Even oil dictators need a social license to operate – Aliyev’s cultural spending spree
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May 16, 2013
Whether it’s BP’s sponsorship of the Tate galleries, Shell’s funding for the Southbank Centre or Tullow Oil’s controversial deals with Sunderland football club oil company sponsorship of the arts is a familiar phenomenon. But what about oil dictators? Do they also need a social license to operate? What kinds of institutions would they throw money...
The price of gas: imports, repression and fuel poverty
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Feb 21, 2013
In a deplorable attack on the right to protest energy giant EDF is attempting to sue 21 activists for £5mn in a civil action. The No Dash for Gas campaigners occupied West Burton gas power station for 7 days by scaling two of the three 91m high cooling towers, brave people. They are going to...
BP in Algeria – following the hydrocarbons, regardless of the dangers
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Jan 30, 2013
The recent attack on a gas plant in Algeria is a horrible reminder of the costs involved when companies relentlessly pursue oil and gas extraction in conflict regions. 38 workers were killed during the violence. Since the crisis there has been a lot of speculation about what it means for security spending in the region....
‘No more money for arms deals’ – but what about fossil fuels?
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Dec 3, 2012
Last week, a cross-party inquiry called for Parliament to review the use of public money to support arms exports. The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on international corporate responsibility said Parliament should debate introducing a ‘prohibition list’ of projects that the Government refuses to underwrite. They suggested arms sales should be at the top of it....
A secret military subsidy – pirates and oil corps
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Oct 26, 2012
New Internationalist featured a blog from Platform on our new briefing A Secret Subsidy: Oil companies, the Navy and the response to piracy. Here’s what we wrote: This week the Combating Piracy Conference has been taking place in London, behind closed doors. This industry-organised event brings together representatives from European Union, NATO and oil and...
Divide and fall? Total criticise Arctic oil drilling
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Sep 26, 2012
As Andy Rowell wrote this morning, “this is big news”. Total are the first major oil company to publicly state that companies should not be drilling for oil in the Arctic. A divide amongst the oil majors will only increase pressure on companies, like Shell, who despite having to abandon this years drilling plans, still...
“An unexpectedly engaging tale” – The Oil Road reviewed in the FT
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Sep 24, 2012
This weekend the Financial Times featured a great essay by Ed Crooks on some accounts of the oil industry. We were thrilled that Crooks led with Fuel on the Fire and Platform’s new book The Oil Road, as well as Jeff Rubin’s The Big Flatline. Fuel on the Fire, published in 2011, reveals the oil...
MPs find government support for Arctic drilling ‘reckless’
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Sep 20, 2012
The UK government’s support for Arctic Oil drilling was labelled ‘reckless’ today by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC). The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been quietly supporting oil companies’ Arctic ambitions but this is the first time there has been public scrutiny of the department’s actions in relation to Arctic drilling. The Committee published...
Show us the money – will Dodd Frank force oil companies to reveal payments
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Aug 28, 2012
Last Wednesday oil and gas lobbyists had a very bad day in the office when new US laws were introduced requiring the extractives sector to publish the payments they make to host governments. Industry groups had been aggressively lobbying to water down the regulations and succeeded in delaying their introduction by 16 months. But last...
Que Sera Sera: the UK Government and Arctic oil
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Jul 11, 2012
Last week ministers appeared in front of the Environmental Audit Committee to defend their position on Arctic oil extraction. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Polar Regions Unit states that while it is concerned with “the effects of climate change on the Arctic” they also recognise “the potential of the Arctic to strengthen energy security” –...
Piracy – Don’t believe the Hype
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Jun 14, 2012
An article published on Maritime Executive's website last week claimed that “pirate attacks against commercial ships, especially by Somalia and Africa's east coast, are becoming increasingly violent and frequent”. Quoting the International Maritime Organisation, the article stated that global piracy reached its peak in 2011. But NATO figures, published in January, paint a rather different picture....
Planes, claims and Arctic extraction
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Jun 1, 2012
In April the Canadian House of Commons passed an 'austerity' budget that included the loss of 19,200 public sector jobs, cutting federal programs by $5.2 billion per year and raising the retirement age from 65 to 67. Yet Canada is significantly less austere when it comes to their military spending. This week it was announced...
