From today, up to a million people on income support will be eligible for half fares on London’s buses under Ken Livingstone’s oil deal with Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president. Single parents, carers, the long-term sick and disabled people will benefit from the plan, first mooted during Mr Chávez’s visit to the UK last year, paying … Read More
Month: August 2007
China Increases Hold On Kazakh Oil
China is undertaking a buying spree of oil and gas assets in oil rich Kazachstan. A year and a half ago, China’s state oil company CNPC became the main shareholder of PetroKazakhstan in a $4.2bn deal. From petrol stations to refineries and now even a 1,000km (620 mile) long pipeline, the first one ever to … Read More
Hurricane Forces Mexico to Evacuate Oil Rigs
Mexico has started to evacuate 13,360 workers from its Gulf of Mexico oil rigs as powerful hurricane Dean neared. According to state oil company Pemex, which produces some 70 per cent of its crude oil from offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and is a major supplier to the United States, the move will … Read More
Sacked Iranian Oil Minister Issues Warning of Energy Crisis
Iran’s sacked oil minister has issued a parting warning to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, predicting a looming “catastrophe” in the Iranian energy sector because of high consumption. “If we do not find a solution to the energy problem in the next 15 years, the country will face a catastrophe,” Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh was quoted as saying … Read More
Six Hurt in Climate Protest
The British police showed their usual degree of heavy-handiness yesterday, when six people were injured and 14 arrested after clashes between police and climate change protesters near Heathrow airport. Skirmishes were still continuing last night and protests over the aviation industry’s growing carbon emissions and attempts to expand Heathrow airport are expected to continue until … Read More
Court Halts Shell Oil Exploration in Beaufort Sea
The second marine impact story is from Alaska. Oil giant Shell, which was poised to start oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea, cannot proceed until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decides whether the potential for environmental damage was properly considered by the federal agency that issued an exploration permit to the oil company. A … Read More
Sakhalin: Covert British Backing “Endangers Whales’
Two stories on the impact of oil on marine mammals with environmental and Indigenous groups fighting back against the oil industry. Two environmental groups have accused the British Government of covertly sponsoring Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project off east Russia, which they say is causing major environmental damage and threatening a rare … Read More
Chavez Rips up the Constitution
Hugo Chavez has infuriated his critics by laying out the road map for moving his oil-rich nation to a socialist state, proposing a radical constitutional reform which could have at its centre indefinite re-election for himself. Addressing the National Assembly, Chavez laid out 33 changes he plans to make to the constitution he introduced in … Read More
Getting Close to the Climate Tipping Point
More bad news on the climate. Yesterday we blogged on how Arctic ice may be melting faster than previously thought. Now other scientists are warning that the tipping point for climate change could be closer than previously thought. They are predicting that the loss of the massive Greenland ice sheet may now be unstoppable and … Read More
More Safety Problems for BP at Prudhoe
BP has once again been accused of serious safety breaches after a fire broke out at its Prudhoe Bay operations in Alaska. On August 6 a fire took hold at one of three so-called gathering centres within BP’s Prudhoe Bay operations. According to a letter sent to a congressional committee by long-term oil industry critic … Read More