Posts in June 2011
Sceptic Gets $1 Million from Oil and Coal
Two Greenpeace-related stories in two days for you. Yesterday the blog was about how Greenpeace was attacking VW for its poor performance on fuel efficiency and for blocking climate progress in Europe. Let’s turn back to the US for a moment and hats off to Greenpeace US’ research director Kert Davies, who has been tracking…
Continue reading ‘Sceptic Gets $1 Million from Oil and Coal’.
VW’s Dark Side
Europe’s largest car maker, Volkswagen, is harbouring a “dark secret” according to Greenpeace. Despite its populist and consumer-friendly image, VW stands accused of greenwashing its dirty activities, trying to water down action on climate change and refusing to make popular models more fuel efficient. According to Greenpeace, the car maker has repeatedly claimed that it…
Continue reading ‘VW’s Dark Side’.
Houston “I think we have a big problem”
As I have often written about in the past, the oil industry is all about risk and reward. At some stage it has to lure large scale investors to bet large amounts of money that it has found large reserves of oil gas than can be readily exploited. It is an industry that is often…
Continue reading ‘Houston “I think we have a big problem”’.
Dave Versus the Dinosaurs
When British Prime Minister, David Cameron staked his reputation on leading “the greenest government ever” he knew that many people would hold him to account to make sure his words translated into action. People also knew that he had a problem: that vast swathes of the Conservative party are climate sceptic, no more so than…
Continue reading ‘Dave Versus the Dinosaurs’.
Always read the small print
Investors may have poured their cash into the rogue’s gallery that is the new venture by Tony Hayward and “Nat King Coal” Rothschild called Vallares. As I blogged yesterday, Vallares was over-subscribed raising just over $2 billion to buy assets in the oil and gas sector. Investors were said to be reassured by Hayward’s knowledge…
Continue reading ‘Always read the small print’.
Hayward and “Nat King Coal” Launch Oil Venture
This could be a toxic mix: take Deepwater-disaster man, Tony Hayward; the new coal baron, Nat Rothschild, and bankers Julian Mertherell and Tom Daniel, the former from discredited Goldman Sachs. Together you have someone who was ultimately responsible for America’s worst ever environmental disaster; someone who obviously does not care about climate change having invested…
Continue reading ‘Hayward and “Nat King Coal” Launch Oil Venture’.
Shell’s Pipeline At War With the People
On and off for twenty years I have written about the oil industry. I have worked with communities from Alaska to Africa who have been threatened by Big Oil. So often the stories are the same: an industry that is indifferent to local concerns and needs. It is an industry that bullies and effectively bribes…
Continue reading ‘Shell’s Pipeline At War With the People’.
Well, something’s going on…
From the southern states of the US to Northern Europe the words on many people’s lips is: Drought. In Texas the worst drought in more than a century is beginning to cripple the state. Ironically it is also threatening Texas’ fracking boom as there just isn’t enough water to go round. In Texas, it is…
Continue reading ‘Well, something’s going on…’.
UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call
Another day and another review has been ordered into the controversial technique called fracking. Last week, the Governor of Maryland established the “Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative”, which will review the safety of the drilling technique for natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Western Maryland. “We are also very concerned about an array of…
Continue reading ‘UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call’.
Keystone Could Add a “Billion-Tons” of CO2
As the row over the Keystone XL pipeline continues, the US is sending mixed messages over the dirty tar sands. Speaking to the Gas and Oil Expo and Conference, David Jacobson, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, waxed lyrical about Canada, describing it as the “safest and most secure foreign supplier” of oil the US. “The…
Continue reading ‘Keystone Could Add a “Billion-Tons” of CO2′.
Archive by Month
- May 2012 (12)
- April 2012 (14)
- March 2012 (16)
- February 2012 (17)
- January 2012 (25)
- December 2011 (12)
- November 2011 (31)
- October 2011 (24)
- September 2011 (15)
- August 2011 (12)
- July 2011 (12)
- June 2011 (15)
- May 2011 (18)
- April 2011 (15)
- March 2011 (15)
- February 2011 (18)
- January 2011 (23)
- December 2010 (16)
- November 2010 (23)
- October 2010 (28)
- September 2010 (16)
- August 2010 (19)
- July 2010 (22)
- June 2010 (21)
- May 2010 (24)
- April 2010 (17)
- March 2010 (20)
- February 2010 (20)
- January 2010 (18)
- December 2009 (15)
- November 2009 (20)
- October 2009 (22)
- September 2009 (20)
- August 2009 (20)
- July 2009 (13)
- June 2009 (17)
- May 2009 (13)
- April 2009 (19)
- March 2009 (21)
- February 2009 (18)
- January 2009 (20)
- December 2008 (13)
- November 2008 (20)
- October 2008 (19)
- September 2008 (23)
- August 2008 (18)
- July 2008 (18)
- June 2008 (41)
- May 2008 (55)
- April 2008 (64)
- March 2008 (60)
- February 2008 (65)
- January 2008 (66)
- December 2007 (47)
- November 2007 (52)
- October 2007 (63)
- September 2007 (59)
- August 2007 (54)
- July 2007 (63)
- June 2007 (76)
- May 2007 (73)
- April 2007 (49)
- March 2007 (79)
- February 2007 (60)
- January 2007 (72)
- December 2006 (51)
- November 2006 (46)
- October 2006 (43)
- September 2006 (49)
- August 2006 (38)
- July 2006 (40)
- June 2006 (43)
- May 2006 (44)
- April 2006 (49)
- March 2006 (47)
- February 2006 (18)
- January 2006 (24)
Archive by Category
- "The Price of Oil" Blog (2432)
- Afghanistan (1)
- African oil (12)
- Amazon (3)
- API (6)
- Arctic Oil and Gas (19)
- Big Oil Profits (9)
- BP (105)
- Brazil (4)
- British politics (2)
- Canada (113)
- Car Industry (1)
- Carbon Emissions (9)
- Carbon Intensity (5)
- carbon trading (1)
- chemicals (2)
- Chevron (7)
- China (72)
- Clean Energy (1)
- clean energy future (14)
- Climate Change (51)
- climate sceptics (85)
- Coal (39)
- Conflict (2)
- Corporate front groups (6)
- Corruption (4)
- Deepwater Horizon (95)
- energy access (3)
- Energy Activism (3)
- energy policy (97)
- Energy Security (21)
- EU (17)
- Exxon (4)
- Featured (292)
- Fracking (29)
- Fuel Efficiency (1)
- Fuel Quality Directive (1)
- Gas (9)
- Gas Flaring (2)
- Gas Prices (7)
- greenwashing (49)
- Gulf of Mexico (108)
- health impacts (10)
- Human Rights Abuses (1)
- Impact on Wildlife (9)
- Indigenous rights (6)
- Iraq (168)
- Jobs (3)
- Keystone XL (44)
- Libya (4)
- Litigation (21)
- lobbying (36)
- Middle East (30)
- Nigeria (30)
- Northern Gateway (1)
- nuclear (19)
- Offshore Drilling (10)
- oil and gas subsidies (27)
- Oil in the Soil (1)
- oil industry outlook (97)
- Oil Price (6)
- OIl Price Speculation (1)
- Oil Reserves (2)
- oil spills (121)
- Oil supplies (5)
- OPEC (2)
- Peak Oil (2)
- Pipelines (19)
- Pollution (258)
- Protests (31)
- Public Relations (87)
- refining (29)
- Renewables (20)
- Research & Opinions (25)
- Resource Curse (1)
- Revolving Door (2)
- Rick Perry (1)
- Russia (4)
- Safety (63)
- Scientific Research (1)
- Separate Oil and State (86)
- Shale Gas (14)
- Shell (21)
- Solar (11)
- Storage (1)
- Subsidies (12)
- tar sands (134)
- Taxes (4)
- Ultra Deepwater (2)
- US politics (227)
- Violence (6)
- War (60)
- Wind (1)
- World Bank (12)