Guardian – Unions argue that abusive behaviour and racism are widespread and wants shake-up of system in light of worsening safety record. Transocean, the American rig owner at the centre of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has been accused of compromising safety in the North Sea by “bullying, harassment and intimidation” of its staff. The allegations, in a damning report by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) seen by the Guardian, will deeply embarrass Transocean, which on Tuesday appears before a House of Commons investigation into the lessons to be learnt from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Read Article
National Post-A study released on Monday shows that the oilsands industry increases the concentrations of dangerous metals, such as mercury, in locations downstream of development. National or provincial guidelines for the protection of aquatic life were exceeded for seven of these metals: cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, silver and zinc -Read Article
Bloomberg – The U.S. ended a corruption probe into oil-and-gas explorer Kosmos Energy LLC without filing charges after the company was reported by a partner for possible bribery related to the development of Ghana’s offshore Jubilee field, according to a May 12 U.S. Justice Department letter obtained by Bloomberg News. Ghana is pressing ahead with its own criminal inquiry into alleged corruption in the development of the field, Attorney General Betty Mould-Iddrisu said in an interview this week. Read Article
BBC – Four of the “big six” UK energy suppliers are to be investigated amid concerns of mis-selling to customers, the regulator has announced. Npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy, and EDF Energy all face questions over face-to-face and telephone sales of energy contracts. Ofgem said it had received information from a variety of sources suggesting they could have breached new rules. The quartet said they would work with Ofgem on the investigation. Read Article
AP-Another oil rig exploded and caught fire Thursday off the Louisiana coast, spreading a mile-long oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico west of the site of BP’s massive spill. All 13 crew members were rescued. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform. Firefighting vessels were battling the flames -Read Article
Bloomberg – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ crude-oil output fell in August to a seven- month low, led by Iraq, where production was hobbled by a pipeline bombing, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Production slipped 75,000 barrels, or 0.3 percent, to an average 29.15 million barrels a day, the lowest level since January, according to the survey. Output by members with quotas, all except Iraq, dropped 5,000 barrels to 26.805 million, 1.96 million above their target. Iraqi output dropped 70,000 barrels, or 2.9 percent, to 2.345 million this month, the biggest decrease in OPEC. It was the lowest level since April. The Persian Gulf nation was the group’s third-largest producer in August. Read Article
AFP-Wildfires have cost Russia 300 billion dollars in forest loss, environmentalists said on Thursday, explaining the scale of the disaster by Vladimir Putin’s “absurd” changes to forestry law. The economic damage amounts to 25,000 dollars per hectare (2.4 acres), or at least 300 billion dollars, according to estimates based on the market value of timber and the cost of reforestation, said Alexei Zimenko, general director of the Biodiversity Conservation Centre. “The figures are completely astronomical,” Zimenko told a news conference, adding that they did not include several factors, such as the loss of wildlife like insects and rare birds and animals -Read Article
National Affairs – The mining sector almost doubled its profits in the June quarter while earnings in the rest of the economy went backwards. The mining sector reaped 40 per cent of all company pre-tax profits in the June quarter, although it accounts for less than 7 per cent of the economy. Soaring prices for iron ore and coal boosted its earnings by $9 billion to $19.5bn. “The economy is awash with cash from the mining boom,” RBS chief economist Kieran Davies said. He said the mining profits would surge again in the September quarter before easing in line with some reductions in contract export prices. Read Article
Wall Street Journal – An agreement signed by the administration of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq with German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) to source gas from the area to feed the planned Nabucco pipeline is illegal, the federal Iraqi oil ministry said. Read Article
NY Times-In a remote reach of the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 200 miles from shore, a floating oil platform thrusts its tentacles deep into the ocean like a giant steel octopus. The $3 billion rig, called Perdido, can pump oil from dozens of wells nearly two miles under the sea while simultaneously drilling new ones. It is part of a wave of ultra-deep platforms -Read Article
DailyFinance-The BP (BP) oil spill may be over, but controversy over the company’s use of toxic oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico is still going strong. Although BP allegedly stopped using the chemicals more than a month ago, area residents claim it is still spraying Corexit, a chemical dispersant, from airplanes and boats -Read Article
Oil Price – It looks like the smart money these days is found in China. While American investors have been scrambling over each other to buy more Treasury bonds at historically low yields, China has begun quietly unloading some of its own enormous holdings. In June, the Middle Kingdom sold $21.2 billion of paper, reducing its net long to $839.7 billion. This is little more than 10% of the total $8.18 trillion in federal debt that Uncle Sam has outstanding. Read Article
The Australian-THE company behind last year’s Montara oil spill off the Kimberley coast faces a multi-billion-dollar claim from the Indonesian government. Officials from Jakarta have held negotiations in Perth this week with the Australian subsidiary of Thai-owned explorer PTTEP over the spill, in which thousands of barrels of oil and condensate poured into the Timor Sea and spread into Indonesian waters- Read Article
Wall Street Journal – Seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s petroleum industry shows signs of living up to the potential that American planners hoped for at the start of the military operation, a potential boost to the war-ravaged country’s economic recovery. After fits and starts, Iraq’s oil production has rebounded to pre-war levels. The government thinks the field-development deals it has handed out to international companies are on the way to boosting output significantly. With Iraq depending on oil exports for some 90% of its government revenue, that is expected to provide a broader boost to an economy that is already benefiting from renewed growth and tame inflation. Read Article
BBC-Brazil’s government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam. After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium -Read Article
Guardian – BP has been forced to abandon hopes of drilling in the Arctic, currently the centre of a new oil rush, owing to its tarnished reputation after the Gulf of Mexico spill. The company confirmed tonight that it was no longer trying to win an exploration licence in Greenland, despite earlier reports of its interest. “We are not participating in the bid round,” said a spokesman at BP’s London headquarters, who declined to discuss its reasons for the reverse. Read Article
The Guardian-A three-year investigation by the United Nations will almost entirely exonerate Royal Dutch Shell for 40 years of oil pollution in the Niger delta, causing outrage among communities who have long campaigned to force the multinational to clean up its spills and pay compensation. The $10m (£6.5m) investigation by the UN environment programme (UNEP), paid for by Shell, will say that only 10% of oil pollution in Ogoniland has been caused by equipment failures and company negligence -Read Article
Reuters – Jaleel Jabr al-Fartusi has worked his acreage near the oil hub of Basra since 1970 but could lose it in Iraq’s post-war rush for the black gold that lies below the plot he harvests for tomatoes and cucumbers. Contracts awarded to global oil firms that could boost Iraq’s production capacity to 12 million barrels per day from 2.5 million now are a possible lifeline for a country left in ruins by decades of war, sanctions and economic decline. Read Article
The Guardian-Cairn Energy has confirmed that it has discovered gas and oil-bearing sands off the coast of Greenland in a move that will heighten fears of environmental campaigners that the Arctic is set to become the scene of the world’s last great dash for oil. Greenpeace’s ship Esperanza is already in the area, protesting against the actions of Cairn Energy, the first company permitted to drill for oil in the sensitive environment -Read Article
Reuters- Poor farming practices, lack of water management, deforestation and climate change are turning vast stretches of the Earth into barren deserts, the United Nations said on Monday. Launching a 10-year campaign to halt the advance of deserts, the U.N. environment programme (UNEP) said land degradation in dry places had affected 3.6 billion hectares (8.9 billion acres) — a quarter of the world’s land area — and a billion people -Read Article
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series: A Greenpeace aerial survey reveals an area of deforestation in Sumatra stripped for pulp and palm oil plantations and logging. Photographer: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images
BBC – Self-cleaning technology developed for lunar and Mars missions could be used to keep terrestrial solar panels dust free. Dust deposits can reduce the efficiency of electricity generating solar panels by as much as 80%. The self cleaning technology can repel dust when sensors detect concentrations on the panel’s surface have reached a critical level. Read article
Deutsche Welle – Researchers say they have come up with a new way to prove where coltan samples came from. That could allow companies and refineries to purchase African coltan knowing that it did not come from a conflict area. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the world began to wake up to the reality of “blood diamonds,” or diamonds mined in regions of sub-Saharan Africa used to fund violent conflicts, especially in Liberia, Angola and Sierra Leone. Read article
Guardian – BHP Billiton’s £28bn hostile bid for Canada’s Potash Corporation sets the scene for one of mining’s biggest takeover battles. But this is more than a clash between multinationals intent on self-aggrandisement. Certainly, the usual arguments are wheeled out by the predator about diversification, synergies and the prospect of fatter profits, while the target company complains about the offer price being pitched too low. But behind the rhetoric is a bidding war that lays bare the global struggle for resources on a planet struggling with water and food shortages, overpopulation and pollution. Read Article
Gulf Oil Spill and Seafood Safety Government Panel, House Committee Energy & Commerce, Energy and Environment, August 19, 2010:
Edward Markey (D-MA), Subcommittee Chairman
Bill Lehr, Senior Scientist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin., Response and Restoration.
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Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series: A Greenpeace aerial survey reveals an area of deforestation in Sumatra stripped for pulp and palm oil plantations and logging. Photographer: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images
