You are going to start having to be a skilled mathematician and serious spinwatcher to wade through the political commitments being made before Copenhagen. Take China’s announcement –which is being hailed as significant as it is the country’s first ever carbon reduction commitment. The country’s Cabinet has pledged to reduce CO2 per unit of gross … Read More
China
Shell to Fight Chinese in Nigeria
Shell is facing the humiliation of having to reduce its workforce by 5000 as part of a radical cost-cutting drive due to the falling oil price. As the oil giant’s profits had plummeted an amazing 73 per cent, Peter Voser, the chief executive, said “the outlook remains very uncertain, and we are not expecting a … Read More
De-dollarisation of Oil Market by 2018
Sometimes a story grows legs, other times it hits the dust. But yesterday’s front page story in the Independent about negotiations to end oil trading in dollars seems to have hit a raw nerve and sent shock-waves through the currency markets. In response to the story, gold is now trading at record levels and the … Read More
Oil Traders to Ditch the Dollar…
The dollar is sliding on the currency markets this morning after reports by the Independent newspaper that Arab states are in secret talks with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading. The move – if it happens – would be the most profound financial change in recent Middle East … Read More
Nigeria: MEND Dismiss Chinese Oil Bidders as “Locusts”
Yesterday, the Financial Times rocked the oil world with a story about how the Chinese state-owned oil company, CNOC, was in talks with the Nigerian Government to buy large stakes in some of the country’s key oil blocks. The story was so compelling, because if it is accurate, it puts the Chinese in direct competition … Read More
Obama: Global Leader or World Leader Pretend?
Many American Presidents find their terms in office defined by one event: if we think of Nixon it was Watergate, Clinton it was the Monica Lewinsky affair and George Bush it was the war in Iraq. Whilst many Americans may think that Obama’s Presidency will be defined on whether he succeeds in reforming health care … Read More
Obama Attacked Over “Ambition Gap” on Climate
There is a first time for everything. Tomorrow the world’s attention will be on the Chinese President Hu Jintao when he becomes the first top Chinese leader to address a United Nations conference on climate change. Whilst many will see this as a positive step, there is no indication that Hu will announce any change … Read More
Iraq: “We have the right to ask for our rights”
When the final chapter of the dying days of the hydrocarbon age is written, the petro-politics of one nation will probably have more bearing on the outcome than any other. Whether you are reading about Africa, Canada or the Middle East – the country of concern will be China. (Also see Friday’s blog about the … Read More
Chinese in $2 Billion Tar Sands Deal
To paraphrase the great writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain: “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!” And so it is with the tar sands, one of the hottest debates in the energy industry. Its growing army of critics argue this highly polluting technology will help tip the world towards climatic … Read More
Clinton’s African Scramble
First it was President Obama who delighted his audience when he undertook a whistle-stop tour. Now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is embarking on a seven-country tour of Africa. Why is she going? It couldn’t be so crude to be about crude could it? The answer is yes. The visit could be construed as the … Read More