-
Shell guilty: Court in the Hague orders Shell to pay compensation over oil spill in Nigeria
It’s big news. For the first time, Shell has been found guilty in a court outside of the country in which it inflicted damage; in this case, in a court in the Hague for an oil spill in Nigeria. Shell will be forced to pay compensation to a farmer whose land and livelihood was ruined…
30 Jan 2013 admin -
Shell on trial – landmark ruling on oil spills due this Wednesday
This Wednesday a Dutch court will rule on whether Shell should clean up oil damage that destroyed a group of Nigerian farmers’ land in a landmark case that could lead the way for a spate of similar actions in the future. The farmers, whose land has been destroyed by oil from Shell pipelines, have travelled…
28 Jan 2013 admin -
The true story behind Channel 4’s ‘Secret State’ – RBS’s dirty deals
Sometimes Platform is really late off the mark, but luckily a friend in Liverpool gave us a nudge. Thanks Lena. WARNING – this blog post contains spoilers. Channel 4’s recent 4-part political thriller ‘Secret State’ has an oil and finance storyline, elements of which uncannily mirror some of Platform’s current and recent campaigns. The plot…
11 Dec 2012 jane -
Tate Members intervene at Tate AGM over BP sponsorship
A group of 15 fee-paying Tate members have sent a letter (see below) to the Tate Member’s council in advance of tonight’s Members’ AGM at Tate Modern asking questions about the controversial relationship between Tate and BP. At last year’s AGM, members of Liberate Tate handed over a petition of more than 8,000 people calling…
7 Dec 2012 admin -
A secret military subsidy – pirates and oil corps
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…
26 Oct 2012 admin -
BP partners with Rosneft, Russia’s top polluter – some background
BP confirmed today that it’s swapping its 50% stake in TNK-BP (which provided about a quarter of the company’s global output) for cash and shares in Rosneft, the Russian state-controlled oil company, becoming a nearly 20% shareholder in it as a result. The two companies have been looking for ways to partner up to exploit…
22 Oct 2012 anna -
BP’s Caucasus gas pipeline blows up, as conflict escalates along route
A blast on the Turkish section of BP’s South Caucasus Gas Pipeline has shut down fuel exports, putting a stop to gas exports from Azerbaijan to Turkey. The explosion took place in a forest between the villages of Yagbasan and Catag, in remote north-eastern Turkey, near the borders with Georgia & Armenia. The Turkish Ministry…
7 Oct 2012 admin -
Bowing to a dead dictator: pipelines, personality cults and the US Ambassador
Azeri democracy activists were enraged when in September, the new US Ambassador to Baku bowed down in front of the memorial to the late dictator Heydar Aliyev, father of the current dictator Ilham Aliyev. The State Department initially tried to claim that Richard Morningstar had only laid a wreath of flowers at the memorial to…
5 Oct 2012 admin -
Divide and fall? Total criticise Arctic oil drilling
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…
26 Sep 2012 admin
