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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: oil industry

oil industry stories: 17 news summaries

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

Oct 19, 09 6:30 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • coal • Senate • renewable energy • natural gas • carbon taxes • oil industry • Waxman-Markey

 Todd Palin Quits Oil Job 


Oct 3, 09 6:28 AM CDT
(AP) - 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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Alaska • resignation • Sarah Palin • oil industry • Todd Palin • BP Plc

Minister Who Freed Lockerbie Bomber Has Bro in Oil Biz

Kenny MacAskill's brother has pitched oil business to Libya

Sep 8, 09 6:08 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • Libya • Lockerbie • oil industry • Pan Am Flight 103 • British Petroleum • Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi • Kenny MacAskill

BP Discovers Huge Oil Store in Gulf of Mexico

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

Sep 2, 09 2:59 PM CDT
(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—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Gulf of Mexico • oil field • oil drilling • oil industry • offshore drilling • British Petroleum • BP Plc

'Bourgeois'
Golf Courses Tee Off Chávez

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

Aug 13, 09 9:20 AM CDT
(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. "... More »

MORE ABOUT:
energy • oil • Latin America • Venezuela • golf • nationalization • South America • golf course • Hugo Chávez • oil industry

Shell Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

Family of Saro-Wiwa sues oil company in American court

May 22, 09 7:18 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • Shell • Nigeria • crimes against humanity • Royal Dutch Shell • corporate crime • oil industry • Ken Saro-Wiwa

Chavez
Tightens Grip
on Oil Industry

Venezuela to
take control of
oil service companies

May 8, 09 6:10 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Venezuela • nationalization • Hugo Chávez • oil industry

Industry Muffled Own Scientists on Warming

Coal, oil, companies suppressed experts' findings for years

Apr 24, 09 7:27 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • global warming • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change • coal • Kyoto Protocol • auto industry • carbon emissions • oil industry

(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • biofuel • oil companies • gas stations • oil industry • gas consumption • oil demand

 OPEC Prepares to Slash Output 

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

Dec 17, 08 1:46 AM CST
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • Saudi Arabia • OPEC • Abdalla el Badri • oil price • oil production • oil industry

(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Exxon • bonuses • Rex Tillerson • Exxon Mobil • oil industry

 Stevens' Fate in Jury's Hands 

Deliberations to begin Wednesday

Oct 21, 08 10:21 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Alaska • corruption • Ted Stevens • trial • jury • Bill Allen • Colin Powell • gift • oil industry • US Senate • Veco Corp • Emmet Sullivan

OPINION

As Alaska Melts, Palin Plays Big Oil Denial Game

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

Sep 24, 08 10:13 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Alaska • Election 2008 • Sarah Palin • oil industry • Big Oil • McCain-Palin • Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Opinion

Iraq Needs Its No-Bid
Oil Contracts

Deals aren't exploitative, argues energy adviser

Jul 26, 08 3:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - US lawmakers have been raging against no-bid deals struck by foreign oil companies in Iraq—but impeding them would be pure folly, energy consultant Raad Alkadiri argues in the Washington Post. Most of these companies have already advised Iraq on its oil fields for free; Baghdad only sought to... More »

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Iraq • energy • Congress • Iraq oil • oil companies • oil industry

 High Prices Pound Gas Stations 

Squeezed margins drive many out of business

Jul 7, 08 6:22 PM CDT
(Newser) - Angry at gas stations for profiting on your financial misery? Think again, the Wall Street Journal reports: They're fast going out of business as oil prices rise. This year's 40% price hike has sent costs soaring, shuttering 3,000 US stations and causing Exxon Mobile to announce the sale of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
business • profits • oil price • regulations • gas stations • oil industry

Saudis May Boost Oil Supply Even Higher

But OPEC blames speculators and credit crisis for high prices

Jun 22, 08 4:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - A hastily organized summit meeting in Saudi Arabia today offered little relief to oil consumers, Bloomberg reports. The Saudis did vow to increase production if needed, but OPEC blamed speculators and the credit crisis, not markets, for surging oil prices. "Saudi Arabia is prepared and willing to produce additional... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • Saudi Arabia • OPEC • oil price • oil production • foreign oil • oil companies • oil crisis • oil industry

 Feds Hunt for Scams
 in Crude Oil Trading 

Speculators may be driving up crude by manipulation

May 30, 08 7:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - Federal regulators are investigating whether rocketing oil prices are being driven up by speculators manipulating futures markets, reports the Wall Street Journal. The nationwide probe involves several separate investigations. Authorities suspect that a widely used price reporting system may be artificially influenced and that some oil storage facilities may be... More »

MORE ABOUT:
insider trading • futures market • gas prices • oil price • Commodity Futures Trading Commission • New York Mercantile Exchange • Financial Services Authority • jet fuel • Bart Chilton • oil industry • Platts • McGraw-Hill • oil futures • Intercontintental Exchange

17 Stories


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