Ivanhoe Energy Insiders Accumulating

Bush + Big Oil = Sex Drugs, Oil And Gas

Sex, drugs, oil and gas

PAUL WALDIE

Thursday, September 11, 2008

A group of U.S. bureaucrats who collected billions of dollars in royalties from energy companies operated in a culture so bereft of ethics they regularly consumed cocaine and marijuana at industry gatherings, had sexual relations with oil company representatives and routinely received gifts from energy firms, including divisions of Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP, according to an internal investigation.

"We discovered that between 2002 and 2006, nearly one-third of the entire [division] staff socialized with, and received a wide array of gifts and gratuities from, oil and gas companies with whom [the division] was conducting official business," the report found.

Some of the employees held side jobs as industry consultants while others provided confidential information about upcoming government contracts to company representatives, the investigators said.

The director, Gregory Smith, allegedly "engaged in illegal drug use and had sexual relations with subordinates, and in consort with industry," the report said. Mr. Smith, who retired in 2007, allegedly had employees buy him cocaine during work hours, referring to the drugs as "office supplies." He allegedly acknowledged his drug use to investigators, calling it "episodic," and admitted inappropriate relations with some staff, the report said.

The employees worked in a division of the Denver-based Minerals Management Service, or MMS. MMS, part of the Department of Interior, collects royalties and lease payments from energy companies operating on federal land.

The division in question has about 50 employees and runs a special program that collects royalties on an in-kind basis and then sells the oil and gas on behalf of the government. The section sold about $11-billion (U.S.) worth of oil and gas last year.

The division was created in the late 1990s but came under investigation by the Office of the Inspector-General a couple of years ago when it received an anonymous tip about misconduct. That prompted a $5.3-million probe that has already led to some criminal charges, one guilty plea and several resignations.
In releasing two final reports yesterday, Inspector-General Earl Devaney expressed exasperation at the findings.
Mr. Devaney said in a letter accompanying the reports that many of those involved had escaped potential administrative action by resigning "with the usual celebratory send-offs that allegedly highlighted the impeccable service these individuals had given to the federal government. Our reports belie this notion."
He said none of the employees involved in the conduct expressed remorse for their actions. For example, the report referred to two employees who got so drunk at a day-long company-sponsored event the company had to pay for hotel rooms so they could stay overnight.
When investigators asked the employees about their actions, they insisted they "were developing business relationships and had gathered invaluable industry-related information."
The report also contained several e-mails between division staff and energy company officials discussing upcoming parties, trips and events. One e-mail told staff, "this trip is to be kept quiet," and in others, industry representatives called two staffers the "MMS Chicks."
In his letter, Mr. Devaney singled out Chevron for refusing to co-operate with the investigation. However, Chevron spokesman Donald Campbell said the company did co-operate, providing all requested documents.
Randall Luthi, head of MMS, said the agency would "take action" when it receives the report.
"It's something we take very seriously," Mr. Luthi said.
© Copyright The Globe and Mail

Anon is Buying QEC Again Today

OPEC agrees to cut crude output

OPEC agrees to cut crude output

Luke Pachymuthu and Barbara Lewis
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

VIENNA — After hours of wrangling, OPEC on Wednesday agreed to revise its complex output targets and said the move would effectively cut supplies by half a million barrels per day (bpd).
Ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had been widely expected to stick to existing production allocations, which have been in place all year.

But some voiced concern about a growing surplus of oil on the market, and prices on Tuesday sank to a five-month low below $102 (U.S.) a barrel, around 30 per cent below a record hit in July above $147.

U.S. crude was trading 65 cents higher at $103.90 at 0913 GMT. The price had risen by a dollar immediately after OPEC's announcement.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil said Wednesday's decision amounted to a cut from the group's actual July output.

“I think if you do your own calculation properly, it will be a lowering of production by about 520,000 barrels per day,” Mr. Khelil said.

His estimation of how much output will be removed from the market derived from amounts OPEC members were really producing, rather than agreed limits.

OPEC's new production ceiling is 28.8 million bpd, compared with its earlier target of 29.67 million bpd, ministers said.

They seized the opportunity of Indonesia's decision to suspend its membership to the group to adjust targets and give allocations to Angola and Ecuador, which have joined over the past two years.

The producer group's output targets have long been opaque and analysts interpreted the decision as keeping existing allocations intact, while calling for tighter compliance.
“The communique is much as expected,” said Paul Horsnell of Barclays Capital. “However, it also talks of strictly adhering to quotas, when we might have expected the trimming back in coming months to be done more discreetly.”

Others agreed the surprise was that OPEC has made public its intention to remove supply above agreed limits.

“The statement is clear as mud, but really what it says is members should keep to quota, which basically means Saudi Arabia should stop the additional barrels that it has provided over the summer, which was somehow expected,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix. “I would say it's only half of a surprise because they have made a formal announcement.”

OPEC was estimated to be pumping roughly 790,000 bpd above target, the bulk of which came from Saudi Arabia.

The leading exporter announced unilaterally at a specially convened meeting in Jeddah in June that it would pump 9.7 million bpd, around 750,000 bpd above its agreed ceiling.

The kingdom said it was responding to strong consumption and a senior Gulf source said on Tuesday he expected it to continue producing at around 9.7 million bpd if demand held steady.
“The market is fairly well-balanced and we have worked very hard since the June meeting to bring prices to where they are now. I think we have been very successful,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters on arrival in Vienna on Tuesday.

He has yet to comment following OPEC's output decision, which was announced at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Wednesday morning following a meeting that did not begin until after 10 p.m. on Tuesday because of Ramadan fasting.

Ahead of the conference, most OPEC ministers had seemed broadly happy with the oil price and had indicated there was probably no need for urgent action, although they said there was a risk the market could become oversupplied in the future.

Iran and Venezuela have traditionally taken the most hard-line position.
They have big-spending populist governments and need a high oil price, but had said around $100 a barrel was reasonable as a strengthening U.S. dollar compensated for the negative impact on oil producer earnings of falling oil prices.

The other surprise of the night was that major energy producer Russia, which attends OPEC conferences as an observer, sent a very senior official.
“Broad cooperation with OPEC is one of Russia's priorities,” Interfax news agency quoted influential deputy prime minister Igor Sechin as saying. “OPEC is one of Russia's key partners on the global oil market.”
In the past, Russia has agreed to trim production in line with OPEC output cuts to support prices.
OPEC will further review its production policy at a meeting in Algeria in December.
© Copyright The Globe and Mail