Energy & Oil

• Friday, October 25th 2019 - 09:45 UTC

  Alarming level of mercury contamination in Amazon dolphins: illegal gold mining

  

  Amazon river dolphins are showing alarming levels of contamination mainly because of illegal panning for gold, conservationists say. Researchers measured contamination levels in 46 of these large freshwater creatures known for long, bottle-like snouts in major basins of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.

• Wednesday, October 23rd 2019 - 09:45 UTC

  Brazil has collected 600 tons of oil from the spill along northeastern beaches

  

  Brazil has collected more 600 tons of oil from its northeastern beaches since Sept. 12, the government said, more than double an estimate of oil and sand collected by state-run oil company Petrobras.

• Wednesday, October 23rd 2019 - 08:58 UTC

  Major pre-salt oilfields auction could raise some US$ 50 billion for Brazil

  

  An auction next month of oilfields in Brazil may be the priciest ever held, raising at least US$ 50 billion in licensing fees and compensation. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and other energy giants are set to vie for deep-sea deposits that could hold 15 billion barrels of oil, almost twice as much as Norway’s reserves.

• Monday, October 21st 2019 - 09:40 UTC

  Ecuador resumes oil exports after days of violent protests

  

  Ecuador on Sunday said it had resumed crude oil exports curbed by violent protests that forced several wells in the Amazon to halt operations.

• Monday, October 21st 2019 - 09:16 UTC

  Maritime industry trying to cut the use of heavy polluting fuels

  

  Ship-owners say they are trying to cut their heavy-polluting industry's impact on the environment by using cleaner energy - but some have stalled over limiting the speed of ships.

• Saturday, October 19th 2019 - 09:58 UTC

  Argentina awards hydrocarbons exploration licenses in the West Malvinas basin

  

  The Argentine government awarded ENI Argentina Exploración y Explotación; Tecpetrol, and MEMPLO, a subsidiary from Japan's Mitsui hydrocarbons licenses to explore an offshore area. MLO/124 in the so-called West Malvinas basin.

• Thursday, October 17th 2019 - 15:23 UTC

  Thousands of protesting Dutch farmers laid siege to Parliament in The Hague

  

  Thousands of tractor-driving Dutch farmers stepped up protests on Wednesday against the government's climate policies, prompting authorities to block off parliament with army vehicles. In the second national demonstration in three weeks against government plans to curb nitrogen emissions, farmers laid siege to the country's seat of power in The Hague, causing widespread travel disruption.

• Thursday, October 17th 2019 - 09:55 UTC

  Brexit concerns blowing gale across nervous Falklands

  

  The following piece on the Falklands and Brexit was distributed by the French news agency, AFP, both in English and Spanish. - It may be a remote archipelago 13,000km from mainland Britain but the Falkland Islands' incredible biodiversity, as well as fishing and meat exports, are under threat from Brexit.

• Wednesday, October 16th 2019 - 18:35 UTC

  Russia eyeing a controlling stake in lithium project in Chile's Atacama desert

  

  Uranium One Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom, may buy a controlling stake in a lithium project in Chile’s Atacama salt flat from Wealth Minerals Ltd, the Canada-listed company said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, October 16th 2019 - 08:10 UTC

  A “ghost ship” smuggling Venezuelan oil probable cause of the massive spill along Brazilian northeast beaches

  

  A huge oil spill off Brazil's northeastern coast may have involved a “ghost ship” carrying Venezuelan oil in breach of US sanctions, a Petrobras expert close to the probe into the disaster said on Tuesday.