London listed oil company at centre of Kazakh crackdowns
Blog post -
Dec 16, 2011
Today The Guardian reports that at least 10 people have been killed in violent clashes between police and oil workers in Zhanaozen, a small city in western Kazakhstan. Local oil workers have been protesting for higher wages and better working conditions throughout 2011. The oil and gas companies, among them KMG, (KazMunaiGaz) which is 39% owned...
Colombian army attacks striking BP workers
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Jun 10, 2010
Claire Hall from Espacio Bristol-Colombia describes how the Colombian army has joined in the repression of striking BP workers in Casanare. from Upside Down World: “A five month long mobilisation against BP in the Casanare region of Colombia has escalated after the Colombian army entered the BP installations with force this week and confronted workers who have been peacefully...
Stop harassment of Iraqi oil workers
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Apr 21, 2010
After weeks of industrial action in the southern oil fields in Iraq, management are trying to prevent the Refinery Workers Union from operating by sending four of its leaders to other workplaces. This is a standard management tactic in Iraq, and in the past has often meant sending union leaders to more hostile, violent areas of...
Say no to Shell’s slave sugar cane biofuel plans in Brazil
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Mar 3, 2010
Shell has just signed what could be the world’s largest biofuel deal ever – a $12 billion MoU with controversial Brazilian sugar came company Cosan. According to rainforest campaigners Rettet den Regenwald, the deal threatens to lead to deforestation in the Amazon, increased climate chaos and support Cosan in its continued use of slave labour. Here is...
14 Welsh harbour pilots could disrupt 25% of petrol & diesel imports
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Feb 18, 2010
According to the FT, industrial action by 14 harbour pilots at Milford Haven later this week could seriously disrupt supplies of oil and gas to the UK. The port includes Exxon’s RBS-financed South Hook LNG Terminal which imports gas from Qatar. The story highlights yet again the importance of projects like Workers Climate Action. Port strike risks...
Iraq: New contracts will undermine Iraqi independence
Blog post -
Nov 12, 2009
The mega-oil deals signed and pledged in Iraq in last week have been major news, marking another step by the oil majors back into a country that liberated itself from the “robbery and exhaustion practiced by the monopolistic oil companies” in 1972. But the full consequences of the agreements have been hard to untangle. BP and Chinese...
BP putting workers at risk in US
Blog post -
Sep 30, 2009
Even after BP’s refinery in Texas City exploded in 2005 killing 15 workers and injuring hundreds, the company continues to break the safety standards it promised to meet as part of a settlement agreement. Four workers have died in separate occasions since. Yet documents obtained by the FT’s Sheila McNulty show that the company continues to cut...
