Reports last week that a British company called Ioniq Resources claims to have located six oil deposits in Portugal, through an innovative technology that can detect natural resources using electronics and satellite data, have been bouncing around the weekend media.
The company claim of untold riches seems not to be taken seriously by the Portuguese government.
Having met Ioniq directors last year, Pedro Passos Coelho and the Environment Minister has said nothing until the Minister for Environment and Energy was quizzed last week.
The deal from Ioniq, a company that has been subject to a high degree of scrutiny by the Portuguese press in the past few dasy, appears to include the government paying significant sums of money before Ioniq will let on where the oil is located.
The value of the reserves estimated by Ioniq is the equivalent to more than €43 billion at today's prices and temptingly the company claims the oil is at a depth of 2,000 to 3,000 metres representing no great challenge to oil companies.
The Ioniq letter to the Minister says that this could all be a great source of national wealth and could 'transform Portugal from an energy importer into an energy exporter.' Golden word and just the sort of thing that the government wants to hear, but does it stack up?
The office of the Minister for Environment and Energy has commented that the Ioniq document submitted to the Government does not mention the locations of the oil deposits or explain how its innovative technology found them. This may be a polite way of saying that the Minister is not totally stupid.
Contacted by Sabado, Ioniq director Damon Walker was rather miffed that Ioniq requested the proposal and Walker has not had the decency of a reply. “This is worth billions and he has not had the courtesy to answer us."
Ioniq is tax resident in Cyprus. Ioniq Resources belongs to Ioniq Capital which is a trader in the raw materials sector listing crude oil, diesel, jet fuel, refined fuels, mazut, gold bullion, sugar, iron and copper ore as commodities which it claims to buy and sell.
The chairman is Charles Masefield, a former pilot who later chaired arms manufacturer BA System.
Between 1994 and 1998, Masefield chaired the Defence Export Services Organisation, all rather hush-hush with the task of promoting British arms exports.
So much for the boss, what about Ioniq which is so secretive that search engines yield few detailed results?
Sabado reporters got to see Ioniq’s lawyers in Lisbon and have seen a corporate video of water drilling in various deserts.
Ioniq say it is involved "in humanitarian projects in Africa and the Middle East in the location of drinking water."
The company claims to use data from commercial satellites that collect frequencies emitted by materials and are then deciphered by a 'team of scientists.'
"What is new here is the interpretation of the data," according to the company but oil industry experts contacted by Sabado commented that "there are many of these technologies that crop up and are not valid," and would not validate a company that they had never heard of.
The Ioniq proposal is to sell the general study to the Government. This study indicates the location of the six reserves and will cost just €1.2 million. Add a bit more for detailed mapping etc and the final cost is €7.2 million, which would all be reimbursed after a deal was done with an oil company to drill for the oil.
Ioniq would want 10% of the value of all the oil and gas extracted and traded, €4.3 billion at today's prices.
If this technology worked, why is Ioniq focusing on Portugal? Is it due to the country's need for money and reputation of having a governemt that displays facets of individual greed above the interests of the poulation?
In short, is this all a scam or has the government been offered a good deal which it seeks to derail until those in power can work out a way of profiting personally?
This scenario reminded one reader of the 'Great Oil Sniffer Hoax' in France in the 1970s, see this link for what could go wrong...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oil_Sniffer_Hoax
