British MPs to Examine Arctic Drilling Risks

January 10, 2012By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured

So the Arctic oil rush gathers apace. The Norwegian oil firm Statoil has made a second big oil discovery in the Barents Sea in less than a year. Statoil confirmed that the new oil find, called Havis, might contain some 200 to 300 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. If you add these to the … Read More

Shell to Increase North American Output by 40 Percent

September 29, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

BP might be America’s bette noir right now after the Deepwater Horizon spill, but its fierce rival Shell is planning a massive expansion in the region. Shell plans to expand its operations in tar sands and in deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico. So never mind the repeated calls by environmental groups, communities and investors … Read More

Russia Leads Arctic Oil Race

September 23, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

Three years after Russian divers thrust a rust-proof flag into the seabed below the North Pole, the country’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, will attend the Arctic Forum in Moscow today. Putin wants to stake Russia’s claim in the increasingly frantic battle for control of the Arctic’s resources. Ironically the more the ice melts through climate … Read More

It’s as if Deepwater Never Happened..

August 25, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

When the Deepwater disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico four months ago, many commentators argued that this was a “game changer” that would change the energy debate forever. Politicians and the public would realise that the ecological and social cost of offshore drilling was becoming unacceptable, the thinking went. If you morph the lessons … Read More

IEA Says BP Spill is a “Game Changer”

June 11, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

The last 24 hours of news reporting of BP’s oil spill in the UK has shifted from the devastation being wrought on the Gulf of Mexico into one where politicians and businessmen are lambasting President Obama for his “anti-British” rhetoric. A British backlash has begun. True this morning the BBC leads with the news that … Read More

US Military Warns Of “Severe Energy Crunch”

April 12, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

The United States Joint Forces Command goes by the slogan “Ready for today. Preparing for tomorrow”. But the military planners are certainly getting worried about tomorrow. They argue that “Fossil fuels will very likely remain the predominant energy source going forward,” but then warn that “a severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion … Read More

Is that what you call romance?

January 6, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

The oil industry is built on a series of myths. It has always prided itself on an image that against the odds it has always prevailed – its teams of geologists and explorers have crossed the globe looking for deposits of oil. Whether it be in the jungles of South America, the harsh deserts of … Read More