Canoel Announces Expansion Into Libya

Canoel International Energy Ltd. ("Canoel" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CIL) is pleased to announce that it is opening a representative office in Libya and is processing the opening of a local company registered under local Libyan laws.

Canoel has identified Libya as a country in which it will in the future seek to identify opportunities to conduct business and purchase exploration or production assets.

In Africa, Canoel already owns a small stake in Mafula Energy Ltd., a Zambia registered company, which has been awarded an exploration permit.

Andrea Cattaneo, the company's CEO, states "We are excited to start a settlement into Libya. We trust that this fast developing country will be a promising area where to deploy our exploration and & production skills."

Canoel's business plan is to grow through international acquisitions and exploration and to increase the production and reserves from its international inventory of oil and gas projects.

Libya's 2012 total oil and gas revenues are expected to be $54.9 Billion US Dollars.

(source: Libyan National Oil Corporation, NOC)

Earnings from oil exports account for more than 90% of Libya's National Income.

SNC-Lavalin hit with $1.65 billion class-action over alleged misconduct in Libya

The entrance to SNC-Lavalin headquarters in Montreal is shown in a photo released on June 3, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

MONTREAL - Embattled engineering giant SNC-Lavalin is facing two more class-action lawsuits seeking more than $1.5 billion on behalf of investors who saw the value of their asset plummet on revelations about payments in North Africa.

Rochon Genova LLP and the Ontario branch of Siskinds LLP announced lawsuits Wednesday that allege the Montreal-based company violated securities law by misrepresenting that it had adequate controls and procedures to ensure accurate disclosure and financial reporting.

"When a company repeatedly highlights its strong governance practices to the investing public, revelations of serious misconduct cause damage to the company's reputation and, in turn, substantial harm to its investors," Rochon Genova lawyer John Archibald said in a news release.

That suit filed in the Ontario Superior Court seeks $1.5 billion for misrepresentations and $150 million in punitive damages.

It was brought on behalf of all SNC-Lavalin investors, excluding residents of Quebec, who purchased securities of SNC-Lavalin between Feb. 1, 2007 and Feb. 28, 2012 or who purchased debentures of the company through the company's June 2009 prospectus offering.

The lead plaintiff is Brent Gray, a resident of Surrey, B.C., who purchased 600 shares in January at $52.20 per share.

The suit claims, among other things, that a 2009 prospectus offering $350 million of debentures — a type of bond issued to raise capital — failed to contain "full, true and plain disclosure of all material facts."

"As a result of the misrepresentations alleged herein, the prices at which debentures were offered pursuant to the prospectus were inflated, and class members who purchased the debentures in the primary market suffered damages a result," said the 26-page statement of claim.

In addition to current and former members of SNC's board of directors, those named include SNC-Lavalin International chairman Michael Novak and subsidiary vice-presidents Charles Azar and Andre Beland, who are in charge of Libyan operations.

The claim said these officials, former CEO Pierre Duhaime and former controller Stephane Roy assisted executive vice-president Riadh Ben Aissa in arranging "improper or unlawful payments" to secure contracts in Libya.

"SNC-Lavalin and the defendants knew, ought to have known, or were reckless in not knowing that the former Gadhafi regime awarded contracts for infrastructure projects in Libya in return for improper or unlawful payments," the suit states.

Late Wednesday, Siskinds LLP said that it has filed a proposed class action in the Ontario Superior Court on behalf of the Trustees of the Drywall Acoustic Lathing and Insulation Local 675 Pension Fund. The fund is asking to act on behalf of all shareholders between Nov. 6, 2009 and Feb. 27, 2012.

The statement, which names SNC executives Pierre Duhaime, Gilles Laramée, Riadh Ben Aïssa, Stéphane Roy, Gwynn Morgan, Ian Bourne and Michael Novak, did not disclose how much the suit is seeking.

Duhaime, Roy and Ben Aissa have lost their jobs with SNC-Lavalin. Ben Aissa, SNC's former head of construction, is in a Swiss jail on suspicion of corrupting a public official, fraud and money laundering tied to his dealings in North Africa.

The suit cites similar allegations to the one filed by Rochon Genova, including that SNC misrepresented the adequacy of its internal controls and net income during the 2010 fiscal year. It claims those alleged misrepresentations inflated SNC's share price.

The claims arises from alleged payments made by SNC-Lavalin to members, associates, and agents of the Gadhafi regime to secure contracts for infrastructure projects in Libya.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

The suits follows a $250-million claim containing similar allegations that was filed by the Siskinds affiliate in Quebec in March on behalf of investors in that province.

SNC didn't immediately respond to this latest legal challenge. But it denied all liability in respect of the claims alleged in the earlier class-action and vowed to defend itself.

Shares of SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) dropped more than 20 per cent on Feb. 28, wiping out more than $1.5 billion of market value after the company disclosed the launching of an investigation into $35 million of undocumented payments.

Nearly $3.5 billion has been wiped from the company's value since SNC's shares peaked at $59.97. They lost 32 cents to close at $36.73 in Wednesday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The engineering and construction giant's initial review led to it finding $56 million of payments to unidentified foreign agents.

The company has insisted that none of the funds were directed to Libya.

Analyst Maxim Sytchev of AltaCorp Capital said the lawsuits will have no short-term impact on perceptions about SNC or its share performance.

He noted the suits could drag on for a long time, if they ever get certified by the courts.

"For the time being this is not an issue," he said in an interview.

"Here it looks like they're being sued for an event that only recently became apparent even to the people on the inside," he said, adding there is no proof of payments to Libya.

SNC-Lavalin removed $900 million worth of Libyan projects from its backlog in 2010 amid the civil war in the North African country.

The RCMP executed search warrants at SNC-Lavalin's headquarters at the request of Swiss police.

However, Bourne said he wouldn't be surprised if police aren't able to use their powers to shed more light on events.

Source: Canadian Business 

Good News from Libya

A storefront along Tripoli Street in Misrata. Credit: Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME

Slowly but surely, the revolution in Libya is bringing stability and making progress. Yesterday, 
he Zintan Brigade turned over control of the Tripoli Airport to the Libyan government. Two days ago, 
Libyan Airlines started regular flights to Malta and the Zintan Brigade are now making plans to transfer 
their prize catch, Saif Qaddafi, to the NTC as well.

A four day conference, Infrastructure Libya 2012, backed by the ministries of Planning
and of Communications, and Oil and Gas Libya 2012, hosted by the Oil Ministry at the Tripoli
International Fairground, begins on Monday. Companies from Canada, Egypt, France,
Germany, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, UK and USA, as well as those from
Libya, are expected to attend. Even the Russians and the Chinese are negotiating their return to
Libya. Libya just bought 50,000 tons of Russian wheat.

Even the bad news has a good side. Last Thursday, when Amnesty International reported on the
death by torture of yet another black man from Tawargha in a Misrata detention center, it was the
headline in the decidedly pro-revolutionary Libyan Herald, indicating that the revolution is willing
to look honestly at itself, warts and all. And while, as I have said before, even one such death is
one too many, the fact that AI found only one such death in the two months since their earlier
report of more than a dozen killed by torture between September and February, indicates that
things are trending in the right direction.

More importantly, the root of these abuses, the make shift prisons setup by various revolutionary
brigades to contain the counter-revolutionaries immediately after the victory, is being dealt
with. On Wednesday, the Justice Ministry announced that it had taken over control of 30 such
detention centers from the thuwar.

So while, armed clashes, continue to cause trouble, there were reports of renewed fighting in
Kufra today after a seven week lull, and the flood of illegal immigrants from sun-Saharan Africa
continue to be a problem without solution, the country is rebuilding. The Sirte Local Council has
collected 1.5 billion LD in claims for damage caused by the heavy fighting there, and even in the
heavily damaged buildings on Tripoli St. in Misrata, which saw some of the heaviest bombardment
of the war, flower and dress shops can be seen to open in the bombed out remains.

As Abigail Hauslohner reported today on the Libyan Tweepforum:

all along Tripoli Street, there is also rebirth, and there is hope. New billboards and storefronts have sprung up from the city’s ashes. Uniformed traffic cops in white gloves patrol intersections—despite the absence of a fully functioning central government. And construction workers in orange vests clear rubble and tend to new flowers in the grassy medians. Stores selling wedding dresses and school supplies have re-opened their ground floor display windows; even as the gaping holes caused by rockets and tank shells remain to be fixed just above. “There are a lot of signs of war but you can see that there is life,” Yuri says. “There is life in different ways, girls on the street, boys on motorbikes, and flower shops.”

By Clay ClaiborneFollow (@Clayclai)

Source: Dailykos

Libya Will Match China National’s Offer for Verenex

Libya will match China National Petroleum Corp.’s C$499 million ($443 million) offer for Verenex Energy Inc., as the North African nation seeks to retain a larger share of its oil wealth.

“The government is now arranging the funds to buy Verenex,” Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp., said in a telephone interview today from Tripoli.

Libya, the holder of the continent’s largest oil reserves, wants to increase its share of petroleum revenue as the budget is squeezed by oil’s slump from July’s record. National Oil is a partner of Verenex, a Canadian explorer, and a preemption clause gives Libya first right of refusal on buying the assets.

China National, the nation’s biggest oil company also known as CNPC, agreed in February to purchase Calgary-based Verenex for C$10 a share in cash.

“CNPC’s offer is final,” Ghanem said today. “It cannot increase it because it’s not like an auction; we will match it.”

Verenex, whose shares more than doubled after the company put itself up for sale in November following four straight years of losses, rose 5.6 percent to C$9 as of 10:13 a.m. in Toronto.

Ghanem said in a March 16 interview that Libya wanted to purchase Verenex for “commercial reasons,” and not to limit the access of China National to its national oil reserves. Verenex has assets in Libya that are worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars, he said at the time.

In a statement on March 18, Verenex reiterated that the proposed sale of the company to China National was subject to “certain consents” from Libya’s National Oil.

China National began exploring for oil in Libya in 2005. Verenex had agreed to pay the Chinese company a C$15 million breakup fee if the company scuttled the deal.

Source: bloomberg

Verenex investors await Libyan counter bid

Investors in Canada's Verenex Energy Inc. said on Wednesday they saw growing risks of delays in the $C499 million ($425 million) sale of the company to China or Libya.

Libya has said it will exercise its right to pre-empt a friendly C$10-a-share bid for Verenex from China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) but Verenex in its earnings release on Tuesday said Libya had yet to make a formal offer.

Shares of Verenex were trading little changed at C$9.16 on Wednesday, indicating investors still expect a sale to happen. But some are uneasy over the lack of a formal bid from Libya, or word on Libya's consent to China's offer.

"The best thing is either the Libyan government says yes to the Chinese, or the Libyan government agrees to buy it on the same terms," a Verenex shareholder who declined to be identified said on Wednesday.

"But we have to be prepared for a situation where the downside occurs and Verenex goes back to a much lower price if it doesn't happen.

Source: Reuters