BP settles $7.8bn Gulf of Mexico oil spill claims

BP has reached definitive agreements with more than 100,000 private plaintiffs to resolve claims for economic, property and medical damages resulting from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill

The Telegraph | 18 Apr 2012

Friday marks the two-year anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: Reuters

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Fuel to Burn: Now What?

The reversal of fortune in America’s energy supplies in recent years holds the promise of abundant and cheaper fuel, and it could have profound effects on what people drive, domestic manufacturing and America’s foreign policy

By JAD MOUAWAD | The New York Times | April 10, 2012

Jesse Lenz

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Out of Africa (and Elsewhere): More Fossil Fuels

The world’s largest energy companies have big plans for Mozambique

By MARK SCOTT | The New York Times | April 10, 2012

A rig near the village of Lesniowice in Poland, where Chevron has been exploring for shale gas. Kacper Pempel/Reuters

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How to Start Your Own Power Company, Stop Coal and Nukes, and Transform Your City

2011 Goldman Prize winner Ursula Sladek discusses how she became an unwitting energy mogul -- and a global environmental hero

By Sven Eberlein | AlterNet |March 28, 2012

Photo Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

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Indonesia opposition parties block fuel price hike

Leading Indonesian political parties said on Friday they will oppose a government plan to raise fuel prices unless oil prices climb further, dealing a blow to the ruling party's efforts to control a swelling budget deficit in Southeast Asia's largest economy

Reuters | Mar 30, 2012

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Global oil risks in the early 21st century

The Deepwater Horizon incident demonstrated that most of the oil left is deep offshore or in other locations difficult to reach. Moreover, to obtain the oil remaining in currently producing reservoirs requires additional equipment and technology that comes at a higher price in both capital and energy. In this regard, the physical limitations on producing ever-increasing quantities of oil are highlighted, as well as the possibility of the peak of production occurring this decade

by Dean Fantazzini, Mikael Höök, and André Angelantoni | Mar 27 2012 by The Oil Drum in Energy Bulletin | Mar 27 2012

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End of coal power plants? EPA proposes new rules

The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed the first-ever standards to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants -- a move welcomed by environmentalists but criticized by some utilities as well as Republicans, who are expected to use it as election campaign fodder

By msnbc.com Staff | MSNBC | March 27, 2012

This coal-fired power plant is used by the city of Chicago, which last month decided to close it down by the end of 2014. A second coal plant will be closed by the end of this year. Chicago is the only large U.S. city with coal-fired power plants operating within its city limits. M. Spencer Green / AP

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RIP Exxon Valdez

For some Saturday’s Anniversary would have been a painful reminder of the reckless behaviour of Big Oil

Andy Rowell | Oil Change International | March 26, 2012

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Shell in court over Nigeria oil spill compensation

Lawyers representing a Nigerian fishing community are taking the oil firm Shell to court in London over alleged unpaid compensation for recent oil spills

BBC News | 23 March 2012

Ogoni people say their land has been devastated by pollution from the oil industry over many years

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The oil price is the new eurozone crisis

No sooner has the pressure on markets from the eurozone crisis begun to ease than investors have found something else to worry about – the oil price

By Tom Stevenson | The Telegraph | 17 Mar 2012

An oil price spike is never welcome but it would be particularly damaging with the global economy in such a weak state Photo: AP

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Drilling for Oil in Eden: Initiative to Save Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador Is Uncertain

The most biologically diverse habitat in the western hemisphere, the Yasuní rainforest in Ecuador, is under threat. One hectare contains more species of trees than all of North America, but hidden beneath this Garden of Eden lies temptation: oil worth billions

By R. Douglas Fields | Scientific American | March 17, 2012

Pumping gasoline in Quito, Ecuador. Oil drilling threatens the Yasuní rainforest. Petroleum is Ecuador's primary source of income, but the country's reserves will be depleted in 15-20 years.

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Has the global economy become less vulnerable to oil price shocks?

This paper examines the impact of oil price changes on global economic growth. Unlike some recent studies, this paper finds that oil price rises have had significant negative impacts on world economic growth

by Dr. Mingqi Li | Mar 14 2012 by The Oil Drum in Energy Bulletin | Mar 14 2012

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A tough-oil world

A Tough-Oil World: Why High Gas Prices Are Here to Stay

by Michael T. Klare | Mar 13 2012 by Tom Dispatch in Energy Bulletin | Mar 13 2012

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China Coal Update

World coal production and consumption data for 2011 are not yet compiled and published, but one key number is in. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reports that the country’s coal output rose 8.7 percent from 2010 to reach 3.88 billion short tons last year

by Richard Heinberg | Mar 8 2012 by Post Carbon Institute in Energy Bulletin | Mar 9 2012

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Why high oil prices are now affecting Europe more than the US

The world is presently sharing a limited supply of oil. When oil prices rise, oil production doesn’t rise very much, if at all

by Gail Tverberg | Mar 5 2012 by Our Finite World in Energy Bulletin | Mar 7 2012

Figure 1. Brent oil spot price and world oil supply (broadly defined), based on EIA data.

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How forest cover and oil reserves match four countries’ positions on REDD

In the outcome of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action at the Durban COP17, the LCA invited “views on modalities and procedures for financing results-based actions and considering activities related to decision 1/CP.16, paragraphs 68–70 and 72″

By Chris Lang | REDD-Monitor | 6th March 2012

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Insight: Papua New Guinea mountain disaster questions Exxon

A deadly landslide in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, near where U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil is building a $15.7 billion gas project, is raising fresh questions about the global energy industry's scramble for ever harder-to-reach resources

By Rebekah Kebede | Reuters | Mar 6, 2012

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BP reaches $7.8 billion deal over Gulf of Mexico spill

BP Plc has reached an estimated $7.8 billion deal with plaintiffs suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the company said on Friday, but the oil giant still faces claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and drilling partners

By Andrew Longstreth | Reuters | Mar 3, 2012

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010 file handout image. Credit: Reuters/U.S. Coast Guard/Files/Handout

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Venezuela's Opec stand is a win for climate change campaigners

Environmentalists who support developing countries' fight against polluters should also back their struggle for control of oil

Mark Weisbrot | guardian.co.uk | 2 March 2012

Pablo Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian lawyer in indigenous peoples' case over pollution against oil company Chevron. Photograph: Jose Jacome/EPA

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Mining boom accelerates land grabbing and ecosystem destruction

“This trend is now a major driver of land grabbing globally, and poses a significant threat to the world’s indigenous communities, farmers and local food production systems, as well as to precious water, forests, biodiversity, critical ecosystems and climate change.”

Ian Angus | Climate and Capitalism | March 1, 2012

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