The world is in a very big hole with climate change and when you’re in a hole the first order of business should be to stop digging. Unfortunately, the Administration’s Five Year Plan amounts to climate denial.
offshore drilling
Obama Bans Drilling in Bristol Bay
As if the plummeting oil price was not bad enough, there was more bad news for the oil industry yesterday after President Obama signed a Presidential memorandum to protect the vast Bristol Bay in Alaska from future oil and gas drilling.
Tories “Dismantle” EU Offshore Safety Rules
A group of British MEPs, led by Conservative Vicky Ford, have been secretly trying to “dismantle” the EU’s offshore oil and gas safety regulation
Gas Leak was “Impossible” Workers Told
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 … Read More
“No Idea How to Fix” North Sea Gas Leak
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 … Read More
Africa’s New Scramble for Gas
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 … Read More
Falklands: “Conflict is Over Oil”
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 … Read More
Arctic “should remain off-limits to drilling”
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 … Read More
Chevron Faces Possible Brazil Drilling Ban
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 … Read More
Oil Spill off Rio Sets Chevron at the Center of Scandal
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 … Read More