Archive for February, 2008
BP to cut 5000 jobs as record oil price cuts profits by 1/5
BP is to cut 5,000 jobs after announcing that its profits plummeted by more than a fifth in 2007, a record year for the price of oil.
BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, said yesterday that he would deepen a restructuring aimed at righting the oil giant and branded its performance, which fell short of analyst forecasts, [...]
Oil fuels ethnic violence in Chad
(CNN) — The violence in Chad has opened up a new conflict next to Sudan’s wartorn Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have died since early 2003 and 2.5 million people have been chased into refugee camps.
A $300 million international aid mission supporting millions of people in the north African country is now at [...]
‘Scandal’ revisits Big Oil’s power grab
NONFICTION | Author keeps devious players, tangled turns from becoming tiresome
Jesse Smith, a member of what Laton McCartney calls the Ohio Gang of “swindlers, sharpies, con men, and extortionists” who turned sleazy criminality into an art in the Republican administration of President Warren G. Harding, used to go around cheerfully singing, “My God, [...]
Iraq Cancels Oil Deal With Austria OMV
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq has halted oil exports to Austria’s OMV, the leading oil and gas group in central Europe, to protest a deal with the self-ruled Kurdish region, a government official said Saturday.
The company joins South Korea’s SK Energy in being cut off because of deals with the Kurds that are not sanctioned by [...]
Syriana (movie)
If you haven’t seen Syriana yet, you should.
Oil fields of plenty?
Despite making £93m a day, Royal Dutch Shell has not impressed the markets, concerned by resource nationalism and rising extraction costs.
If understatement were an art, Jeroen van der Veer would be given a seat among the masters. In unveiling the largest-ever annual profit for a UK or Dutch company yesterday, the chief executive of Royal [...]
Suit Seeks to Block Oil Search Off Alaska
A coalition of environmental organizations and Inupiaq native groups filed suit in federal court in Anchorage on Thursday to force the Interior Department to do a new analysis of the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea, off northwestern Alaska.
The plaintiffs hope to stop plans to develop 29 million acres, which [...]
Oil Falls on Economy Concerns; OPEC May Maintain Output
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil fell for a second day in New York on concern that a recession in the U.S. may curb fuel demand in the world’s biggest energy-consuming nation and prompt OPEC to maintain production targets.
Oil fell 1.2 percent, extending yesterday’s 3 percent decline, after a report showed the number of Americans [...]
Shell’s Profit Soars as High Oil Prices Offset Production Decline
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, reported Thursday that fourth-quarter profit rose 60 percent because of the sale of some assets and higher oil prices.
Net income was $8.47 billion, up from $5.28 billion in the period a year ago.
Sales rose to $107 billion from $75.5 billion despite a fall in oil [...]
Oil spill expert was delayed in reaching Cosco Busan accident
A key investigator was unable to get to the Cosco Busan for hours after the ship hit the Bay Bridge on Nov. 7 because the state agency responsible for preventing and responding to oil spills did not have a boat to take him there.
The pollution specialist who eventually corrected early, lowball estimates of the spill’s [...]
