Author Archives: fred
Power station occupation illustrates demand surge for fracked gas
Today’s occupation of West Burton power station is part of a growing UK movement opposing new gas-based electricity. And as well as the 20 new gas-fired power stations planned, the government is similarly committed to fueling these stations with gas drilled within UK borders, often using technologies based on hydraulic fracturing. The production of […]
Posted in Blog
Tagged Direct Action, Resistance
Comments Off on Power station occupation illustrates demand surge for fracked gas
Dart shareholder hired hitman, broke sanctions & paid Tories £550,000
The company planning 22 Scottish coal bed methane gas wells – Dart Energy – has a dark secret. One of the company’s owners – Bob Finch- paid a Serbian war criminal $1m to enforce a business deal in 2001. In 2001 Finch travelled to Serbia an hired a notorious Serb hitman – Arkan – to […]
Posted in News
Tagged Dart Energy, System Failure
Comments Off on Dart shareholder hired hitman, broke sanctions & paid Tories £550,000
Boom and Bust Rocks Dart Energy
The 2-year-old company planning 22 coal bed methane wells in Airth, Scotland already has a history of boom and bust. Only a year after Dart Energy’s $300m launch in 2010 the company was forced to write off $101.8 after the impulse purchase of a smaller gas outfit (p4) proved to be much less valuable than […]
Who owns Dart Energy?
Dart Energy plans 22 unconventional new gas wells at its site in Airth, Scotland. Yet the company planning the UK’s biggest onshore gas development has many different owners with no single controlling interest. Dart’s main shareholders are a bunch of mining companies, banks, investment funds and wealthy individuals who invest in oil and gas. The […]
Australia residents beat off Scottish gas drillers
After a combative stand off between residents of Fullerton Cove, Australia and gas company Dart Energy, the company has been forced to stop drilling. Dart – which also recently applied for planning permission to drill 22 new wells in Airth, Scotland, lost an injunction to drill for Coal Bed Methane until a full legal challenge has […]
Posted in News
Tagged Australia, Dart Energy, Resistance
Comments Off on Australia residents beat off Scottish gas drillers
Three lords and one Baroness – frackings vested interests inside government
The House of Lords is emerging as a powerful pro-fracking advocate inside government. Three Lords – Lord Green, Lord Howell and Lord Browne – and one Baroness – Baroness Hogg – each have financial interests in the fracking industry. And each holds either ministerial or executive rank at some of Whitehall’s most powerful departments: the […]
Posted in Blog
Tagged Cuadrilla, System Failure
Comments Off on Three lords and one Baroness – frackings vested interests inside government
Lord Browne bails out Cuadrilla
Is Cuadrilla Resources – the UK’s first fracking company – running short of ready cash? A report by part-owner AJ Lucas shows Cuadrilla has spent $88m on developing its sites in Lancashire and Sussex (p 187). This is $5m more than the company raised in 2010, when Riverstone (chaired by Cabinet Office executive Lord Browne), […]
Shares slump at Cuadrilla owner as Aus tax bill looms
Shares in Cuadrilla part-owner AJ Lucas have slumped almost 50% after company documents revealed it had an unpaid $40m AUS tax bill. In a announcement to the Australian stock exchange AJ Lucas notes that a ‘funding shortfall’ together with a “significant reduction in cash flow … has resulted in the Company not being able to […]
Posted in News
Tagged AJ Lucas, Bubble & Bust, Cuadrilla
Comments Off on Shares slump at Cuadrilla owner as Aus tax bill looms