No subject

States bought in 1993, the figure increased to 394,856 million in
2007. While in 1996 the US imported 1,817,000 barrels from Equatorial
Guinea, in 2007 this rose to 20,070,000. Although this may sound
excessive, it is very =E2=80=9Creasonable=E2=80=9D for an economy that cons=
umes 20
million barrels daily.

After the African oil elephants

At the same time, the American oil corporations are closing in on
Africa. Exxon-Mobil, the largest American company operating on the
continent, concentrates its production, approximately a million daily
barrels, in five African countries: Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea,
Angola, Chad and Cameroon. It also is running exploration operations
in Libya, Madagascar, the Republic of the Congo and a development
field in the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Prince area. Its activity in the
region represented almost 18 percent of the net production of
petroleum and gas for the company in 2006, according to its own
webpage.

Also increasing their presence in Africa are Marathon Oil, the Hess
Corporation, Chevron, Vanco Energy and Ocean Energy. Hess alone, one
of the most active in Western Africa, in 2006 realized net daily
production of 85,000 barrels of crude: 28,000 in Equatorial Guinea,
22,000 in Algeria, 23,000 in Libya and 12,000 in Gabon. By the
beginning of this year, only in Equatorial Guinea =E2=80=94what experts cal=
l
the =E2=80=9CNew Kuwait,=E2=80=9D because of its vast reserves=E2=80=94 the=
 Okume Complex, in
which Hess has 85 percent participation, the reaching peak production
of 40,000 barrels per day is foreseen.

The development of new technologies applied to the oil industry has
allowed these transnationals to explore in the deep waters full of
=E2=80=9Celephants,=E2=80=9D as geologists call sites with large reserves o=
f a
billion barrels. There are several of these sites in African
countries, and potentially in others that three decades ago were
virtually unknown by this industry.

One of these =E2=80=9Cmarine elephants=E2=80=9D is the field of Agbami, 70 =
miles off
the coast of Nigeria. The first production effort is planned for the
second half of this year, in which Chevron hopes to obtain 250,000
barrels daily.

It is very probable that they will reach their goal. At the end of
June, there arrived in this area a South Korea-built ship, well-known
as a production, storage and pumping installation. It is one of the
biggest of its type in the world, able to store 2.2 million barrels
per day in its hull and designed to pump a million barrels daily.

The theater is prepared

For the moment, as affirms the United States, Africa serves as a
=E2=80=9Crefuge=E2=80=9D for terrorists, but it also has a tremendous amoun=
t of oil,
and it is a continent sunk in poverty and the most terrible
pandemics, such as AIDS and malaria. The histories of hunger and
poverty are greatly exploited by the grand media, and in them the
heroines are always all those companies that =E2=80=94like AFRICOM=E2=80=94=
 =E2=80=9Cattend=E2=80=9D
to people with their medicine and food. Africa is =E2=80=9Cdiabolical,=E2=
=80=9D and
US is the perfect one to =E2=80=9Cexorcize=E2=80=9D it; it is the moral red=
eemer
presented in the transnational media.

Therefore, the world should not be surprised if one day, not very
distant, Africa emerges as a scenario like the hecatomb of Iraq. If
=E2=80=9Cpersuasion=E2=80=9D by some other show of force doesn=E2=80=99t wo=
rk for the United
States, what will happen?

















.


=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Para=C3=ADso bajo el bloqueo"
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D