Egyptian businessman admits personal motivation for gas deal with Spain / Eni
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Feb 25, 2012
Businessman Hussein Salem – on the run from corruption charges in Egypt – admitted his personal & political motivations in signing Egypt’s controversial gas export deals with Israel (via pipeline) and Spain (via Damietta LNG), in discussion with Egyptian journalist Mohamed Heikal: “Yes I made gas deals with Israel. We have a lot of gas...
Mass environmental justice uprising engulfs Damietta on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast
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Nov 15, 2011
The popular movement against a Canadian petrochemical plant has forced the Egyptian government to shut down the Agrium-Mopco gas-fertiliser factory, after residents shut down highways, bridges and a deepwater port, and battled the Egyptian military in the street. Grainy photos and video-clips tweeted out – especially by Al-Jazeera’s @Mansourtalk – show locals standing up to...
Is this the future we want for Egypt?
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Nov 7, 2011
The fisherperson in the cartoon is asking “Is this the future that we want for Egypt? The company BP in Idku.”
Egyptian Oil Ministry protestors break through police barricade
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Oct 26, 2011
Yesterday hundreds of protesting petroleum ministry workers broke through police barricades, pushing towards the Egyptian Cabinet’s offices in downtown Cairo. Large workers’ protests take place every day, demanding contracts and a minimum wage of 1200 Egyptian pounds a month. Al Ahram English reported that on Tuesday
Royal Dutch Shell profiting from Sultan’s absolute rule in Oman
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Mar 5, 2011
Unrest has reached Oman, the usually “sedate” and “tranquil” Sultanate on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Inspired by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain, Omani youth took to the streets to challenge government corruption, cronyism, unemployment and a lack of democracy. Protests spread across the desert country, with police firing bullets and teargas from...
Oil, British foreign energy policy and Middle East repression
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Feb 24, 2011
British oil interests are tightly interlinked with our governments’ recent political and military support for Gaddafi’s regime. Libya’s oil reserves – the largest in Africa – long had Western companies drooling. Shell beat its competitors to the chase, signing a $1 billion gas contract in 2004 during Tony Blair’s first visit to Libya. After three...
Secret documents uncover UK’s interest in Libyan oil
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Sep 1, 2009
PLATFORM generated two articles in Sunday’s Observer that highlight the collaboration between the Foreign Office and Shell over Libya. The documents referred to show the deep and long-term foreign policy backing provided by the British government to Shell in its efforts to break into Libya. Corporate executives have easy access to the highest level of...
