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NIGERIA: Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it
by John Vidal
The Guardian (UK)
May 30th, 2010
With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. More oil is spilled from the delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the current BP/Transocean oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
US: Nature Conservancy faces potential backlash from ties with BP
by Joe Stephens
Washington Post
May 24th, 2010
The Nature Conservancy faces a problem: a potential backlash as its supporters learn that BP and the world's largest environmental organization long ago forged a relationship that has lent BP an Earth-friendly image and helped fund the Conservancy. The crude emanating from BP's well threatens to befoul a number of alliances between energy conglomerates and environmental nonprofits.
US: Oil Hits Home, Spreading Arc of Frustration
by Campbell Robertson, Clifford Krauss and John M. Broder
New York Times
May 24th, 2010
More than a month has passed since the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up, spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico and frustrating all efforts to contain it. The disaster underscores the enduring laxity of federal regulation of offshore operations and has shown the government to be almost wholly at the mercy of BP and of Transocean, the company leasing the rig.
WORLD: Disaster Plans Lacking at Deep Rigs
by Ben Casselman and Guy Chazen
Wall Street Journal
May 17th, 2010
Dealing with a deep-sea spill is a a problem that spans the industry, whose major players include Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell and Petróleo Brasileiro SA. Without adequately planning for trouble, the oil business has focused on developing experimental equipment and techniques to drill in ever deeper waters, according to a Wall Street Journal examination.
US: U.S. Said to Allow Drilling Without Needed Permits
by Ian Urbina
New York Times
May 13th, 2010
The federal Minerals Management Service gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico without first getting required permits from another agency that assesses threats to endangered species and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf.
UK/CANADA: Tar sands crude is reaching British petrol stations, Greenpeace says
by Terry Macalister
The Guardian (UK)
May 9th, 2010
While City investors have begun to question the role of companies such as BP and Shell in the tar sands business, a new report by Greenpeace claims British motorists are unwitting users of diesel and petrol derived from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. The carbon-heavy production methods involved make tar sands extraction particularly damaging to the environment.
US: BP touts itself as 'green,' but faces PR disaster with 'BP oil spill'
by Paul Farhi
Washington Post
May 6th, 2010
Ever careful of its public image, BP has been careful not to invoke its name in regard to the massive ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "We refer to it as Gulf of Mexico response," said Andrew Gowers, the company's spokesman. The name of a disaster can be critical, both as a historic matter and the more immediate matters of image, public relations and legal liability.
US: FBI Probes Explosion in West Virginia Mine
by Kris Maher and Siobhan Hughes
Wall Street Journal
April 30th, 2010
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal probe of the deadly explosion at a Massey Energy Co. mine in West Virginia in early April that killed 29 miners, according to people familiar with the matter. In a statement on Friday Massey Energy said, "Massey has no knowledge of criminal wrongdoing."
US: BP Is Criticized Over Oil Spill, but U.S. Missed Chances to Act
by Campbell Robertson and Eric Lipton
New York Times
April 30th, 2010
The Obama administration began Friday to publicly chastise BP America for its handling of the spreading oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Officials initially seemed to underestimate the threat of a leak, just as BP did last year when it told the government such an event was highly unlikely.
US: Oil Spills Blow to BPs Image May Eclipse Costs
by Clifford Krauss
New York Times
April 29th, 2010
BP says that the offshore drilling accident that is spewing thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico could cost the company several hundred million dollars. Nobody really knows whether the oil giant is being too conservative about the cost for the April 20 accident, which some experts say could end up as the biggest oil spill in history.
BURMA: Pressure Mounts on Energy Giant Chevron to Disclose Revenue
by Marwaan Macan-Markar
Inter Press Service (IPS)
April 29th, 2010
When shareholders of the multinational company Chevron gather for their annual meeting in the U.S. city of Houston in late May, they will come face to face with Naing Htoo, whose community has suffered due to the exploits of the energy giant in military-ruled Burma.
AFRICA: E Guinea ejected from industry clean-up body
by Tom Burgis
Financial Times
April 16th, 2010
A pioneering initiative aimed at cleaning up the oil and mining industries has ejected Equatorial Guinea from its ranks. The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary coalition of companies, governments, donors and civil society groups, had been under pressure from activists on granting extensions to 17 states that had missed a deadline to have audits of their industries independently verified.
US: Deaths at West Virginia Mine Raise Issues About Safety
by Ian Urbina and Michael Cooper
New York Times
April 6th, 2010
Rescue workers began the precarious task Tuesday of removing explosive methane gas from the coal mine where at least 25 miners died the day before. The mine owners -- Massey Energy Company -- dismal safety record, along with several recent evacuations of the mine, left federal officials and miners suggesting that Mondays explosion might have been preventable.
CANADA/CHINA: Canada looks to China to exploit oil sands rejected by US
by Suzanne Goldenberg
The Guardian (UK)
February 14th, 2010
Canada, faced with growing political pressure over the extraction of oil from its highly polluting tar sands, has begun courting China and other Asian countries to exploit the resource. The move comes as US firms are turning away from tar sands because of its heavy carbon footprint and damage to the landscape.
US/IRAQ: U.S. Companies Join Race on Iraqi Oil Bonanza
by TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
New York Times
January 13th, 2010
American companies have been arriving in Iraq to pursue an expected multibillion-dollar bonanza of projects to revive the countrys petroleum industry. But there are questions about the Iraqi governments capacity to police the companies. These are for-profit concerns and they are trying to make as much money as they can, said Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch.
NIGERIA: Ex-militant leader heads SPDCs patrol team
by Chris Ejim
Nigerian Compass
January 8th, 2010
Authorities of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) have unveiled a new security strategy for securing oil pipelines and platforms within the Niger Delta region. Shell has appointed former MEND militant commander, Eris Paul, and his company, Eristex Pipeline Patrol, to secure oil facilities in the Southern Ijaw area of the Delta.
GHANA: Corruption probe into sale of Ghana oil block
by William Wallis, Martin Arnold and Brooke Masters
Financial Times
January 7th, 2010
US and Ghanaian authorities are investigating corruption allegations involving a Texas oil company and the local partner that helped it secure control of the Ghanaian oil block that yielded one of Africas biggest recent discoveries. The case risks complicating efforts by Texas company Kosmos to sell its stake in the Jubilee oil field to ExxonMobil in a deal valued at $4bn.
CHINA: Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined Destructively
by Keith Bradsher
New York Times
December 26th, 2009
Some of the greenest technologies of the age, from electric cars to efficient light bulbs to very large wind turbines, are made possible by an unusual group of elements called rare earths. Most of these come from China. In many places, the mining is abused, said Wang Caifeng, the top rare-earths industry regulator at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China.
US/ECUADOR: New nonprofit uses Web to pressure Chevron
by David A. Baker
San Francisco Chronicle
November 16th, 2009
Retired retail executive Richard Goldman was astonished when he heard about the $27 billion pollution lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador. SO he has created a nonprofit group, Ethos Alliance, that will use social-networking tools to spread word of the case and put pressure on Chevron.
UK: Friends of the Earth attacks carbon trading
by Ashley Seager
The Guardian (UK)
November 5th, 2009
The world's carbon trading markets growing complexity threatens another "sub-prime" style financial crisis that could again destabilise the global economy, campaigners warn. In a new report, Friends of the Earth says that to date "cap and trade" carbon markets have done little to reduce emissions but have been plagued by inefficiency and corruption.
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Sizing up palm oil
by David Grant
Christian Science Monitor
November 2nd, 2009
While it doesnt sound (and need not be) nefarious, activist groups worldwide like the Rainforest Action Network argue that the production of palm oil is currently harming rain forests in Southeast Asia, orangutans, and the environment.
FRANCE: France jails 'Angolagate' power players
by Pascale Juilliard
The Times Online (South Africa)
October 27th, 2009
A French court slapped jail terms Tuesday on the main players in a network that smuggled arms to war-torn Angola and included an ex-minister and the son of the late president Francois Mitterrand.
FRANCE: French nuclear plant reveals plutonium level discrepancies
by AFP/Reuters
Deutsche Welle
October 15th, 2009
The French government has demanded answers from a nuclear research facility after nearly triple the registered amount of plutonium was discovered there during its dismantling this summer.
UK: Kingsnorth power station plans shelved by E.ON
by Mark Tran
The Guardian (UK)
October 7th, 2009
E.ON, the German energy group, has effectively thrown in the towel on its plans to build a new coal-power station at Kingsnorth, UK, blaming the recession. Kingsnorth has been shrouded in controversy ever since inception, with protests over several years including a high-profile Climate Camp protest.
ECUADOR: Chevron Offers Evidence in Ecuador Bribery Case
by Reuters
New York Times
September 7th, 2009
On Monday Chevron said it gave Ecuadorean authorities evidence of a bribery scheme linked to a $27 billion environmental damages lawsuit against the oil company. Last week, the judge hearing the case, Juan Núñez, recused himself. The Amazon Defense Coalition said the recusal did not change the overwhelming evidence against Chevron.
US: Cash-rich SAIC hits the acquisition trail
by Sami Lais
Washington Technology
August 6th, 2009
Making a big splash in recent weeks, Science Applications International Corp. bought two companies, adding new capabilities in cybersecurity, energy and disaster recovery areas in which government spending is expected to grow.
FRANCE: In French Inquiry, a Glimpse at Corporate Spying
by DAVID JOLLY
New York Times
August 1st, 2009
A corporate espionage case unfolding in France involves some of the biggest French companies, including Électricité de France, the worlds largest operator of nuclear power plants, and Vivendi, the media and telecommunications conglomerate. The story has the elements of a corporate thriller: a cast of characters that includes former French spies and military men, an American cycling champion, Greenpeace activists and a dogged judge.
UK: Two men and a website mount vendetta against an oil giant
by Danny Fortson
Sunday Times (UK)
July 19th, 2009
In Colchester, Essex, John and Alfred Donovan are compiling perhaps the world's largest dossier on Royal Dutch Shell, at royaldutchshellplc.com. It's an awkward position for Shell, this month crowned by Fortune magazine as the worlds largest company, as trying to shut the website down would draw even more attention to it.
UK: Two men and a website mount vendetta against an oil giant
by Danny Fortson
The Sunday Times (UK)
July 19th, 2009
In Colchester, Essex, John and Alfred Donovan are compiling perhaps the world's largest dossier on Royal Dutch Shell, at royaldutchshellplc.com. It's an awkward position for Shell, this month crowned by Fortune magazine as the worlds largest company, as trying to shut the website down would draw even more attention to it.
UK: Fears for safety as nuclear watchdog hires staff from firms pitching to build reactors
by Tim Webb
The Guardian
June 26th, 2009
In another example of the revolving door between industry and government, the UK Nuclear Installations Inspectorate is recruiting more than a dozen project managers to speed up its review of new nuclear reactor designs even though those managers work for the companies hoping to build the reactors.
ECUADOR: Chevron's Amazon 'fake cleanup' trial
United Press International
June 25th, 2009
A report submitted this week to a court in Ecuador finding dangerous levels of contamination at oil wells Chevron says it cleaned up in the 1990s is expected to reinforce a fraud indictment against two Chevron lawyers in a $27.3 billion environmental lawsuit against the oil company.
IRAQ: Big Oil Ready for Big Gamble in Iraq
by Gina Chon
Wall Street Journal
June 24th, 2009
Next week, Iraqi officials will auction off oil contracts to foreign companies for the first time since Iraq nationalized its oil industry three decades ago. Some 120 companies expressed interest in bidding for the contracts, and thirty-five companies qualified. They include Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Italy's Eni SpA, Russia's Lukoil and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec.
US: NRC Cites Utility Shortfalls
by Rebecca Smith
Wall Street Journal
June 20th, 2009
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told six utility companies they have until year-end to explain plans to remedy shortfalls in nuclear decommissioning funds. The license holders receiving notice -- Exelon Corp., Entergy Corp., Constellation Energy Group Inc., FPL Group, First Energy and Tennessee Valley Authority -- include some of the industry's biggest names.
AFRICA: Battle to Halt Graft Scourge in Africa Ebbs
by Celia W. Dugger
New York Times
June 9th, 2009
The fight against corruption in Africa is faltering as public agencies investigating wrongdoing by powerful politicians have been undermined and officials leading the charge have been dismissed, subjected to death threats and driven into exile. The search is on for more effective ways to tackle corruption, including intensified legal efforts to prosecute multinational corporations that pay the bribes and reclaim loot that African political elites have stashed abroad.
NIGERIA: Shell to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Case
by Jad Mouawad
New York Times
June 8th, 2009
Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle a case accusing it of taking part in human rights abuses in the Niger Delta, a striking sum given it has denied any wrongdoing. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Shells most prominent critic at the time in Nigeria, was hanged in 1995 by that countrys military regime after protesting Shell's environmental practices in the oil-rich delta, especially in his native Ogoni region.
INDONESIA: Scramble for coal assets in Indonesia
by Sundeep Tucker and John Aglionby
Financial Times
June 7th, 2009
Some of the worlds largest energy groups are scrambling to acquire coal mining assets in Indonesia as family-run conglomerates consider divestments to raise cash. Peabody Energy, the US coal miner, and Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss miner, are believed to be among those interested. Industry analysts said Chinese, South Korean, Indian and Middle Eastern companies were also scouring Indonesia for assets.
GHANA: Energy groups lured by Ghanas Kosmos
by Carola Hoyos
Financial Times
June 4th, 2009
Big international energy groups and state-owned oil companies from China and India are circling Kosmos Energy for its Ghanaian oilfield assets, which have been valued at $3bn-$6bn by analysts. The sale could open an oil corridor off the west African coast, stretching as far north-west as Sierra Leone.
FINLAND: In Finland, Nuclear Renaissance Runs Into Trouble
by James Kanter
New York Times
May 28th, 2009
As the Obama administration tries to steer America toward cleaner sources of energy, it would do well to consider the cautionary tale of this new-generation nuclear reactor site. The massive power plant under construction on muddy terrain on this Finnish island was supposed to be the showpiece of a nuclear renaissance. But things have not gone as planned.
US: Chevron annual meeting heats up over Ecuador suit
by Jordan Robertson
Washington Post
May 27th, 2009
In a combative and sometimes colorful annual meeting, Chevron's CEO and chairman exchanged barbs with activists over pollution in the Amazon rain forest and the company's human rights record. The nation's second-largest oil company is awaiting a verdict from a judge in Ecuador that could come with a $27 billion price tag.
US: U.S. Cracks Down on Corporate Bribes
by DIONNE SEARCEY
Wall Street Journal
May 26th, 2009
The Justice Department is increasing its prosecutions of alleged acts of foreign bribery by U.S. corporations, forcing them to take costly steps to defend against scrutiny. The crackdown under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA -- a post-Watergate law largely dormant for decades -- now extends across five continents and penetrates entire industries.
US: Protesters await Chevron meeting
by David R. Baker
Houston Chronicle
May 26th, 2009
When Chevron Corp. shareholders gather Wednesday morning in the companys suburban San Ramon headquarters for their annual meeting, the protesters will be waiting. A coalition of environmental and human rights groups offered a preview Tuesday when they released their own alternate annual report for Chevron. Dubbed The True Cost of Chevron, it accuses the company of polluting the Amazon, Canada, Kazakhstan and Richmond, as well as collaborating with repressive regimes in Burma and Nigeria.
EUROPE: Greenpeace warns on Shell oil sands projects
by Carola Hoyos
Financial Times
May 18th, 2009
A study by Greenpeace and several other environmental groups has concluded that Royal Dutch Shell's carbon intensity will rise 85 per cent as it develops its oil and gas fields in the coming years. Campaigners warn Shells investors that this disadvantages the company vis a vis its peers as US and European policymakers move towards a broad cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions. Shells growing carbon intensity stems from its resource base, which is heavily made up of Canadian oil and Nigerian gas.
UK: Shell faces investor fury over pay, pollution and human rights
by Terry Macalister
The Guardian
May 17th, 2009
ECUADOR: In Ecuador, Resentment of an Oil Company Oozes
by SIMON ROMERO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
New York Times
May 14th, 2009
Texaco, the American oil company that Chevron acquired in 2001, once poured oil waste into pits used decades ago for drilling wells in Ecuador's northeastern jungle. Texacos roughnecks are long gone, but black gunk from the pits seeps to the topsoil here and in dozens of other spots. These days the only Chevron employees who visit the former oil fields do so escorted by bodyguards toting guns. They represent one side in a bitter fight that is developing into the worlds largest environmental lawsuit, with $27 billion in potential damages.
WORLD: When Chevron Hires Ex-Reporter to Investigate Pollution, Chevron Looks Good
by Brian Stelter
New York Times
May 10th, 2009
When Chevron learned that 60 Minutes was preparing a potentially damaging report about oil company contamination of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador, it hired a former journalist to produce a mirror image of the report, from the corporations point of view. An Ecuadorean judge is expected to rule soon on whether Chevron owes up to $27 billion in damages.
UK: Shell at risk of investor pay revolt
by Kate Burgess and Ed Crooks
Financial Times
May 5th, 2009
Royal Dutch Shell is facing the risk of a shareholder rebellion over pay for the second successive year after two influential investor advisory groups raised concerns about discretionary pay awards made to board-level executives.
CHINA: Slump Tilts Priorities of Industry in China
by Jonathan Ansfield
New York Times
April 18th, 2009
Less than a year ago, officials pressed mines and factories in northern China to shut down or move away to clear the air for the Beijing Olympics. Now, amid the global economic downturn, priorities have shifted. Cumbersome environmental reviews have been accelerated, and Chinas powerful state oil companies are pushing hard to postpone nationwide rollout of clean air standards due to the billions of dollars required to invest in their refineries to produce clean diesel.
US/NIGERIA: Shell: corporate impunity goes on trial
by George Monbiot
The Guardian
April 7th, 2009
Multinationals accused of human rights abuses can no longer feel safe now that the oil giant is facing allegations of complicity in the execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
US: Oil Giants Loath to Follow Obamas Green Lead
by Jad Mouawad
New York Times
April 7th, 2009
The Obama administration seeks the most ambitious transformation of energy policy in a generation. But Big Oil is not on board. Royal Dutch Shell said last month that it would freeze research and investments in wind, solar and hydrogen power, and focus its alternative energy efforts on biofuels. BP, a company that has spent nine years saying it was moving beyond petroleum, has been getting back to petroleum since 2007, paring back its renewable program. The list goes on.
AFRICA/CHINA: As Chinese Investment in Africa Drops, Hope Sinks
by Lydia Polgreen
New York Times
March 25th, 2009
As global commodity prices have plummeted and several of Chinas partners in Africa have stumbled deeper into chaos, China has backed away from some of its riskiest and most aggressive plans. China has sought to secure minerals in Africa through agreements to build huge projects in exchange for minerals. African governments are now realizing that these deals are loans against future revenue, and falling prices could leave them saddled with debt.
CANADA: The Canadian Oil Boom: Scraping Bottom
by Robert Kunzig
National Geographic
March 1st, 2009
Once considered too expensive, as well as too damaging to the land, exploitation of Alberta's oil sands is now a gamble worth billions. Syncrude and Suncor are two of the largest producers of bitumen; Canada is now the largest importer of oil to the United States, with tar sands exploitation slated to increase rapidly over the next five years.
UK, ITALY: Italian business body hits at Brown
by Jean Eaglesham
Financial Times
February 9th, 2009
In the context of global debate around the unfettered free-market system, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown comes under fire from an Italian business association for not reining in wildcat labor strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire.
SWITZERLAND: Davos Scales Back Glitz
by Associated Press
New York Times
January 25th, 2009
The economic crisis that emerged out the collapse of securities based on shaky U.S. mortgages poses challenges for the Davos World Economic Forum, an arena that has championed market-driven approaches.
US: Plant That Spilled Coal Ash Had Earlier Leak Problems
by John M. Broder
New York Times
January 8th, 2009
The chief executive of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the coal-burning power plant responsible for an enormous flood of coal ash in East Tennessee late last month, acknowledged Thursday that the plants containment ponds had leaked two other times in the last five years but had not been adequately repaired.
WORLD: Workforce deaths at Shell higher than for other western oil groups
by Ed Crooks
Financial Times
December 1st, 2008
Royal Dutch Shell last year suffered more workforce deaths than any other large western oil company. Two employees and 28 contractors were killed working for Shell in 2007. Nine of last year's deaths were in Nigeria, with two people killed in attacks on Shell facilities, and 10 in Russia.
CANADA/IRAQ: Drill, Garner, Drill
by Anthony Fenton
Mother Jones
November 24th, 2008
In the history of the Iraq War, one name is perhaps synonymous with the collapse of the Bush administration's hopes for a post-Saddam world: Retired Lt. General Jay M. Garner, who served as the first post-war administrator. This year, he and a small group of former US military leaders, officials, and lobbyists have quietly used their Kurdistan connections to help Canadian companies access some of the region's richest oil fields.
CANADA: OIL SANDS-PART 2: "Where I Come From Is Ground Zero"
by Chris Arsenault
Inter Press Service (IPS)
October 17th, 2008
Like many young people from Ft. Chipewayn, Mercredi knows the tar sands well; he spent four years making big money driving trucks at one of the mines. "I just walked off the job one night, I thought 'this is wrong, we're destroying our own land'," said Mercredi.
CANADA: OIL SANDS-PART 1: Showdown at Ft. McMoney
by Chris Arsenault
Inter Press Service (IPS)
October 16th, 2008
The sun rises in a bright, red line over flat land, small lakes, boreal forest and peat bogs as our small double engine plane bumps through early morning turbulence between Edmonton and Ft. McMurray, Canada.
US: More BP refinery doubts
Journal Gazette
October 7th, 2008
Smoke rises from the Whiting refinery now owned by BP. Federal regulators are questioning BPs permit process. According to the EPA, the agency now has information suggesting that BP may have begun a project to process Canadian crude oil at the refinery in 2005 without the proper permit.
US: California's Number One Inland Oil Polluter in Trouble Again
Enviroment News Service
October 3rd, 2008
An oil company that state and federal officials have called California's number one inland oil polluter has failed to meet multiple deadlines to clean up leaks from settling ponds on one of its leases, so the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week took over partial cleanup operations to ensure they are completed before the rainy season.
U.S.: Great Place for the Oil Business
by Stephen Leahy
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
September 30th, 2008
Why do U.S. oil companies -- some of the most profitable corporations on the planet -- receive 20 to 40 billion dollars a year in subsidies from the U.S. government?
CANADA: High stakes in Canadas vast oil-sands fields
by George Tombs
Christian Science Monitor
September 30th, 2008
Trillions of dollars worth of oil are present, but the environmental costs are high, too and growing.
MALAYSIA: Murum Dam - Public Funds for Corporate Profit?
by Anil Netto
Inter Press Service (IPS)
September 27th, 2008
Who will foot the bill for the Murum resettlement? ''Is it Sarawak Energy or will it be passed on directly to the state government and hence the tax payer,'' asked one Sarawak-based activist, who declined to be identified.
US: Martinez Shell Refinery To Pay $300,000 Penalty For Spill
KTVU News
September 25th, 2008
The operator of the Shell refinery in Martinez has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a civil lawsuit charging that the refinery negligently caused about 10 barrels of oil to spill into the Carquinez Strait in Martinez in 2006, according to the Contra Costa District Attorney's office.
WORLD: Oil Companies' "Self-Policing" a Dismal Failure
by Alison Raphael
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
September 24th, 2008
The intersection of human rights, the environment and corporate responsibility was highlighted today at a Capitol Hill hearing featuring activists from Burma and Nigeria who underlined the failure to date of "voluntary" controls over major oil companies operating in their countries.
ECUADOR: Chevron lawyers indicted in pollution case
by David Baker
San Francisco Chronicle
September 13th, 2008
Two Chevron Corp. lawyers fighting a landmark pollution lawsuit in Ecuador have been indicted by that country's prosecutor general, a move the company says proves the government is trying to tamper with the suit.
US: Halliburton Ex-Official Pleads Guilty in Bribe Case
by RUSSELL GOLD
The Wall Street Journal
September 4th, 2008
In a wide-ranging foreign-corruption investigation, fired former Halliburton Co. executive Albert J. "Jack" Stanley pleaded guilty to orchestrating more than $180 million in bribes to senior Nigerian government officials. The bribes were used to win a contract to build a liquefied-natural-gas plant in Nigeria.
FRANCE: Pipe Break Causes Leak Of Uranium at French Plant
Associated Press
July 21st, 2008
Uranium-bearing liquid has leaked from a broken underground pipe at a nuclear site in southeastern France, the national nuclear-safety authority said Friday in the second leak discovered at a French site this month.
FRANCE: Areva mishandled uranium leak: safety body
by Joseph Tandy and Muriel Boselli
July 11th, 2008
France's nuclear safety authority (ASN) said on Friday that Areva-subsidiary Socatri had poorly managed a leak of liquid containing uranium that occurred in southeastern France this week.
Iraq: U.S. Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals
by Andrew E. Kramer
New York Times
June 30th, 2008
The Bush administration has disclosed that U.S. advisors in Iraq played a key role in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies. The no-bid contracts are expected to be awarded Monday to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, as well as to several smaller oil companies.
US: Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist
by Ed Pilkington
Guardian (UK)
June 23rd, 2008
On June 23, James Hansen, a leading world climate scientist, called for the executives of major fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy, to be put on trial for crimes against humanity and nature through actions like funding climate skeptics to undermine global consensus around combating climate change.
US: Bush administration files nuclear dump application
by H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press
June 3rd, 2008
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday he's confident the government's license application to build a nuclear waste dump in Nevada will "stand up to any challenge anywhere."
US: Former Colo. nuke plant contractors ordered to pay $925M
June 3rd, 2008
Two companies that worked as contractors with the now-defunct Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant have been ordered to pay $925 million to residents who claimed that contamination blown from the facility endangered people's health and devalued their property.
BRAZIL: Businessman alleges Alstom paid bribes for Brazil project: report
May 29th, 2008
French engineering group Alstom allegedly paid nearly a million dollars in bribes in connection with a Brazilian energy plant, testimony from a Brazilian businessman reported in the press here said Thursday.
US: Exxon investors reject green initiatives
by Andrew Clark
The Guardian
May 29th, 2008
The world's biggest oil company emerged bruised but victorious from a bust-up with the billionaire Rockefeller family yesterday as an effort to foist green initiatives on ExxonMobil failed to capture wholehearted support from shareholders.
US: Rockefellers Seek Change at Exxon
by CLIFFORD KRAUSS
The New York Times
May 27th, 2008
The family members have thrown their support behind a shareholder rebellion that is ruffling feathers at Exxon Mobil, the giant oil company descended from John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust.
US: Oil Industry, Lawmakers Aim To Lift Bans on Drilling
by RUSSELL GOLD BEN CASSELMAN and STEPHEN POWER
Wall Street Journal
May 23rd, 2008
Mounting concerns about global energy supply are fueling a drive by the oil industry and some U.S. lawmakers to end longstanding bans on domestic drilling put in place to protect environmentally sensitive areas.
UK: Shell 'selling suicide' by preferring tar sands to wind
by Terry Macalister
The Guardian
May 21st, 2008
Shell was accused yesterday of "selling suicide on the forecourt" by pressing ahead with tar sands operations in Canada and continuing to flare off excess gas in Nigeria while pulling out of renewable schemes such as the London Array - the world's largest offshore wind scheme.
RUSSIA: As Gazprom Goes, So Goes Russia
by Andrew E. Kramer
New York Times
May 11th, 2008
Gazprom and the Russian government have long had a close relationship, but the revolving door between them is spinning especially fast this year. But Gazprom also epitomizes the risks of state capitalism: waste and inefficiency.
INDONESIA: Indonesia's Commodity Boom Is a Mixed Bag
by Tom Wright
Wall Street Journal
March 24th, 2008
Indonesia's economy is riding the recent wave of high global commodity prices. But local pressure is arising towards steel makers and power producers in China and India who have diverted coal supplies abroad by locking in 20-year supply contracts with Indonesian miners.
US: Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a 'Clean' Fuel
by BRENDA GOODMAN
The New York Times
March 11th, 2008
The spills, at the Alabama Biodiesel Corporation plant outside this city about 17 miles from Tuscaloosa, are similar to others that have come from biofuel plants in the Midwest. The discharges, which can be hazardous to birds and fish, have many people scratching their heads over the seeming incongruity of pollution from an industry that sells products with the promise of blue skies and clear streams.
CHINA: Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China
by Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post
March 9th, 2008
The Luoyang Zhonggui High-Technology Co. of Henan, China, is a green energy company, producing polysilicon for solar energy panels. But the byproduct -- silicon tetrachloride -- is a highly toxic substance that poses environmental hazards.
US: Alcoa Faces Allegation By Bahrain of Bribery
by GLENN R. SIMPSON
The Wall Street Journal
February 28th, 2008
A company controlled by the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain accused Alcoa Corp. of a 15-year conspiracy involving overcharging, fraud and bribery.
GLOBAL: 2 Reports At Odds On Biotech Crops
by Rick Weiss
The Washington Post
February 14th, 2008
Dueling reports released yesterday -- one by a consortium largely funded by the biotech industry and the other by a pair of environmental and consumer groups -- came to those diametrically different conclusions.
GLOBAL: False 'Green' Ads Draw Global Scrutiny
by Tom Wright
Wall Street Journal
January 30th, 2008
With companies eager to tout their "green" credentials to consumers, advertising watchdogs are stepping up efforts to rein in marketers that make false or exaggerated claims.
UK: Vestey's vegan grandson sees off Shell
by Isabel Oakeshott
The Sunday Times (UK)
January 27th, 2008
SHELL has abandoned its sponsorship of one of Britains most prestigious wildlife photography exhibitions after protests by environmental groups.
US: Duke Energy sued for alleged kickbacks
New Mexico Business Weekly
January 17th, 2008
Two lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Cincinnati accusing Duke Energy Corp. of overcharging tens of thousands of residential and business customers.
US: Protests Greet Nuclear Power Resurgence in US South
by Matthew Cardinale
January 14th, 2008
Residents and environmental activists are in a bitter dispute with large U.S. energy corporations and the federal government over the safety of nuclear power, as more than a dozen corporations plan to, or have filed, paperwork to open new nuclear power plants, primarily in the U.S. South.
NIGERIA: Inefficient Gas Flaring Remains Unchecked
by Sam Olukoya
January 10th, 2008
Some of the largest multinational oil companies in the world -- including the U.K. and Dutch owned Shell, the French company Total, and the American companies Mobil and Chevron -- are responsible for the bulk of the scores of gas flares burning in Nigeria.
EUROPE/RUSSIA: Gas pipeline stirs up Baltic fears
by Tristana Moore
BBC News Online
December 31st, 2007
Nord Stream, a consortium led by Russia's Gazprom, is building a new controversial pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
SOUTH KOREA: South Korea Arrests 2 Captains in Huge Oil Spill
Agence France Press
December 25th, 2007
The South Korean Coast Guard said Monday that it had arrested the captains of a barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industry and a tugboat that caused an oil spill this month, the nations worst.
EUROPE: Europe Proposes Binding Limits on Auto Emissions
by James Kanter
New York Times
December 20th, 2007
European Union officials told leading automakers to make deep cuts in tailpipe emissions of the cars they produce or face fines that could reach billions of euros. Companies including Volkswagen and Renault immediately promised a fight to weaken the proposed legislation.
UK: The Biggest Global Warming Crime in History
by Cahal Milmo
Independent (UK)
December 13th, 2007
BP is accused of investing a large sum of money to extract oil from the Canadian wilderness using environmentally unsound methods.
US: Wary of Protests, Exxon Plans Natural Gas Terminal in the Atlantic
by Jads Mouawad
New York Times
December 12th, 2007
Exxon Mobil would like to build a $1 billion floating terminal for liquefied natural gas about 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey.
GLOBAL: Big Oil lets sun set on renewables
by Terry Macalister
Guardian (UK)
December 11th, 2007
Shell, the oil company that recently trumpeted its commitment to a low carbon future by signing a pre-Bali conference communique, has quietly sold off most of its solar business. Rival BP decided last week to invest in the world's dirtiest oil production in Canada's tar sands, indicating that Big Oil might be giving up its flirtation with renewables and going back to its roots.
SINGAPORE: Neste to build $814 mln Singapore biofuel plant
by Tarmo Virki
The Guardian
November 30th, 2007
Finnish refiner Neste Oil is working to build the world's largest biodiesel plant amongst controversy over the environmental impact of palm oil plants.
FRANCE: China Deal Gives Lift to Revival of Fission
by John Tagliabue
New York Times
November 27th, 2007
Critics question recent deal between French nuclear power giant Areva and China's leading nuclear power company.
CHINA: China Shows High Interest in African Oil
by Benoit Faucon
Wall Street Journal
November 22nd, 2007
Royal Dutch Shell is considering selling interests in two Nigerian offshore oil blocks to China's Cnooc Ltd. as it restructures its business in the troubled region.
US: Law firm seeks nearly $700 mil for Enron pacts
by Martha Graybow
November 21st, 2007
The law firm that helped win $7.2 billion in settlements for Enron investors is seeking nearly $700 million in legal fees for itself and other attorneys who handled the case, according to court documents.
US: Coal-Funded Ad Is Called Misleading
by Steven Mufson
Washington Post
November 7th, 2007
A Kansas newspaper ad paid for by coal mining giant Peabody Energy uses Putin, Chavez and Ahmadinejad to counter calls for cleaner energy.
US: BP fined $373m by US government
BBC News
October 26th, 2007
Oil giant BP has been fined a total of $373m (£182m) by the US Department of Justice for environmental crimes and committing fraud.
US: US lawmakers plan squeeze on Chevron in Myanmar
October 24th, 2007
Proposed sanctions introduced in the US House of Representatives would pressure US energy giant Chevron to pull its investment from Myanmar, which rights activists say is helping prop up the ruling military junta.
US: BP Settlements Seen on Safety and Price Cases
by Stephen Labaton and Lowell Bergman
NY Times
October 24th, 2007
The British energy company BP, tarnished by a string of costly legal problems, is preparing to settle accusations that it was criminally indifferent to worker safety and that it manipulated energy prices.
RUSSIA: Siberian boom threatens traditions
by Tom Esslemont
BBC News
October 8th, 2007
Russia is forging ahead with ambitious energy projects in eastern Siberia, but the indigenous Evenk people are complaining that their age-old way of life is in danger.
BURMA: Criticism of Total Operations Grows
by Michael Diebert
October 4th, 2007
The Yadana natural gas pipeline runs through the heart of the debate on corporate responsibility as to how foreign businesses should operate in a country ruled by a military dictatorship accused of widespread human rights abuses and violent suppression of dissent within its borders.
FRANCE: Total: No Capital Expenditures in Myanmar
Associated Press
September 27th, 2007
Total SA, reacting Thursday to comments by French President Sarkozy urging the oil and gas giant to refrain from new investment in Myanmar, said it had not made any capital expenditure there since 1998. The military junta that rules Myanmar this week escalated its efforts to repress pro-democracy demonstrations led by thousands of Buddhist monks.
US: Green group attacks oil giant on climate research
by Alison Benjamin
Guardian Unlimited
September 26th, 2007
An environmental group today took aim at ExxonMobil with the launch of an online video attacking the oil giant's green credentials.
US: Software maker admits to taking bribes
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner
Financial Times
September 25th, 2007
An oil and gas services company owned by a US buy-out firm on Monday admitted it sought to bribe officials connected to several nationally owned oil companies to improve sales of its software, including Kazakhstans KazMunaiGas and subsidiaries of Chinas CNOOC.
COLOMBIA: Drummond Union: Govt Muffles Key Witness
by Frank Bajak
July 24th, 2007
The union activists suing U.S. coal company Drummond Co. Inc. in Alabama in the 2001 murders of three labor leaders say deliberate foot-dragging by Colombian authorities is preventing the jury from hearing their star witness. Concerned by the delay, 12 Democrats in the U.S. Congress wrote Colombia's vice president last week asking him to intercede.
ITALY: Devil's Advocate
by Daniel Fisher
July 24th, 2007
Italian oil giant Eni has a long history of cutting deals with anyone, and of accusations of corruption and bribery. Now that its future hangs on Russia and its notorious reputation in the energy market, has Eni finally met its match?
NIGERIA: Tycoon exits Nigerian oil deals
BBC News
July 19th, 2007
Nigerian consortium Bluestar, led by tycoon Aliko Dangote, has pulled out of a deal to take stakes in oil refineries after protests by trade unionists.
NETHERLANDS: Shell ordered to withdraw 'misleading' Dutch ad that made environmental claims
by James Kanter
The International Herald Tribune
July 5th, 2007
Royal Dutch Shell has been ordered to withdraw an advertisement in the Netherlands that sought to portray the oil giant as environmentally friendly, and British authorities said Thursday they had opened a formal investigation in the case.
SAO TOME: No Oil Yet, but African Isle Finds Slippery Dealings
by Barry Meier and Jad Mouawad
The New York Times
July 2nd, 2007
The experience of São Tomé, a poor country that supports itself by selling cocoa and commemorative stamps featuring celebrities like Elvis Presley and Brigitte Bardot, shows how just the hint of oil can set off a scramble for riches.
INDONESIA: Mud Volcano Sullies Top Investment Firms
by Emad Mekay
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
June 21st, 2007
Environmental campaigners are urging several heavyweight investment firms, including Credit Suisse, Barclays, Fortis Group and Merrill Lynch, to shoulder some responsibility for a catastrophic mud volcano on the Indonesian island of Java that resulted from a gas project the firms helped fund.
US: Ex-Enron Executive Sentenced to Prison
by Bloomberg News
The New York Times
June 19th, 2007
The former chief of the Internet unit at Enron has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for helping mislead investors in the fraud that sent Enron, the world's largest energy trader, into bankruptcy.
US: Politics Forcing Detroit to Back New Fuel Rules
by Micheline Maynard
The New York Times
June 19th, 2007
This week, with a vote possible in the Senate on an energy plan, car companies retreated from their longstanding argument that any legislation to increase fuel economy standards would rob them of profits, force them to lay off workers and deprive consumers of the vehicles they wanted to buy. They are now lobbying for a modest increase in mileage standards, a position already adopted by Toyota, in the hopes of silencing calls for even tougher targets.
BRUSSELS:Europe Moves to Make Big Polluters Pay for Emissions
by Stephen Castle
The New York Times
June 4th, 2007
Europe moves towards making significant changes to its emissions-trading system that could force large polluters to pay for most, if not all, permits to produce climate-changing gases.
JAPAN: NEC workers fake orders worth Y2.2bn
by Mariko Sanchanta
Financial Times
May 29th, 2007
NEC, the Japanese electronics company, Tuesday said that 10 rogue employees placed fake orders worth Y2.2bn ($200m) and accepted kickbacks worth Y500m, which they spent on personal wining and dining.
US: Investigators eye remodeling at Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens
Associated Press
May 29th, 2007
Federal agents are looking into Sen. Ted Stevens' role in the ongoing investigation into the remodeling of his Alaska home, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the probe.
INDONESIA: Blood boils as mud volcano swallows homes
Sydney Morning Herald
May 26th, 2007
One year ago this Tuesday, a gas-exploration well part-owned by the Australian mining giant Santos blew, sending a geyser of mud and toxic gas into the air. Nearby villages and factories were flooded, then a big highway and railway were covered, and later East Java's main gas pipeline ruptured.
US: Governor vetoes liquefied gas proposal
by Marc Lifsher
Los Angeles Times
May 19th, 2007
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday vetoed a proposal to build a terminal for importing liquefied natural gas 20 miles off the coast of Malibu, but he kept the door open for future LNG projects if they are environmentally sensitive.
SUDAN: China accused of supporting Sudan rights abuse
Agence France Presse
May 18th, 2007
A leading opponent of a Chinese-financed dam in Sudan accused Beijing on Friday of fueling widespread human rights abuses, as Khartoum moved to relocate 70,000 villagers to make way for the project.
US: Chevron Seen Settling Case on Iraq Oil
by Claudio Gatti and Jad Mouwad
New York Times
May 8th, 2007
Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, according to investigators.
CAMBODIA: Will oil wealth keep Cambodia afloat, or drown it?
by Seth Mydans
International Herald Tribune
May 3rd, 2007
For many other poor countries, like Nigeria and Chad, oil has been a poisoned bonanza, paradoxically dragging them into deeper poverty and corruption in what some call the oil curse.
KAZAKHSTAN: U.S. Firm Pleads Guilty In Bribery Case
by Nikola Krastev
Radio Free Europe
April 30th, 2007
The Texas-based oil-services company Baker Hughes pled guilty on April 26 in a U.S. federal court to violating U.S. antibribery provisions, and agreed to pay a fine of $44 million.
US: Fresno a player in debate over nuclear power
by Keay Davidson
San Francisco Chronicle
April 8th, 2007
Fresno, a fast-growing former farming community popularly associated with raisins, is seeking a higher-tech image -- as the future home of a nuclear power plant that could supply power for 1.6 million to 2 million homes.
JAPAN: Nuclear scandal may juice power prices
by Shigeru Sato
April 4th, 2007
Japan's electricity prices may surge because safety coverups could prompt the government to order more nuclear reactors closed, Mizuho Investors Securities says.
FRANCE: Total CEO summoned by SEC on Iran deal
April 3rd, 2007
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice have summoned the chief executive of French energy giant Total SA to explain the group's activities in Iran, a French newspaper said on Tuesday.
BURMA: Shackles, torture, executions: inside Burma's jungle gulags
by Dan McDougall
The Observer
March 25th, 2007
There is no real dissent here in Rangoon. People are too scared to be members of any democratic movement. We are all just victims, people like me who are trying to get their lives back.' Ko Min, 47, his wife and two sons were swept up with hundreds of others in a military raid on their village close to the city of Bagan in 2005. The family were put to work, clearing jungle, digging latrines and an irrigation system for a military camp outside Mandalay. (mentions Zarubezhneft oil company)
US: Halliburton to move headquarters to Dubai
by Brett Clanton
Houston Chronicle
March 11th, 2007
Halliburton Co. surprised the energy world, members of Congress and the city of Houston today by announcing it will open a new corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates and relocate its chief executive officer there.
US: INTERVIEW-BP faulty in Alaska's biggest oil spill -gov't
by Robert Campbell
March 6th, 2007
Oil major BP's failure to maintain pipelines properly at its giant Prudhoe Bay field was a major factor behind Alaska's worst-ever onshore crude spill last year, a senior federal official said.
US: BP/UC Deal Raises Concerns
by Richard Brenneman
Berkeley Daily Planet
March 2nd, 2007
The proposed agreement between one of the worldâs largest oil companies, BP (formerly British Petroleum) and UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois has ignited a firestorm that promises to burn long and hot.
IRAQ: New Oil Law Seen as Cover for Privatisation
by Emad Mekay
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
February 27th, 2007
The U.S.-backed Iraqi cabinet approved a new oil law Monday that is set to give foreign companies the long-term contracts and safe legal framework they have been waiting for, but which has rattled labour unions and international campaigners who say oil production should remain in the hands of Iraqis.
FRANCE: Oil giant 'knew tanker was a risk before disaster'
by John Lichfield
The Independent
February 13th, 2007
The French oil company Total and 14 other defendants were accused yesterday of criminal responsibility for one of Europe's most calamitous oil spills, the wreck of the Erika.
NIGERIA: Oil Spill Displaces 10 Ijaw Communities
by Emma Arubi
Vanguard (Lagos)
February 13th, 2007
CHEVRON'S Abiteye flow station oil spill of over 1,500 barrels of crude has rendered over 10 Ijaw communities and 500 hundred persons homeless in Gbaramatu kingdom in Warri South West local government area of Delta State.
UK: BP's BTC pipeline needs extra monitoring-US agency
February 12th, 2007
Extra monitoring is needed on BP PLC's (BP) Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, particularly on cracks and leakages in its coating, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, said in a report.
FRANCE: Total on trial over 1999 French oil disaster
by James Mackenzie
February 12th, 2007
A trial into one of France's worst environmental disasters opens on Monday with oil giant Total facing charges over toxic fuel spills that washed ashore following the sinking of the tanker Erika in 1999.
INDIA: Farmers irked over land acquisition for Reliance's power plant in Ghaziabad
by Shailesh Kumar
Down to Earth
February 9th, 2007
Farmers continue to protest against Reliance's power project in UP
US: New York Moves Toward Suit Over a 50-Year-Old Oil Spill
by Nicholas Confessore
The New York Times
February 8th, 2007
New York State moved to sue Exxon Mobil and four other companies on Thursday to force them to clean up a half-century-old spill of millions of gallons of oil lying under the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn and to repair environmental damage inflicted on nearby Newtown Creek.
US: Device Breaks Up in Pipeline, and Search Is On for Lost Piece
by Felicity Barringer
The New York Times
February 3rd, 2007
A device designed to clean waxy buildup from the walls of the 800-mile Alaska pipeline broke apart inside the pipeline in December, raising the possibility that any remaining shards of machinery might damage sensitive valves, an executive of Alyeska, the company that runs the pipeline, confirmed Thursday.
UK: Campaigners urge Shell to put profits into clean-up
by Terry Macalister
Guardian (UK)
January 31st, 2007
Record annual profits to be announced by Shell tomorrow should be used towards paying off a bill estimated at more than $20bn (£10bn) for the damage caused by its oil activities to local communities and the wider environment, according to an alliance of human rights and green groups including Friends of the Earth (FoE).
US: Green like money: Activists counter PG&E's greenwashing
by Amanda Witherell
SF Bay Guardian
January 31st, 2007
During a so-called green fair at the LGBT center in San Francisco, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG & E) unveiled a $170,000 gift of solar panels for the roof of the building. But
complain that this recent move is a greenwashing tactic, to make this corporation, which owns a mere 0 percent solar and 2 percent wind, appear green when it is in fact not.
CAMEROON: Oil leak shows weaknesses in World Bank pipeline, NGOs warn
IRIN News
January 26th, 2007
Fishermen in the southern coastal town of Kribi are warily casting their nets after a leak in the massive Chad-Cameroon pipeline last week.
BRAZIL: Enslaved workers make charcoal used to make basic steel ingredient
by Michael Smith and David Voreacos
Seattle Times
January 21st, 2007
Enslaved workers make charcoal used to make basic steel ingredient
UK: Chief's Departure Ignites Criticism of BP's Structure and Environmental Policies
by Heather Timmons
New York Times
January 16th, 2007
Poor management and cost-cutting created a dangerous work environment at oil giant BP, according to a report released today based on hundreds of interviews with employees.
UK: Iraq poised to end drought for thirsting oil giants
by Danny Fortson
The Independent (UK)
January 7th, 2007
For more than three decades, foreign oil companies wanting into Iraq have been like children pressed against the sweet shop window - desperately seeking to feast on the goodies but having no way of getting through the door. That could soon change.
CHAD: World Bank OK With Blood For Oil
by Daphne Wysham
January 5th, 2007
BELIZE: I-A Commission says GOB must protect indigenous people of Toledo
The Reporter (BELIZE)
January 5th, 2007
By permitting oil exploration on indigenous lands in the Toledo District the Government of Belize is violating treaty obligations and also a 2004 ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
US: Exxon Mobil's biggest oil spill is in Brooklyn, not Alaska
by Matthew Leising
January 4th, 2007
The biggest oil spill Exxon Mobil has to answer for is not the cargo that gushed from the Exxon Valdez tanker into Alaska's Prince William Sound. It is the fuel that soaked into the ground beneath a working class section of Brooklyn, New York.
US: ExxonMobil Accused of Disinformation on Warming
by Jim Lobe
Inter Press Service
January 3rd, 2007
Like the tobacco industry that for decades denied a link between smoking and lung cancer, ExxonMobil has waged a "sophisticated and successful disinformation campaign" to mislead the public about global warming, according to a major new report by the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
INDIA: Oil Industry Blamed for Polluting India's Assam
December 29th, 2006
Oil companies in India's northeastern state of Assam are responsible for polluting rivers and destroying rainforests and have been told to clean up their act or face closure, authorities said on Thursday.
US: Court halves Exxon spill damages
BBC News Online
December 22nd, 2006
A US court has almost halved the damages oil giant Exxon Mobil must pay for a 1989 oil spill off Alaska.
EU: Exxon spends millions to cast doubt on warming
by Andrew Buncombe and Stephen Castle
The Independent (UK)
December 7th, 2006
The world's largest energy company is still spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund European organisations that seek to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on global warming and undermine support for legislation to curb emission of greenhouse gases.
PERU: Half the Peruvian Amazon Leased for Petroleum Development
Envinroment News Service
December 4th, 2006
Conservation groups based in Washington warned today that the Peruvian government is signing so many contracts with multinational oil companies that half the rainforest of the Peruvian Amazon is now covered with oil leases.
US: Inuit sue US government over BP land usage
by David Litterick
The Daily Telegraph (UK)
November 20th, 2006
Fresh from settling a lawsuit over last year's fatal explosion at its Texas City oil refinery, BP looks set to become embroiled in a legal battle in Alaska over royalties paid on oil production in Prudhoe Bay.
PERU: Achuar win oil victory in Peru
by Lisa Garrigues
Indian Country Today
November 6th, 2006
On Oct. 24, after a 14-day occupation, representatives of the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes Rio (FECONACO), which includes the Quichua and Urarinas people, reached an agreement with PlusPetrol and the Peruvian government. The agreement gave them 98 percent of their demands.
KAZAKHSTAN: Oil, Cash and Corruption
by Ron Stodghill
The New York Times
November 5th, 2006
In February, the United States attorneys office in Manhattan is scheduled to go to trial in the largest foreign bribery case brought against an American citizen. It involves a labyrinthine trail of international financial transfers, suspected money laundering and a dizzying array of domestic and overseas shell corporations. The criminal case names Mr. Nazarbayev as an unindicted co-conspirator.
US: BP Knew of Refinery Lapses Before Blast, U.S. Says (Update3)
Stephen Voss and Amy Strahan
October 30th, 2006
BP Plc's global management team knew of safety concerns at the company's Texas City, Texas, oil refinery before a deadly explosion last year, U.S. safety investigators said.
NIGERIA: Niger Delta bears brunt after 50 years of oil spills
by Jonathan Brown
The Independent (UK)
October 26th, 2006
Up to 1.5 million tons of oil, 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster, has been spilt in the ecologically precious Niger Delta over the past 50 years, it was revealed yesterday.
NIGERIA: Attack on Nigeria oil facilities
BBC News
October 25th, 2006
A group of protesters have invaded three Shell oil stations in the Niger Delta, forcing the facilities to be shut down, the company said.
by Tom Fowler
Houston Chronicle
October 23rd, 2006
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for his role in the energy company's 2001 collapse in what has become one of the nation's biggest corporate scandals.
US: U.S. coal plant boom poses big environmental, economic questions
Associated Press
October 15th, 2006
A building boom that would add scores of new coal-fired power plants to the nation's power grid is creating a new dilemma for politicians, environmentalists and utility companies across the United States.
US: Watchdog Group Blasts Ford for Ethanol Loophole
Environment News Service
October 13th, 2006
The Ford Motor Company is misleading the public and the government about several of its vehicles that claim to operate on ethanol, according to letters sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by the watchdog group Public Citizen.
US: New York Sues Coal-Fired Power Plant
Environment News Service
October 13th, 2006
US: Oil Companies Settle Fuel Violations for $1.5 Million
Environment News Service
October 6th, 2006
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a $1.5 million settlement with BP and Shell for alleged violations of the motor vehicle fuels provisions of the federal Clean Air Act.
US: New Jersey Ratepayers Stop Big Utility Merger
Environment News Service
September 18th, 2006
After two years of public hearings, litigation, testimony and negotiations and more than 11,500 letters, phone calls and emails to state decision makers, New Jersey consumers avoided higher electricity rates when Exelon walked away from its takeover bid to buy-out Public Service Enterprise Group, PSEG, a publicly traded energy and energy services company headquartered in New Jersey.
US: U.S. Agencies Open Another Investigation Into Energy Trading at BP
by Jad Mouawad
New York Times
August 30th, 2006
BP, the giant oil company, acknowledged yesterday that federal investigators were looking into possible trading irregularities in oil and gasoline markets.
US: Seattle Firm Warned BP About Pipeline
Associated Press
August 27th, 2006
An engineering firm raised a red flag more than four years ago about BP's monitoring of its Alaska oil pipelines, documents show.
CHAD: Chad president orders Chevron, Petronas to leave
by Betel Miarom
August 26th, 2006
Chad ordered Chevron and Petronas on Saturday to leave the country within 24 hours for failing to honour tax obligations, in a move apparently motivated by a desire to earn more from its oil.
US: Industry starts to back rules on greenhouse gas
by Zachary Coile
San Francisco Chronicle
August 24th, 2006
For years, most industry groups have fought any effort to limit carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming, warning of dire consequences for the U.S. economy. But with growing public anxiety about climate change, major corporations are increasingly preparing for -- and, in some cases, lobbying for -- Congress to regulate emissions of heat-trapping gases.
PERU: Fresh Evidence of Construction Problems in Camisea Pipeline
by Ángel Páez
Inter Press Service (IPS)
August 24th, 2006
Techint, the Argentine company that built the Camisea pipeline which carries natural gas from Peru's Amazon jungle region to a port on the country's Pacific coast, used unqualified welders, in a clear violation of international norms, according to a new report by E-Tech, a California-based non-profit engineering and environmental consultancy firm.
US: Alaska's Air Sullied by Oil Production
by David R. Baker
San Francisco Chronicle
August 24th, 2006
North Slope operations -- like oil production facilities everywhere -- release into the air a steady stream of pollutants and greenhouse gases, spewed by vehicles, power generators and the drilling process itself. Estimates vary, but the North Slope oil fields probably produce more smog-forming nitrogen oxides than Washington, D.C., and more carbon dioxide than San Francisco.
KAZAKSTAN: Environmental Charges Unlikely to Derail Kazakstan's Chevron Contract
Environment News Service
August 23rd, 2006
Kazakstans largest oil concessionaire, Tengiz Chevroil, has been threatened with having its license withdrawn because of accusations it breached environmental legislation. Analysts say that in reality, the Kazak government will never take such a step, since this would provoke a major crisis in relations with the United States. The largest shareholder in Tengiz Chevroil is American oil giant Chevron.
KATRINA: Entergy customers won't be getting relief
by Pam Radtke Russell
New Orleans Times-Picayune
August 23rd, 2006
Entergy New Orleans customers are paying nearly a third more for their power bills than they were last year, and a further proposed rate increase could mean bills will be 50 percent higher than before Hurricane Katrina.
PERU: Indigenous Community to Take Oil Company to Court
by Milagros Salazar
Inter Press Service
August 17th, 2006
Arankartuktaram! This Achuar cry sums up what indigenous communities in the heart of Peru's Amazon jungle region are demanding from the State and multinational oil companies -- a little respect.
CANADA: Information Cleansing, Canadian Style
by Bill Berkowitz
Inter Press Service
August 16th, 2006
If you're a teacher, student, journalist or just a plain concerned citizen interested in finding well-researched documentation about climate change, you can no longer depend on the Canadian government to supply that information.
INDONESIA: Java sinks deeper into toxic crisis
by Mark Forbes
The Age (AUS)
August 12th, 2006
TOXIC mud still spurting from a gas drilling well part-owned by Australian mining giant Santos is threatening to mire East Java in a full-scale disaster.
UK: BP given earlier warning of corrosion
by Sheila McNulty
Financial Times
August 8th, 2006
BP's board and London-based executives were informed of widespread corrosion at the UK oil giant's Alaska field two years before the company was forced to shut it this week, citing "unexpectedly severe corrosion".
IRELAND: Shell agrees to change route of gas pipeline in west Ireland
by David McKittrick
The Independent (UK)
August 5th, 2006
The multinational company Shell has promised to change the route of a planned gas pipeline in the west of Ireland following a protest campaign.
RUSSIA: Russia stops Shell project; state may be seeking stake
by Lyubov Pronina
International Herald Tribune
August 4th, 2006
Royal Dutch Shell was told Thursday by the Russian government to suspend construction of a pipeline on Sakhalin Island, threatening to delay a project whose costs doubled last year to $20 billion.
CHILE: Flood Deaths Inquiry Targets Hydropower Firm
by Daniela Estrada
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
August 3rd, 2006
The Chilean Congress is demanding that the government take measures to regulate the operations of hydroelectric dams, while it prepares to investigate whether or not the Spanish firm Endesa was to blame for the flooding seen several weeks ago in central and southern Chile, which left 25 dead.
PERU: Bank Signals More Funds for Problematic Pipeline
by Emad Mekay
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
July 31st, 2006
Critics of a controversial pipeline in the Amazon rainforest that has ruptured five times since its inception in 2004 are dismayed that the main public funder of the project is on the verge of giving more money for its second phase despite earlier promises to await the results of audits probing the pipeline's persistent leaks.
US: Power group promoting global warming skeptic
by Timothy Gardner
July 27th, 2006
A Colorado electricity cooperative is urging other power groups to support global warming skeptics and has donated $100,000 to a climatologist who has labeled some of his colleagues "alarmists."
PERU: Leaky Gas Pipeline Finds Foes in Washington
by Ángel Páez
Inter Press News Service
July 17th, 2006
Phase II of Peru's controversial Camisea gas project has once again run up against opposition from the U.S. government and Senate, which may vote against approving additional Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funding.
UK: Anger at plan to dump tons of waste ash in lake
by Michael McCarthy
The Independent (UK)
July 10th, 2006
The German utility giant RWE, already under fire for the failure of its subsidiary company Thames Water to stem its unprecedented leak rate, is at the centre of another row over its environmental performance.
AUSTRALIA: Santos gets caught in toxic Indonesian mudflow
The Age (AUSTRALIA)
July 8th, 2006
A TOXIC mudflow in Indonesia, emanating from a gas project minority-owned by Australian-based Santos, is threatening to become an environmental, public health and public relations disaster.
US: Lay's Death Could Set Skilling Free
by Barrie McKenna
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
July 7th, 2006
Kenneth Lay's sudden death could prove to be an unexpected legal bequest to Jeffrey Skilling, his co-defendant in the landmark Enron Corp. fraud case.
SINGAPORE: Shell says biofuels from food crops "morally inappropriate"
July 6th, 2006
Royal Dutch Shell, the world's top marketer of biofuels, considers using food crops to make biofuels "morally inappropriate" as long as there are people in the world who are starving, an executive said on Thursday.
US: Lay's Death Complicates Efforts to Seize Assets
by Simon Romero
The New York Times
July 6th, 2006
In yet another bizarre twist to the Enron saga, the sudden death of Kenneth L. Lay on Wednesday may have spared his survivors financial ruin. Mr. Lay's death effectively voids the guilty verdict against him, temporarily thwarting the federal government's efforts to seize his remaining real estate and financial assets, legal experts say.
UK: Documents reveal hidden fears over Britain's nuclear plants
by John Vidal and Ian Sample
Guardian Unlimited
July 5th, 2006
Government nuclear inspectors have raised serious questions over the safety of Britain's ageing atomic power stations, some of which have developed major cracks in their reactor cores, documents reveal today.
US: Jackson Leads Anti-BP March Near Refinery
The Associated Press
July 5th, 2006
The Rev. Jesse Jackson brought his protest of BP PLC to the site of one of the state's worst refinery accidents Tuesday to speak against what he calls price gouging, discriminatory hiring practices and unsafe working conditions at the company.
US: BP Named in Inquiry on Propane Pricing
by Jad Mouawad
The New York Times
June 29th, 2006
Federal regulators charged yesterday that BP manipulated the price of propane two years ago by cornering the market through its dominant position, pushing up heating costs for millions of households at the peak of winter demand.
US: BP Unit Accused of Manipulating Propane Prices
June 28th, 2006
The U.S. futures industry regulator said Wednesday that a U.S. unit of BP Plc. tried to manipulate U.S. propane prices by cornering the market in February 2004.
CHILE: Hydropower Plans Paddle On Against the Current
by Daniela Estrada
Inter Press News Service
June 27th, 2006
The Chilean government has granted Endesa, a Spanish corporation, permission to carry out exploratory studies in the south of the country for the purpose of building four hydroelectric plants, in a move opposed by environmentalists, who are planning several demonstrations.
US: Jesse Jackson Calls for Boycott of BP
by Stephen Foley
The Independent (UK)
June 25th, 2006
The Reverend Jesse Jackson, the veteran civil rights leader, has called on African Americans to boycott BP over its record on equality.
US: Ehrlich Vetoes BGE Rate Deferral Bill
by Andrew A. Green
The Baltimore Sun
June 22nd, 2006
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced today that he has vetoed the BGE rate deferral plan the legislature passed last week.
US: Dynegy Re-Sentencing Could Give Insight
The Associated Press
June 21st, 2006
The new sentence a federal judge imposes on a former Dynegy Inc. executive could provide some insight into how he'll approach the October sentencings of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling.
US: Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Refinery Emission Standards
by Janet Wilson
The Los Angeles Times
June 21st, 2006
A coalition of national and community environmental groups has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to overturn a new rule that allegedly allows refineries and other industrial plants to emit higher levels of noxious chemicals when starting up, shutting down and experiencing equipment malfunctions, without informing area residents.
INDIA: Private Hydel Project on Naramda River Halted
by Bharat Dogra
Inter Press News Service
June 20th, 2006
Once again, the government has been compelled to suspend work on the Maheshwar dam over the Narmada River in central India.
UK: Scottish Power Pays Former Executives 'Obscene' £11m
by Ashley Seager
The Guardian (UK)
June 19th, 2006
Four executives of energy company Scottish Power cost the company £11m in severance pay when they left their jobs over the past year, the group's annual report revealed yesterday. The payouts were immediately condemned as "obscene" by the Scottish National party's energy spokesman, Richard Lochhead.
UK: Shell 'Ignored Accident Warning'
BBC News
June 14th, 2006
Oil giant Shell has been accused of operating platforms in the North Sea at dangerously high risk levels.
US: US politician seeks answers on BP delay
by Sheila McNulty
Financial Times
June 14th, 2006
A US congressman on Tuesday demanded that US officials explain their decision to waive a deadline for BP to perform high-tech maintenance and corrosion checks on Alaska pipelines, following a 270,000-gallon spill of crude oil from a corroded pipeline.
CANADA: Canada Conservative Gets Aggressive With Big Oil
by Ian Austen
The New York Times
June 14th, 2006
Danny Williams may be a multimillionaire and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, but these days he is being compared to a self-proclaimed revolutionary, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez.
US: 2 Utilities to Pay Enron $50 Million in Settlement
by David Cay Johnston
The New York Times
June 14th, 2006
Two small utilities are set to pay more than $50 million to Enron for electricity that they agreed to buy but that Enron will never deliver, under terms of a settlement that raises larger issues.
BANGLADESH: Gas explosion: Compensation from Niko, Unocal demanded
The New Nation
June 13th, 2006
The National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas-Mineral Resources and Port yesterday demanded of the government to realise compensations from Niko and Unocal, recently merged with Chevron, for the disasters at Magurchhara and Tengratila gas fields.
US: PUSH Seeks Boycott of Oil Giant BP
by Liam Ford
Chicago Tribune
June 13th, 2006
Leaders attending the annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition conference on Monday called for a boycott of oil giant BP PLC, a conference sponsor, and for a renewed focus on increasing minority representation on national television news channels, including CNN.
BARBADOS: Farmers want their money
Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
June 12th, 2006
Over two dozen farmers at Gibbons Boggs and Chancery Lane Christ Church, staged protest action, this morning demanding a settlement in their case against multi-national giant, Shell.
UK: British PLCs risk human rights litigation in US, lawyers warn
by Michael Herman
The Times Online
June 12th, 2006
British companies with global operations face a growing threat of being sued in the US over their dealings with foreign governments accused of human rights violations, a leading lawyer has warned.
CHINA: Pollution From Chinese Coal Casts a Global Shadow
by Keith Bradsher and David Barboza
The New York Times
June 11th, 2006
US: BP's Browne may face Texas deaths probe
by Tim Webb and Clayton Hirst
The Independent (UK)
June 11th, 2006
Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP, is facing a possible grilling by the US federal safety watchdog over last year's explosion at the oil giant's Texas refinery, which killed 15 people.
US: Release ordered for 2 executives
by John C. Roper
The Houston Chronicle
June 9th, 2006
Two Merrill Lynch executives convicted for their roles in a Nigerian barge deal that inflated Enron's profits have been ordered released from prison pending their appeal.
US: Halliburton sees earnings doubling in coming years
Stuff New Zealand
June 9th, 2006
Oil field services company Halliburton Co. expects net income and earnings per share to double over the next three to five years, Chief Financial Officer Cris Gaut said today.
US: BP under criminal investigation for Alaska spill
by Mark Tran
The Guardian
June 8th, 2006
The oil giant BP is under criminal investigation in the US for a big oil spill in Alaska in March that has raised fresh questions about the company's safety record.
CANADA: Air Pollution Goes Global
by Stephen Leahy
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
June 2nd, 2006
Last month, the province of Ontario joined the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, along with two environmental groups, in a legal action against seven coal-fired electricity plants run by Duke Energy Corp.
AUSTRALIA: Centennial Coals community consultation has a price
by Ross Kendall and Michael Walsh
Ethical Investor
June 1st, 2006
Centennial Coal is attempting buy peoples opinions and right to free speech with its property purchase contracts for a new mine, according Greenpeace and a local residents group.
US: Split verdict in Enron broadband retrial
by Kristen Hayes
Associated Press
June 1st, 2006
Of two former Enron Corp. broadband executives to be retried on fraud and conspiracy charges in the wake of a hung jury last year, one faces prison and the other is free.
VENEZUELA: For Venezuela, a Treasure in Oil Sludge
by Juan Forero
The New York Times
June 1st, 2006
This great, largely untapped treasure is pitting a leftist government aiming to use oil revenue for social programs against multinational corporations like Chevron, which were invited here a decade ago to develop the Orinoco Belt, a 54-square-mile area some 120 miles south of here.
US: U.S. to Seek Extra $92 Million From Exxon for Valdez Spill
by John Holusha
The New York Times
June 1st, 2006
The federal government and Alaska said today that they would seek to get the Exxon Mobil Corporation to pay an additional $92 million to clean up the lingering effects of the 1989 oil spill caused by the crash of the tanker Exxon Valdez.
US: Exxon Mobil meeting in Dallas draws protesters
Associated Press
May 31st, 2006
Shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp. gathered today for the oil giant's annual meeting while oil drum-wearing demonstrators protested that the company is helping retard action against global warming.
CANADA: Canada Pays Environmentally for U.S. Oil Thirst
by Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
May 31st, 2006
Huge mines here turning tarry sand into cash for Canada and oil for the United States are taking an unexpectedly high environmental toll, sucking water from rivers and natural gas from wells and producing large amounts of gases linked to global warming.
BOLIVIA: Petrobras accused of supply 'sabotage'
May 30th, 2006
The president of Bolivia's state energy company has accused the Brazilian energy company Petrobras of "sabotage," blaming it for problems in supplying diesel fuel in Bolivia.
WORLD: The Scariest Predators in the Corporate Jungle
by Thalif Deen
Inter-Press Service
May 23rd, 2006
The world's oil, gas and mining industries account for nearly two-thirds of all violations of human rights, environmental laws and international labour standards, according to a soon-to-be-released United Nations study.
NIGERIA: Ijaw Win $1.5 Billion Suit Against Shell
by George Onah
Vanguard (Lagos)
May 23rd, 2006
The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has ordered Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, to pay $1.5 billion about N210 billion into the coffers of Central Bank of Nigeria, in favour of the Ijaw Aborigenes of Bayelsa State, between last Friday and noon tomorrow.
PERU: Built to Spill
by Chip Mitchell
The Texas Observer
May 19th, 2006
If Hunt Oil Co. has proven anything in Peru, itâs that the morality of trying to pump 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas through pristine rain forests is entirely a matter of perspective.
US: Exxon Valdez Oil Persists in Prince William Sound
Envidonmental News Service
May 18th, 2006
Seventeen years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaskas Prince William Sound, new evidence suggests that remnants of the worst oil spill in U.S. history farther into tidal waters than previously thought, increasing the probability that the oil is causing unanticipated long-term harm to wildlife.
ECUADOR: Bush administration breaks off free trade talks with Ecuador
by Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press
May 16th, 2006
The Bush administration said Tuesday it had broken off negotiations on a free trade agreement with Ecuador following the South American government's decision to annul an operating contract with Occidental Petroleum Corp.
NETHERLANDS: Dutch Bank Urged to Pass on Russian Oil Project
by Emad Mekay
Inter Press News Service
May 12th, 2006
The giant Dutch bank ABN Amro, one of the world's largest financial institutions, is facing charges of "environmental hypocrisy" from green groups concerned over the bank's possible financing for a controversial Russian oil extraction project.
BOLIVIA: Oil Companies Not Entitled to Payment, Bolivian Says
by Carter Dougherty
The New York Times
May 12th, 2006
The leader of Bolivia on Thursday ruled out compensating oil companies for nationalized oil and gas fields as he came under questioning from European officials at the start of a high-level meeting on energy and trade.
CANADA: Turning sludge into black gold
by Russell Gold
The Wall Street Journal
May 8th, 2006
Canada's oil sands may quench the world's thirst for energy, but for a steep price.
BOLIVIA: Neighbours Recognise Bolivia's 'Sovereign' Right to Nationalise Gas
by Marcela Valente
Inter Press News Service
May 4th, 2006
The presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela confirmed their interest in moving together towards regional energy integration, in a summit held Thursday in the northeastern Argentine province of Misiones to discuss the impact of the Bolivian government's decision to reassert state control over the country's energy resources.
BOLIVIA: Bolivia threatens to seize energy assets
by Juan Forero
International Herald Tribune
May 4th, 2006
Bolivian authorities plan to scour the financial records of foreign energy companies and have threatened explicitly for the first time to seize company assets if new contracts giving the state greater control can not be negotiated.
BOLIVIA: Bolivia Nationalizes Natural Gas Industry
The Associated Press
May 1st, 2006
President Evo Morales ordered soldiers to immediately occupy Bolivia's natural gas fields Monday and threatened to evict foreign companies unless they sign new contracts within six months giving Bolivia majority control over the entire chain of production.
AFRICA: Anger rises in oil-rich Chad as funds don't aid the poor
by Raymond Thibodeaux
The Boston Globe
April 30th, 2006
Three years after Chad began exporting its oil with assistance from the World Bank, few people outside the capital have access to electricity, running water, paved roads, and health clinics. Public schools are nonexistent. Life expectancy is 46 years for men, and only slightly longer for women.
NIGERIA: New Pipeline a "Recipe for Disaster", Locals Say
by Emad Mekay
Inter Press News Service (IPS)
April 27th, 2006
Local communities in Nigeria are taking the World Bank before an internal auditor over claims that the lender neglected its duties and anti-poverty mission when it funded a controversial gas pipeline in the region, whose construction they say will harm the environment and area residents.
RUSSIA: Shell Urged to Abandon $20bn Siberian Pipeline That Could Drive Whale Species to Extinction
by Jonathan Brown
April 25th, 2006
With the melting of the ice after eight months, Shell is set to enter a crucial offshore construction phase in the development of its $20bn [£11.2bn] oil and gas programme. Wildlife campaigners say the price of the pipeline could be the extinction of a species of whale.
UK: UK Scientists Attack Oil Firms' Role in Huge Arctic Project
by David Adam
The Guardian (UK)
April 18th, 2006
British scientists are at loggerheads with US colleagues over a controversial plan to work alongside oil companies to hunt for fossil fuel reserves in the Arctic.
CHAD: Chad eases threats on oil, Darfur refugees
by Daniel Flynn
Swiss Info
April 17th, 2006
Chad on Monday softened threats to stop sheltering Sudanese refugees and halt oil production following rebel attacks as the United States offered to broker a solution to a dispute with the World Bank.
US: Enron Prosecutor Questions Skilling's Story
by Vikas Bajaj and Alexei Barrionuevo
The New York Times
April 17th, 2006
A prosecutor tried to poke holes in the testimony of Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former Enron chief executive, today by boring in on stock sales he made in the months after he left the company and before the energy company declared bankruptcy.
US: The Enron Standard
by Lee Drutman
April 13th, 2006
In a Houston courtroom this week, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling took the witness stand to plead his innocence, telling jurors that âMy life is on the line.â
NIGERIA: Government Investigation Indicts Shell over Toxic Waste
by Yemie Adeoye
Vanguard (Lagos)
April 4th, 2006
THE Ministerial investigation committee into alleged dumping of toxic waste by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at Igbeku and Ejekimoni communities of Sapele local government area of Delta State has come up with recommendations for the company to remove and treat in situ the "alleged buried waste" to acceptable statutory levels.
US: Exxon Dethrones Wal-Mart on Fortune 500 List
by J.W. Elphinstone
Associated Press
April 3rd, 2006
Skyrocketing energy prices propelled ExxonMobil (XOM) to the top of the 2006 Fortune 500 list, and consigned Wal-Mart (WMT) to the No. 2 spot on the magazine's annual ranking of the nation's largest publicly traded companies.
VENEZUELA: Gov't Takes Back Oil Fields
BBC News
April 3rd, 2006
Venezuela has taken control of two oil fields operated by French firm Total and Italy's Eni.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Equatorial Guinea hosts ethics workshop
by DONNA BRYSON
Associated Press
March 27th, 2006
Is a traditional tribal leader a government official, and could giving money to him be considered bribery? These questions, which oil and gas company executives grappled with recently during a workshop in Equatorial Guinea, are more than an academic exercise.
THAILAND: Court Ruling Hits Privatisation Plans
by Marwaan Macan-Markar
Inter Press Service
March 27th, 2006
On Thursday, the supreme administrative court ruled that the planned sale of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), to raise an estimated 892.5 million US dollars, was illegal.
US: Vague Law and Hard Lobbying Add Up to Billions for Big Oil
by Edmund L. Andrews
The New York Times
March 27th, 2006
Last month, the Bush administration confirmed that it expected the government to waive about $7 billion in royalties over the next five years, even though the industry incentive was expressly conceived of for times when energy prices were low. And that number could quadruple to more than $28 billion if a lawsuit filed last week challenging one of the program's remaining restrictions proves successful.
US: Did a Group Financed by Exxon Prompt IRS to Audit Greenpeace?
by Steve Stecklow
The Wall Street Journal
March 21st, 2006
Two and a half years ago, Public Interest Watch, a self-described watchdog of nonprofit groups, wrote to the Internal Revenue Service urging the agency to audit Greenpeace and accusing the environmental group of money laundering and other crimes. What is clear is where PIW has gotten a lot of its funding: Exxon Mobil Corp., the giant oil company that has long been a target of Greenpeace protests.
US: Congress Challenges Oil Executives on Profits
by Jad Mouawad
The New York Times
March 14th, 2006
The oil executives were sworn in. This formality created the very kind of picture six of the most powerful American executives lined up with their right hands up in the air that they had sought to avoid. Otherwise, much of the theatrics were the same, and so were the arguments from the oil executives.
US: Burst oil pipeline causes 'catastrophe' in Alaska
by Andrew Gumbel
The Independent (UK)
March 14th, 2006
US: Exxon still owes for Valdez spill
by Mike Lewis
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
March 13th, 2006
Now, with Exxon reaping even more -- $36 billion last year, a world record for a single company -- and another spill anniversary looming without a payment, the 32,000 fishermen, food processors and Alaska natives who remain plaintiffs in the case are seething.
US: Fastow grilled about 'smoking gun' document
by Greg Farrell
March 9th, 2006
A defense lawyer in the trial of former Enron CEOs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling spent Thursday morning trying to undermine the testimony of the government's star witness and questioning the authenticity of a "smoking gun" document.
US: Fastow: "I was being a hero for Enron."
by John C. Roper
Houston Chronicle
March 7th, 2006
Andrew Fastow considered himself "a hero for Enron'' for hiding losses and bolstering earnings for the company through partnership deals he created.
WORLD: Cleaning Up Its Reputation
by Rebecca Bream
Financial Times
March 6th, 2006
The mining industry has a worldwide image problem. In developing and developed countries alike, the public tends to regard mines as dirty, dangerous and disruptive and those who stand to profit from them as greedy despoilers.
PERU: Substandard Peruvian Gas Pipeline Blamed for Spills
Environmental News Service
March 2nd, 2006
A pipeline crossing the Peruvian Amazon has spilled natural gas liquids four times since it opened 15 months ago because it was shoddily built by unqualified welders using corroded pipes left from other jobs, according to a new technical report by the nonprofit environmental consultancy E-Tech International based in San Diego.
US: Crude spill shuts down Slope plant
by Wesley Loy
The Anchorage Daily News
March 1st, 2006
Crude oil leaking from a major North Slope pipeline might have oozed over 3 to 5 acres of frozen, snow-clad tundra, prompting a major cleanup effort Thursday, an oil company spokesman said.
PERU: Bank Rejects Rapid Review of Controversial Pipeline
by Emad Mekay
Inter Press Service News Agency
March 1st, 2006
The main public investor in a controversial gas pipeline in Peru's Amazon rainforest that has ruptured four times already appears adamant not to bow to pressure from green groups demanding a full investigation after a study asserted that the pipeline is shoddily built and likely to break again.
NIGERIA: Nigerian Militants Free Six of Nine Foreign Hostages
March 1st, 2006
U.S. hostage Macon Hawkins and five other foreign oil workers kidnapped last month by Nigerian militants were freed today.
NIGERIA: Shell told to pay $1.5 bln damages
February 24th, 2006
A Nigerian court said on Friday Royal Dutch Shell should pay $1.5 billion (861 billion pounds) in damages for pollution in oil-producing Bayelsa state, the latest instalment in a long-running case.
US: Enron Secretary Defends Her Criticism of Executives
by Alexei Barrionuevo
The New York Times
February 23rd, 2006
For the first time in the four-week trial of two former Enron executives, the actions of the company's directors in a critical month in 2001 came under scrutiny during a cross-examination.
UK: British Court Backs Extradition of Three in Enron-Related Case
Associated Press
February 22nd, 2006
Three British bankers may be extradited to the United States to face Enron-related fraud charges, the High Court ruled on Tuesday in a ruling that was the first test case of laws introduced to speed the transfer of suspected terrorists.
NIGERIA: Nigerian oil industry helpless as militants declare war on Obasanjo
by Dino Mahtani
Financial Times
February 21st, 2006
Villagers in Okerenkoko, once a peaceful settlement along a creek in Nigeria's oil-producing delta region, have feared for weeks what a big military operation against a guerrilla insurgency could bring.
BOLIVIA: Bolivia Indicts Shady Oil Transnat
Prensa Latina
February 20th, 2006
Bolivia´s President Evo Morales is analyzing Monday with specialized officials the current situation of Andina Co., controlled by Spanish transnational Repsol which is accused of illegally trafficking petroleum.
US: Congressman Starts Inquiry of Windfall to Oil Companies
by Edmund L. Andrews
The New York Times
February 16th, 2006
A House Republican began a broad investigation on Wednesday of an Interior Department program that is expected to give billions of dollars in benefits over the next five years to companies that pump oil and gas on federal territory.
US: Skilling's Lawyer Portrays an Accuser as Out of Touch
by Alexei Barrionuevo
The New York Times
February 16th, 2006
A lawyer for Jeffrey K. Skilling, a former Enron chief executive, tried Wednesday to portray the head of the company's broadband unit as an out-of-touch manager who was criticized for his free-spending ways and did not even know how many employees were working under him.
US: Maryland Power Plants Linked to 700 Premature Deaths Per Year
Environmental News Service
February 15th, 2006
Nationwide, 700 premature deaths, 30,000 asthma attacks and 400 pediatric emergency room visits each year are linked to current pollution from six Maryland power plants, according to a new study released today by the Maryland Nurses Association (MNA).
by Edmund L. Andrews
The New York Times
February 14th, 2006
The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.
NIGERIA: Nigeria braces for outbreaks of unrest
by Dino Mahtani
The Financial Times
February 7th, 2006
The commander of Nigerias military operation in the oil-rich Niger delta has warned of more unrest there as Africas biggest oil producer and most populous nation heads towards national elections next year.
AFRICA: Mauritania and firm row over oil
BBC News
February 6th, 2006
Mauritanian leaders and Australia's Woodside Petroleum have still to reach agreement over contracts, a fortnight before an oil production deal starts.
WORLD: Shell Makes Record $23bn Profit
by Michael Harrison
The Independent
February 3rd, 2006
The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell defended itself yesterday against charges of profiteering at the expense of motorists and householders after announcing the biggest profit in UK corporate history.
US: 10 Enron Players: Where They Landed After the Fall
by staff
The New York Times
January 29th, 2006
KENNETH L. LAY and his second in command, Jeffrey K. Skilling, were the public faces of Enron, painting a rosy picture of strong profits and healthy businesses. But as the facts began to tumble out, in the fall of 2001, the company swiftly collapsed, taking with it the fortunes and retirement savings of thousands of employees.
VENEZUELA: Indigenous Demonstrators Protest Coal Mining
by Humberto Márquez
Interpress News Service
January 27th, 2006
Indigenous protesters from northwestern Venezuela marched Friday through the streets of Caracas, which is hosting the sixth World Social Forum (WSF), to protest plans for mining coal on their land.
US: Big Test Looms for Prosecutors at Enron Trial
by Kurt Eichenwald
The New York Times
January 26th, 2006
"For the government, if they lose the Enron case, it will be seen as a symbolic failure of their rather significant campaign against white-collar crime," said John C. Coffee Jr., a professor at Columbia Law School. "It will be seen as some evidence that some cases are too complicated to be brought into the criminal justice process."
US: Hard Times Haunt Enron's Ex-Workers
by Simon Romero
The New York Times
January 25th, 2006
For Angelique Chappell, a former administrative assistant at Enron, it all now seems like a mirage.
US: As Profit Soars, Companies Pay US Less for Gas Rights
by Edmund L. Andrews
The New York Times
January 23rd, 2006
At a time when energy prices and industry profits are soaring, the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters.
BOLIVIA: Bolivias Morales rejects US domination
by Hal Weitzman
The Financial Times
January 22nd, 2006
Evo Morales was sworn in on Sunday as Bolivias first indigenous president in a historic and emotional ceremony that set the tone for his new government, promising to move much the profits of Bolivia's natural resources to the people of Bolivia.
MALAYSIA: Dirty Dam Draws Dirty Smelters
by Anil Netto
Inter Press Service
January 19th, 2006
Transnational aluminium smelters, some teaming up with Malaysian partners, are beating a path to eastern Sarawak state with an eye to surplus power from the problem-ridden Bakun Dam.
US: Taking Enron to Task
by Carrie Johnson
Washington Post
January 18th, 2006
Sean M. Berkowitz and a small group of government lawyers will be in the spotlight in the Jan. 30 trial of Enron's former leaders. The case is the capstone in the cleanup after an era of business misconduct that left investors billions of dollars poorer. The outcome could shape the public's -- and history's -- judgment of how effective it was.
NIGERIA: Shell may pull out of Niger Delta after 17 die in boat raid
by Daniel Howden
The Independent (UK)
January 17th, 2006
The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell was considering pulling out of the volatile Niger Delta region yesterday after heavily armed militants stormed one of its facilities and killed at least 17 people.
US: Judge Sends Ex-Westar Energy CEO to Prison
Associated Press
January 17th, 2006
David Wittig, the former chief executive of Westar Energy Inc., was sent to federal prison Tuesday after a judge ruled he had violated terms of his release pending an appeal of his bank fraud convictions.
ECUADOR: Selling the Amazon for a Handful of Beads
by Kelly Hearn
January 17th, 2006
In the midst of an Amazonian oil boom, classified documents reveal deep links between oil companies and Ecuador's military.
US: Class-action case sought over Katrina oil spill
by Ellen Wulfhorst
January 13th, 2006
Attorneys argued in federal court on Thursday over whether homeowners whose property fell victim to an oil spill from Hurricane Katrina can band together and sue Murphy Oil Corp in a class-action lawsuit.
US: Prosecutors Shift Focus on Enron
by Alexei Barrionuevo
The New York Times
January 11th, 2006
Government lawyers who will try the case against Enron's former chief executives, Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, have signaled that they intend to spend less time befuddling jurors with talk of Enron's accounting.
BOLIVIA: Spanish energy giant Repsol says it respects international law
Agence France Presse
January 10th, 2006
Spanish energy giant Repsol-YPF said that it respects international law, in reaction to accusations that the company claimed to own part of Bolivia's gas reserves.
US: Moving Mountains
by Erik Reece
Orion Magazine
January 9th, 2006
It is the people of Appalachia who pay the highest price for the rest of the country's cheap energythrough contaminated water, flooding, cracked foundations and wells, bronchial problems related to breathing coal dust, and roads that have been torn up and turned deadly by speeding coal trucks.
US: Call It the Deal of a Lifetime
by Landon Thomas, Jr.
The New York Times
January 8th, 2006
It has been a wrenching professional and personal reversal for Michael Kopper, who three years ago became the first Enron executive to plead guilty to criminal charges and cut a deal with the government. Mr. Kopper was also the first high-ranking Enron employee to publicly admit to lying and stealing - in his case, more than $16 million - from the company.
US: Two Linked to Dynegy Scheme Are Given Shorter Prison Terms
Associated Press
January 6th, 2006
The two people who helped a former Dynegy Inc. executive hatch a fraudulent accounting scheme that landed him two dozen years behind bars will serve dramatically shorter prison terms.
US: Shell Trader, Unit Are Fined Over Bogus Oil Trades
by Chip Cummins
Wall Street Journal
January 5th, 2006
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined a top oil trader at Royal Dutch Shell PLC and one of the energy titan's trading subsidiaries a combined $300,000 for a series of bogus oil-futures trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
US: Four Years Later, Enron's Shadow Lingers as Change Comes Slowly
by Stephen Labaton
The New York Times
January 5th, 2006
Four years after the company's ignominious collapse, Enron's former top executives are about to head to a climactic criminal trial later this month, serving as a reminder that changes in the behavior of many American companies have been more muted than many once expected.
US: Enron Prosecutors, After Plea Bargain, Can Reduce Technical Jargon in Trial
by John R. Emshwiller
The Wall Street Journal
January 4th, 2006
The plea bargain last week by former Enron Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey gives federal prosecutors the chance to present a shorter and less technical case against former company Chairman Kenneth Lay and former President Jeffrey Skilling. The pair's trial on conspiracy, fraud and other charges is scheduled to start in Houston on Jan. 30.
US: Re-Sentencing Set for Ex-Dynegy Executive
Associated Press
January 4th, 2006
A former executive at energy company Dynegy Inc. whose 24-year prison sentence for accounting fraud was thrown out by a federal appeals panel should serve no more than five years, his attorney said in court papers.
US: Shell Subsidiary Agrees to Settle Charges
Associated Press
January 4th, 2006
US: U.S. says Skilling mislead the SEC
January 4th, 2006
Prosecutors intend to argue that former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling attempted to deceive the Securities and Exchange Commission in a deposition he gave soon after the company's bankruptcy about his reason for selling 500,000 shares of Enron stock, according to a motion filed in a Houston federal court Tuesday.
NIGERIA: Blood Flows With Oil in Poor Villages
by Lydia Polgreen
The New York Times
January 1st, 2006
For months a pitched battle has been fought between communities that claim authority over this village and the right to control what lies beneath its watery ground: a potentially vast field of crude oil that has caught the attention of a major energy company.
AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijan oil: a mixed blessing
Christian Science Monitor
December 30th, 2005
The corruption-prone country expects oil revenues to total $160 billion by 2025.
RUSSIA: In Russia, Pollution Is Good for Business
by Andrew E. Kramer
The New York Times
December 28th, 2005
One of the paradoxes of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change is that companies in Russia and other Eastern European countries, which are among the world's largest producers of greenhouse gases, are poised to earn hundreds of millions of dollars through trading their rights to release carbon dioxide into the air.
US: Former Top Enron Accountant Pleads Guilty to Fraud
by Simon Romero and Vikas Bajas
The New York Times
December 28th, 2005
The former chief accounting officer of Enron pleaded guilty today to a single felony charge of securities fraud and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors, giving a significant lift to the government's case against the two leading figures in the scandal over Enron's collapse.
VENEZUELA: State Gives Exxon an Ultimatum
by Greg Morsbach
BBC News
December 20th, 2005
US: Suit Filed Against BP, Exxon in Alaska
by Matt Volz
Associated Press
December 20th, 2005
An antitrust lawsuit filed against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs.
ARGENTINA: The War for Gold in Catamarca
by Darío Aranda
Página 12 Newspaper
December 18th, 2005
Water that is undrinkable. Air that is better left unbreathed. A community impoverished, living above mountains of gold. These are some of the contradictions of Andalgalá, a town of 17,000 inhabitants in Catamarca, Argentina, 240 kilometres from the provincial capital, home for ten years now to the largest gold and copper mine in the country, and one of the largest in the world.
ENRON: Ken Lay's Very Public Appeal
by Kate Murphy
December 14th, 2005
Soon heading to trial, the former Enron CEO implores -- before a wealthy crowd -- company employees to "stand up" for him.
NIGERIA: Oil and Misery
by Lydia Polgreen
The New York Times
December 10th, 2005
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