In its “Energy Outlook” for last month, the global investment bank Goldman Sachs argued that “China remains the key growth driver” for worldwide oil demand. One of the key questions for the past decade for many in the oil-game has been where China, this vast emerging super-power, is getting access to its oil and will … Read More
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Gov Report into Deepwater “Spreads Blame”
After numerous delays, and even the departure of a lead investigator, later today the US government is expected to release the report into last year’s Deepwater Horizon disaster that has been undertaken by the Coast Guard and the Agency responsible for regulating offshore drilling. According to the Wall Street Journal, the federal investigation into the … Read More
Cairn Suffers Another Greenland Setback
In the rush for the Arctic, Cairn Energy is currently the environmental villain of the moment. Despite the disastrous risks of a spill and a clearly inadequate spill response plan, the company is leading the way in drilling off Greenland. As I blogged last week, a spill in the region could be catastrophic, and Cairn … Read More
Comeback Kid Hayward Severs Final Link With BP
Finally after 29 years, Tony Hayward, the former chief executive of BP, will sever all his ties with the oil giant. Although he resigned from being Chief Executive last year in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Hayward has remained on board of its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. But it has announced that he … Read More
Lockerbie: It was Freedom for Oil
One of the greatest shocks for many over the last few days has been just how cosy the relationship was between the secret security services, CIA and M16 and the Gaddafi regime. Just days before the Americans and British backed the rebels in bombing Gaddafi, his senior officials were saying their intervention would not happen … Read More
Arctic Spill Would Be “Uncontrollable” Catastrophe
Following up last week’s news about the tie up between Exxon and Rosneft and the dangers of Arctic drilling, today’s Independent runs a disturbing warning from a distinguished polar scientist about the dangers of a spill in the region. For a long time now, the environmental organisation Greenpeace has been shouting from the roof-tops about … Read More
To the Victors go the Spoils
Was the western intervention in Libya primarily driven by oil? The answer depends on who you ask, but as usual, in the volatile mix of international politics, oil is never far from the surface. It certainly helps the case of those countries that are vying for a piece of the Libyan oil pie that they … Read More
Oil markets and pipelines: the big picture
Oil Change International released a report yesterday asserting that much of the oil to be delivered by the proposed Keystone XL pipeline will be refined into diesel and exported. We seem to have touched a raw nerve with some people as we have been accused of all sorts, from untruths to being unfamiliar with the … Read More
Could Keystone XL turn out to be the oil major’s Achilles Heel?
That the international oil majors face unprecedented challenges in growing their resource base is well known. Shut out of the richest pickings in OPEC countries and increasingly out performed by national oil companies, they have been forced to invest in the world’s most extreme oil resources. The tar sands is one such example. Ultra-deepwater and … Read More
Report: Exporting Energy Security: Keystone XL Exposed
Keystone XL will not lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but rather transport Canadian oil to American refineries for export to overseas markets.