PETRONAS Goes To Ottawa To Beg For Tax Write-Offs(Christy Clark Smells Like Rotten Eggs)

So there it is in a nutshell, BC Liberal Government wrote an LNG Taxation Bill that would see British Columbia receiving almost nothing in financial returns to the treasury for at least 20 years(Probably never) and still these LNG proponents want more..

Now PETRONAS and the BCLNG Alliance have descended in Ottawa for the sole purpose of begging the Federal Government for complete accelerated LNG plant build tax write-offs.

Time to end this silly gaseous fantasy, time to cancel the whole damn thing..

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Energy price drop challenges viability of Canadian LNG projects

There’s no doubt that as you look at the current cash flow of our partner companies, when you look at launching a very large capital project, that is top of mind,” Mike Culbert, chief executive officer of Petronas’s Canadian subsidiary, Progress Energy Canada Ltd., said in an interview Thursday. “Does it pose a challenge? Absolutely, because it’s a mindset. But companies that look at these long-term investments, look through the commodity cycles, and look to the future.”

However, Mr. Culbert said the industry – and Petronas in particular – should benefit from the increased slack in skilled labour markets as oil companies slash their capital budgets.

KPMG partner Mary Hemmingsen said the lower crude price has a significant impact on Canada’s LNG prospects, including the sharp drop in capital available to many proponents and the potential for lower-than-anticipated prices in the longer term. “That would change the long-term attractiveness and affordability of the industry,” the energy consultant said in a telephone interview from Calgary. “That remains as a major question mark right now.”

Mr. Culbert joined other LNG executives on Thursday in a session aimed at policy makers that was held a block from Parliament Hill. They urged Ottawa to help the industry get off the ground by allowing proponents to write off capital costs at an accelerated pace – an incentive that is provided to the manufacturing sector but not to resource projects.

Mr. Culbert said the incentive would improve the economics of the capital-intensive projects – Petronas and its partners could spend as much as $36-billion – but that all taxes would eventually be paid.

 The United States and Australia both provide accelerated capital cost allowance for LNG projects.

“This is a new industry and the government needs to do something to help start of new industry,” said Alfred Sorensen, CEO of Pieridae Energy Ltd...... Green Party Leader Elizabeth May criticized the proposal as “just more fossil fuel subsidies.”

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/as-oil-prices-fall-lng-companies-want-write-off-boost-for-canadian-projects/article22824415/

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A begging they will go, these energy companies want free gas for export and they want the Canadian taxpayer to pay for the entirety of LNG Plant build costs.....But it`s all bullshit, PETRONAS is claiming a price estimate of $36 billion dollars in spending, however, almost all of that spending and expense will occur in South Korea, every major LNG export proponent has made abundantly clear that plant components will be built in South Korea and barged to British Columbia where they will be assembled, meaning Petronas wants Canada and British Columbia to write of 10`s of billions of dollars spent in foreign countries, wants the Canadian taxpayer`s wallet to pay for everything..

What a sick joke these energy giants are...$36 billion dollars, yet last month PETRONAS said they would be spending $25 billion dollars in BC..

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Exxon plans to spend up to $25-billion to export B.C. LNG 

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/exxon-mobil-could-spend-up-to-25-billion-to-export-bc-lng/article22406569/

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That accelerated plant build write-off scheme, they mention that Australia allowed these energy companies to write off plant builds, and that`s exactly why every Australian LNG project ballooned over budget, it was a wink wink nod scam, inside contractors connected to very companies building the plants over inflated every cost to the parent company in a sophisticated ponzi scheme, contractors billed three and four the real costs and kicked the money back to the proponent, that is exactly why every Australian project went way over budget...Look at Chevron`s Australian Gorgon plant, from an original estimated cost of $25 billion dollars the still under construction project has ballooned to $60 billion dollars...

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Gorgon LNG cost blows out to $52bn

 UPDATED: 07 Dec 2012

Chevron has slowed plans for the $US12 billion expansion of its Gorgon liquefied natural gas project after a 40 per cent cost blow-out, compounding worries that Australia risks missing out on LNG investment unless it becomes more competitive.
The cost estimate for the country’s biggest resources project has surged to $US52 billion, from $US37 billion when it got the go-ahead in September 2009.

 http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/gorgon_lng_cost_blows_out_to_bn_LfWE4X2s2IBY3Zn5OhGI8M

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Do you see the date, that was in 2012....Gorgon isn`t built yet, add another $8 billion to that cost..($60 billion)

I wrote about this Taxation scam related to Australia`s LNG industry over two years ago in this post..

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/05/christy-clarks-lng-fantasy-reality-check.html

Over-bill on every aspect of the build and charge the cost against an accelerated write-off taxation scheme, inside contractors kick-back $billions to the proponents..The oldest trick in the book..

Petronas made this statement in a press release regarding buying local BC made components and engineering work two months ago.

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Coupled with softening crude prices, there is a need for international energy companies like PETRONAS to seriously prioritize and reassess our investments. The proposed fiscal package and regulatory pace in Canada threatens the global competitiveness of the PNW LNG project. This is further exacerbated by preliminary project costs, which indicates cost of local contractors to be higher and not benchmarked to global contractor`s costs.


http://pacificnorthwestlng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PETRONAS-STATEMENT-ON-BC-LNG-INVESTMENT.pdf

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Perhaps that statement was too vague for you...Did Petronas say they were going to spend $36 billion in British Columbia....or was that $25 billion dollars...Well, according to Petronas, they stated on December 4th/2014 that the cost of their BC west coast build was $11.4 billion dollars and $8 billion dollars of that total will be spent overseas!!!!!!

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Petronas wants engineering work for B.C. LNG venture to be shifted offshore

BRENT JANG

VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Dec. 04 2014, 5:49 PM EST
Last updated Thursday, Dec. 04 2014, 6:11 PM EST

Petronas plans to push contractors to shift more engineering work for a proposed B.C. liquefied natural gas venture to lower-cost centres offshore as the Malaysian energy giant squeezes suppliers.

Of the total $11.4-billion in estimated construction costs for the Petronas-led Pacific NorthWest LNG export terminal at Lelu Island, there would be $8-billion worth of imported goods and services spread over a five-year period.

 It is in that international component where Petronas hopes to find the bulk of cost savings, but the state-owned company will cast a wide net abroad and in Canada, including having TransCanada Corp. re-examine ways to make its proposed $5-billion natural gas pipeline project more efficient.

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/petronas-pushes-offshore-work-for-british-columbia-lng-venture/article21960284/

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You see folks, these energy companies will say anything, change numbers, exaggerate, lie, bullshit, PETRONAS is currently fabricating their investment numbers like drunken sailors...No doubt Petronas would spend $8 billion overseas and another paltry $3 billion here, and no doubt the build costs will get ponzied up to $36 billion for Canadian taxpayers to reimburse...What a load of hooey..

Boy oh boy, Petronas and the BCLNG Alliance sure picked a bad time to go to Ottawa begging for $billions, Stephen Harper is broke, the Canadian budget is in deficit this year, next and into the forseeable future..

What kinda of idiot Government would allow $billions spent in another country to be written off against Canadian accumulated owed taxes, only idiots would agree to that, and that is exactly how these energy companies are treating British Columbia and Canada, like idiots..

Look what these LNG companies(ExxonMobile) did in Papua New Guinea....

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British Columbia`s LNG Future, Dealing With The Devils

 

 Papua New Guinea Parliament pictured atop

 Written by...

 

 

This report was submitted anonymously by NRI staff because of threatened O’Neill  government interference into the content of reports produced by the National Research Institute (NRI).

 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Clean, Cheap LNG From Papua New Guinea Will Boost China’s Economic Development.

 

By NRI Contributor

Papua New Guinea is one of the newer emerging gas exporting nations.   Current reserves are currently estimated by the United Stated Central Intelligence Agency at 226.5 billion cu metres, which gives PNG a world ranking in gas reserves of 43 out of 207 countries and territories.   

EXXONMOBIL DEVLOPMENT OF PNG’S LNG PROJECT:
   

ExxonMobil has been a joint venture partner in the development of PNG’s oil resources since the 1990’s in which Chevron was the principal stakeholder.   ExxonMobil became the operator in the country’s first natural gas development project, sourcing gas from the Hides, Angore, and Juha gas fields, also obtaining gas from the existing Kutubu, Agogo, Moran and Gobe oil fields.  The LNG gas project is a joint venture partnership, with ExxonMobil the principal stakeholder and PNG stakeholders holding less than 20% of the total share.

ExxonMobil (operator) (United States multinational)	33.2%
Oil Search (PNG registered, with main offices in Australia)	29.0%
National Petroleum Company of PNG (PNG Government)	16.8%
Santos (Australian registered)	13.5%
Nippon Oil (Japanese registered)	4.7%
MRDC (PNG landowners)	2.8%

Photo-PNG’s oil and associated gas development areas, located mostly in Southern Highlands Province, show almost no tangible development despite over 20 years of oil exports.   The operations run with surprisingly few workers.  Most jobs were short-term, created only for the construction phase, and was heavy in expatriate labour.

EXXON MOBIL CONTROL OF PNG NATURAL GAS:   During the time when PNG’s Michael Somare was prime minister, energy supplying giant ExxonMobil successfully followed a much smaller PNG petroleum extractor, InterOil, in forcing the Papua New Guinea government to sign natural resource agreements that were to the great benefit of the developer and of no real benefit to the citizens.

  Exxon Mobil effectively took away all rights of the PNG government to use PNG natural gas to meet domestic development needs.   Instead, virtually all PNG’s natural gas resources were to be dedicated to LNG export to serve the development needs of other nations.  Being that the LNG project came on line at a time of cheap natural gas prices, the project was most likely to favour LNG purchasers and least likely to favour LNG sellers, such as the PNG government. 

Photo-PNG’s then Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and son Arthur Somare (left) were instrumental in creating and signing the LNG export agreement that gave full control of the resource to Exxon Mobil.

This lock tight agreement only come into public view in recent weeks with statements by PNG Finance Minister James Marape that Exxon Mobil would allow a small amount of “excess gas” to be sold back to PNG to alleviate its chronic power shortages, confirms what is appearing to be a remarkably successful Exxon Mobil strategy to take control of its PNG gas fields, making them essentially a sovereign state out of PNG control.   

Photo-PNG’s Finance Minister James Marape admitted recently that the PNG government has to beg Exxon Mobil to be able to purchase any gas for PNG’s own domestic needs from the massive PNG LNG gas project.

Although the end result will be less headaches and possibly higher profits for Exxon Mobil officials, a significant driving force for the lock-tight agreement apparently came from company officials’ general disdain for the PNG government and its level of corruption.   As one Exxon Mobil employee put it, “PNG leaders over the past 20 years have proven themselves to resemble uncontrollably greedy baboons who can’t keep their hands out of the candy jar. 

 The company wanted to make sure that the Prime Minister and his cronies had no legal control over the resource whatsoever.” 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND HOW IT USES ITS NATURAL GAS RESOURCES:  The loss of control over its own gas resource might come as bad news for the people of Papua New Guinea.   PNG has some of the world’s lowest human indicator index values despite years of natural resource extraction in many directions, ranging from minerals to petroleum to timber to tuna.  

Government corruption has grown worse with the conventional wisdom rating the current government of Peter O’Neill as the worst ever.  O’Neill’s recent tenure as Prime Minister has been focused on avoiding arrest for an investigation of his involvement in securing a government bank loan that violated government regulations.

Photo-Natural resource wealth development has actually occurred simultaneous to a decline in human development indicators for Papua New Guinea.  

PNG is a country where only a tiny fraction of its population has access to natural gas as a  residential energy source, with those fortunate few paying inflated prices for cylinder compressed natural gas.  Guaranteed hot water for washing is barely present, apart from hotels in its capital city Port Moresby.  For many years, the Hela Province capital, Tari, has existed on erratic small scale diesel generator power, despite nearby power lines transporting electricity from the long-standing Hides gas field-powered generating plant to one of the world’s larger gold mines in an adjacent province.

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2014/11/british-columbias-lng-future-dealing.html

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A begging they will go....This entire industry is a scam, these companies will steal our gas and pay us nothing...

Christy Clark and the BC Liberal Government need to be tossed out on their asses, what would you say if an LNG proponent was seeking an Environmental certificate in the next few weeks(woodfibre LNG)..And Woodfibre LNG paid for an exclusive BC Liberal MLA fundraising shindig at a private golf course on the north shore, Woodfibre picking up the tab, paying hundreds of thousands of bribe dollars, with Mike De Jong in attendance, Teresa Wat, ...Money to be raised for a no-name Liberal backbencher named Jordan Sturdy, raising election money for a back-bencher, with the election over two years away, and the media was not only not invited, journalist Bob Mackin was thrown out, shown the door, how is it a so-called fundraising event barred the media?...A fundraiser paid for by Woodfibre LNG proponent, a company waiting/expecting a greenlighted environmental certificate in the next three weeks....That is exactly what happened yesterday..It`s wrong, it`s corrupt, it`s influence peddling, it`s buying a corrupt BC Liberal Government..

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From Bob Mackin`s Twitter feed

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bobmackin

Was just shown the door by .@bcliberals Sturdy fundraising organizer/lobbyist John Moonen at Cap GC. #bcpoli

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Here is another source about Woodfibre`s influence peddling bribefest...

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BC Liberals sponsored by Woodfibre LNG at swanky fundraiser

“That treads very close to that thin line between legitimate fundraising and influence peddling," said a Howe Sound resident, concerned with Woodfibre LNG

The Clark government’s BC Liberal party was sponsored by Woodfibre LNG at a upscale, private members fundraiser event on Thursday night the Vancouver Observer has confirmed.  
“We’d like to thank our sponsor tonight, Woodfibre LNG,” the master of ceremony said, within earshot of inside the front stately entrance of the Capilano Golf and Country Club.
The exclusive event in West Vancouver was billed as an opportunity for attendees to meet Finance Minister Michael De Jong, and to fundraise for local West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy.
The next provincial election is not until 2017.


While it’s not clear why the party is fundraising now, Woodfibre LNG is just weeks away from learning if the provincial government will grant it an environmental permit for its proposed and controversial liquefied natural gas export terminal in Squamish.
The NDP’s environment critic said the sponsorship smells of corporate-influence buying too close to key decision making for the $1.6-billion fossil fuel project.
“That just breeds real cynicism in politics.  Who are our politicians representing?  Is it citizens or corporations?” said MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert.
“If you advertise exclusive access as being something you can buy, it doesn’t sit well with me.  It feels wrong.” 
Minister De Jong took to the podium to speak to the “packed” Liberal event, according to an MLA tweet, but he was not immediately available for comment.
Attorney General Suzanne Anton and Minister of International Trade Teresa Wat were two other cabinet ministers in attendance for the fundraiser to raise money for the local MLA.


Eoin Finn stood outside the golf club’s street entrance in the rain to protest the event.
The retired Bowyer Island resident – a former KPMG partner with an international MBA and a PhD in chemistry -- is well known for his opposition to the project’s LNG tankers that would traverse Howe Sound if the project goes forward. 
He said it was odd that the local Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy would be seeking to fundraise at this time.  It’s in his riding, that the Squamish LNG facility would be built.
“It’s very unusual that a backbench MLA is fundraising in between the election period.  And the fundraiser would attract the Finance Minister and the Attorney General,” said Finn.
“That treads very close to that thin line between legitimate fundraising and influence peddling,” he added. 

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/bc-liberals-sponsored-woodfibre-lng-swanky-fundraiser

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And just who is the money behind Woodfibre`s LNG Proposal, a criminal, a $billionaire convicted tax evading criminal, a man so bile his own daughter has tried to warn the world of her evil corrupt criminal father..

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Christy Clark`s Newest LNG Investor, The Deforester

Indonesia billionaire proposes small-scale LNG export plant in B.C.

Latest Oil and Gas News: 

March 11, 2013

 

- Controversial Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto has purchased an industrial site in Squamish, B.C., 30 miles north of Vancouver, for the purposes of exporting LNG. The self-educated entrepreneur has been criticized for environmental practices elsewhere in his $12 billion industrial empire, raising questions about his B.C. venture. Environmental watchers say Tanoto's logging company has a checkered record in cutting down Indonesia's rainforests and destroying wildlife habitat.


"His company is the leading driver of deforestation in Indonesian peat lands," said Shane Moffatt, a Toronto-based campaigner for Greenpeace. "I would really question what his track record means for his Canadian plans," he said. Tanoto said in an undated posting on his website that he has learned from past environmental mistakes and is changing his practices. Tanoto branched out into palm oil, pulp and now energy, where he is a partner in an LNG receiving terminal in China that opened in 2012.

Tanoto's energy company, Pacific Oil & Gas, said it would use a deep-water port at an old pulp mill site to operate what it calls a "small-scale" LNG facility. "Pacific Oil & Gas is in the early stages of planning," said Pacific Energy Corp. president Ratnesh Bedi from Singapore. Export volumes would be about 100 billion cubic feet of gas as LNG per year, one-tenth the size of a larger plant being planned in Kitimat. The 210-acre site was purchased last month for $25.5 million from Western Forest Products.

 http://www.arcticgas.gov/2013/indonesia-billionaire-proposes-small-scale-lng-export-plant-bc

Sukanto Tanoto’s Corporate Sins

This is taken from Chris Wright’s article:

http://www.chriswrightmedia.com/ifr-sukanto-tanoto-float-shows-asia-appetite-despite-history/

Lots of people know Sukanto well. 

Bank Mandiri, which published a list of its top bad debtors in 2006, with Sukanto’s Raja Garuda Mas pulp and paper company at the top by an absolute mile, owing Rp5.35 trillion in principal and interest at that time.

 Sukanto’s conglomerate of interests – which also includes the pulp, paper and fibre group April, the palm oil group Asian Agri and the resources group Pacific Oil and Gas – was badly hit in the Asian financial crisis, which came just as April was in the middle of a US$2 billion fundraising exercise for expansion. For years subsequently, Sukanto companies struggled to repay their debts, a position that observers have struggled to square with his great personal wealth. In particular, the member companies of the April Group – Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP), Riau Prima Energy and Riau Andalan Kertas – wrestled with the almost US$1.5 billion they owed in 1999, with many creditors claiming attempts at commercially workable restructurings had been blocked or delayed. Foreign banks thought to have had to sell out of their claims at steep losses include Citi, ING and Standard Chartered.

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Tanoto’s kind donation came from selling paper that came from old natural rainforests. Every year Singapore complains about receiving smoke from burning forests in Indonesia. Part of this smoke came from Tanoto’s plantation and forest clearing.
As you all know Sukanto Tanoto is the founder and chairman of APRIL, the largest paper mill compant in Indonesia that is responsible for clearing a large area of rain forests to produce paper. There is already a campaign by Rainforest Rescue to boycott paper produced by APRIL.

Now, we should have a campaign to make the Professors aware of the greenwashing done by Sukanto Tanoto via kind donation to universities. Taking from the Rainforest Rescue campaign, send the send the following email to:


To:
Dr. Karl Tryggvason, The Tanoto Professor of Diabetes Research, karl@tryggvason.com
Casey, Patrick J, Senior Vice Dean, patrick.casey@duke-nus.edu.sg
Krishnan, Ranga R, Dean ranga.krishnan@duke-nus.edu.sg

Dear Sirs,

I have noted with concern that you are accepting donation from Sukanto Tanoto with the Tanoto Professor of Diabetes Research at Duke-NUS.

As you know, Sukanto Tanoto is the chairman of APRIL (Asia Pacific Resources International Limited). APRIL is a compnay which is known to be responsible for clearing massive areas of rainforest in the Indonesian province of Riau to create acacia plantations.APRIL is also draining large areas of peat bog. APRIL’s production methods are an ecological, social, and climatic catastrophe.

Every year Singapore received smoke from forest fires in Indonesia with  the worst level of air pollution and triggering a health warning. These fires came from the clearing and destruction of rain forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Part of these are caused by the plantation operations by Sukanto Tanoto’s companies.

The rainforest on Sumatra is a highly diverse ecosystem – if the forest dies, the native animals and plants will have no chance to survive. This development especially threatens the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger – the greatest threat to this animal is listed as “the loss of habitat through palm oil and acacia plantations.” In 2010, APRIL was banned from the FSC certification system as a consequence of its production methods.

Furthermore, the rainforest is home to agricultural communities that process products traditionally and sustainably. The plantations are threatening to drive these farmers from their land and destroy their livelihoods.

The peat bogs in particular are important natural carbon sinks. In destroying the bogs, massive quantities of stored greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. Due to the destruction of its rainforests, Indonesia is the third-largest CO2 emitter in the world. The acacia plantations created to manufacture PaperOne paper exacerbate the negative impact on our climate.


As a respected university, you should share responsibility for ensuring that the donation you accept does not come from operation that destroy the environment, causing global warming, and destruct the habitat of human and animals.
I emphatically request that you consider the donation, consequently setting a positive example of how universities can embody corporate responsibility, respect for human rights, and environmental protection.

Respectfully,

 http://sukantotanoto.wordpress.com/2013/01/ 

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There is much more on this tax evading criminal...All assembled by his own family...

http://www.sukantotanoto.co/

Everything about this LNG industry reeks of corruption and corporate welfare....Including The BCLNG Alliance.

We have the BCLNGA BC LNG Alliance and Petronas begging Ottawa for taxpayer`s money...We have a criminal tax evading $billionaire buying privilege in a glaring, conflict of interest shindig, with powerful BC Liberal cabinet ministers being wined, dined and bought while the media got punted out the door...

Not a word about this in our big mainstream media, ...All they had in their papers today was a Christy Clark pillow fluffing article about giving proceeds of crime money to something, if it was the NDP party being in a glaring conflict of interest, a Government accepting cash bribes on the near eve of possibly giving an environmental greenlight to a project in Howe Sound that no one wants...

It`s wrong, it`s a total conflict of interest...it is bordering on the criminal..

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

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