[Note: A gathering on the peak oil issue is being planned at the rampART for sometime in February. Email rampart AT mutualaid.org to let them know if you are interested in attending or helping to organise the event.]

In the news...

+ Mercenaries held hostage in Oil struggles

"A Briton who was one of four workers kidnapped from an offshore oil platform in Nigeria has been identified. Nigel Watson-Clark was amongst four foreigners including a Bulgarian, Honduran and American who were kidnapped by an armed gang from the Royal Dutch Shell oil facility in the oil rich Nigerian delta on Wednesday".

The newspapers covering this story refer to these men as workers - true, but mercenary would be a more accurate and descriptive term as these are ex-armed forces being paid by Shell Oil to provide armed security to their controversial oil facilities in the Niger delta.

Middle-aged Mr Watson-Clark, a former paratrooper and father-of-three, was abducted from a support vessel in the EA field in the Niger Delta area in southern Nigeria. An Irishman is also feared to have been kidnapped in Nigeria in a separate incident.

Nigerian security forces were today searching the waterways of the Niger Delta for the missing Shell workers. A spokeswoman from the foreign Office refused to comment regarding Mr Watson-Clark's abduction.

Royal Dutch Shell announced delays in oil shipments from Nigeria following the abductions and an explosion along its pipeline. The company said that due to unforeseen circumstances oil loading would be delayed three to four days. A message from the company said a pipeline had been ruptured on Thursday in an apparent act of sabotage.

more from  http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=61402006


+ Hot air blows over wind power.

Despite worldwide conflict over oil reserves, the UK public doesn't seem to keen to ween themselves off oil. Back at home, the UKs biggest wind farm was opened officially yesterday at Black Law - 42 turbines turning out enough electricity to supply just 55,000 homes. Twelve more will soon be completed to supply a further 15,000 homes.

Black Law, with 54 turbines, is one step. Plans for 140 turbines on Eaglesham Moor, within two years if Executive approval is granted, is the next. ScottishPower, with plans to invest £1 billion in producing 10 per cent of its output from renewables within five years. It symbolises the Executive's determination to make Scotland "a powerhouse of renewable energy", with 18 per cent of electricity generated to come from renewable sources by the end of this decade and 40 per cent by 2020.

Many don't agree. For anti-wind farm campaigners, windpower is a stupendous waste of public money on an inefficient, unreliable source of energy, and blot on the landscape. If newspaper letters pages and protest marches were an accurate reflection of general public feeling, a remarkably large percentage of the population is against wind farms. Every proposal so far for one anywhere in Scotland has produced a "not in my backyard" protest. Oh well, lets just send our boys to fight oil wars instead then...

blaa blaa blaa  http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=58232006


+ NewKiller on the block

Meanwhile, the heat is on Iran over it's resumption of research into enriching uranium - the first step to setting up civilian nuclear power plants - and also the first step to making nuclear weapons. While Blair was pushing for a new programme of nuclear power plants in the UK a couple of months ago, the world's most powerful nations are dead set against Iran from acquiring the technology.

Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing atomic weapons under cover of a civilian energy program. Tehran says it only wants to make low-grade enriched uranium for nuclear power plants, their own oil reserves have already peaked.

The United States and the European Union's three biggest powers said on Thursday that nuclear talks with Iran were at a dead end. They decided to push to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions after Tehran removed IAEA seals from its mothballed enrichment facilities this week and vowed to resume nuclear fuel research.

Today Iran threatened to halt snap U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if it is taken to the U.N. Security Council, and Britain said the council would consider sanctions if Tehran defied international demands.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said such a step would have "consequences" for the West.

"The government will be obliged to end all of its voluntary measures if sent to the U.N. council," he said. Iran has repeatedly threatened to end snap checks and resume uranium enrichment if it is reported to the Security Council. The Iranian parliament enacted legislation in November that obliges the government to respond in this way.

Cooperating with snap U.N. inspections is voluntary on Iran's part, under a protocol it has signed but not ratified. However, halting them would reduce Iran's cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog to the legal minimum.

Iran's new representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Aliasghar Soltaniyeh, said Tehran remained "fully committed" to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its statutory obligations to the IAEA. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused other countries of trying to keep nuclear technology for themselves.

"Iran will not accept that some hold science and technology as their possession and deprive others of it."

rah rah rah  http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-13T154737Z_01_FOR172289_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml&archived=False


+OIl prices turbulent over supply worries.

Crude futures fell Friday on reports that Royal Dutch Shell PLC had restarted production at a field in Nigeria, but the market continued to fret over the potential impact of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Light, sweet crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 69 cents to $63.25 a barrel in electronic trading by afternoon in Europe after rising earlier as high as $64.33.

Dow Jones Newswires quoted a Shell spokesman Friday as saying production had restarted Thursday at an oilfield shut down after the kidnapping Wednesday of four foreigners from an offshore oil platform. The spokesman also said Shell expected a gradual return to full production early next week.

That came after the company had earlier sent a message to shippers declaring its inability to meet export commitments due to unforeseen circumstances. Shell had said oil loading would be delayed three to four days beginning Friday. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. The country produces about 2.5 million barrels a day. The kidnapping, along with a pipeline rupture, cut oil production in the West African country by 10 percent.

Also Friday, Iran _ a major oil producer _ vowed to end all voluntary cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog if it is referred to the Security Council for possible sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.

"The major concern is that there is not enough spare production capacity in the world to cover any loss of production from Iran should any action be taken against it," said Sucden Commodity brokers in London.

Traders also focused on unseasonably balmy weather in the U.S. Northeast, a key heating oil market. Prices have fallen after a U.S. government report showing weak demand last week for industrial and home-heating fuel.

 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/3584907.html

That's all for today.

My short term advice... ensure you have a months worth of food and water stocked up and a warm sleeping bag for every member of your family.