When ex-BP boss, Tony Hayward said last year that “This was not our accident … This was not our drilling rig. This was not our equipment. It was not our people, our systems or our processes,” you know that history would prove him to be wrong. This was BP’s accident. Today, the Official Report into … Read More
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Oil Industry Targets New Congress
It may be a new year, but its an old message. Anyone travelling to the Capital South station on the Washington Metro could hardly fail to notice the latest advertising blitz by the oil industry’s attack dogs the American Petroleum Institute (API). The ad campaign is called “I’m One” and includes images of “real people” … Read More
Now Fracking Starts In Britain
Despite the ongoing serious concerns about pollution from hydraulic fracturing or fracking in the US, the technology is set to be used in the UK too. Such is the concern in the US that the state of New York has issued a moratorium on the practice. The US Environmental Protection Agency is also currently undertaking … Read More
The “Great Oil Thief”
The brutal reality of the resource curse in Africa is once again laid bare. The latest revelations from Wikileaks is that the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has siphoned $9bn in oil money and deposited it in foreign accounts, many of which are in London. Whilst the rest of the country languishes in brutal poverty, the … Read More
Another $20 Billion Bill for BP
Shares in BP are falling this morning – 3 per cent in early trading so far – on the news that it could face penalties of $21 billion-plus if found fully liable for damages in a US federal lawsuit regarding the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. But BP is not alone. The US Department of Justice … Read More
Deepwater’s Forgotten Villain
When you think of the Deepwater disaster earlier this year, of course the main company responsible for the spill that springs to mind is BP, the operator of the rig. The next villain in the story is Transocean, the owner of the rig. One name that does not automatically jump out is Anadarko, the minority … Read More
USA Becomes A Fractured Nation
On Saturday the outgoing Democratic governor of New York State, David Paterson ordered a seven-month moratorium on some natural gas drilling in the state. He issued an executive order prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing of horizontally drilled wells. The order stands until July 1. Hydraulic fracturing which is also known as fracking, involves blasting millions of … Read More
From Life-Support to Life-Line
So the car crash somehow didn’t happen. Somehow the groundhog talks managed to conjure up a deal in the last twenty four hours. A diplomatic rabbit was pulled by the Mexican hosts out of the hat. It is a deal of sorts, that keeps the show on the road, at least for now. “Confidence is … Read More
Zombies, Car-Crashes and Life-Support..
It’s the last day at the Goundhog talks in Cancun and its going to be a late-nighter, that’s for sure. But whether anything meaningful comes from the Summit remains to be seen. This year’s summit was all about just keeping the talks on the road, not about radical deals, but even that limited goal seems … Read More
Nigeria: “Shell has access to everything”
One of the main concerns of the Ogoni activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa was the collusion between Shell and the Nigerian Government. We already know that this collusion went from the top levels of the government to routine logistical and financial support for the military. Saro-Wiwa once said that one of their protests was “anti-Shell, … Read More