In an historic victory, a small court in Lago Agrio, in Ecuador’s Amazon has ordered that Chevron pay some $8.6 billion in damages. The court ruled in favour of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon who have spent the last 18 years seeking damages for systematic and chronic oil pollution. Chevron inherited the suit when … Read More
Latin American oil
“Brazil is the future for the oil industry”..
Are investors put off by the risks of ultra deepwater drilling after the Deepwater Horizon disaster? If the frenzy down in Brazil is anything to go by – the answer is a staggering no. Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobras, has just raised a whopping $70bn in the biggest share issue in corporate history. And the … Read More
Ecuador accuses oil firms of “abusing” country
It is the latest twist in the on-going soap opera of Ecuadorian oil. You have the Indigenous Indians fighting in the courts in a multi-billion battle against Texaco’s lethal toxic legacy – a battle that has been going on for decades. But now the tiny Latin American country is threatening to follow its powerful neighbour, … Read More
The Bust Before the Boom
The corridors of power in Buenos Aires would have been chortling with laughter yesterday as the British oil boom in the Falklands looked like going bust, even before it began. Over the last month, as the oil-industry hype grew, the war of words between Argentina and Britain escalated, threatening to become a full blown diplomatic … Read More
Has BP Backed A $7 Billion Wrong Horse?
Just days after outlining its business strategy BP is offering a massive $7 billion in cash to buy Devon Energy’s deepwater assets. In a broad-ranging deal, BP will pay Devon Energy $7 billion for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the US deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Interestingly the deal also involves extraction of the oil sands. … Read More
“Whipping up the spectre of an oil war”
Tensions are rising rapidly over the imminent oil exploration around the Falklands. Yesterday Argentina accused Britain of “whipping up the spectre of war” after the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, insisted the Falkland Islands were being properly protected to allow oil and gas exploration. “We have made all the preparations necessary to make sure the … Read More
The $80 Billion Investment in Venezuela’s Heavy Oil
Whilst international attention has focussed recently on the ecological and climatic impact of the tar sands, another heavy oil boom is happening which is equally important. Just three years after a spate of nationalisations in the heavy oil belt of Orinoco, Venezuela has once again signed deals with foreign companies that require investments of up … Read More
$3 Billion to Keep Amazon Oil in the Soil
There has been a growing movement amongst communities from the South that are affected by oil exploitation to keep the “oil in the soil.” Campaigners from both Nigeria and Ecuador have long mooted the idea, and so have some governments. For the last two years Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has proposed that his government should … Read More
Bolivia Seizes Control of Gas Pipeline
The Bolivian government has taken full control of a key gas pipeline company after talks with the foreign firm that held a controlling stake broke down. It is the latest move in the Bolivian president’s recent effort to nationalise key industries. President Evo Morales said Transredes had been seized after US company Ashmore Energy International … Read More
Chavez’s Food for Oil Programme
Venezuela has announced plans to ship oil to Portugal in exchange for food products and other goods that have been running short in the South American country. Venezuela, Latin America’s largest oil producer, will send as many as 30,000 barrels of crude a day to Portugal by late 2008, President Hugo Chavez has said. He … Read More