iran takes over romanian oil rig

[kane9321]

A Romanian oil company says one of its rigs stationed in the Gulf has come under fire from Iranian troops.
A spokesman for the firm GSP said Iranian troops had seized the rig after firing from a nearby ship, and GSP lost contact with its 26 workers there.

Radu Petrescu said the Orizont rig had been moored near Kish island since October 2005.

GSP operates two rigs off Kish. The other rig is reported to have been involved in a legal dispute in Iran.

It is unclear whether the incident on Tuesday was related to that dispute.

The shooting reportedly happened as the rig was being taken outside Iranian waters for a mandatory overhaul.

The rigs are operated under a deal signed between Petrom, GSP and Dubai-based Oriental Oil Co.

A statement on GSP's website, signed by company president Gabriel Comanescu, said the Iranian action was a "flagrant breach of all the international rules".

It said that since Monday, Iranian military helicopters and ships had been "trying to intimidate the Romanian crew aboard the rig".

Then early on Tuesday "an Iranian military cutter boat opened fire against the Orizont rig, in the stern crane" and Iranian troops occupied the rig, the statement said.

"We do not know if anyone is hurt," it added.

 

[JLBats]

Uhoh spaghetti-os.

 

[maxwell's demon]

aw crap.

 

[WeaponZ2]

Wow, this isn't going to lead to anything good.

 

[Mr. Thing]

This is it, isn't it folks?

 

[JLBats]

This is it, isn't it folks?

I'm gonna go listen to 99 Red Balloons and cry into my pillow

 

[Daisy]

Crap... crap... crap.

 

[Mr. Thing]

I'm gonna go listen to 99 Red Balloons and cry into my pillow

Same here.

 

[JokerNick]

I'm just going to go out on a limb..... nuke'em........ napalm'em,... carpet bomb'em.......................

 

[maxwell's demon]

well- according to this one report- they were more doing this out of financial self defense:


Iran's Navy Attacks and Boards Romanian Rig in Gulf (Update3)

By Andy Critchlow and Marc Wolfensberger

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Iran attacked and seized control of a Romanian oil rig working in its Persian Gulf waters this morning one week after the Iranian government accused the European drilling company of ``hijacking'' another rig.

An Iranian naval vessel fired on the rig owned by Romania's Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) in the Salman field and took control of its radio room at about 7:00 a.m. local time, Lulu Tabanesku, Grup's representative in the United Arab Emirates said in a phone interview from Dubai today.

``The Iranians fired at the rig's crane with machine guns,'' Tabanesku said. ``They are in control now and we can't contact the rig.'' The Romanian company has 26 workers on the platform, he said.

Iran, which holds the world's second-largest oil and gas reserves, is due to respond today to a European Union-led offer of incentives aimed at persuading it to halt uranium enrichment activities that are crucial to its nuclear program.

Neither the press office of Iran's oil ministry nor the one of Iran's revolutionary guards could be reached for comment when called. Today is a national holiday in Iran.

Crude oil for September was at $72.56 a barrel, up 11 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:06 p.m. in London. The contract expires today. The more-active October contract was up 7 cents at $73.37 a barrel.

Straits of Hormuz

Iran urged the United Arab Emirates last week to help it return another oil rig owned and operated by the Romanian company in the same waters close to the Straits of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's daily oil supply moves on tankers.

Grup said it recovered its rig last week because of a contractual dispute with its Iranian client, Oriental Oil Kish.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suspended Oriental Oil's activities in 2005 on alleged corruption activity and ties to Halliburton Co. of the U.S. The U.A.E.-registered drilling company had signed a preliminary contract with Halliburton after winning an estimated $310 million contract to develop phases 9 and 10 of Iran's offshore South Pars gas reservoir.

Mircea Geoana, the head of the Social Democratic Party, the main opposition party in Romania, called on the government to ``undertake all diplomatic measures necessary'' to persuade the Iranians to release the rig.

He also called on President Traian Basescu in a news conference broadcast on Realitatea television to invite all political party heads to the presidential palace to ``discuss what Romania's reaction will be to this provocation.''.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Critchlow in Dubai at at
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adVreywC1G_k&refer=home

 

[Fenrir]

Yeah we all know what'll happen next:

America to the rescue! :

 

[Matt]

Oh snap. This isn't gonna end well

 

[Daisy]

I don't know... it seems like another 'diversionary' tactic.

Iran was about to come up before the Security Council last month and what happens? Hesballah (which has very strong ties to and some go so far as to say is actually a subsidiary of Iran's Revolutionary Guard) goes into Israel, nabs a couple soldiers and starts a dust-up that diverts all attention away from Iran's nuclear proliferation.

Now, as the attention goes back onto containing Iran's nuclear capabilities... something else happens that could potentially to distract attention away from it again.

I'm a little skeptical that the timing of events is purely 'coincidental'.

 

[TheSumOfGod]

Wow, this isn't going to lead to anything good.

This is just a ploy to get Romania to fight America's war instead.

 

[TheSumOfGod]

I don't know... it seems like another 'diversionary' tactic.

Iran was about to come up before the Security Council last month and what happens? Hesballah (which has very strong ties to and some go so far as to say is actually a subsidiary of Iran's Revolutionary Guard) goes into Israel, nabs a couple soldiers and starts a dust-up that diverts all attention away from Iran's nuclear proliferation.

Now, as the attention goes back onto containing Iran's nuclear capabilities... something else happens that could potentially to distract attention away from it again.

I'm a little skeptical that the timing of events is purely 'coincidental'.

Well, DUH. America and it's allies want to take over Iran (and Syria, and everyone in the Middle-East they don't agree with). There are no coincidences here.

 

[TrailerCues]

They all suck

 

[Daisy]

This is just a ploy to get Romania to fight America's war instead.

That's right... it's all on the US.

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Ahmadinejad is a messianic leader who believes that part of the reason he is on this earth is to make way for the revelation of the Mahdi (in Ahmadinejads Shi'a Twelver sect this is Mohammed ibn Hasan) who will return from 'occlusion' at the End of Days.

Ahmadinejad believes not only is that time near, but that he has influence over when it will occur.

All of that makes him reckless and very dangerous... and gives him absolutely no reason NOT to provoke other nations into war.


But of course not... it's only the US that's reckless, bellicose and provocative.


For a little info on Ahmadinejad:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/14/wiran14.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/14/ixworld.html

 

[Man-Thing]

Omg!!!

Lizard People Are Behind This!!!

 

[Daisy]

Well, DUH. America and it's allies want to take over Iran (and Syria, and everyone in the Middle-East they don't agree with). There are no coincidences here.

Oh yeah... it's the US that's calling the shots here.

The US forced Iran and Hezballah to do these things so there would be reason for us to jump in... you know like we're doing in Lebanon.

Remind me again how many troops we're contributing to Lebanon?

 

[maxwell's demon]

Daisy- first off, i wnat to say i largely agree with you.

Second, though i agree that the hezbollah missions last month might have been a diversionary tactic- doesnt it seem tactically futile to try to draw attention away by using your own navy?

And third- while i agree Ahmadinejad has messianic streaks running throughout his psyche, hasn't Bush gone on record saying similar things* (albeit with a better PR agent cleaning up his sound bites)?


And just to reiterate- I'm not trying to say this is all the U.S's fault.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Oh snap. This isn't gonna end well

for Iran.

 

[TrailerCues]

August 22nd is looking quite interesting now

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Oh snap!

 

[Daisy]

Omg!!!

Lizard People Are Behind This!!!

I'm sure that's it.

It's the damn sleestacks. If only Rick, Will and Holly done their job and gotten rid of them when they had the chance!

 

[TheSumOfGod]

That's right... it's all on the US.

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Ahmadinejad is a messianic leader who believes that part of the reason he is on this earth is to make way for the revelation of the Mahdi (in Ahmadinejads Shi'a Twelver sect this is Mohammed ibn Hasan) who will return from 'occlusion' at the End of Days.

Ahmadinejad believes not only is that time near, but that he has influence over when it will occur.

All of that makes him reckless and very dangerous... and gives him absolutely no reason NOT to provoke other nations into war.


But of course not... it's only the US that's reckless, bellicose and provocative.


For a little info on Ahmadinejad:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/14/wiran14.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/14/ixworld.html

Why is it no one is able to see my " " smilie these days?

Let me explain it to you: When I add the " " smilie at the end of a post, it means that the post has a bit of humor thrown into it.