Egyptian communities protest BP expansion plans

Egyptian communities concerned about a proposed BP gas plant on the Mediterranean coast have organised protests, including a sit-in on the site, road blockades and a raid on BP’s local office, as reported by Egyptian paper Al-Masry Al-Youm. The residents of Idku, east of Alexandria, are opposing plans to pump gas ashore from BP’s offshore...

Colombian army attacks striking BP workers

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...

BP & Shell offshore failures in North Sea endanger workers

As crude continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico and Tony Hayward can’t work out what he did “to deserve this”, it turns out the company is having problems with offshore operations in the North Sea as well. The British Health & Safety Executive has warned both both BP & Shell that they are failing to...

Stop harassment of Iraqi oil workers

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...

David vs Goliath – Colombian community stands up to BP

Update on the workers and community struggle against BP at Casanare in Colombia: The USO oil workers are back at work and BP has agreed to negotiate, but community mobilisations continue:   Movements, particularly in the Global North, could probably learn from the Casanare struggle’s close alliance between BP workers and local community and environmental campaigners. The interests of...

Colombian police repression of BP workers

On 15 February the notorious ESMAD ‘anti-strike’ police attacked a community and workers’ picket line by the Tauramena BP plant in Casanare, Colombia.   Three workers were hospitalised and several children affected heavily by tear gas. Workers at the BP plant at Tauramena, part of the Cusiana oil field in Casanare, Colombia have been protesting...

Iraq: New contracts will undermine Iraqi independence

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

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...

Iraqi Opposition to BP’s Rumaila Contract

Iraqi oil workers have come out in strong opposition to BP’s new contract for the super-giant Rumaila oil field, saying they will not allow foreign oil companies Signed in early July as part of the first bidding round for Iraq’s oil, the 20-year contract gives BP and Chinese oil companyCNPC significant control over production from Rumaila, which holds reserves...