Seattle Fireball, Quake, Power Outage
13-Mar-2005

Unknowcountry.com's Seattle correspondent reports that a fireball moved slowly over the city at 7:47 PM on March 12. According to the US Geologic Survey, the area had experienced an earthquake rated at 3.3 on the Richter scale nine minutes earlier at 7:38. At 7:48PM, parts of downtown Seattle experienced a brief power outage.

The Pacific Northwest Seismographic Network centered the quake 15 miles from Olympia and 16 miles in depth. Local residents felt the quake. Local media are reporting the quake and the fireball as unrelated events, and the power outage has not reached local news.

We note, also, that there was an earthquake swarm in the Endeavour segment of the northern Juan de Fuca Ridge off the coast of Oregon last week that sent scientists searching the area for possible volcanic activity along the fracture. Earthquake swarms along the Juan de Fuca Ridge are not unusual. In 2001, a swarm resulted in sea water being drawn into crevasses in the plate for more than a year. The sea floor has numerous inflow and outflow points, but the process by which the water moves in and out of ocean floor formations is not well understood. So far, scientists have not reported the results of studies of the most recent quake swarm.

Prior to the great quake that shook the Indian Ocean on December 26, Unknowncountry reported numerous incidents of fireballs and other unusual aerial phenomena throughout South Asia. Some of the most spectacular of these events took place in Indonesia, China and Australia.

More Mystery Booms
17-Dec-2004

Unknowncountry.com is continuing its reporting on the big booms that have been heard along the East Coat recently. They’ve been especially loud along the coast of North Carolina. They have been heard since the 1800s, when author James Fenimore Cooper called them “Seneca Guns” in one of his short stories. Officials have determined that they are not caused by airplanes, earthquakes or storms.

They could be caused by methane explosions on the ocean floor, but many meteorologists think they are the result of cold air meeting up with warm Gulf Stream air. Like the large blocks of ice that occasionally fall from the sky, they could therefore a product of global warming, even though they’re nothing new. The most recent “Seneca gun” was heard around Wilmington, North Carolina in May, 2000. Like most of them, it caused a rash of phone calls to local police stations.

Explosions over Jakarta
19-Dec-2004

On December 13, Unknowncountry reported a UFO explosion over the Chinese city of Lanzhou, and similar explosions took place over Jakarta last night. In both cases, it has been assumed that the objects were meteors, but it is unsual that the same general area of the planet would be struck by exploding meteors over a week period. Normally, meteor showers are spread across the surface of the planet as it rotates.

At 7:30 this morning Jakarta time, local military radars recorded an object incoming from above. Moments later, a loud explosion was heard over the city, and witnesses reported seeing a bright object streaking toward the ground. A witness in Bogor south of Jakarta reported that he had seen the object hit earth.

In recent weeks, the US State Department has been warning that a terrorist attack was possible in Indonesia, but no casualties were reported after the explosions, which were believed due to the incoming objects.

Meteor sounds are generally described as whining, whistling, or screaming noises as the objects pass through the atmosphere. Explosions are not unusual, and meteors also at times create sonic booms.

The peak of the annual Geminid meteor shower took place on December 13. The Geminids are not generally associated with large, explodiing bolides.

UFO Appears to Explode in China
13-Dec-2004

UPDATE: 12/13/04 0900 Pacific: Xinhua News Agency reports that witnesses saw a strange, shining object cross the sky at 11:36 PM Saturday night, followed by tremendous booms. Over 700 witnesses have reported seeing the phenomenon. Police are searching for debris in the area where it fell. The earth trembled across a 70 square mile area around the western Chinese city of Lanzhou, suggesting an impact with the ground. But so far, nothing has been found.

Shortly before midnight on Saturday night, two red trails of light passed over Lanzhou in western China. Suddenly, a suburban area of the city was lit up as bright as day and a tremendous explosion shook the area, and people felt as if an earthquake had struck.

Police investigating the phenomenon found no evidence of a meteor, or indeed of any form of debris in the area.

High UFO Strangeness in Australia, Canada
07-Dec-2004

A UFO hovers over populated areas for hours, strange booms and rumblings are heard, an amateur astronomer captures a bizarre image of an object seemingly plunging into a bay.

Three ball shaped spheres flashing blue, red and white appeared over Darwin last Saturday night and took their time crossing the sky before hundreds of witnesses. The Australian Department of Defense said that the object definitely was not one of their aircraft or a secret craft of any kind. The local airport said that it was not a plane waiting to land. Get details here.

So, what was it? Part of a flood of high-strangeness reports from Australia would be one answer. At around 4 AM in New South Wales Monday morning, residents of the area experienced a loud boom, a long, house-shaking rumbling sound, and a bright flash of light. Police received dozens of calls about the phenomenon, but could not explain it. There were no thunderstorms in the area, and witnesses described the flash as being very unlike lightning. Read more here.

Meanwhile, on December 7, NASA published a strange image from Darwin as "Astronomy Photo of the Day." The photo, taken by Wayne Pryde, shows a streak and a flash of something apparently entering the water of a bay. The frame of video was part of a sequence monitoring cloud changes in the area. NASA reports that meteor experts don't think it's a meteor and atmospheric scientists don't think it's lightning.

It may well be an unusual natural phenomenon, but it would be logical to consider it in the context of all the other atmospheric strangeness that is taking place in the area.

Australia is not alone in returning extensive UFO reports in recent months. In May, an extraordinary group of lights, invisible to the eye, were photographed by infrared equipment near some Mexican military aircraft. In April, a UFO wave in Iran caused massive public interest as brightly lit objects dipped in and out of the clouds during a daylight event.

Persistent reports from continguous areas of the Himalayas belonging to India and China speak of extremely extensive UFO activity in that area.

In addition, unexplained booms are being heard in many American cities.

Huge Galactic Explosion
21-Feb-2005

An explosion among the greatest ever recorded passed through our solar system on December 27, about 40 hours after the massive tsunami struck the Indian Ocean. The massive energy pulse was followed by a powerful solar storm and a month of weather chaos on earth.

Unfortunately, science at present has no way of determining whether or not the energy pulse, which came from the explosion of a dying neutron star, was connected to events on earth.

The explosion actually took place 50,000 years ago, as the star that exploded was 50,000 light years from earth. It emitted more energy in two-tenths of a second than the sun releases in a hundred thousand years. This astonishing object is only eight miles in diameter. The star, SGR 1806-20, is in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is three billion times farther from the earth than the sun.

Had it been within 10 light years of earth, the explosion would have sterilized our planet, sending life here back to the level of simple organisms that can survive high radiation levels. The nearest known magnetar, a neutron star with a strong magnetic field that is prone to emit this type of energy pulse, is 1E 2259+156, which is 13,000 light years away.

There are no known unstable stars close enough to expose us to this kind of danger, however many galaxies are known to emit superwaves, which routinely bombard the entire galactic structure with more radiation than would be survivable if it struck earth. Such galaxies are unlikely to contain planets that sustain life.

For a tenth of a second on December 27, the flare from SGR 1806-20 was brighter than the full moon.

It is worth noting that the gigantic earthquake the struck the Indian Ocean took place just 40 hours before the flare. Some scientists theorize that such explosions are preceded by gravity waves, and it is possible that such a wave could have destabilized the fault in the Sundra Trench that led to the quake.



Seismologist Says Exxon Had Nothing to Do with It

From: "Agnew, James" <James.Agnew{at}conservation.ca.go*v>
To: <sterlingda@pureenergysystems.co*m>
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 10:30 AM
Subject: Re: "Indonesian Tsunami Probably Tripped by Exxon-Mobil Works"

I can assure you that the M9.0 earthquake was entirely natural, occurring on a subduction zone many miles beneath the surface of the earth - much deeper than man has ever drilled. These types of earthquakes have occurred millions of times in the geologic past and will continue to occur into the foreseeable future. It's called Plate Tectonics, and Man has nothing to do with it. Oil & gas are often found at subduction zones. Exxon had nothing to do with this earthquake or any other earthquake. It is true that small to moderate quakes have been produced by damming rivers and by extracting or injecting fluids into the ground, but an earthquake of this magnitude is entirely naturally-produced through the subduction process.

Sincerely,

James D. Agnew, M.S.
Associate Seismologist
California Geological Survey
801 K St., MS 13-35
Sacramento, CA 95814-3531
Tel. (916) 323-4282
Email: James.Agnew{at}conservation.ca.go*v

Sterling's Reply

I find a telling contradiction in two adjoining sentences: "Exxon had nothing to do with this earthquake or any other earthquake. It is true that small to moderate quakes have been produced by damming rivers and by extracting or injecting fluids into the ground."

This causes me to question your objectivity, defending Exxon on the one hand as having never caused an earthquake, yet in the very next breath saying that extracting or injecting fluids into the ground has caused earthquakes.

I do not believe that more shallow subduction zones have no effect on the deeper subduction zones. To me, that would be like someone saying, "The moon has no effect on the earth. It is too far away." I don't buy it, despite your credentials. I've seen too many times when the professionals err while the common man sees clearly. Think Titanic.

* * * *

From: "Agnew, James" <James.Agnew@conservation.ca.gov>
To: "Sterling D. Allan" <sterlingda@pureenergysystems.com>
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 12:17 PM
Subject: RE: Seismologist on: "Indonesian Tsunami Probably Tripped by Exxon-Mobil Works"

Sterling,

I should have added one more sentence: "The wells that caused the small earthquakes were water wells, not oil or gas wells." The most famous example is the Rocky Mountain Arsenal fluid injection well near Rangeley, Colorado (a federal government-owned wastewater injection well). The high-pressure injection of large volumes of waste fluids caused small earthquakes to occur - none of them caused any damage to surface structures. I am not aware of any oil or gas wells ever causing earthquakes to occur.

There is no such thing as a "shallow subduction zone over a deep subduction zone." They are all deep (deeper than any well ever drilled by Man).

I would agree that it is always a good idea to question authority. However, in this case, your story's logic is akin to saying that, if I were buying something in a convenience store and the store gets robbed around the same time, somehow I am at fault.

Jim Agnew

P.S. I have never worked in the oil & gas industry and have nothing to "defend" but the truth. My expertise is in the study of earthquakes.

* * * *

Sterling's Response

I guess what confused me is the statement: "Oil & gas are often found at subduction zones." If man has never drilled there, how do they find oil & gas there? I'm a bit confused on that one.

Here are some references about Oil Drilling and earthquakes: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=335789 "the removal of oil can cause earthquakes, even in regions normally quiet when it comes to seismic activity..."

Sorry to question you again, but it seems strange to me that you as a seismologist are not familiar with this.

I would respect your researched answer on this. You might find a Pandora's box in your profession by probing this, and may end up without a job?

* * * *

From: "Agnew, James" <James.Agnew{at}conservation.ca.go*v>
To: "Sterling D. Allan" <sterlingda{at}pureenergysystems.co*m>
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 4:36 PM
Subject: RE: Seismologist on: "Indonesian Tsunami Probably Tripped by Exxon-Mobil Works"

Sterling,

First, let me state that "Google Answers" is not exactly a fount of reliable knowledge; it appears to be written by anyone who feels like writing, no matter what their educational credentials are. From what I have read in the sci.geo.earthquakes Usenet group, it's not worth spending any time reading anything there. ... If you want reliable geologic information, consult the USGS at www.usgs.gov or us here at the California Geologic Survey at www.consrv.ca.gov/CGS/index.htm. Most geologists are happy to tell people the facts as they are currently known.

At the site you pointed me to, there is only one anecdotal mention of oil extraction causing actual earthquakes, which allegedly occurred in the Wilmington oil field (near Torrance & San Pedro in Southern CA), although the writer gives no reference which I can check. However, even this allegation is suspect, because earthquakes happen naturally all the time in that area anyway. If earthquakes occurred due to oil extraction there, they would have been very small, and it would be very hard to blame them on the oil extraction since the area is so highly seismic already.

Oil, gas and water extraction can be followed by subsidence (lowering of the ground elevation by several feet due to compaction of the ground) and even "movement" of the ground (most probably along pre-existing joints in the rock), but the movement is rarely, if ever, coincident with earthquakes, and is not enough to cause large quakes. Certainly nothing Man could do could cause a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. The world's total nuclear arsenal set off at once would not be that large. Since all the nukes are still here, the only possible conclusion is that the Sumatran quake occurred naturally.

Please note that I did not say "man has never drilled at subduction zones". They drill there all the time because that's where a lot of the oil is. They find oil there using conventional geophysical techniques, such as seismic reflection (bouncing sound waves off the various layers in the earth). Oil and gas are there because the subduction process (sliding of one of earth's surface plates under another during large earthquakes) has scraped huge quantities of ocean sediments, which contain oil from dead plants and organisms raining down over millions of years, off the subducting plate and plastered them onto the upper plate. This causes enormous quantities of oil & gas in those disturbed sediments to migrate along paths of least resistance, usually upward, until they reach a barrier (such as a fault which cuts off the migration path), where they "pool" in the spaces between the rock particles. Those areas can be imaged by the seismic reflection survey, and that's where they drill for oil & gas. Sometimes they're right and find oil & gas, and sometimes they're wrong (dry holes).

I do not know what "Magma oil" is. Perhaps you could enlighten me. Certainly there is no "oil" in liquid magma. Are you referring to hydrogen, which is present in the lithosphere?

Jim Agnew

Sterling's Reply

Thanks for your patience in answering. Don't you think the oil/gas extraction could possibly have a "tripping" effect, like Wiley Coyote pushing a boulder over on the road runner? (excuse the simple analogy). You remove that much gas and the pressure it was producing within the earth might push on the wrong rock.

Think of it this way. An avalanche is set off by even the slightest vibration. It's just waiting to go. Why couldn't the acts of man have been the trigger for the 9.0 quake that was "waiting to go"?

Think of the amount of energy contained in the avalanche compare to the amount of energy expended to trigger the avalanche. Is this not a fair comparison?

Magma oil:
http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Theory/SustainableOil/

Sterling



May have Shifted a few minutes either way; that's it

From: erickrieg{at}verizon.ne*t
To: Sterling D. Allan
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: [free_energy] Seismologist on: "Indonesian Tsunami Probably Tripped by Exxon

Sterling,

The earthquake was a result of incredible forces known to be deep in the earth since the beginning of recorded history. Exxon's work may have been able to shift the inevitable earthquake maybe a few minutes either way - that's it.



Four Collaborative Anecdotes

by J.R., Jan. 27, 2005

The article was interesting. There are however three other considerations:

1) In the early 20th century Nicola Tesla was studying mechanical resonance using a dual chambered device about the size of a soda can. He strapped it to he support beams in his laboratory in NY City and generated an earthquake that shook several square blocks. There is a court order on file blocking him from further testing of the device within the city limits of NY.

2) In the early 1980's a bored laid off oil field employee in southern California dropped seismic sensors into a hole under his mobile home and monitored them using his home PC. He found regular rhythm patterns that could only be artificial before several small earthquakes. Someone was trying to relieve the stress on the San Andreas fault. He reported it to the press and the day the news hit the papers, the rhythm stopped.

3) Much has been made about the relationship between the magnetic field and the earth's crust. The magnetic field strength has dropped from 4 gauss in the air (roughly 4000 gauss in the crust) to 0.4 gauss (400 gauss in the crust) in the past 2000 years. This weakening has weakened the integrity of the crust. Further, military experiments in Russia, Greenland, Finland, and the USA using atmospheric heaters (HAARP comes to mind) cause movement in the magnetic field. These movements lead to further weakening along critical stress points.

4) There have been two good correlations done between underground nuclear testing and earthquake activity. One of them was reported on the net. I'll try to find it again and give you the address. The other one is a classified Air Force document I had access to while working in a nuclear detection outfit in the 1970's. Watch the news for underground test announcements and then watch for a couple of days and you will see as many as three 6+ quakes.

Just interesting info.

[J.R.]



People are again reporting heavy UFO sighting in Nicobar Island, Andaman, India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka coastal areas. The animals in these areas are again showing strange behavior. The fishermen and their families this time are taking these signs seriously and are refusing to move near the ocean. The tribal people of Andaman Nicobar Island have again moved to the high grounds. The sea birds are also showing strange signals.

The UFO sightings happen at night with strange lights. The continuation of tremors of 6 or less Richter scale seems never ending. The ships traveling between India’s mainland and the Andaman-Nocobar Island as well commercial fishermen in Indian Ocean are reporting strange signals as well as jamming of their radio channels.

According to some experts, these are signs of possible experimentation with tectonic plates by some entity. People in Nicobar island complaints something is going on under the ocean – deep underground – many miles below the water surface.

The pattern of aftershocks is also strange. Normally on plotting the same they show a gradual decrease in the moving average of Richter scale reported. This time no pattern can be found. After one large aftershock, a considerable time lapses before the next one. It seems someone is controlling the after shocks and making sure plates are not over stressed. Andaman and Nicobar islands has experienced 121 aftershocks between 5.2 and 6.2 Richter scale. The Geologists in India are closely tracking these aftershocks and cannot find a pattern. The only pattern that can be found is a large lapse after a considerable aftershock.

A sailor in the Shipping Authority of India Limited who also sailed in transatlantic shipping routes says, this part of the Indian ocean resembles now Bermuda triangle region.

In Burmuda triangle part of Atlantic ocean manifest strange behavior and ships as well as aircrafts vanish.

But there is a difference. Here the disturbance seems to be coming from the tectonic plate levels.

One explanation can be some entity doing underground research with moving plates. It is known that some countries have research projects on creating artificial earthquakes. The other possibility is bizarre. Many in Indian coastal areas now believe that the UFO sighting before the Tsunami had something to do with the
Tsunami.


This time they believe the extra-terrestrials are doing something out there deep under the ocean. There are UFO researchers all around the world that believe in UFO underground bases. These bases are mostly suspected in areas where one tectonic plate goes on top of another plate. This provides a thicker crust of earth to build bases that needs miles of deep crust of earth.

What is really strange is that during low tide or any time when ocean recedes leaving a wider beach area, the sea birds have a feast on the fishes left in the beach. But these days the sea birds actually fly inland when this is happening. The number of wild animals in the coastal areas also has diminished. Why are animals not coming back to the ocean coastal areas? Are they sensing possibility of another Tsunami?

Experimentation or construction deep under the tectonic plates can cause mega earthquakes. Some have blamed deep drilling in the Indian ocean i for oil and Gas exploration by India, Bangladesh and Mayanmar. But these drillings are not that deep that can cause mega earthquakes.


http://pesn.com/2005/01/25/6900062_Exxon_Tripped_Indonesian_Tsunami/

Indonesian Tsunami Probably Tripped by Exxon-Mobil Works

More than 1600 Indonesian troops have
guarded the Exxon-Mobil facilities in
Aceh at one time in recent years. The
Indonesian government gleans more than
$100 million per year from the works.

One cubic mile of natural gas extracted every four years at epicenter Aceh facility presents a smoking gun for man-made factor in 9.0 earthquake with accompanying tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people

Compiled by PESN from Paul Noel and JAH

ACEH, INDONESIA -- Exxon-Mobil has a 60-billion-standard-cubic-foot-per-day facility near Aceh. In the span of four years the company extracts more than one cubic mile of natural gas from the formations beneath what has turned out to be the epicenter of the Aceh earthquake. The gas field there has been producing for much longer than four years, and is one of the largest such facilities in the world.

Scientists have known for some time that earthquakes in the order of 4.0 on the Richtor scale have been caused by oil drilling and other earth intrusive practices.


click for enlargement
Correlation of Increase in Major Earthquakes to Increse in Oil Combustion
from 1900 to 2000 (ForceBorne.com)

An analogous phenomena can be seen with earthquakes associated with large Hydro Dams. For example, Fontana Dam (USTVA North Carolina) has been associated with up to 4.0 earthquakes and routinely causes 2.5 quakes some fifty-plus years after construction.

Due to its much greater scale, and the presence of six geological faults in the area, the Three Gorges Dam in China will create very large earthquakes if its reservoirs are ever filled completely. According to Chinese news reports, tremors measuring 6.1 and 5.8 on the Richter scale hit the Zhangye region at 8:41 p.m. and 8:48 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2003.

Water was drained to safe levels over the next two days, and the China Daily reported that the dams were structurally compromised: "Cracks five centimetres wide had opened in the walls of the Shuangshuzhi reservoir, while the Zhaizhaizi reservoir had developed a fissure one centimetre wide and 410 metres long", the newspaper reported.

The weight of water overlying an unstable geological formation or fault exerts incredible pressure to which the rock layers inevitably yield. Therefore it is legitimate to ask, "What role did the extraction of oil and gas from the immediate area play in the 9.0 Aceh earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004?"

World oil production alone (not including natural gas) is approximately 80 to 100 million barrels of oil per day. That is a tremendous volume of oil, too large to even visualize in your mind’s eye, which is being extracted EVERY DAY.

The world’s oilfields are pressurized naturally by natural-gas within the oil. We've all probably seen "oil gushers" on films involving oil discovery: oil shoots high into the air as it is forced out of the ground by the natural-gas pressure in the underground oilfield.

The oil is not only pressurized, but is also hot. As it is extracted, the pressure gradually decreases until the oil well is no longer pressurized. Comparable to an empty aerosol can that still has some liquid in it, but which is no longer expelled by depressing the spout, the gas pressure decreases to the point where the drilling company needs to burn energy for pumping. Thus it becomes less profitable to extract the oil.

In some cases, in order to extract the remaining oil, cold water is injected/pumped into the well, causing the oil to float on top of the injected water. As the oil well fills with cold water, the last remaining oil which floats up on top of it is forced up through the well head to the surface, until the well is "dry" – i.e. "empty", but not literally "dry" since it is now filled with water.

During these various stages of the oil-extraction process, the outer crust of the globe is gradually being depressurized and cooled internally, causing contraction for both of these reasons. When objects cool down they automatically shrink/contract in size. If you let high-pressure air or gas out of a cylinder ice forms around the outlet, and cools the entire cylinder. If you let some of the air out of a football, or basketball, the ball shrinks and goes badly out of shape.

Apply that to the Earth and you have earthquakes as the crustal layers shift in response to the loss of pressure from below while the water pressure above increases. This is simple common sense –- not rocket science. It is a fact so simple that anyone who understands the oil-extraction process would understand the effects. Or at least, they should understand.

Therefore, the people doing this oil extraction should know the risk of triggering earthquakes, even if they ignore the consequences of rapidly dropping the underground pressure -- as the financial gurus and oil executives apparently regularly do.

Should these executives and decision-makers, who are also the profit-makers, be required to accept liability for the consequences?

Another obvious fact that is never quoted in relation to global warming is that internal combustion engines do not just give off greenhouse gases, they also give off tremendous heat – every single one of them. If you try putting your hand near the cooling-radiator or exhaust manifold of a running engine, you are going to snatch it away again quickly to prevent burns. The professors never factor this into the global-warming equations, and never mention it in the news. They mention only the gas emissions.

Think about the millions of engines giving off tremendous heat every day, some all day every day. Compound this on top of the greenhouse gases and you can see why the scientists' and professors' prognostications have turned out to be wrong. The ice caps are melting much faster than the "experts" first predicted, and faster than they are still wrongly predicting now. What pressures does this shift in weight from the poles place on the planet?

If oil is continually being created deep in the earth, as some theorists argue, what happens when this new oil rises into a former oil deposit that is now filled with water? Will this also result in further earthquakes as pressure builds up with gas being forced into the same space?

To connect the dots, therefore, we have to link the rapid “harvesting” of subterranean and undersea oil, and the reason for doing so – the thirsty tanks of obsolete gas-guzzling vehicles – with the consequence of earthquakes and tsunamis. Not only in Asia, but also around the world, are many oilfields with rapidly dropping pressure, into which water is being pumped to extract the last expensive barrels. How many more disastrous quakes will humanity face as the result of this artificially-maintained appetite for fuel?

- - - -

Compiled by Sterling D. Allan.
Thanks, Mary-Sue Halliburton for editorial input.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

* Oil Extraction Stresses Earth, Contributing to Earthquakes and Tsunamis - Previous draft of this story, published on Jan. 12, 2005, prior to information about Exxon-Mobil.
* ExxonMobil, Aceh and the Tsunami - In Aceh, the company operates one of the largest gas fields in the world and they're being sued for gross human rights violations. (Democracy Now; Jan. 4, 2005) (related)
* Oil Drilling and Earthquakes - cites multiple references (Google Answers; April 25, 2004)
Q. "Given the fact that oil has been pumped out of the ground 24/7/365 by thousands upon thousands of pumps all over the world for so many years, what replaces the space previously held by the oil?"
A. "the removal of oil can cause earthquakes, even in regions normally quiet when it comes to seismic activity..."
* Troop deployment to guard Exxon and other vital enterprises - At least 1600 troops guarding Exxon interests alone in the Aceh region in 2001.
* Exxon 'helped torture in Indonesia' - "The Asia-Pacific region contributes about 13% of ExxonMobil's worldwide production of oil and gas." Ini 2000, gas from Indonesia yielded 118 cargoes of LNG." (BBC; June 22, 2001)
* OIL: The Cause of Most Earthquakes and Bad Weather - Robert L. Cook, alt energy inventor, addresses oil extraction and earthquakes; global warming and ice cap water redistribution stresses; atmospheric pressure modifications. "What would happen if the sunken earth of the Antarctic region were to spring back up (even a few hundred feet) after enough ice melts away? Could this trigger a worldwide earthquake?"
* Earthquake: Coincidence or a Corporate Oil Tragedy? - "Sound bombing" or seismic tests of ocean floors to test for oil and gas had been carried out near the sites of the Tasmanian beachings recently. (Independent Media TV; Dec. 28, 2004)

Whale Beachings in Tasmania, Australia and New Zealand on November 30th, 2004
(Robin Good)

* Three Gorges Dam - is situated near six active fault lines and above 15 million people.
* Dam on dangerous ground - recent earthquakes (Three Gorges Probe news service; Dec. 18, 2003)
* Magma Oil - List of references that support the theory that some oil is generated deep within the earth and replenished. (FreeEnergyNews directory)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

See also

* Scalar Electromagnetic Weapons and their Terrorist Use: Immediate Strategic Aspects of the Asymmetric War on the U.S. - 62-pp document by Tom Bearden about man-made earthquake capabilities.
* Pure Energy Systems News



Oil Extraction Stresses Earth, Contributing to Earthquakes and Tsunamis

At 80 to 100 million barrels a day being extracted from the earth, and some extraction procedures entailing the infusion of cold water, these factors cannot be ignored as far as influencing earth crust stresses.

See added comment below:
Exxon Extracted about 1 cubic mile of natural gas at Aceh epicenter

by JAH
Modified and reprinted with permission by Pure Energy Systems News

LONDON -- There has been speculation on the Internet that the earthquake near Aceh was caused by man, through sonic-surveying of the area looking for new oil-reserves, causing whales and dolphins to beach themselves because of the intense pain it causes them, and/or a nuclear device, or HAARP.

Whilst any or all of these causes is quite possible, there is also another more probable and simpler possibility that could very easily have caused this earthquake and many others around the world.

That other cause is the extraction of oil and gas from the immediate area around Aceh, and from around the world where other earthquakes occur.

World oil-production alone (not including natural-gas) is approximately 80 – 100 million barrels of oil per day. Yes, 80 - 100 million barrels per DAY. That is a tremendous volume of oil, too large to even visualize in your mind’s eye, and it is being extracted EVERY DAY. The world’s oil-fields are pressurized naturally by natural-gas within the oil, and you have all probably seen “oil-gushers” on films about oil-strikes, and how the oil shoots high into the air as it is forced out of the ground by the natural-gas-pressure in the under-ground oil-field.

The oil is not only pressurized, but is also hot, and, as it is extracted, the pressure gradually decreases until the oil-well is no longer pressurized (like an empty aerosol can that still has some liquid in it) and becomes less profitable to produce oil from, as the pressure decreases to the point where the oil needs the use of external-energy to be pumped out. In some cases, in order to extract the remaining oil, cold-water is injected/pumped into the well and the oil floats on top of the injected water, so as the oil-well fills with cold-water the last remaining oil floats up on top of it, through the well-head-riser to the surface, until the well is empty, but not “dry”.

During these various stages the globe of the earth is gradually being depressurized and cooled internally, causing contraction for both of these reasons. When objects cool-down they automatically shrink/contract in size. If you let high-pressure air or gas out of a cylinder it forms ice around the outlet, and cools the entire cylinder. If you let some of the air out of a football, or basket-ball, the ball shrinks and goes badly out of shape.

Apply that to the Earth and you have earthquakes – simple common-sense – not rocket-science. A fact so simple that anyone who understands the oil-extraction process would understand, but, because they are insanely-blinded by their insatiable greed and avarice, they often overlook the obvious. Another obvious fact that is never quoted in relation to global-warming is that internal-combustion-engines do not just give-off green-house gases, they also give-off tremendous heat – every single one of them. If you don’t believe me, try putting your hand near the cooling-radiator or exhaust manifold of a hot engine. The professors never factor this into the equation, and never mention it in the news. They only mention the gas-emissions. Think about the millions of engines giving off tremendous heat every day, some all day every day, as well as the green-house gases and that is one reason why the scientists/professors prognostications are always wrong, and the ice-caps are melting much faster than they first predicted, and faster than they are still predicting wrongly now.

SOURCE

Earthquakes and tsunamis by JAH, Jan. 11, 2005.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exxon Extracted about 1 cubic mile of natural gas at Aceh epicenter

From: Paul Noel
To: sterlingda@pureenergysystems.co*m
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 12:26 PM

I have been researching the claim of the earthquake on Aceh (Indonesia 12/26/2004) earthquake and tsunami caused by Oil/Gas drilling.
It seems that EXXON has a 60 BSCF/day facility near Aceh and in 4 years it withdraws the equal of about 1+ Cubic Mile of Natural Gas from the formations directly at Epicenter of the Earthquake.

Also note that the gas field there has been producing for quite some time not just 4 years.

It is also interesting to note that earthquakes in the order 4.0 have been caused by oil drilling etc for some time.

There have been earthquakes associated with large Hydro Dams for example Fontana Dam (USTVA North Carolina) has been associated with up to 4.0 earthquakes and routinely causes 2.5 some 50+ years after construction. I would expect the 3 Gorges Dam in China to create 7.0 or larger earthquakes and this represents pressures and masses in the same order as the Oil/Gas stuff. While I have no doubt of the regional earthquake history I could easily suspect a real and substantial component to the event of 12/26/2004.

Paul Noel
cluck_rocket{at}yahoo.co*m
Huntsville, Alabama

ExxonMobil, Aceh and the Tsunami

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ExxonMobil has contributed $5 million to the Tsunami relief efforts. In Aceh, the company operates one of the largest gas fields in the world and they're being sued for gross human rights violations. We speak with a lawyer who has just returned from Indonesia where he was interviewing witnesses against ExxonMobil from Aceh. [includes rush transcript] Today, as the United Nations puts the confirmed death toll from the Asian Tsunami at more than 150,000, we are going to continue our special coverage of the devestation in the hardest hit area, the Aceh region of Indonesia where the death toll is expected soon to rise above 100,000. In a few moments we are going to be joined by two Acehnese activists who were out in front of the Indonesian Mission to the UN protesting yesterday against the Indonesian military regime. But first, we turn to a story that has gotten almost no attention and that is the story of the oil giant Exxon-Mobil, a corporation that has a massive investment in Aceh. According to some estimates, ExxonMobil has extracted some $40 billion from its operations in Aceh, Indonesia.

According to human rights groups, ExxonMobil has hired military units of the Indonesian national army to provide "security" for their gas extraction and liquification project in the region. Members of these military units regularly have perpetrated ongoing and severe human rights abuses against local villagers, including murder, rape, torture, destruction of property and other acts of terror. Human rights groups further charge that ExxonMobil has continued to finance the military and to provide company equipment and facilities that have been used by the Indonesian military to commit atrocities and cover them up through the use of mass graves.

For years, the Washington DC-based International Labor Rights Fund has fought a series of legal battles to hold ExxonMobil responsible for its record in Aceh. One of the group's lawyers was in Aceh interviewing witnesses just days before the Tsunami hit.


* Derek Baxter, a lawyer for the International Labor Rights Fund in Washington, D.C.


* Bama Athreya, Deputy Director of the International Labor Rights Fund in Washington, D.C.
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RUSH TRANSCRIPT

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AMY GOODMAN: We're joined by Bama Athreya, who is the Deputy Director of the International Labor Rights Fund, as well as Derek Baxter, who is a lawyer with that group. He has just returned from Indonesia, where he was speaking with people who are involved in the lawsuit. We want to welcome you both to Democracy Now!, and begin with Derek Baxter. Welcome.

DEREK BAXTER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us, Derek. I wanted to start off by saying that we did invite ExxonMobil on the program. They said at first they would participate in the program, if we were just talking about their contribution, ExxonMobil's contribution to the relief efforts. They're one of the largest corporate contributors to the relief efforts. They have pledged more than -- they have pledged $5 million. They did write us an email. They said, “I'm surprised your program would choose to divert attention from the unprecedented outpouring of support and coordination among multinational and local relief agencies in Indonesia, by pursuing an ambush interview with one of the largest corporate contributors to those efforts.” Derek Baxter, can you respond?

DEREK BAXTER: Well, we welcome ExxonMobil's contribution, but ExxonMobil, we have to remember, has a long debt to the Acehnese people. They are by far the largest corporation operating in Aceh. The amount of profit that they derive from this region is enormous. It dwarfs any other industry in the area. While we're glad that they're helping, sadly, all too long, Exxon has been part of the problem in Aceh. As our lawsuit has alleged, Exxon has knowingly operated its facilities, its natural gas facilities on the northeastern coast of Aceh. They have done so by hiring the Indonesian military forces to provide security, knowing all along, as is a matter of public record, that the Indonesian military's record in that area has been a very difficult one. The military has committed many human rights abuses against the people of Aceh in that area. Their collaboration with ExxonMobil has only worsened the problem.

AMY GOODMAN: Derek Baxter, you recently returned, in fact, what, just a week before the tsunami hit, from Indonesia. Can you talk about what you were doing there?

DEREK BAXTER: Certainly. I was very close to Aceh, and part of the problem in actually going to Aceh is that the Indonesian government has not regularly allowed foreigners, journalists, NGOs, etc., to enter without securing special permission, which is very difficult to get. So I was in North Sumatra, very close to Aceh. I met with numerous people, villagers who lived very close to the ExxonMobil facilities in Aceh, who traveled at great personal risk to themselves to North Sumatra, the area where I was, to meet with me. They told me of continuing human rights abuses. Just on the eve of the tsunami, the human rights situation in that part of Aceh was severe, and if anything, it was worsening. I spoke with people who told me that military assigned to protect the ExxonMobil facilities accosted them, extorted them, asked them regularly for contributions of money, of rice, of possessions, which these people had very little, and if there was any protest, they would often be attacked. They would be hauled away from their families, beaten. I spoke to a very young man who had been shot in the right knee, very gruesome. But these atrocities were commonplace. They didn't surprise anybody that I was talking to, because sadly, in that area, right by the ExxonMobil facilities, those abuses of that type have been going on for years, for the entire last decade. We have even heard reports, which we're trying to verify, that five people were killed actually on the liquification plant that ExxonMobil helps to operate. As we have -- as the ILRF have noted in the lawsuit which we filed in 2001, the torture and murder, disappearance, sexual assault of people, Acehnese, living close to these ExxonMobil facilities was all too routine over the last years.

AMY GOODMAN: Derek Baxter, if you are talking about the Indonesian military, why do you hold ExxonMobil accountable?

DEREK BAXTER: That's an excellent question, and we're not seeking to hold them accountable for everything, obviously, that happens in Aceh. There's a long, ongoing civil strife in that area, but in this particular area, ExxonMobil has contracted, as we have said and alleged in our complaint, they have contracted with the Indonesian military to provide security just for the ExxonMobil facilities. We have alleged that this relationship with the Indonesian military includes providing money, directly to them, it includes building -- constructing buildings on ExxonMobil grounds, which the military has used for the torture and disappearance of Acehnese. It includes providing excavating equipment, which ExxonMobil has provided to the military, in which we have alleged the military has then used to construct mass graves of the victims. It's a very close, ongoing relationship, and you have to remember that ExxonMobil wields enormous financial power in this region, and if they are choosing to utilize the military force that has been criticized by many human rights groups for their violations, then we believe, and we believe the law will hold us out on this point, that ExxonMobil will be legally liable for these violations.

AMY GOODMAN: Derek Baxter, we have to break. When we come back, we will also talk with Bama Athreya, about the overall region. Today, there's a piece in the Washington Post that talks about the collaboration between the U.S. military right now and the Indonesian military. Yesterday we went up to the U.N. mission -- to the Indonesian mission to the United Nations where there was a gathering of Acehnese refugees who were encouraging international aid organizations not to funnel their money through the Indonesian government. And they were calling on the Indonesian military not to stop the aid going into Aceh.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: As we continue to discuss one of the largest corporate contributors to the relief efforts, ExxonMobil – $5 million they say they are giving, we wish we could have them on the program. They declined to participate, but we are talking about an ongoing lawsuit that involves ExxonMobil and its running of one of the largest gas fields in the world in Aceh. I believe that its facility there was not actually damaged by the tsunami. We're joined in Washington studios by two members of the International Labor Rights Fund. We're joined by the Deputy Director of the International Fund, Bama Athreya, as well as Derek Baxter, who is the lawyer who's just returned from Indonesia, a week before the tsunami, interviewing people who are participating in the lawsuit against the -- against ExxonMobil. I was wondering, Bama Athreya, if you could put this in the context of Indonesia, which you have worked on for many years, and in the context of what's happening right now, the massive -- well, the cataclysm that has taken place and what is taking place in Aceh.

BAMA ATHREYA: Sure. That's a big question, Amy, and I'll try and focus it a little bit on the things that you just mentioned. You had mentioned that there has been a call from a number of activists to insure that the aid that people are so very generously giving to the victims of the tsunami is not all funneled through the Indonesian military. And, on context, I think it's important for people here, who are, you know, giving very generously on a personal level to recognize the political context in Aceh. The Indonesian military has been operating basically a war against a separatist movement in Aceh for decades now. And that has had a lot of fallout in terms of human rights violations against innocent civilians throughout Aceh. It's also important to remember that the Indonesian military itself are an extremely corrupt institution. It's estimated that only about 40% of the military's basic operating costs are paid for by the Indonesian government. That means they get the other 60% through extortion. You mentioned that ExxonMobil's given $5 million to the relief effort. Well, we would sure love to know how much ExxonMobil's has given to the Indonesian military over the years. We know they've paid them. We know they've given them logistical support. We know they've housed them. I'm just guessing that their donations, if you'd like to call it that, to the Indonesian military over the years have been far in excess of the $5 million they're now giving to the poor victims in Aceh. So, we're looking at a context where we've got a very corrupt institution, the Indonesian military, which has been extorting local Acehnese villagers, which has been running drug operations and prostitution rings in Aceh, which has been involved in illegal timber operations in Aceh; and now we're going to trust this same institution to be the folks who deliver the aid to the Acehnese victims? It's not a great idea, Amy, and I think that's one of the reasons why we share the position of some of our human rights colleagues here in the U.S. that there have got to be some transparent systems in place to deliver aid to make sure those people in Aceh that have suffered the most really, truly get the food and the medicine that people are donating.

AMY GOODMAN: As you mentioned, Bama, Acehnese and human rights groups have been protesting the funneling of aid to the Indonesian military. Yesterday outside the Indonesian mission to the U.N., a gathering of Acehnese refugees took place. They marched from the U.N. to thank them for supporting huge relief efforts in Indonesia, but then marched over to the Indonesian Mission to the U.N., condemning what they called the Indonesian government's haphazard response to the tsunami. They accuse the Indonesian armed forces of continuing their military operations in Aceh, and of preventing the delivery of aid to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The refugees charged that rather than helping the people, in a number of areas the troops are intimidating villagers, scaring away --them away from their villages, looting their homes, stealing food. They called on the military to implement an immediate cease-fire.


Question
Subject: Geology
Category: Science
Asked by: curiousrp-ga
List Price: $20.00 Posted: 25 Apr 2004 01:24 PDT
Expires: 25 May 2004 01:24 PDT
Question ID: 335789
Given the fact that oil has been pumped out of the ground 24/7/365 by thousands upon thousands of pumps all over the world for so many years, what replaces the space previously held by the oil? My question assumes that the oil supply is finite and that oil is been removed faster than it is formed. Water was once sugested as an answer but after what must be about one hundred years, won't there be a net deficit by now?

Answer
Subject: Re: Geology
Answered By: digsalot-ga on 25 Apr 2004 08:22 PDT

Hello there

livioflores-ga has provided some interesting information in the comments dealing with stability and the non-need for us to replace the oil removed. That may very well be true in come situations and may not effect future production from some wells.

However, nature frequently takes over where we leave off and conducts a replacement of its own and in some cases the damage has been quite high. Surface deformations and subsidence have taken place in more than one oil field. - "One recent estimate placed the annual cost of subsidence damage and mitigation within the U.S. alone at over $100 million" - From Rapid subsidence over oil fields measured by SAR interferometry/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California http://www-radar.jpl.nasa.gov/s323/IntSARapps/LH-Belridge_GRL.html - - You will find many additional references here.

From Us Department of Energy and Terralog - "Subsidence and Casing Damage Study, California - Fluid extraction and injection operations in several shallow diatomite reservoirs have induced significant subsidence, surface fissures, and structural damage to wells. Terralog has completed a detailed review and analysis of production related subsidence and well damage. In collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley Labs and Sandia National Laboratory, Terralog is developing improved subsidence and damage models for these fields." http://www.terralog.com/subsidenceexamples.htm

From Terralog - "The weight of overburden sediments above a producing formation is supported partially by the rock matrix and partially by the pressurized fluid within the rock porespace. When fluid pressure is reduced by oil and gas production, more of the load is transferred to the rock matrix resulting in formation compaction. This subsurface compaction can sometimes produce surface subsidence with significant displacements in the both the vertical and horizontal directions. In extreme instances surface fissures have been created, fault movement has been induced, well casings have been seriously damaged, and offshore platforms have partially submerged." http://www.terralog.com/subside.htm - - - - - In this website you will find mathematical and elastic models, case studies and more, several with detailed illustrations.

Induced seismicity is another situation caused by oil removal. In other words, the removal of oil can cause earthquakes, even in regions normally quiet when it comes to seismic activity, such as parts of southern Texas. This from the NORSAR website: - "From oil and gas fields the problems relating to induced seismicity have been known since the 1920, and were 30 years later thoroughly studied at an oil field near Wilmington, California, where the oil production triggered a series of damaging earthquakes. In the last decade a number of examples of earthquake activity related to oil and gas production as well as injection of liquids under high pressure have been observed, although not with as serious consequences as for Wilmington." http://www.norsar.no/seismology/induced/

There may be a little confusion caused by the above statement as "Induced Seismicity" is also a term used by the oil industry to defind deliberate, man made 'mini-quakes' used in the finding of oil. However, the article I quoted is clearly intended to discuss quakes caused by the removal of oil, not the discovery of it.

This paper deals with earthquakes in Canada caused by oil and gas extraction: "New model for induced seismicity caused by hydrocarbon production in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin" http://www.mustaqeem.ca/abstract.htm

Even pumping water into the ground to try and replace the missing oil can have negative consequences. - "Small ground motions have, in the past, been attributed to increases in fluid pressure in rocks. The most notable occurrence was in Colorado in the 1960s. Denver-area residents, who had not felt an earthquake in 80 years, experienced over 1,300 of them when the Rocky Mountain Arsenal pumped 165 million gallons of its wastewater into a 12,000-foot-deep borehole over a four-year period." http://dax.geo.arizona.edu/earthscope/didyou/waterquakes.html - From Earthscope

So, the most general answer to your question about what replaces the removed oil is "the ground above it" and as for a net deficit - yes there is one. Sometimes the damage caused by oil depletion drags by months or years and nobody knows just what the final outcome will be. Only time will tell.

I hope that this, along with the material supplied by livioflores-ga in comments will provide a fairly complete picture of what happens when oil is removed from the ground. There may not be a "need" to replace it from the production standpoint. But there is certainly an economic and moral need to try and stabilize these fields in some manner. A hundred million dollars a year in damage caused by oil extraction is not something that can just be brushed aside by the oil industry and government simply saying there is "no need" for replacement.

Search - Google
Terms - oil production and earth deformity, oil production and subsidence, oil production and earthquakes

Websites are included in the text.

If I may clarify anything, please ask.

Cheers
Digsalot

Comments Log in to add a comment
Subject: Re: Geology
From: livioflores-ga on 25 Apr 2004 06:30 PDT
It appears that oil replacing is not necessary, the oil reservories are stable bubbles or caves of the rock formation. See the following pages: "Oil and Gas Extraction": "When oil or gas is found, the drill pipe and bit are pulled from the well, and metal pipe (casing) is lowered into the hole and cemented in place. The casing’s upper end is fastened to a system of pipes and valves called a wellhead, or “Christmas Tree,” through which natural pressure forces the oil or gas into separation and storage tanks. If natural pressure is not great enough to force the oil to the surface, pumps may be used. In some cases, water, steam, or gas may be injected into the oil-producing formation to improve recovery." http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs005.htm


From "Virtual Science Fair: The Petroleum Industry": "Technological Advancements": (steam injection to fecilitate the oil extraction) http://www.alumni.ca/~wongi3i/tech.html

"The Sciences":
http://www.alumni.ca/~wongi3i/science.html


I have not found references about the need to replace the extracted oil in the reservoir.

If this is considered by you as a proper answer let me know so I can post this in the answer box and can claim the price.

Regards.
livioflores-ga

Subject: Re: Geology
From: neilzero-ga on 25 Apr 2004 09:39 PDT
I understand the condition you fear has already occured in Alabama and Loisiana were the ground level is sinking due to oil and methane = natural gas that was removed early in the 20th century. Some of the encroachment of the Gulf of Mexico is due to tilting of the North America tetonic plate, but concensis seems to be; creating the void is part of the problem. In recent decades it has been found that replacig the oil with something, means significately more oil can be removed with less energetic pumps, so additional land sinking will likely be rare in the future (most places) because of underground voids being left. Carbon dioxide does a better than most job of getting more oil out, so carbon dioxide injection may become big business, if the curent hoopla about carbon dioxide causing global warming persists. In my opinion, pressurizing with carbon dioxide is an excelent stratagy as we may get new ice age, shortly after or instead of green house warming. The carbon dioxide could then be released into the atmosphere to reduce the severity of the new ice age. Neil

Subject: Re: Geology
From: neilzero-ga on 25 Apr 2004 09:48 PDT
I understand the condition you fear has already occured in Alabama and Loisiana where the ground level is sinking due to oil and methane = natural gas that was removed early in the 20th century. Some of the encroachment of the Gulf of Mexico is due to tilting of the North America tetonic plate, but concensis seems to be; creating the void is part of the problem. In recent decades it has been found that replacig the oil with something, means significately more oil can be removed with less energetic pumps, so additional land sinking will likely be rare in the future (most places) because of underground voids being left. Carbon dioxide does a 'better than most' job of getting more oil out, so carbon dioxide injection may become big business, if the curent hoopla about carbon dioxide causing global warming persists. In my opinion, pressurizing with carbon dioxide is an excelent stratagy as we may get new ice age, shortly after, or instead of green house warming. The carbon dioxide could then be released into the atmosphere to reduce the severity of the new ice age. Neil



TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO GUARD EXXON AND OTHER VITAL ENTERPRISES

Report received from Aceh on 6 November 2001

A report from Aceh indicates the extent of troop deployment in North Aceh, nominally charged with protecting a number of Indonesia’s most prestigious industrial ventures, including Exxon-Mobil Indonesia and its associated refinery, PT ARUN.

According to the report, which gives a detailed breakdown of troop deployment, at least 10,755 (ten thousand seven hundred and fifty-five) troops have been posted in 77 (seventy seven) different location in the district of North Aceh, including 30 (thirty) villages, 3 (three) schools, 2 (two) mosques and one shopping complex. The report states that two hundred and fifty KOSTRAD troops have been posted in Lhok Kuyun village, Sawang Sub-district alone.

In Seunudon Sub-district, a total of 800 (eight hundred) troops have been posted in eight different locations, including 550 (five hundred and fifty) Marines and 150 (one hundred and fifty) men from Infantry Battalion 111.

On 31 October 2001, Dasian Ben Yusuf was arrested by the Marines based at Aluee Bili, Seunudon Sub-district. Two days later, on 2 November 2001, he was found dead by a villager in Paya Cicem river. The fate of two other men arrested by troops guarding the Exxon-Mobil site known as ‘Bachelor’ at Simpang Landing, Lhok Sukon, remains unconfirmed.

Troops have been deployed all along the Exxon-Mobil pipeline road, and regularly carry out operations into the nearby villages. Those using the pipeline road are stopped and searched. Villagers report cases of the systematic use of intimidation and extortion perpetrated by members of the security forces, and the report indicates that the inhabitants of villages located along or nearby the Exxon-Mobil pipeline are in a high state of fear and unrest, due to troop activity.

One example the report cites is that of Simpang Leupe, a village located along the Exxon-Mobil pipeline, where members of the security forces demand money from every vehicle which passes along that road, including the public transport and poor villages on their bicycles.

The troops deployed include KOPASSUS (forty at PT AAF complex and an unspecified number at PT PIM port at Dewantara and Dewantara Koramil base), KOSTRAD (deployed mostly to secure Exxon-Mobil facilities – units 121 and 122), Marines, Airforce, Brimob, TNI regulars, ZIPUR (Engineers) and ARHANUD (artillery air defence corps). The numbers of ‘organic’ and ‘non-organic’ forces are not made clear in the report.

The projects being secured by the troop deployment include:

Exxon-Mobil Indonesia
PT ARUN
PT Aceh Asean Fertiliser (PT AAF)
PT Pupul Iskandar Mudah (PT PIM – fertiliser)
PT Kertas Kraf Aceh (PT KKA – pulp and paper plant)
State Electricity Company (PLN)
Tripara Co Warehouse

The full troop deployment data is given below:

Abbreviations: TNI = Indonesian National Armed Forces
BKO = reinforcement troops sent from outside Aceh, aka "non-organic"
POLRI = Indonesian National Police.
KOSTRAD = Indonesian Army Strategic Command.
PERTAMINA = National Oil Company
PU = Public Works Department
BRIMOB = Para military Mobile Brigade of POLRI.
KOPASSUS = Army's special commando unit (parachutists)
ARHANUD = Artillery Air Defence Corps
AURI = Indonesian Air Force
MARINIR = Marines
ZIPUR = Military Engineering Corps

SECURITY FORCES DEPLOYED TO DEFEND VITAL PROJECTS

1. Teumpok Teungoh LR. III. Lhokseumawe : 60 men of TNI BKO
2. SKB. Keude Aceh: 60 men of TNI
3. Pertamina. Hagu South West: 40 men of TNI/ POLRI
4. TPI. Ujong Pusong Lama: 50 men of TNI/ POLRI
5. SMKK.Gampong Jawa Lama : 40 men of TNI (KOSTRAD)
6. Next to PU Office: 40 men of TNI
7. District Officer (Bupati)'s Office: 20 men of TNI/ POLRI
8. EXXON-MOBIL Sports Complex of Uteunkot: 150 men of TNI/ POLRI
9. Cunda Plaza Shopping Complex: 100 men TNI/ POLRI
10. Lhok Seumawe Port: 12 tents of unknown number of TNI/ POLRI
11. Pusong Lama: 200 men of TNI
12. Teumpok Mosque: 10 men of BRIMOB
13. TRIPATRA Co. Warehouse of Blang Panyang: 200 men of TNI/ POLRI
14. PBI hill of Meunasah Muria: 70 men of TNI/ POLRI
15. Padang Sakti pipeline: 50 TNI/ POLRI
16. Cot Gapeuh Village of Padang Sakti: 50 men of TNI/ POLRI
17. Paloh punti Sp. Cot Pling village: 70 TNI/ POLRI
18. Paloh punti Sp. Cot Mosque: 70. TNI/ POLRI
19. Desa Seuneubok Kec. Blang mangat village: 100 TNI/ POLRI
20. Sp.Leupee.Kec. kutaMakmur village: 50 men of TNI/ POLRI
21. Blang Ktreing.Kutamakmur village: 50 men of TNI/ POLRI
22. Blang Pulo Telecoms hill: 120 men of TNI/ POLRI
23. PT.ARUN telecoms complex 100 men of TNI/ POLRI
24. Football stadium of ARUN: 400 men of TNI/ POLRI
25. Bukit Indah (ExxonMobil) of Muara Dua Sub-District: 70 men of TNI/ POLRI
26. ExxonMobil complex of Rancung (site of the infamous KOPASSUS torture complex during DOM): 1200 men of TNI
27. Gate I and II of ARUN gas project: 40 men of private security unit.
28. Payong post of PT.ARUN gas project: 20 men of TNI
29. PT. ARUN main office: 200 men of TNI
30. Sp. Empat KR.Geukueh village: 60. BRIMOB.
31. Police station of Dewantara: 60. BRIMOB
32. Koramil Dewantara Military base: 50 men of TNI(KOSTRAD/KOPASSUS)
33. Dewantara Camat (Assistant District Officer)'s office: 50 men ofTNI (KOSTRAD/KOPASSUS)
34. PIM Sports Stadium: 80 men of KOPASSUS.TNI BKO 130.
35. PLN Electricity Board of Cot Trueng,Muara Batu: 500 men of TNI.
36. Muara Batu Camat's office: 200 men of SILIWANGI (West Java TNI)/ BRIMOB
37. Ulee Gadong Primary School: 60 men of TNI
38. Air Defence missile site DEN RUDAL 001: 2000 men.(ARHANUD/KOSTRAD/SILIWANGI/KOPASSUS/ZIPUR/BRIMOB.
39.Malikussaleh Airport: 100 men of AURI/MARINIR/BRIMOB.
40.PIM port of Dewantara: 500 KOPASSUS/KOSTRAD/BRIMOB
41.AAF (AcehASEAN Fertilizer) Complex :130 men of a private security firm + 50 men of KOPASSUS
42.Cot TGK NI(at UNIMA university campus): 100 men of KOSTRAD/BRIMOB
43.Cot Wee village: 50 BRIMOB BKO
44.Kec.Muara Batu District Officer's Residence: 60 men of KOSTRAD/BRIMOB
45.Ulee Pulo.Kec.Muara Batu village: 35 men of BRIMOB
46.Gampong Barat Kec.Nisam village: 100 men of TNI
47.Cot Sabong .Nisam village : 250 TNI/POLRI
48.Ulee Nyeu. Lr.Jrat. Nisam village: 100 men of TNI
49.Njambek. Nisam: 100 men of TNI/POLRI
50.PT.KKA (Aceh Paper Mill) project, site of the infamous KKA junction massacre in 1999: unknown number of men from a private security firm + BKO.TNI.POLRI.

SECURITY FORCES DEPLOYED FOR SECURITY OF EXXON MOBIL

1.Sp Leupe, unknown number of men of KOSTRAD, 121, 122
2.Bukit Permata Hijau Housing complex: 100 men of KOSTRAD, 122,121
3.Simpang Jeuleukat: 60 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
4.Nex to Alue Liem Religious school of Blang Mangat: 20 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
5.Korpri Housing complex: 400 men of KOSTRAD, 411, 122, 121
6.Kebun Asia comlex: 40 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
7.Geunali Raya Housing complex, Blang Buloh: 40 men of KOSTRAD,122, 121
8.Simpang Mon Tujoh, Blang Buloh, Blang Mangat: unknown number of KOSTRAD,122,121
9.Kebun Sawit Said Sulaiman: 30 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
10.Cot Nek Andah village: 40 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
11.Simpang Alue Glem village: 100 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
12. Hill top of Bukit Cot Matahe 60 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
13.Foothill of Bukit Cot Matahe: 60 men KOSTRAD, 122, 121
14.Cot Matahe Football field: 400 men of KOSTRAD, 122, 121
15.Cot Matahe Junction: 40 men of KOSTARD, 121, 122
16.Simpang Ulee Meuria village,Syamtalira Bayu: 60 men of KOSTARD, 122, 121.
17Simpang Pulo U village, Syamtalira Bayu: 60 men of KOSTRAD,122,121
18.Paya Kambuk, Jungka Gajah village: 40 men KOSTARD,121, 122
19.Simpang Daya Nudi village: 40 men of BRIMOB POLSAK JUNGKA GAJAH.

ADDITIONAL DATA REGARDING TROOP DEPLOYMENT IN NORTH ACEH

There are 4 KOSTRAD posts totalling 250 men at Sawang Sub-District.

Units and strength of security posts in the SEUNUDON Sub-District, North Aceh:

1. POLSEK, battalion 3: 100 men.
2. Camat Office, Infantry Battalion YONIF 111: 150 men.
3. MATANG LADA, Marines: 100 men.
4. TEUPIN KUYUN, Marines: 60 men.
5. ULEE REUBEK BARAT, Marines: 100 men.
6. BLANG GEULEUMPANG, Marines: 150 men.
7. KUTA PAIDAH, Marines, 40 men.
8. ALUEE BILI, Marines, 100 men.

Units and strength of security posts in the JAMBO AYE Sub-district, North Aceh:

1. TEUPIN GAJAH. 70 Marines.
2. MEUNASAH DAYAH. 120 Marines.
3. DESA MEUREUBO. 150 Marines.
4. KUALA JAMBO AYE 60 Marines.
5. EX WATERWORKS OFFICE. 80 Marines.



Exxon 'helped torture in Indonesia'

Indonesian troops were hired to protect the gas fields

An international human rights group says it has filed a lawsuit against the giant ExxonMobil oil company, accusing it of actively abetting human rights abuses in Indonesia.

In a case filed in Washington, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) says Exxon was implicated by virtue of the local army units it hired to protect its natural gas fields in Aceh province, northern Sumatra.

ExxonMobil - which often trades under the brand name Esso - understood that the army units were notoriously brutal in their treatment of Indonesia's ethnic minorities

Lawyer Terry CollingsworthThe case, brought on behalf of 11 Acehnese villagers, accuses Exxon of complicity in the murder, torture and sexual abuse of the local population.

It alleges that Exxon provided the Indonesian military with equipment to dig mass graves, as well as building interrogation and torture centres. Exxon denies all the allegations.

The action is being taken under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows US jurisdiction over acts committed outside the US.

Hard evidence

Terry Collingsworth, a lawyer for the ILRF, said Exxon knew from the beginning about the security forces' reputation of brutality towards ethnic minorities.


Exxon is accused of encouraging human rights abuses

"This is the first time we actually have evidence that the oil company has supported the instrumentality for the human rights violations," he said.

An Exxon statement said the company was "deeply troubled" by the violence in North Aceh and was concerned for the safety of its staff and subcontractors.

"Our company rejects and categorically denies any suggestion or implication that it or its affiliate companies were in any way involved with alleged human rights abuses by security forces in Aceh," it added.

Operations suspended

Thousands of people have died in the long-running separatist campaign by Aceh militants against the Indonesian Government - more than 700 have died this year alone.

Exxon in Aceh

2nd largest LNG producer in Indonesia
Max 1.66bn cu ft/day
Production shut down 9 March
Closure costs Indonesia $100m per monthExxon suspended its operations there in March for security reasons.

Despite pressure from the Indonesian government, which is losing an estimated $100m a month in liquid natural gas (LNG) revenues, the company has so far refused to restart its operation, although it is considering resuming its operation.

Exxon sites have been the scenes of fighting and staff have been threatened and even kidnapped. Vehicles have also been burned and shots have been fired at Exxon chartered aircraft.

Exxon abroad

The Asia-Pacific region contributes about 13% of ExxonMobil's worldwide production of oil and gas.

In Indonesia, the company produces gas from the country's largest natural gas field - Arun - which is then processed by the state owned oil and gas firm Pertamina.

Last year, this gas yielded 118 cargoes of the valuable LNG which was shipped to customers in Japan and Korea.

Other exploration, appraisal and development planning activities are currently under way in the region.

Many of the world's potential hotspots for oil are also located in areas of political unrest such as Nigeria and Algeria.

Oil companies are often forced to weigh the risks of entering a particular area against the value of the assets they believe to be awaiting discovery below the surface.


THE CAUSE OF MOST EARTHQUAKES AND BAD WEATHER

By Robert L. Cook

On Dec. 9, 1988 printed, on page C7 of the Antelope Valley Press, was a list of major earthquakes which caught my attention. Here is what I found after breaking the list down into roughly 20 year intervals and doing some research on both earthquakes and strange weather phenomena which seem to go hand in hand:

From 1906 to 1927 (21 years) 6 major quakes were recorded, 2 in China, 2 in Italy, 1 in the USA and 1 in Japan. The death toll for all these quakes: 500,000.

1932 to 1953 (about 20 years) 6 different nations were hit by 11 major earthquakes which killed 180,000. What caught my attention in this series were the 1939 and 1953 temblors in Turkey. (I'll explain later).

1956 to 1976 (20 years 5 months) 13 different nations are shaken by 20 quakes which (unofficially) take 2 million lives or (officially) 1 and a half million.

(missing from this list was the great Alaskan quake of 1964).

What appears to be a pattern or trend shows very distinctly in this time span– it is obvious that there is a dramatic increase in the number of these deadly quakes around the world and the Middle Eastern countries of Turkey (with 4 quakes) and Iran (with 5) are being shaken about every 2 years by these very destructive forces beginning in 1957. It should be noted that Iran and Turkey are neighboring countries and they have an earthquake fault line running through them (see chart 1). Iran is also one of the largest oil producing nations in the world! This should be remembered as we try to figure out what is happening to the planet.

1977 to 1985 (about 8 years) 9 countries are shaken by 8 earthquakes and about 50,000 killed. Not included in the list is the Armenian quake of Dec. 1988 which killed over 20,000 and the 7.3 quake in India in August of 1988. It should be noted that Armenia is also a neighbor of both Turkey and Iran (see chart 3).

It is obvious from all this that a trend started, at the turn of the century, where the earthquake numbers were doubling every 20 years. After 1985, however, the number skyrockets. In 1990 alone 68 major earthquakes (over 6.5 on the Richter scale) were recorded and, between 1977 to 1991, a total of 136 major earthquakes shook the world. This represents a number many times over the previous 70 years!

The Middle East, from 1953 and on, has been suffering great loss of life and extreme property damage from these powerful forces. Until now this is something unheard of for that region in all its recorded history.

OUR DELICATE PLANET

The Planet Earth in some ways is a very delicate planet. The crust on which we live and which also contains the oceans is very thin by comparison to the rest of the planet (see chart 2). By comparison to the skin of an apple, the earth's crust is much thinner and it has fault lines that in some places completely encircle the globe and this tends to reduce the amount of stress it can take before it slips and creates an earthquake. The stresses on the earth's crust are tremendous- especially from the centrifugal force created by the 1000 mile per hour spin speed (at the equator where this speed causes the earth to bulge 40 miles) and the 66,000 mile an hour orbital speed around the sun. The moon and the sun's gravity are also acting on the seas and causing great changes in their levels (tides) which affects the pressure they exert on the delicate crust. The spin and orbital speeds combine to create another effect (which few people really FULLY understand) called CORIOLIS FORCE. This force combined with the centrifugal forces could (if we continue to abuse our planet) shake the earth to pieces.

THE CURSE OF PUMPING TOO MUCH OIL

Man over the years has not considered the danger of throwing the earth out of balance by pumping billions of gallons of oil out of the ground and mining billions of tons of coal and then converting these liquids and solids into gasses which are then made a part of our atmosphere. The adding of so much heat and gas to the air around us has to affect the barometric pressure and this in turn is (according to T. Marshall Eubanks, a researcher in the British journal NATURE) causing the earth to wobble like an out of balance washing machine. It already has a two foot wobble at the poles and if it continues toget worse it could cause the ocean tides to get very dangerous or even worse create a worldwide earthquake!