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Shell Settles Nigeria Case for $15.5M

Saro-Wiwa settlement is milestone for international law

(Newser) - Royal Dutch Shell agreed to settle a lawsuit over the 1995 deaths of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Nigerians for $15.5 million, reports the Financial Times. Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists against petroleum exploitation were executed by the Nigerian military government, allegedly at the behest of the oil giant. In...

Stocks Flat After Big Rally
 Stocks Flat After Big Rally 
MARKET Open

Stocks Flat After Big Rally

(Newser) - Stocks were essentially flat at today's open on the heels of yesterday’s huge rally. The Dow inched down 15 points, while the Nasdaq and S&P fell 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively. Commodity prices were backing off, though oil still hovered around $68 a barrel. Financials were mixed,...

Stocks Up Despite GM Filing
 Stocks Up Despite GM Filing 
MARKET Open

Stocks Up Despite GM Filing

(Newser) - Stocks shot higher at the open this morning, as rising oil prices and strong manufacturing data from China outweighed news of GM's bankruptcy. The Dow rose 102 points; as of next Monday, the index will no longer include GM and Citigroup. The Nasdaq and S&P were each up 1....

Shell Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

Family of Saro-Wiwa sues oil company in American court

(Newser) - Next week Royal Dutch Shell will finally appear in court to answer charges that it was complicit in the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the author and oil company critic executed by Nigeria's former military regime in 1995. Saro-Wiwa's family accuses the oil company of "a systemic campaign of human...

Russia Warns of Arctic War
 Russia Warns 
 of Arctic War 

Russia Warns of Arctic War

New document says Moscow should prepare for polar resources battle

(Newser) - A document released by the Russian government suggests that the country should prepare for war in the Arctic within the next decade, as rising temperatures intensify the scramble for the region's vast oil and gas fields. Russia claims sovereignty over a 465,000-square-mile ridge, which the US and other northern...

Exxon Mobil Profits Plunge 58% on Low Oil Prices

Low year-over-year pump prices, oil demand drive revenue down

(Newser) - Exxon Mobil’s first-quarter profit fell 58% from the previous year to $4.6 billion—its lowest profit in more than 5 years—as the world's largest publicly traded oil company, along with the rest of the industry, saw gas prices deflate dramatically. This time last year crude was in...

Oil Industry Squeezed as US Demand Tanks

(Newser) - Big oil execs, analysts, and government sources say a century-old American tradition is waning: after years of increasing oil consumption, US guzzling has peaked, they believe. Last year, demand plunged 7.1% for gas, diesel, and jet fuel—the biggest drop since 1950, when dependable records began. And major changes...

Big Oil Blows Off Obama's Clean-Energy Push

Firms say alternatives won't replace oil anytime soon

(Newser) - As the Obama administration seeks to spearhead a $150 million clean-energy overhaul, oil firms are conspicuously not getting on board—they're staying on the sidelines and, in many cases, betting against it, the New York Times reports. Shell is freezing its development work on wind, solar and hydrogen power, after...

Economic Woes Threaten Iraq's Stability

Declining oil prices and aid cancel urgently needed rebuilding

(Newser) - Countries around the world are suffering budget shortfalls and declining exports, but few nations have seen as calamitous a fall in revenues as Iraq. As oil prices have plummeted and American financial support has dried up, Iraq is canceling projects and struggling to pay government employees. As the New York ...

Cheap Oil Keeps World Economy Off Balance
Cheap Oil Keeps World Economy Off Balance
ANALYSIS

Cheap Oil Keeps World Economy Off Balance

With crude under $40, investment dries up, nations lose revenue

(Newser) - Oil surged 13% yesterday in New York trading—and still closed at less than $40 a barrel, reports the Washington Post. Cheap oil has been a boon for consumers in the recession, but the collapse in crude prices has contributed to further havoc in international markets from Canada to Kuwait....

Oil's Plunge Trouble for Palin

(Newser) - Sarah Palin's first two years as Alaska's governor were a time of milk, honey, and crude, with sky-high oil prices pumping wealth into the state. The second half of her term isn't looking so rosy. The rapid decline of oil prices has left the state with a looming budget shortfall...

Bye, Bye, Petro-Czars
 Bye, Bye, Petro-Czars 
ANALYSIS

Bye, Bye, Petro-Czars

The power of petro-czars has slumped as oil prices have fallen

(Newser) - There is one silver lining to the global recession: The economic and political fortunes of America’s oil-rich antagonists have been tarnished, Rana Foroohar writes in Newsweek. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez have all been humbled by the falling price of...

Kenya Mourns Double Tragedy That Killed 136

Grieving kin blame poor emergency response in 2 fires

(Newser) - Kenyans are blaming the government for poor public safety and emergency response as they mourn the loss of 136 people in back-to-back fires at a Nairobi supermarket and on a rural highway. Emergency crews were slow to respond to yesterday's fuel tanker explosion, which came as they were still searching...

Chavez Quietly Courts Western Oil Firms

Falling oil prices force Venezuelan prez to swallow his pride

(Newser) - The falling price of oil is forcing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to quietly make overtures to the Western oil companies he used to harass and shun, reports the New York Times. Chavez needs the foreign expertise and purchasing power to help boost Venezuela's declining production and income. The lure of...

Smart Money Trickles Back Into Energy

Those considered sectors 'smart money' see opportunity in sector

(Newser) - The energy sector is recharging, the Wall Street Journal reports, at least if a pair of deals by billionaire oil and gas investor George Kaiser is any indication. Kaiser, who built his fortune buying energy assets during downturns, is jumping back into the market, penning a $412 million natural gas...

Oil Prices Reverse Monthlong Decline

Crude reaches nearly $37 after UAE's cuts

(Newser) - Oil prices rose today—after dropping more than 30% this month alone—as the United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia in curbing crude supplies, reports Reuters. Crude oil rose as much as $1.55 a barrel, or 4.4%, to $36.90 in New York this morning. The UAE cut...

OPEC Prepares to Slash Output
 OPEC Prepares to Slash Output 

OPEC Prepares to Slash Output

Saudis lead push for record cut to pump prices to $75 a barrel

(Newser) - OPEC ministers are expected to back the biggest reduction in oil production in the history of the cartel when they meet today, Reuters reports. The exporters widely support a cut of 2 million barrels a day. Oil prices neared $43 per barrel yesterday, down over $100 from July. Officals from...

Oil Slides Into Its Own Recession

A weak global economy is dragging oil consumption down for the first time in 25 years

(Newser) - Oil is officially entering a recession of its own, as a foundering global economy has caused the first reduction in consumption in a quarter-century, the Wall Street Journal reports. The International Energy Agency estimates that 2008 demand for oil will finish down some 300,000 barrels a day, the first...

No Euphemisms: Let's Nationalize GM
 No Euphemisms: 
 Let's Nationalize GM 
OPINION

No Euphemisms: Let's Nationalize GM

Move would boost economy, environment

(Newser) - As Detroit extends its tin cup to DC, the government is making a lengthy list of preconditions and checking it twice. Why not keep things simple and nationalize the struggling GM? Any government loan wouldn’t be big enough, and despite all the misplaced anger directed at the Big Three,...

Finish My Fight With Big 3: Gore to Obama

We need urgent action, Gore warns

(Newser) - Al Gore doesn't want a White House job, but he does have advice for Barack Obama: Use the bailout plan to transform the Big Three automakers. As vice-president, Gore rolled out a billion-dollar program to pay for fuel-efficient Detroit vehicles—"but as soon as they felt they were...

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