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Offshore

In one of the most significant environmental decisions the Trump administration has taken, a ban on offshore drilling was lifted on 4 January 2018.  The New York Times reported: While the plan puts the administration squarely on the side of the energy industry and against environmental groups, it also puts the White House at odds […]

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Dangers of crewing an oil tanker

Associated Press reports that jets belonging to the Libyan government bombed a Greek-owned tanker, killing two crew members: A military spokesman for Libya’s internationally recognised government says its fighter jets bombed a Greek-owned tanker ship because it had no prior clearance to enter an eastern port and acted “suspiciously”. Spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari said the jets […]

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Pulp fictions

pulp fiction   n. fiction of a style characteristic of pulp magazines; sensational, lurid, or popular fiction. 1928   Decatur (Ill.) Herald 10 Aug. 6/5   Wood-pulp fiction commands a price of two—sometimes three—cents a word (The Oxford English Dictionary) I sometimes think that pulp fictions touch on the zeitgeist, that they pick up on undercurrents of politics […]

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More amazing maps

The British Library Map Collection includes this amazing map: They explain the controversy around this map: … in the 1970s in Britain, suffering from the  Middle East oil embargo, with economic malaise and high unemployment, it was argued as such. There is a deep blue area on the map which curved around Norway on the map, […]

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Carbon Capital in Motion

I have already written about ships as workplaces, and of workers held captive on ships.  Now, the NY Times reports on a massive floating refinery which is going to look for fossil fuels in the Indian Ocean.   The ship is HUGE: More than 530 yards long and 80 yards wide, it was constructed with 260,000 […]

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Oil and logistics

Fascinating piece from Guernica magazine about how more and more ex-soldiers and military logistics firms are going into the oil business: This concentration of former service members owes partly to the fact that military training makes many uniquely suited for work in the domestic oil and gas industry. That, at least, has been Dave’s experience. […]

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