The advert in the weekend edition of the Financial Times is heart-warming… from Shell?
Public Relations
“We’re facing a very strong, almost revolutionary movement”
Patrick Daniel knows he is in trouble. The CEO of Enbridge, the company that wants to build the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to British Colombia to export the dirty tar sands, admits that his opponents have “seized control of the debate”. And he is left playing catch up, trying belatedly to spin a … Read More
Shell’s History of “Corporate Malfeasance”
Poor old Shell. Last week it was humiliated in a spoof action by Greenpeace and the Yes Men. This week its corporate reputation takes a battering in a report by the Alaska Wilderness League. The 51 page report, published as Shell gears up to start drilling in the Arctic, makes devastating reading. It concludes that … Read More
Shell Spoof Goes Global
Maybe in retrospect Shell should not have injuncted Greenpeace for disrupting its drilling rigs heading for the Arctic. For all it has done has made its opponents more creative in the way they will campaign against the oil giant. Late last week, there was widespread confusion across the American media, the internet, including Facebook and … Read More
Shell’s $4 Billion Arctic Lobby Campaign
In July, barring any last minute legal challenges, oil giant Shell looks set to cross the rubicon and start drilling offshore in the Arctic. Many environmentalists and indigenous communities have long fought and feared this day. Many of the veterans of the Exxon Valdez have long argued that the lessons of that disaster have still … Read More
Beware the Oil Industry’s Voldemort
And so it goes on. Any regular reader of this blog will know that the good old boys at the American Petroleum Institute (API) often pluck magic figures out of the air to over-inflate the importance of the oil and gas industry to the economy. They also often distort key debates on offshore drilling and … Read More
Canada’s Top Level Collusion Over the Tar Sands
Anyone who has been following the extensive international lobbying activities of the Canadians trying to bully tar sands onto the market, will know there has been routine high level cooperation between the Federal and Albertan governments and the oil industry. But now new documents, released under Freedom of Information, reveal that the Federal and Alberta … Read More
Tar Sands Monitoring is “To Boost Reputation”
Late last week the Albertan and Canadian federal governments announced a new monitoring programme for the controversial tar sands. The Canadian press are reporting this as the two governments listening to their critics and restoring badly needed credibility. The Ottawa Citizen reports this morning that it “is a positive step toward restoring Canadian credibility on … Read More
Pssst! Don’t tell anyone…Big Oil Makes Money!
Pssst. I’ve got a secret. The oil industry is in it for the money. I know how shocking this must be for many of you. But it’s true. Literally. The duty of Big Oil’s executives to their shareholders is to maximize their profits. There’s nothing wrong with that, in theory.  They are in fact, quite … Read More
UK Arts Institutions Renew BP Sponsorship
There was widespread anger and dismay today from anti-oil campaigners after it was revealed that four of the Britain’s biggest cultural organisations – the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Opera House and Tate – were going to renew their sponsorship deals with BP worth ÂŁ10m over five years. All four institutions have … Read More