February, 2008:

Smoke rises above the Bacton gas terminal. Picture: EDP reader Anna Hollis. 

29 February 2008 05:45

Neighbours of Norfolk’s giant gas terminal are today pondering how close they came to disaster after a blast rocked the seaside complex.

Villagers in Bacton are used to living in the shadow of the site’s mass of pipes, pumps, aerials and chimneys, which handle a third of the nation’s gas.

But many were shocked when their homes were rocked by the 5.45pm blast from a waste water system in the middle of the Shell section at the eastern end of the site, which sent a huge column of smoke towering over the terminal. read more

· Explosion at Norfolk plant importing 13% of supplies
· ‘Major incident’, but no reports of casualties

Martin Hodgson and Dan Milmo , Friday February 29 2008

Emergency teams were last night fighting a big fire at one of Britain’s largest gas terminals, which sent more jitters through energy markets.

The blaze is believed to have broken out at a water treatment plant at the Bacton gas terminal in north Norfolk. Norfolk fire service said 10 crews had contained the fire, which was described as a major incident. read more

29/02/2008

Fire crews last night fought a blaze at one of the largest gas terminal complexes in the UK.

The fire in a treatment plant at the Shell base in Bacton, Norfolk, broke out shortly before 6pm.

It took 10 crews from Norfolk Fire Service around two hours to bring it under control.

Anna Hollis, from a nearby holiday park, said: “We could see flames and smoke shooting up and the alarm was going off.

“The fire was right in the centre of the terminal and there were helicopters flying all around.” read more

Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:58am GMT 

By Luke Pachymuthu

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil touched a new high above $103 on Friday after Ecuador shut a key export pipeline and a fire hit a major European natural gas plant, while the U.S. dollar’s fall to a series of lows kept fresh funds flowing in.

Prices later shed initial gains, with U.S. crude down 4 cents to $102.55 a barrel by 3:44 a.m. British time, after hitting $103.05 in early morning trade, smashing the inflation-adjusted high of $102.53 reached in 1980, a year after the Iranian revolution. read more

Paula Dittrick
Senior Staff Writer

HOUSTON, Feb. 28 — Shell Oil Co. Pres. John D. Hofmeister said his company proposes a 12-point energy plan, noting that he believes the last time the US had a “coherent, comprehensive” energy policy was during World War II.

Hofmeister, speaking Feb. 27 to Business and Climate Change conference cosponsored by the British Consulate-General of Houston, Shell, and others, called for a US energy policy to address short-term, medium-term, and long-term issues. read more

GLUAISEACHT are mobilising people from all over Ireland to travel to London this St. Patrick’s weekend to “return the pipeline to Shell!”

We are bringing a 70ft pipeline to Shell H.Q. on St Patrick’s day to protest against the give away and mismanagement of our natural resources and to show our solidarity with the Shell to Sea campaign.

Buses will leave from Limerick and Dublin on Friday 14th of March and meet at the Dail at 5pm to protest at our government’s complicity in the Corrib gas project. From there we will embark on a weekend of actions in London highlighting the corrupt deal our government has done with Shell and the destruction of a area of extreme natural beauty. The weekend will culminate in a protest at Shell H.Q. on St Patrick’s Day where we “return the pipeline”. read more

AP – 28.02.2008 19:15

A fire has broken out at one of Britain’s largest gas terminals. Fire officials in Norfolk, a county north-east of London, said on Thursday that crews were dealing with a “very large scale incident”. A number of fire engines have been deployed to the Shell UK-owned Bacton terminal, said a fire department spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official policy. The site is the third largest of its kind in Britain and is responsible for brining natural gas ashore from the North Sea. read more

28 February 2008 | 19:12
 
Emergency services were called to reports of an explosion at the Bacton gas terminal on the Norfolk coast this evening.

Villagers said they had been told to stay indoors pending further advice.

One said she had “felt an earth tremor” and had seen smoke coming from the vicinity of the terminal.

A spokesman for Norfolk fire service confirmed there had been initial reports of an explosion and said he had been told there was a “major fire” at the Shell terminal at the site. read more

Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:23pm GMT 

LONDON (Reuters) – Firefighters said on Thursday they were tackling a major fire at the Bacton gas terminal, but that the blaze appeared to be confined to the terminal itself.

“We have a very large scale incident ongoing at the moment at the Bacton Gas Shell UK Ltd site … on the Norfolk coast,” a spokeswoman for Norfolk fire brigade said.

She said there were 10 fire engines tackling the blaze which broke out shortly before 6 p.m..

She said the fire was in the water treatment plant and that there was no immediate evidence of any chemicals being involved. read more

By Alexander Kwiatkowski and Grant Smith

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) — Firefighters doused a blaze at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Bacton terminal in the U.K., which handles gas flowing from the North Sea into Europe’s biggest gas-consuming country.

A fire erupted in the water-treatment plant at Shell’s terminal, according to a recorded message by the Norfolk Fire Service press office today. Ten fire engines attended the incident, which the message described as “very large-scale.” No chemicals are believed to be involved, according to the message. read more

Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:53pm

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that repair works to a pipeline connected to the Bonny Light oil terminal in Nigeira had been completed and oil had started flowing.

Early in February, Shell declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports and stopped shipments from the terminal to repair three pipeline leaks, which were first discovered in January.

“The Nembe Creek pipeline has been repaired and oil started flowing,” a Shell spokesman said. “Force majeure is still in place.” read more

By John Donovan

A guest on Live Chat has taken issue with the content of my recent article…

26/02/2008  Shell’s atrocious track record in Nigeria

The allegations in my article were made by independent reputable sources with verification links provided. The article included a link to a leaked Shell internal report, the contents of which were commented upon in the cited news media reports. They also commented on the admissions made in the report.

I have not visited or lived in Nigeria and have no ambition to do so. I do not accept that anyone is disqualified from giving an opinion on the issues being discussed unless they have lived in or visited Nigeria. Neither do I accept that someone who has lived in Nigeria will automatically provide a more informed impartial opinion on relevant issues. read more

Charles Crowell/Bloomberg News
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority headquarters in the city of Abu Dhabi.

By LANDON THOMAS Jr.
Published: February 28, 2008

Abu Dhabi has about 9 percent of the world’s oil and 0.02 percent of its population. The result is a surfeit of petrodollars, much of which is funneled into a secretive, government-controlled investment fund that is helping to shift the balance of power in the financial world.
 
After decades in the shadows, the fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, is turning heads on Wall Street and in Washington by making high-profile investments in the United States and elsewhere. read more

Scott G. Borgerson: Scott G. Borgerson
From Foreign Affairs, March/April 2008

Summary:  Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict.

SCOTT G. BORGERSON is International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard. read more

Conference confronts issues businesses face on environment

By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The likely regulation of greenhouse gases in the U.S. will bring huge business opportunities, but cleaning the environment won’t be cheap or easy, speakers said Wednesday at a Houston conference.

The trading of carbon dioxide pollution credits is already a multibillion-dollar business in Europe just a few years after markets were launched there under the Kyoto Protocol, an international climate treaty the U.S. did not sign. read more

Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post 

CALGARY — Former oilsands skeptic BP PLC now seems in a hurry to catch up, signaling on Wednesday that it would forge a second partnership similar to its US$11.7-billion deal with Husky Energy Inc. if the right match came along.

After combining its Toledo refinery in Ohio in December with Husky’s Sunrise project in northern Alberta to create a US$11.7-billion business, CEO Tony Hayward said BP could make a similar move involving its refinery in Whiting, Ind., where a US$3.8-billion retooling and expansion to handle Canadian heavy oil is on its way. read more