There is a new climate villain on the bloc. No its not a big oil company. But a 39 year old aristocrat banker from Britain. Nathaniel Rothschild, commonly known as “Nat” comes from a dynasty that is built on banking and wine. But Nat, “who has sometimes struggled to live up to the dynastic name”, … Read More
Month: January 2011
Bolshoi Petroleum is “environmental villain number one”
Ever since BP’s complex deal with Russian giant Rosneft was announced late last Friday, the list of critics to the deal has been growing. Take today’s leader in the Financial Times that calls the deal “risky, ethically vexing” and a “difficult transaction to spin.” I am surprised that a tabloid newspaper hasn’t spun the deal … Read More
Reserves Replacement Ratio: past its sell-by date?
Is a key valuation metric used by analysts to assess oil companies pushing big oil towards riskier and riskier projects? Those of us outside the financial sector may not be too familiar with acronyms such as RoACE, NAV or RRR. But the last one in particular has been intriguing me lately because of its implications … Read More
Report: Reserves Replacement Ratio Fuels Frenzy for Tar Sands, Arctic & Deepwater
EPA 1: Big Coal 0
So its game on. The EPA may be under attack from the Republicans, but its not rolling over and waiting to be stripped of its powers, without a fight. It is taking on Big Coal in the battle over mountain top removal. In what is being seen as an historic decision, the EPA has said … Read More
Free at Last?
For 300 long years Greenland has been part of Denmark. Denmark pumps $620 million into Greenland’s anaemic economy every year—more than $11,000 for each Greenlander. But this may be all about to change. In November 2008 its citizens voted overwhelmingly for increased independence from Denmark, which has officially ruled Greenland in some form since 1721. … Read More
API is “Compromised” Says Deepwater Report
We know that BP was to blame for the Deepwater Horizon. So too was Transocean and Halliburton. So too was the failed regulatory regime, which was tasked with maximising revenues for drilling at the same time as being responsible for oversight of the operations. You can’t do both, and that is the reason that former … Read More
Preventing Another “National Scandal”
We already know that the official Commission into the Deepwater disaster criticised BP for systematic management failures. But the Commission is set to criticise the Obama administration later today when the full and final report is launched at the National Press Club. It will argue that the Administration has not gone far enough to reform … Read More
A New Year: A New Spill
Who would be a BP shareholder? Last week the company’s shares surged on the fact that the National Commission into the Deepwater disaster had not provided clear evidence of BP’s “gross negligence” into the spill. It could have been construed that the New Year was the beginning of a new chapter in the company’s ragged … Read More
Oil and Coal-Backed Politicians Attack the EPA
It is widely accepted that people give money to politicians to curry favour and buy influence. So there will be no surprises that there are smug smiles on the faces of the oil and coal barons this week as the people they pay, the Republicans, begin their assault on climate legislation and environmental protection. As … Read More