A strategic pipeline for UAE’s oil exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz could face more delay due to differences with the Chinese construction company, industry sources said.

The pipeline will have a capacity of around 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) and give the UAE an alternative route to exporting oil via the strait, which Iran has threatened to block over western sanctions on its oil exports.

The 370-kilometre Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline has been delayed, with Minister of Energy Mohammad Bin Dha’en Al Hameli this month pushing back the start of operations to May or June.

Gulf News

As many as 270 construction issues have pushed back the completion date, said the two people, declining to be identified because they’re not allowed to speak publicly on the matter. The $3.3 billion project won’t be ready until at least April, one of them said. Abu Dhabi, holder of most of the U.A.E.’s oil reserves, had planned to start exports in January 2011 through the pipeline to a port outside the strait, Dieter Blauberg, the project’s former director, said in May 2009.

The 1.5 million barrel-a-day link would ensure the U.A.E. can export crude without risking a blockade at Hormuz, where fully laden tankers exit the Persian Gulf with one-fifth of the world’s traded oil. The chance that Iran might try to close the waterway has intensified as Europe prepares to follow tougher U.S. sanctions on the country.

“That pipeline would carry pretty much all of Abu Dhabi’s oil,” Robin Mills, an analyst at Manaar Energy Consulting in Dubai, said Jan. 5. “It’s a critical bit of infrastructure, and it is remarkable it hasn’t been completed.”

An average of 14 crude tankers sail each day through the strait, which is 21 miles (34 kilometers) wide at its narrowest point, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Important Chokepoint

Most of the oil exported by Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, as well as crude from Iraq, Kuwait, the U.A.E., Qatar and Iran itself must pass through the waterway, making Hormuz the world’s most important chokepoint, with a daily flow of 17 million barrels a day last year, according to EIA data.

An official at International Petroleum Investment Co., the pipeline’s owner, declined to say when the project would start when asked by Bloomberg on Jan. 3, and the company didn’t respond to an earlier e-mail seeking comment. China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp., the pipeline’s contractor, didn’t respond to a fax seeking comment on Dec. 15, and a spokesman for its parent China National Petroleum Corp. declined to comment when Bloomberg contacted him that day by telephone.

An official at Abu Dhabi Co. for Onshore Oil Operations, or ADCO, the state company assigned to operate the pipeline, referred all inquiries to IPIC, speaking by phone on Jan. 6. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or Adnoc, which owns 60 percent of ADCO, didn’t respond to questions e-mailed on Dec. 21, and public relations officials had no immediate response when contacted by phone that day and on Dec. 22 and Jan. 3.

Across Desert, Mountains

Among ADCO’s minority shareholders, Royal Dutch Shell Plc declined to comment in a Dec. 21 e-mail, and Exxon Mobil Corp. referred inquiries to ADCO in a Dec. 22 e-mail. BP Plc declined to comment in a Jan. 3 e-mail, and a Partex Oil and Gas official declined to comment by phone on Jan. 4. Total SA didn’t respond to a Dec. 21 e-mail seeking comment.

Once ready, the pipeline will transport crude from Habshan, the collection point for Abu Dhabi’s onshore oil fields, over 230 miles (370 kilometers) of desert and razorback mountains to the port of Fujairah, on the U.A.E.’s eastern coast, facing the Gulf of Oman. The project’s declared aim is to “offset reliance” on Gulf terminals while reducing shipping congestion, according to IPIC, the Abu Dhabi government-run owner.

The line terminates at a kilometer-long (0.6 mile-long) site containing eight white storage tanks and pipes stacked four high over the length of a football field nestled at the foot of the Hajar Mountains.

Shorter Journeys

Tankers will also save two days sailing time, worth about $38,000, by loading at Fujairah instead of Abu Dhabi, according to data provided by Clarkson Research Services Ltd.

IPIC initially planned to begin filling the pipeline in September 2010 then load cargoes the following January, Blauberg said in 2009. It later pushed back the start without explanation, saying in a bond prospectus on Oct. 19, 2011, that it expected to deliver first oil in “early 2012.”

The U.S. tightened economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program on Dec. 31, and the European Union is weighing a ban later this month on purchases of Iranian crude. Iran held 10 days of naval maneuvers east of Hormuz ending Jan. 3 and warned it would block the strait if prevented from selling its oil, according to Iranian state-run news agencies. The country plans even bigger military maneuvers in the area next month, the state-run Fars news agency reported on Jan. 5. Brent crude futures have risen 5 percent so far this month to $113 a barrel.

A potential Hormuz blockade “still remains the ultimate fear in the oil market,” Barclays Plc said in a Jan. 5 note.

‘Tanker War’

Should Hormuz be closed to ships, the pipeline alone won’t prevent price rallies because most of the oil from the Gulf would still be stopped, Kamel al-Harami, an independent oil analyst said by phone from London on Jan. 6.

Weeks of Iran tension has added about $10 a barrel to Brent crude prices, said al-Harami, who was head of crude and products marketing at state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. during the 1980s “Tanker War,” when Iran and Iraq attacked each other’s ships.

Still, a closure of the strait by Iran, in response to opposition to the nation’s nuclear program, is not a “high- likelihood event,” David Fyfe, head of the International Energy Agency’s oil market and industry division, said in a Jan. 4 phone interview from Paris.

A Jan. 5 visit to the Fujairah site identified by a black- and-white sign saying “Abu Dhabi Pipeline Co. Oil Terminal” showed construction workers in blue overalls and hardhats shuttling by bus into and out of the oil storage facility.

Khaled al-Raeesi, a public relations and securities officer for China Petroleum Engineering & Construction, declined to comment on the pipeline’s status when questioned at the site that day, deferring all questions to IPIC.

Of the 270 construction issues detected during an inspection of the project last year, more than 50 were deemed critical, according to one of the people with knowledge of them.
Bloomberg

The deal, signed on December 25 and announced on Friday night by the U.S. Defense Department, “is an important step in improving the region’s security through a regional missile defense architecture,” Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement.

The U.S. Congress had been notified of the proposed sale in September 2008 by former President George W. Bush’s administration. At that time, the system built by Lockheed Martin Corp had been projected to involve more missiles, more “fire control” units, more radar sets, all at a cost roughly twice as much to UAE.

It marks the first foreign sale of the so-called Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the only system designed to destroy short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles both inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The United States, under the government-to-government deal, will deliver two THAAD batteries, 96 missiles, two Raytheon Co AN/TPY-2 radars plus 30 years of spare parts, support and training with contractor logistics support to the UAE, Little said.

“Acquisition of this critical defense system will bolster the UAE’s air and missile defense capability and enhance the already robust ballistic missile defense cooperation between the United States and the UAE,” he said.

Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for its delivery timetable for THAAD, part of a layered bulwark being built by the Obama administration in Europe and the Middle East against Iran’s growing missile capabilities.

IRAN TENSIONS

UAE lies across the Gulf from Iran. The announcement of its purchase underlined rising tensions since a November 8 report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog that Iran appears to have worked on designing a nuclear bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end.

Iran delayed promised long-range missile tests in the Gulf on Saturday and signaled it was ready for fresh talks on its disputed nuclear program.

Tehran on Tuesday threatened to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if it became the target of an oil embargo over its nuclear ambitions.

The THAAD follows a $1.7 billion direct commercial contract this year to upgrade Saudi Arabia’s Patriot antimissile missiles, and a sale this year of 209 advanced Patriot missiles to Kuwait, valued at roughly $900 million, the Defense Department said.

On Thursday, the Obama administration announced it had sealed a deal on December 24 to sell $29.4 billion in advanced Boeing Co F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, the priciest single U.S. arms sale yet.

The Saudi sale involves 84 new F-15SA models to be delivered starting in 2015 plus upgrades to 70 F-15s already in the Saudi fleet and new munitions. Congress had been notified of that deal in October 2010.

The ongoing U.S. buildup of Saudi Arabia as a counterweight to Iran is projected to total as much as $60 billion over 10 to 15 years, including the F-15s, three types of helicopters and advanced missiles, bombs and other hardware and services.

Saudi Arabia was the biggest buyer of U.S. arms from January 1, 2007 through the end of 2010, with signed agreements totaling $13.8 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates, with $10.4 billion, according to a December 15 report by Congressional Research Service analyst Richard Grimmett.

In another pending arms sale to the region, the Obama administration formally proposed in November to sell 600 “bunker buster” bombs and other munitions to UAE in an estimated $304 million package to counter what the Pentagon called current and future regional threats.

Israel, the closest U.S. regional partner, is also being built up. It is to get Lockheed Martin’s new radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, the first country in the region that will fly it. Israel views Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence.

Dennis Cavin, a Lockheed vice president for missile defense programs, told Reuters in August that, in scaling back their planned THAAD purchase, UAE officials had identified some elements “that they think they can do without right now.”

Lockheed, the Pentagon’s No. 1 supplier by sales, is being awarded an initial U.S. government contract worth up to $1.96 billion for the two THAAD batteries under the government-to-government sale to UAE, the Defense Department said in its contract digest on Friday. It said the work was to be carried out through June 30, 2016.

Raytheon’s related deal is valued at up to $582.5 million for radars and services, with details expected to be finalized in June 2012, the digest said. It said Raytheon also was getting a Pentagon deal worth up to $363.9 million to start building two more AN/TPY-2 radar sets.

Lockheed Martin is pleased that the U.S. government and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement on the first foreign sale of the THAAD weapon system, Tom McGrath, a company vice president and program manager, said in a release.

“We look forward to working with our customers to deliver this important capability,” he said.
Reuters

“You bastards. You agents of Israel,” read some of the graffiti, according to two residents who live near the building in the affluent Abu Rummana neighbourhood, one of the most secure districts of the capital near the home and offices of Assad.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem apologised on Monday for attacks on other foreign diplomatic missions by Assad loyalists, which followed the Arab League’s announcement it was suspending Damascus for its crackdown on eight months of protests against Assad al-Assad.

The suspension took effect on Wednesday after a meeting by Arab foreign ministers in Rabat, which Syria did not attend.
Reuters

The Slovenian tactician had already been under enormous pressure following his side’s shock 3-2 defeat at home to Kuwait last weekend set against the backdrop of rumoured dressing room unrest.

While he was given the dreaded vote of confidence by UAE FA chief Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi on Sunday, his side’s embarrassing loss to a Lebanon side they had beaten 7-2 in July has proven to be his final act as manager.

It appeared to be a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ he would be given his marching orders after reports emerged earlier on Tuesday claiming that former Al Jazira boss Abel Braga, now at Brazilian side Fluminense, had already been approached regarding the position, only to turn it down.

But speaking to Sport360° a short time before news of his dismissal filtered through Katanec was adamant that he would not walk away from the position he has held since 2009.

The Slovenian pulled a blank face at every mention of whether he would quit and insisted his side’s deficiencies, so brutally exposed in the Cite Sportive Stadium, were due to a lack of physical preparation.

“We should have scored in the first 20 minutes at least three times, but we had clear physical problems, in this period it was impossible to do from my side, I have no chance,” Katanec told Sport360°.

“Preparation is difficult. It is difficult to work with one coach for a period of Ramadan. We gave them the penalty and the second goal but this happens when you are physically not fit.

“(Lebanon’s players fasted too) but they stayed behind and used our mistakes. Some of the players were clearly down after 20-25 minutes.”

Katanec spoke of his belief that the UAE could still qualify for the “greatest show on earth” in Brazil in 2014 despite being stranded at the bottom of Group B with no points after two games and with the daunting prospect of a meeting with South Korea in Seoul up next.

“We have zero points, congratulations to Lebanon, that’s it. I’m responsible first but we still have four games. We are mathematically still in this. Normally in (this situation) the chances are quite low.”

Katanec bemoaned the absence of Al Wahda striker Ismail Mater whose presence was missed throughout the game as a hapless UAE ran out of steam and ideas, while the Slovenian also slammed Pro League clubs for the phyiscal condition of his players.

“Mater has special qualities that nobody in the area has. We don’t have it now. Some of our main players came completely unprepared and for a coach that is impossible (to deal with),” he said.

“Why a club leaves a player at home for 14 days and left to sleep, I don’t understand. I must take all responsibility because I put these players out to play. We lose a match I have no problem with this. I think I do my job best when (I’m against the wall). “

We lost, this is bad, I’m sorry first for the president, a nice person, but unfortunately… I hope (when the league starts) that we will see some (improvement). Ahmad Khalil wasn’t (100 percent) and he made the (initial mistakes) and is our only striker.”

It had all started so well for the visitors after Mahmood Al Hammadi had given them an early lead, but Lebanon, still smarting from Thiyab Awana’s “disrespectful” backheeled penalty in the sides’ last meeting, refused to roll over and duly equalised through a Mohamed Ghadar penalty.

Lebanon, ranked 52 places below the UAE in the FIFA world rankings in 160th place, remained on the front foot in the second half against a UAE side that looked distinctly unfit and devoid of any real creativity within their ranks.

And they paid the ulimate price as Akram Moghrabi pounced on a defensive mistake from UAE’s Youssef Jaber to put Lebanon 2-1 up before Roda Antar sealed their fate with late third as UAE pushed in vain for that elusive equaliser.

In all, Katanec presided over 27 games in charge of the UAE national team since taking the reins from Frenchman Dominique Bathenay in 2009, winning 12, drawing six and losing nine of his matches to give him a winning percentage of 44.4 per cent.
sport360

“The Arab dictatorial regimes in the Persian Gulf are unable to contain the popular uprisings,” General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, was widely quoted as saying by Iranian media on Saturday.

“Instead of trying and failing to open an unworkable front against Iran, these dictators should relinquish power, end their savage crimes and let the people determine their own future,” Firouzabadi said.

He also denounced “plots” by the Gulf Arab petro-monarchies to “carve out an identity for themselves by rejecting the identity of others,” referring to Iran.

“The Persian Gulf has always, is and shall always belong to Iran,” the general said.

Firouzabadi, speaking on the annual “National Day of the Persian Gulf”, also condemned the regional Arab monarchies for refusing to call the waterway between Iran and its Arab neighbours by its “historical name.”

“With the arrival of the British and later the Americans in the region, plots were hatched to try and change the name with fake identities… to distort the history and identity of the Persian Gulf,” Firouzabadi said.

Relations between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbours have deteriorated sharply, with the latter accusing Tehran of seeking to destabilise Arab regimes in favour of popular unrest that has erupted in many Arab countries.

Shiite-dominant Iran has strongly criticised Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Sunni-ruled Bahrain aimed to help crack down on a Shiite-led uprising there.

Iran says it gives “moral support” to Bahrainis but is not involved in the protests there.

Bahrain and Kuwait have in turn expelled Iranian diplomats, accusing them of espionage.

Iran has in the past claimed Bahrain as part of its territory, and it controls three islands in the southern Gulf that are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates. Zawya

The five were “held in preventative custody” on accusations that they committed crimes that include undermining the public order, opposing the government system and insulting the president, vice president and crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the news agency said.

It identified one of the five as Ahmed Mansour Ali Abdullah Al Abd Al Shehi, more commonly known as Ahmed Mansour. He is a “leading human rights activist who had publicly called for political freedoms and an elected parliament,” Human Rights Watch said. Mansour also is a member of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East advisory committee.

Attorney General Salim Saeed Kubaish said the five “were arrested on order of the public prosecution and questioned in the presence of their lawyers,” the news agency said.

The others who were arrested are Nasser Ahmed Khalfan bin Gaith, Fahad Salim Mohammed Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Al Khamis — all of the United Arab Emirates — and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq, who “does not carry identification papers,” the news agency reported. CNN

At a meeting in Riyadh, ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) , called for the international community and the UN to take “necessary measures” to halt such Iranian actions.

It said the GCC — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — “categorically rejects all foreign interference in its affairs… and invites the Iranian regime to stop its provocations.”

The statement also condemned “aggression” against Saudi diplomats in Iran.

Earlier on Sunday, Riyadh threatened to recall its diplomats from Tehran unless they were better protected.

On April 11, Iranians protested outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran to condemn Riyadh’s military intervention in Bahrain. Iranian media reported several petrol bombs were thrown at the embassy building during the protest.

Bahrain’s Sunni rulers called in troops from Sunni-led Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to put down protests last month by Bahrain’s majority Shi’ites.

Iran has repeatedly condemned the crackdown and the deployment of Gulf Arab troops in Bahrain, a key U.S. ally and home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. rferl

The network is helping rebel commanders on the front lines of the conflict, who had been forced to rely on a primitive system of flags to order their amateur army to advance or retreat.

Authorities in eastern Libya are also using their improvised mobile communications to forge international links as they seek to galvanise support for their war against Colonel Gaddafi.

Ousama Abushagur, a telecoms executive based in Abu Dhabi, masterminded the network on an airline napkin, and organised diplomatic support from UAE government. He told the Telegraph that the new network is reliant on a data centre in London’s Docklands.

“Free Libyana” also relies on millions of dollars worth of equipment supplied by Etisalat, the UAE telecoms giant. A Libyan businessman based in the UAE funded the deal, said Mr Abushagur.

Etisalat stepped in after an attempt to buy the necessary systems from Hauwei, a Chinese telecoms manufacturer, was rejected. It had supplied Libyana, the existing mobile network that Mr Abushagur planned to hijack. A Huawei spokesman declined to comment.

Libyana is one of two mobile operators in Libya, both of which are controlled by Colonel Gaddafi’s eldest son Muhammad. The cable and microwave links that connect mobile masts in eastern Libya to the network hubs in Tripoli were cut in early March.

Mr Abushagur, a 31-year-old Libyan raised in Alabama, drew up his technical plans on a flight on 6 March. Humanitarian convoys he had organised suffered logistical problems because the Gaddafi government was also broadcasting jamming signals to cripple satellite telephones.

Within two weeks Mr Abushagur had assembled a team of engineers – three Libyans and four Westerners – and bodyguards in Doha. After flying to Egypt they crossed the border into Libya and headed for the rebel capital, Benghazi.

Alongside Benghazi-based Libyana workers, they installed their equipment to create a new network independent of Tripoli.

The rebel network was completed using a copy of the Libyana customer database and a satellite link to other countries, again supplied by Etisalat.

The vital customer database, of around 750,000 individuals, was not stolen “because that could have got someone killed”, said Mr Abushagur. Instead engineers painstakingly reconstruced it from available data.

Mr Abushagur successfully tested the network on 2 April with a call to his wife in Abu Dhabi.

“She’s the one who told me to go for it in the first place,” he added.

Free Libyana is now in widespread within eastern Libya, though international calling is limited to selected senior figures.

Last week William Hague told the UN that Britain had also responded to a request for communications equipment from the Libyan rebels. Mr Abushagur, who plans more trips to Benghazi, said he had seen no sign of British-supplied equipment. Telegraph

The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Moussa arrived at Farnborough Airport from Tunisia and that he had travelled to the UK under his own free will.

The statement said: “He has told us that he is resigning his post.”

A Libyan government spokesman insisted Koussa, in his post for two years, had not defected, but was travelling abroad on a diplomatic mission.
Aljazeera