Hail to the dockworkers! A Tale of Three Tankers – The Economic War, part 2
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Mar 10, 2022
You can track them still on MarineTraffic.com … the MV Seacod, the MV Boris Vilkitsky and the MV Pearl. Three ghost ships of the energy system, the spirits of the Economic War. All three of these vessels broke out of the fog that normally swathes the constant trade in oil and gas. All three neared...
As Shell issues profit warning, new CEO needs a change of Arctic direction
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Jan 17, 2014
At 07.00 this morning Shell issued a profit warning. Just twelve working days since taking up his post as new CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden has had to say “Our 2013 performance was not what I expect from Shell”. The company made $27.2bn in 2012, it looks likely to make only $16.8bn in 2013 – this...
The Arctic in New York – shareholders scrutinise Shell’s next move
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Jan 5, 2014
Mika Minio-Paluello, Anna Galkina and James Marriott travelled in North America as part of a tour over September and October to promote The Oil Road – Journeys from the Caspian to the City of London. The eighth of a series of blogs on the journey comes from New York… It was Maurice Bridgeman who really...
Holding Shell to account at the AGM
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May 23, 2012
Just returning from the Shell AGM in Den Haag, Holland feeling inspired and energised by the passion and courage of all those that worked to hold the board of the company to account – both in the Dutch meeting and in the parallel event (linked by video) in the Barbican in London. Outside the conference...
Out in the Cold – new report on Shell’s plans in the Arctic
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May 21, 2012
Shell’s Annual General Meeting tomorrow is unlikely to go calmly. The company’s problems range from anger over excessive executive pay to spills in the Niger delta. At this time, Platform, Greenpeace and FairPensions are putting to scrutiny offshore Arctic exploration as a key direction in the company’s strategy. The new report ‘Out in the Cold...
Live With It! a new iPhone app from Shell-apps.com
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May 14, 2012
With Arctic drilling imminent, significant expansion into the tar sands and over 50 years of damage in Nigeria, the case for targeting the oil giant Shell has rarely been greater. A new campaign launched this month by Friends of the Earth Netherlands is challenging Shell to clean up its oil spills in Nigeria’s oil rich...
“Shell no” to Arctic Drilling
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Apr 27, 2012
Guest post by Emilie Surrusco, Alaska Wilderness League Right now, Shell’s drill ships are on their way to the pristine Arctic Ocean off the coast of Alaska. And despite all the glossy advertising, promotional videos, and slick promises from Shell, the oil giant is proceeding with its plans to drill 10 exploratory wells – with...
Satellite images of Shell’s massive spill in Nigeria
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Dec 22, 2011
The Bonga oil field, one of Shell’s largest offshore oil facilities was shut down on Tuesday 20 December after a massive oil spill. The cause? It appears to be a combination of human error and / or equipment failure. What the BBC describes as “leak during a transfer of oil to a tanker” led to...
Russian prosecutors: Kolskaya rig was drilling illegally
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Dec 21, 2011
The oil rig Kolskaya, which capsized and sunk during a storm near Sakhalin on 18 December, had been drilling on the Kamchatka continental shelf illegally, according to the Russian paper Gazeta.ru. The Kamchatka regional environmental prosecutor had lodged a lawsuit against Gazflot (company commissioning the drilling, subsidiary of the Russian gas major Gazprom) for commencing...
More on Prirazlomnaya
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Nov 8, 2011
WWF Russia has just released a comparative analysis of a number of Gazprom’s projects, including the notorious Prirazlomnaya rig. On 6 September Gazprom held a press conference … practically in response to the publicity campaign by NGOs. At the conference, Gazprom Head of offshore technology Vladimir Vovk conceded that a finalised technical plan did not...
Tax breaks ‘crucial’ for Arctic oil
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Oct 24, 2011
On Friday 14th October, Texas governor and US presidential candidate Rick Perry unveiled his ‘jobs and energy’ policy which “resembles a wish list for the oil and gas industry” according to the New York Times. The plan, available online, involves scaling down the “job-killing” Environmental Protection Agency and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...
Prirazlomnaya: monstrous pioneer of Arctic drilling
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Sep 12, 2011
David Cameron today is taking UK oil chiefs on his trade mission to Russia to promote business links following the failure of the BP/Rosneft Arctic deal. Meanwhile, Russia’s first Arctic offshore oil drilling platform Prirazlomnaya has just been installed 60 miles off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, in the Pechora Sea. High-priority national project and...
