Oil giant BP closing a pipeline system due to labor strife

[katty]

more:

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/oil-giant-bp-closing-a-pipeline-system/n20080427042709990010

Oil giant BP closing a pipeline system due to labor strife
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER,AP
Posted: 2008-04-27 04:27:46
LONDON (AP) - Oil giant BP PLC on Sunday was closing a pipeline system responsible for delivering almost a third of Britain's North Sea oil production.

The closure of the Forties Pipeline System was prompted by a two-day strike that began Sunday morning at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland. Refinery owner Ineos has already stopped production at the facility, which provides electricity and steam to the pipeline.

The pipeline was supposed to be completely shut down by 1 a.m. EDT Sunday. A British energy industry group said the closure could cost $99 million a day.

Oil & Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb demanded the government intervene "to ensure that the country is not held to ransom in this manner," adding that the strike "is now affecting some 80 companies and their operations, which are in no way connected to or involved in this dispute."

[Donnachaidh]

1. So BP holds the country to ransom, to bust a union

And the oil futures people can have multiple orgasms as they inflate the prices higher.

Id' say that's a win-win for BP and their oil company minions.

[katty]

2. exactly--oil/rice/corn futures traders in pork heaven

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. No; BP don't own the refinery, and aren't involved in the strike

but their pipeline is driven by the output of the refinery, which is owned by a private equity company. BP haven't any option here. They did however, sell the refinery to the private equity firm in 2005. That may have seemed like a good deal to them at the time, but it now means BP lose money too.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. It has become quite evident...

That oil companies will use any precept to manipulate the prices upward. Of course, the markets love that.

Blowing up pipelines or constraining flow or production of distillates is becoming extremely profitable. Where there are extreme profits, there are also active measure to grow those profits.

By any means necessary.

[Demeter]

4. You Mean Pretext

[ORDagnabbit]

5. Everyone knows the history of BP right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP

But in March 1951, the pro-western Prime Minister Ali Razmara was assassinated. The Majlis of Iran (parliament) elected a nationalist, Mohammed Mossadeq, as prime minister (you remember him...he was man of the year in 1951 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadeq) In April, the Majlis nationalized the oil industry by unanimous vote. The British government contested the nationalization at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, but its complaint was dismissed.


The British government decided that the only way to regain its control of Iranian oil (which it regarded as a vital national interest), was to remove Mossadeq from office. It aimed to replace him with a more friendly regime led by the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Its problem was that it lacked the means to do so without American support. But it was clear the U.S. government would never support a coup d'état designed only to protect Britain's commercial interests. So the British played on America's then paranoia about the Communist threat by producing bogus evidence that Mossadeq was scheming to bring Iran into the Soviet sphere of influence. In early 1953, incoming U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to overthrow the Iranian government. The CIA conspiracy, involving the Shah and the Iranian military, became known by its codename, Operation Ajax.

On August 19, 1953, Mossadeq was forced from office by a CIA-orchestrated military coup. He was replaced by pro-Western general Fazlollah Zahedi. The Shah, who had left the country briefly to await the outcome of the coup, returned to Iran. He abolished the democratic Constitution and assumed autocratic powers. The AIOC became the British Petroleum Company in 1954, and resumed operations in Iran. However, as a part of the Anglo-American coup d'état deal, it was not allowed to monopolize Iranian oil as before. It was limited to a 40% share in a new international consortium. For the rest, 40% went to the five major American companies. 14% went to Royal Dutch Shell. 6% went to Compagnie Française des Pétroles.