Colin Barnett Truthfulness| ABC Radio| Liberal Party| WA Election:
In practice, Mr Barnett's leadership style is so hands off, it is often interpreted as a total lack of interest in the work of others. As a man with a deep commitment to political process, it isn't until a problem arises in someone else's portfolio that he becomes involved and, by that stage, the situation is often so off the rails that he is forced to respond with a very heavy hand.
To many who have experienced his strong corrective actions first hand, it's hard not to feel as though you have been reprimanded by one of those old-fashioned, long sock wearing grumpy deputy principals we all feared in our school days.
He gets curt. He gets grumpy. And most of all, he doesn't coach people in repairing a stuff-up, opting to simply jump in and take over.
Over the four and a bit years of his leadership, that unforgiving process has scared ministers and staff into a pattern of doing nothing controversial, and certainly not without first getting the Premier 100 per cent on board.
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| Liar, Liar Pants On Fire |
In practice, Mr Barnett's leadership style is so hands off, it is often interpreted as a total lack of interest in the work of others. As a man with a deep commitment to political process, it isn't until a problem arises in someone else's portfolio that he becomes involved and, by that stage, the situation is often so off the rails that he is forced to respond with a very heavy hand.
To many who have experienced his strong corrective actions first hand, it's hard not to feel as though you have been reprimanded by one of those old-fashioned, long sock wearing grumpy deputy principals we all feared in our school days.
He gets curt. He gets grumpy. And most of all, he doesn't coach people in repairing a stuff-up, opting to simply jump in and take over.
Over the four and a bit years of his leadership, that unforgiving process has scared ministers and staff into a pattern of doing nothing controversial, and certainly not without first getting the Premier 100 per cent on board.
Photo Damian Kelly
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Barnett :
ReplyDelete"I am doing everything I can to make sure it goes ahead ... but we would be nuts as a country to allow a massive natural resource which belongs to the Australian people to be developed by a floating structure built somewhere in Asia," Barnett said.
"No jobs, no gas coming onshore ... no benefit to consumers, to business, to industry.
"The bottom line is the gas is owned by us, not Woodside. It is our gas and ultimately the Australian governments will determine how that gas is developed and when it is developed.”
He also flagged the possibility that the state might push for the field to be left undeveloped until somebody chose to develop the resource via an onshore development.
"The gas might sit in the ground for a few more years until someone brings it onshore."
Meanwhile, he hit back at environmental criticisms of the project, denying the project site was chosen in haste.
"People raise all sorts of issues – it will destroy the whales, dinosaur footprints,” Barnett said.
"This site has not just been plucked out of the air. It has been selected because the issues are at a minimum on that site."
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So the options are :
1/ FLNG.
2/ Postponed for a few more years.
3/ Being very brave (or foolish) build onshore.
Even if 3/ gets the green light there are some hurdles to overcome before a start is made.
Finding 8000 "A" Team workers in a worldwide skill shortage.
To secure the finance at least 80% of the gas has to be forward sold on long term contracts,20 years or more.
High costs of materials and labour.
To name a few.
If 1/ gets the nod the timing would be up to them and the shipyards.
2/ has a big problem.
If delayed by say another 3 years they will run into a world where fracking is going on everywhere,it seems everyone has gas.
The new Panama canal is open.
Many other,much cheaper,projects are well under way.(especially those countries that can flip import terminals into export,like the US)
A looming oil glut to go with the gas glut.
And quite likely other problems.
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Once the state election is over the heat will come out of this to a great extent,regardless of who wins.
Also Barnett has said he will hand over the leadership in a year or two.
So really speaking,options 1/ 2/ 3/ will not happen in Barnett's time anyway.
But in the meantime JPP gives him a chance to talk tough,pretend he is not a corrupt Woodside employee,Canberra and the Greens are the big enemy,and he cares about people and jobs and not just money.
All of which is just hot air.
The only commercially viable option is FLNG.
But do the JV partners really want to rush Browse?
It has missed it's window of opportunity by 5 years.
No wonder BHP and Chevron quit.
They should be given time to develope FLNG,study the pipe option,and get rid of all the loud mouth yanks (Voelte) baggage.
Voelte was old era,we are in a new era now,far different to the one he knew.Same goes for Barnett and Ferguson.
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And Broome and the Kimberley.
After all the worldwide publicity for "the worlds biggest Humpback nursery" anyone would think there is a chance to get things going.
Eco and Indigenous tourism would have to be well funded just to keep up with the interest.
Only imagination needed.
And a well thought out and managed supply base would last well into the future.
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But we need to get rid of these useless developers who are wrecking everything and have a system where local traditions and values are respected.
PIPE THE GAS TO KARRATHA
ReplyDeleteAustralia likes to go sticking it's nose into wars around the place,wonder if that may change some with Woodside moving into the Israeli gas business?
ReplyDeleteThis should be a warning to them.
Dozens of hostages have reportedly been killed in an Algerian special forces raid to free them from Islamist militants who seized control of a BP gas facility in the country's remote south.
Scores of Algerians and up to 41 foreigners - including Americans, British, French, Japanese and Norwegian nationals - were taken hostage by Islamic militants at the facility near In Amenas yesterday.
This morning the Algerian military reportedly moved against the militants, said to be affiliated to the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade, a shadowy group linked to Al Qaeda and led by former Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
The Reuters news agency is reporting that 30 hostages have been killed, including seven foreigners.
Citing an "Algerian security source", Reuters said the dead hostages included eight Algerians, two Japanese, two Britons and one French national.
Reuters said 11 militants had been killed. Only two of them were Algerians. The others were reported to be three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman.
Reports say the military operation is now over.
He said 34 hostages and 15 kidnappers were killed in an army air strike, a claim that could not be verified
The gunmen said their attack was in retaliation for Algiers supporting French air strikes in Mali, and demanded that 100 radical Islamists held in Algeria be released and sent to northern Mali in exchange for the hostages
Meanwhile heavy fighting is continuing in Mali, where French troops have joined the Malian army to stop the rapid advance by Islamist forces
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At the moment, there is no indication that any Australians are caught up in the hostage crisis.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith says the ongoing conflict in Mali and Algeria could mean a more direct role for Australia, although it is unlikely that would include military involvement.
"As ever Australia stands ready and willing to contemplate that," he said.
"We're not considering any military engagement ourselves.
"It's not operationally our part of the world, but as a member of the Security Council we will be down the track looking to see whether Australia needs to make or it's appropriate to make some form of contribution."
Now that Australia has won it's seat on the UN Security Council,it is expected to take a bigger role in Africa.
DeleteAustralian mining companies have investments of $50 billion in Africa.And this figure is growing.
Australia will be working out of British Embassies in Africa as we cannot afford our own.
William Haig was in Australia until the Algerian hostage crisis broke,he has returned home.Australia and Britain discussed building warships together to cut costs.
WOODSIDE Petroleum's $15 billion Pluto liquefied natural gas plant in Western Australia is poised to overtake the giant North West Shelf as the company's biggest single earner after the "game-changing" project drove a 30 per cent surge in the group's total output and sales revenue last year.
ReplyDeleteThe Perth-based producer forecast yesterday that Pluto -- where production started only nine months ago -- would account for 41 per cent of Woodside's output this year, compared with 47 per cent from the North West Shelf gas plant and 12 per cent from other assets.
Pluto's contribution to Woodside's bottom line will only grow in the next few years as the project ramps up, whereas production from the 25-year-old North West Shelf is gradually declining.
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However, Deutsche Bank analyst John Hirjee said the revenue figure was below expectations and had been affected by Pluto's swap cargo obligations and higher than expected exploration write-off.
"We understand some cargoes met swap contract obligations arising from mitigation of the delayed start-up at Pluto-1, and did not generate any revenue for the quarter," Mr Hirjee said.
Pluto's full potential rests with an expansion that has so far been prevented from proceeding due to Woodside's lack of success in shoring up enough gas.
One analyst yesterday said the market would reserve its full judgment on Pluto until there were developments on a possible expansion. Mr Coleman last year ordered a halt to the drilling campaign for the Pluto expansion and is expected to attempt to strike a deal with third-party gas owners.
Woodside said yesterday that it still expected to make a final investment decision on its Browse project before June 30 and said it had started "active engagement" with customers as part of a marketing deal with Japan's Mitsubishi and Mitsui.
But analysts say they expect Browse gas to be developed on a floating LNG plant rather than on the Kimberley coast
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Analysts were caught off guard by the departure of Rio Tinto boss Tom Albanese after the company announced billions of dollars in writedowns.
Mr Albanese's resignation followed a US$14 billion ($13.3 billion) devaluation of Rio's struggling aluminium businesses and a recently purchased coal mine in Mozambique.
Shares are expected to fall today on the local share market as investors digest the size of the writedowns, what it might mean for the giant mining company, and as they question the value of such a highly paid executive who apparently got it so wrong.
Gavin Wendt, the senior resources analyst at MineLife, says the surprise announcement is likely to spook the market.
The writedown will take a chunk out of Rio's annual earnings due out next month.
Back in November, Tom Albanese said that Rio Tinto was cutting costs as commodity prices fell and expenses rose.
"So I want to emphasise that efforts to reduce costs are aligned with efforts to keep businesses in business for not only years but decades going forward," he said at the time.
"Also, by the way, more cost efficient businesses have a greater ability to attract capital for further investment on a going forward basis."
Iron ore boss, Australian Sam Walsh, has become the new chief executive
THIS IS GETTING REALLY SERIOUS!!!
ReplyDeleteThursday, 17 January 2013
The US Department of Energy has now received 23 applications for LNG export projects and permits as the push to monetize the nation's shale-gas boom gains momentum
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Jan 17 (LNGJ) - Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant and LNG producer and developer, said quarterly profits doubled because of foreign exchange gains. The company, which is the largest pipeline exporter to Western Europe and owns the Sakhalin LNG plant, said quarterly net profits surged to the equivalent of $10 billion (305 billion roubles). Gazprom is also involved in developing LNG projects in the Arctic region of Northern Russia, where estimated reserves are much larger than current supplies sent to the rest of Europe by pipeline.
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Chevron Digs Deeper Into Eastern Europe For Shale Gas
Smaller Eastern European nations such as Poland and Lithuania have traditionally been rather heavily reliant on Russia for their energy needs
As these nations try to tap into their own reserves of natural gas, they are bringing in the American experts – companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil – who are more than happy to oblige.
Chevron is also engaged in the exploration and production in neighboring Poland and Romania but has faced opposition
While Eastern Europe remains a hotbed for shale gas prospecting, investors should also keep in mind that Chevron is also investing significantly in regions such as Argentina, and its native hub North America, both of which hold great potential
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JUNEAU -- Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell offered a new attack on the state's current oil tax regime in his State of the State speech Wednesday, saying that one of its key attributes for encouraging new production has been a failure.
Parnell said he wants to reduce "tax progressivity" -- currently, the state tax grows with per-barrel prices and profits -- but he also came out against another key part of the Sarah Palin-era ACES oil tax system, one that reduces taxes for companies investing in Alaska.
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According to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2012 was the warmest year in the contiguous United States since recordkeeping began in 1895. The average temperature was 55.3 degrees, 3.2 degrees greater than the 20th century average and 1.0 degree greater than the previous record in 1998. The warm year was the result of the combination of a mild winter and a hot summer, and warmer than normal temperatures in every state, not just in isolated regions of the country.
The temperatures in 2012 affected natural gas consumption. Even with lower average natural gas prices, residential and commercial consumption in 2012 was lower than any of the previous 5 years
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2 Reports on Oil Sands Paint a Dire Picture
ReplyDeleteOpponents of the Keystone XL pipeline and the heavy Canadian crude oil that it would carry released two reports on Thursday asserting that the environmental impacts of the project are worse than previously estimated, and urged the Obama administration to veto it.
One report, from the anti-petroleum group Oil Change International, finds that existing studies of emissions from mining, transporting and refining the oil from oil sands formations in Alberta fails to account for the impact of petroleum coke, or petcoke. The study states that because petcoke is considered a refinery byproduct, its emissions are not included in calculation of the climate impact of exploiting Canadian oil sands.
The study says that the petcoke produced from oil moving through the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline would be equivalent to the coal burned at five conventional power plants.
The second study, from the Canadian environmental research group Pembina, says that construction of the pipeline would bring rapid expansion of tar sands mining and greatly increase overall greenhouse gas emissions.
“Filling the Keystone XL pipeline with oils and crude will create significant greenhouse gases regardless of whether other transport options move forward,” said Nathan Lemphers, a researcher at Pembina. “Because Canada does not have a credible plan for responsibly developing the oil sands, including reducing emissions so Canada can meet its climate commitments, the pipeline should not go ahead.”
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Two hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland, not far from where the Titanic sank, ExxonMobil is spending $14 billion to drill one of the biggest oil fields in the North Atlantic.
Seeing Exxon develop oil fields for Canada is reviving calls for the United States to do the same off its Atlantic Coast -- which has been closed for oil and gas exploration for decades.
To tap this new oil field, Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) and its partners are constructing a massive platform that will sit on the ocean floor and rise more than 300 feet to the surface, then an additional 300 feet above the water. The structure is almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and weighs more than twice as much as the Empire State Building. Full funding for its construction was announced earlier this month.
"We've been operating in the Arctic for decades," said company spokesman Alan Jeffers, noting Exxon's experience off Russia's Sakhalin Island. "The more you do it, the more you learn."
U.S. exploration: That's changing. While the Obama administration has not opened U.S. Atlantic waters to drilling, it is looking at the environmental impacts of seismic testing to gauge the size of any oil or gas deposits. The results of the study are expected this year, and permits for seismic testing could be issued in the later half of 2013, an Interior Department spokesman said.
Ecuadorian tribe gets reprieve from oil intrusion
ReplyDeleteAn indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon has won a reprieve after building up an arsenal of spears, blowpipes, machetes and guns to fend off an expected intrusion by the army and a state-run oil company.
The residents of Sani Isla expressed relief that a confrontation with Petroamazonas did not take place on Tuesday as anticipated, but said the firm is still trying to secure exploration rights in their area of pristine rainforest.
"We have won a victory in our community. We're united," said the community president, Leonardo Tapuy. "But the government and the oil company won't leave us alone. "
The Kichwa tribe on Sani Isla, had said they were ready to fight to the death to protect their territory, which covers 70,000 hectares. More than a quarter of their land is in Yasuni national park, the most biodiverse place on earth.
Petroamazonas had earlier told them it would begin prospecting on their land on 15 January, backed by public security forces.
Before the expected confrontation,the shaman, Patricio Jipa said people were making blowpipes and spears, trying to borrow guns and preparing to use sticks stones and any other weapons they could lay their hands on.
"Our intention was not to hurt or kill anyone, but to stop them from entering our land," he said.
It is unclear why Petroamazonas hesitated. The company has yet to respond to the Guardian's request for a comment.
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Beijing is not the only Asian city with lethal air pollution
The Chinese capital is just one of hundreds of cities where poisonous air is the fastest growing cause of death
In the past few months there have been acute air pollution incidents reported in Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan. In Tehran, the desperate authorities had to close all public offices, schools, universities and banks twice in the last two months; In Nepal the army has had to give up its cars and in Kabul it has been reported that there are now more deaths as a result of air and water pollution than from conflict.
Statistics are unreliable, with few cities able to monitor accurately either the source or the level of the cocktail of pollutants emitted by traffic, ships, industry, brick kilns and domestic heating. But go to the hospitals and doctors will tell you that up to 80% of people admitted come with respiratory or other chronic diseases linked to air pollution. In Tehran, more than 4,500 people were said to have died last year because of air pollution – but because cancers can take years to develop the true figure may be far higher.
But while Beijing got the headlines this week, there is mounting evidence that air pollution in India is as bad, if not worse, than in China. A study conducted by satellite imagery by Tel Aviv University last year reported that Indian megacities were seeing double digit increases in air pollution.
But rich countries should not think their air is clean. A report by the European environment agency found that almost one third of Europe's city dwellers are exposed to PM10 particulate concentrations above EU legal limits and 90-95% to concentrations of smaller and even more deadly PM2.5 particulates. If nothing is done to improve it, the EU expects to see 200,000 premature deaths a year in Europe by 2020 due to particle emissions alone.
EU environment commissioner Janez Potočnik spelled out the financial costs on the European economy in September: "Clean air is an investment. We cannot afford not to act. In monetary terms … the associated costs [will] amount to between €189-609bn per year in 2020. Our current analysis shows that if we do nothing, we will see 200,000 premature deaths in the EU by 2020 due to particle emissions alone - but with concerted action, this number can be pushed down to 130,000. To invest in clean air means to invest in our future."