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| Europe |
| Russia’s LUK Oil Says It Will Sue |
| 2003-04-09 |
| LUKoil said Tuesday it would block Iraq's huge West Qurna oil field development for many years if any U.S. or British firm decided to challenge its leading role in the project. Nothing more imperialistic than reformed communists... LUKoil vice president Leonid Fedun stated that the firm would sue any new contender for the field for at least $20 billion and ask international courts to arrest tankers with Iraqi crude oil. Uh oh, LAWYERS !! "Nobody can develop this field without us in the next eight years. If somebody decides to squeeze LUKoil out, we are going to appeal in the Geneva arbitration court, which will immediately arrest this field," Fedun said. We won't squeeze you out, just open the deal up for competitive bids with the proceeds going the the Iraqi Trust rather than a handful of Islamothugs... "This type of trial can last for about six or eight years. ... We are going to arrest tankers with crude produced in Iraq using the Geneva court," he added. Sounds like he's fishing for a settlement... Oil analysts have said that ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips of the United States are likely to compete with Anglo-Dutch Shell Group, Britain's BP and TotalFinaElf of France for major production contracts should postwar Iraq privatize its oil industry. Russian firms have the most to lose in a postwar Iraq as they have signed contracts worth $4 billion with the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to drill oil wells, deliver Wah, I want my field back ! |
| Posted by:Showme |
| #15 Ok Showme,but how does Maritime law have authority on land? |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-10 08:21:46 |
| #14 Who what where when? Who will be sued. What is the real issue. What court has jurisdiction. When does the show start, I need to get some beer and pop some corn. dorf |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-09 16:33:43 |
| #13 I wonder if the Iraqi people will consider that oil field Russia's. Can't ignore them. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-09 12:51:04 |
| #12 Actually the term 'Arrest' here comes from Maritime/Admiralty law and means to 'set aside a cargo until ownership can be determined'. When salvagers find a shipwreck they petition a Maritime court to 'arrest' the ship laying on the bottom of the ocean so as to prevent other salvagers from enfringing on their claim. |
| Posted by: ShowMe 2003-04-09 11:41:26 |
| #11 So a Russian company is going to sue the US into honering a contract that a was broken by a third party? I'll bet the left doesn't care if Russian "Big Oil" gets a blood-for-oil deal. Hypocrosy at it's most obvious. The part about ".. Punishing Russia for it's moderate position in the UN" is what really gets me. Moderate? |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2003-04-09 11:37:08 |
| #10 How the hell do you arrest an oilfield? "Ok, put up your pumps and freeze!" |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-04-09 09:53:17 |
| #9 Silly LUKOil. The West Qurna field is only one of many oil fields in Iraq. If they get belligerent about it, pump the other fields for 8 years, feed Iraq and rebuild from the proceeds, then have Iraq start pumping again after the 8 years is up. |
| Posted by: Tadderly 2003-04-09 08:14:38 |
| #8 Speaking of blood for oil... |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2003-04-09 08:13:33 |
| #7 Brian -- I don't think they did, because the North Sea is off of Britain, far away from the Pacific. Japanese boats would have little, if any, reason to be there. There is a pretty good website at www.russojapanesewar.com that has info on that conflict, if you are interested. |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-09 08:09:34 |
| #6 Hell, bring it on! Our lawyers are better than their lawyers. They've had DECADES of experience tying stuff up in court. This must be further proof that Sammy's dead. Otherwise, shouldn't they be threatening to sue HIM, since he's the one who reneged last year? How the hell do you arrest an oil field, anyway? I can see detaining a ship (if you had a navy capable of doing that, which they don't), but a piece of land?? |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-09 07:53:13 |
| #5 Yes...TotalFinaElf and LUKOil force the Russian and French Navies to move out to interdict the oil tankers. I see it now... Tangentially, in the Russo-Japanese War, didn't Russia almost trigger war with Britain by torpedoing British fishing ships in the North Sea because they were presumed by the Imperial Russian Navy to be Japanese? |
| Posted by: Brian 2003-04-09 07:09:56 |
| #4 TotalFinaElf? I think not. |
| Posted by: someone 2003-04-09 01:16:55 |
| #3 Iraq scrapped the deal in 2002. How? Tear up the contract? Ignore the russkies? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-09 00:56:46 |
| #2 Send in the Sopranos. I'm sure they could cut a deal with the LUKoil mafiosos... or else. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-04-09 00:55:52 |
| #1 Who's going to help with arresting oil tankers -- the Russian navy? Please. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-09 00:39:50 |