Disinformation » Oil

How To Stop Worrying And Love The Oil Sands

Good German — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:01:55 +0000

“Communication might be understood as both the conduit for and the actual substance of human culture and consciousness. Psychological warfare is the application of mass communication to modern social conflict.”
—Science of Coercion, Christopher Simpson, American University

Tendencies of psychological warfare (U.S. Army War College):

1. Destroys will and ability of enemy to fight
2. Deprives enemy of support of allies and neutrals
3. Increases internal will to victory

Effects of psychological warfare (U.S. Army War College):

* Dissension
* Distrust
* Fear
* Hopelessness

Given the challenges that we face as Indigenous Peoples in Canada, it’s important to take a step back every now and again, if only so we make sure we know what exactly is being placed in front of us. If we don’t than we run the risk of wasting what little time and resources we have to stop an untenable project like, for example, the proposed Enbridge pipeline–a project that threatens our cultural heritage, our health, the environment and our ability to exist as distinct Peoples.

The goal of this article is to explore one of the most far reaching obstacles around, which happens to be blindsiding us this very moment. I refer here to the psychological war that has been waged on us by the government of Canada, oil companies and proponents of the tar sands.

Most of the time, governments and corporations will pretend that we don’t exist, for reasons that are fairly straightforward. They want to take something on our land and they don’t mind sacrificing us in the process. So, instead of engaging us like the law says they’re supposed to, they strive to do as much as they can as quietly as they can for as long as they can get away with it.

However, as soon as the tide begins to turn and we start presenting obstacles of our own, they can no longer afford the luxury of silence. And if we somehow manage to get the public’s attention–with reason and empirical evidence in hand–they give us their full and undivided attention. In a colonial state like Canada, where indigenous land rights are constantly being suppressed, that usually means they’re going to try to take us down.

That said, it’s pretty clear there’s a critical mass on the way; especially when it comes to the Enbridge pipeline. Opposition to the controversial project has brought together an unprecedented number of First Nations across the country. One could even say that it’s just a matter of time before the project is tossed into the garbage can, where it rightfully belongs.

At this point, there isn’t a heck of a lot that the proponents of the tarsands can do stop it. They’ve already tried suppressing damaging reports, discrediting doctors, and dismissing health concerns as fair trade offs for a few hundred jobs. Many lawsuits have also been thrown out of the courts, no contest. About the only thing they can do now is escalate the psychological war that is already well underway.

Enter Ethical Oil…

Read more here.

Oilsands Imperil Western Canada

Good German — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:17:14 +0000

Mike De Souza reports for the Vancouver Sun/Postmedia News:

Contamination of a major western Canadian river basin from oilsands operations is a “high-profile concern” for downstream communities and wildlife, says a newly-released “secret” presentation prepared last spring by Environment Canada that highlighted numerous warnings about the industry’s growing footprint on land, air, water and the climate.

The warnings from the department contrast with recent claims made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Environment Minister Peter Kent that the industry is being unfairly targeted by environmentalists who exaggerate its impacts on nature and people.

The presentation noted figures from the Canadian Energy Research Institute, a collaboration among industry, government and academics, that estimate the oilsands sector is responsible for more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in Canada, and will contribute more than $1.7 trillion to the country’s economy over the next 25 years.

But it warned that Alberta and other parts of Western Canada are facing a steep economic and ecological price tag for failing to crack down on the industry’s collateral damage…

Read more here.

Shell Nigerian Oil Spill Far Worse Than Reported

Good German — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:08:30 +0000

Photo: Vin Mullen (CC)

Emily Gertz reports for Talking Points Memo:

A Shell deepwater drilling site off the Nigerian coast that the company reported leaking on Wednesday may have spilled up to 2.4 million gallons, according to nonprofit environmental satellite monitoring group SkyTruth.

If so, that’s far worse than indicated in statements made so far by Royal Dutch Shell, which has put the amount of oil leaked at the Bonga offshore site at “less than 40,000 barrels,” (1.7 million gallons).

“That could mean anything from 1 gallon to 1.7 million gallons,” John Amos, founder and president of satellite-imaging nonprofit SkyTruth told TPM.

Oil must be at least 1 micron (1/1000th of a millimeter) thick to be seen from a satellite, according to Amos. The visible rainbow sheen, he says, means that the oil could be anywhere from .3 to 10 microns thick, depending on two different sets of guidelines.

Amos used an image from a European Space Agency radar satellite (the ASAR instrument) to determine that as of mid-week, the spill covered an area of 923 square kilometers (356 square miles).

So if the spill is 5 microns thick—the estimate where the two sets of guidelines intersect—the oil would add up to around 1.2 million gallons, Amos said.

Shell has stated that the spill’s thickness is mostly less than 1/100th of a millimeter, or 10 microns, a statement which leaves a big data gap as well.

“If the whole slick is, on average, 10 microns thick, that’s 2.4 million gallons,” Amos said.

Reached for comment, Shell did not acknowledge SkyTruth’s estimate, and and would only reiterate the 40,000 barrel figure.

Read more here.

Niger Delta Villagers Vs. Oil Giant Shell’s Destruction of Their Land

Good German — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:56:08 +0000

Once again, unregulated Big Business makes everything better. John Vidal writes in the Guardian:

Goi is now a dead village. The two fish ponds, bakery and chicken farm that used to be the pride and joy of its chief deacon, Barrisa Tete Dooh, lie abandoned, covered in a thick black layer. The village’s fishing creek is contaminated; the school has been looted; the mangrove forests are coated in bitumen and everyone has left, refugees from a place blighted by the exploitation of the region’s most valuable asset: crude oil.

A long-awaited and comprehensive UN study exposed the full horror of the pollution that the production of oil has brought to Ogoniland over the last 50 years.

The UN report showed that oil companies and the Nigerian government had not just failed to meet their own standards, but that the process of investigation, reporting and clean-up was deeply flawed in favour of the firms and against the victims. Spills in the US are responded to in minutes; in the Niger delta, which suffers more pollution each year than the Gulf of Mexico, it can take companies weeks or more.

“Oil companies have been exploiting Nigeria’s weak regulatory system for too long,” said Audrey Gaughran of Amnesty International. “They do not adequately prevent environmental damage and they frequently fail to properly address the devastating impact that their bad practice has on people’s lives.”

Read more here.

Leaked Documents Reveal BP’s Control Over Iraq’s Oil

JacobSloan — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:39:56 +0000

The Iraq War probably didn’t start out being about oil — it just seems to be ending that way. Oil industry watchdog PLATFORM London gained access to a leaked copy of a contract between BP and the Iraqi government which reveals the extent to which the company has gained control over Iraq’s resources. New Left Project writes:

BP was awarded the 20-year deal at an auction in June 2009, but suspicions were raised when the company did not sign the contract until four months later. The Iraqi government said nothing had changed in the interim, only “clarifications” – claims that the leaked contract show not to be true.

PLATFORM obtained from a reliable source a version of the Rumaila contract with BP/CNPC dated 8 October 2009. This leaked version was compared with the official model contract, dated 23 April 2009, which formed the basis of the first bid round.Several key changes were made, including:

> BP could opt to be paid for oil not produced as a result of OPEC quotas or Iraqi infrastructure bottlenecks. In the model contract for which companies bid at the auction, the cost of such scenarios would have been shared by both sides.

> The threshold for BP’s project expenditure at which Iraqi approval was required was raised from $50m to $100m and tight time limits applied to Iraqis’ ability to check such expenditures are legitimate and not inflated.

The changes that took place behind closed doors at first look like technical details. But look more closely and you see their real meaning: BP, not the Iraqi government, will effectively control future rates of production. This gives the company a stranglehold on the Iraqi economy.

Also revealed today:

In April 2009, just two months before the auction at which BP won the contract, Iraqi Ministry of Oil officials sought training on commercial and negotiating skills – from BP, the very company with which it would be negotiating.

When parliamentarians called the Oil Minister in for questionning on the contract, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wrote privately to the speaker of parliament calling for him to block the it, on grounds that the questionning would hold back Iraq’s progress, in a way that would be “in harmony” with recent terrorist bombings in Baghdad.

U.S. Govt. May Be Squelching Scientist Over Arctic Oil

majestic — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:22:48 +0000

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Why is this all too believable? Bob Berwyn reports on the latest skirmish in the battle over Alaska offshore oil drilling for Summit County Citizens Voice:

Last summer’s Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico clearly showed the conflict between science, energy policy and politics, and the looming battle over drilling in Arctic waters will be no different, as a watchdog group claims that federal scientists are being muzzled and harassed over their efforts to disclose potential impacts of energy development in the fragile Arctic marine environment.

Dr. Charles Monnet, a senior federal scientist working the Arctic has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated by the Interior Department’s Inspector General. Such inspections are not uncommon, but what’s unusual in this case is that the researcher says he has no idea what the investigators are looking for.

But a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog and whistle-blower protection group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, says the investigation is designed to interfere with scientific research that points out the dangers of Arctic drilling. In a scientific misconduct complaint filed last week, the group charged that Monnet is “being hounded in a political attempt to impugn his observations on polar bears’ vulnerability to retreating sea ice.”

“We think they’re nervous about his portfolio of science in the Arctic,” said PEER director Jeff Ruch, explaining that there’s enormous pressure to move ahead with offshore drilling in the region…

[continues at Summit County Citizens Voice]

It’s Pretty Amazing…

BananaFamine — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:11:06 +0000

Statement and art via Maxistentialism:

_____

A Gallon Of Gas Should Cost $15

JacobSloan — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:00:46 +0000

We know the approximate price of gas for consumers, but what is the price for society? The external costs borne may be as high as $1.7 trillion per year for the United States alone — that’s from health problems caused by pollution and toxic fumes, damage to crops and plant life, et cetera. The Center for Investigative Reporting calculates $15 per gallon as a reasonable pump price reflecting the true cost of gasoline.

My only complaint: it should be significantly higher still, as they forgot to factor in the huge sums of tax dollars spent on foreign aid and military operations for the benefit of the oil industry:

KLM To Use Recycled Frying Oil To Fuel Flights

Pelliciari — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:56:19 +0000

KLM airlines are going green, well, at least for some flights. BBC reports:

The Dutch airline KLM says it plans to use recycled cooking oil on 200 flights between Paris and Amsterdam.

The fuel, biokerosene, is derived from used frying oil, which has to be tested to meet the same technical specifications as traditional kerosene.

Airlines are under EU pressure to cut their carbon emissions by 3% by 2012.

KLM’s interest in biofuels dates back to 2009, when it ran a test flight carrying 40 people, including the then Dutch economics affairs minister.

The 90-minute flight was majority powered by traditional aviation fuel, with just one of the its four engines powered 50% by biofuel.

Future flights will use half traditional kerosene and half biofuel.

[Continues at BBC News]

Tell Secretary Clinton To Say No To The Kochs

Pelliciari — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:41:48 +0000

The Koch brothers stand to make millions from a pipeline that would carry the dirtiest oil on Earth through six states, one of America’s most important aquifers and almost 2,000 miles of American homes and farmland.

Congressional Republicans are trying to force the Obama administration to approve the pipeline with grandstanding hearings starting Monday, but gas prices would actually increase and construction would put American communities in danger. Another video from the Koch Brothers Exposed campaign:

Because the oil pipeline crosses an international border, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can intervene and stop this now. Share our petition and help reach the goal of 50,000 individuals telling Secretary Clinton to say No to the Kochs and Yes to protecting Americans at http://kochbrothersexposed.com/tellclintonno

Less than 50 Years of Oil Left, HSBC Warns

BananaFamine — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:33:42 +0000

Recently John Collins Rudolf reported in the New York Times:

The world may have no more than half a century of oil left at current rates of consumption, while surging demand from the developing world threatens to create “very significant price rises” before substitutes like biofuels can serve as viable alternatives, the British bank HSBC warns in a new report.

“We’re confident that there are around 50 years of oil left,” Karen Ward, the bank’s senior global economist, said in an interview on CNBC.

The bank, the world’s second largest in assets, further cautioned that growth trends in developing countries like China could put as many as one billion more cars on the road by midcentury. “That’s tremendous pressure on oil to power all those resources,” Ms. Ward said.

Substitutes, such as biofuels and synthetic oil from coal, could fill the gap if conventional supplies fall short, but only if average oil prices exceed $150 per barrel, the report notes. Increasingly tight global supplies, meanwhile, are likely to cause “persistent and painful” price shocks, it says.

For more information, see original article.

Wikileaks Cables Show Race To Carve Up Arctic

BananaFamine — Sat, 14 May 2011 19:38:14 +0000

BBC News reports:

Secret US embassy cables released by Wikileaks show nations are racing to “carve up” Arctic resources — oil, gas and even rubies — as the ice retreats.

They suggest that Arctic states, including the US and Russia, are all pushing to stake a claim.

The opportunity to exploit resources has come because of a dramatic fall in the amount of ice in the Arctic.

The US Geological Survey estimates oil reserves off Greenland are as big as those in the North Sea.

The cables were released by the Wikileaks whistleblower website as foreign ministers from the eight Arctic Council member states – Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland – met in Nuuk, Greenland on Thursday to sign a treaty on international search-and-rescue in the Arctic and discuss the region’s future challenges.

The cables claim the Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller joked with the Americans saying “if you stay out, then the rest of us will have more to carve up in the Arctic”.

For more information, see original article.

ExxonMobil Makes $11B Quarterly Profit

iLL WiLL — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:20:11 +0000

Exxon apologizes for sticking it to us at the gas pumps last quarter. The disgusting part? Exxon feels that their company “doesn’t even make that much money selling gasoline.” AP reports:

Exxon made almost $11 billion and practically apologized for it.Sensing public outrage over gasoline prices that have topped $4 in some states, the company struck a defensive posture Thursday after posting some of its best quarterly financial results ever.

Exxon said it had no control over high oil prices. It said it’s one of the biggest taxpayers in the United States. It cast federal subsidies as “legitimate tax provisions” that keep jobs at home, and cast itself as a victim of Washington scapegoating.

“They feel they have to demonize our industry,” said Ken Cohen, Exxon’s vice president for public affairs.

What’s more, the company argued, it doesn’t even make that much money selling gasoline.

Exxon’s profit of $10.65 billion for the first quarter was its highest since it made $14.83 billion in the third quarter of 2008, a record for a publicly traded company. That was also a time of $4-plus gas…

[Continues at Yahoo! Finance]

What Japan’s Disaster Tells Us About Peak Oil

Good German — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:00:31 +0000

Explosion and fire at Cosmo refinery following the March earthquake. Photo: Cranky5 (CC)

From the Guardian:

For large parts of eastern Japan that were not directly hit by the tsunami on 11 March 2011, including the nation’s capital, the current state of affairs feels very much like a dry-run for peak oil.

This is not to belittle the tragic loss of life and the dire situation facing many survivors left without homes and livelihoods.

Rather, the aim here is to reflect upon the post-disaster events and compare them with those normally associated with the worst-case scenarios for peak oil.

The earthquake and tsunami affected six of the 28 oil refineries in Japan and immediately petrol rationing was introduced with a maximum of 20 litres per car (in some instances as low as 5 litres).

On 14 March, the government allowed the oil industry to release 3 days’ worth of oil from stockpiles and on 22 March an additional 22 days’ worth of oil was released.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which serves a population of 44.5 million, lost one quarter of its supply capacity as a result of the quake, through the closedown of its two Fukushima nuclear power plants (Dai-ichi and Dai-ni), as well as eight fossil fuel based thermal power stations.

Read more here.

20 Signs That A ‘Horrific’ Global Food Crisis Is Coming

BananaFamine — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:24:29 +0000

Zero Hedge writes via The Economic Collapse Blog:

In case you haven’t noticed, the world is on the verge of a horrific global food crisis. At some point, this crisis will affect you and your family. It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but it is going to happen.

Crazy weather and horrifying natural disasters have played havoc with agricultural production in many areas of the globe over the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the price of oil has begun to skyrocket. The entire global economy is predicated on the ability to use massive amounts of inexpensive oil to cheaply produce food and other goods and transport them over vast distances. Without cheap oil the whole game changes.

Topsoil is being depleted at a staggering rate and key aquifers all over the world are being drained at an alarming pace. Global food prices are already at an all-time high and they continue to move up aggressively. So what is going to happen to our world when hundreds of millions more people cannot afford to feed themselves?

Most Americans are so accustomed to supermarkets that are absolutely packed to the gills with massive amounts of really inexpensive food that they cannot even imagine that life could be any other way. Unfortunately, that era is ending.

There are all kinds of indications that we are now entering a time when there will not be nearly enough food for everyone in the world. As competition for food supplies increases, food prices are going to go up. In fact, at some point they are going to go way up.

Let’s look at some of the key reasons why an increasing number of people believe that a massive food crisis is on the horizon.

The following are 20 signs that a horrific global food crisis is coming….

#1 According to the World Bank, 44 million people around the globe have been pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.

#2 The world is losing topsoil at an astounding rate. In fact, according to Lester Brown, “one third of the world’s cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil is forming through natural processes”.

#3 Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is now used for fuel. This is putting a lot of stress on the price of corn.

#4 Due to a lack of water, some countries in the Middle East find themselves forced to almost totally rely on other nations for basic food staples. For example, it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in Saudi Arabia by the year 2012.

#5 Water tables all over the globe are being depleted at an alarming rate due to “overpumping”. According to the World Bank, there are 130 million people in China and 175 million people in India that are being fed with grain with water that is being pumped out of aquifers faster than it can be replaced. So what happens once all of that water is gone?…

[continues on The Economic Collapse Blog]

BP Asks To Resume Gulf Coast Drilling

JacobSloan — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:00:43 +0000

Some (who don’t speak Chinese) say that the Chinese word for “crisis” also means “opportunity”. Well, no one creates cris-portunities like BP does. Via the Boston Globe:

BP has asked US regulators for permission to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, two company officials said yesterday.

The petition comes less than 15 months after a rig BP leased there exploded, causing a huge oil spill and killing 11 workers.

[One] other official said, “We’re making progress but it’s not a yes yet.’’ Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because talks on a possible agreement were continuing.

Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was halted last summer after the accident involving BP’s Macondo well, which spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. The ban was lifted in October.

Royal Dutch Shell won approval on Wednesday to drill off the coast of Louisiana on the condition that rigorous new safety standards were met. Other companies that have been allowed to continue drilling in the region include Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and BHP Billiton.

Granting permission to BP would be more controversial because the British oil company is still paying for costs related to the oil spill, the cleanup, and the continuing civil and criminal investigations into the accident.

The Obama administration has spent 11 months dealing with the aftermath of the Macondo well blowout and writing new rules to try to prevent similar accidents. But last week President Obama, in a major statement on energy policy, said the administration was seeking increased domestic oil production, both onshore and off, as a means of reducing dependence on imported oil.

Former CIA Analyst Blows Cover Off Libyan Intervention On CNN (Video)

BananaFamine — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:31:57 +0000

OPEC Could Reap $1 Trillion This Year

BananaFamine — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:25:40 +0000

OPEC Member Countries

Olga Belogolova writes in the National Journal:

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to make a record-breaking $1 trillion in export revenues this year if crude oil prices remain above $100 a barrel, an the International Energy Agency official told the Financial Times.

“It would be the first time in the history of OPEC that oil revenues have reached a trillion dollars,” Chief IAEA Economist Fatih Birol told the Financial Times. “It’s mainly because of higher prices and higher production.”

The possibility of a record-breaking year comes as continued unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, engagement in Libya, and signs of an economic recovery renew debate among policymakers over how to deal with rising global oil prices and their ties to national security.

President Obama will weigh in on the issue [on 30 March] when he speaks about his new four-part “Plan for America’s Energy Security” at Georgetown University. And Republicans and oil state Democrats have argued for expanded offshore oil and gas drilling in light of rising prices and foreign oil dependence.

For more information, see original article.

Gulf Spill Company Hands Out “Safety” Bonuses to Executives

Good German — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:23:17 +0000

Al Jazeera reports:

Transocean Ltd., the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded off the Gulf of Mexico last year, has given its top executives bonuses for achieving the “best year in safety performance in our company’s history”, despite the blast that killed 11 people and spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the ocean.

Transocean noted “the tragic loss of life” in the Gulf when the rig operated by BP PLC exploded last April. But it said the company still had an “exemplary” safety record because it met or exceeded certain internal safety targets concerning the frequency and severity of its accidents, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Safety accounts for a quarter of the executives’ total cash bonuses. The total bonus for CEO Steve Newman last year was $374,062.

The company said in a regulatory filing that its most senior managers were given two thirds of their total possible safety bonus.

The company said its bonuses were appropriate as a way to recognise its executives’ efforts in “significantly improving the company’s safety record” and implementing a new internal planning system…

Read more here.

Al Jazeera reports on the wave of illnesses in the Gulf coast:

How The BP Cleanup Effort Poisoned People In The Gulf Coast

JacobSloan — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:04:30 +0000

“We’re all lab rats and we didn’t even know it.” Almost a year after the BP oil spill, Al Jazeera reports on the awful array of health problems being faced by Gulf Coast residents exposed to deadly chemicals (largely because of the cleanup effort). Perhaps most frighteningly, a generation of small children will be developing with ultra-high levels of toxic chemicals in their blood and their bodies, the effects of which remain to be seen:

BP’s oil disaster last summer gushed at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in history – and the largest environmental disaster in US history. Compounding the problem, BP has admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons toxic dispersants, including one chemical that has been banned in the UK.

Al Jazeera has talked with scores of sick people across the Gulf Coast who attribute their illnesses to chemicals from BP’s oil disaster.

“We have sick people from Apalachicola, Florida, to Grand Isle, Louisiana, and it’s not stopping and that’s what’s disturbing,” [environmental activist] Jo Billups said. “The levels we are seeing are not dropping, and we’re seeing new chemicals now. We gave some of our blood test results to [EPA head] Lisa Jackson. They know what is going on, and they are not doing anything about it.”

“The saddest part is the children,” Billups added. “We’re seeing young children with extremely high levels of chemicals. We’re altering our DNA and our bodies forever, We’re a bunch of guinea pigs.”

Saudi Police Open Fire At Protest – What Next?

BananaFamine — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:33:43 +0000

Source: Norman Einstein (CC)

Did shit just hit the fan? Those keeping up with the Middle East protests and oil prices are well aware of the powder keg that is Saudi Arabia.

Yahoo News reports:

CAIRO – Saudi police opened fire Thursday to disperse a protest in the mainly Shiite east, leaving at least one man injured, as the government struggled to prevent a wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world from reaching the kingdom.

For full article, see Yahoo News.

“Oil will go up ‘ballistically’ if unrest shifts to Saudi Arabia, says Marc Faber”. Business Intelligence Middle East reports:

Brent crude futures could hit US$200 a barrel if political unrest spreads into Saudi Arabia, Societe Generale said on Monday.

Under what the bank called Geopolitical Scenario 3, “unrest spreads to Saudi Arabia and threatens Saudi crude exports and any remaining spare capacity. Brent price range of US$150-US$200 a barrel,” it said in a research note.

“In this most extreme, worst-case scenario for the oil markets, serious unrest spreads to Saudi Arabia. In this case, it does not really matter if Libya or any other producers are shut down or not. Saudi Arabia is OPEC’s biggest producer and the world’s biggest current holder of spare capacity,” the bank added.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s top exporter of crude oil, meeting about 10% of the global oil demand…

See original article for more information

Senior HSBC Economist Warns Soaring Food Prices Could Trigger Unrest In UK

BananaFamine — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:14:02 +0000

Sky News reports:

A senior economist at the worldwide bank HSBC has warned of civil unrest in Britain if food prices continue to soar.

Speaking on Jeff Randall Live, senior global economist Karen Ward cautioned that the UK could experience the kind of food riots seen in other countries.

“Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren’t getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well.”

She went on to highlight the link between high food prices and the escalating cost of crude oil.

“More and more we are seeing that some of these foodstuffs are actually substitutes for energy itself, particularly biofuels. So I think the energy markets are a significant contributor to these food price gains.”

The comments come as the United Nations warned the cost of food is now at the highest level for 21 years and set to rise further…

For more information, see original article.

Gaddafi Has Ordered Security Services to Start Sabotaging Oil Pipelines

Join Or DIE — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:22:30 +0000

Former CIA field officer Robert Baer writes in TIME:

There’s been virtually no reliable information coming out of Tripoli, but a source close to the Gaddafi regime I did manage to get hold of told me the already terrible situation in Libya will get much worse. Among other things, Gaddafi has ordered security services to start sabotaging oil facilities. They will start by blowing up several oil pipelines, cutting off flow to Mediterranean ports. The sabotage, according to the insider, is meant to serve as a message to Libya’s rebellious tribes: It’s either me or chaos.

Two weeks ago this same man had told me the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt would never touch Libya. Gaddafi, he said, had a tight lock on all of the major tribes, the same ones that have kept him in power for the past 41 years. The man of course turned out to be wrong, and everything he now has to say about Gaddafi’s intentions needs to be taken in that context.

The source went on and told me that Gaddafi’s desperation has a lot to with the fact that he now can only count on the loyalty of his tribe, the Qadhadhfa. And as for the army, as of Monday he only has the loyalty of approximately 5,000 troops. They are his elite forces, the officers all handpicked. Among them is the unit commanded by his second youngest son Khamis, the 32nd Brigade. (The total strength of the regular Libyan army is 45,000.)

My Libyan source said that Gaddafi has told people around him that he knows he cannot retake Libya with the forces he has. But what he can do is make the rebellious tribes and army officers regret their disloyalty, turning Libya into another Somalia. “I have the money and arms to fight for a long time,” Gaddafi reportedly said.

Chevron Fined $8 Billion For Polluting Amazon

majestic — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:29:52 +0000

It’s taken decades but finally the Amazonian Indians whose environment was despoiled by Texaco have won their lengthy court battle with successor corporation Chevron. Mind you, it’s an Ecuadorian court and no doubt the plaintiffs will have a tough time enforcing the judgment in the United States and actually collecting the money. Look forward to years more litigation while the people of the Amazon suffer for the oil giant’s wreckess conduct. BBC News reports on the judgment:

A court in Ecuador has fined US oil giant Chevron a reported $8bn (£5bn) for polluting a large part of the country’s Amazon region.

The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.

Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased.

Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoreans, in a case which dragged on for nearly two decades.

The plaintiffs said the company’s activities had destroyed large areas of rainforest and also led to an increased risk of cancer among the local population.

The trial began in 2003 after almost a decade of legal battles in the US. At that time, a US appeals court ruled that the case should be heard in Ecuador.

Environmentalists hope the case will set a precedent, forcing companies operating in developing countries to comply with the same anti-pollution standards as in the industrialised world…

[continues at BBC News]

The Relationship Between Oil, Earth and Humanity

Pelliciari — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:40:28 +0000

Oil has been the topic of discussion in American news since the 1920s, but have circumstances really changed? With the Deep Horizon spill in 2010 causing unprecedented pollution, the leak in the Alaskan pipeline and the new energy deal between China and Scotland, we are witnessing an increasing struggle for fossil fuel resources and a constant search for new energy sources. An excerpt from disinformation’s The Little Earth Book by James Bruges gives us a retrospective look of how the oil situation of today was seen 6 years ago.

The Future of Oil: Who’s Fooling Whom? – and Why?

Draw a line five miles long to represent the millions of years during which solar energy has been captured and laid down in the earth’s crust in the form of coal, gas and oil. Then put a blip in it. That blip represents the time we have taken to extract and use this embodied energy. We are half way through the blip.

These fuels have given us a material standard of living that precious generations could not have imagined in their wildest dreams. Scientific progress would have been stultified without them. But we treat them as a permanent part of the economy. They are not. Our grandchildren will have to manage without them.

M. King Hubbert said, in 1956, that oil extraction in the US would peak after 15 years and then decline, never to revive. At the time extraction was relentlessly increasing and oil companies said he was mad. In 1971 US oil production duly peaked and has declined ever since in spite of a desperate hunt supported by the most sophisticated equipment in the world. The US is now dependent on imports for two-thirds of its oil. World oil is following the same pattern – the peak will be reached within the next few years.

We know the history of discovery and, obviously, more oil cannot be produced than is discovered. US mainland (48 states) oil discoveries peaked in 1930, 40 years before production peaked. World oil discoveries peaked in the 1960s and new discoveries are gradually getting fewer and smaller. New fields will, of course, be found and each will grab the headlines for a time. But they will not change the overall pattern.

The total amount of conventional oil in the world (used, reserves and yet-to-find) is about 2,000 Gb (billion barrels) and about half has been extracted. If the amount of production falls and the demand for oil increases, particularly due to the growing Indian and Chinese economies, the price is going to rise – remorselessly.

We are now on a plateau where the amount of oil that can be produced is not much more than the amount in demand. When the world is in recession there is adequate production and the price of oil stays relatively low. This enables the world to climb out of recession. But then production cannot keep up with growing demand. The price rises adn the world slips back in to recession. The seesaw may last a few years but, in due course, the amount of oil we are able to produce will start to drop, never to recover, and recession will deepen. But instability in the Middle East may upset all predictions.

Saudi Arabia, with the biggest reserves, has a US army presence on its sacred land, a US trained defense force for its rulers, and a US fleet in the Gulf. The Caspian has significant reserves, so the US now has a military presence there, too. Iraq controls the second biggest reserves and is threatened with invasion. Iran is being closely watched as it could close the Straight of Hormuz, cutting off the Gulf. Venezuela has the largest reserves outside the Middle East, so no threat to its supplies will be tolerated. Angola has the largest reserves in Africa – watch this space.

Industrial farming is hugely subsidized and totally dependent on oil. Air travel is subsidized (aviation fuel is not taxed, air tickets do not attract VAT, and major new airports are being planned). Railways have been under-funded for 50 years and are now collapsing. The government has a huge programme for building roads. Excessive use of fossil fuels is causing climate chaos.

If we were sensible our top priority would be to reduce demand. If we wait until oil prices create deep recession we will not be able to afford the huge investment required for renewables.

Central Asia
For the US to be dependent on Russia for pipping oil out of the Caspian region was anathema. Iran was “evil.” The only other route was through Afghanistan. In 1998 the oil company Unocol appealed to a Congressional sub-committee for “the development of appropriate investment climates in the region”. “The construction of a pipeline proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognised government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company”. Dick Cheney was oil-pipeline consultant to several Central Asian republics as well as one of hte three deal-makers for Unocol. He is now Vice President of the US.

In July 2001 Pakistan’s foreign minister was told by the US that military action would go ahead against Afghanistan by mid October. By February 2002, following the Afghan war, the US had established permanent military bases in all Central Asian republics. Secretary of State Colin Powell said “America will have a continuing interest and presence in Central Asia of a kind that we could not have dreamed of before [11 September].” Cheney indicated that the US was planning action against “40 to 50 countries”, even the take-over of Saudi Arabia’s oilfields is being discussed. The Bush administration calculates that political upheaval will enable the US to establish direct military control over global oil resources.

The Gulf Of Mexico’s Blue Plate Special

majestic — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:29:46 +0000

Michael Edward writes about the ongoing ecological disaster that has befallen the population of the Gulf of Mexico, at blueplague.org:

There’s a new proprietary recipe being force-fed to all of us here on the Gulf of Mexico that is now becoming available worldwide. Although this recipe has been closely guarded for 8 months, we were able to break it down after examining the plentiful supply us “Gulf Coasters” have available here. The ingredients are abundantly available while both the recipe and the brewing process are not as secret as everyone had thought.

THE GULF BLUE PLATE (BP) SPECIAL

Fill a large bowl with saline ocean water, add a generous proportion of thick crude oil, then pour in a cup of liquid Correct-it (available from Nalco under the brand name Corexit) making sure you don’t spill any on yourself, stir gently, and then let it sit for a day or two. As the newly thinned oil mixture begins to sink to the bottom of the bowl, make sure the resulting gasses are allowed to ever-so-slightly bubble in orange foam on the surface. This will let you know you’re ready for the next and most important step.

Quickly add Syn-Bio (available from JCVI, SGI, and other private companies) along with a colloidal mixture containing iron, copper, and other natural elements to begin the interactive brewing process. Let it sit for no less than 6-9 months making sure nothing is allowed to disturb it. When there is no more gas coming to the surface and the mixture on the bottom turns into a gelatinous black goo, the first stage of the recipe is finished.

The amazing thing about this new state-of-the-art recipe is what it becomes after the initial first stage brewing process is finished. No-one knows! It’s no wonder some have begun to refer to it as The Blue Plate (BP) Special. You can be assured that once the second stage of this concoction begins to release its mutated biological ingredients, as it appears to have done so already, the rest of the world will abruptly notice.

OIL SPILL OR OIL FLOW?

There was never a BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. When you fill a glass with water, bump into something while holding it in your hand, and then some of the water splashes out, that’s a spill. When you turn on a water faucet and allow a continual flow to fill the glass so that it’s constantly overflowing, that’s not a spill. Because the multiple BP drilling operations that began at Mississippi Canyon 252 in 2009 fractured the floor of the Gulf of Mexico sometime before April 22, 2010, there is a continuous flow of crude oil and, especially, oil derived gasses such as methane. That’s called an oil and gas flow.

Since the Gulf has a steady flow of toxic crude oil and gasses, then how do you stop it? You can’t. The only solution to the problem is to find a way to eliminate it before it has a chance to surface en mass. This is exactly what has, is, and will continue to occur in the Gulf of Mexico.

SYNTHETIC GENOME BIOREMEDIATION

Toxic crude oil and gas can be changed, altered, or eliminated by microbes. Natural microorganisms in all the oceans, such as bacteria, have been known to do this over time, usually lasting decades and beyond. It’s a slow natural process. Yes, natural biology can do the job, but under continual flow conditions there is no possible way all the hydrocarbon-hungry microbes in the entire world can eliminate that much oil and gas fast enough. Time is the critical factor.

For the past decade, synthetic biology has been the new science realm. We now have engineered genetic biology that synthetically creates RNA and DNA sequences for both viruses and bacteria.

In the 1980’s, the fad was designer jeans. Now, we have designer genes.

Soon after the Deepwater Horizon inferno, U.S. government scientists – with grant funds supplied by British Petroleum – started giving us solid clues as to what they were doing with all that crude oil and gas. In May 2010, National Geographic quoted Dr. Terry Hazen from the U.S. government’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who said,

“…we could introduce a genetic material into indigenous bugs via a bacteriophage – a virus that infects bacteria – to give local microbes DNA that would allow them to break down oil. Either that, he said, or a lab could create a completely new organism that thrives in the ocean, eats oil, and needs a certain stimulant to live…”

There were two possible solutions according to Dr. Hazen, who is considered to be the foremost crude oil bioremediation expert in the world. Either use synthetically engineered viruses called bacteriophages, or ‘phages’, to infect and alter the genetics of indigenous Gulf bacteria; or, synthetically create an entirely new organism, i.e. a new species of bacteria, to eat up the oil and/or gas and introduce it into the Gulf of Mexico.

In September 2010, Duke University gave us another confirmation as to what was going on in the Gulf:

“In a paper published in the journal Science, Terry Hazen and his colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered in late May through early June 2010 that a previously unknown species of cold-water hydrocarbon-eating bacteria have been feasting on the underwater oil plumes degrading them at accelerated rates.”

Natural microorganisms are well known to biologists and their genetic sequences are catalogued in a worldwide library. The public can even access the entire genetic library on the internet. But here we have a new and never before identified species of bacteria that suddenly “appears” in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s eating up the oil at a much faster speed than any natural bacteria possibly could or ever has.

In August 2010, Science Magazine reported about bacteria that were gobbling up the Gulf oil and how it was being done by microorganisms that were not typical:

Hazen’s team found that microbes inside the plume samples were packed more than twice as densely as microbes outside it. Even more encouraging, the genes specifically geared to degrade hydrocarbons were more common in the plume as well, implying that it’s not just general bacteria that are taking on the plume.

Terry Hazen had described how the genes of a certain microbe that were “geared” (created) to eat-up crude oil were not just thriving within the oil plume, but were rapidly duplicating more than twice as fast as those same microbes outside the oil plume. He reveals that indigenous “general” or natural bacteria in the Gulf are not responsible for this amazing outcome. Obviously, he knows exactly what’s doing the job at such an accelerated rate: Synthetic genome bacteria created specifically to consume hydrocarbons, crude oil…

[continues at blueplague.org]

Deathbed Globalist ‘Spills Gut’ On Plan to Destroy America

phunkychic666 — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:36:33 +0000

Kurt Nimmo writes on Infowars:

Pastor Lindsey Williams provides details on the ongoing plan by the global elite to destroy America, consolidate financial power, usher in world government, and reduce humanity to a slave class.

Lindsey Williams told Alex Jones his source — described only as a CEO in the Big Three Oil industry who traveled in Bilderberger circles – is suffering from terminal cancer and “spilled his guts” to him on particular details of the globalist agenda now unfolding.

Scientists Find Damage to Coral — Essential to Marine Life — Near BP’s Oil-Spill Well

Good German — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:15:19 +0000

The Associated Press reports via CommonDreams:

For the first time, federal scientists have found damage to deep sea coral and other marine life on the ocean floor several miles from the blown-out BP well — a strong indication that damage from the spill could be significantly greater than officials had previously acknowledged.

Tests are needed to verify that the coral died from oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, but the chief scientist who led the government-funded expedition said Friday he was convinced it was related.

“What we have at this point is the smoking gun,” said Charles Fisher, a biologist with Penn State University who led the expedition aboard the Ronald Brown, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel. “There is an abundance of circumstantial data that suggests that what happened is related to the recent oil spill,” Fisher said.

For the government, the findings were a departure from earlier statements. Until now, federal teams have painted relatively rosy pictures about the spill’s effect on the sea and its ecosystem, saying they had not found any damage on the ocean floor.

In early August, a federal report said that nearly 70 percent of the 170 million gallons of oil that gushed from the well into the sea had dissolved naturally, or was burned, skimmed, dispersed or captured, with almost nothing left to see — at least on top of the water. The report was blasted by scientists.

Most of the Gulf’s bottom is muddy, but coral colonies that pop up every once in a while are vital oases for marine life in the chilly ocean depths. Coral is essential to the Gulf because it provides a habitat for fish and other organisms such as snails and crabs, making any large-scale death of coral a problem for many species. It might need years, or even decades, to grow back.

Oil Profits Soar Even In Crippled Economy

D.J. Pangburn — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:38:49 +0000

Site editor’s note: This post from DJ Pangburn originally appeared on death + taxes.

What a joy it is to see some businesses doing well as the corpse of capitalism slowly re-animates…

Very few industries bloom in harsh economic times, but the oil and energy industries are doing just fine. Did anyone expect anything less?

Exxon-Mobil reported a 55% surge in third quarter earnings compared to last year. The U.S. oil giant posted $7.4 billion in earnings, which translates to $1.44 per share. It’s annual revenue rose $13 billion to $95.3 billion, much of the credit going to the demand coming out of China attempting to feed its unstoppable economic engines.

In a statement, ExxonMobil chairman Rex Tillerson commented on Exxon-Mobil’s profits:

“Despite continuing economic uncertainty, we had strong quarterly results and continued to advance our robust investment opportunities.”

Royal Dutch Shell’s quarterly earnings also rose significantly, even as the company divests itself of some of their oil-producing facilities in Nigeria. Shell is also benefiting, as the Wall Street Journal reported, from, “improved security in the Niger Delta” and the opening of new oil fields. Translation: Shell’s private army is controlling those violent and unpredictable Nigerian warlords with the help of friendly government officials like Nigeria President (puppet) Goodluck Jonathan.

For Exxon-Mobil, however, higher oil and gas prices created the profit surge. So, as Americans and other people worldwide struggle financially, gas and oil prices remain high, flushing billions into the coffers of oil corporations. Such is the reality of free markets when it comes to big industry.

Here is an idea for middle class: maybe you should take what little money you have left and invest in energy. Dip into the already depleted college fund. You, too, might profit in the midst of a recession.

BP is Sorry … for Drilling Into Another Dimension & Releasing Cthulhu on ‘South Park’ (Video)

ralph — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:01:19 +0000

Here’s some clips from last night’s episode of South Park (Watch entire show here).

Unsatisfied with just destroying the ecology of the Gulf Coast with a mere oil spill, BP ventures into another realm and eventually releases one of the Great Old Ones. 3,000 years of Darkness can’t be that bad, right?