Canada refuses to comment on US sale of Canadian-made weapons to Israel

Rights advocates say Canada is not being transparent and has failed to take danger of arms exports to Israel seriously.

Palestinians stand at the site of an Israeli attack on a shelter that housed displaced people in central Gaza on August 17 [Ramadan Abed/Reuters]

By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours
Published On 20 Aug 2024

Montreal, Canada – Canada has refused to comment on a planned United States sale of Canadian-made weapons to Israel, after news of the deal drew rebuke from rights advocates who argue the arms will help fuel Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians.

In a brief statement to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, a spokesman for Canada’s foreign affairs department, Global Affairs Canada, said it “will not speculate on a possible Foreign Military Sale by the United States”.

How Canada’s ‘off-the-record’ arms exports end up in Israe

“Since January 8th, the Government of Canada has not approved new arms export permits to Israel, and this remains the federal government’s approach,” it said.

Canada announced earlier this year that it would not authorise new export permits for weapons to Israel amid mass protests over the country’s war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians over nearly 11 months.

But rights advocates quickly noted that Canada has not revoked existing arms export permits, nor would the prohibition affect Canadian weapons and components that first go to the US before they are shipped to Israel.

Those transfers to the US are difficult to track because of a decades-old preferential trade relationship that allows the North American neighbours to more easily exchange military weapons and related components.

Last Tuesday, the US’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that a company based in the Canadian province of Quebec would be the main contractor in a possible deal to send $61.1m in munitions to Israel.

The company, called General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc, is set to supply tens of thousands of “M933A1 120mm High Explosive Mortar Cartridges and related equipment”, the agency said in a statement. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2026.

Michael Bueckert, vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), an advocacy group, told Al Jazeera that the Canadian government “has a responsibility” to stop the shipment.

“If Canada is going to knowingly allow weapons to be transferred to Israel while it claims to be stopping this sort of thing, it just destroys their entire credibility,” he said.

Bueckert added that, with experts accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, it also “shows that they’re more interested in public relations than taking action to prevent complicity in genocide”.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), another advocacy group, also urged Canada to prevent the transfer.

“Any decision otherwise would render the Government’s earlier weapon permits ban to become moot,” its CEO, Stephen Brown, said in a statement on Tuesday.

On Monday, the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) issued a statement publicly opposing the sale, saying it was “horrified” to learn of Canada’s involvement.

“Canada must not be fuelling the ongoing genocide in Gaza with Canadian-made weapons,” said Heather McPherson, a Canadian parliament member and foreign affairs critic for the NDP.

“By refusing to end arms sales to Israel, including by allowing loopholes to send weapons through the United States, Canada could potentially be complicit in war crimes.”

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc, the Canada-based company involved in the sale, did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Legal experts have said Canada is flouting its obligations under international law to prohibit weapons transfers to countries when there is a serious risk the equipment could be used in human rights violations.
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For instance, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) — a United Nations pact to which Canada is a signatory — bans transfers if states have knowledge the arms could be used in genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other violations of international law.

The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has already said there is a “plausible” risk that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Rights groups have also documented scores of Israeli military attacks against Palestinian civilians, journalists and humanitarian aid workers across the enclave since the war began.

Against that backdrop, in March, a group of Palestinian Canadians and human rights lawyers sued Canada over exports of military equipment to Israel.

“We are seeking to hold Canada to its own standards and to its international legal obligations,” Henry Off, a board member for Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), one of the groups involved in the case, told Al Jazeera at the time.

“We don’t want the Canadian government to be contributing to the mass starvation and bombardment of Gaza.”

But as Israel’s war in Gaza drags on, rights advocates have urged the government to also close the “loopholes” that allow the country to send weapons to the US with less oversight and fewer reporting requirements.

Bueckert said the Canadian government has failed to take the concerns of its citizens seriously — or take real action to address their calls to end weapons shipments to Israel.

“I think they’ve really been very dismissive and condescending towards the concerns that Canadians have about the very real and dangerous transfer of military goods to Israel,” Bueckert told Al Jazeera.

“I think in general Canada is not taking seriously the legal consequences for its complicity in genocide.”

 

Circle K owner seeking takeover of 7-Eleven parent company

Canadian-based retail giants have submitted a “friendly, non-binding proposal” to buyout the 7-Eleven chain of stores from its Japanese owners Seven & i.

Circle K is owned by Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard and have submitted a “friendly, non-binding proposal” to buyout the  7-Eleven chain of stores.

Tue, 20 Aug, 2024 - 15:00

Mattieu Dion

Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard has approached the parent company of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain for a possible takeover in the latest in a series of ambitious plans by a company that was built on making one deal after another.

Couche-Tard confirmed Monday that it has made a “friendly, non-binding proposal” to Japan’s Seven & i Holdings which had a stock market value of about $38bn (€28.9bn) as of Monday’s close in Tokyo.

There’s no guarantee any agreement can be reached, the company cautioned — and there are significant barriers to completing such a massive deal.

One of those barriers could be US antitrust regulators, who are likely to challenge any deal over concerns it would lead to higher prices for consumers and weaken the job market, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing two people briefed on the matter.

Wish list

But if the Canadian company can pull it off, it would be the fulfilment of a dream for founder and Executive Chairman Alain Bouchard, who has been eyeing 7-Eleven for decades.

7-Eleven operates,84,500 franchise stores across 19 countries.

Mr Bouchard made his first approach around 2005, looking for a deal with the Japanese company for its US business, according to a biography published several years ago. The idea was shot down quickly.

Mr Bouchard moved on, targeting a series of convenience store and gas station deals in the US and Europe before eventually turning his sights on Carrefour SA in 2021. Negotiations on a $20bn offer for the supermarket chain died in the morass of French politics, but last year the company landed a smaller deal in Europe, acquiring about 2,200 stores from TotalEnergies SE for €3.1bn.

Today the company has about 16,700 stores spread in 31 countries and territories — 75% of which were added through acquisitions.  

Broad horizons

The Circle K owner still sees more opportunities in the US. Less than an hour after confirming its proposal to Seven & i, the company announced the acquisition of 270 GetGo retail and fueling locations from Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle. 

Couche-Tard is now the second-largest US operator with more than 7,100 locations, representing about 5% of convenience stores, and another 2,100 in Canada. The acquisition of 7-Eleven’s 13,000 locations in those two countries has the potential to raise competition concerns.

A spokesperson for Couche-Tard declined to comment beyond the company’s Monday morning statement.

Why Japan's 7-Eleven is on a rival retailer's shopping list

Mariko Oi & Annabelle Liang
BBC News

Getty Images
7-Eleven is the world's biggest convenience store chain


When the owner of 7-Eleven announced this week that it had received a buyout offer from a Canadian rival it triggered shockwaves in Japan.

A Japanese company of this size has never been bought by a foreign firm.

Historically, companies from Japan were more likely to buy overseas businesses.

7-Eleven is the world's biggest convenience store chain, with 85,000 outlets across 20 countries and territories.

And it's been especially successful at selling itself as an option for a quick and cheap yet tasty meal, and in places where there is already an abundance of that, such as Japan and Thailand.

"We have more stores than McDonald's or Starbucks," the chief executive of Seven & i Holdings, Ryuichi Isaka, told BBC News before the firm received the buyout offer.

Around a quarter of those 85,000 shops are in Japan, while there are roughly 10,000 in the US.


A big player


In comparison, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard, which operates the Circle K chain, has almost 17,000 stores in 31 countries and territories. More than half of its outlets are in North America.

The approach valued Seven & i at more than $30bn (£23bn) before news of the preliminary offer emerged.

7-Eleven's shares jumped by over 20% on Monday, before giving up some of those gains the following day.

Analysts point to the Japanese yen's weakness against the US dollar and other major currencies for helping to make Seven & i affordable.

Along with the weakness of the yen, efforts by the Japanese government to promote mergers and acquisitions appear to be working, said Manoj Jain from Hong Kong-based hedge fund Maso Capital.

Getty Images
Alimentation Couche-Tard operates the Circle K chain

7-Eleven has been keen to capitalise on the popularity of the food it sells - a wide range, including rice balls, sandwiches, cooked pasta, fried chicken and dumplings.

While in much of the world convenience stores are where people grab a bar of chocolate or a bag of crisps in an emergency, in Japan, shops like 7-Eleven are popular with visitors searching for culinary delights.

These 7-Eleven dishes have turned the chain into a social media sensation in Asia.

Dropping into a 7-Eleven store has even been touted as one of the top things to do in Thailand, where its ham and cheese toastie has become a TikTok hit.

British singer Ed Sheeran is among the celebrities who have helped raise 7-Eleven's profile - a video of him trying snacks from a store in Thailand went viral.


Mr Isaka has been aiming to repeat that success in the US and European markets as the company came under pressure from investors to sell some of its businesses and focus on the 7-Eleven brand.

The firm has been updating its strategy so more stores could follow the approach of its Japanese shops.

"What we found is that stores which sell fresh food are attracting many more shoppers," Mr Isaka said.

"We want to grow with high quality - not just increase the quantity. We want to make sure customers are happy, and increase sales of each store whilst increasing the number of stores," he added.

American roots


Seven & i has also been on a shopping spree. In January, it bought more than 200 stores in the US from petrol station chain Sunoco for around $1bn (£770m).

In April, it bought back more than 750 stores from a franchisee in Australia.

For most of its almost century-long history 7-Eleven was an American brand.

Starting out in 1927 selling blocks of ice that were used to keep fridges cool, it later stocked essential items like eggs, milk and bread.

At the time, the stores were open between 07:00 and 23:00 - hence the name.

Seven & i Holdings
The first 7-Eleven store opened in Texas in 1927


As the business grew, 7-Eleven began offering franchises outside the US.

In 1974, Japanese retail firm Ito-Yokado struck a deal to open the country's first 7-Eleven. In 1991, it bought a 70% stake in the chain's US parent company.

The founder of Ito-Yokado, Masatoshi Ito, who died in 2023 at the age of 98, is often credited with transforming 7-Eleven into a global empire.

Ito-Yokado was renamed Seven & i Holdings in 2005 with the "i" in its name being a nod to Ito-Yokado and Mr Ito, who was by then the company's honorary chairman.

Now, as the the company decides whether it will remain under Japanese ownership or return to its North American roots, experts are wondering whether more of Japan's big firms could become takeover targets.

There is now a "greater willingness of Japanese boards and management teams to accept offshore capital and be receptive to foreign approaches,” Mr Jain said.

More foreign investors may now be encouraged to pursue their interest in Japanese companies, he added.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Ransomware attacks surge over 60% in UK and US

A new report on the state of ransomware

 shows attacks have more than doubled.

Helen ClarkeAugust 20, 202
4

Manufacturing has become a target with a 71% year-on-year increase in attacks. Credit: Shutterstock

Malwarebytes‘ 2024 State of Ransomware report published today (20 August) shows a surge in malicious activity on US and UK businesses.

As a global leader in real-time cyber protection, the “ThreatDown 2024 State of Ransomware” report reveals an alarming increase in ransomware attacks over the past year.

In the US there has been a 63% increase in ransomware attacks on organisations and businesses, with the UK seeing an even greater rise of 67%.

Gangs carrying out attacks who are not in the top 15 known threat actor groups have increased from 25% to 31% – meaning lesser-known groups are increasing their activity.

This also indicates that the ransomware being used is becoming more accessible to a broader range of cybercriminals and marks a significant shift in the tactics and strategies employed by attackers.

Marcin Kleczynski, Founder and CEO, Malwarebytes said: “Ransomware gangs have time and motivation on their side. They constantly evolve to respond to the latest technologies chasing at their tails.

“We’ve seen this very distinctly over the past year as widespread adoption of technologies like EDR has helped identify attackers before they launch malware, pushing ransomware gangs to work more quickly and put more effort into hiding themselves. Organisations and MSPs need additional support and continuous coverage to out manoeuvre today’s criminals.”

Other key findings in the report include that the US accounts for 48% of all ransomware attacks worldwide and suffers 60% of the world’s attacks on education and 71% of attacks on healthcare.

With a 71% year-on-year increase in ransomware attacks, the manufacturing sector has become a default target for cyber criminals to exploit vulnerabilities.

The report also features insights from the ThreatDown MDR team on three key shifts in the tactics and techniques of ransomware gangs such as Living off the Land (LOTL) Techniques – companies with a dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC) are finding it harder to identify attackers inside their company’s system.

‘Nighttime Attacks’ are also heavily featured in the report with most ransomware attacks happening between 1am and 5am when IT staff are less likely to be present.

It is also reported that the attack chain – how long it takes to execute a ransomware attack, has reduced from weeks to hours.

All three changes in attack strategy highlight the need for rapid detection and response capabilities for businesses.

We’re All Worried About Layoffs

Maria Gracia Santillana Linares
Forbes Staff
I cover the intersection of business, culture and technology.


Workers are now more worried about getting laid off than they were 10 years ago, according to new research from the NY Fed.get

Just when we thought unemployment numbers were holding steady and the labor market was starting to recover, a new survey by the New York Federal Reserve knocks us right back down to earth.


The truth is employees are more worried about losing their job in the next four months than they have been at any point in the last 10 years. Opportunities for promotion, as well as overall job and compensation satisfaction, also fell.


Worker happiness is also moving in a “troubling” direction, according to a survey by BambooHR. Happiness scores tracked from 57,000 employees have dipped since the pandemic, with tech workers in particular hitting a four-year low.


Perhaps in anticipation of getting laid off, or fed up with their current unhappiness, the New York Fed found the percentage of workers looking for a job in the last month peaked at 28.4%. But with cooling hiring rates, falling salaries and likely fewer promotions, employees are even willing to take a lower starting salary for a new job than they were four months ago, according to the survey. It’ll take, on average, $81,147 for a worker to switch to a new employer. This is, however, still higher than last year’s $78,645.


It’s demoralizing to say the least. Our contributors have some tips on how to beat the labor market blues: From “right-spotting” to stay positive in your current job, to getting creative with your job search and even taking the time to learn a new skill or get a new certification, there are things you can do to keep yourself in a better state of mind about your career prospects. On the bright side? You’re likely not the only one feeling this way.

I’m hoping for more uplifting news soon. Happy reading, and hope you have a ✨ very demure, very mindful ✨ week.

Estidamah, Saudi Coffee Company Join Forces to Boost Kingdom’s Coffee Industry

UNSUSTAINABLE

The partnership is part of national efforts to boost local coffee production, which will support the economy and help achieve the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. (SPA)

-20 August 2024 AD ـ 15 Safar 1446 AH

The National Research and Development Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Estidamah) and the Saudi Coffee Company signed a strategic memorandum of cooperation aimed at boosting the coffee sector in the Kingdom, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Tuesday.

The partnership is part of national efforts to boost local coffee production, which will support the economy and help achieve the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

It focuses on various key areas, including localizing modern technologies for coffee cultivation and production, implementing findings from research and applied studies, and boosting the skills of local farmers through training in best agricultural practices in order to improve crop quality and maximize economic returns.

The joint research team will focus on technological innovation and prioritize the use of nanotechnologies and biocatalysts to improve coffee plant growth.

Furthermore, artificial intelligence will be utilized to manage coffee farms more efficiently, ultimately leading to greater productivity and improved quality.

The partnership will explore the possibility of using alternative water sources, including rainwater harvesting, to ensure the long-term sustainability of production and open up new possibilities for expanding coffee cultivation in different regions of the Kingdom.

Estidamah board member Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Saghir said this partnership marks a significant advancement for the Saudi coffee industry by leveraging Estidamah's research expertise with the Saudi Coffee Company's marketing capabilities.

The ultimate objective, he explained, is to position the Kingdom prominently on the global map of coffee production.

Sustainability Director at the Saudi Coffee Company Dr. Abdullah Bokhari said the collaboration marks an important stride toward empowering local farmers and boosting the global competitiveness of local coffee.

The collaboration is anticipated to generate new job opportunities and bolster rural development in coffee-producing areas, thus enhancing the quality of life for local communities.

 

CEO interview: “Onshore oil industry must generate cash for well decommissioning”

By Ruth Hayhurst on August 20, 2024

The UK onshore industry needs to raise money to plug and abandon hundreds of redundant oil wells as part of the energy transition, Angus Energy’s chief executive told DrillOrDrop.

Richard Herbert, chief executive of Angus Energy.
Photo: Angus Energy

In an extended interview, Richard Herbert said the onshore industry had to follow the North Sea’s example and invest to decommission old wells.

He said:

“It’s not on the same scale as the North Sea was but the [onshore] industry has hundreds and hundreds of wells to abandon safely, so that they don’t pollute future water courses.

Official data analysed by DrillOrDrop shows there are nearly 500 UK onshore wells that are not classed as operating but have not been fully decommissioned. More detailed article coming soon.

Mr Herbert said:

“[site operators] have sites to demolish and return to open fields and someone has to pay for that. And the government won’t pay for it and nobody else is going to pay for it.

“So the industry has to generate some wealth that can be used to reward its shareholders but also can be used responsibly to end the oil era in onshore UK.”

Mr Herbert, who runs the UK’s biggest onshore gas field at Saltfleetby in Lincolnshire, said the onshore industry was playing “a very important role” in the energy transition “that maybe people don’t’ understand when they look at our business model.”

He said:

“the energy transition doesn’t just involve building a lot of windmills and solar farms and everyone buying electric cars and cooking on those electric things, that I can’t cook on.

“It also involves cleaning up more than 100 years of industrial activity and if you look at all these producing fields in the Weald and in the east midlands, it’s a bit like the North Sea.

“the big [offshore] companies are investing billions of pounds now in taking out the platforms and plugging the wells and making it look like it did before we ever went there. We have to do the same onshore.”

He said the investment tax breaks in the energy profits levy – described by fossil fuel opponents as a loophole – were “critical capital allowances that allow the industry to invest and replenish our domestic production”.

Last month, the new Labour government extended the energy profits levy, also known as windfall tax, by another year. It also increased the rate of tax and removed the investment allowances.

Other key points

Mr Herbert has been Angus Energy’s chief executive since 2023 and was a senior executive at BP. As well as Saltfleetby, his company operates onshore oil sites at Balcombe and Lidsey in West Sussex and Brockham in Surrey.

In his DrillOrDrop interview, he also said:

• The oil and gas industry had to lower its climate impact but developing domestic oil and gas fields was in the best interests of the country
• The industry was “confused” about the implications of the recent landmark Supreme Court judgement on carbon emissions from the use of fossil fuels
• There are plans for new wells or workovers at the Saltfleetby gas field and hints of onshore acquisitions
• Angus is applying to bring in formation water for injection at Brockham
• Balcombe, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, would be “too difficult” if starting from scratch
• The Weald oil fields are “small and complicated” and there are questions over their potential

Read a transcript of the interview

Climate and onshore oil and gas

Mr Herbert said:

“We all recognise that we have to continue to lower the impact of oil and gas because of the climate impacts of it.

“But at the same time, it has to be done in the right way.”

He said:

“we are in the very early days of the energy transition. We still rely significantly on oil and gas for our energy, for transportation, for home heating, for electricity generation, for industry, and importing oil and gas when we have domestic resources does not make any sense.

“I think the whole industry recognises that if we are given a chance to produce and develop domestic oil and gas fields it is in the best interests of the country as we manage our way through what’s going to be a complex energy transition.”

Campaigner Sarah Finch who brought the successful legal challenge at the Supreme Court on downstream carbon emissions. Photo: DrillOrDrop

On the recent landmark Supreme Court judgement on carbon emissions, he said:

“The reaction I’ve heard since this case was that people are confused about how this is this is going to be interpreted and what does it really mean.”

The court ‘s majority judgement said Surrey County Council should have taken into account downstream emissions from burning oil produced at UKOG’s Horse Hill site when deciding planning permission.

The decision is expected to have widespread implications for carbon intensive industries, including a new coal mine in Cumbria.

Mr Herbert said it was difficult to know how the judgement would affect Angus Energy and the onshore generally. He said “right now we are waiting to see.

“We have a planning application which has just been submitted to drill additional wells at the Saltfleetby gas field and that approval process could be affected by this. At this stage, we remain optimistic that we will get the right outcome and if this involves more work to be clear about the impact of what we’re trying to do then so be it. We can live with that.”

He described the argument, put forward by the former head of BP, John Browne and others, against issuing new North Sea licences as “an interesting point to debate”.

He said:

“I think in terms of production and opportunities to get as much out of the ground now or in the short term to stop us importing, I find it much harder to find arguments against that because that seems to me to be efficient and logical.

“We still have an electricity system that is very dependent on hydrocarbons. We have home heating that is very largely dependent on hydrocarbons. We don’t have that many electric cars on the road yet and a lot of those that are there the electricity is being generated by gas. So we’ve got a long way to go.”

He said he would be “the first to support” Labour’s plans for investment in alternative energy”.

But he said “it can’t come at the cost of the oil and gas industry”.

The energy transition “has to be done in the right way”, he said.

“What doesn’t work right now is the high levels of taxation that were committed by the last government as a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in Ukraine. And rather than seeing those come down as commodity prices have come down again, we’re actually seeing people trying to push them up.”

Angus Energy in southern England

The Weald – potential in question

Mr Herbert described the Weald oil fields in southern England as “small and complicated”.

Asked whether there was potential for future development of oil and gas in the Weald, he said:

“Probably not.”

He said there was “not much public support from the community” for the industry.

Balcombe – well test, stimulation and wrong location

Balcombe residents challenging the Balcombe well test at the High Court. Photo: DrillOrDrop

At Balcombe, where there were near daily protests during drilling in 2013, local people have delayed a well test by bringing a legal challenge. Angus Energy and the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government will defend the case at the appeal court in January 2025.

Asked whether the Balcombe oil site, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, was in the wrong place, Mr Herbert said:

“If we were starting from scratch today, we would say ‘shall we go and explore for oil in an area of outstanding beauty? Probably too difficult’.”

He acknowledged local opposition to the plans, but said they were “borne out of the fear of fracking”. He said he thought the site could be “developed responsibly without putting at risk the water course and everything that’s in the AONB”.

The well would have to be flowed even if it was going to be abandoned, he said.

“the only way to deal with this is to allow the well to be flowed and then we either make a commercial decision to abandon it and put it back to what it was like before we drilled, or we have some encouragement that says we have an asset here that could be developed and which could generate production, taxes, jobs and all the things that we do this for.”

Asked if Angus Energy planned any form of stimulation of the Balcombe well, Mr Herbert said:

“Not in terms of hydraulic stimulation, no. We have not applied in our planning permission to do that. And if we were to develop the field, I think it is extremely unlikely that we would be looking to do that. I can’t say impossible because I don’t know what the test might tell us about the best way to encourage production from the wells.”

He said high volume hydraulic fracturing “never got off the ground in the UK. I don’t think it ever will”.

But he said the industry had been stimulating wells to deal with formation damage “for decades” and “no one ever made a fuss about it”.

“If we wanted to clean up a well and do a very small job on it, that is something that we would have to apply for permission for. It’s not something we have currently applied for.”

Mr Herbert said Angus had no recent contact with Frack Free Balcombe Residents’ Association, the group bringing the challenge to the Balcombe well test.

Brockham and Lidsey – water injection plans

At Brockham, near Dorking, Angus said it was seeking permission to import formation water from other sites to inject into the reservoir. It currently has permission to inject just water from Brockham.

The company restarted production at Brockham in June 2024, after a break of 18 months. New production levels were 40-50 barrels of crude oil a day, Mr Herbert said. But 60% of the output from the field was formation water.

Mr Herbert said:

“we’ve argued successfully that to maximise the recovery from Brockham we need to replace the fluids we’re taking out. And therefore we would like the ability to bring additional tanker loads of water in to make sure that we’re doing that. We’re in the process of putting that together.”

He said this permission would allow Angus Energy to restart production at its Lidsey field, near Bognor Regis, which has no water disposal facilities.

Lidsey produced about 15-20 barrels a day in 2020. Mr Herbert said even at this level of production the field “would still be economic”.

“we have licences from the government to maximise production from these fields so we will do what we can to achieve that. But we can’t make a decision on that until we’re able to consider the movement of the fluids, particularly the water, to Brockham.”

Saltfleetby

Saltfleetby gas field. Photo: Angus Energy

Last month, Angus Energy applied for planning permission for four new gas production wells at Saltfleetby.

Official figures show the field contributes about 80% of UK onshore gas production. But this represents less than 1% of total UK gas production.

Mr Herbert said the field was currently constrained to about 11 or 12 million cubic feet per day. He said he hoped new wells, workovers and a £3m project to install a booster compressor, would increase production at Saltfleetby.

The company was revising its reservoir model for the field, Mr Herbert said, to shape decisions on future wells and workovers.

Angus and its partner, Trafigua, are also looking at potential gas storage at Saltfleetby. Mr Herbert said “there could be a role” for market-driven storage at the field, where a trader buys a cargo of cheap liquefied natural gas (LNG) and stores it until prices rise.

He added:

“I believe we should take a serious look at carbon capture at this site. This government has both committed to net zero emissions and at the same time acknowledged the role of gas in the foreseeable future. Onshore sites will have to be an essential part of the new strategy.”

He also said once Saltfleetby’s gas was worked out, the company would “be looking to see if there is anything else around”, including oil.

Acquisitions and hedging

Angus has previously hinted about new areas of interest and Mr Herbert suggested this could include additional UK onshore fields:

“we recognise that the company has the potential to grow and we can take on more opportunities.”

He said:

“as a UK onshore producer, the first place people would expect us to look at is onshore UK and there’s quite a lot of companies that are, if not distressed, then they are struggling.

“There’s a logic to potentially combining or adding assets in onshore UK. But this comes back to the attitude of the new government to the environment in which we would be investing.

“I think we need to have clearer rules and a clearer understanding of government direction before we commit to that.”

At the time of writing, Angus Energy’s share price was 0.25p. This is down from 1.37p when DrillOrDrop last interviewed an Angus Energy chief executive.

Mr Hebert said:

“I believe we’re significantly undervalued. We’ve had to fight to get through some very difficult situations in the last 12-18 months.”

The company hedged Saltfleetby gas during a period of lower prices and before production from the field got underway.

Mr Herbert said the bubble in the gas price “largely coincided with the period when the field was still being developed”. He said the situation was worsened by the need to honour hedges when there was no production. He said: “there was a bit of a lost opportunity there”.

The hedging commitments will continue until summer 2025 and cash flow would be lower, Mr Herbert said.

“we’ve got another 12 months of dealing with those, where for quite a significant part of our production we receive a price that is significantly below the current price. That’s just a legacy position that we have to deal with.

“The good news is that 12 months from now that will be gone and we’re still hedging a percentage of our production but we’re doing it at prices that are much more aligned to current market prices so they give us price protection.”

The company restructured its debt earlier this year and Mr Herbert appeared optimistic for the future. He said:

“We have a very strong asset that has very strong cash generating potential”.

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UFO'S

FAA imposes flight restrictions around US Air Force Plant 42, home to classified aerospace development projects.

Photo: USAF

Summary
FAA imposes flight restrictions around US Air Force Plant 42, home to classified aerospace development projects.

Reports of UFO sightings prompt concerns over espionage and drone interference in military installations.

Drones have become an increasing threat to aviation safety in recent years.

A series of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports around a highly classified US Air Force base in California have coincided with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposing temporary flight restrictions in the area. United States Air Force Plant 42 - home to advanced military aerospace development projects - has experienced a surge in suspected drone incursions within the past few months.

FAA flight restrictions around Plant 42

Residents of Palmdale, California have reported seeing several unidentified objects in the skies over the past few days, prompting action by the FAA. However, the larger story is that Plant 42 - an offshoot of Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) housing top-secret defense projects from the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman - has reportedly seen an uptick in "uncrewed aerial systems" (UAS) activities in recent months.


Photo: TipTopMap | Shutterstock

As detailed in a report by The War Zone, Mary Kozaitis, Chief of Media Operations for the 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, said the FAA restrictions were put in place "because of the increase in UAS activity." Other US bases have experienced suspected drone activity too, including a notable situation at Langley AFB in December, raising concerns over espionage.

According to Kozaitis,

"We have observed multiple UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities over Plant 42 during the last few months. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size and configuration."

The facility is home to Lockheed Martin's 'Skunk Works', or Advanced Development Programs (ADP) division, as well as other highly advanced aerospace projects, including the B-21 Raider stealth bomber program.

Related

US Air Force's New B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Begins Flight Testing At Edwards AFB

The sixth-generation bomber could be operational within four years.

Videos of alleged UFO sightings in Palmdale began showing up on social media on August 17th, although some clips have since been revealed as hoaxes. Nonetheless, the number of unexplained drone incidents that have been occurring around US military installations is a cause for concern.

US Navy ships have also reportedly experienced drone swarms, raising the likelihood that all of this is state espionage activity. The government has generally sought to downplay any incidents and has remained predictably quiet about the recent Palmdale sightings.

Drone challenges

Drones have become something of a nuisance for airports since affordable commercial drones hit the market. There have been several instances of drone interference at major global airports, including a notable situation over the 2018 Christmas holidays at London Gatwick (LGW) that forced hundreds of flight cancelations. Dublin Airport has also suffered from repeated drone incursions, eventually looking to specialist anti-drone technology as a solution.

Photo: S.Galindo | Shutterstock

Wayward drones pose a threat to aircraft as they are landing or attempting to take-off, and there have been many near misses over the years. In one particularly close call, an Emirates Airbus A380 suffered damage to its right wing after striking a suspected drone while landing in Nice.

Rare sighting of red squirrel in Scotland's central belt

Lanette Perry
The red squirrel was spotted on a fence in a Bishopbriggs garden


A red squirrel has been spotted in the central belt of Scotland in a rare sighting.

The squirrel was seen darting along a fence in Lanette Perry's garden in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.

Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels (SSRS), a project led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said it was one of the most southerly red squirrel sightings in Scotland's central belt in decades.

It said the emergence of the species in the area could be due to conservation efforts.

Lanette Perry


SSRS spokeswoman Katie Berry said: "We cannot say exactly why this pioneering red has turned up in this location - it is perhaps testament to the grey control efforts in areas to the north in recent years, and possibly also as a result of increasing pine marten populations in the Central Lowlands."

More than 75% of the UK’s remaining red squirrels are found in Scotland, however there are only about 120,000 remaining in Scotland.

Their numbers have fallen drastically in recent decades.

This is largely due the spread of the invasive non-native grey squirrel, which was first introduced from North America in the late 1800s to decorate the gardens of stately homes.

No false hopes on Tata jobs, says Starmer

David Deans
Political reporter, BBC Wales News

PA Media
Sir Keir Starmer was on a two-day trip to Wales

Sir Keir Starmer has said he cannot give "false hope" to Port Talbot steel workers ahead of the planned closure of the town's last blast furnace next month.

The Labour UK government is in discussions to save jobs at Tata Steel, where thousands face redundancy.

The prime minister said his ministers will do "everything we can" but added: "I'm not going to pretend it's [anything] other than tough."

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies claimed Labour ministers had led Port Talbot "up the garden path".


£13.5m to help firms hit by Tata steel job losses

Tata Steel starts voluntary redundancy process

Union calls Tata jobs talks extremely positive

Plaid Cymru said Labour was on the "backfoot" in responding to Tata.

The UK Labour leader was speaking to journalists at the 57.4-megawatt Brechfa Forest West windfarm in Carmarthenshire, as part of a two day trip to Wales.

Sir Keir met Eluned Morgan in Cathays Park, in Cardiff, on Monday for his first meeting with her since she became first minister.

The Labour leader claimed to have "turbocharged" the party's action on steel since he has been in power.

Asked if he was risking giving false hope to Port Talbot steel workers, he said: "No.

"We're working really hard on this, both the first minister and myself jointly on this, because it's so important we do everything we can to preserve those jobs."

He later added: "I don't want to give anybody false hope. I'm not going to give up on trying to preserve as many jobs as we can.

"I'm not going to give up on making sure that those in the supply chains have the money they need to diversify, where they need to diversify, which is why we put money behind this just seven days ago.

"It is very important that we have steel production here in south Wales, very important that the government is committed to that.

"This is a tough time, there's no doubt about that but we will do everything we can to preserve those jobs."


Analysis


By Huw Thomas, BBC Wales business correspondent

In opposition Labour had been accused by the Conservative government of giving false hope to Tata Steel workers, and it’s a charge Sir Keir Starmer continues to resist as Prime Minister.

While it is true that the new Labour government has announced funding for supply chain businesses, this was formed at the cross-party transition board whose remit and budget was set by the previous Westminster administration.

Tata Steel, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with its plans.

It has already invited workers to volunteer for redundancy, and will close the second of two blast furnaces in September.

Since the steelmaker announced its original proposals at the beginning of this year, barely any changes have been made to the overall plan to cut 2,800 jobs and shut the heavy end of Port Talbot’s operation by the autumn.

That’s despite industrial action and political pressure.

With just weeks remaining, the blueprint for Tata Steel’s restructure seems unlikely to change. Any additional investment or job creation is likely to be secondary, and small in scale, compared with what’s being lost.

The remaining blast furnace in Port Talbot is due to close in September.

Eluned Morgan told BBC Wales: "We're all very aware that there's a Damocles sword hanging over the Tata situation."

"The situation is difficult, and you know, we have to be prepared for all options."

The first tranche of cash from a £100m fund to help workers and firms affected by restructuring plans was announced last week.

The £13.5m announced was to support local firms whose main customer is Tata Steel find new markets and to help workers find new jobs, access training and gain skills and qualifications in areas where there are vacancies.

No.10 has promised to reset the relationship between the Welsh and UK governments, with the same party now running both.

Asked whether there will be extra cash for the Welsh government to bring down waiting lists, Ms Morgan said: "There's a whole array of issues that we discussed yesterday.

"Because they will be putting some money on the table in England to bring those waiting lists down, we will get some money as a result of that, we'll decide to spend that how we want.

"I'm very keen to make sure that we use that money to bring waiting lists down."

She said the UK government can learn things from the Welsh government. "We've changed the rules, for example, around around GPs and how they should see patients. We've changed their contracts. They haven't done that in England yet," she said.

Ms Morgan added: "We will work together on things that we agree on, but they need to understand that there some things are devolved."

'Huge opportunity'

On the visit to the hillside windfarm seven miles north of Carmarthen on Tuesday, Sir Keir said renewable energy was a "massive opportunity" for the country.

"There's a huge opportunity here for Wales, which has got the resources, it's got the natural resources, it's got the shallow seas, and it's got the skilled people here in Wales that can operate this," he said.

He and Eluned Morgan saw inside one of the turbines, which are up to 100m tall, after a technician stopped it for safety reasons.

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Sir Keir Starmer said renewable energy presented Wales with a "huge opportunity"


Andrew RT Davies criticised Sir Keir's comments on Tata. He said: "Clearly now the realisation is coming that what the Conservatives did in government offered real hope to maintain steel production in Port Talbot with arc furnaces."

He added: "The steel workers and communities in Port Talbot have been misled by Labour and led up the garden path".

Ann Davies, Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin, said: "Labour has known about Tata's plans and associated job losses in Port Talbot for months. But it has constantly found itself on the back foot in responding to them.

‘We were told by Labour Welsh government to wait for a UK Labour government - with its £3bn plan for steel - to deliver new hope and a new plan for primary steel-making in Wales. It is clearer now than ever that there was no plan."