Invasion of the Snake island, is this for real?

That would be a first...
Needless to state it would have been easier to do it "right" from the beginning, but...

What do you understand by doing it "right"? What would have been the right deal in your view?

But the biggest and the most burning question is: "is there anything worth extracting there?".

Radu

Radub, if it weren't anything, do you believe the companies would have done that? I mean, Ukraine would still want that, so would we, but the companies knew what they were bribing Romanian officials for!
Imperialist - by "right way" I (and I thought everybody else...) understood a much bigger percentage from the revenues for the Romanian state. We got 13%, while in other countries it does NEVER go below 40% and in some Arab states (I repeat what I've heard on TV) it goes as high as 80%; also, not so many secret documents...
Whatever happens, the price of gas still won't get cheaper for us because we have oil in the Black Sea, right?

But you see, all of this is suppositions, allusions and hear'say.
Are you familiar with Monty Python's "Nudge nudge wink wink" sketch?
It is all innuendo, no hard facts.
The babblings of paranoid Romanian so-called journalists obsessed with conspiracy theories is not evidence of natural resources.
Can anyone show any hard evidence (such as a specialised survey) that anything worth extracting was found anywhere near that area?
Radu

This post has been edited by Radub on February 10, 2009 02:33 pm

Actually we got between 3.5% and 13% of the company's annual production.

Which is exactly the same level applied to OMV:

http://www.zf.ro/companii/petrom-avertizea...uctiei-3087578/

For example, Venezuela taxed only 1% before Chavez raised that to 16%:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/orevcoun.html

The real problem in my view is not the level of the taxes but the fact that Romania no longer has a national oil company.

Oh, but it has - the only problem is that it's in Kazakhstan!
If you know: what means "between" 3.5 and 13? Who decides it?
Venezuela was more or less an American colony before the leftist arrived at power. That explains a lot...

Oh, but it has - the only problem is that it's in Kazakhstan!
If you know: what means "between" 3.5 and 13? Who decides it?
Venezuela was more or less an American colony before the leftist arrived at power. That explains a lot...

Kazakhstan owns Rompetrol and OMV holds around 52% of Petrom. So no national oil company. Unless there is another one I never heard about.

The exact percentage will probably be established depending on the production level. If you read that ZF article it says that in the case of OMV that percentage was 6%.

But it doesn't explain why he took the tax level only to 16% and not to 40% or 80% since you said you heard some people on TV claiming those are the normal tax levels.

I sugest a guerilla war on the island.

Oh, but it has - the only problem is that it's in Kazakhstan!
If you know: what means "between" 3.5 and 13? Who decides it?
Venezuela was more or less an American colony before the leftist arrived at power. That explains a lot...

Kazakhstan owns Rompetrol and OMV holds around 52% of Petrom. So no national oil company. Unless there is another one I never heard about.

The exact percentage will probably be established depending on the production level. If you read that ZF article it says that in the case of OMV that percentage was 6%.

But it doesn't explain why he took the tax level only to 16% and not to 40% or 80% since you said you heard some people on TV claiming those are the normal tax levels.

You are jocking about national companies right?

They are COMPANIES... privatly owned... Same goes for many countries...
Get a grip...

Oil prospecting is a very risky business, and it has a 10% rate of success. Oil prospecting is the most expensive part of the oil extraction process. That is why many states prefer to hand over prospecting to private companies and in exchange for that the companies get concession rights over their finds. This is common practice in many parts of the world. That is why oil prospecting was done by "foreign" companies in Romania before nationalisation.
This is a win-win situation and a great incentive for everyone involved. The state risks nothing and if anything is found, they can tax the company. In the long run, it is better for Romania to hand over the prospecting and extraction to a private operator and then tax the proceeds instead of wasting public money on prospecting.

I am still waiting for any evidence that there is anything worth extracting anywhere near that speck of rock in the sea.

Radu

?!?!
3.5% or 70%...
Is there a difference?

What is the question?
Radu

The question / problem is clear: it may be a win-win situation, but WHY win only 3.5% and not more? Who is getting comissions out of this? Unofficial, of course...


This post has been edited by MMM on February 12, 2009 12:50 pm

Basic economics!

Let us pick a figure from the air for the cost of prospecting. Let us say that it costs 100.000 euro to bore an oil well. 1 in 10 will be successful. In other words, the cost of finding oil is 1.000.000 per well. If this was a state company, the state would have to pay 1.000.000 euro before it gets any oil. If they allow a private company to do the prospecting, they lose no money on prospecting. If oil is found, they get 3.5% of the proceeds. That is pure profit with no loss to the budget. But wait, it does not stop here. The oil company will have to employ staff and pay them. This generates employment, at no cost to the budget, all paid by a private company. The state charges income tax, social insurance, pension levy, all paid for by the private company. Furthermore, these workers need to be fed, more jobs, they need to be transported or drive their own cars that need to be purchased, repaired, fuelled, etc., more jobs, and all of these services along the way are paid for by these employees who are paid by the company, and the state charges value added tax, which implicitly is also paid by the company via the salaries.
The state makes an absolute fortune from this. The state does not need to have a white elephant just to please the audience of Nicolaie Furdui Iancu.

Again, I asked a question and no one seems to be willing (or able) to answer it. is there anything worth extracting anywhere near the Serpent Island?

Radu