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Posts in Offshore Drilling

The $13 Billion Bill for Elgin Gas Spill
Andy Rowell
Apr11
Oil companies operating in the North Sea could face an estimated $13 billion (Euros 10 billion) bill in light of the Elgin gas spill which could also seriously affect their credit ratings, according to rating agency Fitch. Total’s Elgin platform in the North Sea has been leaking gas since last month with some estimates that…
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Gas Leak was “Impossible” Workers Told
Andy Rowell
Apr02
First the good news. Over the weekend the French oil giant Total confirmed that the flare that had been burning on its abandoned Elgin rig in the North Sea had “extinguished itself.” The flare was causing real concern in case it ignited the escaping gas. With the flare out, Total has said it could begin…
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“No Idea How to Fix” North Sea Gas Leak
Andy Rowell
Mar27
If you read any literature from the oil and gas industry it always argues that it is one of the best regulated industries in terms of safety and preparedness. This is an industry that understands the dangerous risks of drilling, prepares for it and mitigates to make sure accidents do not happen. If an accident…
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Africa’s New Scramble for Gas
Andy Rowell
Mar13
Some twenty five years ago when Amoco were exploring for oil offshore Somalia, the company was convinced that the waters of East Africa contained vast reserves of oil and gas. But its exploration was unsuccessful, Somalia was ripped apart by civil war and the waters of East Africa, once the tranquil domain of dhows and…
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Falklands: “Conflict is Over Oil”
Andy Rowell
Feb13
Are we slowly edging towards another war over oil? Thirty years after Britain and Argentina last went to war over the Falklands, the diplomatic stakes are rising rapidly. This could just be a great game of diplomatic brinkmanship where neither side really wants a repeat of the conflict from decades ago. However this time at…
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Arctic “should remain off-limits to drilling”
Andy Rowell
Feb06
For a long time now many environmental organisations and front-line communities have warned about the dangers of drilling in the Arctic. Even before the Exxon Valdez scarred Alaska in 1989 people warned that drilling in the high north can have terrible consequences. And there was one major lesson from the Exxon Valdez: oil is much…
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Chevron Faces Possible Brazil Drilling Ban
Andy Rowell
Nov22
Eighteen months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, we have another country threatening to ban an oil company after a deep water spill. Yesterday it was Brazil’s turn to say it might ban Chevron from drilling in its deep water oilfields as punishment for the 3,000 barrel oil spill from the company’s Frade project. Chevron has…
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Oil Spill off Rio Sets Chevron at the Center of Scandal
Traci Romine
Nov17
Chevron is at the center of a scandal over the oil spill in the offshore Campos Basin Frade field about 230 miles from the coast of northeast Rio de Janeiro. Originally the company said that the spill was natural seepage from the field. Well, no, it appears it was not. The scandal began to unravel on…
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BP: Reprieved from Death Row
Andy Rowell
Oct17
It’s been a good few days for BP. The company’s share price surged 5.1 per cent this morning after it was announced that Anadarko Petroleum will pay $4 billion to settle all claims for last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The US-based Anadarko Petroleum was a part-leaseholder of ill-fated Macondo well. As part of…
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Rick Perry’s predictable energy plan
Lorne Stockman
Oct14
I wasn’t bowled over with surprise to hear news of Rick Perry’s energy plan today. I could have written it myself. The plan is a fossil fuel industry wish list. Open everything up and dismantle any regulation that might get in the way of digging, drilling, fracking and burning. It’s not really news. It wasn’t…
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