Another piece on the Big Oil Chessboard

[formercia]

I woke around three this Morning because a related story was nagging me and I just had to put the bits together.
Several Years ago, I was flying into Islamabad and happened to get into a conversation with an American Oil company executive. He was telling me how they were exploring Balochistan and how it had a lot of potential.

A related thread made it all click together:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x578036#578063

So what if several Million Heretics kill each other in the process. The Big Oil Crusaders don't care, they have been doing this for a long time.
Big Oil needs control of this area so they can finish their pipeline to supply oil to Asian customers from the Caspian Basin.


The image of Balochistan is being blocked. See the link. It speaks volumes.

http://governmentofbalochistan.blogspot.com/2006/04/economic-potential-of-balochistan_24.html

OIL AND GAS
Oil and Gas, both offshore and onshore, can generate a major portion of the total annual revenue for Balochistan. According to the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP), it was estimated during their offshore exploration that there are reserves of 19 trillion cubic feet of gas and 6 trillion barrels of oil in Balochistan. The GSP research confirms large reservoirs of unexplored onshore oil and gas in Balochistan, especially in Panjgur, Lasbella, Kharan, Kalat and Marri districts.

Existing gas fields in Balochistan supply 45% or 11 billion cubic meters of Pakistan’s total gas requirements that generates $1.4 billion annually in revenue (but the Pakistani government remits only $116 million in royalties back to Balochistan!).

Although Saudi Arabia generates 10 million bbl/day of oil, smaller oil producing countries like Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria, UAE, and Venezuela produce between 2 to 4 million bbl/day. Balochistan has a potential of producing 2 million bbl/day in a very short period of time. At the current crude oil prices of $70/bbl, Balochistan can generate $140 million per day or approximately $40 billion per year in revenue!

MINERAL
The main attraction of Balochistan’s mineral sector is its unexplored geological potential. The territory is based on the geological belt with known world-class mineral deposits that could generate several billion dollars in revenues annually. More than 50 metallic and non-metallic minerals have been discovered in Balochistan. Metallic ores are chromites, copper, gold, silver, iron ore, lead and zinc, while the non-metallic include barite, marble, granite, gypsum, limestone, coal, dolomite, calcite, silica sand, and various building/engineering stones.

[screembloodymurder]

1. Huh?

And you woke up at three because?

[formercia]

2. Go get a cup and read it again

I'm sorry if you don't get it, but thanks anyway for the kick.

[stillcool]

3. amazing....the things I don't know...

http://www.balochistan.gov.pk/New%20Folder/home.htm


http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/pakistan/2006/pakistan-060216-irin01.htm

PAKISTAN: Roots of the Balochistan conflict run deep
Along with a sense of deep disappointment, Faqir is also intensely angry. He insists that his plight, and that of thousands of others in the vast, southwestern province of Balochistan, has been created by the unjust policies of what he calls the "Punjabi-controlled government" far away in Islamabad.

He cites the security forces, deployed in Quetta, and the reports of new military cantonments cropping up at many places in Balochistan, as evidence that: "The army wishes to take control of Balochistan and suppress the rights of the Baloch people." He also maintains Balochistan's immense energy resources, mainly in the form of natural gas located at Sui, are being "stolen" from it.

Leading activists, Afrasiab Khattak, also an astute political analyst who has recently visited various parts of Balochistan, agrees. "Militarisation is creating many difficulties for local people and resentment is intense," he told IRIN.

The Baloch animosity towards the central government of Pakistan and the country's most populous province, Punjab, which is seen as controlling the military and the administration, has a long history. Divided in the nineteenth century among Iran, Afghanistan, and British India, the Baloch found their aspirations and traditional nomadic life frustrated by the presence of national boundaries and the extension of central administration over their lands.

Many Baloch believe their province was forcibly incorporated into the new state of Pakistan, as the Indian subcontinent was split at the end of British rule in 1947.
http://www.adb.org/Projects/project.asp?id=37135

[formercia]

4. Someone is not happy

I had difficulty posting this thread because my data stream was repeatedly corrupted and my computer has been under attack since.

I think we hit a nerve. Why am I not surprised?

[formercia]

5. Pakistan can't be too happy

having the boys trying to take their oil fields.

[Marie26]

6. That's where the US-funded terrorist attacks are, right?

So what is the end game here? Do they actually think they can invade/overthrow that area w/o Iran noticing? Why would the Baluchi tribesman allow an oil pipeline in their territory, anyway? It's interesting information, but I feel like the you haven't really sketched out exactly what your theory is about what is going on.

[formercia]

9. I assumed everyone knew about UNOCAL and the reason for War

in Afghanistan. Bin Laden was just an excuse to invade, just like WMD's in Iraq.

Why would they let a pipeline? Money. They get a fee for every barrel that flows to the sea terminal that they would control.

The pipeline business has been talked about for years but it was assumed that Pakistan would be the country to control the terminal. It seems that that assumption is very much in question.

[rman]

7. 6 trillion barrels of oil?

That's more than the amount of current proven reserves and the already extracted amount of conventional oil combined; something in the order of 2 to 4 trillion barrels.

[formercia]

8. That does seem like a very high figure

even one tenth of that is a LOT of oil.