In the News: October - December  

• January - February 2003
• October - December 2002
• July - September 2002
• April - June 2002
• January - March 2002
• 2001 Archive

Dozens hurt in anti-pipeline protest in Thailand - THAILAND

HAT YAI, Thailand - Dozens of protestors against a planned pipeline were injured in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai last week outside a hotel where the Thai and Malaysian cabinets are due to meet this weekend, witnesses said.

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Norway approves North Sea Vigdis field expansion - NORWAY

OSLO - Norway's government last week approved a plan by Norwegian Shelf operators to expand the Vigdis oil and gas field in the North Sea, with the extension slated to begin producing in 2003-2004.

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Revised offshore safety guidelines hailed as "models of best practice" - UK

London - The UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) has issued two newly revised and updated guidelines designed to improve safety on offshore vessels and throughout the oil and gas supply chain have been hailed as "models of best practice" by the industry. "Guidelines for the Safe Packing and Handling of Cargo to and from Offshore Locations" and "Guidelines for the Safe Management and Operation of Offshore Support Vessels" are now available on CD.

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Baku-Ceyhan pipeline Gets Environmental Oversight

Turkey's state pipeline company Boru Hatlari ile Petrol Tasima (BOTAS) has contracted for environmental oversight over the Turkish segment of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The 1,500 km pipeline is currently under construction and will transport oil from the Caspian Sea from Baku, Azerbaijan to Tbilisi, Georgia and then to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export to world markets.

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Sonangol contracts DNV for HSE improvement

Angola state oil company Sonangol has commissioned Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to develop and implement a health, safety, and environment (HSE) management system to improve its performance. Its HSE objective is to eliminate accidents and losses and reduce emissions to the environment.

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UN Embarks on International Year of Freshwater 2003 - USA

NEW YORK – Today, four out of every 10 people worldwide live in areas experiencing water scarcity. By 2025, as much as two thirds of the world’s population – an estimated 5.5 billion people - may be living in countries that face a water shortage. To address this crucial issue, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2003 the International Year of Freshwater.

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2002 Heading for No. 2 Spot in Climate Records  - USA

WASHINGTON - Temperature data for the first 11 months of the year show that the average global temperature is on the rise. The new data indicates that 2002 will go down in the recordbooks as the second warmest year to date, exceeded only by 1998, since recordkeeping of global temperatures began in 1867.

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New Zealand signs up to Kyoto climate change pact - NEW ZEALAND

WELLINGTON - New Zealand ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change yesterday, saying signing up to the accord will begin a transition to a sustainable-energy economy.

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Canada Ratifies the Kyoto Climate Protocol - CANADA

OTTAWA, Ontario - The Parliament of Canada voted today to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, bringing the treaty to limit greenhouse gases one step closer to entry into force. Environmentalists cheered the vote, but industry remains opposed to the binding emissions limits.

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EU agrees greenhouse gas trading scheme - BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - European Union environment ministers agreed yesterday to create the world's first international greenhouse gas emissions trading system, a key part of efforts to fight global warming.

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Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline Gets Environmental Oversight  - USA

BUFFALO, New York - The contract for environmental oversight over the final leg of a crude oil pipeline extending from northeastern Turkey to the deepwater port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean has been awarded. The main emphasis of the project will be to train Turkish nationals in environmental practices in accordance with World Bank standards.

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UK offshore hydrocarbon leaks down but not eliminated - UK

London - Accidental and inadvertent release of hydrocarbons in the UK North Sea have been reduced appreciably, but continue to be a major concern requiring greater reduction, said the UK Health and Safety Executive's Offshore Safety Division. Taf Power, the division's head, said today that this is one of the Executive's primary work programs focused on cutting potential hazard causing events.

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The Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention COP-6 - SWITZERLAND

The sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-6) to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal begins on Monday, 9th December at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting will start with a preparatory segment, from 9-11 December, followed by a high-level segment for ministers and heads of delegations, scheduled for 12-13 December.

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Business support for Kyoto - CANADA

While Canadians squabble fretfully over ratifying the Kyoto accord, a group of the world's leading financial institutions has published an urgent call to restrain global warming and to prepare for the financial ravages of climate change.

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Nova Scotia whales endangered due to oil & gas industry - COSEWIC

Calgary - Nova Scotia, Canada's population of northern bottlenose whales have been designated as endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), which implicates the oil and gas industry in the decline of the whales' habitat, causing it to teeter on the edge of extinction.

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Progress made on new right-to-know treaty on pollution - SWITZERLAND

At a meeting hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, in Geneva from 25-29 November 2002, progress was made in drafting a new UN treaty that will strengthen public access to information on pollution. The treaty – which will be a protocol to the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Ǻarhus Convention) – will make it easier for the public to find information about pollution and its sources through a mandatory system of reporting by companies.

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Development of giant Kazakh Caspian field may cause catastrophe - RUSSIA

Moscow - The development of the enormous Kashagan Field, in Kazakhstan's shallow water sector of the Caspian Sea could have dire consequences due to the earthquake-prone nature of the region. According to a report by Alex Kirby of the BBC, the draining of the Kashagan reservoir's oil could cause a catastrophe.

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Europe Blacklists 66 Vessels to Avert Another Spill  - BELGIUM

Belgium - In the wake of the fuel oil spill from the tanker "Prestige," in November, the European Commission has published a "black list" of 66 substandard ships that would be banned from European waters under forthcoming European maritime safety rules.
 

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US appeals court blocks Calif. offshore drilling - USA

SAN FRANCISCO - A U.S. appeals court this week upheld a block on new oil and natural gas exploration off the California coast, ruling that future exploration cannot go forward without a state environmental review.

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Appeals court blocks California offshore oil drilling - USA

SAN FRANCISCO - For a second time, the courts have ruled against federal plans to resume oil and natural gas drilling off the California coast. A three judge panel from a federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that the government illegally extended 36 undeveloped oil leases off the central California coast, effectively blocking the renewal of the decades old leases.

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Hydro making its Visund Field facility a "green" platform - NORWAY

Oslo - Norsk Hydro's Visund Field in Blocks 34/7 and 34/8 of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea is far below recommended limits in emissions and other environmental pollutants, the company said today. It has commenced water re-injection on Visund and will be returning wastewater, sludge, stone bits, and gravel to below the seabed on the field as well.

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Sell oil firm stake to fund Kyoto-Canada's Martin - CANADA

OTTAWA - The front-runner to replace Canada's prime minister proposed this week developing clean environmental technology to meet Kyoto climate change commitments rather than buying pollution permits abroad.

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$573 Million Will Halve Developing Country CFCs - ITALY

ROME - Negotiators from 140 governments have adopted a $573 million funding package to halve the consumption and production in developing countries of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the leading destroyer of the stratospheric ozone layer, by the year 2005.

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BLM urges 30-year extension for Alaska pipeline - USA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Three days after the state of Alaska formally extended a 30-year lease for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, the Bureau of Land Management last week formally recommended that the federal government do the same.

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Nigeria seeking oil company support for pollution control - NIGERIA

Lagos - Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is seeking the support of oil companies active in the country for its oil spill prevention, management, and pollution control program. Macaulay Ofurhie, Director of Petroleum Resources, in announcing the launch of Nigeria's first HSE conference, told journalists today that contrary to Human Rights Watch reports on the environmental situation in Nigeria, "We are better prepared to combat spills and environmental degradation more than ever before."

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Statoil finding new means of treating drilling waste - NORWAY

Oslo -New approaches - including earthworm composting and asphalt production - are being pursued by Statoil for treating drilling waste in an environmentally friendly manner. The company said today that it can already reuse some 67% of oil-based drilling fluids and 50% of water-based fluids.

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US gov't, industry see no alternative for oil soon - USA

HOUSTON - No single renewable energy product can immediately replace oil, but a combination of hydrogen, wind and agricultural by-products may be able to cut U.S. dependence on one of the nation's most-coveted resources in the next 10 to 20 years, government and industry officials said.

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UK carbon emissions prices slide on oversupply - UK

LONDON - Prices in the UK carbon emissions trading market slumped this week after rising steadily since its start over seven months ago, as more participants gained credits to sell, brokers said.

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Green groups - Texas coast drilling imperils turtles - USA

WASHINGTON - Environmental groups criticized the National Parks Service for approving BNP Petroleum's bid to drill two new onshore natural gas wells in Padre Island National Seashore on the Texas Gulf Coast.

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Shell green record holds lessons for Big Oil - book - USA

NEW YORK - All big oil companies have their share of environmental record blemishes, but examining the way Royal Dutch Shell has dealt with its problems may lead the industry to a greener future, according to a new book.

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CHRONOLOGY - Spanish oil spill latest of many - UK

LONDON - A stricken oil tanker has spilled some 3,000 tonnes of fuel oil into the sea off the northwest coast of Spain, a government official said last week.

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Santos gets enviro minister's go-ahead for seismic despite whales - AUSTRALIA

Perth - Australia's federal government has given Santos its approval to proceed with a seismic survey in the Bass Strait's Otway Basin Blocks VIC P51 and VIC P52 south of Portland, Victoria, despite it being a feeding ground for blue whales, which are expected to arrive in these waters in December.

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Caucusus Land, Waters at Risk Along Pipeline Route - USA

TBILISI, Georgia - Environmental organizations across the Caucusus region are expressing concern about implementation and enforcement of environmental safeguards along the route chosen for construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline. The pipeline will carry oil from the Caspian Sea region to the Mediterranean for export onto world markets.

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FEATURE - EU firms fight "blank cheque" eco-liability law - BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - European companies are fighting new EU rules to make them pay for damaging the environment, under a draft liability law they say would force them to write a blank cheque to nature.

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FEATURE - Alaska's Kenai experience shades debate on Arctic oil

KENAI NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska - The Swanson River loops through dense spruce stands and flows past campgrounds and serene hiking trails.

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INTERVIEW - "Older and wiser" Exxon listens to the locals - UK

LONDON - Oil major Exxon Mobil is now working more closely with non-governmental organisations on upstream projects to help avoid the social unrest it has suffered in the past, a senior executive said.

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Norway oil directorate expects Arctic opening - NORWAY

OSLO - Norway's state oil watchdog expects offshore areas off north Norway to be opened for oil and gas exploration despite opposition by environmentalists and the fisheries industry, its leader said.

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Norway likely to rule on Arctic oil drilling 2004 - NORWAY

OSLO - Norway's oil minister said this week he would likely decide in 2004 whether to allow offshore oil and gas exploration in the sensitive areas along Norway's northern coastline and in the Barents Sea.

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Rich gave in at climate talks to protect Kyoto pact - INDIA

NEW DELHI - Rich countries, led by European Union members, said they agreed not to press poor nations to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases after a disagreement threatened to derail the process of tackling global warming.

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UN climate meet hammers out draft reference to Kyoto pact - INDIA

NEW DELHI - A U.N. climate convention revised a draft declaration last week to include mention of the Kyoto accord on reducing global warming after some leading groups strongly objected to its absence.

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Norton eyes oil and gas alternatives outside ANWR - USA

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Although the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the best place in the United States to look for new oil and gas, there are other prospective areas, Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

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No alternatives to fossil fuels yet exist say US researchers - USA

Washington - There are no current technologies that can replace fussil fuels, according to a recent review of alternative energy sources reported in the current issue of Science Magazine. In the article, "In Search of Future Energy Solutions," the authors, a group of US scientists, maintain that a major investment is needed to fund research and development of substitute sources of energy.

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Dissent Clouds Delhi Climate Declaration - INDIA

NEW DELHI, India, November 1, 2002 (ENS) - Negotiators at the United Nations conference on climate change emerged from last minute discussions today with consensus on a final resolution, but there is concern that the heated debate of the past 10 days has resulted in little progress.

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Rigworker killed on BP's Gyda platform in the North Sea - NORWAY

Oslo - A rigworker was killed this morning while working on the BP-operated Gyda platform in Block 2/1 of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The worker was killed while attempting to move a large container on the platform.

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India rejects pressure to cut greenhouse gases - INDIA

NEW DELHI - India, one of the world's most populous but poorest countries, yesterday rejected pressure for poor nations to step up efforts to cut gases that contribute to global warming.

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Petrobras fined $8.9 million for platforms without licenses - BRAZIL

Rio de Janeiro - The Brazilian government's environmental protection bureau Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama), has fined Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) for operating its oil platforms without licenses.

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Activists criticise BP-led Baku-Ceyhan pipeline - UK

LONDON - Environmental and human rights groups launched a campaign against a BP-led trans-Caspian oil pipeline, saying it would severely damage the region's fragile ecology.

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UN climate meet in India divided over Kyoto pact - INDIA

NEW DELHI - The European Union slammed a draft declaration at a U.N. climate convention in the Indian capital yesterday for not mentioning the Kyoto accord on reducing global warming.

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Preventing offshore oil and gas worker stress

Life offshore has been described as dangerous, arduous, and socially isolating. The environment is characterized by constant noise and activity, in sometimes crowded and unnatural living conditions. A wide range of hazardous duties are carried out in a confined space and in an environment that has the potential for the rapid escalation of hydrocarbon-related incidents...Recently, the International Labor Organization commissioned a manual to provide guidance in preventing and relieving stress associated with working in the offshore industry. Written by Professor P. Cooper and Dr. v. Sutherland, "Stress Prevention in the Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Industry" is now available from the ILO.

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Rig stabilized off Brazil

Petrobras technicians returned Petrobras P-34 to an upright position after a failure in its electronics systems resulted in a 32° heeling. The rig is located in the Campos Basin off Brazil's southeastern coast, not far from the site where the company's largest rig went down in 2001.

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Oil spills may linger indefinitely - scientists - UK

LONDON - Oil pockets have been found just below the sea bed off the U.S. coast in Massachusetts, 30 years after a tanker ran ashore there, raising fears that spills could continue to pollute the environment indefinitely.

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COP 8 opens in New Delhi - INDIA

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Clean development mechanism needs improvement, says WWF - INDIA

New Delhi, India – At the opening of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), WWF has warned that governments must ensure projects in developing countries reduce the pollution that causes global warming rather than contribute to global CO2 emissions.

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FEATURE - Norway's green rebel befriends oil industry - NORWAY

STAVANGER, Norway - On a private yacht moored alongside the supertankers and fishing boats in the harbour of Norway's energy capital Stavanger, sits the conscience of the nation's oil industry.

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German gas industry attacks tax rise proposal - GERMANY

FRANKFURT - Plans by the re-elected German government to raise the mineral oil tax on natural gas usage could lose the energy source its present competitive edge over coal and oil, Germany's gas industry said.

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Ottawa yet to calm energy industry over Kyoto - CANADA

CALGARY, Alberta - Canadian oil, power and pipeline groups gained little confidence their businesses would not be harmed by the Kyoto accord on global warming at a meeting this week with Ottawa's point man for their concerns, an industry official said.

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Statoil's Kvitebjørn gasfield to be enviro friendly - NORWAY

OSLO - The Kvitebjørn gasfield operated by Statoil in Block 34/11 in the Norwegian North Sea will produce without harmful discharges to the sea and with record-low emissions of carbon dioxide.

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EU assembly backs climate emissions trading plan - BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - The European Parliament gave its backing to a plan that will limit the amount of "greenhouse gases" firms can emit and encourage them to buy and sell the right to pollute.

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Australian senator decries effort to survey Great Barrier Reef - AUSTRALIA

The government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been accused of secretly seeking to survey the Great Barrier Reef for oil reserves. In what could be a politically motivated accusation, opposition Senator Andrew Bartlett said today that the government agency Geoscience Australia ordered satellite photographs of oil seeps in the Coral Sea at the behest of Royal Dutch/Shell and Woodside Petroleum, who wanted data on an area adjacent to the Reef with a view to exploring for oil there.

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Gas to be 28 pct of EU-15's energy by '20 - industry - BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - Natural gas will make up 28 percent of the European Union's primary energy consumption by 2020, up from 23 percent in 2001, industry body Eurogas said.

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EU  Parliament proposes trading plan to meet Kyoto emission levels - BELGIUM

Belgium — The European Parliament approved a plan Thursday aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels through a trading scheme that will apply to major polluting industries.

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European Commission Launches Cleaner Seas Strategy - BELGIUM

Belgium - The European Commission has unveiled the outline of a wide ranging European Union marine environment protection strategy in a communication addressed to governments and the European Parliament. It promised for 2004 a full "thematic strategy," as demanded by the bloc's new Sixth Environmental Action Programme.

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Australian IP reveals oil industry health watch study results - AUSTRALIA

The Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) has released the preliminary results of an independent epidemiology program called Health Watch the Institute has commissioned since 1980. A research program that studies people who have worked in the Australian petroleum (oil and gas) industry, Health Watch follows about 18,000 past and present employees in the petroleum industry during their time in the industry and after they leave or retire to find out what happens to them in terms of their health. Along the way, Health Watch records any occurrence of cancer and, eventually, the cause of death.

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ANALYSIS - Global oils plumb new depths for offshore crude - UK

LONDON - The global oil industry, armed with ever-improving technology, is drilling deeper and deeper under the oceans for oil that could provide a welcome complement in coming years to OPEC energy, analysts say.

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Florida does not owe Coastal Petroleum - judge - USA

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida does not have to compensate Coastal Petroleum Co. for preventing it from exercising oil and gas leases held for nearly 60 years in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, a state judge ruled.

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Statoil studying Iceland power exports - NORWAY

OSLO - Statoil ASA , Norway's largest oil and gas group, said this week that it was studying the possibility of exporting Icelandic geothermal electricity to Britain and Norway.

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Kyoto sparks fear, loathing in Canada oil heartland - CALGARY

Alberta — It is a classic Canadian battle, with one region threatening separation from the country, accusations of federal betrayal, and fears that a culture hangs in the balance.

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EU will miss Kyoto target - top energy economist - BELGIUM

BRUSSELS - The EU will be unable to reach its Kyoto targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions even if it launches new policies on boosting cleaner energy, the International Energy Agency's chief economist said.

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ExxonMobil's Chad-Cameroon project enviro & social disaster - Tutu

LAGOS - The giant US$4.3 billion Chad-Cameroon pipeline and Doba Field development project now underway was described today by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, as detrimental to both the poor it was said it would help and to the environment. He was speaking to journalists in advance of the upcoming World Bank meeting this weekend.

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BP warns may discontinue East Java gas operation - INDONESIA

JAKARTA - British oil major BP on Wednesday warned it would halt gas production in East Java unless Indonesia took the right measures to address problems in the sub-sea section of the East Java gas pipeline.

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