Just Stop Oil Hold Their Last Climate Protest

Just Stop Oil have held their final demonstration in London, ending three years of high-profile climate protest stunts as they moved their focus away from civil disobedience. 

On April 26, hundreds of supporters walked peacefully through the centre of the UK capital, from parliament to the headquarters of oil and gas giant Shell, where they removed their familiar high-vis orange vests. 

The UK environmental activist group mainly campaigned for the United Kingdom to end the extraction of oil and gas by 2030 and had become one of the country’s best-known protest organisations. In March, they announced they would halt their headline-grabbing protests, arguing they had accomplished their initial aim of stopping the UK approving new oil and gas projects. 

More than 3,000 Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested since they were founded in 2022 and eleven of them are currently in jail, including 58-year-old co-founder Roger Hallam. Five more are due to be sentenced in May. 

Stunts by their activists included targeting Vincent van Gogh‘s Sunflowers painting with tomato soup and daubing the historical landmark Stonehenge with orange paint powder. They also disrupted theatre and sporting events, including tennis matches at Wimbledon. 

Over the years, the actions have drawn condemnation from politicians, police and some sections of the public. 

But the group claimed a victory after the UK Labour government halted new oil and gas exploration licences in the North Sea. However, Labour have distanced themselves from Just Stop Oil. 

Just Stop Oil have been coy about their future strategy, but have said they will “continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK’s oppressive anti-protest laws”. 

“In the background, we are working with other [similar] groups… to develop a strategy for what comes next”, said Mel Carrington, a spokesperson for the protest group.

California Sues Oil Behemoths

The US state of California has sued five oil behemoths for their alleged role in downplaying the risk posed by fossil fuels while causing tens of billions of dollars in damage, The New York Times has reported. 

 

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in the superior court of San Francisco, targeted Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron. 

 

It is said to be the most significant lawsuit to put the spotlight on the fossil fuel industry and demand the creation of a fund to compensate for future damages caused by climate-related disasters. 

 

And it follows other cases brought by US cities, counties and states against fossil fuel interests over the impact of climate change, as well as alleged disinformation campaigns spanning decades. 

 

California’s attorney general Rob Bonta, who is leading the case, claimed in the 135-page document the oil giants intentionally downplayed the risks posed by fossil fuels to the public since the 1950s – despite knowing their products were likely to lead to significant global warming.

 

Since the current wave of environmental litigation against fossil fuel firms began in 2017, the industry has sought to avoid state trials on procedural grounds. But that effort received a major blow in May when the US Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal in two cases, meaning they could proceed. 

 

The legal complaint highlights the destruction unfolding in California from climate change, including record heat, wildfires and drought.

 

The lawsuits are modeled on successful cases against Big Tobacco as well as against the pharmaceutical industry over the proliferation of opioids.

 

No response by the oil majors to the California lawsuit was immediately available. 

 

Oil companies have said in response to other lawsuits that policies to address climate change should come from the federal executive branch and Congress, not via a patchwork of decisions in court cases across the United States.

Shell's "Green" Ads Mislead

Oil and gas giant Shell have had some of their adverts in the UK banned for misleading claims about how clean their overall energy production is.The ban applies to one TV advert, a poster displayed in Bristol and a YouTube ad, all shown in 2022. 

 

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled they all left out information on Shell's more polluting work with fossil fuels. The selection of ads were likely to mislead consumers as they "misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives played, or would play in the near future" compared with the rest of the company's operations. 

 

Shell however "strongly" disagreed with the ASA's findings. 

 

Whatever. The adverts cannot be shown in their current form again, the ASA decreed. 

 

One of the banned advertisements was a poster shown in Bristol, with the text "Bristol is ready for cleaner energy". It included text quoting the number of homes in the South West of England which used renewable electricity. 

 

The ASA maintained the poster was fallacious because it gave the impression that Shell as a whole were providing cleaner energy. 

 

A spokesperson for Shell said the ASA's decision "could slow the UK's drive towards renewable energy". 

 

"No energy transition can be successful if people are not aware of the alternatives available to them. That is what our adverts set out to show, and that is why we're concerned by this short-sighted decision", the spokesperson added. 

 

The ruling comes as ASA are combating companies overstating their environmental friendliness, known as "corporate greenwashing". They included “green” ads in the UK by Spanish oil company Repsol and Malaysia’s Petronas for not providing full information on their activities and carbon reduction strategies. 

 

And not just energy companies. Last year, ASA prohibited a Tesco plant-based burger ad, a Persil advert, and two HSBC adverts over their claims of environmental benefits, which the agency deemed "misleading".

Banks Finance Oil & Gas Firms

Banks are snubbing the climate pledges they made. 

In April, they indicated they understood that they have an important role in the transition away from fossil fuels, and many signed up to the United Nations-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which requires they set targets to reduce carbon emissions.

However, activist group ShareAction said on Monday that their analysis showed that twenty-five of the said banks have provided $33 billion (£24 billion) in loans and other financing to 50 companies with large oil and gas expansion plans. The oil & gas companies include America’s ExxonMobil, which have tried to defy shareholder demands to cut emissions, state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco and London-listed Shell and BP who have made huge profits from energy price increases in recent months. 

More than half ($19 billion) of the financing since the net zero agreement came from four of alliance’s founders. They were London-headquartered HSBC and Barclays, France’s BNP Paribas and Germany’s Deutsche Bank. 

HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas also provided the most finance to these companies since 2016, at $59 billion, $48 billion and $46 billion respectively. 

The banks’ broken promises mean they are giving all of us the one-finger salute.

A Dangerous Case of Cardboardophilia

AFP Photo

Image credit: https://www.rt.com/news/395254-shell-female-cutouts-groping/

Energy giant Shell were compelled to remove all their life-sized standees of a woman displayed at their petrol stations – just because photos of Malaysian men groping the “figure” went viral.

 

Indeed, this woman – the unfortunate "victim" was a 25-year-old Nor Shafila Khairusalleh, who worked at a Shell station, and who had condemned the disgusting behavior of the men who had “molested her likeness”!

 

The photos were generously shared all over Facebook – and they showed men kissing the cardboard cutouts, holding her hand and even grabbing her breast and crotch!

 

"They may just be joking, but I feel humiliated because that is still myself although it is just an image", Nor Shafila told news portal mStar.

 

The Anglo-Dutch group said in a statement that "we do not condone this disrespectful act, which is completely against the culture of Malaysians and Shell´s core values. We urge netizens and members of the public to refrain from sharing these images further”.

 

LOL!!! Too late, the pics are everywhere.

 

Misbehaving Malaysian men. But methinks, it is a lot more serious than that.

Methinks these men suffer from cardboardophilia and it is infectious.

Oil Prices Recover

It seems that oil prices are on the road to recovery.

 

The signs are already there for all to see.

 

On November 30, 2016, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers confounded doubters by agreeing to have their first production cut in eight years.

 

This move is expected to drain oil inventories by a cumulative 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, for a total global production cut of 2%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is tellingly significant because oil prices immediately rebounded.

 

WTI crude and Brent crude rallied by some 10% that day itself.

Now, WTI Crude is trading at $53.02 while Brent Crude stands at $55.16 (as at today, 09:14:42, December 27, 2016. Refer webpage http://www.oil-price.net/).

 

Even American shale oil companies used this as an opportunity to hedge their oil price risk between 2017 and 2019 at above $50 a barrel.  

 

Another way of putting it is that producers are looking to lock in future cash flows and sales prices at above $50.

 

This also implies that the $50 level will be a buffer for oil prices moving forward.

 

According to Bloomberg, a record 580,000 crude option contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange that day, while the number of puts, used by producers to guarantee a minimum price, hit the highest since 2012.

 

Even before that – at the 23rd World Energy Congress (October 09-13) in Istanbul, Turkey, Amin Nasser, the chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer had predicted that by 2018, oil prices will have recovered and the market conditions will be right for Saudi Aramco to consider an IPO – said to be up to 5% of Aramco.

 

I understand that there are huge aspirations for this IPO, as it is an important component of diversifying the kingdom away from oil revenue.

 

That’s not all. The oil majors have started reinvesting.

 

Royal Dutch Shell went on to spend $53 billion on purchasing BG Group.

 

Then French oil major Total SA acquired oil and gas installations in east Africa for an undisclosed amount, covering assets belonging to Gulf Africa Petroleum (GAPCO) in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

 

And BP Plc’s string of deals. Over the past month, BP had bought a stake in the supergiant Zohr gas field offshore Egypt and expanded their interest in Indonesia’s Tangguh natural-gas project. It has bought in to two exploration blocks in the North Sea and approved a $9 billion oil project in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 

This month itself, a near $1 billion investment in a vast natural gas field off the coast of Africa announced December 19 – the deal was with US-based Kosmos Energy Ltd. This followed a $2.2 billion all-share deal  two days earlier to take a 10% stake in a parcel of UAE oil fields.

 

All of the above promote confidence for the petroleum industry and this will surely boost prices. Motorists, of course, will suffer the pain of higher pump prices. Sigh.

 

This evening, I attended the TMIKL Toastmasters meeting at Bankers Club in the Amoda Building, Jalan Imbi, KL. I was given a speaking slot – and I presented a CC#6 Vocal Variety speech titled “Horror Movies”.

A good speech, in my opinion.

My Evaluator thought so too – but it would have been even better if I had incorporated horror sound effects, e.g. creepy noises or even bloodcurdling screams.

And I also took up evaluation duty. 

Oil Companies Continue to Take a Beating

Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc this week reported their lowest quarterly profits since 1999 and 2005, respectively. Chevron Corp’s third straight loss marked the longest slump in 27 years, and BP Plc lodged its lowest refining margins in six years.

 

Welcome to year two of a supply overhang and depressed crude prices – that is threatening to tip into yet another bear market, dashing hopes that a slump that began in mid-2014 would show signs of abating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pix by Hasriyasyah Sabudin @ http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/07/161832/squash-nicol-and-joshna-make-sram-invitational-finals-contrasting-style

 

Nicol David checked into the finals of the SRAM Women's Invitational in Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur after beating Egypt's Omneya Abdel Kawy 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 on Saturday.

 

Tomorrow, she will meet India’s Joshna Chinappa for the second time in this tournament – after the latter rallied from two games down to oust New Zealand's Joelle King 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9.

 

David had defeated Chinappa in three games in the group stage on Thursday. The top seed, however, had to come from behind in each game to win 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 in 37 minutes and preserve her record of never having dropped a game against Chinappa in twelve meetings.

 

A day earlier, she needed just 24 minutes to win over England's Jenny Duncalf 11-4, 11-4, 11-4.

 

On Wednesday, Celtic emerged from a testing visit to Astana in Kazakhstan where they were largely second best with a commendable 1-1 draw.

 

Looking to reach the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2013 – they fell behind to a Yuri Logvinenko header in the nineteenth minute. But Leigh Griffiths found the equalizer when he rifled the ball past FC Astana’s goalkeeper in the seventy-eighth minute – thanks to Patrick Roberts who won possession near the byline and picked out Griffiths inside the penalty area.

 

Celtic must aim for a win in Glasgow next week to reach the Champions League play-off stage.

LEGO Caught in the Middle

Image credit: http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/07/07/lego-responds-greenpeaces-campaign-drop-shell/

Image credit: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Brmo_E_CUAIkW8Y.jpg:large

LEGO had inked a co-promotion deal with Shell for some years now. To the toy maker, it looked at the collaboration as one of the many ways it brings LEGO bricks into the hands of more children. Simply put, more sales.

 

But environmental activists Greenpeace would have none of it and they cleverly used Lego as part of an ingenious viral campaign to sully and smear Shell. After all, Shell is the global campaigning organization’s sworn enemy.

We all know of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s plans to drill in the Arctic and of course, Greenpeace – it has been campaigning against environmental degradation since 1971 – vehemently opposes it. No matter how hard it tries, Greenpeace couldn't achieve much with Shell – it then decided to go after LEGO – a soft target.

 

So, it produced a video clip that shows an Arctic landscape with a Shell drilling platform made of LEGO bricks covered in oil and devastating everything in sight.

 

It brilliantly combines music, words, images and logos to create a post-modern pastiche aimed at the heartstrings. LEGO surrendered.

 

On October 09, 2014, the Danish company announced it won't renew a deal allowing Shell to hand out LEGO sets at its petrol stations in some 30 countries. Greenpeace has won and that is “fantastic news”.

 

Check out the said video below!

 

 

It is heart-warming to know that sometimes the good guys do win!