Israel exports crude oil for first time, with shipment heading for Europe

Country joins ‘club of international oil exporters’ with first cargo load of hydrocarbon liquids extracted from offshore Karish natural gas field

By TOI STAFF16 February 2023, 1:59 am  

Energean's floating production system (FPSO) at the Karish gas field in the Mediterranean Sea. (Energean)

Israel has exported crude oil material for the first time, with a shipment headed to Europe from the country’s offshore Karish gas field, according to an announcement Tuesday by Greek gas company Energean. The London- and Tel Aviv-listed firm is in charge of production at the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields in Israel’s economic waters in the Mediterranean.

In a statement Tuesday, Energean said “the first ever lifting of an Israeli crude oil cargo has taken place at the company’s Karish field,” and a cargo ship of hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGLs) extracted from natural gas (and then used in a mixture to make crude oil) was exported to global markets “for the first time in the history of Israeli oil and gas production.”

“This creates a significant differentiated income stream, fundamentally separate to gas-derived revenues,” Energean said, welcoming Israel into the “club of international oil exporters.” The cargo was “sold as part of a multi-cargo marketing agreement with Vitol; the first of a new source of East Med energy to reach Europe,” it added.

Energean got the green light last October to begin production at Karish, a day before Israel and Lebanon signed a long-awaited, US-brokered maritime border deal that ended a dispute over the gas field.

The Karish and Tanin fields contain a total of around 75 billion cubic meters of natural gas. About 12 billion cubic meters are consumed annually in Israel.

Karish is Israel’s third offshore natural gas rig, joining Tamar and Leviathan, with each connected to the mainland by separate infrastructure. Israel began exporting natural gas in 2017 — in a first deal with neighboring Jordan and then Egypt — as it started a path toward energy independence which has largely shielded it from the worst of the ongoing energy crisis sparked by the Russian war on Ukraine last year.

In June, Israel signed a new deal with Cairo and the European Union to export natural gas to the bloc via Egypt as demand for its gas exports grows.

Energean said the firm would remain focused on natural gas “with our Israeli gas production central to our role in enabling the energy transition” but that “light, sweet crude oil responsibly produced… is very much in demand globally,” according to Nick Witney, Energean Group commercial director.

“We are happy and proud that Energean has facilitated Israel joining the club of international oil exporters,” said Energean CEO Mathios Rigas.

Giuliani associate regrets buying into 'deep state' conspiracy — and thinks Trump committed crimes bribing Ukraine

Sarah K. Burris
February 15, 2023

Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump (AFP)

Lev Parnas, one of the associates of Rudy Giuliani's working on the Ukraine conspiracy has been released from prison on home confinement and he's speaking out about his experience working to help Donald Trump.

MSNBC's Ari Melber asked what he called "an obvious, straightforward comparison. There are people like Mr. Giuliani, to say nothing of Mr. Trump who have faced less accountability than you. Did that way on your mind while you were incarcerated?"

Parnas agreed, noting that since his incarceration he's had a lot of time to think.

"That's been weighing on my mind from the day I was arrested, because the things I was doing, at the time I was doing it, I thought I was doing it, as an American patriot, serving my country," he said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think the president of the United States could be so corrupt and do the things he did or send me to do the things that I ended up doing. It still weighs on my mind heavily. That is why I am trying to now make amends and make sure I let the whole truth out and make sure everybody knows exactly what transpired, especially with what's going on in Ukraine."

He explained that at the time, he truly believed Trump and Giuliani's claims that there was a "deep state conspiracy" afoot inside the U.S. government.

"And the Ukrainian people were involved in the officials involved were corrupt and they were trying to undermine the U.S. elections by -- at the time," Parnas continued. "But after reflecting and understanding exactly what transpired, I now realize and understand that it was really Trump using Giuliani, like his Roy Cohn. And making him put people like myself in harm's way to be able to dig up dirt, at that time, on Joe Biden."

Conservatives are still trying to push the same conspiracy, that President Joe Biden's son was somehow involved in a slew of international scams that made the Biden men billionaires. It's false and no one in the Biden family is a billionaire. Parnas has said that the Hunter Biden laptop scheme was a "setup" from the beginning.

"Let me dig into that," Melber began. "What you are telling me, for my understanding is that, during that time you bought into the storyline that you thought, if there is really corruption over there, you are helping explore or uproot it, perhaps. And you are telling me that later you came to see that — which I should know and viewers know was a widely discredited cover story to hurt the Bidens for political reasons — that you do now see it that way and say well, actually it was all kind of Trump's political BS?"

He agreed, and began to echo some of the same points other former Trump allies have said once leaving the fold, describing it more as a kind of cult than a political campaign.

"You have to understand, I grew up in Brooklyn and I looked up to people like Giuliani and Trump and when he became president, I really believed I was cutinized, and I drink the kool-aid," Parnas admitted. "And I really believed that he was trying to do good for our country and I thought, honestly that everything I'm doing is positive for our country. But eventually, even prior to my arrest, I could see the way that Giuliani was being so aggressive with Trump officials and putting pressure on President [Volodymyr] Zelensky at the time."

"Sooner or later I started getting a feeling, but I didn't realize it until after my arrest and after I had time to re-evaluate everything that happened and understand," continued Parnas. "Today I truly believe and understand that they were using me to be able to basically win the 2020 election. Most people deep down inside -- educated, common sense individuals who might not be saying it out loud, realize it's a bunch of BS and it's not true, but they don't come out and say it because for their own personal benefits. They want to change the policy or president, or whatever the political aspect is."

He closed by admitting that based on what he saw, he firmly believes that both Giuliani and Trump "committed crimes" based on the way they pressured Zelensky and prosecutors in Ukraine. Parnas also linked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to the scheme at one point.

"They basically blackmailed them and force them into trying to get information. They threaten them with different things," said Parnas. "The first thing was not having Vice President Pence attend the inauguration. That was a huge thing for President Zelensky once he got into office. With how the military is and stuff like that. The constant threat going on, the state and get what they wanted and what they wanted was for President Zelensky to come out and say there was going to be an investigation into Joe Biden."

Trump was impeached for the alleged attempt to bribe Ukraine, which is listed under the impeachment rules in the Constitution as an example of an impeachable offense. Senate Republicans refused to even hear the case.

HE SAID THIS WHERE?

Elon Musk: ‘Single World Government’ Could Lead to the End of Civilization'

By NTD Newsroom
February 15, 2023

VIDEO Duration 4:42

At the World Government Summit on Feb. 15, Elon Musk said that having a single world government could lead to the end of human civilization. The billionaire warned attendees that excessive cooperation could pose an existential threat.

Debt in Focus as G20 Finance Chiefs Meet in India

By Reuters
Feb. 15, 2023, 

The Gateway of India monument is lit up as part of India's G20 presidency event in Mumbai on December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/

By Aftab Ahmed and Christian Kraemer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - G20 finance and central bank chiefs meet in India next week at the first-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine to discuss rising debt troubles among developing countries, the regulation of cryptocurrencies and the global slowdown.

The Feb. 22-25 meeting in the Nandi Hills summer retreat near Bengaluru is the first major event of India's G20 presidency and will be followed by a March 1-2 meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi.

As global borrowing costs rise, India - whose neighbours Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all sought International Monetary Fund support in recent months - wants to put debt relief at the forefront of discussions at the finance talks.

It is drafting a proposal for G20 countries to help debtor nations badly hit by the economic impact from the pandemic and the Ukraine war, by asking big lenders including China to take a large haircut on loans, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

New Delhi also supports a push by the IMF, the World Bank and the United States for the so-called Common Framework (CF) - a G20 initiative launched in 2020 to help poor countries delay debt repayments - to be expanded to include middle-income countries, though China has resisted.

"We support exploring a possible extension of the CF to middle-income countries facing debt vulnerabilities," said a European Union paper, signalling its backing for such moves ahead of the meeting.

The World Bank said in December the world's poorest countries owed $62 billion in annual debt service to bilateral creditors, a year-on-year increase of 35%, triggering a higher risk of defaults. Two-thirds of the debt burden is owed to China, the world's largest sovereign creditor.

For India, the other priority is to agree on global rules for cryptocurrencies. India's central bank governor said last year cryptocurrencies were a "huge threat" to economic and financial stability" and some officials even called for a ban.

The country is now keen on international views on it.

"Crypto assets are by definition borderless and require international collaboration to prevent regulatory arbitrage," India's Ministry of Finance told parliament this week.

"Therefore, any legislation for regulation or for banning can be effective only with significant international collaboration on evaluation of the risks and benefits and evolution of common taxonomy and standards."

The meeting comes amid attempts to ensure that sanctions on Russia do not deprive nations like Sri Lanka, Zambia and Pakistan - whose economies are still struggling to recover from the pandemic - access to vital oil and fertilizer supplies.

After a video call between Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva last week, New Delhi said it had asked the global lender to work on policy guidance to ensure energy and food security.

"Food shortages and higher food and fertiliser prices triggered by the war are exacerbating global food insecurity, which disproportionately affects the most vulnerable," the EU paper said, urging the G20 to step up efforts to address the problem.

Neither the Russian finance minister nor the central bank chief were expected to attend the meeting.

(Writing by Krishna N. Das; editing by Mark John and Jonathan Oatis)

Elderly in China protest over slashed health benefits

Publishe

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS/ SOCIAL MEDIA GRAB

Image caption,

This is the second round of protests in seven days in Wuhan

By Stephen McDonell

BBC

China correspondent

Crowds of retirees in China have again taken to the streets to protest against cuts to their medical benefits.

They gathered on Wednesday for a second time in Wuhan, where Covid was first detected, and also in the north-eastern city of Dalian.

The second round of protests in seven days puts pressure on President Xi Jinping's administration just weeks before the annual National People's Congress, which will usher in a new leadership team.

Protests first took place in Wuhan on 8 February after provincial authorities said they were cutting the level of medical expenses which retirees can claim back from the government.

Social media footage shows the protesters to be largely elderly retirees, who say this comes at a time of soaring healthcare costs.

Although such health insurance matters are handled at a provincial level, protests have spread to different parts of the country in what appears to be a renewed belief in the power of demonstrating in China.

At the end of last year, thousands of young Chinese took part in protests that eventually forced the government to overturn its strict zero-Covid measures - people had grown weary of the mass testing and sudden, sweeping lockdowns that had been smashing the economy.

But the abrupt change in policy placed China's medical system under enormous strain, as the coronavirus quickly spread through the country. It led to an unknown number of deaths and reporting by the BBC appeared to show that a vast majority of those who died were elderly.

The changes to health benefits for retirees, which officials have described as reforms, come just as China emerges from that brutal Covid wave.

The plan has been sold as a means of trading off reimbursement levels to increase the scope of coverage to include more areas. However criticism of plan on social media has included the widely held view that Chinese officials are trying to recoup the vast amounts of money spent on compulsory Covid testing and other pandemic measures.

Officials in both Wuhan and Dalian said they had no knowledge of the most recent protests and, as such, had no comment to make. Calls to local police stations went unanswered.

Radio Free Asia reported that retired iron and steel workers made up a significant proportion of the original protest group in Wuhan.

The use of existing social network links could help to explain how these gatherings have been coordinated in a country where organising dissent against the government in any form is difficult and can lead to severe punishment, including prison sentences.

Video clips shared on social media showed elderly protestors singing the global Communist anthem, the Internationale. In the past, this song has been used as a means of indicating that demonstrators are not against the government or the Communist Party but merely want their grievances resolved.

A shopkeeper who witnessed this Wednesday's protest in Wuhan told the BBC that police on both sides of a nearby road had blocked access to the area in order to prevent more people joining the hundreds of elderly demonstrators who were already chanting slogans.

Three years of the pandemic crisis followed by a tumultuous exit from zero-Covid have generated considerable public discontent over China's health policies.

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption,

China's zero-Covid measures involved mass testing

Mr Xi had given the country's Covid amelioration policies his personal stamp of approval and the Party has struggled to explain why such a sudden about-face was necessary.

The Chinese government had also publicly ridiculed other countries for opening up too early, claiming they had unnecessarily sacrificed their people as a result.

It then turned around and abandoned its own restrictions at an even greater speed than other nations had done, and did so after maintaining lockdowns and other harsh measures for much longer than anywhere else in the world.

Many here now believe that, as a result, livelihoods were unnecessarily destroyed.

On China's Twitter-like Weibo social media platform, the hashtag #healthinsurance - in Chinese - has attracted millions of hits but was removed from the site's "hot topics" section.

The hashtag matching the site of the most recent protests in Wuhan - Zhongshan Park - was censored and photos claiming to be of the demonstration have been removed.

However, even with China's vast censorship apparatus swinging into action, a large amount of support is still being expressed for the protesting retirees on social media.

Beijing will need to find a way to resolve the issue if it wants to avoid further public agitation.

CRYPTO CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Prosecutors urge tight limits on Bankman-Fried's internet use

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried leaves federal court

 in New York City, US on Feb 9, 2023.

Reuters

NEW YORK - US prosecutors on Wednesday (Feb 15) urged a judge to impose tight restrictions on indicted FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's internet use, arguing existing conditions "leave too much room for inappropriate conduct."

Separately, court documents earlier on Wednesday revealed that a former Stanford University law school dean and a computer science researcher at the school co-signed Bankman-Fried's bond alongside his parents.

He is out on US$250 million (S$334 million) bond after pleading not guilty to fraud charges stemming from now-bankrupt FTX's collapse.

As conditions of his bail, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan has barred the 30-year-old former billionaire from contacting current or former employees at his exchange and Alameda Research hedge fund, and from using encrypted messaging apps such as Signal that let users auto-delete messages.

That ban came after federal prosecutors in Manhattan raised concerns Bankman-Fried may be trying to influence potential witnesses ahead of his October trial on charges of diverting billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to his hedge fund, Alameda Research.

On Wednesday, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried's use of a virtual private network (VPN) to access the internet after the ban was imposed raised further concerns.

They urged Kaplan to bar him altogether from using the internet except to review evidence against him or use email on his Gmail account.

"The defendant is a technologically sophisticated person with both the ability and the inclination to seek workarounds of more narrowly drawn bail conditions," prosecutors wrote.

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He should be allowed to use voice calls and SMS messages on his cell phone, but should only be allowed to use Zoom to communicate with his lawyers, prosecutors wrote.

Bankman-Fried's lawyers said his efforts to contact FTX's current general counsel and chief executive were attempts to help, not to interfere.

They said he used a VPN to watch National Football League playoff games because he had purchased an international subscription while living in the Bahamas.

They nonetheless proposed adding a bail condition that barred him from using a VPN unless one was needed to access prosecutors' evidence so he could prepare his defence.

They proposed letting him communicate by phone, email, SMS text messaging and Twitter direct messaging, while disabling iMessage from his phone.

Kaplan is set to hold a hearing on Bankman-Fried's bail conditions on Thursday.

Bond guarantors

Earlier on Wednesday, Kaplan ordered the release of documents showing former Stanford Law School dean Larry Kramer signed a US$500,000 bond to ensure Bankman-Fried's return to court, and Stanford computer science researcher Andreas Paepcke signed a US$200,000 bond.

Bankman-Fried's parents Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are both Stanford law professors, had pledged their Palo Alto, California home as collateral as part of the US$250 million bail package ensuring their son's return to court.

Read Also

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried charged with defrauding investors by building crypto 'house of cards'

The names of the two other sureties were redacted, but Kaplan later ruled in favour of media outlets including Reuters that argued the public had a right to know their identities.

Bankman-Fried argued the guarantors safety was at risk, but decided not to pursue an appeal of Kaplan's ruling, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In a statement, Kramer said he and his wife have been friends with Bankman and Fried for decades. He said they had been supportive in the past two years "while my family faced a harrowing battle with cancer".

"In turn, we have sought to support them as they face their own crisis," Kramer wrote. "My actions are in my personal capacity, and I have no business dealings or interest in this matter other than to help our loyal and steadfast friends."

Paepcke did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: Reuters

Will Man Utd become football's latest Gulf-backed project?

Issued on: 16/02/2023 

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Prospective new owners of Manchester United have until Friday to reveal their interest in buying one of the world's biggest clubs, with the British press reporting a bid from Qatar which, if successful, will send shockwaves through European football.

United's current American owners, the Glazer family, opened the door to fresh investment in the English giants in November, either in the form of a minority stake or a full takeover.

Deeply unpopular with supporters since they saddled the club with huge debts in a £790 million ($961m) leveraged takeover in 2005, the Glazers are ready to cash out their chips at an enormous profit.

According to reports, they are seeking £6 billion for the three-time European champions, which would smash the record fee for a football club set by Chelsea last year.

A consortium led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital paid £2.5 billion for the Blues with a further £1.75 billion promised in further investment in infrastructure and players.

To date only British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, owner of petrochemicals giant Ineos which also controls French club Nice, has come forward publicly as a potential buyer for United.

But reports of a bid backed by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, refuse to go away.

PSG power and influence

Qatar already wields plenty of influence in European football's corridors of power.

Paris Saint-Germain have dominated French football since a takeover by Qatar Sports Investments -- a subsidiary of the state's sovereign wealth fund -- in 2011 and lured some of the game's biggest stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar to the Parc des Princes.

Nasser al-Khelaifi, president of PSG, is also chairman of the powerful European Club Association.

Just months after hosting the 2022 World Cup, a successful Qatari bid would give the Gulf state pride of place in the Premier League -- the world's most-watched domestic competition.

"Qatar's investment into PSG has been tremendously successful but no other sporting league in the world has so much global exposure as the EPL (English Premier League)," said Danyel Reiche, associate professor of international relations at Georgetown University's Qatar campus.

"Therefore, acquiring Manchester United would totally make sense."

Ownership of United could also offer Qatar the chance to take bragging rights over gulf neighbours Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia's stakes in English football.

Abu Dhabi's investment in Manchester City has transformed them into the Premier League's dominant force, winning six titles in the last 11 seasons.

Newcastle United are flying high in fourth and into the League Cup final for the first time in 47 years just 16 months after a takeover from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

But neither City or Newcastle boast United's tradition of 20 English titles and a massive global fanbase.

"The Gulf investments into European football clubs cannot be seen in pure economic terms. They serve the purpose of nation branding and as an international relations tool," added Reiche.

"The rivalry between two countries in just one town, with Manchester City being owned by the UAE and Manchester United by Qatar, would be a new escalation in the rivalry between two countries with recently worsened relations."

Regulatory hurdles

A Qatari bid would have a series of regulatory hurdles to clear.

Amnesty International have called on the Premier League to tighten ownership rules to ensure they are "human rights-compliant and not an opportunity for more sportswashing."

But the precedent set in green-lighting investment from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia make it highly unlikely the Premier League would block a takeover.

UEFA's rules that preclude two clubs being "directly or indirectly" controlled by the same entity from competing in the Champions League may be more troublesome.

A source with knowledge of the bid insisted to AFP that the bidders are not connected to the owners of PSG.

"The most important thing is that the potential bidder is neither QSI nor QIA (the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund), it is a completely different fund," the source said.

Trying to draw a distinction between Qatari-based funds will be met with scepticism from rival clubs.

However, Germany's RB Leipzig and Austrian champions Salzburg have found a way around UEFA's rules and have been able to participate in the same competition despite both being backed by Red Bull.

United have been in the doldrums since former manager Alex Ferguson signed off at Old Trafford with the club's last league title a decade ago.

The Red Devils have not won any trophy for six years and failed to qualify for this season's Champions League.

Friday's deadline for bids to come forward could herald the start of a successful new era on the field fuelled by Qatar's oil and gas wealth.

It remains to be seen, however, how fans of the Old Trafford club would react if a Qatari bid got the green light.

© 2023 AFP