Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Its not quite as easy as that Frank. There are all sorts of ROE decisions which have to be made and also observation of whose waters the stuff takes place in. The Gulf and the straights are hotly contested areas and there is no simple plan to follow. I'll bet something is done to step up security, but the reality is they cant stop all of it. Its not that far from land in most places over there and rocket attacks will always be a problem. I've been fearing this sort of thing for quite a while.

It does point to the argument that if LNG alone is crummy from a EROEI perspective, it could be real crummy from a military convoy escorts and ultra-secured onloading/offloading depot perspective.

Ferretlover wrote:The Associated Press Mon, Apr 21, 2008
An unidentified ship fired on a Japanese oil tanker Monday off the eastern coast of Yemen, leaving a hole from which hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked, the ship's operator said. No one was injured.
The 150,000-ton tanker Takayama was attacked about 270 miles off the coast of Aden in southwestern Yemen while it was heading for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen K.K., said in a statement.
None of its 23 crew members _ seven Japanese and 16 Filipinos _ was injured, the company said. The tanker had left the South Korean port of Ulsan on April 4.
Nippon Yusen spokeswoman Yuko Tsutsui said the attack left a 1-inch hole in the tanker's stern which was temporarily patched after hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked. …
The Takayama

Must be those Iranian gunboats that were straifing the US fleet. hundreds of gallons of oil lost, what is that a few thousand dollars? Those Iranian war ships really give the name cigarette boat a new meaning. It was like they took hostages at a Bass Masters Classic and kept the boats.

False Flag Headline: Evil Iranian gunboats causing mayhem in Persian Gulf of Tonkin! US vows to capture, hold and consume Iranian oil.

I suppose. I thought the US military could engage anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances?

I'm guessing a tanker full of oil is like a ship full of gold, so maybe an escort should be added?

frankthetank wrote:I suppose. I thought the US military could engage anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances?

I'm guessing a tanker full of oil is like a ship full of gold, so maybe an escort should be added?

What right would we have to engage anyways. It was a JAPANESE tanker. Should the US protect other nations oil? At US taxpayers expense no less.

As the price of crude keeps rising we should expect to see more of this kind of action. Not just from pirates but from African governments as well. I wouldn't put it past them. Never have I seen a more corrupt authority.

Shoot 'em up!

frankthetank wrote:I suppose. I thought the US military could engage anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances?

You have been misinformed. The navy has the same limitations of the land and air forces - swatting mosquitos with hellfire missiles doesn't work.

frankthetank wrote:I suppose. I thought the US military could engage anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances?

The US military can't even intercept planes on it's own soil and it takes them a week to mobilize just within US borders.
No offense to anyone in uniform.
It is bureaucrats who make these decisions.

frankthetank wrote:I'm guessing a tanker full of oil is like a ship full of gold, so maybe an escort should be added?

How much would a barrel of oil be?

Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't it be ideal to attack a tanker coming from Saudi not one going to Saudi? This tanker was empty right?

smallpoxgirl wrote:Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't it be ideal to attack a tanker coming from Saudi not one going to Saudi? This tanker was empty right?

That was my first thought as well. I keep picturing Marvin the Martian ducking down with his fingers in his ears, then standing up and saying "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"

A full tanker is certainly worth more than an empty one, but you still need those buggers to transport, and thus its value. Let the UN foot the bill. Of course, when challenged militarily the UN tends to cower. If you want the US to police the seas, let someone else foot the bill.
Another huge problems will be the insurance on these ships, Lloyds of London is not keen on paying out for piracy attacks.

I'm from NC, our last pirates (Blackbeard and such) were beheaded and their heads displayed as a warning, think that will fly in international courts of law?

Was this really pirates? I understood it to be Islamic militants. Be kinda interesting if it was pirates though. Hold up a tanker, and steal a couple thousand gallons of crude?

Maybe it was Islamic Freedom Fighters?

The word terrorists just reminds me of the French blowing stuff up in New Zealand.

Let's hope the French blow up these terrorists too.

Yemen's oil revenues hit $2.6bn in 2008 by Amy Glass on Sunday, 27 July 2008
… A report published by the Central B:ank of Yemen attributed the increase to a boost in oil production to 23.75 million barrels, compared to 20 million barrels in the same period of 2007. …

Arabian Business

Well folks Yemen is back in the news once again, and not in a good way.

Anyone having lived there recently is invited to chime in with anecdotal evidence of just what is going on there. I for one would appreciate some eye witness info instead of the pap that passes for news in the USA these days.

Lets see, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan now Yemen ??, this just might be that 100 year war that McCain was talking about, are we really winning this war with Al Qaeda or is it a waste of money like that other war with drugs that has been going on now for about 30 years.

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that Yemen is a “failing state” as the U.S. and U.K. shut their embassies in the country because of the threat from al-Qaeda.

It'll be a real blitzkrieg this time.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... kWlmw&pos=

This was posted on our "News" page (I discern a political agenda):

For several years the government of Yemen a Sunni country has been fighting a civil war with Shia rebels who are trying to challenge the Government and introduce a shia country with an Islamic radical agenda. The rebels are heavily backed with moral and military support from the Iranian Government. The Government of Yemen is very weak and poor, and therefore is unable to exercise full control over the country. The situation is so bad that the last Jews in Yemen who have been there for over 3,000 years have been forced to leave in the past few months due to violence from the Shia rebels. The situation is deteriorating so rapidly that the Saudi (Sunni) Government has sent its military into Yemen to help the Yemeni Government. There have been reports that many Arab Sunni countries including Jordan, Morocco and Egypt have sent commando units to Yemen to help the government. The US is also helping Yemen financially and militarily to fight the rebels. The ultimate goal of Iran is to impose a shia Government that will be obedient to it. While Yemen does not have much oil a collapse of the government could have a large impact on oil prices. Iran’s main goal in defeating Yemen would be to overthrow the Saudi Government which is the largest producer of oil in the war. Even though Saudi Arabia has a majority Sunni population, if the Government collapsed Sunni Al Qaida extremists could take over who will align with the Shia government in Iran.

Are you Sunni, Shiite or Jewish (Tell us your political agenda):

I am a Irish American Capitalist and my Political Agenda is that we should just Nuke Iran and solve half the problems over there in Arab land..