Category Archives: Oil

McKinsey paid $1.6m to ‘guide’ Australian climate policy despite working for fossil fuel companies

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Guardian Australia was told firm disclosed its private sector work, but it is not known which clients were listed

Consultancy firm McKinsey was paid $1.6m over 11 weeks to “inform” and “guide” Australian energy and climate policy, despite its work for the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies.

The firm, whose links to oil and gas giants are well known, conducted “detailed market, economic and policy analysis” and produced modelling that underpinned “internal energy and climate policy work”.

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‘Royalties for everyone’: Suriname president plans to share oil wealth

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All Surinamese adults to receive payment from recently discovered oil and gas reserves – ‘no one will be left behind’

Suriname’s president has announced a program of “royalties for everyone” as the South American nation plans for a boon from recently discovered oil and gas reserves.

Suriname and its neighbor Guyana, both former Dutch colonies, expect to make billions in the years to come from rich offshore crude deposits. Earlier this month, Guyana announced all adult citizens living at home and abroad would received a payout of around £370 as part of an effort to redistribute its oil wealth.

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UAE urges countries to honour fossil fuels vow amid Cop29 impasse

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Petrostate’s rebuke comes as Saudi Arabia and allies try to derail transition promise made at climate talks last year

The world must stand behind a historic resolution made last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”, the United Arab Emirates has said, in a powerful intervention into a damaging row over climate action.

The petrostate’s stance will be seen as as a sharp rebuke to its neighbour and close ally Saudi Arabia, which had been trying to unpick the global commitment at UN climate talks in Azerbaijan this week.

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Revealed: McKinsey clients had ‘rising share of global emissions’, internal analysis shows

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Consulting giant had said it engages with clients to help them transition to cleaner energy even as it knew they were in line to exceed climate targets

The world’s biggest consulting firm found that its clients were on a trajectory to bust global climate targets, details of internal forecasting in 2021 uncovered by the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) and the Guardian reveal.

McKinsey & Company has worked with some of the world’s biggest emitters, including many of the largest fossil fuel producers. It has previously argued it is necessary to engage these clients to help them transition to cleaner forms of energy and hit the target of limiting global warming to less than 1.5C above preindustrial levels.

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Cop29 climate finance deal hits fresh setback as deadline looms

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Outcry after draft text contains only an ‘X’ instead of setting $1tn funding goal to support developing countries

Hopes of a breakthrough at the deadlocked UN climate talks have been dashed after a new draft of a possible deal was condemned by rich and poor countries.

Faith in the ability of the Azerbaijan presidency to produce a deal ebbed on Thursday morning, as the draft texts were criticised as inadequate and providing no “landing ground” for a compromise.

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Guyana citizens to receive £370 each in payouts from ‘mind-boggling’ oil wealth

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Country has been enjoying historic growth in economy, which has tripled since it started crude oil extraction in 2019

Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad will receive a payout of around £370 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth.

The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars will be available to any citizen of the South American country over the age of 18 with a valid passport or ID card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad will be eligible but must be in Guyana to collect the payment.

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Petrol and food prices will fall thanks to oil glut, says World Bank

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Downward trend in oil price from higher production, falling demand in China and clean energy to continue

Petrol and food prices will fall over the next two years thanks to a glut in oil production, the World Bank has said, offering hope to consumers that the cost pressures of the past three years could start to ease.

Its analysis found that this year’s downward trend in the oil price resulting from increased production, falling demand in China and the transition to clean energy is set to continue even if the conflict in the Middle East worsens.

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G7 vows to clamp down on Russia’s oil sanctions evasion

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Group commits to unspecified measures to enforce price cap on Russian exports in response to Ukraine war

Finance ministers of the G7 nations vowed on Saturday to step up efforts to prevent Russia from evading sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine.

“We remain committed to taking further initiatives in response to oil price cap violations,” the group said in a statement after a meeting in Washington. Those further steps were not spelled out in detail.

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Cuba makes progress on regaining power after second total blackout

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Authorities say they are gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals

Cuba’s government said on Saturday it had made some progress in gradually re-establishing electrical service across the island, including to hospitals and parts of the capital, Havana, after state-run media earlier reported the national grid had collapsed for a second time in 24 hours.

Most of Cuba’s 10 million people, however, remained without electricity on Saturday afternoon.

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Oil price slides amid China slowdown and easing Middle East fears

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Brent crude slides by almost $3.50 a barrel to below $74 after Opec cuts forecasts for demand growth

Global oil prices have tumbled by almost $3.50 a barrel amid ongoing concerns about a slowdown in China and as fears ease about the possibility of an attack by Israel on Iran’s energy facilities.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has reportedly offered assurances to the White House that its retaliation against Iran for its missile attack at the start of October would not target oil export terminals or nuclear facilities, which could send market prices soaring.

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Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers grows despite western sanctions

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Poorly maintained and uninsured vessels transporting up to 70% of country’s seaborne oil, says report

Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers is expanding, according to research, transporting up to 70% of the country’s seaborne oil despite western efforts to curb Moscow’s wartime energy revenues.

The volume of Russian oil being transported by poorly maintained and underinsured tankers has almost doubled in a year to 4.1m barrels a day by June, according to a report published on Monday by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

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Biden says US ‘discussing’ possible Israeli plans to attack Iran’s oil industry

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President’s off-the-cuff remark outside White House over possible retaliation triggers global oil price rise

Joe Biden has said that his administration has been “discussing” possible Israeli plans to attack Iran’s oil industry in retaliation for the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

Biden’s off-the-cuff remark did not make clear whether his administration was holding internal discussions or talking directly to Israel, nor did he clarify what his attitude was to such an attack.

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Financial markets could still avoid panic amid oil price risk in Middle East crisis

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Oil prices rose by more than 4% as Israeli troops moved into Lebanon and Iran launched missiles on Israel

As Israeli troops moved into Lebanon and Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, the risk of a jump in oil prices that could trigger another global inflation shock appeared to be materialising.

Oil prices rose by more than 4% to about $75 a barrel on Tuesday.

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EPA will withdraw approval of Chevron plastic-based fuels likely to cause cancer

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The decision comes after a ProPublica and Guardian investigation revealed that the EPA had found that one of the fuels had a huge cancer risk

The US Environmental Protection Agency is planning to withdraw and reconsider its approval for Chevron to produce 18 plastic-based fuels, including some that an internal agency assessment found are highly likely to cause cancer.

In a recent court filing, the federal agency said it “has substantial concerns” that the approval order “may have been made in error”. The EPA gave a Chevron refinery in Mississippi the green light to make the chemicals in 2022 under a “climate-friendly” initiative intended to boost alternatives to petroleum, as ProPublica and the Guardian reported last year.

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If Trump wins the election, US parks and wildlife will face a new age of mining

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Intense heat in the north, epic rains in Miami, fires in New Mexico and California. Trump plans for ‘energy dominance’, removing protection from mining and drilling on public lands



This article was produced in partnership with the non-profit newsroom Type Investigations, with support from the Wayne Barrett Project.

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Louisiana town the canary in the coalmine as climate effects worsen

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Lake Charles has been battered by storms over the past 20 years – and now its most famous landmark lies in ruins

Last week, one south-west Louisiana city in particular was girding itself for Hurricane Francine’s blow: Lake Charles, located about four hours west of New Orleans and two hours east of Houston.

In the lottery of hurricane paths over the past 20 years, Lake Charles has been very, very unlucky. But Francine’s impact on the city turned out to be relatively minor, a summer storm like locals are used to.

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UK imposes sanctions on 10 ships in crackdown on Russia’s shadow oil fleet

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Tankers believed to be at heart of illicit operation transporting gas and oil to fund Moscow’s war effort

The UK has taken new steps to clamp down on Russia’s shadow fleet exporting oil and funding Moscow’s war machine, with the Foreign Office announcing sanctions on 10 ships that it believes to be at heart of the operation.

Russia has a large fleet of often unseaworthy and ageing tankers that transport Russian gas and oil products around the globe. Oil exports are Vladimir Putin’s most critical revenue source for funding the war in Ukraine, accounting for about a quarter of the Russian budget in 2023.

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Russia’s shadow oil fleet and Gaza ceasefire plan to top US-UK talks in London

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Antony Blinken to meet David Lammy in precursor to Joe Biden’s talks with Keir Starmer in Washington

Moscow’s use of a shadow fleet transporting western-sanctioned oil, Ukraine’s call to fire to fire UK-supplied missiles into Russia, and the value of publishing a new version of the US ceasefire plan for Gaza will top US-UK talks in London being attended by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.

His meeting this week with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, will make him the most senior US official to visit the UK since Labour’s general election victory in July. It is also a precursor to talks in Washington between Joe Biden and Keir Starmer at the end of the week.

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Sanctioned Russian oligarchs allowed to invest in UK North Sea oil producer

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Critics say Labour ‘should have run a mile’ from LetterOne after it is acquires 15% of Aberdeen-based Harbour Energy

The government faces growing criticism after a company backed by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs was allowed to become a part-owner of the UK’s largest North Sea oil producer.

Critics of the decision to allow LetterOne, the investment company part-owned by oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, to acquire almost 15% of Aberdeen-based Harbour Energy, warned that oligarchs should have no place owning critical national assets.

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Shell to cut hundreds of jobs in oil and gas exploration operations

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Reduction of about a fifth of workforce in two subdivisions part of plan to slash up to $3bn in costs by end of 2025

Shell is to cut hundreds of jobs from its oil and gas exploration operation in the latest move by the chief executive, Wael Sawan, to slash up to $3bn (£2.3bn) in costs by the end of next year.

The energy company is to cut about a fifth of its workforce in two subdivisions of its oil and gas business responsible for exploration strategy and developing its oil and gas finds.

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