U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 5 May - 2 June 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

Offshore East Africa: Deep Water Natural Gas Bonanza

Offshore reports the trend of continued success in locating gas in the deep waters off East Africa: Mozambique, Tanzania emerging as prolific deepwater gas plays. How big? Anadarko's Chairman says:

“This could be one of the most important natural gas fields discovered in the last ten years,with significant long-term benefits for Mozambique.”

Benefits? From the Offshore report:

Mozambique's government was anxious for work on the project to start, he said, both for the incoming tax revenue in the longer term and for the near-term impact on jobs creation in the area. At peak, he forecast that construction of the initial LNG plant would involve 7,000 workers, with more employment opportunities for the second train.

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Following meetings with local villagers, fishermen and farmers, Anadarko has filed an application for land to build the onshore reception and process facilities. The port of Ofungi is the chosen site for the LNG plant. "The nearby city of Palma only just received electric power for the first time last year, so there is potential for this project to change the area significantly," Vardeman observed. "Also, an aircraft landing strip will be built of sufficient size to land a 747 at least." At the coastal location, materials offloading and LNG loading facilities will be constructed. The proposed beach front site is large enough to accommodate LNG carriers turning, he said, although when the tide goes out a large area of flat sand appears.

Assuming the final investment decision is taken toward the end of 2013, first gas could flow in 2018. But this is a very competitive market, Vardeman noted, "and we must convince buyers that this will be a reliable source of LNG. Also, this will be our first LNG plant, so they need to count on us to be there a long time." On the other hand, Vardeman explained, having Bharat Petroleum, Videocon, and Mitsui as partners was helpful for marketing the Area 1 gas to India and Japan. "It's an optimal location, close to India, and the distance to Japan is the same as to Europe," Vardeman said.

Oh, those horrible oil and gas companies, applying their technology in such a way as to benefit the poor of Africa.

LNG for Japan and Europe.

Another blow to the former gas monopolists in Russia.

Too bad the world is running out of energy . . . not.

Of course, there are those Somali pirates to deal with.



All illustrations credit Anadarko.

Somali Pirates: South Africa Joins the Game

Reported as South African Navy helps catch pirates:

“In the end, it seems clear that a loud message has gone out that SANDF forces, as part of SADC armed forces, will not allow illegal activities within SADC waters,” the Navy said in a statement. “It is also clear that the Tripartite agreement between South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania, and the subsequent deployment of SADC forces to safeguard our sea lanes, is paying off dividends in ensuring the safety of our seafarers and their precious cargoes. To the sailors and air crew of the SAS Drakensberg, the operational planners of Chief of Joint Operations and all others involved; we salute your valiant efforts!”

A trilateral agreement was signed by South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania in February this year, allowing the three countries the right to, among other things, patrol, search, arrest, seize and undertake hot pursuit operations on any maritime crime suspect. In accordance with the trilateral agreement, this allows the SA Navy to patrol as far as Tanzania.

UPDATE: An earlier report of Tanzania protecting its valuable gas fields and arresting pirates:

"The pirates arrested in Tanzania were in close communication with a mother ship that has seven more pirates. A Spanish vessel has managed to arrest the pirates on this mother ship and they are being brought to Tanzania today for custody."

Mgawe said the mother ship used by the pirates was formerly a Sri Lankan fishing vessel with six crew members on board.

"The Tanzanian navy has been conducting regular patrols to ensure Somali pirates do not enter our territorial waters from deep seas to carry out attacks," he said.

UPDATE2: EUNAVFOR report on the rescue of the crew of the pirated "mother ship" from here:

Happy Sri Lankan fishermen wave as they depart Spanish ship on Tanzanian patrol ship (EUNAVFOR photo)

On Wednesday 18 April, EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Spanish warship, ESPS Infanta Elena rescued 6 Sri Lankan fishermen and their fishing vessel from 7 suspected pirates. The fishing vessel had been in the hands of suspect pirates since November 2011 and was reportedly being used as a mother-ship to launch attacks against merchant shipping in the region.

At sunset on 18 April, 50 miles off the coast of Tanzania, ESPS Infanta Elena identified the pirated vessel and after closing its position, the Spanish boarding team went on board. Once there, they identified the 7 suspected Somali pirates and 6 Sri Lankan crew. The men received much needed medical care and were provided food and water. Earlier the same day, 5 suspect pirates had been arrested by Tanzanian maritime forces when their attack skiff, believed to have been operated from the Sri Lankan vessel, beached on the Tanzanian coast.

The tired, but very relieved Sri Lankan fishermen were handed over to Tanzanian maritime forces close to Dar Es Salaam on 21 April and the European Union, via its delegation in Tanzania helped to ensure that the crew could quickly make contact with their families. Arrangements are now being made to fly the fishermen home to Sri Lanka.

As there is currently no agreement on the transfer of suspect pirates between the European Union and Tanzania, the suspect pirates were released by ESPS Infanta Elena to the Somali coast on Monday 23 April. With the on-going negotiations with the Tanzanian authorities, it is hoped that a transfer agreement will be in place in the near future.

There is a slight disconnect on the fate of the pirates on the mother ship.

Somali Pirates: South Africa Prepares

South Africa to reopen Durban Navy Base for anti-pirate operations:

Arrow points to Durban

The Defence Department is taking steps to tackle piracy, and intends re-opening a former naval base on Salisbury Island, the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu said today.

Sisulu told a media briefing in Parliament that the Durban base had been downgraded to a naval station to save costs and operations moved to Simon’s Town, near Cape Town [in 2002].

However, the adoption of a strategy by the government to tackle piracy in its surrounding waters necessitated the re-opening of the base, she said.
***

"A" indicates Salisbury Island, Durban, RSA

At present just one frigate at a time had been deployed on anti-piracy patrol to Pemba in northern Mozambique and was supported by a number of helicopters on board the frigate as well as by ground troops.

South Africa has also signed a pact with Tanzania and Mozambique on maritime security co-operation, which would see the three countries working together to secure their respective territorial waters.

Sisulu said figures from two years ago by the International Maritime Bureau revealed that the cost of piracy was between US$7 billion and $12 billion a year. Added to this, there had been 17 acts of piracy in Tanzanian waters last year.

She said the sea was very important for trade as 91% of goods traded between African countries were transported by sea, while the continent had 44 refineries in 25 countries. This made it essential for African countries to police the continent’s waters, she said.

Frigate SAS AMATOLA

The South African Maritime Strategy - which was adopted by Cabinet last year - is being piloted by South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique, and Sisuslu said the deployment of the Isandlwana was more of a deterrent than anything else.

She said the department would be requesting that at least two percent of GDP be allocated to defence spending.
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The Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said that to deal with piracy it was important to tackle the political problems on the ground.

Nkoana-Mashabane attended a meeting in London on Thursday, hosted by AU security-council members, on how to work together with Somalis to return the country to normalcy.

Durban is approximately 1700 nautical miles south of Mombasa, Kenya, near the Somali border, or about 2200 nm from Mogudishu, Somalia.

Update on "Arrested" "Pirate Hunters" in Mozambique

A previous post, Mozambique: "Pirate Hunters" Arrested, requires an update.

According to GreySide Group Disputes Information Surrounding Personnel Traveling Through Mozambique:

The GreySide Group refutes information contained in recent reports surrounding five of its personnel traveling through Mozambique. The GreySide Group employees were briefly questioned at the Nampula airport; however, there were no weapons present, and after the Mozambique authorities investigated and found no wrongdoing, the personnel were quickly released and granted visas.

"As a security firm operating globally we take every step to ensure all proper licenses are obtained prior to conducting international missions on behalf of our clients. Our highly trained team of professionals were in full compliance with our rigorous procedures, and with applicable international and domestic laws," said Alex Popovic, CEO, GreySide Group.

The GreySide Group team was carrying ammunition legally and in accordance with Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"We have conducted dozens of transits without a single incident, and currently have numerous teams in the Gulf of Aden protecting commercial ships transiting high risk waters," said Popovic.

Mozambique: "Pirate Hunters" Arrested

Reported here:

Mozambique authorities arrested four U.S. citizens and a Briton for possession of illegal weapons this week.

According to a BBC News report, the five say they were in the region to help rescue a boat from pirates. They told authorities that they worked for GreySide, a U.S. security firm, however the company has not commented on the incident and the U.S. embassy disavowed any connection to the group.

Mozambican officials told BBC that the men were in possession of weapons, ammunition and communication equipment. The leader of the group, identified as U.S. citizen 42-year-old Michael Ferguson, said the group flew from the U.S. through Ethiopia and Kenya in order to enter a large vessel off the coastal city of Pemba to subsequently assist another boat being held by pirates.

Reportedly the men were arrested in Nampula.

Info on "Greyside Group- Maritime Security Services" here. (Update) As noted on its website,

• GreySide Group is licensed and certified to transport arms globally (US ITAR).
• All of GreySide's weapons are legally obtained, legally shipped, and legally employed.

It's generally a really bad idea to carry weapons into foreign countries unless the proper permits or other forms of authorization have been obtained. "Baksheesh" might work, but, then again, it might not.

Maybe a permit expired or was renewed and someone didn't get the memo.

UPDATE here. Apparently it was a matter of team members being "questioned" and then released.

Adding to the Maritime Security Mix: First deepwater oil discovered off East Africa

Oil & Gas Journal reports "First deepwater oil discovered off East Africa" :

An exploratory well off Mozambique has penetrated 38 m of net oil and gas saturated sands in the upper of two Cretaceous fan lobes, signaling the first documented occurrence of liquids hydrocarbons in deep water off East Africa.

The Ironclad-1 well, operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in Area 1 off Mozambique, is in the Rovuma basin 110 km south of the Windjammer dry gas discovery, drilled earlier in the same six-well exploratory program to 16,930 ft in 4,800 ft of water 30 miles off the coast ...

Map is from Anadarko, with my addition of a guesstimate as to the location of the Ironclad well site (yellow star). Click on them to enlarge images.

The Mozambique Channel is a chokepoint for shipping traffic off Africa. During WWII, the Japanese found it to be a "target-rich" environment as set out here:

Churchill telegraphed to Roosevelt: "A Japanese air, submarine, and/or cruiser base at Diego Suarez [on the northern tip of Madagascar, halfway between Cape Town and Colombo] would paralyse our whole convoy route both to the Middle East and to the Far East...."

Now, of course, there are pirates in the waters north of the entrance to the Channel. UPDATE: In November 2009, MV Delvina was captured at the northern end on the Mozambique Channel as shown on the nearby map. See here and here.

The map below shows the area with the red arrow pointing generally at the location of these wells.

Further, there are disputed territorial claims to areas that now may be worth a vigorous defense (see here):

At the northern entrances of the Mozambique Channel occur a number of islands, reefs and submarine banks. The largest land masses in this area are those of the Comoros Islands. With an area of 2,170 km² this volcanic group consists of 4 main islands: Ngazidja, Nzwani, Mwali, Mayotte and several smaller islets that lie off the main islands.

Farther in to the channel occur a trio of widely separated coral reefs and islands that form overseas possessions of France: Bassas da India, Juan de Nova and Île Europa. These islands are strategically important — their ownership is disputed between France and Madagascar. All are small, flat and uninhabited. The islets of Europa and Juan de Nova are important habitats for migrating landbirds and breeding seabirds.

Northwards, lying at the entrances in to the Channel, lie the French-owned Îles Glorieuses (Glorioso Islands) and the submerged reefs of Banc du Geyser and Banc du Leven (Banc du Zelee), both of which lie in international waters.

Could get to be an interesting area.

UPDATE: Info on the Rovuma Basin from the National Petroleum Institute of Mozambique (NIP) here.

Somali Terrorists: World Cup Plot Against U.S.?

Plot against U.S. by "Somali terrorists" reported here:

Tired of fighting, and largely losing, against the US in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, a group of Somali terrorists devised a strategy to take on the superpower in South Africa.

The Sunday Tribune can reveal that the US's closure of its offices in the country was because of intercepted cellphone communication detailing planned attacks on American interests here. It is unclear whether American interests necessarily include a possible visit by US President Barack Obama for the official opening of the World Cup.

Intelligence officers, according to two sources, intercepted a call made in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to a group based in Somalia, and the conversation confirmed a plot to blow up American interests in South Africa last month.

A source said US intelligence agents, South Africa's National Intelligence Agency and SAPS Crime Intelligence operatives launched a surveillance operation on the Cape-based group, gathering crucial information before the operation was thrown into disarray.
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As the embassies were closed just before Heritage Day, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele went on TV to say the country's intelligence structures were on top of the situation.

This, it was established, led to the group discarding the SIM cards and the phones they had used, to cover their tracks.

The source said: "What has been established is that the Cape guys are linked to al-Qaeda cells in Somalia, who are connected to the group in Afghanistan. We have established that most al-Qaeda operatives are relocating from Afghanistan to Pakistan, attracted by increased lawlessness in Pakistan.

"Our information is that there is a trail that links Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and, most interestingly, Mozambique, where Somalis have formed an anti-US cell already.

"The interception revealed that these people plan to move en masse from Mozambique to here (South Africa) in 2010 to attack American interests. Their point is that South Africa is not a target, but if South Africans are caught in the crossfire, then that would be unfortunate.".