China oil firm 'plans Unocal bid' (BBC)

[bobthedrummer]

Chinese energy giant CNOOC is planning a major acquisition which could hugely boost its Asian assets, reports say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4154563.stm

[bobthedrummer]

1. In 1997 Unocal was talking business in Sugarland, Texas with the Taliban

my, how times have changed, huh?
http://www.rememberjohn.com/talibantexas.html

And former CIA Director Richard McGarrah Helms niece, Laili Helms, was the US public relations person for the Taliban!

[Dancing_Dave]

2. Doesn't Unocal have a tanker named Condoleeza Rice?

That boat may be soon decomissioned.

[illflem]

3. She has a Chevron supertanker named after her

Condi is also a former Chevron exec

[seemslikeadream]

4. Unocal

In December 1997, the London Telegraph reported that Taliban representatives were close to signing a deal with Unocal, a California-based oil company, to construct a pipeline across Afghanistan. Bin Mahfouz's Delta Oil was heavily involved in the negotiations, and acted as a liaison between the Taliban and Unocal. At the same time, incidentally, Enron CEO Ken Lay (Kenny Boy to the President) was contracted to conduct feasibility studies for the Unocal-Delta joint venture. Unocal publicly urged the Clinton administration to recognize the Taliban, despite Osama bin Laden's very welcome presence in the country it controlled. Clinton was reluctant to do so, however, and the Afghan pipeline project hung in negotiations limbo for years—as recently as January 2001, the Bush administration was still meeting with Taliban representatives to work out an oil deal. There is no reason to believe that Delta, and therefore bin Mahfouz, had relinquished its interest in the Afghan pipeline by this time."

http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=257

This is purportedly a Department of Energy Document
"Natural Gas - The United States has supported trans-Caspian routes for Central Asian oil and gas as an alternative to pipelines passing though Iran. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency funded a $750,000 feasibility study conducted by Enron for a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, and another feasibility study was also completed by Unocal. On May 21, 1999 Turkey and Turkmenistan signed a 30-year agreement to ship 700 bcf/year of Turkmen gas to Turkey, with the rest exported to Europe. Georgia has proposed that trans-Caspian pipeline could also be linked to the Russian natural gas pipeline system."

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:mvQw0Gf6i1wJ:www.tda.gov/abouttda/report98/highlightsnis.html+U.S.+Trade+and+Development+Agency+funded+a+%24750,000+feasibility&hl=en


"Soon after the invasion began in October, the pipeline project was discussed in Islamabad between Pakistani Petroleum Minister Usman Aminuddin and American Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain. Subsequently, during a visit to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on Jan. 31, Deputy Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones told Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov that Washington would support such pipeline projects so long as they were commercially viable. (See source 7)

In April Niyazov called for the United Nations to support a plan to build a gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan to Pakistan, reported EurasiaNet. The project was being touted for bringing stability to Afghanistan. Support from the UN would boost the status of the project and clear the way for guarantees from international institutions like the UN Development Program. (See source 8) Also in April as reported by Agence France-Presse, World Bank chief James Wolfensohn said he had held talks about financing the Trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline. Wolfensohn, during a visit to the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, stated that a number of companies had already expressed interest in the project. (See source 9)

So far, no corporations have been named as firmly signing on to the project. Several sources have stated that Unocal will likely come forward again to join in the project, according to the DAWN Group of Newspapers. (See source 10) Most notably, Afghan Minister for Mines and Industries Mohammad Alim Reza has stated that Unocal was still in the lead attempting to win the $2 billion trans-Afghanistan pipeline. (See source 11) According to NewsBase, Unocal followed this announcement with a statement that it has no intention of reviving the Central Asia Gas Pipeline (CentGas) project. (See source 12) However, Unocal has made no statement contradicting reports that it has a project to build the Central Asian oil pipeline, linking Turkmenistan both to RussiaÕs existing Siberian oil pipelines and to the Pakistani coast. This oil pipeline will run parallel to the proposed gas pipeline route through Afghanistan, reported the Asia Times. (See source 13) It is possible that UnocalÕs denial of interest in the gas pipeline could just be for public consumption. Prior to stepping down from the CentGas project, Unocal was targeted by human rights groups for its dealings with the Taliban.

Energy experts have indicated that companies owned or formerly managed by Bush senior and Vice President Dick Cheney are showing a keen interest in Caspian Sea reserves, the DAWN Group reported. (See source 14) And the U.S. is expecting investment from U.S.-based energy conglomerates through Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to resuscitate the Afghan pipeline project. (See source 15) It has been noted that despite assurances from Afghan and Pakistani leaders, continued volatility in the region is deterring energy corporations from offering to help build the pipeline. It is suggested that it may take several years of political stability before the project could be seriously revived. However, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is also keenly interested in the project. ADB loans will likely be used to cover part of the cost of building the gas transport system, with funds from donor countries for the reconstruction of Afghanistan covering the rest, according to the BBC and NewsBase. (See sources 16 and 17) It will be interesting to see what role Halliburton, formerly chaired by Cheney, plays in the pipeline construction."
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/071102_pipelineistan.html

[bobthedrummer]

5. Yep, Unocal.

:hi:

[seemslikeadream]

6. Argentine oil company Bridas

Unocal and the Afghanistan pipeline

Part One of a two-part series Players on a rigged grand chessboard: Bridas,

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Argentine oil company Bridas, led by its ambitious chairman, Carlos Bulgheroni, became the first company to exploit the oil fields of Turkmenistan and propose a pipeline through neighboring Afghanistan. A powerful US-backed consortium intent on building its own pipeline through the same Afghan corridor would oppose Bridas' project.
more
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHI203A.html


A funny thing happened on the way to 'The Truth'

By Karl W. B. Schwarz

Then it gets even more curious. I met a company in 1999 about oil and gas row across South America in key places. The name of that company is Bridas Corporation of Argentina. Well, 1999 was a long time before 9-11 and it was of little importance to me at that time when they told me that they had filed a $15 billion interference of contract lawsuit against Unocal for interference of contract in Turkmenistan.

They also informed me that they had signed contracts with General Rashid Dostum (that Uzbek who controls the northern part of Afghanistan) and the Taliban.

Seems Bush and Cheney do not want anyone to know that Bridas had contracts to build that pipeline across Afghanistan and we now control it after October 7, 2001, and the attack we levied on Afghanistan. That pipeline is now under construction, is under US control, so it's Miller Time, Emperor GW finally got a "Mission Accomplished."

Now, why didn't Emperor George, Prince Dick or the 9-11 Commission ever say a word about a non-US company having beat the US to that pipeline contract across Afghanistan? Did any of you readers hear a word about Bridas Corporation, Afghanistan, or that pipeline, or that lawsuit in Texas?

Didn't think so.

That sort of explains to me why Emperor George wanted a whole new CIA division just for Argentina, since Bridas is from Argentina.

For you information sleuths, on September 9, 2003, Bridas Corporation prevailed in the Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals on an arbitration award, reportedly over $500 million, in the matter of Bridas Corporation v. Turkmenneft, the oil ministry arm of Turkmenistan. For the geographically impaired, that is the northwest end of the pipeline that is going across Afghanistan even as you read this, but under US control. Of course, the Bush friends went running to the US Supreme Court, but on March 22, 2004, the high court denied writ of certiorari and left intact the decision out of New Orleans; matter of Turkmenneft v. Bridas Corporation 03-1018, U.S. Supreme Court.
more
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/092404Schwarz/092404schwarz.html

Players on a rigged grand chessboard: Bridas, Unocal and the Afghanistan pipeline
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHI203B.html

THE ROVING EYE
Pipelineistan, Part 1: The rules of the game
http://atimes.com/c-asia/DA25Ag01.html

Part 2: The Games Nations Play
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA26Ag01.html

It's the Oil Pipeline, Stupid

Since the collapse in 1998 of California oil company Unocal's efforts to establish a gas pipeline through Afghanistan, the focus of U.S. government strategy has been on a proposed gas pipeline -- a project of the Pipeline Solutions Group, a U.S.-led consortium of oil companies -- to be built across the Caspian, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Enron, with U.S. government money, conducted a feasibility study for this pipeline.
http://www.alternet.org/story/12548

[No Exit]

10. Thank you for posting this...

I hope everyone here reads it. If only more people knew about those articles you cited. People say "it's all about oil", but when someone calls them on it, they can't explain how they KNOW it's all about oil. But if they read the sources you posted, they WILL be able to explain it.

One intriguing little fact which was not included above--but which is found in the Online Journal article you cited--is that the top oil minister for Turkmenistan who is/was involved in all those deals was a man who had DUAL CITIZENSHIP: he had both Israeli and Turkmen citizenship. (One thing that really bothers me about our current government is that we have these dual citizens high up in, for example, the defense department. So I always notice when I see yet another dual national in government.)

[Dancing_Dave]

7. A pipeline from Central Asia to Pakistan

Would have to through Afghanistan, Iran, or China and India. Look at a map and you will see that these are the only three geographical possibilities.

China would probably most prefer to just run the pipeline straight into China...they can use everything it can carry.

They would least like it to go through Afghanistan, for obvious reasons.

Iran is also becoming more involved in tranpsort of energy resources from the Caspian and Central Asia. They have much better infrastructure to do it than Afghanistan.

So if China buys Unocal, that would seem to nix any possibility of a pipeline going through Afghanistan any time soon...or maybe ever.

One wonders what the Bush Administration may try to stop China from aquiring Unocal. But they are in a very weak economic position compared to China.

[Hekate]

8. Didn't China just buy Microsoft or something?

Somehow, this is all beginning to sound like one very sick joke on the people of the US. Paul Krugman points out that China now holds most of the paper on our ungodly national debt being rung up by Bush.

There's this old saying: A capitalist will sell you the rope you use to hang him.

Why do I get the feeling the rest of us are being hung out to dry?

Hekate

[Dancing_Dave]

9. Dubya sure did sell China plenty of rope

And what he's doing in Iraq gives them every reason to hang him.
:nopity:

[Moderator]

11. locking

this article is way past the 12-hour rule.