Organic carbon on Mars is abiotic

The Tissint meteorite, a 58 gram sample of which is shown here, landed 
near Tata, Morocco in July of last year and was confirmed as martian in 
January. A new study shows that it and several other martian meteorites 
contain organic carbon of non- biological origin.
Photo credit: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta

Curiosity, NASA’s latest Mars rover, will begin its search for chemical evidence of past life on the red planet in early August. But according to a new paper in Science, the surface of Mars contains organic carbon generated by non-biological sources, which could make that search even harder.

Very rarely, material ejected from the surface of Mars by cosmic impacts can make its way to Earth in the form of meteorites. Only about 60 martian meteorites are known, eleven of which were part of the study conducted by an international team of experts, including Chris Herd of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. Inside the martian minerals, the team found particles of carbon. “What's interesting about this stuff is that it’s not just graphite, it's organic macromolecular carbon,” says Herd. Organic carbon is present in the dust from which the solar system formed, as evidenced by primitive meteorites which can contain anything from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to amino acids. Similar material would have been incorporated into Mars as it formed, stored in its interior, and could later have reached the surface by means of lava flows.

To test this theory, lead author Andrew Steele of the Carnegie Institution of Washington used confocal Raman spectroscopy, which allows for accurate determination of both the form and location of the carbon within a given meteorite’s crystal structure. In every case, the organic carbon particles were found in inclusions within igneous minerals. “The only way it could get there is if it was present in the original magma,” says Herd. “If it had been formed by some kind of biological process, you'd expect to find it associated with rust or material that formed through alteration by water, not with the igneous minerals.” Although the finding doesn’t completely rule out the possibility that Mars once harboured life, it serves as a reminder of just how hard Curiosity will have to work to prove otherwise.

From: Earth Chemistry http://www.accn.ca/index.php?ci_id=3478&la_id=1

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGERIAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY BILL 2012

"....Upstream Gas and Gas Flaring

• Unlike the silence of the extant Petroleum Act on gas discoveries, the PIB clearly provides that upon the completion of the appraisal programme by the holder of a Prospecting Licence, the licensee has the option (amongst others) of declaring a significant gas discovery and therefore be entitled to retain the relevant discovery area for a retention period of not more than ten (10) years.[1]

•  With respect to gas flaring, there are no clear and specific timelines provided for a total flare-out date. Section 275 of the PIB provides that “[n]atural gas shall not be flared or vented after a date ('the flare-out date') to be prescribed by the Minister in regulations made pursuant to this Part, in any oil and gas production operation, block or field, onshore or offshore, or gas facility such as, processing or treatment plant, with the exception of permits granted under … this Act”. This therefore presupposes that gas flaring may be permitted under certain circumstances.

•   It is also further provided in the PIB that "[t]he oil and gas operators with flared gas resources shall within six months of the commencement of this Act categorize all of their flared gas resources (daily flare quantity, reserve, location, composition) and submit this data along with gas utilization plans to the Inspectorate for the gas they intend to utilize before the flare out date as stated in section 275 of this Act.”[2] The Minister is empowered to grant a permit, of not more than one hundred (100) days or such longer period as may be approved by the Minister, to flare or vent gas in cases of start-up, equipment failure, shut down, safety flaring or due to the inability of a gas customer to offtake gas.

Nigerian content

• To emphasize the importance of the Nigerian content regime, Section 179(3)(d) of the PIB provides that one of the conditions for the approval[3] of a Prospecting Licensee’s Field Development Plan (“FDP”) further to a commercial discovery is an approved Nigerian content plan in line with relevant legislation. In other words, without such a Nigerian content plan which is one of the prerequisites to the UPI giving its approval to the FDP, the Licensee shall not commence the drilling of wells during the initial or renewal exploration periods, nor carry out the appraisal work in respect of any appraisal work programme submitted to the UPI further to a commercial discovery of petroleum.

Taxation[1]

Profits of each accounting period of any company engaged in upstream petroleum operations[2] will now be subject to Nigerian Hydrocarbon Tax (“NHT”)[3] instead of the current Petroleum Profits Tax (“PPT”). The provisions on NHT are largely a replication of the extant provisions on PPT stipulated inthe PPTA. The innovations of the proposed NHT regime are..."

FOR A FULL SYNOPSIS ON THE PROVISIONS OF THE NEW PIB PLEASE CLICK ON THE SUB-HEADINGS ABOVE OR ON THIS LINK...... 

---

[1] Administered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (“FIRS”), subject to the authority, direction, and control of the Minister of Petroleum.

[2] Upstream petroleum operations comprises upstream gas operations and upstream crude oil operations. “upstream crude oil operations” means the winning or obtaining of crude oil in Nigeria by or on behalf of a company on its own account for commercial purposes and shall include any activity or operation related to crude oil that occurs up to fiscal sales point or transfer to the downstream sector, while "upstream gas operations" means the winning or obtaining of natural gas in Nigeria by or on behalf of a company on its own account for commercial purposes and shall include any activity or operation related to natural gas, including but not limited to the treatment of gas, that occurs up to the fiscal sales point or transfer to the downstream sector.

[3] See generally Part VIII (A) of the PIB which comprises Sections 270 – 353.

---

[1] Section 178(11) & (12), PIB.

[2] Section 276(1), PIB

[3] Other conditions for the FDP approval are health, safety and environmental standards, acceptable decommissioning and abandonment plan and an approved environmental management plan.

The Mix: Oil and Water!: KEY LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FROM THE NIGERIAN OIL AND...

The Mix: Oil and Water!: KEY LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FROM THE NIGERIAN OIL AND...: By Tade Oyewunmi [1] 1 . Introduction Local or Nigerian Content has been defined as the ‘quantum of composite value added or created ...

OIL AND GAS REGULATORY STRIDES IN UGANDA

1. The Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill, 2012, will govern upstream petroleum activities, including procedures for licensing, environmental safeguards, transparency rules and the government’s institutional set-up........
2. The Petroleum (Refining, Gas Processing and Conversion, Transportation and Storage) Bill, 2012, will govern downstream activities, to regulate, petroleum refining, gas processing and conversion, transportation and storage of petroleum, to promote policy formulation, coordination and management of petroleum refining, gas processing and conversion, transportation and storage; to provide for third party access to infrastructure; to provide for an open, transparent and competitive process of licensing by the Minister responsible for petroleum; to provide for health and safety environment; to provide for cessation of petroleum activities and decommissioning of petroleum facilities and infrastructure....
3. Part VII of the Public Finance Bill, 2012, spells out procedures for petroleum revenue management.