oil industry

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BP Paper Trail Shows Many Warnings on Safety Shortcuts

Workers were pressured into not reporting safety problems

(Newser) - BP bosses can't claim they weren't warned that the company risked disaster if it didn't start obeying safety and environmental laws, according to internal memos an insider has leaked to ProPublica. A series of investigations, focusing on the company's Alaska operations, found that management, putting oil production far ahead of...

David Vitter Wants to Be BP's Best Friend

 David Vitter 
 Wants to Be BP's 
 Best Friend 
LIABILITY CAPS
Jun 2, 2010 8:25 AM CDT

David Vitter Wants to Be BP's Best Friend

And the Louisiana senator still loves offshore drilling, too

(Newser) - Here's an unusual way for a GOP senator facing re-election to court a conservative base he alienated by cavorting with DC prostitutes: Push to limit the liability of a company that just delivered what may be his state's worst-ever man-made disaster. That's what Louisiana's David Vitter is doing: Last week...

Arctic Drilling to be Suspended

No exploratory drilling until at least 2011

(Newser) - Shell is going to have to wait, baby, wait to get its hands on new sources of Arctic oil. The Obama administration plans to suspend exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean until 2011 at the earliest because of the problems exposed by the Gulf oil spill, a source tells AP...

Feds Let Big Oil Fill Out Own Inspection Forms

Regulators also took gifts, openly hustled for oil company jobs

(Newser) - Minerals and Management Service regulators accepted gifts from the oil companies they were supposed to be watching over, and allowed those companies to fill out their own inspection reports, according to a damning report from the inspector general, which found sweeping misconduct at the agency from 2005 to 2007. One...

BP's Safety Record Murky
 BP's Safety Record Murky 
May 9, 2010 10:15 AM CDT

BP's Safety Record Murky

Refinery blast, pipeline spill, safety violations

(Newser) - As the Gulf of Mexico turns into an oil-slicked environmental disaster, BP is quick to point the finger at Transocean, the owner and operator of the doomed Deepwater Horizon. But, as the New York Times reports, the oil giant itself has a history littered with spills, blowouts, safety violations, and...

Greenpeace Finds 'Kingpin of Climate Denial'

Little-known US oil company has spent $67M to foster doubt

(Newser) - A little-known private US oil company called Koch Industries has become the driving force behind the climate change denial industry, according to an investigative report from Greenpeace (full pdf here ). Koch funneled $25 million into groups opposed to climate change from 2005 to 2008—three times as much as...

Oil Giants Bend to Iraq's Terms
 Oil Giants 
 Bend to 
 Iraq's Terms 



HARD TIMES IN BIG OIL
Dec 1, 2009 10:35 AM CST

Oil Giants Bend to Iraq's Terms

War for oil hasn't been too lucrative for American companies

(Newser) - If the Iraq war was fought for oil, it’s done little to enrich American oil companies, which are just now striking deals to service the country’s fields—and at far worse terms than they’d hoped. Most companies balked at Iraq’s initial service contract offers, refusing to...

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

(Newser) - With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies...

Todd Palin Quits Oil Job
 Todd Palin Quits Oil Job 

Oct 3, 2009 6:28 AM CDT

Todd Palin Quits Oil Job

(Newser) - Another Palin calls it quits: Two months after Sarah stepped down as governor of Alaska, Todd has resigned from his oil field job on the North Slope. Todd Palin's resignation as a production operator for oil giant BP PLC was apparently effective September 18. As Palin fans await the release...

Minister Who Freed Lockerbie Bomber Has Bro in Oil Biz

Kenny MacAskill's brother has pitched oil business to Libya

(Newser) - The Scottish government minister who freed the Lockerbie bomber has a brother who works in the oil industry and has pitched oil business to Libya, reports the Wall Street Journal. Kenny MacAskill's brother, Allan, spent 20 years at BP, which admits that it lobbied for a prisoner-transfer agreement between the...

BP Discovers Huge Oil Store in Gulf of Mexico

Firm drills world's deepest oil well, finds 3B barrels

(Newser) - BP discovered a massive oil cache under the Gulf of Mexico after drilling the world’s deepest exploration well, Bloomberg reports. The discovery at Tiber Prospect may hold reserves equivalent to 3 billion barrels. In order to find it, BP engineers drilled to a total depth of 35,055 feet—...

'Bourgeois' Golf Courses Tee Off Chávez

Venezuela shutting down the links—that happen to be near oil

(Newser) - Hugo Chávez has gone after oil conglomerates and media companies, and now he's hitting the capitalist pigs where it hurts: at the golf course. The Venezuelan president is trying to shut down the country's best-known courses, which he believes are part of an anti-Marxist conspiracy, the Independent reports. "...

Shell Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

Family of Saro-Wiwa sues oil company in American court

(Newser) - Next week Royal Dutch Shell will finally appear in court to answer charges that it was complicit in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the author and oil company critic executed by Nigeria's former military regime in 1995. Saro-Wiwa's family accuses the oil company of "a systemic campaign of human...

Chavez Tightens Grip on Oil Industry

Venezuela to take control of oil service companies

(Newser) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is stepping up state control of his nation's oil industry, the BBC reports. The president has announced plans to seize the assets of some foreign oil contractors who threatened to stop work in protest over unpaid bills, and the country's national assembly has approved measures to...

Industry Muffled Own Scientists on Warming

Coal, oil, companies suppressed experts' findings for years

(Newser) - A coalition of industries linked to fossil fuels lobbied for more than a decade to cast doubt on global warming—while the companies' own scientists advised them that climate change was irrefutable, the New York Times reports. The Global Climate Coalition, financed by the oil, coal, and auto industries, conducted...

Oil Industry Squeezed as US Demand Tanks

(Newser) - Big oil execs, analysts, and government sources say a century-old American tradition is waning: after years of increasing oil consumption, US guzzling has peaked, they believe. Last year, demand plunged 7.1% for gas, diesel, and jet fuel—the biggest drop since 1950, when dependable records began. And major changes...

OPEC Prepares to Slash Output
 OPEC Prepares to Slash Output 
Dec 17, 2008 1:46 AM CST

OPEC Prepares to Slash Output

Saudis lead push for record cut to pump prices to $75 a barrel

(Newser) - OPEC ministers are expected to back the biggest reduction in oil production in the history of the cartel when they meet today, Reuters reports. The exporters widely support a cut of 2 million barrels a day. Oil prices neared $43 per barrel yesterday, down over $100 from July. Officals from...

Exxon's Tillerson Gets $4M Bonus

(Newser) - A year of flush oil prices is paying off nicely for Exxon Mobil chief Rex Tillerson. He will get a $4 million bonus this year and a 10% increase in salary next year to $2.06 million, Reuters reports. Tillerson also will receive 225,000 shares of restricted stock. In...

Stevens' Fate in Jury's Hands
 Stevens' Fate in Jury's Hands 
Oct 21, 2008 10:21 PM CDT

Stevens' Fate in Jury's Hands

Deliberations to begin Wednesday

(Newser) - The jury in the corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens will begin deliberating tomorrow, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Prosecutors urged the jury to use common sense to conclude that $250,000 in gifts received by the powerful senator were bribes. His defense counsel told jurors that evidence against...

As Alaska Melts, Palin Plays Big Oil Denial Game
As Alaska Melts, Palin Plays Big Oil Denial Game
OPINION
Sep 24, 2008 10:13 AM CDT

As Alaska Melts, Palin Plays Big Oil Denial Game

Would-be veep as big an industry stooge as Cheney, says RFK Jr

(Newser) - Alaska is melting, but Sarah Palin doesn’t believe man’s to blame. Then again, McCain’s VP pick is also skeptical about evolution, “which is like not believing in gravity,” writes Robert F. Kennedy Jr in the LA Times. Kennedy recalls his childhood, when Virginia had ski...

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