More than sixty NGOs from 16 countries across Europe launched a campaign today urging European governments to demand an end to World Bank spending on oil and other fossil fuels. The campaign also calls for an end to damaging World Bank economic conditionality and includes, among many others, ActionAid International, Christian Aid, the Jubilee Debt … Read More
Blog Post
The Big Green Fuel Lie
Now the Independent newspaper has launched into biofuels with a front page lead in today’s paper. The biofuel bonanza is set to reach a landmark this week the US President, George Bush, arrives in Brazil to kick-start the creation of an international market for ethanol that could one day rival oil as a global commodity. … Read More
US Carbon Emissions to Rise by 20%
The first rule of how to manage bad news is to bury it. The Bush Administration has delayed a report for over a year that admits that emissions of greenhouse gases by the United States will rise by 2020 to 20% above 2000 levels Flying in the face of warnings from scientists that drastic action … Read More
Shell Safety Record Questioned in North Sea
Oil giant Shell has been repeatedly warned by the UK authorities about the poor state of its North Sea platforms. The company’s dismal record undermines Shell’s public commitment to improve its performance after a fatal explosion on the Brent field in the North Sea in 2003 and raises further concerns about Britain’s ageing oil and … Read More
Are the Peak Oil Pundits Wrong?
Interesting article in today’s New York Times about the industry’s latest techniques to get more oil out of the ground and how this might mean that the peak oil pundits are wrong, as more and more oil is being recovered from existing fields. “Within the last decade, technology advances have made it possible to unlock … Read More
Exxon’s $40 Billion Profit Largest in History
Exxon Mobil’s 2006 profit rose to a record US$39.5- billion – the highest ever recorded by a corporation. It has also led to renewed calls over US policies that favour Big Oil. The figure is up 9% from a year earlier. “T-Rex Tillerson”, Exxon Mobil’s CEO said the 2006 results were “driven by strong results … Read More
New UN Chief Warns About Climate
In his first address on the issue, Mr Ban said environmental changes because of climate change were likely to become a major driver of future war and conflicts. He urged the US – the world’s biggest emitted of CO2 – to take the lead in fighting global warming. Mr Ban said he would focus on … Read More
Shell’s Wood And Straw Biofuel
Shell plans to launch a new fuel made from wood chips and straw later this year from a pilot plant developed by Shell and Choren Industries, the German biofuel company. The synthetic diesel, made using a novel biomass-to-liquids (BTL) process, will shift the biodiesel industry into a higher gear by using waste plant material instead … Read More
Iraq Oil Law Runs into Opposition
Whose Oil Is It, Anyway? – New York Times Op-Ed by Oil Change’s Antonia Juhasz TAKE ACTION to stop US support of the Iraqi Oil Law For background on the Iraqi Oil Law, please click here. Barely days have passed since Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the country’s new oil law as a “solid … Read More
Nigeria Hopeful Violence Will End
Despite growing unrest and violence in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region, and daily kidnappings Nigeria’s Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru has said that “there is reason to believe the worst is over” for Africa’s Number one producer. “It is a very, very temporary thing”. To some, Daukoru’s assertions seem based on blind faith or simply blindness to … Read More