Latest Oil Gas Headlines

All the headlines from our Oil Gas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Explainer: Assessing Liabilities from Massive Mauritius Oil Spill

Aug 14 2020 // A Japanese bulk carrier struck a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius on July 25, spilling about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil and triggering a state of “environmental emergency.” Scientists...

Wetlands Loss Suits Against Oil Companies to Stay in Louisiana State Courts

Aug 12 2020 // Oil companies facing lawsuits that blame them for coastal wetlands loss in Louisiana have lost an attempt to move the suits to federal court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Aug. 10 upheld a...

Mauritius Seeks Compensation from Owners of Cargo Vessel After Massive Oil Spill

Aug 12 2020 // Mauritius is seeking compensation from the owners of the cargo carrier that run aground and spilled oil off its coast, causing the island nation’s worst ever ecological disaster. More than half of about 1,000 tons of...

Oil Leak from Cargo Ship Pollutes Mauritius Beaches as Insurers Assess Liability

Aug 11 2020 // The oil cleanup from a leaking cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of Mauritius continues while the government and insurance firms begin probing liability for the accident. The incident has befouled the white-sand...

Zurich Insurance Decides Not to Renew Cover for Canada’s Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline

Jul 23 2020 // Insurer Zurich has decided not to renew cover for the Canadian government’s Trans Mountain oil pipeline, said a spokeswoman for the project, which is opposed by environmental campaigners and some indigenous...

Michigan to Enbridge: $900M in Liability Insurance Plus $1.8B Needed for Oil Spill Risk

Jul 20 2020 // On July 17, Michigan sought a written pledge from Enbridge Inc. to cover costs that would arise if oil were to leak from its dual pipelines that extend across a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, although the Canadian...

Shipping Losses at Record Lows, but COVID-19 Impact Could Threaten Safety: Allianz

Jul 16 2020 // Large shipping losses dropped by 20% last year, in a continuation of decade-long trend when losses declined by almost 70%, according to a report published by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS). However, the...

Russia Requires Firms to Develop Financial/Insurance Contingency Plans for Oil Spills

Jul 14 2020 // President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed legislation requiring companies involved in oil production or handling other hydrocarbons to have adequate resources for a contingency plan in the case of a spill. The law makes it...

U.S. Pressures Insurers, Certifiers, Shippers in Enforcing Tougher Sanctions on Venezuela

Jul 14 2020 // Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the...

Russia’s Nornickel Denies Allegations of Cover-Up over Arctic Oil Spill

Jul 13 2020 // Pressure is mounting on Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel over an Arctic oil spill that has wiped about 17% off its share price, left it with a hefty compensation bill and exposed it to accusations of covering up the...

U.S. Targets Ship Insurers, Maritime Industry to Strengthen Venezuela Sanctions

Jul 13 2020 // Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the...

Russian Regulator Seeks $2B in Damages from Nornickel for Arctic Fuel Spill

Jul 7 2020 // Russia’s environmental watchdog has asked a power subsidiary of Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) to pay almost 148 billion roubles ($2 billion) in damages over an Arctic fuel spill in...

Climate Change Litigants Argue Human Rights, Consumer Harm in Suing Oil Firms

Jul 6 2020 // LONDON/WASHINGTON/GENEVA — Climate change may be having its day in court. With the slow pace of international climate negotiations, lawyers from Switzerland to San Francisco are increasingly filing lawsuits demanding...

District of Columbia Sues 4 Oil Majors for Misleading Consumers on Climate Change

Jun 26 2020 // The attorney general for the District of Columbia on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp, BP Plc, Chevron Corp, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc for “systematically and intentionally misleading”...

Minnesota AG Sues Exxon, Koch and API over Climate Change ‘Deceptions’

Jun 25 2020 // The state of Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Koch Industries for what it called a decades-long campaign to deceive the public about climate change. The lawsuit...

Oil Firms Slam Brakes on Return-to-Work as Texas Virus Cases Soar

Jun 25 2020 // U.S. energy companies slammed the brakes on returning staff to their Houston offices as COVID-19 cases soared and top hospitals warned they could soon run out of beds for the most severely ill patients. A record number of...

Millions of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Pose Environmental, Health Risks

Jun 23 2020 // In May 2012, Hanson and Michael Rowe noticed an overpowering smell, like rotten eggs, seeping from an abandoned gas well on their land in Kentucky. The fumes made the retired couple feel nauseous, dizzy, and short of...

Sustainable Recovery Plan Pitching Pandemic as Opportunity to Grow Greener

Jun 18 2020 // Economic growth can be boosted, jobs can be saved or even created and greenhouse gas emissions can be cut if we take advantage of the worldwide changes that have occurred as we hunkered down in response to the COVID-19...

Unprecedented Arctic Diesel Spill Angers Putin and Could Force Green Reform in Russia

Jun 11 2020 // The mishandling of the biggest Arctic oil spill ever infuriated Russian President Vladimir Putin and could give a boost to the country’s environmental regulation. MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, Russia’s biggest...

Major Fuel Spill in Russian Arctic Moves Closer to Arctic Ocean: Regional Official

Jun 10 2020 // Diesel fuel from a major spill in Russia’s Arctic has reached a pristine lake which is the basin for a river flowing into the Arctic Ocean, a regional official said on Tuesday, but the mining giant embroiled in the...