Is It Hot In Here ?  

Greenpeace has organised a nude global warning awareness stunt in Switzerland one one of their rapidly shrinking glaciers.

Nearly 600 volunteers have stripped for the camera on a melting Swiss glacier high in the Alps for a publicity campaign to expose the impact of climate change. The environmental group Greenpeace, which commissioned the photo shoot by world-renowned photographer Spencer Tunick, says the volunteers turned up under blue skies near the foot of the Aletsch glacier, a protected UNESCO World Heritage site.

Nicolas de Roten of Greenpeace Switzerland says there are almost 600 people there. "It's relatively chilly but that doesn't seem to be disturbing them," he said. The campaign is aimed at drawing attention to melting Alpine glaciers, one clear sign of global warming and of man-made climate change, Greenpeace says.

Greenpeace says the human body is as vulnerable as glaciers like the Aletsch in southern Switzerland - which is shrinking by more than 100 metres a year - and the world's environment. The group hopes its billboard and poster campaign showing people exposed to the cold will send a shiver down the spines of the public and politicians, and convince them to do more to tackle pollution and climate change.

While I've been following the progress of the proposed Iraqi oil law (still haven't handed over the oil) on a fairly regular basis, another interesting piece of peak oil legislation is a hydrocarbon law being considered for Somalia (though given Somalia's propensity for reverting to anarchy when given half a chance attaching any significance to this law may be wishful thinking on behalf of those pushing for it to be passed). It is probably worth keeping in mind that US headquarters during the "Blackhawk Down" period intervention in the 1990's was the Conoco Phillips office, if my memory serves me correctly. It sounds like the Chinese are being given the heave-ho, which may not go down well in Beijing. Business Day reports:

Big oil groups that declared force majeure and quit Somalia 16 years ago will be given the chance to resume their activities under the anarchic country’s proposed hydrocarbon law.

According to a parliamentary bill, companies that held concessions before December 30 1990, would be given the right to return to those areas under new production-sharing agreements. The new production deals will set out different financial terms, exploration periods and obligations as well as new block sizes.

“A prior grant in the form of a concession entitling the prior contractor to conduct exclusive petroleum operations shall be convertible into a production-sharing agreement,” the draft law says.

Several western oil majors — Royal Dutch Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ENI — held Somalian exploration concessions in the 1980s before leaving in 1991 when warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and the country descended into lawlessness.

The draft law, awaiting parliamentary debate, gives previous concession holders a year from the time the law comes into effect to sign up for a production-sharing agreement. It was not immediately clear whether any of the western oil majors would consider returning to a country that has become a byword for violence.

The bill also nullifies any exploration deals struck after 1990 — a clause that is likely to meet opposition from Somalia’s northern regions of Somaliland and Puntland, which have both signed separate agreements in the past five years.

It may also affect a production-sharing agreement signed by President Abdullahi Yusuf and China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC , which was reported by the Financial Times last month.

“Any right to conduct petroleum operations in Somalia granted after December 30 1990 shall terminate and cease to be a binding obligation on the government,” according to the draft law .

The interim government, formed in late 2004, is keen to attract foreign partners to develop its nascent petroleum sector, seen as one of the final frontiers for untapped energy.

Although the US energy administration says Somalia has no proven oil reserves, geologists hope to find an extension of the crude-bearing deposits that hold nearly 4-billion barrels across the Gulf of Aden under Yemen in the Middle East.

Analysts say the bill’s recognition of previous concession holders is a deliberate move to encourage the return of well-established players and to dispel any doubts over the legal status of prior deals in the Horn of Africa country.

A production-sharing agreement template says the government would receive 8% of revenues in cash on the first 25000 barrels of oil a day if the price was $55 or more a barrel. On production in excess of 100000 barrels of oil a day, it would receive 14% of revenues.

The SMH reports that Iraq Veterans Against the War are encouraging people to protest against the war during Bush's presence at the APEC summit.

A FORMER US marine who did two tours of Iraq is urging Australians to ignore warnings by police of violence during next month's APEC leaders' summit and join the protests.

Matt Howard, 26, is touring the country telling public meetings of the alleged horrors being carried out by US forces in Iraq. Mr Howard was a truck driver for a marine tank corps during the invasion in 2003. He served in the war zone again in 2004. He said he had to drive over the dead bodies of Iraqis after marines had fired on anything that moved in free-fire zones.

After he left the service he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War and campaigns to bring the troops home. "Australians need to get out on the streets and have a mass mobilisation against the war when President [George] Bush comes for APEC. Let your voices be heard," he said.

Meanwhile, police are seeking out protesters with a violent history to warn them not to demonstrate atAPEC. Police Minister David Campbell confirmed police were compiling a list of people who were "not welcome at APEC". They won't need to be informed - they know who they are, he said.

Links:

* The Oil Drum - The Economics of Oil, Part I: Supply and Demand Curves
* The Oil Drum - The Status of Canadian Oil Production
* Wall Street Journal - Nanpu: Downgrading a Chinese Oil Find
* WSJ Energy Roundup - Thin Margins for Ethanol Producers
* Alex Steffen - Lunar Ark
* Inside Greentech - University of New Hampshire gets gas. "UNH is the first university in the U.S. to use landfill gas as its primary energy source".
* Inside Greentech - U.S. Army going hybrid. Hybrid howitzers ?
* IVAW - The journey of a VIP bodyguard, sniper against the war
* Cryptogon - China Bans Buddhist Monks in Tibet from Reincarnating without Government Permission