energy

Nigeria’s Robin Hood takes on the oil giants

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:26:58 +0200

Image posted on Flickr by Dulue Mbachu/ ISN Security Watch.

The following video shows an oil depot in Lagos going up in flames on Sunday night after an attack by armed fighters from Nigeria's biggest militant group.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the attack on Nigeria's crucial Atlas Cove oil depot (where oil is stored for export), in which five workers were killed. It was the group's first attack outside of the Niger Delta, where much of Nigeria's oil extraction takes place. MEND, referred to by some Nigerian bloggers as the country's Robin Hood for standing up for the rights of impoverished residents of the resource-rich Niger Delta, is the country's leading rebel group. President Umaru Yar'Adua's government offered the insurgents an amnesty on June 25 and released one of its top leaders, Henry Okah, on Monday (13 July) in the hope of a ceasefire. The group have until October 4 this year to surrender their weapons. [UPDATE - 15 July 2009: MEND has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in response to Okah's release].

MEND's increased operations in the past few years have dramatically endangered Nigeria's oil industry, forcing the closure of plants owned by Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and US-based Chevron.

The (extremely kitsch) Gazprom anthem

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:07:27 +0100

Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, is more than just a company. As this song makes quite clear, it is something of a national saviour.

Viktor Chernomyrdin, who was Russia's longest-serving prime minister, and current President Dmitry Medvedev both started their careers as chairmen of the company. And according to a recent poll, 44% of the Russian population would like to work for it, while around half a million already do.

The feel-good anthem was composed and performed by Vladimir Tumayev, director of the Gazprom subsidy Spetsgazavtotrans and founder of the company football club, SOYUZ-Gazprom.

Electricity bills are a laughing matter in the Czech Republic

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:29:52 +0100

Everyone moans about mounting electricity bills. But with Czech consumers, complaints come in the funniest forms.

The Czechs are not unused to seeing their electricity bills mounting - the country's supplier, CEZ, has a monopoly on the sector. However, when it was announced that they'd be celebrating the new year with a 9.9% increase to their electricity costs, the reaction was not celebratory. Czechs are famous for their ability to keep their sense of humour, even in hard times - Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi governor of Bohemia, once called them "laughing beasts". True to the tradition, the Czech population decided to face the news not with riots, but with jokes.

This post was compiled and translated by Ostap Karmodi, our Observer in the Czech Republic.

Gas pipes cut from Turkmenistan to Iran

Julien — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:02:16 +0100

By our Observer for Turkmenistan, 'Maciula'.

Two weeks have passed since the suspension of Turkmen gas supplies to Iran. The pipelines are still empty and both sides are stiffening their position. Ashgabat obstinately claims that the suspension is due to maintenance works (but who conducts such works during the harshest winter in decades?) and at the same time warns that supplies will not be restored unless the Iranians pay off the debt they allegedly owe Turkmenistan.

Tehran's position is quite different, as described by Bruce Pannier from the Radio Free Europe:

Iranian officials have now made it clear that the issue clearly involves price. Iranian Oil and Gas Minister Gholamhossein Nozari recently said that talks on raising the price for Turkmen natural gas, from the current $75 to $140 per 1,000 cubic meters, would resume only when the supplies were restored. Nozari added that if deliveries did not resume, Iran could refuse to buy Turkmen gas.

Only the highest officials in Ashgabat probably know the true reason of the crisis. Nevertheless, the commentators have already come up with various theories and written about the activity of Washington, which has supposedly been trying to exert pressure on Berdymukhammedov to take hostile measures against Tehran, as well as about the rights of the Turkmen minority living in northern Iran being violated by the Iranian authorities and the backstairs activity of Russia aimed against... Turkey, etc.

It seems, however, that there is no hidden agenda here. The two reasons that most likely lie behind the suspended gas supplies are: shortage of gas in Turkmenistan (I have written about it in one of my recent posts) and Ashgabat's growing assertiveness encouraged by the recent success in its negotiations with the Gazprom which ended up in a 30-percent price rise on gas sold to Russia.

There is one more interesting aspect to this issue that has probably not been raised yet. Interestingly enough, the parties to the conflict (especially Turkmenistan) communicate with each other not only through diplomatic channels but also by public announcements in the media. However, I would not attribute it to their openness or concern to keep the public informed. This rather indicates that the conflict is indeed severe and, thus, unlikely to end soon."

Article published on Neweurasia 17 January 2008.