You probably won't be too shocked to hear that BP
and Shell are developing even dirtier ways to profit from oil extraction.

What you might not know is that our pension money is being invested in the companies that are developing 'tar sands' - the dirtiest oil available. But that's the surprising heads-up from top ethical investment campaigners FairPensions.

Before and after - from boreal forest to strip mining, that's tar sands. © Jiri Rezac / WWF-UK

Oil is rubbish. I mean, obviously it's been great - you know, they way that it underpins what we call 'advanced industrial civilisation' - that we can make it into petrol, plastic, pharmaceuticals, fertiliser. That's obviously brilliant, because in my opinion all that stuff has (by and large) been great. But now that we've got better, cleaner and smarter ways to power our cities, run our cars and heat our homes forgive me if I find the black stuff a bit... last century. Read more »

A new report from Friends of the Earth and oil finance experts Platform places a clear financial analysis of the Canadian tar sands alongside testimonies of those affected by the race to extract oil from the Albertan wilderness.

I was struck by the argument it makes that the Canadian tar sands are the 'test case' for an oil industry that wants to move into extracting dirtier unconventional oil in other parts of the world. The report points out other areas of tar sands around the world which are being eyed up by the big oil companies. As the authors point out:

Canada is the international oil industry’s test site – if it becomes acceptable to finance the tar sands of Alberta, then the global finance sector will have ‘normalised’ a disastrously high-carbon development path.

... As investment in technology in Alberta brings down the price of producing synthetic crude and as oil prices fluctuate in higher ranges, companies are re-assessing the potential of operations in other countries. If extraction can be undertaken on the scale envisaged in Alberta then it opens the floodgates for unconventional oil extraction around the world.

In other words, if we allow ourselves to be persuaded that the environmental destruction and soaring carbon emissions that come with the tar sands in Canada is acceptable, we're basically saying that trashing the planet is just business as usual.

Get the report, 'Cashing in on tar sands' (pdf). Read more »

We called for strong climate action from the US. But support for the proposed climate bill is being undermined by BP.

It's not perhaps the most surprising of news, but it is worth noting. BP USA has quit a leading business coalition that's been lobbying for a climate bill to cut carbon emissions in the states.

You can be sure that what goes on in the States will have been approved from the London office, where over the past few years BP have been working hard to create the impression of a company that has moved away from fossil fuels. So does this move mark an admission of oily business-as-usual from the company that claims it is "beyond petroleum"? Read more »

Canada before and after tar sands extraction. Producing tar sands oil is also at least three time more carbon intensive than making normal crude. © Jiri Rezac / WWF-UK

Some dirty oil news bubbled up over the weekend, as big oil companies including Shell and BP mobilise to try and stop tar sands oil being banned from the sixth largest economy in the world.

That would be California, personal fiefdom of 'surprisingly green governor' Arnie Schwarznegger. In an effort to cut vehicle emissions 10 per cent by 2020, he has brought in laws that require a cut in the carbon content of fuels sold in the state. "Our cars have been running on dirty fuel for too long," intoned Arnie, in his rich Austrian accent.

Sometime Greenpeace tar sands expert Lorne writes on priceofoil.org in reaction the announcement that Shell are scaling down their tar sands plans...

Remarks made by Shell CEO,Peter Voser to the Financial Times energy editor that his company has "clearly scaled down" its plans for a massive expansion of tar sands production should send waves of anxiety through the Canadian oil industry and a serious rethink among energy security hawks in Washington.

Since the middle of last year I have been writing about the vulnerability of the tar sands industry to a slow down in the growth rate of oil demand. With some of the most expensive cost structures in the oil industry, the future growth of tar sands production requires oil prices to stay high over the long term.

But high oil prices exert a deflating effect on the economy and in turn reduce demand and prices. Compounding this effect is the fact that high oil prices have made large economies that are increasingly dependent on oil imports, such as the USA and China, painfully aware of their economies' vulnerability to the rising cost of oil.

>> Read the rest of the article on priceofoil.org

There's a really interesting interview with the new CEO of Shell Peter Voser in the FT today, with an important development for tar-sands watchers. Shell, who are heavily involved in extracting oil from Canadian tar sands, are scaling back a planned expansion of their operations.

Contrary to the laws of physics, Tar Sands both suck and blow.

Express your displeasure (and tell the Canadian government to stop messing up the future of the planet) at
http://greenpeace-uk.thetarsandsblow.org/ Read more »

A round-up of October's images from around the Greenpeace world.