Last month, a ground-breaking study by Oil Change and other NGO’s calculated that Shell was the world’s most carbon intensive oil company, per barrel of oil equivalent to be produced. The main reason for this is its massive expansion into Canada’s climate intensive dirty oil sands. The report looked at the carbon intensity of the … Read More
tar sands
Shell Under Fire on all Sides
We will hear shortly when Shell will finally face charges of being complicit in human rights abuses in a New York court room, after the trial was delayed from last week. The pioneering court case is continuing to generate international news: it was the first item on the BBC’s flagship Today Programme, and has been … Read More
Shell: World’s Most Carbon Intensive Oil Company
Of all the oil majors, Shell prides itself on undertaking cutting edge energy forecasting, that not only inform the group’s thinking but also dove-tail into policy making by decision makers across the energy spectrum. It is one of the few companies to get out its crystal-ball and try and predict what the energy future will … Read More
Half-Way to Climate Catastrophe
Sometimes you wonder if anyone actually heeds the warnings any more. There have been so many of impending doom about climate catastrophe, that people seem oblivious to the warnings. Two scientific reports released today maybe the ones where people sit up and notice. One of the lead scientists thinks so. “This changes the way we … Read More
Shell’s Tar Sands Operations Make a Loss
Its been a bad year so far for the oil barons. The oil price has plummeted through the floor and so have their profits. Yesterday BP announced a drop of 62 per cent and today Shell announced a similar reduction of reduced profits of 58 per cent, the first time it has posted a quarterly … Read More
The Next Big Thing: Shale Gas
Most people across the spectrum of the energy industry – from its critics to its most ardent supporters – believe that the days of easy oil are really over. Apart from the abundant deposits in the Middle East, which are not under the control of the international oil majors, oil is becoming harder to find … Read More
The Anti-Renewable Revolution
Everywhere there are signs of political momentum on climate change. There is no doubt that an Obama White House has reinvigorated the debate on energy and climate and the international push for an agreement in Copenhagen this December. The Democrats are calling for a different energy path and even Gordon Brown is now talking green. … Read More
A Marriage Made for Mordor
As the oil price continues to delay development in the controversial and dirty oil sands, two Canadian oil companies have responded by consolidating their operations and merging. When Suncor Energy and Petro-Canada announced earlier this week that they were to merge to create Canada’s largest oil company, Suncor’s president and CEO Rick George said: “I … Read More
20 Years On …. A Lesson for Tar Sands
Yesterday was the 20th Anniversary of America’s worst oil spill, the Exxon Valdez. It may be twenty years but the scars of the disaster are still being felt today. Take a quick glance at Prince William Sound and you would be forgiven into thinking everything is alright. But you would be wrong. Scratch underneath the … Read More
Tar Sands Lobby Launches PR Offensive
Appearances, goes the saying, can be deceptive. One of the tactics the oil industry has used over the years is the use of “front-groups” to promote its cause. Often these names are deliberately designed to confuse people or hide their real intention. So the Global Climate Coalition was not a coalition of NGOs attempting to … Read More