Environment

• Thursday, July 25th 2013 - 05:55 UTC

  Conference in Brazil to discuss oil and gas industry latest practices in HSE

  

  Oil spills have always tormented the oil and gas industry with devastating incidents being reported world wide. A recent oil spill of about 11,480 barrels in Ecuador has given rise to concerns to the neighbouring countries of Latin America.

• Thursday, July 25th 2013 - 02:51 UTC

  Coastal Antarctic permafrost melting faster than expected

  

  For the first time, scientists have documented an acceleration in the melt rate of permafrost, or ground ice, in a section of Antarctica where the ice had been considered stable. The melt rates are comparable with the Arctic, where accelerated melting of permafrost has become a regularly recurring phenomenon, and the change could offer a preview of melting permafrost in other parts of a warming Antarctic continent.

• Wednesday, July 24th 2013 - 06:37 UTC

  Argentina bans Illex squid catches for 30 days: average size is below 800 grams

  

  Following on recommendations from scientific cruise surveys Argentina’s Federal Fisheries Council, CFP, decided to temporarily ban Illex squid catching operations, north of 44o South, with the purpose of giving the cephalopods time to increase in size.

• Tuesday, July 23rd 2013 - 14:54 UTC

  Mineral rich Australia may contain world's next major oil find

  

  By John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com - Australia's massive mineral exports allowed it to weather the global recession, which began in 2008, quite nicely.

• Tuesday, July 23rd 2013 - 07:21 UTC

  Uruguay’s citrus production down 30% because of severe weather a year ago

  

  Uruguay’s major citrus crops estimates place production at almost a third lower than the previous year, the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fishing (MGAP) reported.

• Monday, July 22nd 2013 - 00:18 UTC

  Introducing the Exlana sheep after eight years of development

  

  The concept of an easier care animal is not new – as SIG, a group of eight sheep farmers developing Sheep Improved Genetics, are the first to admit. But after years of breeding sheep through genetics, not cosmetics, the Exlana breeders say they have bred the ultimate animal.

• Wednesday, July 17th 2013 - 19:47 UTC

  HMS Argyll sailors recreate Shackleton’s trek across South Georgia Island

  

  Sailors from HMS Argyll followed in the footsteps of Britain’s greatest polar explorer when they recreated Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary trek across the snow and ice of South Georgia Island.

• Wednesday, July 17th 2013 - 19:35 UTC

  Russia blocks creation of two huge Marine Protected Areas in Antarctica

  

  An extraordinary meeting of the Commission of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Ross Sea region and in East Antarctica wrapped up on Tuesday without an agreement after Russia with support from Ukraine blocked the initiative.

• Wednesday, July 17th 2013 - 07:07 UTC

  Argentine Orcadas base reports 7.3 magnitude earthquake close to Antarctica Peninsula

  

  A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Antarctica, generating large waves but causing no injuries, seismic experts at Argentina's Orcadas base in Antarctica reported on Monday.

• Tuesday, July 16th 2013 - 20:29 UTC

  Chernobyl at sea? Russia building Floating Nuclear Power Plants

  

  By John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com - So much for the lessons of Fukushima; never mind oil spills the Russian Federation is preparing an energy initiative that, if it has problems will inject nuclear material into the maritime environment.