World oil majors bolster security<\/p>\n
Sujata Rao, Reuters, London<\/p>\n
Major international oil companies are on heightened security
\nalert against attacks worldwide after the bomb blasts in Bali and
\nYemen, the firms said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Faced with the threat of an assault on their production,
\nrefining or oil and gas transportation operations, the companies
\nhave moved swiftly to upgrade security arrangements.<\/p>\n
\"The recent events in Bali and Yemen have forced us to
\nreinforce security,\" said a spokeswoman at the Paris headquarters
\nof French supermajor TotalFinaElf.<\/p>\n
She declined to detail the new procedures but said they came
\non top of enhancements in place since last year's Sept. 11
\nattacks in the United States.<\/p>\n
Total operates facilities in Yemen, where the French-flagged
\ntanker Limburg exploded two weeks ago in what investigators say
\nlooks like a deliberate attack.<\/p>\n
The company said it has offered its expatriate employees in
\nYemen the option of leaving the country.<\/p>\n
The French company also has production in Indonesia, where the
\nBali bombs killed nearly 200 at a nightclub last weekend.<\/p>\n
Oil companies in Indonesia have been on alert since last year
\nwhen separatists bombed a gas export terminal in the rebellious
\nAceh province. Operator ExxonMobil closed the Arun gas processing
\nplant for five months.<\/p>\n
Senior executives at Royal Dutch\/Shell, the world's second
\nlargest commercial oil company, said its staff had just been
\nplaced on heightened alert worldwide.<\/p>\n
\"There is a higher sense of awareness. We are on alert for any
\nsuspect movements,\" one executive said. Shell declined comment.<\/p>\n
U.S. ChevronTexaco European headquarters in London said the
\ncompany was being \"extra-vigilant.\"<\/p>\n
And a spokesman for BP said: \"Obviously we keep abreast of the
\nlatest developments and continually revise our security
\narrangements.\"<\/p>\n
Oil and gas facilities are considered high risk because they
\nconstitute both an economic and a political target.<\/p>\n
\"One reason is that oil is a valuable commodity in itself and
\ndestroying it has an economic impact and, second, a lot of the
\noil companies are very high-profile and are seen as representing
\ntheir respective governments,\" said Jake Stratton, head of
\nresearch for Control Risks International.<\/p>\n
\"A hit at Exxon could be seen as hitting at the United
\nStates.\"<\/p>\n
The al Qaeda network blamed for Sept. 11 has also been
\nfingered for the Limburg. The group this week appeared to praise
\nthe attack in a statement posted on the Internet, saying allies
\nof the United States would \"pay a heavy bill from their blood and
\ninterests.\"<\/p>\n
The statement, on the www.jehad.net website that is believed
\nto be backed by al Qaeda, said: \"By using a US$1000 boat to
\ndestroy such a big tanker, one can assume the scope of risks
\nfacing the Western economic lifeline, oil, of which the region
\nholds the world's vast reserves.\"<\/p>",
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