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Gold/Mining/Energy : An obscure ZIM in Africa traded Down Under -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (42)	7/15/2002 1:45:14 AM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 867

Hi Maurice, We tropo-calypso wining Trinis and liming Togagoans have more reason to cheer, as we are about to be buried under Greensbacks and Sterlings, however worth-less, in exchange for simple permission to stick pipes into the ocean bottom. Just like stock investors in ZIM, we take what we are given, and keep what we deserve:0) search.ft.com THE AMERICAS & MIDDLE EAST: Trinidad aims to be the Caribbean powerhouse By Canute James in Kingston FT.com site; Jul 15, 2002 Trinidad and Tobago has unveiled a plan to use its expanding energy resources to become the powerhouse of the Caribbean region, by supplying gas by pipeline and tankers to its neighbours - and eventually to Cuba. The country of 1.3m people, located off the coast of Venezuela, has become one of the world's main producers of liquefied natural gas though investments of $3bn in the past four years by big European and US companies. Patrick Manning, prime minister, said neighbouring countries would benefit from lower energy costs from his administration's plan to supply them with natural gas, liquefied natural gas and compressed gas, in the hope that it will stimulate their industrial development. The project will provide a new market for the big players in the country's energy sector, including BP, British Gas and Repsol YPF of Spain. The first phase of the venture will be a gas pipeline running north from Trinidad and Tobago, through the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, to Puerto Rico. Spurs would supply Barbados, Antigua, St Kitts and Dominica. Other countries, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas and Jamaica will be supplied with gas at a later stage in the project, either through pipeline, or by tankers. Mr Manning said: "We are hoping that eventually Cuba will be part of this project." Feasibility studies indicate the project is viable, and will reduce energy costs to the region by up to 30 per cent, said the prime minister. He said the pipeline would cost about $500m. "The matter of funding is yet to be determined, and decisions are to be taken whether grant funds that are available could be used, or other sources are found. A major bank has already indicated its interest in participating." Denzil Douglas, prime minister of St Kitts-Nevis, said: "This is an important development because fuel costs for eastern Caribbean countries are high,. This is an offer that will help to ease the burden of the financial problems that we are facing." Mr Manning said countries receiving the gas could become part-owners. Completion of the initial pipeline would take three years.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (42)	7/15/2002 1:48:04 AM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 867

Hi Maurice, on a separate note. An alert to my portfolio as it is about to suffer another skimming. This time, Royal Dutch Shell. Getting ripped off by ZIM eventually, as opposed to getting cheated by RD now, feels about the same: news.ft.com Ex-Shell executive questions energy bets By Julie Earle in New York Published: July 14 2002 21:56 \| Last Updated: July 14 2002 21:56 Royal Dutch/Shell's Houston energy trading business has made $7.4bn of bets on future US power prices that could prove worthless, a former executive who worked on the deals claims. George Namur, a former general manager at the Houston operation, alleges he was told to come up with optimistic forecasts of future power and gas prices that would justify the deals to Shell head office. He also questions the way the transactions are treated in the group's accounts. The deals were part of Shell's rapid expansion of its energy trading business in Houston. Many of its rivals are now scaling back their trading operations after the Enron collapse. The expansion has caused concern among some analysts, who claim Shell does not disclose enough information about the trading business. Fadel Gheit, an energy analyst at Fahnestock and Co, a New York brokerage, said Shell declined to give details of Shell Trading's operations, saying they were "insignificant" and "too complicated". "It is a closed door and we don't know what is behind it, but the company says 'trust me, trust me'," he said. Shell insists that the accounting treatment of the deals is "conservative". It says the deals were a response to customer demand and should be seen as part of its overall US gas and power strategy. Shell is committed to paying $7.4bn over the next 20 years on so-called "tolling" agreements with power station developers, made at the top of the US power market three years ago. Average US power prices have since fallen by more than half. Under the deals, Shell makes an annual "capacity" payment to the developers in return for an option to sell power generated from its own gas. Shell will exercise the options and turn on the plant only if power prices are higher than the cost of generation using its gas. Mr Namur, who worked in structured transactions for Shell Trading, said the options could turn out to be worthless. "If power prices collapse or even stabilise, there is potentially zero return on investment." He said the deals were justified internally by using aggressive accounting and questionable forecasts to produce a projected return above the 15 per cent level required by Shell's head office. "We knew what our capacity payments would be and then had to use highly optimistic power price forecasts and other creative items to exceed the 15 per cent return rate," he said. Mr Namur argued that the downturn in power prices meant that the value of the agreements had fallen by billions of dollars, but "there seems to be no mechanism for the markdown of the assets and the booking of losses" in Shell's accounts.