Category Archives: Oil

UN leads £65m plan to stop huge oil spill off Yemen during first ceasefire in six years

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Decrepit tanker used for storage at risk of creating a disaster worse than Exxon Valdez in 1989

The UN is to stage a rare donor conference on Wednesday in a bid to raise the $80m (£65m) necessary to prevent an ageing oil tanker off the west coast of Yemen exploding and causing an environmental disaster potentially four times worse than the Exxon Valdez spill near Alaska in 1989.

The money is needed to offload more than 1.14m barrels of oil that have been sitting in the decrepit cargo ship, Safer, for more than six years because of an impasse between Houthi groups and the Saudi-backed government over ownership and responsibility.

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Ursula von der Leyen says Putin must pay ‘high price’ as she proposes oil ban

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European Commission chief says Russian supply of crude would be prohibited in EU within six months

Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a total ban on Russian oil imports to the EU, saying Vladimir Putin had to pay a “high price for his brutal aggression” in Ukraine.

Member states in Brussels are scrutinising a proposed sixth package of sanctions, but in a speech on Wednesday the European Commission president said Russian oil flows had to stop.

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European Council president ‘confident’ of imminent sanctions on Russian oil

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Pivot by Germany bolsters support for phased-in import ban as Charles Michel says goal is to ‘break Russian war machine’

The aim of EU sanctions is to “break the Russian war machine”, with measures on Kremlin oil now imminent, the president of the European Council has said, as Germany pivoted to back the move.

A proposal to phase in a prohibition on Russian oil imports will be discussed by member state ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday, with the most dependent, such as Slovakia and Hungary, seeking exemptions.

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BP profits soar to $6.2bn amid calls for energy windfall tax

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Company beats forecasts thanks to high oil and gas prices but is hit by offloading its stake in Russia’s Rosneft

BP’s profits more than doubled to $6.2bn (£5bn) in the first three months of the year, boosted by soaring oil and gas prices.

It was well ahead of the $4.5bn of expected by analysts and is likely to revive calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who argue the money raised could be used to ease the burden for those hardest hit by the cost of living costs.

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Large fires break out at Russian oil depots near Ukraine border

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Russian state media reports fires at civilian and military depots in Bryansk, which are potentially an act of sabotage by Kyiv

Large fires broke out early on Monday at two oil depots in the Russian city of Bryansk near the border with Ukraine, in a potential act of sabotage by Kyiv.

Russian state media said the first fire occurred at a civilian facility in Bryansk holding 10,000 tons of fuel, followed by a second fire at a military fuel depot holding 5,000 tons.

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More than 100 killed at Nigerian illegal oil refinery blast

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Authorities say victims ‘burnt beyond recognition’ in explosion at bunkering site in Imo state

More than 100 people were killed overnight in an explosion at an illegal oil refining depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states, a local government official and an environmental group said on Saturday.

“The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people who were burnt beyond recognition,” the state commissioner for petroleum resources, Goodluck Opiah, said.

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Putin ally Alekperov resigns as president of Russia’s Lukoil

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Billionaire oligarch steps down from Russia’s second-largest oil firm after being hit with EU and UK sanctions

The multibillionaire Russian oligarch Vagit Alekperov has stepped down as the president of the London-listed firm Lukoil after sanctions were imposed on him by the UK and EU.

In a statement to the stock market, Russia’s second-largest oil company said Alekperov, who is on good terms with Vladimir Putin, had formally notified the company of his decision to resign on Thursday.

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More than 90% of Australia’s fuel imported – leaving country vulnerable to shortages, report says

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Experts say not enough is being done to reduce petrol consumption and encourage uptake of electric vehicles

Almost all of Australia’s fuel supply is imported, leaving the country vulnerable to shortages, a thinktank has warned in a new report accusing the government of not doing enough to reduce and replace demand.

As the war in Ukraine puts the global fuel supply in sharp focus, the Australia Institute found that 91% of Australia’s fuel in the 2021 financial year was imported (including 68% imported as refined crude, as well as 71% of the fuel refined here).

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Climate and heritage experts call on British Museum to end BP sponsorship

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Culture Unstained put together submission stating oil company ‘falls short’ in response to climate crisis

A group of climate scientists, archaeologists and those familiar with the museum industry have written to the British Museum’s board of trustees to urge them to sever a sponsorship deal with BP, arguing that it goes against the museum’s own policies and that a renewal would damage its reputation.

The submission, put together by the group Culture Unstained, is part of an escalating campaign against the oil firm’s sponsorship of the museum, which is expected to make a decision about renewing the deal imminently.

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Tunisia’s neighbours offer help to contain damage after fuel ship sank

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Divers find no leaks and government says ‘outlook is positive’ as navies try to limit environmental harm from sinking of vessel carrying 750-1,000 tonnes

Some neighbouring countries have offered to help Tunisia prevent damage to the environment after a merchant ship carrying up to 1,000 tonnes of fuel sank off the country’s coast, the Tunisian defence ministry has said.

The ship, which was travelling from Equatorial Guinea to Malta, requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening due to bad weather. It sank near Gabes, and the Tunisian navy rescued all seven crew members. After being checked in hospital, all seven were taken to a hotel.

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Public lands to reopen for oil and gas drilling in a first under Biden

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Interior department raises royalty rates by 50% as administration juggles high oil prices and climate impact

As federal officials weigh efforts to fight the climate crisis against pressure to bring down high gasoline prices, the interior department is moving forward with the first onshore sales of public oil and natural gas drilling leases under Joe Biden.

The move also calls for a sharp increase in royalty rates for companies, ostensibly to limit global emissions driving the climate crisis, though economists say the effect will be relatively small.

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Diesel tanker sinks off Tunisia risking environmental disaster

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Ship carrying 750 tonnes of fuel from Egypt to Malta ran into difficulty in bad weather on Friday evening

A tanker carrying 750 tonnes of diesel fuel from Egypt to Malta sank in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia’s south-east coast, sparking a rush to avoid a spill.

The Equatorial Guinea-flagged Xelo was sailing from the Egyptian port of Damietta to Malta when it requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening owing to bad weather.

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No 10 condemns ‘guerrilla tactics’ of Just Stop Oil blocking fuel deliveries

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Shortages at filling stations reported as campaign obstructs deliveries from fuel terminals in England

Downing Street has condemned the “guerrilla tactics” of protesters who have blockaded fuel distribution terminals, as reports of shortages at petrol station forecourts spread and figures showed a fall in fuel deliveries.

Supporters of the Just Stop Oil campaign have taken action at 11 different fuel terminals in England since the start of the month, blockading and trespassing on sites to stop tankers entering, filling up or leaving to deliver fuel.

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Climate activists ‘disrupt supplies from three oil terminals in England’

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Just Stop Oil says action will affect fuel availability at petrol pumps across south-east and Midlands

Clean energy campaigners claim to have disrupted supplies from three oil terminals in the Midlands and south-east of England, as motorists complain that some petrol stations are running short of fuel.

The government said only one terminal was out of action on Sunday afternoon as a result of the Just Stop Oil protests, and that local police forces were working with the industry to ensure that fuel supplies can be maintained.

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Germany will stop importing Russian gas ‘very soon’, says Olaf Scholz

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Chancellor declines to endorse claim by Boris Johnson during London visit that goal will be achieved by mid-2024

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said his country is doing all it can to wean itself off Russian energy, but declined to endorse a claim by Boris Johnson that it would stop importing Russian gas by the middle of 2024.

Scholz said only that the goal would be achieved very soon, and that Germany would stop using Russian coal by the summer and Russian oil by the end of the year.

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Putin’s daughters targeted in US sanctions against Russia

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Joe Biden links new measures directly to accounts of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha

The US has announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia’s top public and private banks and two daughters of Vladimir Putin, following mounting global accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The sanctions targeted Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, two adult daughters of Putin’s with his former wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva.

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Environmental protesters block oil terminals across UK

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Activists climb on tankers and glue themselves to roads around London, Birmingham and Southampton

Hundreds of environmental protesters have blocked seven oil terminals across the country as part of a campaign to paralyse the UK’s fossil fuel infrastructure.

Early on Friday, supporters of Just Stop Oil began blockades at oil refineries around London, Birmingham and Southampton by climbing on top of tankers and gluing themselves to road surfaces.

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EU leaders wrangle with issue of oil and gas imports from Russia at summit

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Poland and Baltic states seek embargo, while other countries including Germany and Belgium want gradual measures

European Union leaders have laid bare their differences over whether to stop buying oil and gas from Russia, following a show of transatlantic unity in a series of summits with Joe Biden and an impassioned appeal by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for more military aid to defend his country.

In the third summit on a hectic day of diplomacy that began with an emergency meeting of Nato leaders, followed by the G7, EU leaders met the US president to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine.

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UN head says time for Russia to end ‘unwinnable’ Ukraine war

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Leaders from the bloc to meet on Thursday to discuss support above the €1.2bn emergency fund already agreed

The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has said it is time for Russia to end its “absurd” and “unwinnable” war in Ukraine, as the EU prepared to set up a “trust fund” aimed at helping Kyiv repel the invasion and rebuild afterwards.

Speaking to reporters at the UN’s headquarters in New York, Guterres said the war was “going nowhere, fast”. For more than two weeks, the devastated southern city of Mariupol had been encircled by Russian forces, bombed and shelled, he said.

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Germany agrees gas deal with Qatar to help end dependency on Russia

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Long-term contract will not immediately stop flow of money to Russia, for which German ministers have been criticised

Germany has agreed a contract with Qatar for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will help the European country wean itself off its dependency on Russian energy.

But the contract is a long-term solution and will do little to slow the current flow of European money into Russian coffers, estimated to be worth $285m (£217m) a day for oil alone.

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