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Show us the money – will Dodd Frank force oil companies to reveal payments
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…
28 Aug 2012 admin -
Oil companies gave cash and contracts to militants and warlords in Nigeria
Shell and Chevron have funded armed militant groups in the volatile Niger Delta region of Nigeria since at least 2003, according to oil-industry sources and US embassy cables. Both oil companies have also paid ‘protection’ money to other hostile groups for decades. Platform’s new briefing, as reported in the Daily Mail, is called Fuelling the Violence: Oil…
26 Aug 2012 admin -
AUDIO-FEST! Shell security spending hits the global airwaves
Here’s a selection of interviews with Platform on Shell’s security spending in Nigeria. Packing these – and these – into a single day was a logistical challenge to say the least. But doing so meant reaching an audience of millions across several continents. Hitting the radio waves was particularly important for us, since the source…
25 Aug 2012 admin -
Dutch MPs investigate Shell’s “irresponsible and unacceptable” security spending
Following Platform’s publication of leaked internal data on Shell’s security spending in Nigeria and beyond, several Dutch MPs have submitted official questions to the Netherlands government, probing Shell’s record on human rights abuses. If only UK MPs would emulate their Dutch colleagues, we may actually see a measure of corporate accountability. Below is a rough…
24 Aug 2012 admin -
Oil money and the Academy
A guest blog post by Dr Alice Bell, an academic and writer interested in relationships between science and the public. She blogs at https://alicerosebell.wordpress.com/ and you can follow her on Twitter @AliceBell BP is to invest £64 million to set up an International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM) based at the University of Manchester. It…
23 Aug 2012 admin -
Dutch politicians investigate Shell on Nigeria allegations
Business Day – August 23, 2012
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Hold Shell to account for its human rights abuses in Nigeria
Dear friends, Over the past 48 hours, Shell’s active role in human rights abuses in Nigeria has been exposed in a new Platform briefing: Dirty Work: Shell’s Security Spending in Nigeria. The briefing analyses financial data from Shell’s security department, leaked to Platform by a concerned ex-Shell manager. The leaked data covers three bloody years of…
22 Aug 2012 admin -
Shell Security Spending Data Mapped on Guardian Data Blog
Platform and the Guardian Data Blog have mapped Shell’s global security spending for 2008. The graphic is based on leaked internal financial data. You can find Platform’s full briefing on this issue here.
22 Aug 2012 admin -
An “unusual travel book” along a pipeline
A Guest Blog by John de Falbe of Sandoe’s Books. I just received an early copy of “The Oil Road: A Journey from the Caspian Sea to the City of London” by Platform’s James Marriott and Mika Minio-Paluello, published by Verso, due out in mid-September. I read it in manuscript: it’s a brilliant analysis of…
21 Aug 2012 admin