China Confidential CNPC Signs Oil Deal with Iran
China National Peroleum Corp (CNPC) signed a deal on Wednesday to develop Iran's north Azadegan oilfield.
"The contract for the development of North Azadegan oil field was signed ... between National Iranian Oil Company and the Chinese company CNPC, in the presence of the oil minister and the Chinese ambassador," Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.
North Azadegan is in west Iran, close to the Iraqi border.
Many Western energy companies have sidelined or scrapped projeccts in Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, due to U.S. and U.N. sanctions. But Asian companies, particularly from energy-hungry China and India, have been pursuing deals.
"This contract has been signed in the form of the new buy- back (terms)," Mehr News Agency said of the deal with CNPC, which is the Chinese state-owned parent of PetroChina (0857.HK) (601857.SS).
Under so-called buy-backs, companies hand over operations of fields to NIOC after development and then receive payment from oil or gas production for a few years to cover their investment.China Becomes World's Third-Largest Economy
Ariana Eunjung Cha reports from Beijing:China leapfrogged over Germany to become the world's third-largest economy in 2007, sooner than predicted, underscoring how quickly the concentration of global economic power has shifted.
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While earlier estimates had put growth of China's gross domestic product that year at 11.9 percent, revised figures released by the government statistics bureau Wednesday show that its economy actually expanded by 13 percent to $3.38 trillion. That compares with Germany's 2007 GDP of $3.32 trillion.
"It was inevitable," said Ting Lu, a Merrill Lynch economist based in Hong Kong.
Whether the growth trajectory will continue, however, has been complicated by the global recession, which has already prompted massive layoffs and waves of company closures, especially across southeastern China, the heartland of its export-driven economy. If China were to continue to grow at its current rate, economists say it could surpass Japan in as soon as three years and the United States in 18 years to become the world's No. 1 economy.Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Pentagon Warns Mexico Could Collapse
IBD asks: What If Mexico Loses Its Drug War?A new Pentagon forecast warns that Mexico is so embattled by drug lords it could rapidly collapse. The study says the only other state so threatened is Pakistan.
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As the Obama administration moves into office, new faces at the national security establishment with fresh perspective and a few long memories will be a good thing. That's because the U.S. may be forced to shift national security resources toward Mexico, based on the grim possibility that it might not make it out of its drug war.
Vicious traffickers plaguing its border cities have a good chance of taking over the nation. If the worst happens, it will have major implications for the U.S. It's time to pay attention now.
In its assessment of worldwide security threats, known as the "Joint Operating Environment," or JOE 2008 report, the United States Joint Forces Command warns that Mexico and Pakistan face the possibility of a "rapid and sudden" collapse.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
TOP CHINESE ENERGY FIRM IGNORES US, UN SANCTIONS
OVERTAKES GERMANY SOONER THAN PREDICTED
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