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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (45790)	8/31/2004 12:23:52 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Oh no, he'll invoke the dreaded European allies. I'll bet the mullahs are shaking in their boots - NOT. If Iran rejected this proposal, Kerry would ensure European allies were prepared to join the United States in imposing strict sanctions against Iran, Edwards said. Strict sanctions would require Total to shut down its LNG production projects in the Iranian Gulf. It'd never happen. Hell, France is protecting Sudan from sanctions over its genocide of blacks right now for the same reason. Iran has decided to award the French oil giant Total a Euro 1 bn contract to develop phase 11 of the big South Pars offshore gas field, according to Mahdi Mirmoezi, the republic’s deputy oil minister. "The final negotiations are in progress, and unless there is a problem, the contract will be signed in one or two months", he said. British Petroleum (BP), Italy’s ENI and Norway’s Statoil had also been competing for the contract. But Total is believed to have benefited from its already strong presence in Iran, including in the field of LNG. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh had already voiced his desire to see a company deeply engaged in LNG operations get the deal, so as to facilitate exports. Gas from phase 11 is earmarked for European markets. In 1997, Total was awarded buyback contracts for phases 2 and 3. Under the Iranian constitution, foreign companies are not allowed to take an equity stake in any national oil and gas projects, but can participate under a buyback scheme enabling them to invest and later receive a portion of sales. Aside from South Pars, Total is engaged in the Sirri A and E oil fields, which began producing in 1998-99, and the already exploited Dorood and Balal fields. In February, Total -- together with Malaysia’s Petronas and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) -- won a Euro 1.6 bn contract for an LNG plant at South Pars. Under that contract, Total and Petronas are bound to find LNG buyers -- a process the deputy minister said would take seven or eight months. Pending exports, its production will serve the expanding domestic market. South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world’s largest natural gas field, situated in the Gulf and shared with Qatar. gasandoil.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (45790)	9/2/2004 2:34:59 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Aide: Kerry Would Shift Trade Focus Toward WTO story.news.yahoo.com Add Politics to My Yahoo! By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry probably would put more time and energy into world trade talks and enforcing existing agreements than pursuing bilateral deals like the Bush administration has, a campaign adviser said. "Most likely you would see a strategic rethink of how resources should be allocated across the various priorities in trade policy," said Lael Brainard, who served as a senior economics aide to former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites). That probably would lead to more emphasis on enforcement issues and World Trade Organization (news - web sites) negotiations, "which at the end of the day delivers a lot more bang for the buck," said Brainard, who is on leave from the Brookings Institution think tank to advise the Democratic presidential candidate on trade issues. She spoke in an interview late on Tuesday with Reuters. The Bush administration has racked up a string of free trade agreements -- two of them begun by Clinton -- since taking office. The most controversial, a free trade pact with five Central American countries, remains stuck in the U.S. Congress because of strong opposition from Democrats who complain its labor and environmental provisions are too weak. Brainard minimized the difficulty of redrafting that pact in a way that would be acceptable to the countries and a majority in Congress. But she downplayed the economic importance of the bilateral agreements, saying studies done by the U.S. International Trade Commission show a "rather small" overall benefit to the U.S. economy. Brainard also said she did not see proof to support U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick's claim that bilateral trade deals help built momentum for a new WTO agreement. "It's very, very hard to discern" any positive spillover from one to the other, Brainard said. Richard Fisher, a deputy U.S. trade representative in the Clinton administration, disagreed. "Zoellick's approach has been the right one. I would have done it the same," he said. The Bush administration is currently pursuing deals with Thailand, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, South Africa and four of its neighbors. Kerry would finish talks already started, but may not launch new ones, Fisher said. Both Brainard and Fisher said they had no idea who Kerry might tap as his chief trade negotiator if elected. "It's a junior cabinet position" and Kerry is unlikely to give it much thought until after the election, Fisher said.