In a strongly-worded statement, French Ambassador to India Dominique Girard alleged that "factors other than commercial" swung the nearly $7-billion deal in favour of Boeing. He minced no words: "We are surprised and disappointed. Airbus definitely has an advantage over Boeing... It is clear that some factors other than commercial have played a role."
Posted by: john ||
05/05/2005 5:04:38 PM ||
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#1
France, want some cheese to go with that whine?
#3
Damn, he is named like a girl, he whines like a (4 year-old) girl, yet the article refers to ''he''.
I'm so confused....
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
05/05/2005 18:54 Comments ||
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Girard reportedly also expressed apprehension about the fate of France's bid to sell Mirage fighter jets to Indian Air Force in the light of US' offer of F-16 and F-18 fighter aircraft. ''I am sure the Indian government is wise enough not to base its decision (for fighter jets) on one factor or other but take comprehensive factors into consideration,'' he said.
Posted by: john ||
05/05/2005 18:54 Comments ||
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#5
It is clear that some factors other than commercial have played a role.
Sure as hell did, Girard! Performance and integrity of vertical stabilizers staying on the fuselage had a factor, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2005 19:11 Comments ||
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Golly, you'd almost think we're waging economic warfare against France, the way this poor fellow is grousing?
But why on earth would we do such a thing?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/05/2005 19:45 Comments ||
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#7
It appears India doesn't want to single source anything, not a bad idea. Get over it Dominique. Be happy they bought the planes they did when they did.
#8
Excellent customer relations, Dom. Blame the Customer; excellent way to lay the foundation for the next sales opportunity. Let me guess...You were getting a commision on this deal, but you'll be transferred before the next one goes down. To Ivory Coast, no doubt.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/05/2005 20:04 Comments ||
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#9
I'm so impressed that Dom baby was able to come up with a strongly worded statement.
If he would have bothered to, maybe, come up with a strongly worded presentation on behalf of Airbus, they might have gotten the contract instead.
#10
Now now, Mrs. Davis - we don't call them commissions, we call them ''rewards for long and useful service to the Republic''.
Posted by: too true ||
05/05/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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Seems he was not satisfied with the consolation prize: an Indian Airlines proposal to buy 43 Airbus aircraft for nearly $1.9 billion
The airline has decided to purchase 20 Airbus A321s, 19 Airbus A319s and four Airbus A320s. The fleet renewal programme will mean that the Boeing 737s of Alliance Air will be replaced by A319s.
However, the airline is still going ahead with the leasing of five A319s in the interim to provide immediate facelift to Alliance Air
They are playing the Indian political system like a violin, making allegations of corruption designed to tie the Boeing deal in judicial reviews and political infighting for years to come
Posted by: john ||
05/05/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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#12
He is probably pissed off at this as well
Sub deal: Germans, Russians plan to torpedo French bid
NEW DELHI, India, April 15 -- To trump French firm DCN, German and Russian arms firms have decided to mount a co-ordinated late bid for the Indian order for six attack submarines.
The defence ministry has already recommended the acquisition of six French-developed Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy after negotiations with DCN. An investment decision is now pending with the cabinet committee on security.
With an estimated price tag of $4.3 billion, this was billed as India's biggest-ever defence deal. It now also promises to be the most bitterly contested one.
Flaunting a recent order by a Delhi court exonerating it in a corruption case, the German HDW now intends to make a formal bid for its Type 214 submarine. ''We could present a proposal to the government within four-to-six weeks,'' HDW's chief operations officer Walter Freitag told HT. He acknowledged that hectic efforts were being made by the German government ''at all political levels''. The Germans claim that India is buying an overpriced submarine in the Scorpene. HDW is prepared to pull down the price by ''25 to 30 per cent'' in order to enter the contest at this stage.
The most significant part of the German strategy is to rope in the Russians. HDW is prepared to let Russians offer their weapons, radars and electronic suites to go along with its submarines. Russia is still the biggest arms supplier to India and pulls considerable weight.
On whether the Germans would make a joint bid with the Russians, an HDW official said, ''Weapon systems like the (Russian) Klub cruise missiles are compatible with our Type 214 submarine. There is a potential for partnership.''
Posted by: john ||
05/05/2005 20:45 Comments ||
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Swat raids on a poker club? Are you guys kidding me?
Several Palmer Lake residents say Tuesday night's gambling bust at Guadala Jarra restaurant was poorly handled and unnecessary.
Restaurant owner Jeff Hulsmann faces felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly hosting gambling activity in a licensed liquor establishment and on suspicion of professional gambling, has hired an attorney. He maintains his innocence.
Town board member Trish Flake, who was served a misdemeanor summons for suspicion of professional gambling, said none of the 24 people arrested during the police raid thought they were engaged in illegal activity. They were among 81 members of a poker club playing at the restaurant that night.
"It was broad daylight right by the front door," she said. "I think what hasn't been reported is the aggressiveness of it. They came in with guns drawn, lasers trained on people's heads. They swarmed in screaming, 'Put your hands over your face and don't move.' I don't think I've ever been that frightened in my life."
Soon-to-be-ex Palmer Lake Police Chief Dale Smith defended the tactics: "It's standard habit and practice for these kinds of situations."
Posted by: mojo ||
05/05/2005 10:44:54 AM ||
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Four young children in Indonesia are now confirmed to have polio, in the country's first outbreak in a decade. Officials said other suspected cases, all of which have been recorded in the same area of West Java province, were still being investigated. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Indonesia - which has generally good vaccination coverage - to step up its campaign. Officials have said they were confident they could prevent a major outbreak.
The WHO said on Thursday that two more infants were confirmed to have contracted the disease, after Indonesian authorities announced earlier this week that two other children were infected. Polio is a waterborne disease which usually infects young children by attacking the nervous system. It causes paralysis and muscular atrophy, and there is no cure. Polio vaccination rates across Indonesia as a whole stand at about 90%, but in western Java the rate has been around 55%. Authorities have now launched a drive to immunise five million children in the area.
DNA tests done on a viral sample from one of the infected children has determined that the polio arrived in Indonesia from Nigeria, via Saudi Arabia.
Experts suspect the strain could have been carried by migrant workers or pilgrims visiting Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia. The disease has all but disappeared in the developed world, but it is still endemic in Nigeria, a problem that was made worse in 2003 when Muslim clerics there spread rumours that the polio vaccine had been contaminated to make Muslims infertile.
Until the middle of last century, when a vaccine was discovered, polio was endemic across the globe, and the international campaign for universal vaccination has been one of the great successes in the fight against disease of recent years.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2005 10:24:25 AM ||
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#1
If she picked that up during the hadj, there may be a whoooole lotta people walking around with polio right about now.
#3
Indonesia has hundreds of islands whose isolated populations are still in the Stone Age, with little to no contact with the outside world. I can't imagine that the immunization numbers given in this article include such people, as their population numbers aren't even known -- in enough cases it isn't even known if a given island is actually populated.
#4
And to think, all this needlessly started in Nigeria, where those phuquing Muslim clerics were spreading their despicable claims about polio vaccination being nothing more than surreptitious sterilization at the hands of the evil United States.
Too bad those damned clerics responsible couldn't be lined up and shot. They deserve it.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/05/2005 15:44 Comments ||
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#3
Don't hold you breath guy like Chavez always do major damage before they end up hanging from a lamp post. Bringing in Cuban enforcers doesn't bode well.
#4
but it should make the venezuelan people realize that Chavez has Cuban stormtroopers keeping him in power...kinda like the Iranian mullahs import Paleos to do their dirty work
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2005 20:37 Comments ||
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Russia has denied it illegally annexed the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 1940. It has also rejected demands to admit illegally occupying the three countries at the end of World War II. A Kremlin spokesman said Soviet troops were deployed with the agreement of the Baltic governments of the time.
"Yeah, we wuz invited, see! We wuz guests, so knock it off!"
Correspondents say the annexation issue has provoked a major diplomatic row as Russia prepares to host celebrations to mark the end of World War II in Europe. Soviet authority was established in the Baltics in 1940. German forces then held the states from 1941 until the Soviet army returned in 1945.
"We're back!"
Russia has made defiant remarks on the issue of the occupation. "There was no occupation. There were agreements at the time with the legitimately elected authorities in the Baltic countries," the Kremlin's European affairs chief Sergei Yastrzhembsky said on Thursday.
"And we ought to know, we elected them!"
The EU - which now includes the three Baltic republics - and the US want Moscow to recognise that the Red Army occupied large parts of Eastern Europe after the retreat of the Nazis at the end of World War II. European Commission Vice-President Guenter Verheugen urged Moscow earlier this week to admit the illegality of Soviet rule in the Baltics. US President George Bush said in a TV interview to be broadcast on Thursday that he would remind Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Soviet occupation of the Baltics when they met in Moscow next week for VE Day celebrations. The heads of two of the three Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania, are boycotting the events in Moscow, but Latvian leaders have said they will attend. On Wednesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov suggested the defeat of Hitler far outweighed the USSR's long occupation of Eastern Europe after World War II.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2005 12:40:02 PM ||
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Yes Russia was wrong, but is this a good time to push them into the corner over this?
#2
Possibly not. OTOH, Putin is busy selling advanced weaponry to Syria and others near our troops and Israel, so a little reminder to our Eastern (and Western) Europe re: the Bear's true nature is timely.
Posted by: too true ||
05/05/2005 15:36 Comments ||
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May 5, 2005: Reports that the Chinese were working on the ex-Russian aircraft carrier Varyag elicited some interest in the Pentagon. The people responsible for keeping an eye on such things, ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) reacted with a big yawn. ONI is not terribly concerned with the Varyag, and believe that recent photos show nothing going on. ONI also likes to point out that Varyag is tied up at a disused container loading pier at Dalian, which ONI does not consider a naval base.
Going back to our Chinese sources, we were informed that the Varyag is under military guard at that pier, and that the guards will only say the ship "is under conversion for a military purpose." It's not known if ONI sent anyone to have a chat with the guards. Those observers also noted that the pier Varyag was tied up at did not contain any heavy construction equipment (cranes). But there was activity on the Varyag itself, which even ONI noted. Trucks were taking stuff in, and out. Much of the ship shows signs of deterioration, but other parts have a fresh coat of paint. And people have seen electronic gear being taken aboard. Something's going on with the Varyag. Maybe they're using it to make a movie? Or doing mockups of new layouts for Chinese carrier designs?
The Chinese may simply be carefully examining how the Varyag was put together. The Russians put a lot of time and effort into the design of that class of ships, wisdom the Chinese could use in building their own carrier. Or maybe the ship is being fitted out as some kind of troop/equipment transport. Whatever is going on, it's not being scrapped.
More info on the Varyag here, apparently she never had her engines installed. Or, since it's a old Russian ship, "he" never had "his" engines.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2005 11:23:13 AM ||
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Construction of the Varyag started in December 1985 at Nikolayev, and the ship was launched in November 1988. The Varyag was intended to be the second ship of the class, but in late 1991 the Defense Ministry halted financing, and construction work was halted in January 1992. In 1994 Russia declined to resume the Varyag's construction, which was 70 percent complete. The total estimated cost of the ship was about US$ 2.4 billion, and more than US $500 million was needed to complete her construction. Further complicating matters was the fact that many of the ship's equipment systems reached their planned operational life limits by the end of 1997. The government of Ukraine decided in June 1994 to scrap the vessel, after unsuccessful attempts to sell it of Russia, China or India.
Ukraine began trying to sell the ship, and talks with Chinese and British companies were held in 1995. However, it was hard to find a customer. The sale of Varyag for US$20 million was announced on 17 March 1998 for conversion to an entertainment complex and casino. The Chinese company -- Agencia Turistica e Diversoes Chong Lot Limitada, a small company registered in Macau -- agreed that the ship would not be used for military purposes, which reflected the fact that much of its equipment had either never been installed or had been already been removed.
However, since July 2000 Turkey rejected repeated requests to let the Varyag pass through Istanbul's crowded Bosphorus strait. The coastguard was on alert, citizens were told, lest it try to ''slip through''. For Varyag to pass with escort tugs, the strait separating Asia and Europe might have to be closed to other traffic. In early December 2000 Turkey barred the Varyag from passing through the Bosphorus straits, saying its passage would breach the 1936 Montreux Convention, which regulates use of the waterway. As of early 2001 the Varyag was off the coast of Bulgaria, under tow by a tug manned by a Chinese crew. It remained anchored in the Black Sea for months awaiting a go-ahead. Turkey allowed the Varyag to pass through the Bosphorus in October 2001, after China pledged to pay for any damages that might result. The Varyag reached the Chinese port of Dalian in February 2001 for a refit into a floating casino and hotel, before being towed to Macau.
New Zealanders will pay an extra NZ$2.90 (£1.11) a week for electricity, petrol and gas when the country becomes the first in the world to introduce a carbon tax to address global warming.
It is expected to add about 6% to household energy prices and 9% for most businesses but will help the economy in the long run, according to Pete Hodgson, the minister responsible for climate change policy.
'cause raising taxes always helps the economy, ya know. Paul Krugman says so, you can look him up.
Mr Hodgson set the tax yesterday at NZ$11 a metric tonne of carbon emitted. It will come into effect in two years. "If we are going to tackle climate change, we need to start taking environmental costs into account in the economic choices we make," he said.
The tax, planned after New Zealand signed up to the Kyoto protocol, would make polluting energy sources like coal and oil more expensive than cleaner ones like hydro, wind and solar, he added. The experiment will be watched closely by bigger countries who are also committed to reducing carbon emissions but are failing to reduce energy demand.
They aren't going to look closely; they're going to plough ahead and make the same mistakes.
The government estimates the tax will raise about NZ$360m a year but has said it will not increase revenues. "It will be balanced by other tax changes so there is no net increase in government revenue", a government spokesman said yesterday.
The most energy-intensive businesses will be exempted so they are not forced to shut or relocate. In return companies such as Comalco, which uses 15% of the country's power, and Carter Holt Harvey Ltd, the country's biggest saw mill, must commit to reducing carbon emissions.
So they're just getting bully-ragged. Bet they feel special.
New Zealand, which produces about 29% of its electricity from gas or coal-fired power stations, has a record of introducing the idea of green taxes but then dropping them. In 2003 the government planned to impose a methane tax on farmers because flatulence of cows and sheep was responsible for more than half of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions. But that was abandoned after criticism from angry farmers, who labelled it a "fart tax".
Reaction to the carbon tax was mixed yesterday. "It's good to see there are no surprises," said Tom Campbell, the managing director of Comalco's aluminum smelting operations.
A government spokesman said the tax would have long term benefits for the economy: "If New Zealand does nothing ... our emissions will continue to rise as will the future cost of reducing them.
Or maybe the cost of reducing them could go down as technology improves, or you could decide that it makes no sense to do in the first place.
"If we can curb our growth in greenhouse gas emissions now, we will be better placed to make a smooth transition to more challenging commitments after 2012."
"When Kyoto really requires us to tank our economy.
Other countries, especially in Europe, have energy taxes which are weighted against producers but New Zealand is believed to be the first to ask the public to pay directly for the costs of reducing global warming. Proposals for a Europe-wide carbon tax were abandoned in the 1990s.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2005 12:08:01 AM ||
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I'll bet Maurice Strong is laughing his bloody ass off... prolly the only thing we have in common.
#4
There is no ''money from the tax to reduce global warming'': ''It will be balanced by other tax changes so there is no net increase in government revenue''.
This is a neat little trick that punishes consumption but does not otherwise address the ''problem''. The lawmakers get a neat and tidy ''solution'' that makes them look proactive without having to get into gritty technical details. And the exempted companies have more reason than ever to drag their feet.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/05/2005 9:12 Comments ||
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What they should be doing is taxing all the sheep farts, for crying out loud. Didn't Dixie Lee Ray once assert that the hole in the ozone layer at the South pole was caused by too many damn sheep in NZ emitting methane in their flatulance?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/05/2005 9:24 Comments ||
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#6
Compare the $11/tonne carbon tax with the $8/ton ($9/tonne) cost of Powder River Basin coal, the cheapest US coal. Nice to know that if implemented in the US, it would double many an electric power plants fuel costs.
Posted by: ed ||
05/05/2005 10:45 Comments ||
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#7
So they tax carbon, now where does the revenue go? NZ's electric power is largely generated by hydro. The aluminium producers won't be affected because they get their power from hydro. Did the bureaucrats ever think of tax incentives for ''green'' power? Or something besides a tax?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2005 11:20 Comments ||
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#8
That was NZ$11/tonne or US$8.40/tonne, still doubling the cost of coal in my example.
Posted by: ed ||
05/05/2005 11:50 Comments ||
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#9
Mmm! A domestic carbon tax is really not a big deal. In NZ its effectively a tax on imported oil. Of far more significance is Kyoto 'carbon credits', a true tranzi tax, where developed countries have to pay 'developing' countries a tax to consume even domestically produced oil/gas/coal.
#11
1. I doubt this will sink the NZ economy
2. Its a market solution - the cost of emitting carbon goes up, and the MARKET chooses the alternative - in some cases alternative energy sources, in some cases less energy consumption, in some cases the market will decide its not worth changing to avoid the tax.
3. Its revenue neutral so some other tax goes down - since all other taxes have distortive effects on the economy that is an added bonus. Think about it - income tax is a tax on work and productivity - something wed like MORE of. C02 in the atmosphere is something we want LESS of. Better to tax what we want less of, and reduce taxes on what we want MORE of.
4. Of course if you think that more C02 in the atmosphere is a neutral thing, or even a positive good than this makes no sense. But thats a scientific argument, not an economic argument.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/05/2005 21:05 Comments ||
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They have a lot of tree farms in NZ, Mrs. Davis. They used to have a bunch of kauri trees on the N island. Great hardwood, slow grower. I saw pics in a pub of them logging 8-ft dia ones out of the forest. Link here on kauri trees.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2005 21:11 Comments ||
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#14
sounds like a Han Solo tie-in for the Star Wars opening...
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2005 21:22 Comments ||
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President Bush told Lithuanian TV that Belarus is the "last remaining dictatorship in Europe" and that the United States will work with countries in the region to ensure that the next elections there are free. The former Soviet republic is run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. "One of the roles the United States can play is to speak fairly about the need for Belarus to be free ... and make sure that the elections are free," Bush said in an interview broadcast Thursday and recorded the previous day in Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2005 1:30:46 PM ||
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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Wednesday criticized Turkey for a string of deficiencies in its democracy, urging the country to correct them if it wants to join the European Union. "Mistreatment by security forces, limits on freedom of expression and discrimination against women are incompatible with our common values," Schroeder said at a speech at Marmara University here after official talks in Ankara.
The German leader also spoke of the "necessity of reform" in religious freedoms, specifically mentioning a meeting earlier in the day with the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Turkey is under pressure to remove legal obstacles for non-Muslim religious foundations to fully exercise their property rights and to reopen a Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul closed more than 30 years ago. Schroeder, who was receiving an honorary doctorate from the university, called on Ankara to address problem areas before it begins accession talks with the European bloc on October 3 and urged it to swiftly implement reforms it has already adopted to achieve European norms.
Turkey "should not diminish its efforts," he said, adding: "Turkey has achieved many reforms so far but there is still much to do." Earlier Wednesday, Schroeder told reporters after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the EU is determined to open accession talks with Turkey on time.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Schroeder is just unhappy that Turkey got a free pass on the Armenian genocide and Germany didn't gat a pass on it's genocide, plus all those turks that won't assimilate might be a problem too.
#4
Well, if you want to see how the EU and Turkey interact, then you have to watch the Champtions League championship from Istanbul on the 25th of May (I believe). It will have the Reds of Liverpool against the Whites of AC Milan. The last time Liverpool played in a CLC was exactly 20 years ago in Belgium at Heysel stadium where 39 people were killed in a tragic accident. 38 were Italians (from Juventas of Turin) and 1 was a local Belgian. The soccer world has changed for the better since then but Istanbul football fans are notorious for taunting and using pyrotechnics (as are the Italians). This should be a good indication of were EU and Turkey really lie in maturity toward each other.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/05/2005 9:33 Comments ||
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...The Los Angeles Times chimed in with an editorial criticizing the governor for these and other remarks. The newspaper also chided him for failing to see the "humor" in a billboard advertising a Spanish-language newscast.
The billboard, which has since been removed, showed the Angel of Independence, a well-known monument in Mexico City, in the center of the L.A. skyline, with "CA" crossed out after "Los Angeles" and the word "Mexico" in bold red letters put in its place (see photo above)....
--SNIP--
...The fact is that many Hispanic activists, Mexican citizens and perhaps even members of the Mexican government refuse to accept the legality of our 1845 annexation of Texas, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican-American War, or the 1852 Gadsden Purchase.
One of these activists is Charles Trujillo, a professor at the University of New Mexico. He predicts a new, sovereign Hispanic nation within this century encompassing much of the American southwest and part of northern Mexico. States have the right to secede under our original Articles of Confederation, he contends, and this will be accomplished by the electoral pressure of future majority Hispanic populations in these states....
--SNIP--
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
05/05/2005 11:47:45 AM ||
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#2
If the good Dr. Trujillo were a professor of history instead of Chicano/Hispano Studies, he might be aware that the issue of seccession was settled rather decisively in 1865, just as the ownership of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California had been definitively determined earlier. Although he has selective grasp of world history, he seems to have some interesting hisotrical perspectives based on some of his videos for sale by the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico: ''Crypto Jews in the New World,'' by Dr. Charles Trujillo. ... âHistory and Roll of the Catholic Church in New Mexicoâ by Dr. Charles Trujillo
The parents and taxpayers of New Mexico should ask for a refund.
#8
States have the right to secede under our original Articles of Confederation, he contends
He is aware these were replaced, right?
(To paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke, the Mexicans are eternally pissed that the US stole the part of Mexico with the good roads, power plants, clean drinking water, sewage treatment, and hospitals.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2005 14:25 Comments ||
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#9
this will be accomplished by the electoral pressure of future majority Hispanic populations in these states....
It's rather amazing how few people will ever point this out for the racist garbage that it is...
#11
It's time for a US Emigration policy, starting with Señor Trujillo.
Posted by: ed ||
05/05/2005 14:45 Comments ||
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#12
Even if he manages to somehow get the Southern US states to join his fantasy land, how does he think he's gonna steal the chunks of Northern Mexico? Does he really think that the Southern US States will come with the national guard and US Army attached?
This guy is delusional on so many levels.
If chunks of the US returned to Mexico they'd be as bad as the Mexican states in a decade or less. A much better solution is the reverse, we turned chunks of Mexico into some of the most prosperous states in the Union. Invasion may be the only civilized answer!
#13
I'd be curious at the reaction they'd get if an English Language station in Tijuana put up a sign saying Tijuana USA. I'm thinking the station would be burned down, if not harrassed by the Mexican government until it went bankrupt.
#15
I agree. There's an infinitely better chance of the US eventually bordering on Guatemala than Mexico or whatever fantasy state this guy has in mind bordering on Colorado.
The Canadian Navy has found that no-one could have foreseen a fatal fire on a former UK Royal Navy submarine.
But the naval board found human factors were a link "in the chain" and called for better training and tougher rules.
Lt Chris Saunders, 32, died when an electrical fire hit HMCS Chicoutimi three days after it left Scotland.
The inquiry said the fire was caused by water hitting high-voltage cables. Two of the sub's conning tower hatches were open, contributing to the flooding.
Canadian submarines are not normally permitted to travel on the surface with both hatches open.
The inquiry said Chicoutimi's commander Luc Pelletier had allowed both hatches to be opened to allow repairs to be made to the conning tower.
The former British submarine was travelling in rough seas off the coast of Ireland when it was hit by a large wave, the inquiry said.
The board's final report said the resulting water flooding contributed to the fire.
A memorial service was held in Scotland for Lt Saunders, a married father of two.
"Nevertheless there is neither evidence nor inference that anyone could have or should have predicted that a water-ingress would result in a serious fire," it said... I am not a naval person. However, when I read the newspaper accounts of the purchase of this submarine and the utter arrogance of the Canadians in wanting to sail it with a green crew into deep water before critical repairs had been undertaken, let us say that my "spider sense was tingling."
KETCHIKAN — Greenpeace made a "business decision" to ignore a state agency's order for its ship to remain anchored until marine fuel spill laws were followed, a prosecutor said Tuesday. "We've got a schedule to keep here in Southeast Alaska. Gov'ment regs only apply to oil companies, not to us Stewards of the Environment"
The environmental group, the captain of a ship it leased and the ship's agent are charged with misdemeanor criminal counts of operating a vessel without a spill contingency plan or proof of financial responsibility in case of a spill, as required by state law. State law applies to everyone, including Environmental Weenies.
Greenpeace, Capt. Arne Sornenson and ship agent Willem Beekman have pleaded innocent to operating the nearly 1,000-ton motor yacht Arctic Sunrise without the plan and proof of financial responsibility. "We're innocent of all charges, Judge. We're Teflon. Pure and clean and nothing sticks to us."
In his opening statement, the Ketchikan Daily News reported, prosecutor James Fayette said the ship, which carries up to 75,000 gallons of petroleum products, was not about to remain anchored in Ketchikan just because the Department of Environmental Conservation demanded that it stay until its regulatory paperwork was in order. "Damn the paperwork, full speed ahead!"
There were publicity events awaiting the ship's arrival and important reporters to host onboard, Fayette said. "We've got places to go and people to see.
"This is publicity," he said. "It was going to motor around Southeast Alaska for publicity."
Fayette told the jury that publicity is the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization's fund-raising efforts. Greenpeace had scheduled an event near Long Island and intended to get there on time, said Fayette. "Get them diesels humming, Captain, we have a schedule to keep. And don't get up in a lather about the rocks in the channels. Remember, P-U-B-L-I-C-I-T-Y."
"They made a business decision to stay on schedule," he said.
Greenpeace and Beekman knew about the state laws when the Greenpeace ship Esperanza came to Alaska for similar purposes in 2003, said Fayette. That ship's papers were in order.
The regulatory agency attempted to help the Arctic Sunrise comply in 2004 by connecting Beekman with contractors and regulators who could help and by supplying necessary documents. "Try these people, they will help you to comply. Remember, you do have to comply. Don't forget, now."
Sorenson's attorney, James Gilmore, said it's not a crime to operate a non-tank vessel in Alaska without the contingency and financial plans.
"It's a violation of the law, but it's not a crime unless it's done with criminal negligence," he said. Willfully disregard the regulations and it can become a criminal matter.
He told the jury that to convict the defendants, the jury must find their behavior to be a "gross deviation from the standard of care" that a reasonable person would exercise in a similar situation. Reasonable people would bitch and moan, but in the end they would comply.
Gilmore said Sorenson was employed by Stichting Marine Services, a company that provides crews that operate ships. Skippers such as Sorenson rely on Stichting to arrange the legal documentation for the ships their crews operate, he said. "It's not my fault that the Skipper was a scofflaw," sez Greenpeace's lip.
Greenpeace Inc. attorney Sidney Billingslea told the jury that Greenpeace was the wrong "person" to charge. Corporations are treated as persons under the law, said Billingslea. Nice try, Wormtongue.
"What you will learn is that shipping companies are companies within companies within companies," Billingslea said. Plots within plots, a sea of nested parentheses. Oh, I'm getting a migraine!
She traced the ownership of the Arctic Sunrise through the various companies listed on the cover sheet of the state's criminal complaint. One company, Stichting Phoenix, owned the vessel directly, she said. Another, Stichting Marine Services, paid to charter the vessel. Stichting Marine Services turned the vessel over to Greenpeace International of Amsterdam, which allowed Greenpeace Inc., an American nonprofit corporation, to use the ship.
Greenpeace International owns the logo that was painted in large letters across the Arctic Sunrise hull, said Billingslea. Greenpeace Inc. had permission to use that logo and the ship in its forest campaign, she said. Big signature, Greenpeace. Will cause you trouble.
"Greenpeace had the good fortune, which turned into its bad fortune, to ride on this vessel in Southeast Alaska last year," Billingslea said. Well, Greenpeace, sh*t happens, and you stepped in it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
We didn't do it.
But if we did do it, it was because of someone else.
But if you find it wasn't someone else, then it wasn't illegal.
#3
Greenpeace had scheduled an event near Long Island Takes an awful lot of diesel to motor from Alaska to New York - must be 8,000 miles via the Panama Canal. Nice to hear Greenpeace is doing its bit to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.
#8
You got it RC! The same irony can be found in the operations of alot of these self-appointed angels and protectors of something or another. They tend to do alot toward destroying and defiling what they claim to love. It's lost upon those leading these groups because their capacity for self-delusion is legendary. Even in the face of the obvious, they cling to the lies and myths they create because they can't deal with the hole in their lives left when those lies and myths are gone. Greenpeace just happen to be enjoying their 15 minutes of infamy right now since they've been pulled out of the sewer and held up to the sun.
#9
In his opening statement, the Ketchikan Daily News reported, prosecutor James Fayette said the ship, which carries up to 75,000 gallons of petroleum products, was not about to remain anchored in Ketchikan just because the Department of Environmental Conservation demanded that it stay until its regulatory paperwork was in order.
Wha? You mean Greenpeace's ship was not only NOT solar/wind powered, but that they were carrying 75,000 gallons of that hated oil? I'm dumbfounded, I tell ya! There's gotta be a Greenpeace-Halliburton connection here!
He told the jury that to convict the defendants, the jury must find their behavior to be a ''gross deviation from the standard of care'' that a reasonable person would exercise in a similar situation.
Actually, I would argue the greenies have MORE of a duty to comply. Ya know, the whole ''some are more equal than others'' argument turned and it's head and bite 'em in the arse!
Posted by: BA ||
05/05/2005 9:55 Comments ||
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#10
Confiscate the ship as reparations to the state.
#11
I will keep Rantburgers up on the developments of the trial this week in Ketchikan, if nothing else, a source of innocent merriment. I hope that the State can stick it to Greenpeace and expose their hypocracy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2005 10:45 Comments ||
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#12
They should be sentenced to ten years in a galley: the true envirionmentally friendly ship.
#1
So the reduced majority is because of Blair's support of the war. But the one party who fully opposed the war won only 2 seats. And the Conservatives, who support it pretty fully, picked up seats.
Those zany analysts!
Posted by: Chris Smith ||
05/05/2005 19:52 Comments ||
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The wealthy countries of the G-8 need to mount a Manhattan Project-style program to expand global influenza vaccine production in order to avert massive economic losses and political instability when the next pandemic hits, the author of a commentary in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine says.
Countries like the United States and Canada cannot afford to focus only on protecting the health of their own citizens, given a flu pandemic's enormous potential to claim lives, drain the global economy and trigger panic and chaos around the globe, argued author Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading infectious disease and bioterrorism expert. "(Pandemic) influenza has the ability to literally bring this world to a screeching halt," Osterholm said Wednesday in an interview from Minneapolis, where he is director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
"Anyone who's handling this at just a country level is missing . . . the point that even if you can vaccinate your population, the collateral damage of a world in pandemic state will be so significant that they still will have tremendous, tremendous disruption and loss." Influenza experts insist sporadic pandemics are biological certainties, triggered when a strain to which humans have no immunity arises from nature to sweep the globe.
Science currently has no way of predicting when a pandemic will occur or which strain will cause the next one. However, many flu experts fear the H5N1 strain rampaging through Asia may be poised to ignite the first pandemic of the 21st century. Spurred by this fear, a number of developed countries have drafted pandemic response plans with provisions to make special vaccines and stockpile antiviral drugs that experts hope will reduce the number of fatalities in a pandemic.
But these measures are costly and out of the reach of most countries around the globe. Canada's Health Minister, Ujjal Dosanjh, proposed an international meeting of about 15 leading developed and developing countries to address global pandemic preparedness needs when he met with U.S. No mention of the UN. They are clearly interested in getting things done. Health Secretary Mike Leavitt in March. But those plans are currently on hold because of the Liberal government's precarious hold on power. "These are all issues sort of up in the air as a result of the current environment in Ottawa," Dosanjh admitted Wednesday.
Osterholm's commentary, commissioned by the prestigious journal, calls for a massive, multinational initiative to modernize and vastly expand global flu vaccine production capacity, which currently can only produce about 330 million flu shots a year. Thats less than 5% of the worlds population.
"This has to be a G-8 priority. And they have to do it for the rest of the world for their own security," he insisted. "The kind of chaos and disorder that can occur with a disease that causes this kind of impact could easily be the tipping point for the instability of a number of governments around the world, particularly as their economies implode." I've speculated before on the places that will ride out the chaos relatively unaffected if an epidemic starts to kill millions. Its a short list. The USA is at risk becuase of its dependence on imported energy and insecure borders. Otherwise the article ignores the moot issue of whether the vaccine can be produced quickly enough. More at the link.
Posted by: phil_b ||
05/05/2005 1:07:51 AM ||
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#1
This article belies a basic ignorance of the properties of the virus, how it mutates, and how it is propagated. First of all, vaccine only works on a given strain, one slight change and your vaccine is useless. Second, vaccine cannot be produced instantly, it has to *grow* at a given pace. Third, it can only be distributed and delivered at a given pace: getting the needle into the person is very hard and time consuming. Fourth, the vaccine is only at best effective for 2-3 months, less for people with weak immune systems, so secondary 'waves' of a flu that lasts six to nine months get many people previously innoculated. Fifth, the influenza varies unpredictably in its target population; it might hit healthy young men more than infants or the elderly.
#2
The Moose is right. I think the chances of producing enough vaccine quickly enough to have any material effect outside the developed countries is close to zero. Antiviral agents like Tamiflu are a much better option since they are effective with all strains.
#3
To be absolutely heartless about this, the countries that will be ravaged by the semi-pandemic will be those least involved in the world economy, just as those currently ravaged by AIDs, etc are. It quite breaks my heart to even acknowlege this fact, and I hope that the pandemic predictions will continue to be as accurate as they have been since the 1970s, but I see no way around it. The G-8 countries simply cannot produce and store world-population amounts of vaccines for each candidate strain of influenza, not to mention all the other pathogens with potential for epidemic. Nor, in a pandemic situation, should we even send in medical teams to immunize such unprotected populations until the team members and all their contacts (including flight crews and airport staff at both ends of the flights) have been rendered safe, lest a team bring the pathogen home with them.
Sadly, the price paid by non-functioning societies will continue to be poverty, disease, and unnecessary death, avoided by the rulers for now, but unavoidable for even them should a pandemic occur.
#6
TW, I don't know where you got the notion of a semi-pandemic from, but I can assure you that once a virulent flu outbreak exceeds our capacity to control it then it will be a full blown pandemic. The only exceptions will be places that can exclude it at their borders. I am not confident that anywhere can do this but a few places have a chance, notably Australia.
#7
too true:
Two of my siblings, now in their 50s, both got polio in 1953. My sister got a very mild case and only had some damage to her diapragm, resulting in a paunchy look. My brother, however, nearly died. When it had run its course he was left with one thoroughly useless arm and other muscle damage in his upper body. Since reaching his fifties, he has shown some of the latent symptoms associated with childhood polio (extreme fatigue, weakness), and had to have a heart valve replaced.
And he is one of the lucky ones. Truly a horrible disease. I just don't get these anti-vaccine nutballs.
#8
teh responsibility of government-supported research is to advance national interests first, all other considerations should be secondary. Our history of caring for the rest of the world entitles us to say STFU until we've taken care of our own. We have always done our best to carry the world's ills on our back, and I'm sure as well here, but....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2005 11:30 Comments ||
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#9
These requirements are over and above the 7%, you know. It's all there in my plan, somewhere. We will let you know if when we require more.
#10
Sadly, the price paid by non-functioning societies will continue to be poverty, disease, and unnecessary death, avoided by the rulers for now, but unavoidable for even them should a pandemic occur.
Wonderfully stated trailingwife. Well put.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/05/2005 12:51 Comments ||
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#11
Xbalanke, my sympathies. I take care of a couple of folks with post-polio syndrome, and it's very difficult on them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2005 13:42 Comments ||
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FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- The next chief prosecutor for Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal made a renewed call Thursday for Liberia's ousted president to be handed over for trial, calling Charles Taylor a "monster of evil." Desmond de Silva, formerly a deputy prosecutor, was appointed Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to replace lead prosecutor David Crane, who said in February he wouldn't extend his contract beyond its July termination date, the court said in a statement.
De Silva, a 65-year-old Briton, took the occasion of his appointment to press a point high on prosecutors' agenda -- the handover of ex-Liberian President Taylor to the court to face charges of arming and supporting Sierra Leone's rebels. "I make a pledge to the people of Sierra Leone that I will strain every nerve and sinew to see that that monster of evil, Charles Taylor, is put in the dock," de Silva said.
Nigeria offered asylum in 2003 to Taylor, the highest-profile Sierra Leone war crimes suspect, to induce him to step down as president of Liberia amid a deadly siege of his capital, Monrovia, by Liberian rebels. One term of Taylor's exile agreement is that he won't be handed to the Sierra Leone court, provided he refrain from meddling in Liberian affairs. Officials at the court say they have evidence Taylor has continued playing a role in Liberian politics and is behind a January attempt to assassinate Guinea President Lansana Conte, a longtime Taylor foe. Nigeria says it will continue to host Taylor in a villa in the remote city of Calabar in the interests of regional peace -- a move hailed by many officials in a region long tormented by Taylor. Taylor tipped Liberia into war in 1989 and is accused of playing a central role in West Africa's interconnected conflicts.
De Silva's court is charged with trying those most responsible for abuses committed during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 war, which saw various groups fighting for control of the country's rich diamond fields. During the war, fighters -- mostly rebels -- hacked off civilians' limbs, lips and ears with machetes. Leaders from each of the war's three main factions -- rebels, ruling military junta forces and government-allied militia -- have been charged with war crimes. The court differs from other war crimes tribunals by holding trials inside the country where the abuses occurred and trying defendants under a mixture of local and international law. Nine war-crimes suspects are in the court's custody for trial.
Separately, a report published Thursday said war crimes prosecutors at the court should be a given a broader mandate. Prosecutors narrow interpretation of their tightly defined mandate "leaves a large impunity gap in Sierra Leone," according to a 55-page report by the University of California at Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center. But the report lauded the court for groundbreaking legal work aimed at criminalizing the recruitment of child soldiers and the practice of forced marriage -- a system of sexual slavery where fighters force females to become what's known locally as "bush wives." Court officials weren't immediately available to comment on the report.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2005 1:34:30 PM ||
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Islamist groups in Zanzibar are worried by what they see as increasingly inappropriate behavior by Western tourists, saying their actions offend the Indian Ocean islands' conservative Muslim culture. The organizations are also concerned about the spread of bars on the islands off mainland Tanzania, whose beaches and coral reefs make it a haven for honeymooners. "Tourists should not indulge in sex acts or kiss openly, this is not something that people can accept," Farid Hadi, chairman of the Zanzibar Imams Association (Jumaza), said on Wednesday. "Every society has norms to be respected. We want a law that stipulates that while tourists are accepted, there are standards that forbid wearing very short dresses in public. In Islam non-Muslims can pursue their ways provided that, when doing so, they keep to themselves in a segregated manner."
Abdallah Said Ali, Secretary of the Society for Islamic Awareness, (UAMSHO), says the courts tend to side with the tourist industry's argument that too strict an interpretation of laws controlling alcohol sales are bad for business. "When we tried to take legal action against one bar on those grounds we failed, and we were told we were trying to destroy the economy," he said. Tourism is the second biggest foreign exchange earner for Zanzibar, but is expected to increase in importance because of the collapse of the islands' clove export trade due to a fall in prices caused by global oversupply.
Seems to me I read somewhere that there are other islands with pretty beaches than Zanzibar.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2005 1:34:57 PM ||
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#1
Ah yes. Let us force our morals on the very people who we depend on for our livelyhood. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
Nearly two years after radical Islamic preachers told parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio for fear it was part of a U.S. plot against Muslims, the repercussions are still being felt: A Nigerian strain of the virus that causes the crippling disease has cropped up as far away as Indonesia. [snip]
In Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, many residents still refuse to have their children vaccinated, not just against polio but against other childhood diseases such as measles. "They said the vaccines will endanger our daughters. Now they think otherwise. I am yet to be convinced," said 37-year-old father of four Mustafa Balarabe. He said his children wouldn't be vaccinated, citing "the general Western plot against Muslims worldwide."
An imam in Kano, 50-year-old Ibrahim Abubakar, was unapologetic. "The boycott of the polio vaccine in Kano was necessary to fulfill the religious injunction, which tells us to find out about a thing when we have doubts," he said. "I do not agree that we exported polio to any country. If these countries were carrying out vaccinations ... they should not have had any cases"... Since 2003, the paralyzing, waterborne illness has spread from Nigeria to Sudan, where it has infected 149 people. Along with 10 other west and central African nations, it has also spread to Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, but vaccination campaigns have averted major outbreaks in those countries. The spread of the disease to Yemen last month, however, has been labeled by WHO as "a major epidemic," with 22 cases confirmed in a country that had previously been considered free of polio.
#1
after radical Islamic preachers told parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio for fear it was part of a U.S. plot against Muslims
Excellent, Agent 47. I see our plan to convince them that the safe vaccine was tainted has succeeded brilliantly. And it didn't cost a dime!
#2
The Mullah is correct. They did not export polio.
It is all a plot to sterilize muslim children and give them AIDS.
The kids who can't walk? They are not polio victims. Allah has willed that they be crippled.
Who needs Maths and Science?
99 percent probability ?
The Koran contains no statistics. Such knowledge is haram.
Genetic Sequencing by labs in Bombay and Atlanta?
Evil Hindu and Christian scientists are part of the plot!
After polio was initially confirmed by an Indonesian laboratory, the sample was sent to a global laboratory in Bombay for genetic sequencing and then on to another laboratory in Atlanta for further study. That work determined that the strain was not indigenous to Indonesia but had 99 percent probability of originating in Saudi Arabia, Rana said.
Posted by: john ||
05/05/2005 16:56 Comments ||
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A tiny oil company has snapped up leasing rights to a half-million acres in central Utah that it says could yield a billion barrels or more of oil. Geologists are calling it a spectacular find — the largest onshore discovery in at least 30 years, located in a region of complex geology long abandoned for exploration by major oil companies. It's turning out to contain high-quality oil already commanding a premium at Salt Lake refineries. With the secret out, industry players expect a bidding war to break out at the next Utah leasing auction, set for May 17 in Salt Lake City. "This is huge for the state of Utah," said Larry Nation of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. "The budget for the entire state of Oklahoma is virtually built on oil revenues. I could see that happening in Utah in the future."
At today's prices the oil reserve could bring Utah $5.6 billion in royalties, state auditors conservatively estimate. Although the discovery is still playing out, the oil will take years to recover, and some skeptics question the company's projections for a region yet to be fully surveyed. "It's just very highly unlikely because the U.S. onshore has been picked clean, if you will," said Fadel Gheit, senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. "That's like finding a wallet in the subway after all the cleaners went through it. It's possible, but very highly unlikely," he said. Gov. Jon Huntsman said he was aware of the discovery, "and we are tracking the progress with great interest. If the prospects prove to be true, it will be important that the resources are developed responsibly."
Nation said the discovery is "very real" and signals a new beginning for oil production in Utah. "We're talking about a very large oil deposit in Utah," Nation said. "It was a very big risk on their part, and it looks very very very promising."
That's what happens when the price of oil goes up, people take risks and look where no one else has.
The discovery is playing out just outside Sigurd, Sevier County, more than 100 miles from any of Utah's other major oil fields and 45 miles from the nearest operating well. The find, 130 miles south of Salt Lake City, was made by Wolverine Gas & Oil Corp., a privately held company with just 25 employees improbably located in Grand Rapids, Mich. Wolverine's test well hit "pay" in late 2003, and by May 2004 it started producing from a single deposit estimated to contain 100-200 million barrels of oil.
Wolverine and government geologists said the company is looking at a total of 25 deposits that could contain 1 billion barrels of oil. Those underground deposits are widely scattered over a crescent-shaped belt 100 miles long and up to 50 miles wide that contains all the geologic "right stuff" for oil pockets in folds of Jurassic Navajo sandstone, said Tom Chidsey, petroleum section chief for the Utah Geological Survey. If Wolverine could produce 1 billion barrels at once, it could satisfy the nation's demand for about 45 days — less than the reserve that Congress may open at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which by equally speculative estimates may contain 10 billion barrels of oil.
Chidsey said Wolverine's discovery could dwarf Utah's last major find, the still-producing Pineview field overlapping the Wyoming border. That field, tapped in 1975, has produced 31 million barrels and may contain another 100 million barrels, he said. Oil companies began exploring central Utah more than 50 years ago without success, even though it's part of an oil-producing belt thrust ranging from Mexico to Alaska. The complex geology of central Utah produced only dry wells — 58 of them in the past 25 years.
In 1999, Wolverine bought Chevron's leasing rights and seismic data and started poking around itself, bouncing seismic waves more than 5,000 feet deep. With just two wells operating at full capacity now, Wolverine is pumping 1,500 barrels of oil a day from the ground and trucking it to Salt Lake refineries.
"The secret's out and we will face competition" at the next BLM auction, said Doug Strickland, a geologist for Wolverine. "We had a year and three months to ourselves." The BLM will auction 300,000 acres throughout Utah. Acres that Wolverine once picked up for $10 are now being valued at $1,200 in central Utah. Leasing rights are good for five years and as long as a well is producing.
Oil companies pay 12.5 percent of the value of oil taken from federal lands — and half of that comes back to Utah, which shares some of it with local governments, said Steve Schneider, audit manager for the Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2005 10:57:16 AM ||
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#1
And Houston's sitting a lot of natural gas.
Oil above US, below US, off both coasts, in the Gulf and in IL.
#3
Any word on whether there will be any increase in refinery capacity in the near future? Am I right in understanding that to be the primary bottleneck in supply to the gas pump?
#4
They're whale watching platforms, not oil production platforms.
Posted by: Navel Gazer Tours, a Subsidiary of Conoco ||
05/05/2005 11:55 Comments ||
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#5
ExMo - That is correct - and one reason why no one can do much to actually increase supply. The Saudis can pump a little more crude, but there is little or no spare refining capacity in the world, and none in the US. Demand exceeds refining capacity... and refinery construction is a 10-15 yr cycle. 20 if you do the full range of petrochemicals. I have heard that if you use a cookie-cutter approach, you can shave about 2-3 yrs off that in planning and development time, but then you are likely wasting some of the product range for a given grade. Each crude has an ideal refining process that yields the max amts of the range of products based upon the different levels of components, i.e. sulfur, etc.
#6
It's turning out to contain high-quality oil already commanding a premium at Salt Lake refineries.
Question for our RB'ers with experience in the industry: do we currently import a lot of the grade/type oil being refined at Salt Lake refineries?
And if so, what would be involved in modifying or using other refineries for this high grade crude?
Posted by: too true ||
05/05/2005 12:12 Comments ||
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#7
what would be involved in modifying or using other refineries for this high grade crude? There isn't enough oil to make this a relevant question. Even if they were producing 10 times the 1.5k bpd they are currently producing it still wouldn't exceed what a medium sized refinery could process.
#8
What about the first question - i.e. can this substitute for some oil we're importing, given the existing refinery configurations?
Posted by: too true ||
05/05/2005 12:27 Comments ||
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#9
I've mainly modeled this stuff on puters, not turned wrenches or planned it, but here's what I think is the situation...
The article doesn't give enough specifics, though it almost implies something akin to the light sweet grade Libya is known for. Very very low sulfer content, reducing refining / cracking steps and thus reducing the power inputs req'd - a non-trivial cost in refining.
You are not specifying what product mix you want. Gasoline, kerosene, etc. Maximizing one product type will, of course, lessen the other product types you get per barrel - but it's not necessarily a one-for-one thing. Deciding to work toward getting 10% more gasoline from a particular crude, at the expense of, say, kerosene, may reduce the kerosene amt by more than 10%. So you have to calculate your best mix: least steps, least energy expended, etc. for max profit.
As I said, every single crude in the world has an ideal refining process - custom to that variety of crude because they're all unique in component levels. Best mix is the goal. Normally you customize the refinery to match the crude type and grade for best product mix. Existing refineries can bypass sections which perform additional cracking steps if the crude is low in impurities - but that doesn't increase the output, just puts section of a refinery capable of refining the nastier grades out of the loop - idle.
#10
I don't see how this find will help, anyway. I am positive that it's right in the fragile ecosystem of some endangered species.
If it isn't, someone will plant the evidence (like the lynx hairs).
Green lawsuit to stop all drilling 5..3..2..(4)..1..
#11
Okay, so if this is a light sweet crude it could in theory at least substitute for imported crude at some number of refineries.
Then if you're running a linear optimization you can modify it to note the difference in $/bbl between the two crudes and pick the refinery whose setup will yield the best mix of products given the characteristics of this new source.
Is that about it .com?
Posted by: too true ||
05/05/2005 12:35 Comments ||
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#12
Spot on, as I understand how they plan 'em, tt.
#13
Damn, hit submit too fats. I meant to add that almost any refinery can handle the good sweet crudes, only the monsters can handle the nsaty stuff. Indeed, there could be a shuffling of who refines what to maximize on a national level - but keep in mind it's private enterprise and there are standing contracts and commitments throughout the process, from crude suppliers to gasoline, heating oil, etc. retailers. You can't just rearrange everything to fit your agenda. You'd never get out of court unless you're the Pres & Congress declaring a National Emergency.
#15
Maximizing one product type will, of course, lessen the other product types you get per barrel - but it's not necessarily a one-for-one thing. Deciding to work toward getting 10% more gasoline from a particular crude, at the expense of, say, kerosene, may reduce the kerosene amt by more than 10%.
#16
The issue of refining capacity is a mixed bag. There must be major backlogs, tank farms full waiting their turn, at the mega-refinieries that can handle the sour stuff. There is probably some light-medium grade refining capacity to spare. We had some pretty good grades of native crude (e.g. West Texas Intermediate was, indeed, a medium -to- light medium grade), so the first refineries were simple smaller affaris.
As we began importing crude, while we were still building refineries, we geared up for the nastier stuff coming from Venezuela (which I understand is actually a poort grade), Africa, etc. After West Texas ran dry, I'd wager that some refineries, at great expense, were redesigned to handle the heavy stuff.
Likely there is some spare in lighter grades, and a backlog in heavier grades.
#17
--Any word on whether there will be any increase in refinery capacity in the near future? Am I right in understanding that to be the primary bottleneck in supply to the gas pump?--
Of course, not requiring 95 different summer blends would also help.
GM and Ford might have some property available. Cheap.
GUJRANWALA: Four people including a passer-by were shot dead over an old enmity on Delta Road on Wednesday. According to police, Chaudhry Pervez Virk, a resident of Mauza Phidkee, with gunmen Waris Masih and Arshad Chattha, was returning home in a car after appearing in a local court. When they reached near Kothi Barkat Ram on Delta Road, their rivals from the Haji Akhtar group opened fire, killing Pervez, Waris and Arshad instantly. A donkey-cart driver, Muhammad Boota, a resident of Fareed Town, and a 12-year-old student Owais were injured. Boota later died at Civil Hospital while Owais was reportedly in critical condition. Satellite Town Station House Officer Imran Abbas told Daily Times that two alleged killers had been arrested and that the police had impounded a rickshaw in which the attackers fled.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2005 00:00:00 ||
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TANDO MUHAMMAD KHAN: A ten-year-old girl was forced into marrying a 50-year-old man in the village of Kheru Bozdar on Wednesday.
But she's got the body of an 8-year-old...
The 10-year old girl, Surhi, was married off by her brother who according to sources received a large amount of money from 50-year-old Mubarak Bozdar for his sister's hand in marriage.
"How much for the little girl?"
Surhi resisted the marriage at the time of Nikah. A few years earlier, an eight-year old girl was married to a 70-year old man in same area, however, area notables postponed the Rukhsati till the girl reached the age of 18.
... at which point the guy was 80 and he was the one titzup on their wedding night.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Religion of Peace or Religion of Pedophiles? Rantburg reports, you decide.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
President Bush told Lithuanian TV that Belarus is the "last remaining dictatorship in Europe" and that the United States will work with countries in the region to ensure that the next elections there are free. The former Soviet republic is run by authoritarian President 
German Chancellor 
Islamist groups in 
Nearly two years after radical Islamic preachers told parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio for fear it was part of a U.S. plot against Muslims, the repercussions are still being felt: A Nigerian strain of the virus that causes the crippling disease has cropped up as far away as Indonesia. [snip]
GUJRANWALA: Four people including a passer-by were shot dead over an old enmity on Delta Road on Wednesday. According to police, Chaudhry Pervez Virk, a resident of Mauza Phidkee, with gunmen Waris Masih and Arshad Chattha, was returning home in a car after appearing in a local court. When they reached near Kothi Barkat Ram on Delta Road, their rivals from the Haji Akhtar group opened fire, killing Pervez, Waris and Arshad instantly. A donkey-cart driver, Muhammad Boota, a resident of Fareed Town, and a 12-year-old student Owais were injured. Boota later died at Civil Hospital while Owais was reportedly in critical condition. Satellite Town Station House Officer Imran Abbas told Daily Times that two alleged killers had been arrested and that the police had impounded a rickshaw in which the attackers fled.
TANDO MUHAMMAD KHAN: A ten-year-old girl was forced into marrying a 50-year-old man in the village of Kheru Bozdar on Wednesday. 
