BP’s troubles continue. A US government lending agency has been told by its own internal accountability watchdog that it must monitor more closely the safety of BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, amid allegations that the company failed to report cracks and leaks in its coating. A report from the office of accountability at the Overseas Private Investment … Read More
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IEA: Demand for Oil Increases
As if taking a cue from T-Rex Tillerson that demand for oil will keep rising, the International Energy Agency has raised its outlook for world oil demand for the first time over a year, citing upward revisions to the estimated appetite of the still-booming Chinese economy. The IEA raised its 2007 demand forecast by 273,000 … Read More
“T-Rex” Says Sensible Strategies Needed on Climate
One person not rushing to promote any climate deal is Exxon’s CEO, “T-Rex” Tillerson, who did though admit yesterday that the planet’s temperature and levels of greenhouse gases are rising. But he also said demand for fossil fuels will keep rising, so policymakers need to “implement sensible strategies” that address climate risks without impeding the … Read More
Momentum Gathers on Climate Deal
Leading US politicians are meeting with legislators from the EU, China, Japan and India to seek a breakthrough in the international climate deadlock, that would be seen as a “post-Kyoto” deal. The meeting is being organised by British-run parliamentarians’ group Globe, and is said to be strongly supported by the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Oil Giant “Knew Tanker Was a Risk”
The French oil company Total and 14 other defendants were accused yesterday of criminal responsibility for one of Europe’s most calamitous oil spills, the wreck of the Erika. Total is accused of agreeing to use the ship even though it failed to satisfy its own safety rules. The four-month trial – the most complex of … Read More
Russia: BP Has to Meet ‘Impossible’ Target or Sell up
More trouble for BP. Its Russian joint venture has been given three months to increase production at one of the world’s largest gas fields “by a technically impossible amount” or face losing the field altogether.
North Sea Output Declines Faster Than Predicted
Oil and gas production in the North Sea is now expected to be about 10 per cent lower over the next few years than previously thought, according to the annual survey from the UK Offshore Operators’ Association. The main reason is described as “poor reservoir performance”: in other words, wells not yielding as much oil … Read More
Big Oil Tackles Energy Questions
Some of big oil’s top executives will gather in Houston this week to discuss dwindling oil supplies, pollution concerns and finding new and more effective ways to produce oil and gas — as well as alternatives to fossil fuels. At the Cambridge Energy Research Associates annual weeklong conference that begins today, dozens of the industry’s … Read More
Browne Ordered to Court
Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP, faces the humiliation of a courtroom questioning over the deaths of 15 workers and hundreds of injuries caused by the Texas City refinery explosion. The UK oil group has fought to keep its chief executive out of the case, but a Houston appeals court ruled late on Friday … Read More
Climate Will be Blair’s Final Act
We have blogged this story before, but it has fresh legs. UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair will hold a mini-summit with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin tomorrow amid signs that he really wants to crown his 10-year premiership with an international breakthrough on climate change in June.