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Moscow boasts potential, but Arctic transit shipments between Europe-Asia remain poor
Ondanks grote investeringen blijft de noordelijke scheepvaartroute dun bevaren.
Russia is building new Arctic infrastructure and bases, and promotes the Arctic shipping route as an upcoming alternative to the Suez Canal. But there is still a long way to go before shipping companies start sending their cargo between Asia and Europe along Russia’s Arctic coast.
In 2016, only 19 ships transited the route, data from the Northern Sea Route Administration show. The ships carried a total of 214,513 tons. That is more than in 2015, but far less than in 2012, when transit shipment amounted to 1,35 million tons. In 2015, goods volumes shipped transit along the route was only 40,000 tons.
EPA Withdraws Request for Methane Data
Slecht nieuws voor het milieu. Olie- en gasbedrijven in de Verenigde Staten hoeven niet langer informatie te verschaffen over hun methaanuitsoot. Bedrijven zijn sowieso al niet zo transparant over dit type uitstoot.
The Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn an Obama-era request for methane emissions information from 15,000 oil and gas companies nationwide — a decision the Trump administration made after 11 states said the request amounted to “harassment.”
The EPA responded to the states’ complaints within one day, saying it will look into whether it’s necessary for the agency to collect information about the industry’s methane emissions.
At Last, Greenpeace Admits to ‘Rhetorical Hyperbole’
Kwalijke praktijken van milieuorganisatie Greenpeace. De organisatie werd in Canada aangeklaagd door een bosbouwbedrijf voor smaad. Het antwoord van Greenpeace? We hebben overdreven. Neem onze woorden niet zo letterlijk. Tsja...
A funny thing happened when Greenpeace and allies were forced to account for their claims in court. They started changing their tune. Their condemnations of our forestry practices “do not hew to strict literalism or scientific precision,” as they concede in their latest legal filings.
Their accusations against Resolute were instead “hyperbole,” “heated rhetoric,” and “non-verifiable statements of subjective opinion” that should not be taken “literally” or expose them to any legal liability. These are sober admissions after years of irresponsible attacks.
On board Shell’s Prelude barge, the world’s biggest vessel
De Australische krant Australian kreeg een mooi inkijkje bij de Prelude, de enorme drijvende gasfabriek van Shell die bijna klaar is.
The sheer scale and ambition of the project has given Prelude what David Bird says is an “aura” within Shell, with workers and executives from across the sprawling corporate empire queuing up to be part of it. Adelaide-born Bird, who has returned to Australia to take on the role of vice-president of Prelude after decades working around the world for the company, says he has “the best job in Shell”.
The $US12 billion ($15.9bn)-plus Prelude behemoth leaves a distinct impression on all who see it for the first time.
“That first time you walk along the quay side, you see this well of red steel that continues for half a kilometre,” Bird tells The Weekend Australian.
“Then you’ve got to get a lift up eight storeys just to get on the first deck, then all the modules start from there. You can never prepare yourself for that scale.”
China launches world’s largest oil exploration sea platform
China maakt werk van zijn olie- en gasexploratieplannen in de Zuid Chinese Zee:
China has put into service what it claims is the world’s largest and deepest-operating offshore oil exploration platform, the Bluewhale I, the state broadcaster reported on Saturday.
The rig has a total deck area about the size of a soccer field with a sophisticated drilling system that can reach the seabed at a depth of 3,658 metres and bore a further 15,240 metres into the earth’s crust, according to China Central Television.
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