AP: Romanian Oil Rig in Iran Waters Under Fire

[Eugene]

Romanian Oil Rig in Iran Waters Under Fire

The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 5:03 AM

BUCHAREST, Romania -- A Romanian oil rig off the coast of Iran came
under fire from an Iranian military warship and was later occupied
by Iranian troops, a company spokesman said.

The Iranians first fired into the air and then fired at the Orizont rig,
said GSP spokesman Radu Petrescu. Half an hour later, troops
from the ship boarded and occupied the rig and the company lost
contact with the 26 crew members shortly afterward.

Petrescu said he had no information about any injuries or deaths.
The Orizont rig has been moored near the Kish island since 2004,
he told the Associated Press.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/22/AR2006082200187.html

[The_Warmth]

1. Why in the world

would Iran attack this ship? Can someone please enlighten me?

[magellan]

2. This might be why

Romanian, Iranian firms in oil rig dispute - Aug 17, 2006

Iranian state-owned Petroiran Oil Co. has filed a criminal case in a court in Tehran on Monday against Romania's Grup Servicii Petroliere, or GSP, on charges of hijacking an oil rig.

Petroiran maintains it was perfectly within its rights to move the rig to Sharjah.

"We had permission from Iranian authorities to move the rig out because we completed our contract in April. It is wrong on the part of Petroiran to accuse us of hijacking the rig," Gabriel Comanescu, president of Grup Servicii Petroliere, was cited as saying by Gulf News.

"The rig had some technical problems and it needed 'annual class' certification by Germanishcer Lloyd. It has been brought to the anchorage area, three miles off Sharjah," he said.

Comanescu also noted the company already had approval to enter the United Arab Emirates.

"We have no problems with the UAE because we are moving here legally. Petroiran Oil Company has no legal right to urge any one for the return of the Fortuna rig," Comanescu said.

[Kagemusha]

3. Good lord.

You pull that with a country without a military...

[FormerDem06]

4. Iran's Navy Attacks and Boards Romanian Rig in Gulf

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adVreywC1G_k&refer=home

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

snip

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.

===========================================================================


snip
===========================================================================

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.''.
===========================================================================

[Turbineguy]

5. Bush is probably saying

"Dang, I wish that was one of ours!"

[Gasping4Truth]

6. Actually, it is - sort of

Romania has 830 troops in Iraq as part of the coalition of the willing.
There are http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060700505.html">indications of secret CIA prisons on Romanian territory.
Romania's turning into a vassal state of the US.
When (if) it comes to invading Iran, no doubt Romania will be a staunch ally once again.

I'm speculating now, but who knows what activities were going on on that rig, under the cover of oil exploitation? I'm sure the Pentagon has a special purpose for this rig in their invasion plans for Iran. Perhaps the raid by the Iranian Navy is related to this.

[FormerDem06]

7. Or maybe they're pumping oil and are in a dispute with Iran....

While I do agree with (and it's clear to see) the Romanian ties to the US; I don't think everything in this world is as covert as some would like to believe. That rig sits directly in the Straits of Hormuz where a tanker goes by every hour or more than that. I doubt seriously that the US would be doing anything in that much of an open view.

But Iran has filed a criminal case against that company because they took a rig to the UAE for service when their contract was fulfilled (read above). The charges were stealing an oil rig.

I'm betting the house that this was the reason they attacked the rig.

[Gasping4Truth]

9. Since long, I stopped taking stories

like this one at face value. I am by no means a conspiracy theorist, but hey, if the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster-Jennings_%26_Associates">Brewster Jennings story is not too wild to be fiction, and if http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19820-2005Feb12.html">US drones are already flying above Iran for years, then how could a covert operation on an oil rig in the street of Hormuz sound too far-fetched? It doesn't need to be big to be useful. Think electronic eavesdropping. No passing tanker would notice.

But, like I already said, I am only speculating.

[FormerDem06]

12. It's possible I guess....

I guess I'm getting "covert op'd" out. We do occupy a country directly on their border, so it would seem to me it would be easy to put a camo tent up on the border and just do it there. But some times common sense makes no sense if you know what I mean.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

8. Iran has war games going on...

... so was this rig used as a radar picket/monitoring station?

[HuffleClaw]

10. now watch bush suddenly develop an instant deep concern for

romanian interests.

[lovuian]

11. Iran is definitely getting aggressive

:nuke:

[donsu]

13. perhaps the word should be 'protective' instead of aggressive

nt

[ECH1969]

14. Iran's Navy Attacks and Boards Romanian Rig in Gulf

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.

Neither the press office of Iran's oil ministry nor the one of Iran's revolutionary guards could be reached for comment when called.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adVreywC1G_k

[hippiechick]

15. Shit. Is Iran trying to give Dimson a reason to bomb them?

'Cause we all know he wants to. If I was Mr. Iran, I'd have my shit laying real low - let the IAEA inspectors in and play nice with all my neighbors - so when big bad George swaggers by on his hobby horse, they'd all tell him to fuck off.

What's with the brinksmanship? :shrug:

[endarkenment]

16. No they appear to be having a property dispute with

some Romanian company. This has nothing to do with us.

[hippiechick]

17. ... but all Iran has to do is sneeze in another country's direction ...

... and il Bushie will claim that they're 'terrorists on the march' and 'trying to destabilize the region' and whatever else he needs to use to drum up support to start some shit ...

[endarkenment]

19. Iran's position is currently not one of weakness.

I don't think that they view the Bush regime as capable of doing anything more than conducting a futile and mostly annoying air bombardment of Iran. Right now it would appear that the blowback from the Lunacy in Lebanon is that any support the Bush regime had for an Iranian adventure is gone, and Iran is most likely not terribly fearful about the ability of our military to actually damage them. Of course all of this just means that war is now more likely, which is perhaps your point.

However, as near as I can tell as the details are lacking, this oil rig thing is simply a property dispute and is an Iranian internal affair. The rig in question apparantly is in Iranian territory.

[Strelnikov_]

20. I Agree. Iran Has Concluded That They Will Emerge From Any

air assault in a stronger strategic position. That is, they will increase their standing in the region as the bulwark against the imperialists. They probably plan on a protracted low level asymmetric campaign against western interests following any assault.

Problem is, miscalculation goes both ways. I feel an air assault could trigger runaway escalation leading to the loss of Gulf energy resources, and ultimately petrocollapse.

WW I would not have started if one side would have broken the chain of escalation.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. That Romanian company has ties to Halliburton

The oil industry is a very tangled web and has everything to do with Bushco.