Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
After that paranoid, delusional babble in the Koch-sponsored Rose Garden last week, Trump has united and energized the global climate movement like never before. The critical question is this: How do we build more political power, and how do we win?
These are dangerous days for the climate. Not only do we have a climate denier in the White House, we have one in the Kremlin too.
For years it has been apparent that the days of the oil industry finding so-called “easy oil” are over. And in its desperate attempt to continue our fossil fuel addiction, the industry is either attempting to exploit unconventional oil, like shale or the tar sands, or explore in new frontier areas like the Arctic.
When sanctions were placed on Russia, Exxon left behind the potential to produce billions of barrels of oil. Secretary of State appointee Rex Tillerson could be in a position to secure that prize for Exxon.
Great news for those fighting Big Oil in the Arctic, as after spending a whopping $2.5 billion for drilling rights in US Arctic waters, oil companies such as Shell and ConocoPhillips have quietly relinquished their rights to some 2.2 million acres.
The leading Russian oil company, Rosneft, is currently under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office on the Russian island of Sakhalin for a large oil spill which occurred last week.
There was more good news from the Arctic yesterday, when Norwegian oil company Statoil announced it was “exiting” the region, following recent exploration results in neighbouring oil and gas leases.
Twenty four hours after Shell’s seismic announcement that it was pulling out of the Arctic “for the foreseeable future” the announcement is still making waves.
Irony. You have got to love irony. Just imagine, in a cartoonish kind of way, that there is a climate villain out there defying all logic and reason and hurting the planet at its most vulnerable point.
There are many contradictions about Shell’s Arctic misadventure to drill for oil, but three are the most striking: Firstly the company is spending billions of dollars and risking the reputation of the company on oil that can never be burnt.
