More trouble in the Niger Delta. The Grand Alliance of Niger Delta, made up of militant groups, have threatened oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta with reprisal attacks, should their ultimatum to employ Niger Delta youth expire without any positive action. At a conference in Port Harcourt yesterday, the group referred to a … Read More
violence
Iraq: Deputy Oil Minister Seized
More than 50 gunmen dressed in Iraqi security forces uniforms and using 17 official vehicles broke into an Oil Ministry compound in eastern Baghdad yesterday and abducted a senior deputy of the oil minister, and four other officials, a ministry spokesman and police said. Abdel-Jabar al-Wagaa, the senior assistant to Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, was … Read More
Mend Threatens Renewed Attacks
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has threatened renewed attacks on oil and gas installations at the end of August. It believes that there is a lack of genuine commitment on the part of government to address its concerns over allocating more resources from oil to the local communities in the … Read More
Ethiopia: Rebels Warn Oil Companies
Ethiopia’s Ogaden rebels warned oil companies interested in the volatile but energy-rich region not to be lulled into a “false sense of security” by the government, saying their forces were well armed. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) carried out a deadly attack on a Chinese-run oilfield in the area bordering Somalia in April in … Read More
Ugandan Oil Project Continues Despite Shooting
The two oil companies working in Uganda, Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil, have vowed to continue with their operations despite the killing of their British contractor on Friday. “There is no suggestion of abandoning the project,” Brian Smith, Heritage’s vice-president of exploration. “We are grieving the death of our colleague, trying to come to terms … Read More
Iraq’s Exports to US Fall
Iraq’s crude oil shipments to the United States have fallen to the second lowest monthly level in almost four years, the U.S. Energy Department has confirmed. Iraq exported 341,000 barrels of crude oil a day that month to the U.S. market in May, down 39 percent from the month before. The Energy Department said it … Read More
A Hummer And a Divided Nation
Interesting story in today’s Independent about events in Brandywine Street, a suburb of Washington DC, which the paper argues is “now on the frontline of America’s fractious debate about climate change.” It reports: “Early on Monday morning, two masked men arrived there wielding baseball bats and a machete. They then set about attacking the enormous … Read More
Blasts Hit Kirkuk Again
A string of bomb attacks in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk have killed at least 85 people and wounded more than 180. A suicide bomber detonated a lorry near the offices of a Kurdish political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), causing most of the casualties.
Mexican Oil And Gas Pipelines Attacked
A Mexican guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings of oil and gas pipelines operated by Pemex, the country’s national oil company. Explosions sent flames nearly 1,000 feet into the air outside the city of Corregidora, in the central state of Queretaro, where several pipelines were severed, including a 36-inch pipe that … Read More
Insurgents Target Iraq Oil Hub of Kirkuk
Something of a Middle East / Iraq feel to the blog today. First the ongoing violence. Insurgents have launched three attacks in and around the disputed oil hub of Kirkuk in northern Iraq today, killing two people and wounding several others, according to news reports. In one attack, militants detonated a roadside bomb near an … Read More