Exxon Beats BP to Arctic Prize

August 31, 2011By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured 1 Comment

It will not just be Bob Dudley from BP who will be aghast at the news that Exxon and Rosneft have signed a historical deal to develop Arctic oil reserves, but many people from Alaska too. Just months after BP failed in a bid to form a strategic alliance with Rosneft, ExxonMobil has outsmarted its … Read More

And for Shell We Present an “Erratum”

May 18, 2011By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured 1 Comment

Sometimes the best protests are the most simple and symbolic. Yesterday, Shell’s shareholders and senior management at the company’s AGM in the Hague were presented with an “erratum” to the company’s recent Annual Report. The spoof report by Friends of the Earth looks like a real Shell report, until you start to read it. For … Read More

BP’s Credibility in Tatters Again

May 17, 2011By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured

BP’s long-term strategic direction and its credibility with City analysts is in tatters this morning after its bid for a strategic alliance with Rosneft, the Russian state oil champion, collapsed late last night. A year on from the Deepwater disaster, this was the deal that was meant to revitalise BP’s reputation. This was the deal … Read More

Its January, must be time for a Russian energy dispute

January 11, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

It’s that time of year again. It’s January, snow is on the ground (and no that doesn’t mean that climate change is not happening), it’s freezing outside and … Russia is having an energy dispute with its neighbours. Somethings never change. This time it is Belarus and the spat is about oil rather than gas, … Read More

De-dollarisation of Oil Market by 2018

October 7, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post

Sometimes a story grows legs, other times it hits the dust. But yesterday’s front page story in the Independent about negotiations to end oil trading in dollars seems to have hit a raw nerve and sent shock-waves through the currency markets. In response to the story, gold is now trading at record levels and the … Read More

Oil Traders to Ditch the Dollar…

October 6, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post 12 Comments

The dollar is sliding on the currency markets this morning after reports by the Independent newspaper that Arab states are in secret talks with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading. The move – if it happens – would be the most profound financial change in recent Middle East … Read More

The First of Peter’s Problems: Nigeria

June 25, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

When Peter Voser takes control at Shell next week from his predecessor Jeroen van der Veer, he will have a bursting in-tray that includes one persistent problem for Shell: Nigeria. Here the oil giant faces a myriad of problems including continuing community unrest, militant attacks and what to do about gas flaring.

Russia Warns of Oil Wars in the Arctic

May 14, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

A true addict does not know that it is addicted. It does not know when to seek help. It cannot tell when its actions move from the sublime to the ridiculous. It cannot tell it is time to wean itself off a lethal product before it self-destructs. Russia threatening war in the Arctic over oil … Read More

An Industry on Life-Support

April 7, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post

Who would be a car-maker these days? The days of excessive glamour, speed and size are over and numerous global giants are limping along on life-support. The Obama Administration may have forced GM’s chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, late last month, but there are still rumours that GM might have to file for bankrupty.