Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Libyan rebels storm Gahdafi's Tripoli compound
REUTERS - Libyan rebel fighters celebrate after their entering the Bab al Aziziya compound in Tripoli August 23, 2011. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels stormed Moammar Gadhafi's main military compound in Tripoli Tuesday after fierce gunbattles with forces loyal to his regime, stomping on a bronze bust of the longtime leader, whose whereabouts remained unknown.
Opposition fighters poured into the area by the hundreds, although the joy was tempered by shooting elsewhere in the large. sprawling compound, indicating that Gadhafi's forces were putting up resistance elsewhere.
But the rebels clearly seized the momentum, swarming around Gadhafi's former residence, which had been hit by a 1986 U.S. airstrike in retaliation for a bombing attack on a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. One man climbed onto a statue of a clenched fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet that had been erected after the strike.
Several rebels, in a show of contempt for the man who ruled their vast North African nation for more than 40 years, placed a head seized from another statue under their feet and kicked it. One happily lifted it above his head while his comrades danced and yelled joyfully around him.
The heavily fortified complex, which has been heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes since the six-month civil war began, is the most defining symbol of Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule and its occupation, a day after the rebels swept into the Libyan capital with stunning speed, comes as the opposition faced pockets of resistance and fighting rocked the capital.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the compound's green gates were blasted open and hundreds of rebels were pouring into the complex, some driving golf carts as the area resounded with celebratory gunfire.
It was not immediately clear whether Gadhafi or members of his immediate family were in the compound when it was breached by the rebels, but the ferocity of the battle led many to speculate that the maverick leader may have been inside.
Abdel-Aziz Shafiya, 19, walked down one of the main roads of the compound with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in one hand and a Kalashnikov in another. The teenager, who is from the embattled city of Misrata, said he felt "an explosion of joy inside."
"I lost friends and relatives and now I can walk into Gadhafi's house," he said. "Many of my friends have died and now all of that meant something."
The battle for Bab al-Azizya, in which mortars, heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft guns were used, came hours after Gadhafi's son and heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, turned up free to thwart Libyan rebel claims he had been captured and rally supporters.
His surprise appearance underlined the potential for Gadhafi to strike back even as his grip on power seemed to be slipping fast.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Russian head of the World Chess Federation who has known Gadhafi for year, also said he spoke Tuesday by telephone with Gadhafi and the Libyan leader remains in Tripoli.
Ilyumzhinov, who was received by Gadhafi in Libya in July, said in an interview with the Interfax news agency that Gadhafi called him at around 6 p.m. Moscow time (1400 GMT, 10 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday and told him that he was "alive and well and still in Tripoli."
The report couldn't be independently confirmed.
Gadhafi's former right-hand man Abdel-Salam Jalloud told Al-Jazeera television that he thought the Libyan leader was moving around the outskirts of Tripoli, taking shelter at private homes, small hotels and mosques. Jalloud defected this month.
Mahmoud Shammam, a Doha-base spokesman for the rebels' interim council, was more cautious.
"We don't know who is inside Bab al-Aziziya. We believe that there is someone there and that he is leading a fierce battle. It is a symbol. This is the final castle of Gadhafi," he said.
Street battles between pro-Gadhafi troops and rebels also broke out elsewhere in the city. Thick clouds of gray and white smoke filled the Tripoli sky as heavy gunfire and explosions shook several districts of the city of 2 million people.
NATO warned the situation in Tripoli remains very dangerous and promised the alliance will continue bombing forces loyal to the 69-year-old Libyan leader if they keep fighting.
"Snipers, shelling, missiles could do much damage, but they can't change the course of history or the outcome of this campaign," spokesman Col. Roland Lavoie told reporters at a news conference in Naples, Italy. He said NATO had to stay vigilant because of fluidity of the situation on the ground.
"Most notably, Tripoli is still the site of numerous clashes between pro- and anti-Qadhafi forces, and the tension is far from being over. The situation in Tripoli is indeed very, very dynamic and complex, even today, and we are closely monitoring developments hour after hour," he said.
NATO officials in Brussels said the alliance's warplanes were flying over Tripoli on Tuesday, but that there have been no bombing runs.
Gold Tops $1,900, Then Pulls Back .
By FRANCESCA FREEMAN
LONDON—The spot price of gold rose above $1,900 to yet another intraday record, but then gave up the day's gains and more, as the metal's moves become increasingly wild.
Spot gold rallied to a new record high at $1,912.29 an ounce in early European trade, after briefly breaking $1,900 an ounce during Monday trade. However, gains quickly eroded, and the price was down $19.80, or 1%, to $1,878.30 an ounce ahead of the New York day..
While global economic conditions all seem to point to a continued gold uptrend, some market players are becoming nervous of rising volatility in the metal's price.
"Prices are all over the place, and moving fast," said a London-based trader. "Overall, we're still in a strong bull market, but with volatility increasing and market conditions thin, it is easy to get blown out of the water."
Swiss Bank UBS echoed this view. While it upped its gold price forecast Tuesday, it also cautioned that a correction to the market's impressive rally looks increasingly likely.
Less than three weeks since it last revised its price forecast, the bank said it now sees one-month gold at $1,950 an ounce, up from $1,725 an ounce previously, and three-month gold at $2,100 an ounce, from $1,850 an ounce previously.
"But we want to stress that predicting price levels for gold has become a difficult exercise. No sooner are forecasts revised than gold targets new records, somewhat like the palladium market in 2010," said UBS analyst Edel Tully. "We think gold has enough momentum currently to travel north of $2,000 an ounce before year-end, but we caution that some volatile price moves—both to the upside and the downside—lie ahead."
For some, though, gold's ride higher has proved a little too wild.
In his widely-read daily letter, independent financial markets commentator Dennis Gartman announced Tuesday his firm's decision to sell some of its gold holdings amid "scary" market conditions.
"Gold has reached that point where it moves $40-$50/ounce in a moment's notice," he said in his daily Gartman Letter. "That is not an investment that is safe, indeed it is far from safe; it is violent."
According to his note, Mr. Gartman has reduced his holdings by one unit each of gold in euro and sterling terms, leaving a slightly-reduced non-dollar position in the metal.
Investors have become increasingly worried about the health of the global economy this month, which has increased the allure of gold. Financial markets this week are focused on Friday's speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at an annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo. Mr. Bernanke is expected to shed light on the Fed's stance toward a third round of quantitative easing, or "QE3," a dollar-diluting policy that has played a key role in gold's recent ascent.
But while news of a third round of stimulus would almost certainly send gold higher, if QE3 is kept off the table, gold could suffer a heavy slide, having partially priced in an affirmative announcement, said a trader.
"The market seems to have the perception that Fed will wave its magic wand," the trader said. "Gold wants to hit $2,000 an ounce, but I think a lot hangs on what happens this weekend," he said.
Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 86 cents, or 2%, to $42.86 an ounce, spot platinum was down $15, or 0.8%, at $1,886 an ounce and spot palladium was off $1, or 0.1%, at at $760 an ounce.
Write to Francesca Freeman at francesca.freeman@dowjones.com
Sabotage causes Nigeria oil spills, production halt: Shell
Six spills have occurred along Shell's Okordia-Rumuekpe trunk line in the oil-producing Niger Delta region (AFP, Pius Utomi Ekpei)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iu1FMHAG5TyBq5_huySUgJSLycGw?docId=CNG.15841938fe1107f1909efb0cac8def73.e1
LAGOS — Sabotage has led to six oil spills from one Shell pipeline in Nigeria since the start of the month, the company said on Monday, while damage to another line has caused a temporary production halt.
The six spills have occurred along the Okordia-Rumuekpe trunk line at Ikarama in Bayelsa State in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant said in a statement.
A fire broke out at one of the spill sites on August 18, but it has since been put out, the company said.
The spills were caused by "hacksaw cuts by unknown persons," it said. The six leaks have been repaired, though an activist has said spilled crude has not been sufficiently cleaned up.
"The 33-kilometre line receives crude oil from two flowstations which were shut down as SPDC worked to repair the leaks," it said. SPDC is Shell's Nigerian joint venture, the Shell Petroleum Development Company.
In a separate incident on Sunday, "another three hacksaw cuts were reported on the nearby Adibawa delivery line. SPDC is mobilising to repair this line and production is shut-in."
"We are concerned by the increasing cases of sabotage at Ikarama and appeal to those causing these incidents to stop for the sake of the environment, their personal safety and well-being of the communities," Shell vice president Tony Attah said in the statement.
Pipeline damage and associated spills are common in the Niger Delta region as a result of oil theft to feed the lucrative black market.
Militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue have also regularly blown up pipelines, though such attacks have decreased since a 2009 amnesty deal.
Shell said in the statement that more than 75 percent of all oil spills and more than 70 percent of oil spilled from its Nigerian joint venture facilities in the Niger Delta from 2006-2010 were caused by sabotage and crude theft.
Activists say oil firms such as Shell have not done enough to prevent such incidents.
A UN report earlier this month said decades of oil pollution in the Ogoniland area of the Niger Delta, located in neighbouring Rivers state, may require the world's largest ever cleanup.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the continent's most populous nation.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Fight for Gaddafi compound will be hard: rebels
(Reuters) - The battle to take over Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli will be fierce, but anyone inside has little chance of escape, a rebel spokesman told Al Jazeera television on Monday.
"I don't imagine the Bab Al-Aziziyah compound will fall easily and I imagine there will be a fierce fight," Abdel Hafiz Goga, spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, said in an interview aired by the broadcaster.
"The rebels are forming checkpoints at the entrances of Tripoli and I do not think he (Muammar Gaddafi's son Mohammad) would be able to escape Tripoli, and the same applies to Colonel (Muammar) Gaddafi," he said.
The veteran Libyan leader's whereabouts since rebels took over most of Tripoli are unknown.
Mohammad, Gaddafi's eldest son, escaped on Monday from his Tripoli residence after he had been surrounded by rebel forces that had streamed into the city. Two other of Gaddafi's sons remain under arrest.
Gaddafi's huge Tripoli complex, which includes military barracks, has been targeted by NATO air strikes in recent weeks, but rebels said on Monday that it was still being defended by tanks and snipers.
Bab Al-Aziziya was the target of a 1986 U.S. bombing of Libya. President Ronald Reagan said it was in retaliation for what he called Libyan complicity in the bombing of a Berlin night club.
An Al Jazeera correspondent in Tripoli said on the air on Monday night that the situation in the city appeared mostly calm, but there was occasional gunfire and few people in the streets.
(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; additional reporting by Tarek Amara in Tunis; writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Andrew Roche)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Tullow stock plunges as production setbacks cause concern
By Peter Flanagan
SHARES in Tullow Oil slumped yesterday amid reports that the oil and gas explorer may cut its production guidance following troubles at a number of its projects this year.
The Irish-led company, which is now listed primarily in London, is expected to hit its output plateau at its Jubilee oil field off Ghana in December rather than August, as had originally been planned. Tullow has also faced drilling delays in Kenya, Ghana and French Guiana.
Tullow is likely to reduce full-year extraction guidance to below 90,000 barrels a day, said Dragan Trajkov, an oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital in London.
"While the delay at Jubilee is unexpected, more serious to Tullow would be any impact on the field's estimated resources arising from the later target," he said.
Tullow will provide an update with its first-half results on August 24.
The Jubilee delay "is a concern because as you move forward, a higher proportion of Tullow's production base is due to arrive from" it, said Gerry Hennigan, an analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers. Some exploration issues are beyond Tullow's control, he added.
Last month, Kosmos Energy, Tullow's partner in Jubilee, said it might delay drilling of an exploration well off Ghana to the fourth quarter after problems with the rig it was to use.
In May, Tullow and partners -- including Royal Dutch Shell and Total -- delayed the completion of an exploration well off French Guiana until August because of drilling disruptions.
Tullow and Anadarko Petroleum suspended exploration off Ivory Coast in February because of political unrest in the country. At the same time, Tullow is proceeding with drilling of exploration wells in some west African nations and beyond.
"The second half of 2011 sees Tullow drilling some material exploration wells in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guyana and starting with the Zaedyus result in French Guiana this month," said Richard Griffith at Evolution Securities in London.
"If the markets don't recognise this potential, industry may do so instead."
Tullow closed down 8pc in Dublin at €11.38. The stock lost 7.1pc in London. It is down 17pc this year. (Additional reporting, Bloomberg)
- Peter Flanagan
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