Daily Archives: July 19, 2017

A boat carrying asylum seekers to Australia. Despite revelations of physical violence, both of Australias offshore processing centres remain operational. Photograph: Rossbach/Krepp/EPA

Four years since the then prime minister, Kevin Rudd, announced that any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia, offshore detention has cost Australian taxpayers almost $5bn and the future of those held on Nauru and Manus Island remains critically uncertain.

On 19 July 2013, Rudd announced all boat-borne asylum seekers would be subject to indefinite detention offshore and would never be eligible to settle in Australia.

Despite consistent revelations of physical violence including murder sexual abuse of women and children, allegations of torture by guards, medical neglect leading to death and catastrophic rates of mental health damage, self-harm and suicide attempts, both of Australias offshore processing centres remain operational.

Roughly 2,000 people remain on Australias offshore processing islands of Nauru and Manus, and figures released under Senate estimates questioning show that the two camps have cost $4.895bn to build and run.

All of the costs are borne by Australia, which maintains effective control over both centres.

The Manus centre ruled illegal by Papua New Guineas supreme court 15 months ago will close on 31 October under pressure from the PNG government and from the private contractors running the centre, who have refused to continue working there.

The Nauru camp will continue to run but that countrys government has consistently refused to offer permanent resettlement to refugees, instead offering 20-year visas with restrictions on travel.

The proposed resolution for Australias offshore refugee population, the US deal to resettle refugees from Australias Nauru and Manus operations in America, has foundered, with the US hitting its 50,000 cap for refugee resettlement this year and officials abruptly leaving their on-island interviews on Nauru two weeks early.

No one held under Australias offshore regime has been resettled under the US program.

Both the US and Australian governments have said the deal remains on track but details of the agreement are unknown.

No one held under Australias offshore regime has been resettled under the US program and the deal does not commit the US to taking a single refugee if it deems they have not passed extreme vetting, a threshold that has never been defined.

Australian officials have conceded that, even if the US resettlement program does go ahead, it will not clear the detention centres, leaving a balance on the two islands.

The Manus detention centre is being progressively shut down with more than 800 men still housed there. Buildings have been closed off, power shut off, activities stopped and people forcibly moved from their dormitories. There are reports there is no more running water in parts of the camp and those within are reliant on bottled water.

Despite the camp closing around them, many of those in the detention centre are refusing to leave, saying they will not be safe in the community.

The PNG prime minister, Peter ONeill, said the American deal remained a viable solution to close the camp but said his government was looking at all options for the men in the camp.

The Human Rights Law Centres Daniel Webb said offshore detention had run four years too many.

In a series of interviews with Webb and with Iranian journalist and Manus detainee Behrouz Boochani, men in detention have said they faced uncertain futures.

I feel like everything the Australian government is doing is designed to force us to go home or go into PNG. They are squeezing us out of the camp but not to the airport where they will take us to safety. They are squeezing us into the PNG community where we are not safe. Amir, 23, Iran

The situation here is getting worse and worse. They have shut down classrooms. Closed the gym. They tell us every day that we cant stay here. They say go back to your country or go to the transit centre. But we arent safe out there in the community. That is the worst thing they are trying to push us somewhere where we will not be safe. Madu, 23, stateless Rohingya

Weve had so many hard times. Weve been attacked, weve been punched and weve been fired at with shotguns. My friend, Reza, was killed. He was a gentle man. But they didnt care who we were. Farhard, 36, stateless Kurd

Webb said the US deal initially gave those on those islands some hope that finally our government was conceding it couldnt just abandon them there forever.

But its now eight months since the deal was announced and not a single refugee has been resettled, he said. Most of the men on Manus havent even had an initial interview.

The bottom line is that no one is likely to go to the US anytime soon and many now seem unlikely to ever go at all. Two-thousand lives remain on a painful pause with no end in sight. One hundred and sixty-nine childhoods are being spent surrounded by suffering and despair.

After four years, enough is well and truly enough.

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, said on the weekend the US deal was progressing as we expected, saying there had not been any delay.

The United States is upholding the agreement, she said.

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said the US deal had stalled and those held on Australias offshore islands had been living on false hopes for eight months already.

Now those hopes have been dashed again, he said. It is time for the Turnbull government to end the pretence of the US deal and act immediately to bring them all the asylum seekers and refugees to Australia.

Paul Ronald, the chief executive of Save the Children, the child welfare agency that formerly worked on Nauru, said that, even if the US deal remained a possibility, the current situations on Nauru and Manus were untenable.

Most of the men on Manus havent even had an initial interview.

The Australian government is undeniably responsible for the health and welfare of those who it has transferred offshore, he said. Refugees on Nauru and Manus Island can no longer remain in limbo. Prime minister Turnbull should immediately bring them to safety in Australia while they await resettlement in the US or until another safe and sustainable alternative can be secured.

Last month, the Australian government agreed to pay $70m in compensation to the Manus Island detainees, who sought damages in the Victorian supreme court for illegally detaining them in dangerous and harmful conditions.

In agreeing to the record payout, the government did not concede liability.

There is a hastened effort under way to get the payout money to the 1905 men enjoined to the class action before Manus is closed, because it may be difficult to find them after that time.

The Manus and Nauru processing centres were re-opened in 2012 under the Gillard government, but July 13 marks the date of the policy shift - under Rudd - prohibiting any asylum seeker who arrived by boat from ever resettling in Australia.

Vigils will be held across the country to mark four years since the alteration to Australian policy.

Originally posted here:

Offshore detention cost taxpayers $5bn in four years and asylum seekers remain in limbo - The Guardian

Crude oil futures prices are higher today (up about a half percent at 1 p.m. EDT) on reports that Saudi Arabia is considering cutting its oil exports by an additional one million barrels a day, starting with a 600,000 bbl. per day cut (bpd) in August.

The rumor, reported by Reuters, comes as the latest OPEC production cut compliance estimate fell to 78% from its prior 100%-plus. At the same time, Ecuador announced it would stopcomplying with the OPEC production agreement because it needed the revenue from the extra oil. While Ecuador was only curtailing 25,000 bpd, a smallvolume, its announcement showcases the pressure many small OPEC members are under since oil prices have failed to rally to levels anticipated at the time the production agreement was reached at the end of 2016.

Higher oil prices are critical for the future of the oil business, but no one is sure exactly how high they need to rise in order to restore activity. The latest figures show that oil production from large offshore fields has not declined as quickly as forecast, rewarding their owners with more cash than was budgeted. While oil prices may not rise to levels anticipated earlier this year, the industry should take heart in BP CEO Robert Dudleys comment at the World Petroleum Congress that prices arent lower forever. Like a good forecaster, Dudley wasnt specific about a timetable.

Offshore producers are continuing to do the easy things to sustain or increase production. Recently, infield drilling and maintenance work have been the lifeblood of offshore work. Importantly, there are signs of a slight uptick in drilling contract awards, although the competition for them has kept contract day rates depressed. This isnt discouraging, since this is the normal condition for the business when it is bouncing along the bottom of a cycle and just beginning its recovery phase.

What happens in this recovery phase is that the low day rates and the short-term nature of contracts (producers at this stage often only contract a rig for one well plus an option) puts significant pressure on service companies to use their limited cash reserves extremely judiciously since no one knows just how long this phase will last. That means the funds required to keep vessels and rigs in regulatory and insurance compliance (or return them to) isnt available for many companies.

Although this limitation may be temporary, it is the key phase the industry must transit as the business seesan acceleration in offshore day rates. He who has the cash will suddenly become king. However, if he misspends it, he will quickly return to pauper status once again.

See the rest here:

Offshore pessimism may point to recovery - WorkBoat (blog)

Houston Business Journal

Offshore energy company emerges from bankruptcy, eliminating $2.3B of debt Houston Business Journal Paragon Offshore Ltd. announced July 18 it has emerged from bankruptcy after completing a restructuring that eliminated $2.3 billion of debt. The successor company to Paragon Offshore PLC (OTC: PGNPQ), which filed for bankruptcy in February 2016 with ... Paragon Offshore Completes Restructuring Plan and Emerges From Chapter 11GlobeNewswire (press release) all 3 news articles »

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Offshore energy company emerges from bankruptcy, eliminating $2.3B of debt - Houston Business Journal

The popular television host has been eating his way through San Diego as he shoots an episode of his upcoming new series The Zimmern List for the Travel Channel. Yesterday, Zimmern spent an epic six hours filming in Barrio Logan with Street Gourmet LAs Bill Esparza, where they hung out with the local lowrider community at Salud Tacos and ate at the Tacos Barrios pop-up before dining at Ironside Fish & Oyster in Little Italy.

This morning, Zimmern paid a visit to seafood wholesaler Catalina Offshore Products, where he graded bigeye tuna with Catalinas Dave Rudie and Tommy Gomes. From there, he braved the crowds at Menya Ultra Ramen for a bowl of tonkotsu ramen with freshly-made noodles (see Eaters video of Menyas noodle-making process here). Zimmern, who lives in Minnesota, told Eater that hes seen San Diegos culinary scene improve immensely since his first visit here 24 years ago, saying that he often makes pit stops here before traveling on to Asia. Hes especially fond of local Filipino eateries, which he explored during the filming the San Diego-centric episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern back in 2012.

Zimmern also hit up Pokirrito and RakiRaki Ramen while in Kearny Mesa and is expected to return to Little Italy later today to catch up with his good buddy Richard Blais and check out Blais Juniper & Ivy and The Crack Shack.

Link:

Andrew Zimmern Spotted at Menya Ramen, Catalina Offshore and More - Eater San Diego

New Delhi, Jul 19 () India-focused offshore funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have pumped in nearly USD 5 billion in the first six months of the year due to country's long-term growth prospect, says a Morningstar report.

In comparison, these funds pulled out USD 2.25 billion in January-June period of 2016.

The funds are looking at India from a long-term perspective as indicated by numbers. However, this trend may reverse going forward if the expectation of the managers on the economic growth front are not met, Himanshu Srivastava, Senior Analyst Manager Research at Morningstar India, said.

According to the report, India-focused offshore funds invested USD 3.8 billion in the first six months of the current year, while that of ETFs witnessed an infusion of USD 983 million, taking the total to USD 4.8 billion.

Notably, half of the overall flow came in the months of March and April.

On a positive note, the money largely came into offshore funds which signify long-term money as against offshore ETF, where the money is largely short-term.

An offshore India fund is one that is not domiciled in the country but invests primarily in its markets.

The report noted that portfolio of India focused offshore funds and ETF shows an affinity towards those areas which stands to benefit from the fall in interest rates, turn around in economic cycle and uptick in urban consumption demand.

"Financial services, consumer cyclical particularly auto and its ancillary and basic material sectors such as cement and metals are the top sectors, wherein such funds are investing," Srivastava added.

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Offshore India funds, ETFs invest $5 bn in H1 2017 - Times of India