July | 2007 | The Price of Oil

Posts in July 2007

New York Sues Exxon over Spill
Andy Rowell
Jul18
Oil giant Exxon is being sued by the New York attorney general’s office who claims that the company did not clean up 17 million gallons of spilled oil in Brooklyn over the past century. This amounts to some 7 million more gallons than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. “Exxon Mobil – the largest,…
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US Urged to Act on Energy
Andy Rowell
Jul18
The US should adopt the toughest possible fuel economy standards for motor vehicles and join a global framework for managing carbon dioxide emissions. These are the findings of a Bush administration-commissioned study of the energy industry, led by Lee Raymond, the former chairman of Exxon.
Somalia: The Chinese Move in or Do They?
Andy Rowell
Jul18
Yesterday it was reported that the Chinese had struck a deal to explore for oil in Somalia. Today, Somalia’s interim prime minister has said he is not aware of any deal being struck. Ali Mohamed Gedi’s comments are being interpreted as signalling a potential internal power struggle within the Somali government.
Iraqi Oil Experts Critique Oil Law
Steve Kretzmann
Jul17
WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) — More than 100 Iraqi oil, economic and legal experts sent a letter to Iraq’s Parliament urging it to consider their critique of the draft oil law. A senior Iraqi government official was also given a copy and agreed with the technocrats’ assessment. “With our conviction for the need of a…
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Iraqis Protest Oil Law
Steve Kretzmann
Jul17
Basra, Iraq – On Monday, hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), took to the streets of Basra to demand that the Iraqi Parliament reject the proposed Oil Law. [1] Simultaneous demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya. Local governate officials made statements in support of the demonstration and, along…
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Crisis in the Himalaya
Andy Rowell
Jul17
Yesterday the Independent highlighted how rising sea-level rise is causing catastrophe in the South Pacific, and today the New York Times reports of melting Himalayan glaciers, which “points to a looming worldwide concern, with particularly serious repercussions for India and its neighbors”. The paper reports: “The thousands of glaciers studded across 1,500 miles of the…
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$95 a Barrel This Year?
Andy Rowell
Jul17
The $100 dollar a barrel draws closer. Middle East members of the oil cartel Opec are under pressure for an immediate rise in production, after a warning from investment bank Goldman Sachs that prices could hit $95 a barrel this year. On the energy markets yesterday, a wave of speculative activity pushed Brent crude to…
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Oz: Oil Rigs to Become Coral Farms
Andy Rowell
Jul17
Decommissioned oil rigs off Australia’s coastline could become hubs for marine-based businesses such as coral harvesting for aquariums, a fish expert argues. Professor David Booth, of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and University of Technology, Sydney, says there are up to 60 oil rigs in Australian waters that are due to be decommissioned in…
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S.O.S South Pacific
Andy Rowell
Jul16
The Independent leads with yet another climate change related front page about how climate change is ravaging Tuvalu in the South Pacific. “For Tuvalu, reports the paper “a string of nine picturesque atolls and coral islands, global warming is not an abstract danger; it is a daily reality. The tiny South Pacific nation, only four…
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Blasts Hit Kirkuk Again
Andy Rowell
Jul16
A string of bomb attacks in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk have killed at least 85 people and wounded more than 180. A suicide bomber detonated a lorry near the offices of a Kurdish political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), causing most of the casualties.