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Strategies & Market Trends : Strictly: Drilling II -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: crustyoldprospector who wrote (20939)	10/30/2002 9:56:22 AM
From: terry richardson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 36161

crusty: Interesting reference to the proposed base off West Africa in the Gold-Eagle piece you referenced led me to this piece which might be a good indicator for offshore oil service long term: US Moves to Protect Interest in African Oil The East African (Nairobi) NEWS September 16, 2002 Posted to the web September 16, 2002 By Kevin J. Kelley OIL IS lubricating a potentially historic shift in United States' relations with Africa. Bountiful hydrocarbon deposits are luring the US closer to nations along the Gulf of Guinea, from Nigeria in the north to Angola in the south. American political, economic and military involvement in that part of West Africa has intensified in recent months as the possibility of war against Iraq has increased. Washington views West Africa's oil supplies as far more secure than those of the Middle East and to ensure that they remain so, the Bush team is now reportedly considering constructing a US Navy base on the tiny island nation of Sao Tome and Principe. The quickly expanding links between the US and the potential oil giants of West Africa could have major ramifications for Washington's dealings with the rest of the sub-Saharan region. One possibility is that the United States will pay less attention to countries on the other side of the continent, such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. "Those countries that have oil, regardless of their democratic credentials, will get first service over other African countries," says Salih Booker, head of an Africa-oriented lobby group in Washington. Mr Booker made the comments to the Associated Press as President George W. Bush was meeting in New York last week with the leaders of 11 African nations. Included in that group were all the main oil-producing states of West Africa as well as Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa. Perhaps of particular significance were the talks Mr Bush held with Sao Tome and Principe President Fradique de Menezes. Situated some 250 kilometres west of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, Mr Menezes' impoverished country of 160,000 inhabitants was previously not ranked high on Washington's foreign policy agenda. Sao Tome and Principe is the site of a $65 million Voice of America radio relay station that beams broadcasts to Africa and south Asia. But what now primarily attracts US interest in the former Portuguese colony is not its communications capacity but the vast untapped oil deposits believed to lie in its territorial waters. Mr Menezes claimed last month that he had reached agreement with the US on construction of a naval base on Sao Tome. "It will be a harbour for aircraft carriers ... patrol boats and for marines stationed in the region," He was quoted as saying. US officials have not confirmed that Washington intends to build a military base in the Gulf of Guinea. And an American general who visited Sao Tome in July said the US has no plans to develop such a facility on the twin islands. But some influential strategic thinkers in Washington have been pushing for establishment of a US military sub-command for the Gulf of Guinea. The Bush team makes no secret of its intention to shift US reliance on oil imports from the Middle East to West Africa. Therefore, it would not be surprising if the United States was to seek to militarily safeguard its growing stake in the Gulf of Guinea's oil wealth. "West Africa's oil has become of national strategic interest to us," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner declared earlier this year. "African oil should be treated as a priority for US post-September 11, security," added Congressman Edward Royce, chairman of the House of Representatives' Africa subcommittee. Middle Eastern sources currently account for about one-fourth of all United States oil imports. West African producers, mainly Angola and Nigeria, hold a 15 per cent share of the US oil import market. But West Africa's share is forecast to reach 25 per cent by 2015 as other countries in the region, including Cameroon, Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, boost their respective outputs. The strategic advantages of West African oil were noted by a State Department economist at a forum last January. "Political discord or dispute in African oil states is unlikely to take on a regional or ideological tone that would result in a joint embargo by suppliers at once," said Robert Murphy. Congressman Royce was even more direct. "It is very, very difficult to imagine a Saddam Hussein in Africa," he said. West Africa's comparative stability and friendliness toward the United States was a theme of remarks Sao Tome President Menezes made last May at a forum hosted by the US Corporate Council on Africa and sponsored by three leading petroleum companies. "We have no ethnic, religious or other strife," he assured the potential investors who had gathered for the occasion. allafrica.com