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Posts in January 2008

• Shell Makes “Obscene” Profits

  Andy Rowell

  Jan31

  Today’s stories are all about big bucks. Oil giant Shell is facing renewed accusations of profiteering after reporting record profits of $27.6bn – the highest-ever figure reported by a British company. The huge profits – equivalent to more than $3m an hour and a 9% increase on last year – will cause anger amongst Britain’s…
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• Suncor to Invest $20 Billion in Oil Sands

  Andy Rowell

  Jan31

  Canada’s Suncor Energy has said it will spend C$20.6 billion on an expansion scheme that will make it the biggest producer in the oil sands of northern Alberta. Suncor’s board of directors gave the go-ahead for the Voyageur project, a 200,000 barrel-a-day expansion of the company’s already massive oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta….
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• Iraq: Government to Reap $19b in Oil Revenue

  Andy Rowell

  Jan31

  A new report says the Iraqi Government could earn an extra $19.2 billion of revenue this year as a result of higher crude oil prices and the revival of the country’s own oil industry. The prediction is suggested by figures set out in the latest quarterly report from Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq…
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• U.S. Trying to “Bribe” Iraqi MPs Over Oil Law

  Andy Rowell

  Jan30

  A fascinating story tucked away in the Gulf press. An anonymous Iraqi MP claims that some U.S. companies have offered a $5 million bribe to each Iraqi MP for passing Iraq’s controversial oil and gas law which has been stalled in the parliament for more than a year.

• Stelmach Defends Climate-Change Plan

  Andy Rowell

  Jan30

  Suddenly Ed-the-Earth-Destroyer Stelmach is hounded everywhere he goes. He was the target of environmental groups that protested outside Canada’s climate change conference in Vancouver. But Stelmach fended off criticism over his government’s new climate-change strategy that won’t see absolute greenhouse gas reductions until 2020. Stelmach warned that implementing dramatic emissions reductions in Alberta similar to…
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• North Slope Still Holds Billions of Barrels of Oil (but watch out ANWR)

  Andy Rowell

  Jan30

  Oil and natural gas production at Alaska’s North Slope may have been declining since 1988 but the region holds promise if energy prices stay high and Congress opens key areas to exploration, the U.S. Energy Department is arguing. The North Slope could yield up to 36 billion barrels of oil and 137 trillion cubic feet…
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• Shell Sparks Fears Over Reserves

  Andy Rowell

  Jan29

  Maybe the oil industry is running out of reserves faster than it is letting on (see other blog), but Shell is to delay publication of key data about its oil reserves that it would normally have released alongside profits figures being published this week. The decision is said to have disappointed some analysts, who have…
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• Shell Ditched As Sponsor Of Top Wildlife Competition

  Andy Rowell

  Jan29

  Shell’s two year tenure as sponsor of the London’s Natural History Museum’s “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” exhibition has come to an end. A determined, creative two year national campaign, coordinated in part by the direct action group Rising Tide and its Art Not Oil offshoot, helped to force the Museum to ditch Shell.

• Shell: We Will Begin to Run Out of Oil in 7 Years

  Andy Rowell

  Jan29

  Something of a “Shell feel” to the blog today. Three stories all about the oil major. First up a story from Davos. Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Shell has warned that demand for oil and gas will outstrip supply within seven years, because conventional supplies will fail to keep pace with population growth…
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• Albertans “Hooked on” Oil Sands

  Andy Rowell

  Jan28

  A survey in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper makes interesting reading on Alberta’s growing love affair with oil sands, even though they know it is causing immense damage. “They love all the jobs that the pay dirt has created and the handsome quality of life it has bestowed. They say these things, like any honest…
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