Outsourcing explosions – a BP speciality?
Apr 23, 2010
The explosion on a BP rig off Louisiana on Wednesday will remind Americans of BP’s atrocious safety record. Eleven workers are missing and almost certainly dead, with seventeen injured after the “Deepwater Horizon” drilling rig blew up while drilling a deep well in the Gulf of Mexico. BP CEO Tony Hayward promised change when he took...
Stop harassment of Iraqi oil workers
Apr 21, 2010
After weeks of industrial action in the southern oil fields in Iraq, management are trying to prevent the Refinery Workers Union from operating by sending four of its leaders to other workplaces. This is a standard management tactic in Iraq, and in the past has often meant sending union leaders to more hostile, violent areas of...
BP’s ‘absentee landlords’ under pressure to stop tar sands
Apr 19, 2010
Yesterday, people from all over the country streamed into the Excel Conference Centre in the London Docklands to take part in the financial theatre that is the BP Annual General Meeting. One of the people who was protesting outside remarked that there was a “surprisingly low shareholder turnout of hedge fund managers in suits, and...
Shell exhibition at Science Museum downplays climate urgency but targets ‘special publics’
Apr 12, 2010
Shell sponsor high-profile exhibition on climate change at Science Museum. Good thing? Except that the exhibition backs down from the need for urgent action to deal with climate change. Chris Rapley, the museum’s director, went as far as stating that “The Science Museum will not state a position on whether or not climate change is real, driven...
Delta Activists Assaulted and Illegally Detained by Nigerian Police
Apr 9, 2010
Frontline human rights defenders in the Niger Delta suffered a brutal police attack on Monday 5th April, it emerged today in an Amnesty International statement. Activists from the Ogoni Solidarity Forum and Social Action were beaten, illegally detained without charge and denied access to lawyers and medical treatment. The text below is cross-posted from the Amnesty...
The Real Story Behind ‘Blood and Oil’
Mar 30, 2010
Viewers of the BBC2 action drama on the Niger Delta, ‘Blood and Oil’ may be shocked to discover that this murky thriller of hostages, soldiers, oil and conflict, has its roots in real events in the Delta. In particular, one of the darker chapters of former President Obasanjo’s repressive rule that went largely unreported… In...
‘Blood And Oil’: BBC Drama on the Niger Delta Crisis
Mar 29, 2010
The Niger Delta crisis is coming to an audience of millions as BBC 2 screen the long anticipated and award-winning drama, ‘Blood and Oil’ on prime time television. Guy Hibbert’s tense thriller (starring Naomi Harris (28 Days Later), Johdi May (Defiance) Patterson Joseph and David Oyelowo) follows two women as they investigate the circumstances that...
Shell Wreak Havoc in Nigeria And Head to Ghana
Mar 26, 2010
Shell is pushing for a more active role in Ghana’s vast new oil fields, which may hold over 500 million barrels of oil. With a legacy of turmoil in Nigeria crippling its supply, Shell was desperate to impress at an industry summit this week before Ghana’s Vice President Mahama and the Director of Ghana National...
Gas Flaring linked to Acid Rain: Climatologist Warns
Mar 25, 2010
Gas currently being flared in Nigeria’s oil fields is polluting the Niger Delta with a ‘huge quantity’ of toxins which are a major cause of acid rain, claims an international professor. The finding could overturn years of skepticism from oil companies and government officials, who regularly downplay the impact of flaring on communities. As the...
