One of the unseen consequences of the lower gas prices in North America is that it is actually making it cheaper to extract the tar sands. And that in turn is giving tar sands operators the confidence to expand production. So bizarrely cheap cleaner gas is fuelling the exploitation of the dirty tar sands.
Month: February 2010
A complete mockery of forest protection
Anyone following the palm oil debate would not have been surprised by the findings of the BBC’s top investigative programme Panorama earlier in the week, which investigated the industry. Using GPS technology and satellite imaging, the BBC exposed how the palm oil giant Duta Palma Group is logging on both high conservation lands and deep … Read More
Oil companies threaten Nigeria over reforms
The showdown between Argentina and Britain over the Falklands is not the only row brewing on the international oil scene. A bitter battle is brewing between oil giants such as Shell and Chevron and the Nigerian government over proposed reforms of the oil and gas sector. The oil companies are threatening that up to $50 … Read More
Use your pension against the tar sands
The start of an unusual mobilisation of pension fund members has been kicked off by the British organisation FairPensions to hold BP and Shell to account for their investment in the dirty Canadian tar sands. The idea is simple: individuals can contact their pension funds, through an online action, to show support of environmental resolutions … Read More
Shifting Geo-Politics not Good for the Climate
Change may only happen in small steps, but slowly and surely the geo-politics of oil are changing. The dynamics of Middle Eastern oil are in transition. Anyone who argued that the war in the Gulf was a war about oil should sit up and take notice. And anyone concerned about the climate should also be … Read More
“Whipping up the spectre of an oil war”
Tensions are rising rapidly over the imminent oil exploration around the Falklands. Yesterday Argentina accused Britain of “whipping up the spectre of war” after the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, insisted the Falkland Islands were being properly protected to allow oil and gas exploration. “We have made all the preparations necessary to make sure the … Read More
The $80 Billion Investment in Venezuela’s Heavy Oil
Whilst international attention has focussed recently on the ecological and climatic impact of the tar sands, another heavy oil boom is happening which is equally important. Just three years after a spate of nationalisations in the heavy oil belt of Orinoco, Venezuela has once again signed deals with foreign companies that require investments of up … Read More
Flaws in Ugandan Oil Boom Exposed
The London-based environmental group Platform was the first group to analyse the oil contracts in Iraq called Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), which gave lucrative terms to the international oil companies. Now they have turned their attention to the rapidly expanding oil scene in Central Africa in Uganda. Uganda is said to be sitting on the … Read More
Yet More Criticism of Shell’s Nigerian Operations
Yesterday it was internal criticism of Shell’s Nigerian operations. Today it is external criticism. A new report by the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) argues that Shell can improve its negative social and environmental impacts in the Niger Delta. Based on case studies researched and written by five civil society organisations working in the … Read More
Shell Employees Attack its “Repugnant” Behaviour in Nigeria
Having written about Shell in Nigeria for over fifteen years, we have known that there was huge internal disquiet about the company’s operations in the country. In the aftermath of the murder of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995, Shell was pilloried in the international press for being complicit in his death and for being … Read More
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