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Preventing an industrial tipping point
This article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web newsletter, issue 10. BP, Shell & the Canadian tar sands Under the pristine boreal forest in Northern Alberta lie the Canadian tar sands, a vast carbon time bomb that if ignited will dramatically increase the chance of passing a climate change tipping point. While a rational…
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Iraq oil on the block
The real significance of the Oil Ministry’s bid round July 2008 Published on niqash.org Also available in Arabic Last week saw the biggest step so far towards transferring Iraqi oil into the hands of foreign multinational companies, sparking renewed accusations that the US-UK war on Iraq was really motivated by an oil grab. The Oil Ministry announced on 30…
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Oil sell-off by stealth
Iraq’s oil service contracts are more than they seem 26 June 2008 By Greg Muttitt, Co-Director of PLATFORM Published on niqash.org Also available in Arabic and Kurdish Next Monday, the Iraqi federal government is set to sign oil development contracts with BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Total – their first since their 1925 concession was cancelled in the early 1970s.…
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Shell blasted on Iraq oil – ‘Plans risk more conflict’
Protest at annual shareholder meeting British oil giant Shell threatens to trigger greater conflict in Iraq with plans to control the development, production and depletion of Iraq’s oil reserves, campaigners warn today. This warning, from the coalition Hands Off Iraqi Oil, comes as Shell holds its annual meeting amid growing resistance to the company’s bid…
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No Oil Law in Sight – Opposition Intensifies
Eighteen months since its first deadline and a year since cabinet approval, Iraq’s controversial oil law is still not on the statute book. The last four months have seen a consolidation of protests worldwide over the Bush administration’s top benchmark. Opponents of the oil law and the economic occupation it represents, including oil unions and…
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Yasuni – Our Future in Their Hands?
This report was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web newsletter, issue 8. Ecuador proposes to claim compensation in exchange for leaving crude oil in the ground. Esperanza Martinez examines what this means for resource sovereignty. Oil, for countries that possess it, is often centre stage when it comes to issues of sovereignty. Invasions have been…
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The white man’s burden and ‘oil for peace’ in Iraq
Take up the White Man’s burden The savage wars of peace Fill full the mouth of Famine and bid the sickness cease. Rudyard Kipling, 1899 Pressure for Iraq’s controversial oil law intensified throughout the summer, with increasingly overt threats to topple the Iraqi government if it failed to deliver an oil law and other US…
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A game as old as empire
Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the…
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The oil and gas bank
A recent report from PLATFORM uncovers the climate impacts of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s identity as “The Oil & Gas Bank” – This feature article was first published in Platform’s Carbon Web Newsletter, Issue 7. The report ‘The Oil & Gas Bank – RBS & the Financing of Climate Change’ investigates RBS-NatWest’s role in fuelling climate change,…
