Senator Proposes Bill on Lease Extension and Energy Security, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem

Senator Kay Hutchison has proposed the Lease Extension and Energy Security Act,(LEASE) Act for a fair and reasonable restoration of the time lost from the Department of the Interior’s moratorium.

The proposed Act also allows domestic energy producers to continue exploration without having to worry about leases expiring.

Addressing congressional reporters on Wednesday on the bill, Senator Hutchison indicated that the LEASE Act extends offshore leases impacted by the U.S. Department of Interior’s drilling moratorium for an additional 12 months.

In this way, she stated, the LEASE Act returns to leases the lease time taken from them during the moratorium, as well as increase domestic energy production and protect American jobs.

According to the Senator, the DOI has the authority to issue a “suspension of operations” which would have put the leases on a “time out”, however the DOI failed to act.

Due to this failure to act, she added, thousands of leaseholders in the Gulf of Mexico are paying rent to the government for access to develop federal lands while losing time on the leases.

Companies are said to invest millions of dollars and spent nearly a decade in the exploration phase before “first oil” is reached. Following a precise and meticulous timeline, Hutchison said, is extremely important as loss time can sabotage entire operation.

Extending the leases provides the leaseholders with certainty to continue making investments on its lease, including investing in the local workforce.

Gaddafi forces strike back in west and east Libya, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Government forces intensify campaign to crush revolt
* Aircraft strike behind rebel lines
* Tripoli denies offering to negotiate Gaddafi's exit

(Adds more from Zawiyah, other details)

By Maria Golovnina and Alexander Dziadosz

TRIPOLI/RAS LANUF, Libya, March 8 (Reuters) - Libyan government forces attacked rebels with rockets, tanks and warplanes on western and eastern fronts, intensifying their offensive to crush the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi.

Rising casualties and the threats of hunger and a refugee crisis increased pressure on foreign governments to act, but they struggled to agree a strategy for dealing with the turmoil, many fearful of moving from sanctions alone to military action. In besieged Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to Tripoli, trapped residents cowered from the onslaught on Tuesday.

"Fighting is still going on now. Gaddafi's forces are using tanks. There are also sporadic air strikes ... they could not reach the centre of the town which is still in the control of the revolutionaries," a resident called Ibrahim said by phone. "Many buildings have been destroyed including mosques. About 40 to 50 tanks are taking part in the bombardment." In the east, much of which is under rebel control, warplanes bombed rebel positions around the oil port of Ras Lanuf.

Rebel euphoria seemed to have dimmed. "People are dying out there. Gaddafi's forces have rockets and tanks," Abdel Salem Mohamed, 21, told Reuters near Ras Lanuf. "You see this? This is no good," he said of his light machinegun. The rebel leadership said that if Gaddafi stepped down within 72 hours it would not seek to bring him to justice.

Earlier, the rebels said they had rejected an offer from the Libyan leader to negotiate his surrender of power. The government called such reports "absolute nonsense". Britain and France led a drive at the U.N. for a no-fly zone which would prevent Gaddafi from unleashing air raids or moving reinforcements by air. The Arab League and several Gulf states have also called for such a step.

"It is unacceptable that Colonel Gaddafi unleashes so much violence on his own people and we are all gravely concerned about what would happen if he were to try to do that on an even greater basis," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. Russia and China, who have veto power in the U.N. Security Council, are cool towards the idea of a no-fly zone.

The U.S. government, whose interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan enraged many of the world's Muslims, said it was weighing up military options and that action should be taken only with international backing. Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the rebel National Libyan Council, told a news conference in the rebel base of Benghazi:

"We will complete our victory when we are afforded a no-fly zone. If there was also action to stop him (Gaddafi) from recruiting mercenaries, his end would come within hours."

Rebels still controlled the central square of Zawiyah, 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, on Tuesday and were using loud hailers to urge residents to defend their positions, said a Ghanaian worker who fled the town on Tuesday. Sky television footage of fighting in the town over the weekend showed crowds fleeing gunfire and a blood-spattered hospital crammed with the injured, some making victory signs from stretchers. It showed bodies of dead soldiers, others it said had switched sides, and captured tanks.

A government spokesman insisted troops were mostly in control on Tuesday. "Maybe 30-40 people, hiding in the streets and in the cemetery. They are desperate," he said in Tripoli. A Libyan man who lives abroad said he spoke by phone on Tuesday to a friend in Zawiyah who described desperate scenes. "Many buildings are completely destroyed, including hospitals, electricity lines and generators," he said.

"People cannot run away, it's cordoned off. They cannot flee. All those who can fight are fighting, including teenagers. Children and women are being hidden."
Tanks were firing everywhere, he said.The reports could not be verified independently as foreign correspondents have been prevented from entering Zawiyah and other cities near the capital without an official escort.

HOMES HIT
Air strikes hit at rebels behind the no-man's land between the coastal towns of Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, 550 km (340 miles) east of Tripoli and the site of oil terminals.
One strike smashed a house in a residential area of Ras Lanuf, gouging a big hole in the ground floor. Mustafa Askat, an oil worker, said one bomb had wrecked a water pipeline and this would affect water supplies to the city.

"We have a hospital inside, we have sick people and they need water urgently," he said.
A convoy from the U.N. food agency was scheduled to reach the rebel-held port of Benghazi on Tuesday to deliver the first food aid in Libya since the revolt erupted three weeks ago. The rebel army -- a rag-tag outfit largely made up of young volunteers and military defectors -- made swift gains in the first week of the uprising which saw them take control of the east and challenge the government near Tripoli.

But their momentum appears to have stalled as Gaddafi's troops have pushed back with heavy weapons.Rebels said government forces had dug in their tanks near Bin Jawad while rebels retreated to Ras Lanuf. The two towns are about 60 km (40 miles) apart on the strategic coastal road along the Mediterranean sea. The emerging front line divides the country along ancient regional lines, with key oil facilities stuck in the middle.


72-HOUR DEADLINE
Gaddafi has denounced the rebels as drug-addled youths or al Qaeda-backed terrorists, and said he will die in Libya rather than surrender.

"If he leaves Libya immediately, during 72 hours, and stops the bombardment, we as Libyans will step back from pursuing him for crimes," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebel National Libyan Council, told Al Jazeera television. Representatives of the Libyan opposition are to meet the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Strasbourg on Tuesday evening before addressing the European Parliament.

The Libyan uprising is the bloodiest of a tide of protests against autocratic rulers in North Africa and Middle East which has already seen the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt dethroned. The phenomenon has left the West struggling to formulate a new direction for a region that sits on vast reserves of oil. Brent crude futures for April delivery fell $1.94 to $113.10 a barrel by 1737 GMT, after rising sharply on Monday.

Libyan oil trade has virtually been paralysed as banks decline to clear payments in dollars due to U.S. sanctions, trading sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in Tripoli, Alexander Dziadosz in Ajdabiya, Mohammed Abbas in Ras Lanuf, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers and Stefano Ambrogi in London; Writing by Andrew Roche: Editing by Diana Abdallah)

Libya rebel town says doctors overwhelmed by wounded, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Misrata fighting off attacks by pro-Gaddafi militia
* Medical shortages are catastrophic: resident
* Wounded "being treated on hospital floor"

By Hamid Ould Ahmed

ALGIERS, March 7 (Reuters) - People wounded in fighting over the rebel-held Libyan city of Misrata are being treated on hospital floors because of a catastrophic shortage of medical facilities in the besieged city, a resident said on Monday. Misrata is the biggest population centre in the west of the country not under the control of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and its stand against a militia commanded by his own son has turned it into a symbol of defiance. Units of the 32nd brigade, which is led by Khamis Gaddafi, on Sunday launched the fiercest attack on Misrata so far, with a doctor in the town saying at least 18 people had been killed.

Rebels said they repelled the attack. Two residents said on Monday there was no new fighting and painted a picture of a city where ordinary people were organising to direct traffic and clean the streets, even as Gaddafi's security forces encircle the town. MANY WOUNDED But medical care appeared to be the biggest immediate problem facing Misrata, a city of about 300,000 people two hours' drive east of Tripoli. "Regarding health, the situation is catastrophic," one resident, called Mohamed, told Reuters by telephone. "We are suffering a shortage in medicine and a lack of skilled doctors and medical equipment." "We have a large number of wounded. Many of them are being treated on the (hospital) floor because we do not have a sufficient number of beds."

In a statement issued on Sunday, the United Nations' humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, called for aid workers to be urgently allowed into the town to treat the wounded. "People are injured and dying and need help immediately," she said. Another resident of Misrata said local people had set up a committee to run their affairs and were providing basic public services. "The youths have set up a committee to run things in the town," said the resident, who did not want to be named. "It (the committee) has its headquarters. Young men help direct traffic. They have also set up several checkpoints." "Some shops are open to supply food. Bakeries are open. Some of them provide bread for free. There are also donations from many people here, thank God." "But schools are still closed.

Banks were open before yesterday's fighting, which forced them to close their doors again," he said. The other resident, Mohamed, said young people were out in the streets cleaning up the debris from Sunday's fighting. "Residents are helping each other. I have not seen this kind of cooperation ... in years," he said. But he said rebels manning checkpoints on the entrances to the city were on the alert for more violence. "They are expecting a new attack at any time," said Mohamed.

(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Libya unrest costs Russia $4 bln in arms deals -Ifax, Posted by Meosha Eaton

MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Russia stands to lose $4 billion in arms deals due to unrest in Libya, the Interfax news agency cited Sergei Chemezov, head of the state holding company that controls arms exports, as saying on Thursday.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Steve Gutterman and Peter Graff)

Oil surges after Libya airstrike near oil terminal, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Libyan air strike hits near oil terminal

* Libya's NOC chairman says oil could rise above $130
* Libyan oil output falls further amid clashes in east
* EIA data shows Cushing stocks up over 1.1 mln barrels
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity)

NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped to near 2-1/2 year highs on Wednesday after an airstrike near Libya's oil infrastructure kept the market braced for a prolonged disruption from the OPEC nation and worried unrest might spread to other regional producers. Fresh airstrikes hit Brega, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles)from a Libyan oil terminal, after embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi launched a land and air offensive to retake territory in Libya's east. The reprisal sparked calls from rebels for foreign airstrikes on African mercenaries they said were helping him stay in power.

"It looks like an attack fairly close to what is one of Libya's largest storage and export terminals," said Andy Lebow, trader at MF Global in New York "It's hard to say if the Libyan government is trying to target oil infrastructure in the east or whether they're just
targeting rebel-held areas, but the market's reacting to this threat either way." Gaddafi pledged in a fiery speech before hundreds of supporters he would crush the revolt against his rule. By 12:35 p.m. EST (1735 GMT) Brent crude traded up $1.57 to $116.99 a barrel, off the session high of $117.81. Brent hit a
2-1/2 year high near $120 a barrel on Feb. 24 on the Libyan crisis. U.S. crude futures rose $2.05 to $101.68 a barrel after hitting $102.37. They rose above $103 on Feb. 24. Brent's premium against U.S. crude widened to more than $16, after closing at $15.79 on Tuesday, when the Brent/West
Texas Intermediate spread hit $17.12, a record.

The head of Libya's oil company, Shokri Ghanem, told Reuters the nation's problems could push prices over $130 a barrel if they persist. Libya's normal output of 1.6 million barrels per day had been cut to 700,000-750,000 bpd as most of the industry's foreign workers had taken flight after the crisis began, he said.
Governments in Yemen, Oman, Iran and Iraq have clashed with protestors seeking reforms as popular unrest has spread in the region holding more than 60 percent of the world's oil reserve. Crude pared gains in the morning after the release of U.S. oil inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma,delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's oil futures contract hit a record high. Brimming stocks at the hub have been partly responsible for the wide discount of U.S. crude to Brent in recent weeks. Total U.S. inventories of both crude and refined products fell, however, the EIA report showed.

(Reporting by Gene Ramos, Robert Gibbons, David Sheppard,Matthew Robinson in New York; Jessica Donati-Bourne in London;
Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)