Ending the 35-year conflict in Cabinda, cut off from the rest of the former Portuguese colony by a sliver of the Democratic Republic of Congo, would do much to consolidate Angola's position as one of Africa's leading oil producers.

Most of Angola's production is in Cabinda and the regime deploys an estimated 30,000 troops there to keep the separatists of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda under control.

Portuguese media reported July 9 that the leaders of the two main FLEC factions have called for peace talks. Negotiations will likely take place in Lisbon, although no firm date has yet been set.

"Peace talks with Luanda are likely and FLEC leaders will probably be accommodated so that the Angolan government can remove a small -- but more significant -- threat that a foreign power could take advantage of unrest in Cabinda," the U.S. security consultancy Stratfor noted.

Angola, which ended a 27-year civil war in 2003, maintains guarded relations with the DRC and the Republic of Congo.

The regime now led by President Eduardo dos Santos helped topple governments in both states in the 1990s when they gave sanctuary to armed groups opposed to the Luanda regime, most notably the now-disbanded National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA.

FLEC, with some 2,000 members, has seen its military capabilities eroded over the years, a process accelerated by internal rivalries. Veiled threats by Luanda against the two Congos have also reduced the threat the rebels once posed.

Angola took over from Nigeria as sub-Saharan Africa's main oil producer in 2008, largely because Nigeria's oil production was slashed by one-third due to a tribal insurgency in its oil-rich Niger Delta region.

Increasing Angolan production will have strategic implications for the United States, which imports most of the country's output.

This is currently pegged at 1.87 million barrels per day, compared to 165,000 bpd in 1975 when the Portuguese left.

Angola's proven reserves have grown from the equivalent of some 5.4 billion barrels in 1997 to an estimated 13 billion barrels, with more expected.

Output is expected to grow by 500,000 bpd over the next few years, with three ultra-deep offshore fields coming on stream by 2011.

On Wednesday, Eni SpA of Italy announced a major discovery in Block 15/06 some 60 miles offshore. It operates in the block with Total of France and Petrobras of Brazil, another former Portuguese colony and which is now a rising oil power itself.

Indeed, Petrobras currently maintains stakes in six offshore blocks and operates half of them. Five remain in the exploration stage, with only one actually producing -- a paltry 6,200 bpd.

However, there have been reports that Luanda could auction off licenses at the end of this year. The Chinese, who have been snapping up blocks across Africa, are likely to make a big push to secure access to Angola's offshore fields.

All this strengthens Dos Santos' drive to transform a country that is still recovering from decades of conflict into the dominant power in southern Africa, capable of usurping South Africa.

However, its ambitions are expected to thrust it into deeper rivalry with South Africa, with both competing for influence over the same region -- Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, the DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

As Angola's oil wealth grows, it will become a regional economic power that will give it much greater clout -- and a target for its rivals in the continent's turbulent and complex political landscape.

"Luanda sees these countries as its near-abroad, and ensures there are friendly regimes ruling these countries that will not provide support to the Angolan rebel group-turned-opposition political party," UNITA, Stratfor observed.

"Angola has deployed troops in recent years in the DRC to protect the Joseph Kabila government in Kinshasa from a Rwandan-backed insurgency in the country's North Kivu region.

"Luanda views the pro-Luanda Kabila government as a critical front line to safeguard against having DRC territory used as a UNITA rearguard area, which was the case when Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the Congo."

earlier related report
Oil giant Total fined for British depot fire
St Albans, United Kingdom (AFP) July 16, 2010 - French oil giant Total and four other companies responsible for a huge explosion at a British oil depot must pay fines and costs of nearly 14 million dollars, a court ruled Friday.

Levying the fines, the judge lashed inefficiency and disregard for safety displayed by the operators at the Buncefield depot in Hertfordshire, north of London in 2005.

Total received the stiffest penalty, being ordered to pay 6.2 million pounds (9.5 million dollars, 7.3 million euros), but a group of local residents affected by the blast called the fines inadequate.

The December 11, 2005 explosion measured 2.4 on the Richter Scale and is considered one of the biggest blasts in peacetime Europe. It was reportedly heard as far away as France and Belgium.

The explosion left 43 people injured and forced 2,000 others to leave their homes.

The fines come at a time when the environmental cost of the oil industry has again been thrown into the spotlight by the three-month Gulf of Mexico spill from a well operated by British oil company BP.

BP said Friday it was "encouraged" that it had managed to stem the flow of oil from the damaged well which has been gushing oil since it exploded on April 20, causing one of the biggest environmental disasters in US history.

The Buncefield fire was one of Britain's costliest industrial disasters -- and only the fact that the explosion took place early on a Sunday prevented a greater catastrophe.

"The failures which led in particular to the explosion were failures which could have combined to produce these consequences at almost any hour of any day," judge David Calvert-Smith said as he sentenced the firms at St Albans Crown Court in Hertfordshire.

"The fact that they did so at 6:01 on a Sunday morning was little short of miraculous.

"So too was the fact that not one of the few people on the site or in the surrounding area on that Sunday morning lost their lives."

Total must pay a fine of 3.6 million pounds plus costs of 2.6 million pounds.

Hertfordshire Oil Storage -- a joint venture between Total and US oil giant Chevron -- was fined 1.45 million pounds plus one million pounds costs, while British Pipeline Agency was fined 300,000 pounds plus 480,000 pounds costs.

Motherwell Control Systems 2003 and TAV Engineering were both fined 1,000 pounds with 500 pounds in costs each.

Calvert-Smith said that rather than cost-cutting, "this case has more to do with slackness, inefficiency and a more or less complacent approach to matters of safety."

The Buncefield depot, which distributes aviation fuel to airports in the London area, was run by Total UK and Texaco, part of Chevron.

Some 250,000 litres of petrol leaked from the top of a tank and the massive vapour cloud then ignited.

Jurors heard that the extent of the environmental damage was still not known and its effects could last for decades.

Des Collins, representing people affected by the explosion, said the companies had "got away with it" and the sentences were a "drop in the ocean" for Total.

The verdicts followed a joint prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency public bodies.

HSE deputy chief executive Kevin Myers told BBC radio: "The fines pale into insignificance in relation to the billion pounds worth of estimated economic loss and the damage to the reputation of the companies.

"The problem with major hazard industries is that they need to understand that these sorts of events are few and far between but the impact of them can be significant, so they can't take their eye off the ball."

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News