09 October 2019 Column: How Can Shell Bring More Solar Power to India? Nearly 168 million people in India lack access to electricity. And, for millions more connected to the grid, the reliability and affordability of electricity remains patchy. Now, Shell has secured a nearly 20% stake in the Bangalore-based solar firm Orb Energy.
25 September 2019 Column: What 1,000 CEOs Really Think About Climate Change and Inequality To solve the world’s biggest challenges, such as climate change and inequality, the business community will have to play a critical role. Last month, nearly 200 CEOs declared that the purpose of business is no longer just maximizing shareholder profit. But are they ready to follow through?
17 September 2019 DNV GL Report: The Future of Energy Is Decarbonized Gas and Renewables The report reveals there is no single pathway to a decarbonized energy mix. A combination of energy sources—primarily gas and renewables—will be the quickest route to delivering a supply of affordable, decarbonized energy in the lead-up to the midcentury.
04 September 2019 Industry and Governments Back New Net Zero Solution Centre The Oil & Gas Technology Centre has announced it will create, in partnership with industry, a Net Zero Solution Centre to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies to decarbonize offshore operations and develop the UK continental shelf as the first net zero oil and gas basin.
23 August 2019 Environmental, Social, and Governance: The ABCs of ESG Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) refers to three central factors in measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of investments. At its core, ESG investment involves gauging a company’s long-term, rather than short-term, sustainability.
20 August 2019 Digitalization Drives Sustainability and Financial Performance for Equinor Equinor is using its digital transformation to be more sustainable. “It’s not just about running a smarter business," said Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, Equinor's senior vice president of sustainability. "It’s also about running a more sustainable business.”
19 August 2019 Sinopec Releases Sustainability Report in Saudi Arabia The report, the first by a Chinese company in Saudi Arabia, outlines how Sinopec is fulfilling its economical, safety, environmental, and social responsibilities in Saudi Arabia.
01 August 2019 Transforming Natural Resource Management for a Sustainable Planet This paper presents the recent expansion of UNFC guidance to cover social and environmental effects and the further transformation of the system to make it a valuable tool in resource management for governments and businesses.
27 July 2019 Earth Overshoot Day Shifts to Earliest Date Ever On Earth Overshoot Day, humanity will have used nature’s resource budget for the entire year, according to the Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability organization. Earth Overshoot Day has moved up 2 months over the past 20 years to 29 July this year, its earliest date ever.
22 July 2019 Ecuador Tribe Wins Legal Battle Over the Amazon The ruling protects half a million acres of land in the Amazon forest on which the Waorani have lived for centuries from being earmarked for oil drilling, campaigners said.
22 July 2019 US Shale Firms Put Up $16.5 Million To Build West Texas Charter Schools Twenty top US energy companies agreed to contribute $16.5 million to open new schools in West Texas, where an influx of oil and gas workers have strained schools, roads, and other civic services.
22 July 2019 Column: The Time for Impact Investing Is Now Impact and environmental/social/governance investing are reshaping adviser and investor relations. They are fast becoming the business model of the future, with investors exercising a greater degree of diligence on how their investments are bringing wider benefits.
08 July 2019 Repsol Launches Social-Impact Investment Fund Fundación Repsol has created an investment fund through which it will develop social enterprises to contribute to energy transition and generate professional opportunities for vulnerable groups. The fund will allocate €50 million to the development of enterprises with a distinctively social profile.
01 July 2019 2019 SPE Offshore Europe Explores the Industry’s License To Operate The biennial SPE Offshore Europe conference will explore a diverse set of topics, including the application of digital technologies and preparing for a low-carbon energy future and ongoing work around standardization and decommissioning.
14 June 2019 Column: Business as Usual Will Not Save the Planet The UN's sustainable development goals were designed to engage the private sector in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. Four years into the timeline, the question is whether companies are advancing serious solutions or are simply embarking on a massive public relations charade.
11 June 2019 Businesses Double Down on Sustainability as Consumers Focus on Costs While most businesses have intensified their sustainability efforts, many residential consumers’ actions have stalled as cost and complexity have slowed commitment to clean-energy solutions, according to a study released by the professional services firm Deloitte.
28 May 2019 Column: Why Proponents of Major Projects Need To Consider the Link Between Climate Change and Human Rights By refusing development consent of a coal mine on the basis of likely contribution to climate change and adverse social impacts, the New South Wales Land and Environment Court has drawn attention to the increasing importance of human rights considerations in assessing the impact of major projects.
23 May 2019 Range Publishes First Corporate Sustainability Report Range Resources announced the release of its Corporate Sustainability Report, highlighting the company’s efforts and commitments to responsibly develop natural gas.
16 May 2019 An Uncommon Victory for an Indigenous Tribe in the Amazon A parade of hundreds of Waorani, members of an indigenous nation in a remote part of the Amazon, marched triumphantly through the streets of Puyo, Ecuador, celebrating a court ruling that held that the Ecuadorian government could not auction off their land for oil exploration without their consent.
01 May 2019 Circular Economy: A Sustainability Innovation and Solution for Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Industries The developed world must no longer tolerate the buildup of mountains of waste while other places in the world, especially in underdeveloped countries, lack access to energy, food, clean water, and clean air.
30 April 2019 Award Recognizes Arctic Environmental Impact Assessment The 2019 Global Award of the International Association for Impact Assessment was awarded to the Arctic Council, honoring the council’s promotion of sustainable development and environmental protection.
16 April 2019 Murphy Oil Releases Its First Sustainability Report The company's 2019 report reinforces the strategic importance of responsible oil and natural gas development while investing in local communities.
05 April 2019 Aramco Asia Singapore Teams With Planet Water Foundation To Provide Safe Drinking Water in Indonesia The program includes water-filtration systems and water health and hygiene education in 10 Indonesian villages.
28 March 2019 Report Reveals Burden of Energy Waste, Methane Emissions on Navajo Communities A recent study of oil and gas methane emissions on the Navajo Nation reveals companies operating on tribal lands pollute 65% more than the national average, wasting millions in tribal resources every year and underscoring the opportunity for tribal leaders to reduce emissions.
26 March 2019 JPT Technology Minute Poll: To Which of the Top Five UN Sustainability Development Goals Do You Think the Oil and Gas Industry Will Contribute the Most? The papers identified in the article cover sustainable development of oil and gas resources in various aspects.
04 March 2019 Study Finds Green Certification Improves Public Opinion of Oil and Gas Development Researchers at Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs found that public opinion of oil and gas development could be improved if firms were "green certified," meaning that they pledged to adhere to stricter environmental standards than required.
04 March 2019 How Should We Engage With Investors on Sustainability? In its report "Change the Conversation: Redefining How Companies Engage Investors on Sustainability," nonprofit Ceres provides some guidance on how companies should best engage with their investors on the issue of sustainability.
01 March 2019 One Industry of Global Citizens An assortment of sustainability initiatives shows how the oil and gas industry, leveraging its reach, diversity, and resources, is going well beyond just supplying energy to impact the world for the better.
01 March 2019 The Technology Arm of Sustainability The oil and gas industry faces three key questions with regard to sustainability.
01 March 2019 The Challenge of Public Perception Are you annoyed by all the wrong things passing for facts about oil and gas? A lot of petroleum engineers are. As for what to do to solve the problem, that gets complicated, and likely will require studying psychology.
01 March 2019 How the Oil and Gas Industry Is Contributing to Sustainability In September 2015, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals, addressing the global challenges facing humanity, including poverty, inequality, health, education, energy, climate, the environment, and prosperity.
01 March 2019 Why We Matter When worldwide oil and gas consumption reached record levels yet again in 2017, SPE members were there when it counted, helping to generate more light and power for billions of people across the world.
18 February 2019 How AI Can Help Solve Some of Humanity’s Greatest Challenges—and Why We Might Fail In 2015, the United Nations ratified the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Technology will be critical in the pursuit of these ambitious targets, but the pace and scale of change creates risks that humanity must take very seriously.
14 February 2019 Column: Yes, Sustainability Can Be a Strategy Is the adoption of sustainability practices a form of strategic differentiation that can lead to superior financial performance? Or, is it a strategic necessity that can ensure corporate survival but not necessarily outperformance?
05 February 2019 Alberta Oil Town Fights Man Camps in Effort To Boost Population Fort McMurray, the remote Canadian town largely built by the oil-sands industry, is trying to limit the ability of those companies to fly in out-of-town workers.
24 January 2019 Column: Here’s How a 100% Renewable Energy Future Can Create Jobs and Even Save the Gas Industry The world can limit global warming to 1.5℃ and move to 100% renewable energy while still preserving a role for the gas industry and without relying on technological fixes such as carbon capture and storage, according to this new analysis.
24 January 2019 Former US Commerce Secretary To Lead Group To Help Permian Residents Former US Commerce secretary and energy executive Don Evans will lead a partnership of oil and gas firms that have pledged $100 million toward easing the civic strain of the shale oil and gas boom in West Texas and New Mexico.
22 January 2019 Sustainability Means Survivability for the Oil and Gas Industry, World Abroad Sami Alnuaim, 2019 SPE president, welcomed the addition of two new oil and gas sustainability initiatives at the University of Houston and highlighted a number of ways the industry is already acting as a good global steward.
11 January 2019 How CSR Managers Can Inspire Other Leaders To Act on Sustainability Many companies care about corporate social responsibility. But putting it into practice requires more than CEO speeches and company policies; managers and employees have to be on board.
11 January 2019 Policies or Technology? The Key to a Sustainable Energy Future The chicken or the egg? The cart or the horse? Should policy or technology take the lead? It is not a reasonable question when it comes to deciding where the keys to a sustainable energy future lay—we need both.
20 December 2018 Colorado Regulators OK Bigger Buffer Zone for Oil, Gas Drilling Near Schools Commission approves 1,000-ft setback from school property, including outdoor areas.
10 December 2018 Surge of Oil and Gas Flowing to Texas Coastline Triggers Building Boom, Tensions For Texas ports, the rise in oil and gas exports is a windfall. For some communities, it’s not so simple.
28 November 2018 New Zealand Farmers Concerned Over Safety Exclusion Zones Taranaki farmers say they will be collateral damage if a recommendation that safety exclusion zones be enforced around oil and gas installations is taken up.
27 November 2018 Equatorial Guinea Congratulates Oil Services Companies for Steps Toward Local-Content Compliance The announcement follows the decision to cancel all contracts awarded to international oil services firm Subsea 7 for failure to comply with local-content rules in Equatorial Guinea.
14 November 2018 Reports Aim To Dive Into the Future of the Ocean and the Industries That Rely on It Reports from DNV GL will look at how ocean industries and future opportunities in the Arctic are can be managed as part of a sustainable future.
14 November 2018 Big Oil Tells Big Tech: Trust Us, Being Arrogant Will Backfire Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said the oil industry’s own behavior in years past has eroded its relationship with society. He warned that tech companies could face similar fates and that “the alarm bells are ringing quite clearly.”
25 October 2018 KBC Establishes Energy and Sustainability Copilot hub in Singapore KBC, a Yokogawa company, announced the launch of a new Energy and Sustainability Co-Pilot hub in Singapore to address the Singapore government’s environmental sustainability initiatives.
25 October 2018 New York Sues Exxon for Misleading Investors on Climate Change Risk New York’s attorney general sued Exxon Mobil Corp. on 24 October, alleging that the world’s largest oil company for years misled investors about the risks of climate change regulations on its business.
13 October 2018 Why People Aren’t Motivated To Address Climate Change Climate change involves a combination of factors that make it hard for people to get motivated.
10 October 2018 Local Content Compliance—Employment and Training of Nonskilled Ghanaians in the Upstream Industry The object behind Ghana's local content requirement is to ensure the involvement of Ghana's own industry, including its national oil company, in the development of the exploration, production, and decommissioning value and supply chain.
02 October 2018 Transiency, Fly-In/Fly-Out Workers, and Sustainability: Perceptions From Within a Resource-Based Community Using semistructured interviews with key informants from Fort McMurray, Alberta, this paper details how residents perceive fly-in/fly-out workers and what effects this new employment strategy may have on their community.
02 October 2018 Getting Beyond Greenwashing: Why Companies Need To Rethink Their Approach to Sustainability Pascual Berrone has spent the last 10 years studying the phenomenon of greenwashing—appearing to limit environmental impact without actually doing so—and determines that it causes more harm than good in terms of companies’ standing and their market value.
17 September 2018 Hess Named to Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America for Ninth Consecutive Year Hess has earned a place on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America for the ninth consecutive year. The index recognizes public companies for outstanding performance across economic, environmental, and social factors.
13 September 2018 Most Executives Believe in the Business Case for CSR. So Why Don’t They Invest More in It? Given companies’ track record in achieving great things, the question is not whether companies can be a force for good. The question is, why don’t all executives lead their companies to be a force for good?
05 September 2018 US Army Corps Stands By Permit for Dakota Access Oil Pipeline The US Army Corps of Engineers said on 31 August that a permit it granted for the Dakota Access Pipeline last year was environmentally sound, handing a setback to tribal and green groups hoping to stop the flow of oil on the pipeline.
21 August 2018 Oil Major and Miner Ethics Scrutinized by Methodist Investors The Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church is developing a system for analyzing company ethics, and top mining and oil companies will be graded by the end of 2018.
21 August 2018 US Says Conserving Oil Is No Longer an Economic Imperative Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US, the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs.
16 August 2018 Marked for Demolition? Ugandans on Pipeline Route Fear Land Loss Ugandan farmer James Mubona, 73, looked pensive as he sat in a blue plastic chair under a mango tree next to three of his four wives, one breastfeeding a 5-month-old baby, contemplating the imminent loss of his 22-acre farm to an oil pipeline.
16 August 2018 How Can a Circular Plastics Economy Grow the Oil Industry? Chemical demand is essential to long-term oil demand growth. However, the focus to tackle plastics waste by reducing and recycling is raising concerns on future chemical demand growth.
25 July 2018 Baltimore Lawsuit Blames Oil and Gas Companies for Climate Change The city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit on 20 July against 26 oil and gas companies and entities, including BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, for knowingly contributing to what the city called the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
25 July 2018 Broomfield, Colorado, Council Passes Sweeping Land Use Regulations The new ordinance affects oil and gas operations and is likely to be challenged in court.
03 July 2018 Rhode Island Sues Major Oil Companies Over Climate Change The lawsuit is the first by a state seeking to hold oil companies responsible for costs associated with climate change and followed similar cases by several local governments nationally.
03 July 2018 Declines in Trust Present a Must-Seize Opportunity for American Natural Gas In 2018, trust across institutions among members of the US general population declined by nine points—the steepest drop ever measured in the United States by the Edelman Trust Barometer. But the drop was even more dramatic for the American natural gas industry.
03 July 2018 Report Identifies Areas of Research To Fill Gaps in Knowledge of Gulf Coast's Interconnected Natural and Human System Improved understanding of the coupled natural/human coastal system will help promote resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems under rapidly changing environmental conditions, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
02 July 2018 ExxonMobil Foundation Invests $10 Million in Guyana for Research, Sustainable Employment, and Conservation The program aims to advance Guyana’s sustainable economy through investments in education, research, sustainable management, and conservation of the country’s vast ecosystems.
26 June 2018 US Court Dismisses Climate Change Lawsuits Against Top Oil Companies A California federal court dismissed climate change lawsuits against five oil companies by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, saying the complaints required foreign and domestic policy decisions that were outside the purview of courts, Chevron said on 25 June.
26 June 2018 Report Names Countries Best Prepared for the Global Energy Transition According to the report by the World Economic Forum, 43 countries boast well-performing energy systems and high-transition readiness, which indicates their ability to address the energy transition based on current performance.
21 June 2018 Ten Inconvenient Truths About Climate Change Tort Claims In the last decade, a series of tort claims have been brought in the US against oil, gas, and coal producers; power companies; and car manufacturers seeking compensation for loss and damage said to be the result of climate change caused by greenhouse-gas emissions. To date, none has succeeded.
04 June 2018 Pope Tells Oil Executives to Act on Climate: ‘There Is No Time to Lose’ The Vatican was host to executives of the world’s top oil companies for a conference on climate change and the transition away from fossil fuels on 9 June.
30 May 2018 Wave of Climate Change Tort Suits Against Industry Continues In the latest effort by municipalities seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for their alleged contribution to climate change, the city and county of Boulder, Colorado, and the county of San Miguel filed suit against two companies on 17 April.
30 May 2018 Colorado City Approves $3 Million Deal To End Oil and Gas Surface Drilling Longmont, Colorado's City Council voted to give final approval to the city's $3 million agreement with TOP Operating and Cub Creek Energy that officials have said will end oil and gas drilling from the surfaces of properties within the city, as well as city-owned properties east of Longmont.
29 May 2018 IOGP Report: Growing Oil and Gas Demand Requires Global Investment Oil and gas demand is stable or rising in all regions of the world, meaning additional investments are needed for production to keep up. Growing indigenous requirements reduce volumes available for export in many regions, IOGP’s new Global Production Report shows.
16 May 2018 Statoil To Become Equinor, Dropping 'Oil' To Attract Young Talent Shareholders in Norway’s largest company, Statoil, approve the board’s proposal to drop “oil” from its name as its seeks to diversify its business and attract young talent concerned about fossil fuels’ impact on climate change.
10 May 2018 Hess Ranked Top Oil and Gas Company in 2018 Best Corporate Citizens List Hess has earned a place as the No. 1 oil and gas company on Corporate Responsibility magazine’s list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2018.
04 May 2018 Branding in Body Armor: Risk and Respect in Southern Iraq Forging an authentic and meaningful brand for major projects in complex and challenging regions is an under-rated tool for managing risk—but not at the Rumaila oilfield in Southern Iraq.
25 April 2018 Navigating Uncertain Future Indigenous Engagement Requirements: A Road Map for Project Proponents Proponents seeking to develop large energy, infrastructure, and mining projects in Canada face significant uncertainty regarding future requirements for engaging with Indigenous peoples. These requirements may be influenced by a number of factors.
17 April 2018 Under Military Rule, Venezuela Oil Workers Quit in a Stampede Thousands of oil workers are fleeing the state-run oil firm under the watch of its new military commander, who has quickly alienated the firm’s embattled upper echelon and its rank-and-file, according to union leaders.
19 March 2018 Chevron, Oil Giants Lose Latest Fight Over Climate Jurisdiction California cities and counties seeking to hold five of the largest oil companies accountable for their contribution to climate change through a trio of lawsuits will make their case in California state court, a judge ruled.
19 March 2018 Toolkit Aims To Help Companies Improve Human Rights in Conflict Areas "Human Rights Due Diligence in Conflict-Affected Settings" responds to growing concerns by companies working in fragile areas about possible human rights violations in those contexts.
06 March 2018 US Interior Chief Holds Off on Federal Oil Lease Sale After Outcry US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on 5 March that he has postponed a second federal oil and gas lease sale planned for March in less than a week in response to local opposition to the possibility of drilling near national parks and monuments.
05 March 2018 Tiny Canada Town Defeats Oil Firm in Court Fight Over Drinking Water A small municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec that was facing a million-dollar lawsuit from an oil and gas exploration company has won its court battle, bringing an end to a 4-year ordeal that began when residents took steps to protect their water supply.
21 February 2018 Column: Guyana Is About To Open Up Pandora's Barrel Expats hold the key to whether its big offshore oil deposits bring riches—or ruin.
01 February 2018 Landowners, Drillers in Tense Faceoff in Wake of Colorado Blast The hydraulic fracturing frenzy in Colorado is spurring a tense faceoff between shale drillers in the region and residents seeking a better handle on the dangers in their own backyards after a killer pipeline explosion last year.
31 January 2018 Webinar Presents Roadmap for Oil and Gas to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Recently, IPIECA, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Finance Corporation held a webinar to present their shared understanding of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for the oil and gas industry.
17 January 2018 RPSEA Releases Oil and Gas Technology Roadmap The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) has released its Technology Roadmap, a plan that outlines the challenges and research needs of the US onshore and offshore oil and gas industry for the coming decade.
17 January 2018 University Study Calls Shale Gas One of Least Sustainable Ways of Producing Electricity Shale gas is one of least sustainable options for producing electricity, according to new research from The University of Manchester, which considered environmental, economic, and social sustainability factors.
17 January 2018 Survey Reveals Sustainability’s Deepening Imprint Companies are more active than ever in pursuing sustainability to align with values and engage stakeholders, a new survey shows. To see financial returns, though, integrating sustainability into core functions is key.
09 January 2018 The Amazon Town, a Coral Reef, Big Oil, and a Catastrophe Waiting To Happen Oiapoque, surrounded by mangroves and close to a recently discovered 600-mile reef, is divided over what BP and Total might bring and what they might destroy.
20 December 2017 Shell, To Cut Carbon Output, Will Be Less of an Oil Company Bowing to pressure from shareholders and the Paris international climate accord, Royal Dutch Shell pledged on 28 November to increase its investment in renewable fuels and to cut its carbon emissions in half by 2050.
12 December 2017 Exxon To Provide Details on Climate-Change Effect on Its Business Exxon on 11 December said it would publish new details about how climate change could affect its business in a move aimed at appeasing critics and forestalling another proxy fight next year.
05 December 2017 A Report Card on Canada's New Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act At the 2013 G8 leaders’ summit in Northern Ireland, Canada announced that it would take action to enhance the transparency of payments to governments made by Canadian extractive companies by introducing mandatory reporting. The resulting legislation came into force on 1 June 2015.
01 December 2017 Nonprofit Organization Publishes Report Arguing That Company Boards Must Be "Sustainability-Competent" In Climate Of Unpredictability Ceres, a sustainability nonprofit organization, issued a report on 14 September titled "Lead From the Top: Building Sustainability Competence on Corporate Boards." The report posits that company boards must be sustainability-competent in order to achieve long-term financial performance goals.
17 November 2017 'The Public Has a Right To Know': Fracturing Companies Don't Have To Disclose Chemicals Linked to Health Concerns Secrecy lies at the heart of invention and capitalism to reward innovators with exclusive rights to their creations. But that secrecy can also come at a cost. With drilling and fracturig, the ingredients and chemicals used to obtain oil and gas are legally allowed to be kept confidential.
17 November 2017 Column: Leaving EITI Will Be a Blow to US Leadership and Sustainable Global Energy Effort The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has little impact on the US domestic oil and gas industry but has been transformative in some parts of the world. So why did the US pull out?
08 November 2017 Hess Achieves Leadership Status in CDP’s Global Climate Analysis Hess Corporation has been recognized for climate change stewardship, achieving leadership status in CDP’s 2017 Global Climate Analysis.
25 October 2017 Apache Releases 2017 Sustainability Report Apache has released its 2017 Sustainability Report. The online report features extensive disclosure of Apache’s performance in governance, environmental stewardship, workforce, health, and safety in the workplace and community outreach.
19 October 2017 The Six Ways Business Leaders Talk About Sustainability Capitalists focus on the financial returns from capital invested, and most business leaders prioritize issues that are financially material. But this single-minded focus can be a major problem when it comes to tackling slow-building, systemic challenges, such as global warming.
05 October 2017 Colorado Law May Force Homeowners To Accept Hydraulic Fracturing An obscure Colorado law allows whole neighborhoods to be forced into leasing the minerals beneath their properties as long as one person in the area consents.
31 August 2017 Denver Oil and Gas Company Warns Town That New Odor Law May Be Illegal A new ordinance taking aim at odors from oil and gas operations in Erie, Colorado is too vague and subjective and might be illegal, according to Crestone Peak Resources.
14 August 2017 Hundreds of Protesters Storm Shell Oil Facility in Niger Delta Echoing a common complaint in the impoverished swampland that produces most of Nigeria’s oil, the protesters said they were not benefiting from the region’s oil wealth and wanted an end to the oil pollution that has ruined much of the land.
11 August 2017 KeystoneXL Opponents Vow Long Fight as Nebraska Hearing Concludes Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline vowed on 10 August to block construction of the controversial project if Nebraska regulators approve the proposed route later this year.
11 August 2017 Supreme Court of Canada Clarifies Duty To Consult and Accommodate Indigenous Populations The decisions of Canada’s top court clarify when the duty to consult is triggered; confirmed that the Crown can discharge its duty to consult through the project approval process undertaken by the regulatory body; and illustrated how to, and how not to, discharge the duty.
01 August 2017 Building Relationships With a Marginalized Community in Iraq A consortium of international and national Iraqi oil and gas companies took operatorship of the Qarmat Ali water-treatment plant. They engaged and responded to community expectations for social investment while addressing the effects of operations.
24 July 2017 Backing of Workers, Communities Key to Libya’s Oil Revival When the head of Libya’s state energy company visited Sharara oil field in early July, community leaders and workers crowded into a conference room to ask about jobs, training, and services for local people.
24 July 2017 Linking Sustainability Practices to Improved Capital Project Outcomes Independent Project Analysis (IPA) partnered with the sustainability department of a major integrated oil company to study the effect of core sustainability practices on capital project outcomes.
24 July 2017 Mapping the Oil and Gas Industry to the Sustainable Development Goals: An Atlas IPIECA has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Finance Corporation to develop a shared understanding of the implications of the UN SDGs for the oil and gas industry and how the industry can most effectively contribute.
03 July 2017 Anadarko Caps More Than 6,000 Flowlines To Comply With State Order Following Firestone Blast Anadarko Petroleum said late on 30 June that it has tested more than 4,000 active oil and gas lines and plugged another 2,400 inactive ones per a state order issued after a fatal home explosion in Firestone, Colorado, in April.
19 June 2017 Blast Backlash Hangs Over Drillers Two months after a Colorado home exploded near an Anadarko well, the reverberations are still rattling the oil industry, driving down driller shares and raising fears of a regulatory backlash.
19 June 2017 Tunisia Gasfield Protesters Reach Deal, Production To Restart: Government Protesters blockading oil and gas fields in southern Tunisia have reached an agreement with the government to end a sit-in and allow production to restart immediately, the government and protesters said on 16 June.
07 June 2017 Column: Another Hydraulic Fracturing Time Bomb Lurks Beneath the US You’ve heard about the earthquakes; the controversial claims of flammable tap water; and the potential contamination of streams, lakes, and drinking water aquifers, but the system that’s supposed to pay for these calamities may itself be a pending disaster.
27 May 2017 Geologist Hired by Shell Says Firm Concealed Data on Nigerian Oil Spill The global oil giant Shell is concealing data showing thousands of Nigerians are exposed to health hazards from a stalled cleanup of the worst oil spills in the nation’s history, a German geologist contracted by the multinational has said.
25 May 2017 Anadarko To Shut Down Well Linked to Fatal Colorado Explosion The company that owns a gas well linked to a fatal home explosion in Colorado says it will permanently shut down that well and two others in the neighborhood.
17 May 2017 Anadarko Disconnects All 1-in. Lines Following House Explosion Anadarko Petroleum announced on its website on 16 May that it is permanently disconnecting 1-in.-diameter return lines from all vertical wells in Colorado—the same type of pipe that carried odorless gas that fueled a house explosion in Firestone, Colorado.
17 May 2017 Lawmakers Push Back Against Trump Offshore Drilling Review More than 100 members of Congress are urging the Trump administration not to open up the Atlantic or Pacific oceans for oil and gas drilling as part of the Interior Department’s review of federal offshore policies.
17 May 2017 Benefits Outweigh Challenges of Boosting Water Infrastructure Water management for upstream will transform over the next few years. In many cases, more-effective water management will only be possible with water infrastructure.
15 May 2017 Supreme Court of Canada Clarifies Duty To Consult and Accommodate Indigenous Populations The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously clarified several features of the crown’s duty to consult with and accommodate indigenous populations before project approvals are granted.
04 April 2017 How Carbon Offsets Increase Organizational Sustainability Has your company or organization invested in carbon offsets? Carbon offsets are proving an important tool for companies that want to reduce the effect of their carbon footprint.
01 April 2017 Joining Forces for Sustainable Communities Global, multinational companies often make commitments for local infrastructure as a condition to do business in host countries.
10 March 2017 Shell CEO Urges Switch to Clean Energy as Company Plans Hefty Renewable Spending The oil and gas industry risks losing public support if progress is not made in the transition to cleaner energy, Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said on 9 March.
07 March 2017 Oklahoma Native American Tribe Sues Energy Companies for Quake Damage The Pawnee Nation filed a lawsuit on 3 March in tribal court in Oklahoma against 27 oil and gas producers, seeking damages for an earthquake they said was caused from man-made activity related to hydraulic fracturing.
10 February 2017 Oilfield Helping Hands Named 2017 Beneficiary of OTC Distinguished Achievement Awards Luncheon Oilfield Helping Hands (OHH), a nonprofit charitable organization composed of volunteers devoted to providing financial assistance to oilfield workers in financial crisis, has been named the 2017 beneficiary of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Distinguished Achievement Awards Luncheon.
18 January 2017 Factions Clash as Council Tables Ordinance Legalizing Anti-Hydraulic-Fracturing Civil Disobedience The City Council of Lafayette, Colorado, on 17 January voted to table an anti-hydraulic-fracturing ordinance that could impede oil and gas development within Lafayette through sanctioning acts of civil disobedience and nonviolent protest.
