Oil & gas industry

North Sea oil: Whistleblowers speak out

Topics: 
Oil & gas industry
Rating: 
2

Terry Macalister and Rob Evans – July 5, 2011

Workers in the North Sea oil industry are under pressure to keep quiet about accidents as companies are desperate to avoid losing money, whistleblowers have told the Guardian.

One whistleblower, "Jim", who says he will lose his job if his identity becomes known, said workers know there is an unwritten and unspoken code that workers do not report accidents, as their employers do not want to halt operations.

RCMP probes Senator over trips to Bangladesh

Topics: 
Oil & gas industry, Political misconduct
Rating: 
3

Greg McArthur – June 24, 2011

The RCMP is investigating Liberal Senator Mac Harb for criminal breach of trust, alleging in a sworn affidavit that he travelled to Bangladesh on a special passport reserved for federal officials, where he lobbied members of the country's government on behalf of Niko Resources, a Calgary-based oil and gas company.

For nearly four years, a team of Mounties has been investigating Niko Resources' natural-gas operation in Bangladesh, and on Friday, the company agreed to pay a fine of $9.5-million after pleading guilty to trying to influence a junior Bangladeshi minister by providing him with a luxury SUV as well as a paid trip to Calgary and New York.

Bribery case reveals Canada's lagging corruption laws

Topics: 
Corruption, Oil & gas industry, Legislation
Rating: 
4

Dan Healing – June 24, 2011

Penalties levied against Niko Resources on Friday show that Canada's anti-corruption laws are gaining strength but are still weaker than similar laws in the United States, observers said.

The case, settled by a guilty plea negotiated by Niko and prosecutors following a six-year investigation by the RCMP, is only the second conviction under the Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, passed in 1998.

National Energy Board: Captured Regulator?

Topics: 
Oil & gas industry, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
4

What happens when watchdog becomes lapdog? Nikiforuk's latest Energy and Equity inquiry.

Andrew Nikiforuk – June 17, 2011

The Economist magazine once described "regulatory capture" as a simple case of a gamekeeper behaving like a poacher. Whenever industry captures the power of the state to foster private goals (and it's an occupation older than prostitution), regulators get captured and corruption surely follows.

And that's now a big problem for North America's energy regulators, which, arguably, are the continent's most powerful public servants. Yet their integrity appears to have peaked along with conventional oil and gas in the 1970s, and most are now abusing their powers. In an era of volatile energy prices, it appears that regulators would rather please industry than police it.

Mumbai reporter's death linked to 'oil mafia' stories

Topics: 
Organized crime, Oil & gas industry, Freedom of the press, India, Political misconduct
Rating: 
2

Robin Pagnamenta – June 12, 2011

A veteran crime reporter best known for his exposés of Mumbai's criminal underworld was killed in a suspected mafia attack.

Jyotirmoy Dey,an investigative journalist with the city's Mid Day newspaper, was shot by four men on motorcycles close to his home in Powai, a northern suburb.

U.S. regulator reverses TransCanada ban within hours

Topics: 
Oil & gas industry, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
3

Paul Thacker – June 9, 2011

Who says government workers are lazy? Not us.

Why, just last week, the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Office of Pipeline Safety shut down TransCanada's controversial Keystone Pipeline after two spills in the last month--one in North Dakota, the other in Kansas.

Canadian regulator silent as U.S. keeps pipeline stalled

Topics: 
Oil & gas industry, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
0

Route shut down after two spills

Sheldon Alberts – June 4, 2011

The Obama administration issued an order Friday preventing Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. from restarting its massive Keystone oil pipeline after an investigation into two spills in less than a month found "serious" concerns about safety in pump stations along the 3,450-kilometre line.

"After evaluating the foregoing preliminary findings of fact, I find that the continued operation of the pipeline without corrective action would be hazardous to life, property and the environment," Jeffrey Wiese, the associate pipeline safety administrator with the U.S. Department of Transportation, wrote in a letter to TransCanada executives.

Madagascar fears repeat of Canada's tar sands devastation

Topics: 
International, Tar sands, Oil & gas industry, Environment
Rating: 
0

Tom Levitt – June 1, 2011

UK banks are helping to finance oil giant Total's exploitation of tar sands on the world's fourth largest island despite lack of adequate environmental controls or regulation.

Plans to extract oil from tar sands deposits in Madagascar, including one partly inside a UNESCO World Heritage site, have been condemned by an alliance of environmental and human rights groups in the country.

Gas drilling critic launches multimillion-dollar suit

Topics: 
Oil & gas industry, Regulatory oversight, Environment
Rating: 
0

Kelly Cryderman – April 27, 2011

A southern Alberta landowner who has long claimed coal bed methane drilling polluted her well water has launched a lawsuit demanding more than $10 million each from Encana, the Alberta government and the province's energy regulator.

Jessica Ernst, 54, is one of the province's most outspoken critics of drilling methods such as fracking -where water, chemicals and sand are blasted deep underground to break up coal formations and release natural gas.

Oil Companies That Gave ‘Bonuses' to Libya Lobbied Against Disclosure Rules

Topics: 
Corruption, Oil & gas industry, Arab spring
Rating: 
2

Marian Wang – March 24, 2011

Multinational companies operating in Libya have had to deal with many obstacles, including a government rife with corruption that often asked for what amounted to bribes.Sometimes those companies balked; sometimes they paid them, New York Times reported today.

The Times story doesn’t actually mention the word “bribes,” using instead the phrase “payoffs to keep doing business.” U.S. companies are barred from paying bribes to foreign officials and governments by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

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