Veco CEO Pleads Guilty to Bribery

May 8, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Some say that corruption always starts at home. The CEO of VECO, an oil field services company, has pleaded guilty in an American federal court to bribing Alaska lawmakers during negotiations over a proposed natural gas pipeline. Bill J. Allen, has entered his plea in US. District Court to numerous counts, including conspiracy and bribery. … Read More

Shell Settles Reserves Issue for $700m

April 12, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Oil giant Shell is expected to pay out more than $700m in fines and compensation to settle the reserves fiasco that has dogged the company for the last few years. The figure was revealed by Shell after it offered to settle damages claims of $352m with European investors and hoped to find a similar solution … Read More

What else has the government not told us about climate change?

March 30, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

A report released this week by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower protection organization based in Washington D.C., demonstrates the politicization of climate science. According to GAP, political policies and practices “have increasingly restricted the flow of scientific information emerging from publicly-funded climate change research. This has negatively affected the media’s ability to report … Read More

FBI Widens North Slope Oil Probe

March 23, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

The FBI is investigating whether Alaska political appointees improperly punished state regulators who tried to enforce environmental rules against oil companies operating in Alaska. The inquiry is connected to an ongoing criminal investigation of BP for allowing pipelines it operates to corrode enough to cause a large oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006. … Read More

Police Quiz Total CEO in Corruption Probe

March 21, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

The head of France’s biggest listed company, oil group Total SA , is being questioned by police in a probe into alleged corruption in Iran, reports Reuters. Christophe de Margerie, who only moved up to the chief executive’s post at Total last month, has been under investigation for several months by French judges probing corruption … Read More

South Korean Jailed in UN Oil-for-Food Scandal

February 23, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

The South Korean businessman Tongsun Park, has been sentenced to five years in prison for accepting at least $2 million to work on Iraq’s behalf to influence the UN oil-for-food program. Park was sentenced by US District Judge Denny Chin for his conviction seven months ago on conspiracy charges. A jury had rejected his claims … Read More

Angola: Anti-Corruption Oil Campaigner Arrested

February 20, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Anti-corruption group Global Witness is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of their African oil campaigner Dr Sarah Wykes, who has been arrested by armed Angolan police in Cabinda, whilst visiting the oil rich enclave to meet with local civil society representatives. According to Global Witness, she was arrested and taken from her hotel to … Read More

Justice Official’s Home With Oil Lobbyist

February 16, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Interesting piece from yesterday’s Washington Post that revealed that a ”senior Justice Department official who recently resigned her post bought a nearly $1 million vacation home with a lobbyist for ConocoPhillips months before approving consent decrees that would give the oil company more time to pay millions of dollars in fines and meet pollution-cleanup rules … Read More

“Curse of Oil” Fuels Corruption in Nigeria

January 31, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

A leading candidate in Nigeria’s upcoming presidential elections has attacked the country’s foreign-dominated oil industry for fuelling corruption. “Corruption has been worse with oil because oil has brought more money,” said the former Nigerian military strongman General Muhammadu Buhari, who is running a presidential campaign based on an anti-corruption platform.