In a chilling preview of what life may be like if Rick Perry were to become president, a commission appointed by the Texan Governor is proposing handing Valero and other Texan refiners a tax refund worth $135 million. That would be bad enough but where will they find the money in these hard times? Around … Read More
Twenty years ago, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was then largely unknown in the west either as an environmental activist or writer, started touring the capitals of Europe to drum up support for the Ogoni campaign against the oil giant Shell. Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni had many issues with Shell – the fact that they had received … Read More
In its “Energy Outlook” for last month, the global investment bank Goldman Sachs argued that “China remains the key growth driver” for worldwide oil demand. One of the key questions for the past decade for many in the oil-game has been where China, this vast emerging super-power, is getting access to its oil and will … Read More
Oil Change International released a report yesterday asserting that much of the oil to be delivered by the proposed Keystone XL pipeline will be refined into diesel and exported. We seem to have touched a raw nerve with some people as we have been accused of all sorts, from untruths to being unfamiliar with the … Read More
Numerous recent polls reveal that the American people believe that Congress is more responsive to their campaign donors than their own constituents. In addition, Americans of all affiliations clearly favor ending oil industry handouts. The question is, whose side is Fred Upton on: the American people’s or Big Oil’s? Rep. Upton is Big Oil’s biggest … Read More
One of the biggest problems for proponents of the tar sands (apart from frying the climate and polluting the local rivers and ripping up ancient boreal forests) is getting the dirty oil to hungry markets. The route south from Alberta to America and the refineries of the Gulf coast hinges on the controversial Keystone XL … Read More
Just as BP slowly begins to rebuild its tarnished reputation, it has slipped up again. Not in a catastrophic company-threatening way like it did last year but a much smaller spill, this time in Alaska. Although the amount spilt – some 2,100 to 4,200 gallons of fluid – is infinitesimal compared to the Deepwater Horizon, … Read More
Alberta’s minister of energy Ron Liepert was in New York this week and took the opportunity to threaten the State Department over the slow pace (as he sees it) of the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline is designed to carry up to 900,000 barrels per day of mostly tar sands derived … Read More
Private international oil companies have limited opportunities for growing their oil production. They have been forced to go to the extremes to pursue oil wherever they can get it.
Why Canadian oil does not make America secure Political turmoil in the Middle East once again exposes America’s dependence on oil and its vulnerability to global price spikes. On Capitol Hill, Big Oil’s political lackeys are stepping up their campaign for supply solutions and the current must-have item on their list is the Keystone XL … Read More
