Heavy Oil, Heavy Power Piles Dili 29 Nov 2009

Many many millions of bucks going into this infrastructure.  But they are not putting cement foundations in, just digging a hole, sticking the pile in, and hoping for the best.  They will fall down with the the ground is soft after a good rain. Good work.

Eni faces Nigeria graft probe

Just a matter of time until such stories, involving ENI, or not, are seen in Timor...

Eni faces Nigeria graft probe

By Upstream staff

Italian authorities have searched the offices of an Eni subsidiary as part of an inquiry into a bribery scheme relating to the building of natural gas facilities in Nigeria, police sources said on Saturday.

They confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera newspaper on the opening of the probe by Milan prosecutors and the Friday search of the offices in San Donato, a Milan suburb.

Two managers of the former Snamprogetti oilfield services unit had been named as being under investigation, Reuters reported citing the same sources. Snamprogetti is now part of Saipem, a subsidiary of oil company Eni.

The Milan probe is the Italian portion of an international inquiry into $182 million in bribes paid from 1994 to 2004 by the TSKJ consortium to secure $6 billion euros in contracts to build Nigerian liquefied natural gas facilities.

The group was headed by former Halliburton Co unit KBR. It included Snamprogetti, France's Technip, and Japan's JGC Corporation.

An Eni spokeswoman said, "On the facts relating to the TSKJ consortium arising from the period before 2004, there is an inquiry under way by Milan prosecutors, the SEC (the US Securities and Exchange Commission) and the US Justice Department who will ascertain the facts and
ultimately responsibility."

She added, "Eni and Saipem-Snamprogetti have voluntarily been in contact with investigators for some time to provide them the utmost cooperation."

KBR pleaded guilty in February to US charges that it paid $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials in the scheme.

KBR agreed to pay a $402 million fine, of which Halliburton agreed to pay $302 million. Halliburton also agreed with US securities regulators to disgorge $177 million in profits to settle parallel criminal charges.

Corriere della Sera said the search was aimed at determining whether grounds existed to designate Snamprogetti itself as being under investigation. The deadline for naming the company is the end of July.Monday, 20 July, 2009, 01:40 GMT | last updated: Monday, 20 July,
2009, 06:31 GMT

Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company Lao Nafatin

Heavy Oil is coming to Hera. It is a Blight Upon the Planet, not just Timor-Leste. Work has NOT stopped on the power plants. Despite, legal challenges being levelled against the Government's plans to use Chinese heavy Oil power plants to power the country, the Xanana Adminstration is pushing ahead. This is also in spite of President Horta's calls for a reasonable environmental impact assessement to be made.

Incredibly, the Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company has broken ground on the first Heavy Oil Power plant within metres of the main Dili - Baucau road artery in Hera. It is also very close to ecologically senstive mangrove forests, and tghe very population of Hera itself. One can only surmise that mangrove forests will posssibly die, the levels of cancer in Hera will rise sharply in coming decades, and the price of real estate will plummet. Additionally, everyone who wants to drive to the east - or alternatively to Dili from the east, will have to weather a bilious cloud of Heavy Oil pollutants.

One local NGO has called this Mega Project and Mega Problem. They are right. One assessment describes the impact as being:

Heavy Oil power plants are renowned for their high levels of air pollution including the release of extremely toxic PCDD and PCDF, otherwise known as dioxin and furans. These chemicals are known to deposit in soils for kilometres around the emission source (i.e., the power plants) as well as drifting through the atmosphere for thousands of kilometres to contaminate other countries. The transboundary nature of the pollution impacts from dioxin has led to global restrictions on activities which produce them.

In addition to dioxin contamination, heavy oil power plants contribute heavily to atmospheric acidification, heavy metal contamination and a significant risk to marine and coastal environments due to oil contamination of cooling water effluent discharge. Moreover as developed countries race to de-carbonise their economies in the face of accelerating climate change, Timor-Leste will be committed to decades of energy production with one of the highest carbon footprints. While heavy oil may currently appear to be a ‘cheap’ fuel for energy production, international carbon accounting and trading may soon place a heavy price tag on such dirty fuel.

Interestingly, there are a number of Timorese and Timorese-"connected" business interests who are spending more and more time in China looking to establish the necessary links to be able to obtain the heavy oil supply contract for these power plants. Another sole source job?

This is largest project ever undertaken in Timor - ever. Yet no one is allowed to see the contracts. The Government stubs its nose at the President when he calls for an assessment - and just digs, digs and digs. Turn the lights on in time for the 2012 election - and win the election.

UNMIT Photo of the Day: Oceans and Power?

Do Heavy Oil Power Plants in coastal areas count as "human activity"?

From: Rama RAZY [mailto:razy@un.org] On Behalf Of UNMIT-MEDIA
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 10:17 AM
Subject: UNMIT Photo of the Day -- 08 June 2009

Human activity has taken a terrible toll on the world’s oceans. Vulnerable ecosystems and fisheries are being damaged by over-exploitation, alien species and pollution. Increases in sea temperatures, sea-level rises and ocean acidification caused by climate change pose a further threat. June 8, 2009 marks the first observance of World Oceans Day; a day to highlight the importance of oceans and to recognize the considerable challenges in preserving them.
Photo by Martine Perret/UNMIT.