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But how did the Albanian state enter into negotiations in 2004 for a possible agreement with a company whose owners were not known and was registered in a tax haven?
How can such an important national asset be left in the hands of a company, without experience, without sufficient capital and created for 2 months in the Caribbean?
Instead of being searched for oil throughout the territory by the largest Shell companies, Agp, on the other hand all these companies have not been inclined to enter into a partnership with Albpetrol to invest in existing oil wells. The main reason from the knowledge I have is related to the fact that Albpetrol production areas especially in Patoz Marinza have been extremely polluted. An investment that would come from these companies would first have to take into account the extremely high investments for the improvement of the environmental conditions in this region which is problematic.
It is true that Bankers has made investments in this direction as well, but the pollution from oil production throughout the region is extremely high. For this reason, there have been medium or low level companies that have shown interest and have come to Albania to make such investments. As was the case of Premier Oil around 94-96, Saxon and then Bankers, despite the activity in the country, if you compare it with giant companies is relatively small “said the economic expert, Ilir Ciko.
According to some sources, Saxon International Energy submitted the Development Plan late, in violation of the contract. On June 18, 2004 ARMO JSC and Saxon signed the “Patos Marinza Crude Oil Contract” which gives Saxon the rights but not the obligations to sell up to 5000 barrels per day to ARMO at a fixed price.
This means when the world market price will be lower than the fixed price, Armo must receive and pay at the fixed price that is higher, whereas when the world market price is higher than the fixed price, Saxon will trade oil in foreign markets to make bigger profits than ARMO sells. The permanent effect of this transaction was that ARMO always paid more than the world market value for Albanian oil and Saxon always won over the world market.
Although the development plan signed with the Albanian state stipulated that Saxon should recover all costs by 2009 and start paying profit tax, an addition to the contract was signed in 2008. This time would coincide with the time when US General Wesley Clark would become Director of Bankers Petroleum and during that period would visit Tirana frequently. On June 2, 2008, two new directors were to be appointed at the Bankers meeting in Calgary, one of whom would be General Clark, then 63 years old.
Wesley Clark’s authority was unquestionable in Albania. He was the general who bombed Belgrade for Kosovo. The addition to the contract indefinitely delayed the moment when Bankers Petroleum would start paying taxes. In exchange for this immunity from profit tax, the Berisha government would impose a royalty for the first time. The banker paid 10% of the total output.
Abuses have been rumored, as even when he paid the rent, he included in the amount of oil and what he owed to Albpetrol. With the coming to power of Edi Rama’s government, Bankers Petrolium has not had a smooth relationship with him. In 2016 Canadian Bankers decides to sell the business.
The company signed an agreement to sell all its shares to the Chinese company ‘Alberta’ Ltd and ‘Charter Power Investment Limited, a subsidiary of the global company’ Geo-Gade Petroleum Corporation ‘for 575 million Canadian dollars.
The Geo Gade Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1984. Employees give poor marks to management in their assessments. The new shareholders have inherited the agreement with the Albanian state and nothing has changed in the terms of the contract. Bankers Petroleum is an unsolicited concession for a period of 25 years with the right of 5 year deferral. It is estimated that the Patos Marinza contains approximately 5.4 billion barrels of oil.
The company has opened 95% of all wells that have a capacity of 2050 tons of crude oil per day.
With an initial investment of less than $ 2 million in 2004, Bankers now controls most of the wealth and well-being of Albanians, even though Albanians themselves rank last in Europe in terms of per capita income and consumption for 2020 as well.
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