What a difference a day makes. Last week, the FT’s “Energy Special” pull-out included an article on China’s potential for shale gas. The article quoted a recent report from the investment bank, Jefferies which said: “Unconventional gas is a dream come true for China’s energy policymakers,” but then the report added “China does not need … Read More
Gas
Shell’s Pipeline At War With the People
On and off for twenty years I have written about the oil industry. I have worked with communities from Alaska to Africa who have been threatened by Big Oil. So often the stories are the same: an industry that is indifferent to local concerns and needs. It is an industry that bullies and effectively bribes … Read More
UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call
Another day and another review has been ordered into the controversial technique called fracking. Last week, the Governor of Maryland established the “Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative”, which will review the safety of the drilling technique for natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Western Maryland. “We are also very concerned about an array of … Read More
Gas is No “Panacea” For Climate Change
As the old saying goes “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.” And if it smells like a fossil fuel and is produced by the fossil fuel industry, then it probably is a fossil fuel. So despite the best efforts by the oil … Read More
France to Say “Non” to Fracking
Just last week, a study by the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security concluded that unconventional gas resources in Europe – such as shale gas – could radically reshape the continent’s oil and gas outlook, and reduce its dependency on Russia and the Middle East. The report said that, in theory “Europe’s unconventional gas … Read More
Fracking Emissions “Worse than Coal”
Later today, several hundred New Yorkers, backed by at least 40 environmental organisations, are heading to attend a rally on Capitol lawn in Albany to protest against the dirty drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Among the speakers will be Josh Fox, director of the award-winning anti-gas industry documentary “Gasland.” Opponents of fracking have … 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
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
“The risk of it being a mess is high”
Question: Can you build a $15 billion natural gas plant in a remote, rural, deeply impoverished and corrupt country and not expect any social or environmental problems. The answer is don’t be silly. So the news last December that Exxon Mobil and several other energy companies were planning the largest ever foreign-investment project in Papua … Read More
Gasland Ain’t So Green After All
Finally people are waking up to the concept that the fossil fuel industry’s supposedly wonder transition fuel – gas – may not be so green after all. It’s a subject I have covered on this blog before, notably questioning just how green shale gas is, but now the idea is getting some serious traction. Â