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Guest Post: Energy Companies Pull A Blackwater
Submitted by Daniel J. Graeber via OilPrice.com,
Norwegian energy company Statoil said last week it was forming a special operations division to handle emergency operations in response to a terrorist attack on a natural gas facility in Algeria. The company said it would double the amount of employees it had designated for existing security operations after reviewing the measures in place at the In Amenas gas facility. A January attack there left employees with Statoil and BP dead in what al-Qaida said was a response to French intervention in Mali. With the economy just as much a viable target as any, counter-terrorism may becoming more than just the military's game.
A January attack by a division of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb left several energy company employees and foreign fighters dead. The Algerian attack had the logistical support of Islamic fighters who traveled across the western border from Libya, still unsettled nearly two years after the revolution.
Statoil said last week it was forming a special unit in response to the attack as part of a comprehensive response to the tragedy. Operations at In Amenas resumed at a limited capacity after the attack for owners Statoil, BP and Algeria's state energy company Sonatrach. French supermajor Total said it too was spending more on industry-wide security operations since the January attack. Natural gas production has declined more or less since 2005 for Algeria and lingering instability in the region suggests a turnaround isn't likely in the medium term.
BP said it had its own concerns, noting it was holding back on natural gas projects in the country because of the security situation there. Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi told a Houston energy conference in March the country "remains a stable country" despite the terrorist attack. He said the country wasn't discouraged by the incident and remained committed to developing its natural gas sector. Algeria has enacted policies that would give foreign investors an incentive to take a closer look at unexplored fields in the country. Algeria in 2011 produced around 2.9 trillion cubic feet of gas and has since worked to return to its previous glory.
Statoil said it would appoint an official to lead security operations by July. The security team is part of what Statoil said was a "broader response" to the tragedy in Algeria. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Friday the attack in Algeria shows that al-Qaida may be weakened, but it's not yet out of the picture. He complained some members of the international community aren't willing to take on the responsibility to tackle the threat themselves, however. With the international economy depending on a reliable source of energy to keep churning, Statoil's actions suggest the energy sector may start to take on some of that burden itself.
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Eric prince should move to Drones.
I believe he is living in the ME in some giulf state as a security advisor to said state...
DaddyO
hmmmm. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/27/south-africa-mandela...
Thing about mercs is, they can commit atrocities OFF the public dime, for cheaper, as opposed to ON, without the public's consent (besides, you know, buying the bloody product). You can call it a vertical integration on the petrocompany's part. +1 Big Oil
"private security" is the # 1 growth industry in the world and will be until the great reset occurs!!! If your adventurous and have some risk capital to throw around, that's the ONLY place you should put it!! No downside!!
Hey, i have an idea. Why don't we supply Al-qaida with sophisticated portable weapon systems, then let them prolifirate and magnify security conserns and secyrity demand all over the region?
Already doing it? .....Nice.
It was just a matter of time. I mean.....mega-corps already rule the world through their puppets called politcians. So now comes the privatization of military force.
It's called market efficiency.
In that case- Statoil is way behind on the vertical integration curve.
They will rely on their directly controlled security forces instead of their indirectly controlled state security forces. Sometimes it's good to have that extra bit of control...
Oh man ... time to hit the range and sharpen the marksman skills in preparation for a 'job' interview!
I think I am on Statoils radar. If your going to listen to my advice. Pay me!!!!!!! BITCH!!!!!
Statoil has Nazi's that patrol their private roads in Alberta. Go 20k over and you get banned for life, on the spot.
Oil companies, CIA, Al CIAda, Military Industrial Complex.....it's one great big circle jerk.
Quadruple Dutch Rudder Bichez!!!
Thats not like a tokyo sandblaster is it?
Eisenhower from the grave.....
"I TOLD YOU SO, BITCHEZ" !!!!!!
the biggest gas project in the Arctic is now being questioned as not viable in current context :
http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/gazprom-abandons-arctic-gas-project-100...
Frontier Resource Group - just a phone call away. Too bad the State Department forgot how to use the phone.
Im pretty sure they dont use phones so the NSA cant blackmail them even more
Let's get the party started!
'Dyncorp and Halliburton Sex Slave Scandal Won't Go Away
Halliburton, Dyncorp lobbyists stall law banning human trafficking and sex slavery'
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | January 1 2006
"Almost a year after Representative Cynthia McKinney was told by Donald Rumsfeld that it was not the policy of the Bush administration to reward companies that engage in human trafficking with government contracts, the scandal continues to sweep up innocent children who are sold into a life of slavery at the behest of Halliburton subsidiaries, Dyncorp and other transnational corporations with close ties to the establishment elite."
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2006/010106sexslavescandal.h...
No child too young for their political friends! Go Statoil!
Free Sandusky to build children's camps in Africa!
Just make sure none of the jackyls do firearms training with Big Dick . . .
Old 'nuze' (2006 ??????).
Bring us some fresh.
If it hasn't been resolved....it still is fresh
Corporations with private militaries, GS holding Academi (formerly Blackwater, formerly Xe) stock. I give it ~5 years till Shiba BlackOps are running data hits on executives from GM.
Ahh, cyberpunk is happening!
i need to see that movie...why did i miss that?!
great remix of a classic tears for fears song.
and this is a great cover of mad world
For us in America, it's back to the future. The Old West narrative was mostly about capitalists setting up private armies of employees, or simply hiring homicidal criminals. The Lincoln County War, the King Ranch, the Transcontinental Railroad, Deadwood, it was mostly accomplished by hired guns killing with impunity.
Today, the NRA sexes this up as frontier taming, making the victims universally out to be criminals. The right wing always has a soft spot for winners.
The hired guns also spent their time wiping out any non Reservation Indians the US Army had missed. I wonder if the Africans are speculating about their future?
Holy crap you just fabricated 100 years of history from your anus.
Holy Shit......Your anus just crapped out FAIL. scraping_by is correct.
This is very bullish for the stability of global oil supplies...
I guess that's one way to get your Global Warming carbon problem fixed. Just start killing off all the energy company employees.