, or turned into, a more or less formalised Libyan strategy. Deepening the relationship with the United Kingdom is for several reasons in Libya’s interest, but this time the economical aspects of this deal seem to be more significant than the political aspects. BP will help Libya to take a quantitative and qualitative leap in the development of its gas reserves and hopefully help it to catch up with neighbours Algeria and Egypt in the export of LNG in the Atlantic basin.

The president of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, has ordered a freeze on oil exploration in Jonglei State.

Kiir also formed a committee to investigate the White Nile Oil Company, the controversial British oil exploration company headed by ex-England cricketer Phil Edmonds.

The daily, Al-Sahafah Newspaper, reported from Juba that the White Nile was officially informed last Friday of Kiir’s decision.

The British oil company recently had a drilling rig that it imported from eastern Europe confiscated.

The White Nile Oil Company had started operating in a disputed 67,000 square km (25,870 sq mile) concession on 19 April.

Al-Sahafah said that Kiir formed a committee to probe the details of the White Nile contract.
It is believed that few people have any knowledge of the contract details since it was signed with the SPLM Civil authority before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005.

A former official at the SPLM office in UK, Yei Joseph, and the coordinator from the Bor area group who voiced opposition to the project, said that Salva Kiir has suspended the White Nile activities following of a letter they submitted to him.

Joseph said that local communities are opposed to oil firms working in the region without respecting the rights of local population as stipulated in the CPA.

The White Nile Oil Company which is 50 per cent owned by South Sudan’s state petroleum firm Nilepet, has estimated that it has up to five billion barrels of oil in its concession, but may take up to four years before oil starts flowing.

The same block was part of a larger concession awarded to Total by the Khartoum government before the country’s 21-year north-south civil war, which ended with a 2005 peace agreement that gave the south semi-autonomous status.

The former southern rebels, who now dominate the government of South Sudan, divided up Total’s block and assigned a portion of it to White Nile.

Middle East petrochemicals producers, beefing up capacity to meet a surge in global demand, need to be prepared for a dip as growth in China is unlikely to be sustained, Basell Polyolefins’ chief executive said on Monday.

“The Gulf petrochemicals industry will play a dominant role in the next two to three decades, but it won’t be as straightforward as we all think. I simply don’t believe China can develop at 10% for the next 20 years,” Volker Trautz told the Gulf Petrochemicals 2007 conference in Bahrain’s capital Manama.

The warning comes amid Middle East producers’ rapid capacity build-up as they try to take advantage of strong global demand, particularly from Asia, and the comparatively cheap local price of natural gas, commonly used to make chemicals and plastics.

Middle East countries, flush with cash from three years of high oil prices, will spend $395 billion between 2007-11 on energy-related projects, of which petrochemicals will account for more than $80 billion, according to a recent report by Arab Petroleum Investments Corp.

Saudi Arabia alone, the region’s biggest petrochemical producer, plans to more than double output to 100 million tons a year by 2015 from just over 45 million now, Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, head of energy at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, said at the conference organized by London-based Middle East Economic Digest.

Saudi Arabian production capacity of ethylene, a natural gas derivative, is expected to grow to 11 million tons a year in the next five years, adding about 10% to global capacity, he added.

Saudi Arabia is by far the cheapest global producer of ethylene, Al-Sadoun said.

The desert kingdom produces ethylene at a cash cost of $151 a ton, less than half the price of its nearest rivals in South East Asia, where costs are about $380 a ton, he said.

However, Persian Gulf-based petrochemical producers seeking to benefit from the cost advantage may face the risk of producing more than Asian markets need, according to Trautz, who heads the world’s largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefins products.

“I see as a risk a dip in Chinese growth, which, even though it may be temporary, could hit the petrochemicals industry hard,” he said.

Trautz also sounded a warning on Saudi Arabia’s move to add downstream products to its portfolio, saying the further the country moves down the value chain, the more competitive advantage is lost.

“It’s very sound to diversify (but) whatever advantage the kingdom has, gets a little bit lost” with every step down the line, Trautz said.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to produce more specialized chemicals as part of the country’s strategy to create new industries that will provide jobs for its young and growing population.

“Diversification is essential - it is the future of Saudi Arabia,” said Fayez Al-Sharef, director for the Ras Tanura integrated refinery and petrochemicals project at Saudi Arabian Oil Co.

Middle East petrochemicals producers, beefing up capacity to meet a surge in global demand, need to be prepared for a dip as growth in China is unlikely to be sustained, Basell Polyolefins’ chief executive said on Monday.

“The Gulf petrochemicals industry will play a dominant role in the next two to three decades, but it won’t be as straightforward as we all think. I simply don’t believe China can develop at 10% for the next 20 years,” Volker Trautz told the Gulf Petrochemicals 2007 conference in Bahrain’s capital Manama.

The warning comes amid Middle East producers’ rapid capacity build-up as they try to take advantage of strong global demand, particularly from Asia, and the comparatively cheap local price of natural gas, commonly used to make chemicals and plastics.

Middle East countries, flush with cash from three years of high oil prices, will spend $395 billion between 2007-11 on energy-related projects, of which petrochemicals will account for more than $80 billion, according to a recent report by Arab Petroleum Investments Corp.

Saudi Arabia alone, the region’s biggest petrochemical producer, plans to more than double output to 100 million tons a year by 2015 from just over 45 million now, Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, head of energy at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, said at the conference organized by London-based Middle East Economic Digest.

Saudi Arabian production capacity of ethylene, a natural gas derivative, is expected to grow to 11 million tons a year in the next five years, adding about 10% to global capacity, he added.

Saudi Arabia is by far the cheapest global producer of ethylene, Al-Sadoun said.

The desert kingdom produces ethylene at a cash cost of $151 a ton, less than half the price of its nearest rivals in South East Asia, where costs are about $380 a ton, he said.

However, Persian Gulf-based petrochemical producers seeking to benefit from the cost advantage may face the risk of producing more than Asian markets need, according to Trautz, who heads the world’s largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefins products.

“I see as a risk a dip in Chinese growth, which, even though it may be temporary, could hit the petrochemicals industry hard,” he said.

Trautz also sounded a warning on Saudi Arabia’s move to add downstream products to its portfolio, saying the further the country moves down the value chain, the more competitive advantage is lost.

“It’s very sound to diversify (but) whatever advantage the kingdom has, gets a little bit lost” with every step down the line, Trautz said.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to produce more specialized chemicals as part of the country’s strategy to create new industries that will provide jobs for its young and growing population.

“Diversification is essential - it is the future of Saudi Arabia,” said Fayez Al-Sharef, director for the Ras Tanura integrated refinery and petrochemicals project at Saudi Arabian Oil Co.

Arrow Energy N.L. will supply gas to a new liquefied natural gas (”LNG”) export facility planned for Queensland’s Port of Gladstone in a multi-billion dollar deal that has the potential to more than double Arrow’s forecast production and provides leverage to soaring oil prices.

Under a Heads of Agreement (”HOA”) signed with LNG International Pty Ltd (”LNGI”), supported by the world’s largest independent owner of LNG transportation, Golar LNG Limited and a high investment grade Japanese LNG buyer, Arrow proposes to supply 55 petajoules of gas per year for a 12-year period from late-2010, with an option for another 55 PJ per annum from as early as mid-2011, subject to a second LNG train being developed.

The first stage of the facility is designed to produce around 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG with an option to expand to 2 million tonnes. Arrow’s gas will be supplied at a base price with an upside linked to oil prices, providing the company with significantly higher prices than gas priced for electricity generation.

Chief executive Nick Davies said, “This is the breakthrough we’ve been looking for and planning towards over the past 15 months.”

“Our strategy has been to seek a viable export project for our coal seam gas (”CSG”) from the east coast of Australia that would give us exposure to oil pricing and to help us to break out of the low gas price environment in the eastern states caused by the wide availability of coal.”

Currently forecasting production of a net 60 PJ of gas by 2010, Mr Davies said Arrow’s strategy had been building up its resource position in preparation for the groundbreaking deal.

“Last year’s merger with CH4 Gas Limited, the investment and farm-in to Pure Energy Resources Limited Bowen Basin CSG acreage and the $265 million investment by Sweden’s Energy Infrastructure Group AB in our acreage were all designed to get us a critical mass of reserve certification options aimed at supplying the Port of Gladstone so that we could export gas as either LNG, CNG (compressed natural gas) or GTL (gas to liquids),” he said.

Arrow also has the option to aggregate the gas supply from multiple sources (including joint venture parties) which, importantly, will provide the impetus for development of Arrow’s Bowen Basin, Coastal Queensland and Pure Energy joint venture coal seam gas holdings plus associated major pipeline infrastructure, Mr Davies said.

LNGI is a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX listed company, LNG Limited, which is 20% owned by Golar, the world’s largest independent owner of LNG shipping transportation with a project portfolio, which fully covers LNG mid-stream activity — liquefaction, shipping, trading and regasification. Golar has confirmed its “in principle ” interest in investing in the Gladstone LNG project; purchasing the LNG offtake in addition to assisting with shipping solutions.

Discussions are currently underway with relevant authorities regarding a likely facility location in the Gladstone Port area.

Mr Davies said, “Arrow is drawing up a 2008 financial year exploration and appraisal programs targeting net 2P (proved and probable) reserves of 1,500 PJ, with a target for gross un-contracted reserves that could access the Port of Gladstone, of around 1,100 PJ during the year.

“That reserve level would be more than adequate to meet the needs of the first LNG train, with any additional reserves required for the second LNG train to be added in FY2009. The significant field development that will follow on immediately from this reserve certification program is also being assessed for implementation in the FY2009 and FY2010 years.”

An LNG plant comprises one or more LNG trains, each of which is an independent unit for gas liquefaction.

Financial close for the LNG terminal project is targeted for September 2008 with a development timeline to enable first deliveries of LNG in late 2010.

“Arrow continues to focus on new business with higher margins, both in product selection in terms of GTL, LNG or CNG, and internationally, where we’ve signed CSG exploration deals in the high-growth Asian markets of China, India and Indonesia,” Mr Davies said.

“This LNG export agreement shows our ability to execute on our strategy and we anticipate significant growth in shareholder value as we move towards our goal of becoming the Asia-Pacific region’s leading independent CSG producer.”

Arrow Energy N.L. is one of Australia’s leading CSG companies, focusing on the exploration and development of CSG resources in south and central Queensland and northern New South Wales. The S&P/ASX200 company will supply Queensland with 25 percent of its daily gas needs by the end of 2007 and is pursuing international business development opportunities in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Bermuda-incorporated Shipping Company Golar LNG is the world’s largest independent owner of LNG transportation with more than 30 years experience in the global LNG industry. It is the only shipping company dedicated exclusively to LNG transportation and is the recognized market leader in LNG transportation.

Hess is reported today to have commenced drilling an additional production well on the Phu Horm Field in northeastern Thailand’s Block L15/43.

Salamander Energy, one of Hess’ partners in the concession, said that well PH-10 was spudded on 28 May with the objective of increasing the productive capacity of the field. The well will be drilled directionally from the PH-4 surface location to a target at the top of the Pha Nok Khao reservoir some 1.2 km east of PH-4.

Analysis of the data from the PH-6 well, which during drilling flowed gas from 1,843 to 2,014 meters, is still ongoing and the field partners continue to discuss the forward program for bringing this well to the point of commercial deliverability.

The Ensign Rig 16 that was contracted to drill the Phu Horm South appraisal well has now arrived in Thailand and preparations are continuing for an anticipated spud in July.

The Phu Horm Project is situated in Udon Thani and Khon Kaen Provinces about 45 km north of the Nam Phong Electricity Generating Plant. It covers an area of about 231.6 sq km. Hess (Thailand) is the operator with a 35% interest. Partners include Apico (35%), PTTEP (20%), and ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Khorat (10%). Salamander, with 27.2% ownership of Apico, thus has a 9.5% interest in the Phu Horm gasfield as well as a 27.2% interest in Block L15/43. Hess plans to put the Phu Horm Field on production before yearend

The Bush administration’s new sanctions against Sudan aim to squeeze the country’s economy by freezing Sudanese companies out of American financial institutions and curtailing their dollar transactions.

U.S. government officials described the sanctions during recent interviews and press briefings as a significant move to raise the pressure on Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, to bring a quick end to the violence in Darfur.

But the sanctions will do little to stem Sudan’s oil exports, which are the main source of the country’s wealth, analysts said. They also noted that existing sanctions against Sudan, which date back to 1997, have been unevenly enforced.

“Sudan has been quite adept at avoiding sanctions for the past decade, and this is not going to have a lot of bite,” said Philippe de Pontet, a political risk analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington.

In recent years, Sudan has emerged as a small but fast-growing oil producer, first with the help of American and European corporations and more recently with investments from Chinese, Indian and Malaysian companies. Sudan now pumps about 500,000 barrels of oil a day, bringing in enough wealth to set off an economic and real estate boom in Khartoum, the capital.

The latest sanctions are specifically aimed at more than 30 companies owned or controlled by the government of Sudan. They include five petrochemical companies and the country’s national telecommunications operator, Sudatel.

More than 100 local companies have already been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department, among them Sudan’s biggest oil producer, the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. The company, which pumps about 300,000 barrels a day, is a joint venture of the Sudanese government and state oil companies from China, India and Malaysia, and is operated by the China National Petroleum Corp.

Andrew Natsios, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, acknowledged at a news conference Tuesday that the new sanctions would have limited effects on the country’s oil production and exports.

“The purpose of these sanctions is not sanctions,” he said. “The purpose of these sanctions is to send a message to the Sudanese government to start behaving differently when they deal with their own people.”

At least 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced in Darfur, a region in western Sudan. The White House has called the violence there genocide.

In a brief speech in the White House on Tuesday morning, President George W. Bush said: “The United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world.”

The European Union has signaled its willingness to consider new sanctions against Sudan, but China and Russia have been opposed. Without an international consensus on more stringent economic sanctions, the United States has few options, analysts said.

“We don’t have much commercial activities or fat targets of opportunities for slapping new sanctions on Sudan,” said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Africa program at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington.

[Britain supports U.S. efforts to toughen UN Security Council sanctions against Sudan because of the situation in Darfur, a British official traveling with Prime Minister Tony Blair told The Associated Press and Reuters on Wednesday.]

The companies named by the Treasury Department on Tuesday included a sugar producer, an automobile company and a vegetable oil producer. The administration also singled out two senior officials - Ahmad Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and Awad ibn Auf, the country’s director of military intelligence - and Khalil Ibrahim, leader of a rebel group called the Justice and Equality Movement.

A Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman called the sanctions “unfair and untimely.”

According to The Associated Press, South Africa’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dumisani Kumalo, questioned the timing of the sanctions at a time when the UN, the African Union and Sudan are negotiating access to Darfur for an increased international force.

The Bush administration said it would seek a new United Nations resolution imposing an arms embargo against Sudan and would bar the Sudanese government from conducting any military flights in Darfur.

But in aiming at Sudan’s economy, Washington seems to be toeing a sensitive line. It wants to increase the pressure on the Sudanese government without alienating China, a top American trading partner. It is also apparently unwilling to consider outright oil sanctions against Sudan at a time when global energy prices are high.

David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition, said the United States should make Sudan a higher priority in its diplomatic relations with China. “The Chinese have the most leverage to influence Khartoum,” he said.

A Sudanese committee seeking to resolve disputed oil concession rights in the semi-autonomous south has recommended that France’s Total SA and Britain’s White Nile work together in the same block.

South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar said on Thursday the committee had agreed to a similar arrangement in another block where Malaysia’s Petronas and Moldova’s Ascom Group have conflicting claims.

Machar, in announcing the decision, pronounced as “over” the contested issue of exploration rights over large areas of the south.

“The National Committee recommended to the National Petroleum Commission that Block B can be a consortium that will include all, that is Total being the operator and White Nile being a member in it,” Machar said.

“Similarily in Block 5B there will be a new consortium composed of Petronas, Ascom, Lundin and ONGC , Sudapet and Nilepet,” Machar said.

South Sudan’s semi-autonomous government had allowed exploratory drilling by White Nile and Ascom in areas already claimed by Total and Petronas, which say they signed with Khartoum before a 2005 peace deal ended more than two decades of north-south civil war.

Most of Sudan’s oil lies in the landlocked south, although refineries and pipelines are in the north.

White Nile, which is 50 percent owned by state petroleum firm Nilepet, started drilling its first well in its disputed 67,000 square km (25,870 sq mile) concession in south Sudan last month. Its block was part of a larger concession previously assigned to Total by the Khartoum government.

White Nile had estimated that it has 3 billion to 5 billion barrels of oil in its block Ba concession, but that it would take four years before the oil starts to flow.

Machar said that Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and southern President Salva Kiir had signed off on the committee recommendations.

“It was passed by the National Petroleum Commission at which those co-chairs were present,” Machar said. He said Ascom and White Nile, which had been asked by Kiir to stop operations in the south, should restart operations soon.

“We don’t know when but it would be soon because it would be a loss if they don’t resume operations as the dispute has been settled,” Machar said. “It’s now a bygone, they should now start thinking how to do their operations as a new consortium.”