Bust-up between Aliyev and BP reveals corporate profiteering as Azeri oil peaks
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Oct 15, 2012
Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, gave a speech last week accusing oil company BP of “false promises” and “gross mistakes”. In a country where regime and corporation are closely intertwined – and almost symbiotic – what is going on behind the political theatre? Why the public outburst? Aliyev revealed that Azerbaijan had lost $8 billion in...
Exploring The Oil Road – Two Platform events in Bristol and London
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May 18, 2012
There are two Platform events coming up which explore themes in our forthcoming book The Oil Road by Mika Minio and James Marriott, due out in September. The first event is a talk in the Bristol Festival of Ideas – What if we left the oil in the ground? Taking place at Arnolfini on Sunday 20th...
“The Oil Road” – in search of a subtitle
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Mar 2, 2012
Platform has submitted a complete manuscript of “The Oil Road” to Verso; it’s gone to the copy-editors now and will be published in May (with a different cover!). But we’re still trying to pick a sub-title – do you have any suggestions? Here’s a blurb about the book, and we’ve copied some possible subtitles below....
European Commission proposes increase in powers to control energy resources abroad; Libya next on the agenda
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Sep 15, 2011
The European Commission has for the first time submitted proposals for a concerted public foreign energy policy – termed ‘External Energy Policy’ within Euro circles. The EU has been acting collectively to control oil & gas resources and transit routes for many years – financing pipelines with public funds, lobbying for access to African, Middle...
Wikileaks cables reveal BP cover-up in Azerbaijan
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Dec 23, 2010
New Wikileaks cables about another major offshore gas leak in the Caspian give a rare insight into how BP attempts to control the public narratives when it hits crisis and failure. Writing a book about the company’s Caucasus pipelines, we’ve been all over the region, digging for the truth behind these events. Now the sudden...
BG fined while villagers resist in Kazakhstan
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Feb 28, 2010
The Western consortium developing the enormous Karachaganak natural gas field in Kazakhstan was fined $21 million yesterday for excessive dumping waste. British BG, Italian Eni and American Chevron, the companies developing the field on the the border with Russia, were convicted of environmental violations in 2008 by a regional court. Analysts and reporters believe that the penalty...
Turkmen environmentalist jailed as EU builds relationship with regime
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Nov 2, 2009
Andrey Zatoka, environmentalist and civil society leader from Turkmenistan, was sentenced to five years in prison after being framed for assault in Dashovuz, Turkmenistan, on October 29, 2009. On October 20, 2009, Andrey Zatoka was arrested by the police in a Dashovuz bazaar, after he was attacked by an unknown man while buying groceries for...
BP keeps digging deeper under Caspian
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Aug 12, 2009
The main workhorse of Azeri oil production – the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field – will peak in 2010, due to BP and consortium members driving an aggressively fast extraction programme. As the revenues poured in over the last eight years, the state budget soared, covering military expansion, President Aliev’s opulent lifestyle and doubtful infrastructure projects including a...
