And swooping closer to the ground, there are clear signs of oil spills and fire remains on the land, which have charred and tarred the environment.Shell has an infamous reputation for spilling oil in Niger Delta after 44 years of polluting leaks from its 6,000km network of pipes in the region, which some local communities claim have destroyed their fishing and farming livelihoods.But since the military dictatorship ended in 1998, a new source of oil spills has emerged. Locals and organised crime syndicates have been stealing oil by sawing into the pipes and siphoning it off in an often messy process known as bunkering. And the practice is on the increase."They are destroying every part of the forest – look they've just started operating there," ... Continue reading →
The group said it was selling its 60% stake in Comgas to Brazil’s Cosan as part of a $5 billion disposal programme to reduce BG’s reliance on “downstream” activities, such as distribution and power generation, so it can increase its exposure to more lucrative “upstream” oil and gas exploration.BG’s strategy was given credence by the group’s first-quarter profit growth, which was fuelled by a combination of high oil and gas prices and a 5% rise in hydrocarbon production to 670,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.The company’s liquefied natural gas business also played a key role in BG’s profits growth, with strong demand from Asia pushing the unit’s first-quarter operating profit up by 42% to $812 million. LNG demand from Japan was particularly strong, hitting ... Continue reading →
Last month, Canada announced it was scrapping its penny. Since then, a long-standing campaign to abolish the US penny – the 1 cent coin – has developed new momentum; and in Russia, too, the central bank is reported to have been pushing for the 1 kopek piece to be removed from circulation. Now a few brave voices are suggesting that our own smallest coin should be put out of its misery – just 41 years after coming into the world in its present, decimal form.Research suggests that a quarter of Britons would happily get rid of copper coins – while a similar proportion admit to simply hoarding them in jars, sofa-backs and unwieldy piles.The lower echelons of coin society are particularly scorned by younger people, ... Continue reading →
Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire chief executive of the Russian aluminium giant Rusal, appeared to dismiss the prospect of arch-rival Viktor Vekselberg besting him in an arbitration case heading for London yesterday. Mr Vekselberg, who quit his job as chairman of Rusal last month after a disagreement with its 47.4 per cent shareholder, Mr Deripaska is bringing a case against his former boss, his former company and Glencore, the commodities giant.In his capacity as co-head of Sual Partners, the investment firm which owns 15.8 per cent of Rusal, Mr Vekselberg alleges that a £29bn, six-year deal in which Rusal will supply Glencore with aluminium and alumina was agreed without his consent, violating his firm's right to a veto.However, Mr Deripaska yesterday said it was a good ... Continue reading →
Two of the world's biggest mining companies endured a barrage of protests yesterday, as a broad coalition of unions, individuals, social and environmental groups from as far afield as South Africa and Mongolia travelled to London for Rio Tinto and Anglo American's annual meetings. First up was Rio Tinto, where protesters wearing cardboard gold medals labelled "Don't let Rio Tinto tarnish the Olympics" greeted the shareholders. The protesters are angry that the miner is a key sponsor of the 2012 Olympics, arguing that its environmental record makes a mockery of the claim these will be the greenest Games ever. The company is providing the gold, silver and bronze for the Games' 4,700 medals – a total of eight tonnes – from its mines in Salt ... Continue reading →
Part of the euphoria was relief that the Chancellor hadn't sprung another nasty surprise, as he did last year by slapping a multi-billion pound windfall tax on the UK oil and gas industry out of the blue.But, instead, they got a pleasant surprise this time, as George Osborne announced new tax breaks on small and deepwater fields in the North Sea. He sweetened the day further by giving would-be investors in ageing oil fields the clarity they so desperately needed, guaranteeing hefty tax relief on the costs of decommissioning old infrastructure.Describing the Budget as a "turning point", Malcolm Webb, the chief executive of the industry body Oil & Gas UK, declared that the new measures would prompt up to £50bn of extra investment over the ... Continue reading →
Click HERE to view graphicComing days after the energy suppliers RWE and E.ON abandoned plans to build new nuclear power plants in the UK – and with the high-profile failure of the previous, abandoned, CCS competition in October still looming large – the Government is only too aware of the difficulty and importance of this project.CCS refers to the technology used to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground and will be essential to the Government's legally binding commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, compared with 1990 levels.In October, the winning consortium in the previous £1bn competition collapsed after the Scottish-Power-led group that planned to build a CSS system at the Longannet power station in Scotland could not agree funding ... Continue reading →
