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Oil company mega-profits and the dwindling public purse
Yesterday, The Observer ran a story about George Osborne promising to crack down on multinationals avoiding tax in some of the world’s poorest countries. Anger over corporate tax avoidance at a time of massive cuts to public spending has placed the issue on the political agenda, especially since widespread popular protest sparked by UK Uncut. The money…
18 Feb 2013 admin -
Has RBS stopped financing the tar sands? (Spoiler: No)
Last week RBS chairman Philip Hampton took part in a live Q&A session on the Guardian in response to the Libor-rigging scandal. One of the questions that was put to Hampton by a reader was How do you continue to justify continued your role in financing the Canadian tar sands, arguably a greater crime than…
12 Feb 2013 admin -
Another storm for Shell highlights risks in financing Arctic oil & gas exploitation
On Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year when in southern Alaska there’s only a dull half-light for a handful of hours, Shell’s immense drilling rig Kulluk was dragged out to sea from Dutch Harbour, bound for the port of Seattle. This 28,000 tonne machine was being pulled past the Aleutian Islands though worsening…
16 Jan 2013 james -
Want to understand the routes of corporate power? Read ‘The corporation that changed the world’
Whether it’s Google, Amazon, Starbucks using legal loopholes to avoid corporation tax; Apple’s subcontractors’ deathly abuse of workers in China; the ongoing call for justice from Bhopal over Union Carbide; Shell, BP’s activities in numerous vulnerable oil-affected communities; the bailout of RBS and Lloyds/TSB as ‘too big to fail’; or G4S taking over running sections of…
21 Dec 2012 jane -
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 -
‘No more money for arms deals’ – but what about fossil fuels?
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.…
3 Dec 2012 admin -
RBS finances Tullow’s drilling in Ghana
Tullow Oil Plc has secured a finance deal with a number of banks including the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland. The company says the $3.5m debt refinancing will in part be used for its operations in Ghana. Platform has watched the developments in Ghana closely. Amongst other concerns, Tullow has continued to flare…
15 Nov 2012 admin -
The Russian roulette: Rosneft, BP, and the unknowns of Russian politics
TNK-BP, the British giant’s 50% joint venture with a group of Russian oligarchs, was bringing in about quarter of the firm’s production, and a lot of its political problems. BP’s solution: swap its shares in TNK-BP for cash and a near 20% stake in Rosneft, Russian state-owned company run by Igor Sechin, one of Vladimir…
7 Nov 2012 anna -
Hobbling the ‘dash for gas’ – the West Burton occupation
A big, bombastic huzzah for the 20 climate activists that infiltrated and occupied West Burton Power Station this morning. This is the first of a new generation of some 20 gas fired plants that the government are planning on building, and represents a ‘line in the sand’ of climate change and energy policy much in…
29 Oct 2012 admin
