Oil Rush News

President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia's first shipment of Arctic offshore oil on Friday, saying the platform decried by environmentalists will help Moscow expand its global energy markets share. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's top gas producer Gazprom, shipped the first 70,000 tonnes of oil by tanker from the Prirazlomnoye platform, the site of a protest by 30 Greenpeace activists who were arrested last year. The launch of oil production in the Arctic, seen by Russia as one of the key sources in the gradual replacement of output from its depleted West Siberian fields…

A further eight Greenpeace International activists have been detained for two months in Russia pending an investigation into possible charges of piracy. The eight will join 22 others, including a freelance videographer and freelance photographer, detained on Thursday following a peaceful protest against Arctic oil drilling. Greenpeace International pledged to appeal all 30 detentions. The 30 have already been held by the Russian authorities for 10 days since the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise was illegally boarded (in the view of Greenpeace) in international waters on Thursday, September 19.

The Environmental Audit Committee has published the report of its inquiry into Protecting the Arctic. "The oil companies should come clean and admit that dealing with an oil spill in the icy extremes of the Arctic would be exceptionally difficult. The infrastructure to mount a big clean-up operation is simply not in place and conventional oil spill response techniques have not been proven to work in such severe conditions. Drilling is only currently feasible in the Arctic during a short summer window when it is relatively ice-free. The report also looks at the effect that climate change is having on the Arctic. It warns that a collapse in summer Arctic sea-ice…

High activity on the Norwegian shelf leads to high day rates for drilling rigs. Desperate oil companies are forcing day rates for drilling rigs to reach new heights. Analysts believe day rates will be over $700,000 this autumn, reports the 'Barents Observer'. Contracts are pouring into the rig market and the day rates for the most advanced drilling rigs are reaching the top levels of 2008. “The rush has just begun”, says analyst Martin Huseby Karlsen in the 'Dagens Næringsliv'. The oil companies are desperate and rates will continue to climb in course of the autumn.

Greenpeace maintains that what happens in the Arctic affects us all. Besides acting as a planetary air-conditioner, the region is a bellwether for the health of our climate and the global ecosystem. As the ice melts and is replaced by large patches of dark, open water, even more of the sun’s heat is absorbed and the melting increases. The Arctic is warming faster than any other place on Earth. Ice is disappearing at unprecedented levels and with it the habitat of species like the polar bear, while the way of life of the four million people who live above the Arctic Circle is changing forever. But rather than seeing this as a clear warning and spur to positive action…