Posts Tagged ‘oil’

Take the oil!

Written By: - Date published: 6:23 pm, January 28th, 2019 - 87 comments

Before he was elected President, Donald Trump’s approach to United States illegal attacks on Iraq and Libya was that their only mistake was that the US didn’t “take the oil.” After becoming President, his approach to oil-rich Venezuela was “can’t we just invade them?”

Update: John Bolton confirms its about the oil.

World Bank to stop funding oil and gas exploration

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, December 14th, 2017 - 29 comments

It is time for all of the institutions, countries, investors and individuals who are still in the Paris Agreement to stop funding fossils – once and for all.

– Stephen Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International

Greenpeace’s Taitu confronts oil exploration ship

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, April 11th, 2017 - 27 comments

Thank you Greenpeace, and specifically thank you Russel Norman and the crew of the Taitu, for taking to the seas to fight this little battle in the most important struggle of our age.

Oil prospecting on the shores of Lake Te Anau?

Written By: - Date published: 3:10 pm, March 22nd, 2017 - 22 comments

The Nats are buying another fight with NZ’s nature lovers. Last time they tried something like this 50,000 marched in Auckland and they were forced to back down.

Greenpeace protesting oil conference in New Plymouth

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, March 22nd, 2017 - 3 comments

Greenpeace protestors are blockading an oil conference in New Plymouth. “If we’re to have a future, oil can have no future.”

Greenpeace activists on oil rig

Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, April 7th, 2015 - 74 comments

greenpeace-oil-rig

Obama vetos Keystone pipeline

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, February 26th, 2015 - 8 comments

Too little, too late, but a victory the environment (and for sanity) none the less.

The last gasp of oil

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, January 23rd, 2015 - 109 comments

Fracking has created a short term oil glut. That’s bad news for climate change. Could we at least find a silver lining in this carbon cloud, or will it be business as usual?

Local Bodies: The Great Oil Gamble and Wasted Opportunities

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, April 7th, 2014 - 24 comments

Gamble Big’ rather than ‘Think Big’ should be this National Government’s mantra.Opening up huge areas of our land and territorial waters for open slather oil and gas exploration is a gamble on so many levels. When many countries like Denmark are actively chasing a sustainable, clean energy future, this government is throwing all its hopes on a big strike of fossil fuel.

What use is oil extraction here?

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, March 20th, 2014 - 26 comments

One of the more irritating traits of National politicians is their bone-headed and short-term obsession about being rentiers selling raw and lightly processed raw materials offshore. Sure it is great in the short-term for the seller of the rights to those raw materials, but it does little to nothing for the other 4+ million people […]

Syria et al.

Written By: - Date published: 5:09 pm, August 29th, 2013 - 311 comments

Sometimes the most complicated and complex situation becomes clear when viewed from a simple and obvious perspective.

NRT: If you can’t cap it, don’t drill it

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, June 7th, 2013 - 21 comments

I/S at No Right Turn on deep water drilling off our coast line.

Just one teeny problem…

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, April 26th, 2012 - 72 comments

You’d think we’d draw some obvious conclusions from the Arctic melt. Apparently not though. We’re in a hole, but we’re going to keep digging…

Iran

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, March 4th, 2012 - 107 comments

Israel and the US have both been ratcheting up their rhetoric against Iran in the past few months and an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities looks highly likely. Just the other day, Obama told Iran to stop its nuclear programme or else adding, “I don’t bluff”. I really, really hope he’s bluffing. Because Iran’s ready to make an attack on it cost the world big time.

Texas of the South Seas?

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, January 17th, 2012 - 132 comments

Every few years, since the 70s, they’ve promised the great New Zealand oil boom is coming. It ain’t going to happen. If there is lots of oil, it’s deepsea and expensive. And they haven’t found it in 40 years of looking. We have a worse production-consumption ratio now then the 80s. Even if we somehow become a massive oil exporter, it’s not the economic panacea you might think.

Saudis invade Bahrain

Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, March 15th, 2011 - 7 comments

For the second time in 14 years, the Saudi monarchy has sent troops into Bahrain to crush protests by the Shi’ite majority against the Sunni monarchy. Having intimidated their own people into silence on Friday, the Saudis now want to bring the Bahraini Shi’ites to heel, lest they inspire more unrest from Saudi Shi’ites. The US is not unhappy.

West leaves Libyan rebels to swing in the wind

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, March 12th, 2011 - 40 comments

Faced with the choice between short-term stability offered by a military strong-man or the long-term stability that would emerge from a democratic revolution, the West has long backed dictators in key resource supplying third-world nations. As the West backs away from saving the Libyan rebellion, it appears that little has changed.

No-fly zone for Libya

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, March 1st, 2011 - 43 comments

NATO leaders are discussing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent the crumbling Gaddafi regime bombing and strafing protesters. Gaddafi’s loyalists are tied up keeping Tripoli under control, and the opposition is preparing to send in troops. Meanwhile, the big question elsewhere in the Arab world is what will happen on Saudi Arabia’s March 11, ‘Day of Rage’?

Nats’ economic plan: more oil, more cows

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, November 8th, 2010 - 70 comments

We’ve been critical of this do nothing government’s economic record, but now I/S at No Right Turn has received documents that lay out the Nats’ economic plan. They rejected the notion of government, business, and workers pulling together to create a better economy and went with: 1) find lots of oil 2) lots of GM cows.

Brownlee makes Nats more enemies

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, June 30th, 2010 - 18 comments

Every night before they go to sleep, good little Labour and Green spin doctors pray for another headline involving Gerry Brownlee. The guy has an amazing tin ear for public opinion. He’s had 50,000 people march against his mining plans and, now, he’s made a Treaty breach over the one area of foreshore and seabed that was settled. Gerry, you’re a godsend.

Let’s not rush things

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, June 18th, 2010 - 7 comments

President Obama has just come out and said the US and the world needs to get off its oil addiction. But, just as we’ve been talking about climate change for nearly two centuries, before it was even a problem, and done nothing about it, Presidents have been declaring its time to end the oil age for 40 years and nothing has changed. Why can’t we get serious about saving ourselves?

The rock and the hard place

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, May 7th, 2010 - 17 comments

To avoid cascading sovereign debt crises, countries need economic growth that will boost their tax so they can start getting their books in order. But good economic news sends oil prices up due to the tight supply situation and we’re close to the point where the price of oil tips economies into recession. Is this the limit to growth?

Up in smoke

Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, October 6th, 2009 - 19 comments

When the Tui oil-field was opened last year, the operators (AWE New Zealand, 87.5% foreign-owned, ironically) were given permission to burn off 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas retrieved incidentally to the oil over the life of the oil-field. That’s actually a hell of a lot of gas, about 6% of what New Zealand […]

Whither the PIF?

Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, January 30th, 2009 - 1 comment

I attended the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji back in 2006. The shadow of Bainimarama’s approaching coup hung over the forum but it wasn’t enough to quell the heat as we sat in our ridiculously ill-suited suits through endless, pointless meetings. Nothing was achieved and everyone clapped each other on the back for a job […]

Matt McCarten from the Herald on Sunday

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, June 16th, 2008 - 15 comments

Worth a read: Remember when George Bush’s administration promised the world that the invasion of Iraq would be over in a few weeks? We were assured that the Iraqis would throw flowers at their liberators, the war would make a tidy profit and petrol prices would plummet. Next time you fill up your car think […]

Getting blood from a stone

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, May 27th, 2008 - 5 comments

A reader has just written in as a followup to IrishBill’s post earlier today on National’s plans to line the pockets of oil tycoons with a four land highway stretching the length of the North Island. Our reader notes that it’s not just us who think getting policy out of the Nats is like getting […]