BP looks to Iraq and long-term to the Arctic

March 3, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

The headlines from BP’s Strategy presentation yesterday are all about how chief executive Tony Hayward  promised to boost annual profits by $3bn over the next two or three years. In a frank admission, Hayward said that BP’s financial importance over the last few years had not been acceptable and had “some catching up to do.”

Oil “Dominating” Iraqi Election Campaign

March 2, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

So seven years later it will come down to this weekend.  Whether President Obama can withdraw all American combat troops from Iraq by August will be decided by the Iraqi elections this weekend. If the election passes off peacefully, American soldiers will probably go home on schedule. But if there is a repeat of the … Read More

Police Use Anti-Terror Laws Against Climate Activists

October 16, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post

Tomorrow is the “Great Climate Swoop” where hundreds of climate activists will demonstrate against E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottingham. It is a protest aimed at raising the issue of climate change in the run up to the Copenhagen Summit in December. But the planned protest has caused  a strong backlash from the Police. Already there are … Read More

Iraq Offers 2nd Round of Oil Bids

August 25, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

So the great Iraqi oil sell-off continues. The embattled Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani will today unveil the next round of oil contracts at a conference in Istanbul. Al-Shahristani is under pressure to pull in investment after the Iraqi government’s first round only secured one deal for the vast Rumaila field: BP and China National … Read More

Iraq Trade Union Threatens BP Deal

July 17, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post

After its offer was accepted last month to develop Iraq’s vast Rumaila oil field, BP may have thought it had won the biggest prize in the country’s oil race. But it may not be over yet and BP now faces industrial action. The trade union representing workers of Iraq’s state-owned Southern Oil Company (SOC) yesterday … Read More

Kurds Stake Claim to their Oil Reserves

July 10, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

This was not meant to happen. In the post-invasion planning of Iraq it was meant to be the American and British oil companies that enjoyed the spoils of war and access to the country’s lucrative oil reserves. But the Kurds keep putting a proverbial spanner in the works. Iraq’s Kurdish leaders adopted a new constitution … Read More