Platform is hiring - Energy Policy Campaigner

Platform is hiring – Energy Policy Campaigner

This job is no longer available and is here for reference only. Energy Policy Campaigner: Summary Job Description Do you want to shift UK policy away from supporting destructive oil and gas projects and repressive dictatorships? Platform is a leading charity that combines arts, research and campaigning for social and environmental justice. We run global campaigns...
Energy security - why the fuss over two little words?

Energy security – why the fuss over two little words?

Kim Bryan is Media and Communications officer at the Centre for Alternative Technology, where Platform and PIRC co-hosted a seminar last week called “Energy Security – a toxic frame for progressives?” as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. Here she guest-blogs her thoughts on taking part in the seminar. Plans are afoot to...

European Commission proposes increase in powers to control energy resources abroad; Libya next on the agenda

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...

Oil corporations preying on Libyan oil – video with Greg Muttitt

“When Western powers look at the region, they talk about humanity and democracy, but they’re thinking about oil,” says Greg Muttitt, author of Fuel on the Fire, which examines oil and politics in occupied Iraq. “The great fear is that just as they did in Iraq they’ll create a democracy that serves British interests or...

Shell supports Syrian regime with $55 million during crackdown; one out of six Syrian tanks runs on Shell oil

Today, a Shell-chartered tanker is scheduled to dock in the Syrian port of Tartous. The Heidmar TBN will collect almost 600,000 barrels of crude oil purchased by Shell. The shipment, worth over $55 million, has been marketed to Shell by state company Sytrol, an integral part of Assad’s regime of power. Repression of the democratic uprising in Syria...

Blair envoy lobbied Iraq Prime Minister for BP 3 months after leaving post

New documents show holes in revolving door regulation New documents released by Greg Muttitt, author of Fuel on the Fire, today show that Tony Blair’s Iraq envoy, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, lobbied the Iraqi prime minister on behalf of BP just three months after leaving Iraq. On joining BP as special adviser in June 2004, Greenstock was...

Book Launch 23 May: Fuel on the Fire – Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq

Join PLATFORM and War on Want for an inspiring evening of debate and discussion for the exclusive book launch of Greg Muttitt’s gripping new book on Iraq and Oil. Time: Monday, May 23 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm Location: Khalili Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG Nearest tube: Russell Square View Larger Map Oil lies at the heart of...

Royal Dutch Shell profiting from Sultan’s absolute rule in Oman

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

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...

How BP made friends with Mu’ammar Gaddafi

On Monday, BP CEO Bob Dudley declared that “we remain committed to doing business” in Libya and stressed that offshore operations in the region were still open and continuing. That morning, stories of tanks crushing unarmed protestors in Benghazi and massacres by (British-built) sniper rifles had been front page news. As Dudley spoke, reports emerged of airstrikes targeting demonstrations...