7-29-08 by dugan Here’s another thread in the federal corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. The company tied to Stevens, Alaska oilfield servicer VECO, also did a lot of political dirt in the…
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Archive | Tag: cash register politics
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Alaska, the U.S. oil-state
7-29-08 by dugan Alaska being the closest thing in the U.S. to an oil nation, it didn’t take long to find a connection between newly indicted Sen. Ted Stevens and British-owned BP, a major driller…
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Sandbox-style energy standoff
7-28-08 by dugan At first, the fight in the Senate over whether renewable energy tax credits should be extended for a few more years seemed like political Kabuki theater: Republican opponents in the Senate would…
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‘Fat, sloppy smooch’ to oil
7-25-08 by dugan Today’s defeat in the Senate of a mild little bill to regulate wild speculative energy markets was a raw display of oil and financial industry power in Washington. So was the defeat…
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Traders Manipulated Oil Prices (!)
7-24-08 by dugan Hey, not my headline. It’s straight from the CNNMoney story on the government’s accusations against an oil trading scheme meant to "bully the market." The charge against Optiver Holdings isn’t…
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Nah, it’s just supply/demand
7-23-08 by dugan The Wall Street Journal’s Brian Baskin today nails down both ends of a mystery in oil markets. The collapse of the little-known SemGroup, a pipeline and storage company as well as major…
Press Release
Conoco Kicks Off Oil ‘Profit Orgy’
NEWS RELEASE: ConocoPhillips Kicks Off a ‘Profit Orgy’ By Major Oil Companies 2nd Quarter Report Shows Industry Still Buying Its Own Stock, Not Investing Record Profits in New Oil or Renewables, Says Consumer Watchdog; Congress…
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What comes after newspapers?
7-22-08 by dugan The cratering of the L.A. Times and the rest of Tribune Co. has me worrying, again, about who will hold the powerful, the corrupt and the incompetent to account when all the…
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“Pickens Plan” already profitable
7-22-08 by dugan I’ve been suspicious of oilman T. Boone Pickens’ new campaign for wind power and natural gas vehicles, partly because it looked like he’d be profiting on the backs of California taxpayers by…
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Beggar with an ermine cup
The PR departments of the major oil companies are madly developing their spin for the yet-another-record 2nd quarter profits they’re about to report. What they’ll say: "Without these gigantic profits (including billions in taxpayer subsidies),…
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No new refineries? Here’s why
7-11-08 by dugan I’ve heard many an oil executive say their company would be glad to build new refineries, but the government/the environmentalists won’t let it happen. President Bush has called for dumping environmental regulation…
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Airlines get it on speculation
7-10-08 by dugan The major airlines, which are teetering on the financial edge because of oil and fuel prices, are a little late to the party on the effects of unregulated oil markets. But…
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Big Oil = 6 of top 10 Fortune 500
Fortune Magazine has released their Global 500 list of the top international companies, and to no one’s surprise, thanks to their obscene record profits, Big Oil companies hold 6 of the top 10. Check out…