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Gulf 'Dead Zone' One of the Biggest Ever

Low-oxygen marine wasteland measures 7,772 square miles

(Newser) - The Gulf of Mexico is seeing one of the biggest low-oxygen areas—or "dead zones"—on record this year. A dead zone forms in the Gulf around this time every year, but the 2010 incarnation is 7,722 square miles, just a few hundred short of the record...

Oil Vanishes From Surface of Gulf
 Oil Vanishes From 
 Surface of Gulf 
Good News?

Oil Vanishes From Surface of Gulf

But worries persist about what's beneath the waves

(Newser) - Finally there’s a glimmer of good news from the Gulf: the oil on the surface is disappearing a lot faster than anyone expected, according to the New York Times . The leak has been shut for almost two weeks, and “oil has a finite lifespan on the surface,”...

Rig's Alarm System Disabled on Day of Blast

Functioning alerts would have warned of explosion: technician

(Newser) - An electronics technician aboard the ill-fated oil rig Deepwater Horizon told an investigative panel today that an alarm system was partially shut down on the day the rig exploded. Mike Williams said the system was turned on to monitor for fire, explosive gas, and toxic gas but that its sound...

Asia Stocks Plunge
 Asia Stocks Plunge 

Asia Stocks Plunge

Markets down on US unemployment, Europe debt

(Newser) - Following a dismal day on Wall Street, Asian markets fell sharply today on news of an unexpectedly high US unemployment rate and worries about the growing debt crisis in Europe. The MCSI Asia Pacific Index was down 1.6 percent at 111.79, a 9-month low. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock...

Blaze Erupts on Aussie Oil Rig
 Blaze Erupts on Aussie Oil Rig 

Blaze Erupts on Aussie Oil Rig

Leak spewing 400 barrels of oil daily

(Newser) - A massive blaze has erupted from an oil rig in the Timor Sea off northwest Australia. The fire was sparked as workers battled to plug an undersea leak that has spewed 400 barrels of oil a day for the past 10 weeks. No one was injured in the fire and...

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

(Newser) - With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies...

Drill, Baby, Drill!: Palin
 Drill, Baby, Drill!: Palin
OPINION

Drill, Baby, Drill!: Palin

Renewable energy, domestic oil development are complementary

(Newser) - Even as the US develops renewable-energy sources and cars that don’t need gas, it’s important to recognize that petroleum will be a part of our lives for some time, writes Sarah Palin. And as long as we need it, we should be getting as much as possible from...

Oil States Plot to Ditch Dollar

Gulf Arabs in talks to replace greenback with mix of currencies

(Newser) - The American dollar is dropping against the yen and euro amid reports that the Gulf states are planning to replace use of the greenback in oil trading in favor of a basket of mixed currencies. The Arab states are in advanced discussions with China, Russia, Japan and France to end...

China Sells Gas to Iran Despite US Pressure

Provides 1/3 of its fuel imports

(Newser) - Chinese state oil companies began selling gasoline to Iran this month and now provide 30,000 to 40,000 barrels a day, or as much as a third of the country's imports. The development comes despite US-led attempts to block gas shipments to Iran, which has seen oil giants BP ...

Crude Makes Compelling Case Against Big Oil

Doc tells of disastrous effects of oil extraction

(Newser) - Crude is a hard-hitting documentary about the ravages of the oil industry—Chevron is the villain here—on indigenous people in Ecuador. Critics are wowed:
  • “Here’s a powerhouse of a documentary that makes you feel mad as hell and unwilling to take it anymore,” writes Peter Travers
...

Minister Who Freed Lockerbie Bomber Has Bro in Oil Biz

Kenny MacAskill's brother has pitched oil business to Libya

(Newser) - The Scottish government minister who freed the Lockerbie bomber has a brother who works in the oil industry and has pitched oil business to Libya, reports the Wall Street Journal. Kenny MacAskill's brother, Allan, spent 20 years at BP, which admits that it lobbied for a prisoner-transfer agreement between the...

Gadhafi Son: Why the Fuss Over Bomber's Release?
Gadhafi Son: Why the Fuss Over Bomber's Release?
INTERVIEW

Gadhafi Son: Why the Fuss Over Bomber's Release?

Celebration of Megrahi's return made possible by Brit TV coverage

(Newser) - The release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi had nothing to do with commerce, Moammar Gadhafi's son tells the Scotland Herald. What's more, he blames the celebration of Megrahi's return on the British news media—“Everyone knew from Sky and the BBC that he was going to land...

Gadhafi Son to Bomber: We Cut Deal With UK for You

Business sec. eyed over ties to younger Gadhafi

(Newser) - Even as Scotland insists its decision to release the Lockerbie bomber was a compassionate one, a conversation between Moammar Gadhafi’s son and the bomber suggests some backroom wheeling and dealing, the Sunday Telegraph reports. A transcript has Saif Gadhafi telling the bomber, “You were on the table in...

Fiber-Optic Mics Eavesdrop on Thieves

OptaSense can identify footsteps, vehicles from miles away

(Newser) - Major oil companies are relying on a new fiber-optic technology to keep an underground ear on intruders, the Independent reports. Devised by a British defense firm, the OptaSense system consists of microphones placed along sensitive fiber-optic cables already laid underground. The cables sense vibrations, the mics pick it up, and...

'Bourgeois' Golf Courses Tee Off Chávez

Venezuela shutting down the links—that happen to be near oil

(Newser) - Hugo Chávez has gone after oil conglomerates and media companies, and now he's hitting the capitalist pigs where it hurts: at the golf course. The Venezuelan president is trying to shut down the country's best-known courses, which he believes are part of an anti-Marxist conspiracy, the Independent reports. "...

Russia to Drill for Oil Off Cuba

(Newser) - A government-controlled Russian oil firm will be allowed to search for and extract oil from Cuba's portion of the Gulf of Mexico under a deal signed yesterday, the BBC reports. The Russian firm will work alongside Cuba's state-run oil monopoly a matter of miles off the coast of America. Cuba...

Rogue Trader Shocks Oil Market
Rogue Trader Shocks
Oil Market

Rogue Trader Shocks Oil Market

Crude hits highest level in a year on unauthorized trades

(Newser) - On Tuesday, the price of oil spiked unexpectedly to its highest level in 2009—a barrel of crude jumped from $71 to $73.50 in just one hour, for no apparent reason. Yesterday the reason became clear: a rogue broker in London with PVM, the world's largest petroleum brokerage, had...

In Televised Auction of Oil Contracts, Iraq Plays Hardball

Oil ministry plays hardball on prices

(Newser) - The Iraqi oil industry has been nationalized since 1972, but today the country is awarding the first contracts in decades to private petroleum companies—live on television. So far a joint bid by British Petroleum and a Chinese firm has won the first contract, for a 17 billion-barrel field in...

Wallop Iran Where It Hurts: Oil Revenues
Wallop Iran
Where It Hurts:
Oil Revenues
OPINION

Wallop Iran Where It Hurts: Oil Revenues

Two 'green' revolutions could bring down regime: Friedman

(Newser) - Pundits and politicians are wasting their time telling Barack Obama what he should be saying about the growing "green revolution" in Iran, writes Thomas L. Friedman. The country's reformers and protesters don't need American encouragement; they need a weakened theocracy—which will only happen when oil prices go into...

Big Oil Drooling Over Iraq Contracts

Firms booted out in '72 eye nation's vast untapped reserves

(Newser) - Iraq is preparing to welcome back the foreign oil companies it ejected over 30 years ago, and the firms are giddy with anticipation, the Wall Street Journal reports. Contracts to revive production at neglected oil fields go up for auction next week, and competition is expected to be fierce. Oil...

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