Chinese, Indian oil firms collaborate
The leading oil companies of China and India have agreed to jointly acquire a Canadian firm’s petroleum interests in Syria in their first collaborative venture.
China National Petroleum Corp. and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. – both state-owned – have agreed to pay 676 million Canadian dollars ($578 million) for the Syrian assets of Petro-Canada.
The companies are buying Petro-Canada’s interest in the Al Furat Petroleum Co., a joint venture with state-owned Syrian Petroleum Co. and Syria Shell Petroleum Development B.V.
The announcement comes as China and India, longtime rivals, are aggressively expanding their efforts to secure foreign energy supplies for their booming economies, sometimes in direct competition with one another.
The Syrian government still needs to approve the takeover of the assets, which represent forecast 2006 production of about 58,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, Petro-Canada said.
As of the end of 2004, the assets accounted for 66.3 million barrels of proved reserves before royalties, or 24.2 million barrels after royalties, according to Petro-Canada.
The company had been looking to sell the Syrian assets since the summer and rumors had been circulating that the properties could fetch much more in the current high-price environment for energy properties.
Beijing and New Delhi have been trying to build closer political and commercial relations after decades of hostility between the nuclear-armed Asia giants. (AP)
India defends nuclear deal with US
India Wednesday defended a controversial new civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States and rejected demands by American critics that New Delhi accept curbs on its atomic weapons program.
Ahead of talks with senior US officials, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said he was bringing ‘‘ideas’’ to address a centerpoint of the July 18 deal – India’s commitment to place nuclear facilities associated with its civilian energy program under international inspection.
But he declined to give details, including how India would treat its Canadian-supplied Cirus nuclear plant, which experts say was intended for peaceful use but was diverted for military purposes.
‘‘We are not talking here about a capping of India’s strategic (nuclear weapons) program. We are not talking here about a fissile material cutoff’’ but about how to meet India’s burgeoning energy needs, he told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank.
Saran, who later met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said a fissile material cutoff halting India’s production of bomb-grade nuclear fuel, and other changes suggested by nonproliferation advocates, would be ‘‘deal-breakers.’’
The agreement, which must be approved by the US Congress, would give India access to nuclear technology, including fuel and reactors, that it has been denied for 25 years.
For more than two decades, Washington led the fight to deny India access to nuclear technology because it rejected the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and developed nuclear weapons. But President George W. Bush, aiming to build an alliance with the world’s largest democracy, reversed that approach. (Reuters)
Bribery allegations dog Indian MPs
An Indian TV station said Tuesday it secretly filmed parliamentarians asking for kickbacks for promoting development projects, days after another channel filmed politicians taking cash for questions in parliament.
Seven MPs were involved in the latest scandal, including three from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from the ruling Congress party, which heads the coalition government. The other three are from regional parties.
Earlier this month, a Web site and TV news channel filmed another 11 MPs apparently accepting money for asking questions in parliament from journalists posing as representatives of a fictitious lobbying group.
Six of the MPs are from the BJP, three from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one each from the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). All four parties immediately suspended the men from their parliamentary wings following the expose and parliament asked the men not to attend the houses until the matter is resolved.
Analysts say corruption among politicians and the huge bureaucracy in the world’s largest democracy is widespread and sting operations are just the tip of the iceberg. A survey by a newspaper this month showed 98 percent of Indians thought politicians corrupt.
In 2001, a news portal secretly filmed public and military officials accepting cash to swing a fake arms deal. It led to the then defence minister quitting as well as the BJP president.
External affairs minister Natwar Singh quit this month, after earlier being suspended, following his naming in the Volcker report on the Iraq food-for-oil scandal.
Former judge to probe Chennai stampede
India’s Tamil Nadu government has appointed former Justice A Raman, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, as a one-member inquiry commission to look into Sunday’s stampede.
At least forty-three people were killed in the stampede Sunday morning at a cyclone relief center in Chennai, capital of southern India’s Tamil Nadu, NDTV reported. Another 37 people were injured in the accident and have been sent to hospital.
The Raman-led commission will investigate the arrangements made for issue of relief material tokens at the centre and submit its report in two months.
The accident took place at the flood relief camp in a government high school in south Chennai at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, where nearly 3,000 people had gathered to collect relief materials, when people started running for shelter in a heavy downpour.
But other reports also said that the accident was triggered by a rumor that Sunday will be the last day for the distribution of food coupons.
Tamil Nadu has suffered torrential rains and floods in the past month, evacuating around 175,000 people from their home. The government has opened about 150 relief centers to distribute foods and other relief material.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha announced that the family of each victim will receive 100,000 rupees (about 2,272 US dollars) as compensation.(Xinhua).
The leading oil companies of China and India have agreed to jointly acquire a Canadian firm’s petroleum interests in Syria in their first collaborative venture.
China National Petroleum Corp. and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. – both state-owned – have agreed to pay 676 million Canadian dollars ($578 million) for the Syrian assets of Petro-Canada.
The companies are buying Petro-Canada’s interest in the Al Furat Petroleum Co., a joint venture with state-owned Syrian Petroleum Co. and Syria Shell Petroleum Development B.V.
The announcement comes as China and India, longtime rivals, are aggressively expanding their efforts to secure foreign energy supplies for their booming economies, sometimes in direct competition with one another.
The Syrian government still needs to approve the takeover of the assets, which represent forecast 2006 production of about 58,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, Petro-Canada said.
As of the end of 2004, the assets accounted for 66.3 million barrels of proved reserves before royalties, or 24.2 million barrels after royalties, according to Petro-Canada.
The company had been looking to sell the Syrian assets since the summer and rumors had been circulating that the properties could fetch much more in the current high-price environment for energy properties.
Beijing and New Delhi have been trying to build closer political and commercial relations after decades of hostility between the nuclear-armed Asia giants. (AP)
India defends nuclear deal with US
India Wednesday defended a controversial new civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States and rejected demands by American critics that New Delhi accept curbs on its atomic weapons program.
Ahead of talks with senior US officials, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said he was bringing ‘‘ideas’’ to address a centerpoint of the July 18 deal – India’s commitment to place nuclear facilities associated with its civilian energy program under international inspection.
But he declined to give details, including how India would treat its Canadian-supplied Cirus nuclear plant, which experts say was intended for peaceful use but was diverted for military purposes.
‘‘We are not talking here about a capping of India’s strategic (nuclear weapons) program. We are not talking here about a fissile material cutoff’’ but about how to meet India’s burgeoning energy needs, he told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank.
Saran, who later met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said a fissile material cutoff halting India’s production of bomb-grade nuclear fuel, and other changes suggested by nonproliferation advocates, would be ‘‘deal-breakers.’’
The agreement, which must be approved by the US Congress, would give India access to nuclear technology, including fuel and reactors, that it has been denied for 25 years.
For more than two decades, Washington led the fight to deny India access to nuclear technology because it rejected the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and developed nuclear weapons. But President George W. Bush, aiming to build an alliance with the world’s largest democracy, reversed that approach. (Reuters)
Bribery allegations dog Indian MPs
An Indian TV station said Tuesday it secretly filmed parliamentarians asking for kickbacks for promoting development projects, days after another channel filmed politicians taking cash for questions in parliament.
Seven MPs were involved in the latest scandal, including three from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from the ruling Congress party, which heads the coalition government. The other three are from regional parties.
Earlier this month, a Web site and TV news channel filmed another 11 MPs apparently accepting money for asking questions in parliament from journalists posing as representatives of a fictitious lobbying group.
Six of the MPs are from the BJP, three from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one each from the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). All four parties immediately suspended the men from their parliamentary wings following the expose and parliament asked the men not to attend the houses until the matter is resolved.
Analysts say corruption among politicians and the huge bureaucracy in the world’s largest democracy is widespread and sting operations are just the tip of the iceberg. A survey by a newspaper this month showed 98 percent of Indians thought politicians corrupt.
In 2001, a news portal secretly filmed public and military officials accepting cash to swing a fake arms deal. It led to the then defence minister quitting as well as the BJP president.
External affairs minister Natwar Singh quit this month, after earlier being suspended, following his naming in the Volcker report on the Iraq food-for-oil scandal.
Former judge to probe Chennai stampede
India’s Tamil Nadu government has appointed former Justice A Raman, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, as a one-member inquiry commission to look into Sunday’s stampede.
At least forty-three people were killed in the stampede Sunday morning at a cyclone relief center in Chennai, capital of southern India’s Tamil Nadu, NDTV reported. Another 37 people were injured in the accident and have been sent to hospital.
The Raman-led commission will investigate the arrangements made for issue of relief material tokens at the centre and submit its report in two months.
The accident took place at the flood relief camp in a government high school in south Chennai at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, where nearly 3,000 people had gathered to collect relief materials, when people started running for shelter in a heavy downpour.
But other reports also said that the accident was triggered by a rumor that Sunday will be the last day for the distribution of food coupons.
Tamil Nadu has suffered torrential rains and floods in the past month, evacuating around 175,000 people from their home. The government has opened about 150 relief centers to distribute foods and other relief material.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha announced that the family of each victim will receive 100,000 rupees (about 2,272 US dollars) as compensation.(Xinhua).
