Spain Court Clears Extradition of Former Mexico Oil Chief
A Spanish court said on Monday it was allowing the extradition of a former chief executive of Mexican state oil company PEMEX accused of corruption to his home country.
Read more
oil
Russia Struggles to Clean Up Arctic River Fuel Spill
Russia on Thursday intensified efforts to clean up a major fuel spill that environmentalists say is the worst such accident in the Arctic, as investigators made their first arrest.
Read more
Early Promise of Covid-19 Vaccine Sends Stocks Soaring
In a remarkable turnaround for Wall Street, investors rallied Monday around news of a potentially successful vaccine for Covid-19.
Read moreIranian Tankers Bringing Oil to Venezuela
Five Iranian tankers believed to be carrying at least $45.5 million worth of gasoline and oil products are sailing to Venezuela, part of a wider deal between the two U.S.-sanctioned nations amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Read moreCriminal Contempt Charges
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Steven Donziger’s motions to disqualify all of the judges in the district from presiding over his case, disqualify the special prosecutors, and dismiss the six criminal contempt charges he’s facing in a dispute arising from his role in obtaining a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron in Ecuador for dumping oil waste in the Amazon rainforest.
Read more
Ecuador’s Amazon Tribes Face Water Shortage Over Oil Spill
Indigenous communities in Ecuador’s Amazon region are have filed a lawsuit against the government and oil companies over a massive oil spill polluting local rivers and depriving them of water.
Read more
Maduro Taps US Fugitive to Revamp Venezuela Oil Industry
President Nicolás Maduro on Monday named a powerful ally sanctioned by the U.S. as a drug kingpin, along with a cousin of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez, to revamp Venezuela’s oil industry amid massive gasoline shortages.
Read more10 Years After BP Spill: Oil Drilled Deeper and Rules Relaxed
Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling in deeper and deeper waters, where payoffs can be huge but risks are greater than ever.
Read more
Nobel Laureates Condemn Rare Judge-Ordered Prosecution
Steven Donziger got a head start on home confinement when a federal judge ordered criminal charges that prosecutors declined to bring.
Read more
EPA Keeps Emission Rule Relaxed Despite New Virus Risks
A week after a scientific report linked industrial soot emissions to Covid-19 deaths, the Trump administration opted Tuesday not to toughen a regulation on the air contaminant otherwise known to cause heart attacks and lung disease.
Read moreOPEC, Oil Nations Agree to Nearly 10M Barrel Cut Amid Virus
OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations on Sunday finalized an unprecedented production cut of nearly 10 million barrels, or a tenth of global supply, in hopes of boosting crashing prices amid the coronavirus pandemic and a price war, officials said.
Read moreOil and Terrorism
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a suit against Chevron claiming the company funded acts of terrorism through surcharges of Iraqi crude oil, which were remitted to former Iraq President Saddam Hussein. While Chevron knew a “kickback from its purchase” would be end up in Iraq, it did not necessarily know those funds were specifically used to finance terrorism, the court ruled.
Read more
World Markets Shudder
Global equities and oil prices fell through the floor again Thursday after President Trump banned travel from mainland Europe to the United States for a month to fight the coronavirus, ramping up fears the global economy will careen into recession.
Read more
Saudi Arabia Sets off Oil-Price War Against Russia
Energy titan Saudi Aramco said Tuesday it will boost its supply of crude oil to 12.3 million barrels per day in April, flooding markets as it escalates a price war with Russia.
Read more
NGOs Take Norway to Supreme Court Over Arctic Oil
Two environmental groups said on Monday they were trying to take the Norwegian state to the Supreme Court for granting oil licenses in the Arctic.
Read more
Former Mexican President Investigated for Graft
Former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is being investigated in a graft scandal at the country’s massive state oil company Pemex, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Read more
Yemeni Drones & Missiles Linked to Iran
A small instrument inside the drones that targeted the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry and those in the arsenal of Yemen’s Houthi rebels match components recovered in downed Iranian drones in Afghanistan and Iraq, two reports say.
Read moreFrederick Koch, Low-Profile Koch Brother, Dies at 86
Frederick Koch, who kept a low profile as an arts benefactor rather than joining the family oil business that became Koch Industries, has died, according to the New York Times. He was 86.
Read more
Louisiana Pelicans Recover, Along With Their Island
Nearly wiped out by agricultural pesticides in the 1950s, Louisiana’s state bird the brown pelican has made a tremendous comeback. Now, thanks to 150,000 cubic yards of Mississippi River sand and help from $18.7 million of BP’s multibillion-dollar settlement for the catastrophic oil spill a decade ago, one of the pelicans’ essential nesting grounds is also coming back.
Read more