Hugo Chavez won a convincing re-election today, giving him another six years to solidify his self-styled socialist revolution and continue his anti-Bush campaign. There is no doubt that Chavez has used Venezuela‘s oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channeled oil profits toward multi-billion programmes for the poor, including subsidised food, free university education … Read More
Author: Andy Rowell
US Opposes EU’s Emission Trading Scheme
No surprises here really. Iraq is sliding into civil war, the dollar may be sliding towards a crisis, the Bush Administration may be sliding towards the history books, but least it’s its belligerent and blinkered attitude towards climate change isn’t shifting an inch. The administration has announced that it opposes the EU’s emissions trading programme … Read More
Angola and Sudan to follow Ecuador to Opec
Angola and Sudan have followed Ecuador in saying they may join Opec, a move that would boost the power of the oil cartel, add impetus to resource nationalism and put international oil companies on their guard. Angola, Sudan and Ecuador would boost Opec output by 2-million barrels a day, or 6%, and bring 10,5-billion barrels … Read More
UK Motorists “Must Pay For Road Use”
A report commissioned by the UK government and written by former British Airways chief Sir Rod Eddington, has concluded that motorists should be asked to pay to drive on the nation’s road network. Eddington examined the possibilities for road pricing, road building, rail and airport investment, as well as the planning system for the UK.
Questioning the Judges’ Judgement
OK – I’m not a lawyer and who am I to question the judgement of the top judges in the US, especially not the Supreme Court. Having said that I certainly feel that they must be living in a bubble. Maybe they don’t live in the real world. Where have they been these last few … Read More
Saudis Aiming For A “Fair and Stable” Oil Price
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said today Opec was striving for a “fair and stable” oil price, of around US$60 for US crude. Wary of supposed high fuel stockpiles in the world’s biggest fuel consumer the United States, some Opec ministers have raised the possibility of cutting output again in December, deepening a 1.2 million … Read More
Bush’s Day in Court Over Climate
It’s an old political cliché that we could be witnessing history in the making, but today in the Supreme Court in Washington that might just happen. We might just be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Bush Administration’s flawed and belligerent approach to climate change.
Shell to Inspect Damaged Nigerian Oil Facilities
After a three-way meeting at the weekend with Nigerian government officials and local groups, Shell will start inspecting its facilities in the Western Niger Delta with a view to resuming 500,000 barrels per day of oil output. At the talks they agreed to start joint inspections of the Forcados and EA oilfields shut-down by a … Read More
The Climate Change Time-Bomb
Global Warming is creating a climate time bomb by storing enormous amounts of heat in the waters of the north Atlantic, UK scientists have discovered. Marine researchers at Southampton and Plymouth universities have found that the upper 1,500 metres of the ocean from western Europe to the eastern US have warmed by 0.015C in seven … Read More
Exxon’s Corruption of the Classroom
Laurie David, a producer of Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, has written a great article buried deep on the Washington Post website about the influence of Big Oil in American schools. Writes David: “At hundreds of screenings this year of An Inconvenient Truth, the first thing many viewers said after the lights came up … Read More