11:07 AM | 31 Jan, 2023 . This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The relationship between the BB Energy Group and Petroecuador appears to have lasted until recent days. BB Naft did business with Cuba between 1992 and 2001, trading oil for sugar for $300 million, with credit facilities at low interest rate, Coronado wrote. He receives a salary of 25,000 a year. Little is known inside the island about the Cuban governments companies abroad, but Havana economist Omar Everleny wrote in the early 2000s that there were more than 100 entities with the participation of Cuban capital, founded as mixed [state-private] companies or as branches of companies based on the island operating abroad in areas such as construction, agriculture, food, medicine, mining, finance and science., Everleny, recently fired from the University of Havanas Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, noted the paradox that a country that lacks the capital for its own development has invested in other countries. The motive, he speculated, is the U.S. embargo that forced the establishment of a network of companies around the world to warehouse and market products from the sea, among them lobsters and shrimp., Today the export of products from the fishing industry is carried out through those companies, he said, adding that Cuban officials also created an international network of companies to warehouse and sell the famous Cuban cigars.. BB Energy is one of the world's leading independent energy trading companies. BB Energy registered a company in Texas, BB Energy USA LLC., in 2014. ZR Energy DMCC wrote on its website, ZR Energy DMCC and Mr. Zaouk are incidental victims of this sinister power struggle.. Judge Aoun has charged 12 people in the case, including Electricite du Liban director-general Kamal Hayek for negligence of duty, and Hleiss and director of oil at the energy ministry Aurore Feghali for bribes and negligence of duty. In particular, the expensive refurbishment of the Downing Street flat. Testimonies collected by Mount Lebanon Investigative Judge Nicolas Mansour as part of the preliminary investigation pointed to suspected shady deals to forge lab tests for the fuels quality specifications, and to the involvement of employees at the labs as well as senior officials at the Energy Ministry, including the director-general of oil installations, Sarkis Hleiss. This entire case rests on false assumptions backed up by entirely fabricated charges. She has formally requested a parliamentary investigation committee be formed to probe the matter. (An attorney for Hleiss, who has been accused of fleeing, has publicly denounced certain aspects of the legal procedures.). The analysis and opinions they express through LOGI are their own and do not reflect the view of their respective employers. The money is in our account and as yet we have not paid anyone, said the spokesman. The difference: The name of the BVI firm has no Spanish accents, the Cuban companys name does. With approximately 24 million metric tonnes of physical crude oil, petroleum products and gas traded annually, BBE is one of the most active gas-oil, gasoline, fuel oil and bitumen traders. Landlords are eligible for up 5,000 to cover two thirds of energy efficiency work. Potential forms of corruption include bribery, theft, collusion and bid-rigging. He was one of the witnesses in the pretrial investigation. My journey to journalism: Elodie TotoElodie Toto of BBC Afrique tells the story of what inspired her to become a journalist, and takes us on a journey from the suburbs of Paris to Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The subsidiary subcontracted the deal to two private companies BB Energy, owned by the Bassatne family, and, beginning in 2017, Dubai-based ZR Energy DMCC, owned by Ibrahim Zaouk. BB Energy bought oil on the day prices turned negative. It is up to the criminal court to render a decision on the merits of the case. Responding to Reuters story, Reliance strongly denied making any payments via third parties to PDVSA. A letter sent in 1998 by a Mossack Fonseca employee to the international trade office at state-run Petroecuador referred to documents sent by BB Naft required to register the company. A 2005 fax also points to an initial contact with the Venezuelan governments Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). State-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corp., or BPC, has awarded the building contract to a consortium of Japan's Marubeni Corp., Vitol Asia Pte. BB Energy boasted of making record profits in 2020 in its annual report, writing that it had successfully captured market volatility caused by the pandemic. Our operations in these products are global and we use our storage and logistics for blending and optimising timely deliveries to fulfil customer requirements. The practice has been banned since 2019, after a scientific report found it was not possible to accurately predict the probability of earthquakes linked to drilling. Billions of dollars have been siphoned off annually into political largesse and party war chests. Miramar Playa. BB Energy ("BBE or the Group") was established by the Bassatne Family who started a commodities business in Lebanon in 1937, trading grain and asphalt. One Bloomberg report showed BB Energy had $10 billion in revenues in 2012. To enjoy unlimited access to all LOrient Today content, subscribe. The judge is the one who has the power to add to or drop the charges.. Instead, investigations have revealed that at least two companies owned by Lebanese businessmen, BB Energy and ZR Energy, were bringing in the fuel. the Home Energy and Conservation Act (HECA) report in Appendix 1. Their combined donation amounts to a total of 54 million. The proposed payment mechanism is the latest sign of the growing proximity of Venezuelas cash-strapped government to Russia as the United States tightens a financial noose around Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who it describes as a dictator. Ukraine's track record of massive corruption in energy is a sadly familiar story. Lebanese judicial sources told Daraj that the investigation will not be limited to the technical specifications of fuel, but will also include the commissions Sonatrach is making. The Committee on Standards suggested Paterson should just be suspended from the Commons for 30 days. In view of the foregoing debate, were forced to return to the commercial relationship between Sonatrach and the Lebanese Ministry of Energy, and the pressure exercised by former Sonatrach CEO, Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, to adopt ZR Energy trading company as a second intermediary besides Baha Bassatne, as a supplier in the Algerian companys name; the thing that occurred a year and a half before opening the file. BB Naft shareholder Wael Bassatne told El Nuevo Herald that his company did not violate the U.S. embargo because it is not registered and does no business in the United States. That the committee review and comment on proposed and ongoing work to reduce fuel poverty. NAFT TRADING S.A. Behind the scandalous lies and appalling plunder by the political elite and their business backers lies their drive to profit from pandemic suffering. 3. Starting in the early 1990s, Cubas Ministry of Foreign Trade, through the Compaa Panamericana S.A, used Mossack Fonseca to create a string of disguised companies in Panama, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands that bought and sold medicines, cigars and food. Read about our approach to external linking. Following the publication of Reuters report on Thursday, Reliance said in its statement that it had purchased Venezuelan crude oil from Rosneft long before the imposition of U.S. sanctions on PDVSA in January, as the Russian company received oil in return for a reduction in Venezuelas debt. This article was published in LOGI's May 2020 newsletter in partnership with Kulluna Irada. The testimonies suggest that this system has been in place for years, resulting in Lebanon purchasing tainted fuel under a contract signed in 2005 with a subsidiary of Algerias Sonatrach Petroleum Corporation. Both Mr. Rahmeh and ZR Group have been subjected to a politically motivated witch-hunt underpinned by a campaign to distract from Lebanons political failings. The government was forced to go back on itself and announced there would be a vote on Patersons suspension. Lucia Kassai and . The leaked documents also show that Guillermo Faustino Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja, brother of Gen. Luis Alberto Rodrguez Lpez-Calleja, was appointed in 1999 as a director of Pescatlan S.A., a company incorporated by Mossack Fonseca in the British Virgin Islands in 1991 with an initial capital of $50,000. A former Tory Party chairman told The Sunday Times, Once you pay your 3 million, you get your peerage.. Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). Our experienced traders are situated in our offices throughout the globe; industry specialists who count gas, crude oil, light and middle distillates, as well as bitumen, as their specialities. The UK energy industry is facing a wave of bankruptcies amid a gas supply crunch that has sent electricity prices soaring, leaving suppliers vulnerable . After the report was published, Reliance did not respond to further questions from Reuters about why the PDVSA internal document proposed Reliance pay Rosneft a marketing fee related to the supply of crude under the Indian firms long-term supply contract with PDVSA. El Nuevo Herald identified at least 25 companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, Panama and the Bahamas and linked to Cuba. Johnson even survived revelations that he would rather let the bodies pile high than push forward plans for a third lockdown. The Public Prosecution Office began investigating them to the backdrop of the ongoing debate, in Lebanon, over spoiled fuel bought by the electricity company from the Algerian oil company, Sonatrach, which ranked thirteenth in the ranking of oil companies in the world. We hope to welcome you among our subscribers. Laurence Robertson . Reliance has said that in September 2012 it signed a 15-year deal to purchase up to 400,000 barrels a day of heavy crude from PDVSA. But so much of the criticism is phrased as a defence of parliamentary standards and the good name of British democracy. The new certificates, for 800 shares, were to be issued in the names of 10 members of the Bassatne family, including 160 shares for Riad Bassatne. Multimillionaire donors seem almost guaranteed a peerage, according to a report by the Open Democracy thinktank and the Times newspaper. Fuel poverty and energy efficiency are inevitably linked, the less efficient a property is the costlier it is to heat. Rosneft would also make a profit by receiving an intermediation fee, the source and an internal PDVSA document said. This evolutionary approach not only applies to our services, but also our people. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1. Erni was most recently. How the 61-year-old embargo is blocking Cubans from finding sponsors in the U.S. Labiofam S.A. bought all the shares of BioAsia Ltd. in 2009. This comes on top of his standard MP salary of 81,932. During his time as energy minister, Hayes caused controversy by refusing to support any further expansion to onshore wind power, describing wind turbines as a terrible intrusion. Other leaked Mossack Fonseca documents show the interwoven complex of offshore companies created by the Cuban government to import and export goods and invest funds abroad with the assistance of the Panamanian law firm. BB Energy is not known to be involved in fracking but says that it sells oil around the world - and is one of the largest traders in the Mediterranean. This was on top of his standard MP salary of nearly 82,000. The document also said that the payment by Reliance to Rosneft would also allow PDVSA to meet unspecified contractual obligations to Rosneft. All rights reserved. Somebody did and bedlam ensued. Entity: B.B. After they didn't show up for questioning, reports suggested Hleiss and Rahme were being protected by Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh. The offer letter, seen by Reuters with its date redacted, said that Rosneft had agreed with PDVSA to pay BB Energys $26 million debt to the Venezuelan state oil company and then to seek payment from BB Energy via a bank transfer or an equivalent oil cargo. BB Energy is part of the Electricity, Oil & Gas industry, and located in United Kingdom. The response of Sonatrachs representative in Lebanon, Tarek Fawal, was quick, as he declared the companys willingness to cooperate with the Ministry of Energy to resolve the issues related to what he called the lack of conformity of the last shipment of fuel to the specifications, noting that this shipmentestimated at 38,000 tonswas examined by three different international offices who confirmed that it in fact met the specifications stipulated in the contract. 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