Tagged with Oil

The dreams peddled by the oil and gas industries turn out to be fantasies

no-frackingThe one thing Osborne loves to tell us, constantly, is that the future of energy production lies in fracking and that he will do everything in his power to maximise shale drilling in Britain, even to the extent of allowing drilling to be carried out on private land without permission.

However this oasis of future riches has received rather a knock from the latest information in the US. It has now been reported that the top 15 players in US shale drilling have written off no less than $35bn since the boom started, and that investors are beginning to pull out. It has also become clear from the big shale basins in the US that production rapidly peaks, but then equally rapidly falls away. Continue reading →

Why climate change helped trigger the Syrian civil war

Syria and climate changeWatching events in Syria you can’t help but be thoroughly disturbed. Massacres, chemical weapons usage, millions displaced, mass destruction and a death toll approaching an estimated 100,000. Although well into the 21st century the old bloody habits of the 20th seem reluctant to let go.

But as events unfold in Syria I fear we are witnessing a tragic aperitif – a warm-up act for horrors and worse that will flare up with shocking frequency as we move further into the century. The reason? Our planet is literally and metaphorically becoming a pressure cooker. Continue reading →

Libya after Gaddafi

After exercising a dictatorship over Libya for more than four decades, Muammer Gaddafi now seems to be effectively at the end of his rule. Following a bitterly-fought and surprisingly close run civil war that lasted for six months, the insurgents have reportedly almost completed the capture of Tripoli.

The development meets with approval across the spectrum, from rightwing ruling class politicians to the bulk of the far left, save for a handful of microsect oddballs who declared in favour of the Colonel at the start of hostilities. Continue reading →

The West’s Faustian deal with Arab tyranny unravels

As Gadaffi totters and Saudi Arabia, the Big One, comes into the Arab revolution’s sights, the hypocrisy that has long held the Arab states in bondage is coming home to roost.   The West’s deal with the Arab dictators is coming unstuck, big time.

Despite all the Western pretensions about democracy, women’s rights, cracking down on corruption, and press freedom, the deal was: Continue reading →