http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/29/shukri-ghanem-dead-danube-river_n_1463018.html
VIENNA — Shukri Ghanem, a former Libyan prime minister and oil minister who last year announced he was abandoning Moammar Gadhafi's regime to support the rebels who ultimately toppled the dictator, was found dead Sunday in a section of the Danube river flowing through Vienna, Austrian police said.
Police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said the 69-year-old's corpse was found floating in the river early in the morning. The body showed no external signs of violence, but the cause of death was not immediately clear and an autopsy will be carried out, Hahslinger said.
"There would be no signs of violence if someone pushed him in," Hahslinger said. "But it's also possible that he became ill and fell into the water."
An Austrian foreign ministry official said family members initially told the ministry that Ghanem had died of a heart attack, adding that their version appeared to be plausible. He demanded anonymity because his ministry was not in charge of investigations.
Ghanem was dressed normally when found in the river but had no personal identification on him other than a document that named the company he was working for, Hahslinger said. An employee of the company was subsequently contacted and identified him, the police spokesman said.
Hahslinger said Ghanem apparently left his residence early Sunday morning after spending Saturday evening at home with an acquaintance. Police were alerted by a passerby who saw his body floating near his Vienna residence, close to the modernistic building housing U.N. agencies in the Austrian capital.
Ghanem is a former Libyan premier who last served as his country's oil minister until 2011. He left Libya for Tunisia and then Europe in June as insurgents were pushing to topple Gadhafi, and he subsequently announced he would support the rebels.
Ghanem was said to be autocratic at home but reporters covering the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries remembered him as a friendly man who readily gave his cell phone number to selected journalists covering OPEC ministerial meetings and gracefully took even late-evening calls.
With advanced degrees in law and economics, Ghanem served in senior positions within the Vienna-based OPEC before his appointment as Libyan prime minister in June 2003 – an office he held until 2006 when he took the oil ministry portfolio.
Considered a member of Gadhafi's inner circle until his defection, he insisted that Libya bore no responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
He also repudiated Libyan responsibility in the 1984 shooting death of British constable Yvonne Fletcher during a protest in front of his country's embassy – an incident that led to the severing of British-Libyan relations.
Such comments branded him as a loyal servant of the Gadhafi clan. At the same time, he worked quietly from the inside to change the face of Libya.
He became premier as the country began to transform itself from an international pariah accused of fomenting terrorism and crippled by sanctions to one seen as instituting reforms that led to growing economic and political ties with the United States and Europe. That process was bolstered by Gadhafi's decision to give up Libya's fledgling nuclear arms program in 2003.
Ghanem's efforts were supported by Saif al-Islam, the Gadhafi son associated with the reform wing. At the same time, he was viewed with suspicion by the old guard opposed to change – and their opposition to him led to his ouster as prime minister and subsequent appointment as head of the state oil company and de-facto oil minister.
He was reinstated in those positions in 2009 just weeks after his resignation, a move reflecting the power struggle between reformists and nationalists in his oil-rich North African nation.
Ghanem continued to live in Vienna after Gadhafi was ousted and later killed last year in the NATO-backed rebel campaign.
____
Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz in Berlin and Rami al-Shaheibi in Tripoli, Libya, contributed.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Inmarsat awards 12 XpressLink dealer contracts
Inmarsat has announced the identities of the first 12 companies to be able offer XpressLink services under its global network of dealers.
The companies are based in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
XpressLink is Inmarsat's new integrated Ku-band and L-band solution, available for a fixed monthly cost.
Until now the service was only available direct from Inmarsat, through a channel consisting of its subsidiaries, formerly known as Ship Equip and Stratos.
The company saids that XpressLink supported always-on data speeds of 768 kbps, with a committed information rate of 192 kbps, when the VSAT service is active.
Customers using XpressLink will automatically be switched to the Inmarsat Global Xpress Ka-band service when it is launched while at the same time, they will see their bandwidth double.
In arriving at this list of 12 new XpressLink dealers, Inmarsat said that in early March it asked its distribution partners, service providers and system integrators to confirm their interest in becoming a seller of the service.
This met with a positive response from more than 80% of those contacted, according to the company and negotiations with the majority of applicants are now at what it calls "an advanced stage."
The initial 12 dealers are:
- Anchor Marine Equipment & Repair Company
- AND Group
- Arskom Marine
- DH-INTERCOM
- Elcome
- Hellenic Radio Services
- Navarino
- One Net
- Otesat-Maritel
- Satlink
- Station Satcom
- Tile Marine.
"We are excited by this endorsement of the XpressLink service as a gateway to Global Xpress," said Frank Coles, president, Inmarsat Maritime.
"These 12 companies are at the forefront of delivering high-quality and cost-effective solutions to shipping fleets. They will not support a service unless they know it offers demonstrable value to their customers – value that is future-proofed with the transition path to Global Xpress.
"Several of the dealers we have announced today have already closed deals and we expect more soon," he concluded.
Increasing Nigerian problems highlighted in IMB report
A total of 102 incidents of piracy and armed robbery were reported during the first quarter of this year, according to figures released by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report.
Some 11 vessels were reported hijacked worldwide, with 212 crew members taken hostage and four crew killed. A further 45 vessels were boarded, with 32 attempted attacks and 14 vessels fired upon – the latter attributed to either Somali or Nigerian pirates.
Noting the increasing problems off West Africa, the report said that 10 reports were received from Nigeria in the beginning of this year, equalling the same number reported for the whole of the area last year. A further attack in neighbouring Benin was also attributed to Nigerian pirates.
These reports include the hijackings of one product and one chemical tanker, resulting in a total of 42 crew members taken hostage.
“Nigerian piracy is increasing in incidence and extending in range,” said Pottengal Mukundan, IMB Piracy Reporting Centre director. “At least six of the 11 reported incidents in Nigeria occurred at distances greater than 70 nautical miles from the coast, which suggests that fishing vessels are being used as motherships to attack shipping further afield.”
Attacks in Nigerian coastal waters have also resulted in at least three crew kidnapped from their anchored vessel, the report said.
“While the number of reported incidents in Nigeria is still less than Somalia and hijacked vessels are under control of the pirates for days rather than months, the level of violence against crew is dangerously high,” Mukundan warned.
Somalia continued to dominate figures with 43 attacks, including the hijacking of nine vessels and the taking hostage of 144 crew. But while the number of 2012 incidents and hijackings are less than reports for the same period in 2011 (97 incidents, 16 hijackings), it is unlikely that the threat of Somali piracy will diminish in the short to medium term unless further actions are taken, the IMB said.
The report attributed the reduction in overall attacks to the disruptive actions and pre-emptive strikes by the navies in the region, which disrupted numerous pirate action groups, emphasising the importance of the navies in both deterring and combating Somali piracy.
The application of Best Management Practices and the increasing use of privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) also contributed to the decrease in the hijackings. More vessels with PCASP were reported in the first quarter than those not carrying armed personnel, the report said.
“The EU announcement to expand their anti-piracy mission to target pirates ashore is another welcome move that could further threaten the Somali piracy model,” Mukundan said.
As of 31st March 2012, suspected Somali pirates still held 15 vessels with 253 seafarers as hostages, with an additional 49 crew members being held hostage on land.
Elsewhere, the report said that there were noticeable increases in the number of armed robbery attacks in the Indonesian archipelago, up from five in 1Q11 to 18 in 1Q12.
*Meanwhile, pirates have released the 16,631 dwt chemical tanker ‘Enrico Ievoli’ and its crew, Italy's foreign ministry confirmed on Monday.
The vessel, with a crew of six Italians, five Ukrainians and seven Indians, was seized in the Arabian Sea, off the Omani coast, during the early hours of 27th December last year. http://www.tankeroperator.com/news/todisplaynews.asp?NewsID=3474
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Serious damage at Sudan oil facility
A storage tank at Sudan's primary oil processing facility in Heglig has been destroyed in a fire. Eight generators were also damaged in the blaze and oil is reportedly leaking onto the ground. This occurred after South Sudanese troops entered the area last Thursday.
The plant, which is operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) will reportedly find it very difficult to initiate production again after this incident. GNPOC is a joint operating company owned by China's CNPC and Petronas of Malaysia.
The area's average daily output of 60,000 barrels, which is equal to nearly half the country's total, has reportedly fallen to 40,000 barrels due to civil unrest and conflict.
Iran forced to store oil at sea
14 out of the National Iranian Tanker Company's 25-strong fleet of large crude oil carriers are reportedly anchored in the Gulf, acting as floating storage.
Each of these carriers has an approximate 2 million barrel capacity, and are stationed along with five of Iran's Suezmax tankers, each with a capacity of one million.
The land-based storage tanks, with a total capacity of 23 million barrels, are full, and the sea storage is able to provide 33 million barrels of extra capacity. This is in reaction to Iran's recent difficulty in selling oil that has occurred due to sanctions causing a reduction in the demand of buyers.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Ghana negotiates $6b loan from China Exim Bank
Ghana has initiated negotiations with the China Exim Bank (CEB) for a $ 6-billion loan facility which will be used to accelerate social infrastructural development.
The amount is separate from the $3 billion facility already granted to Ghana by the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) for processing of gas from the Jubilee Oil Fields and other projects.
An amount of $1 billion out of the already granted $3 billion loan is due for disbursement from the CDB for gas processing while the other $2 billion to be released later would cater for the Takoradi Harbour expansion project, the Western railways lines rehabilitation and the Accra Plain irrigation among others.
The Vice President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, made this known at the Kotoka International Airport on his return from China yesterday.
Explaining the $6 billion, Mr Mahama said when discussions and all documentation were completed, the amount would come in $ 2-billion tranches and would be used for social infrastructure such as education, health, electricity and water.
He was frank that discussions on the $ 6 billion had not been pursued with all the force required, but noted that during one of the meetings, the Chairman of the Exim Bank gave assurance that things would be facilitated.
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