In May oil spilled from a well in south-west Queensland owned by Australian oil and gas company Santos. In what may be the state’s third largest spill, more than 250,000 litres of oil flowed from the well…
The impending Keystone XL decision will signal whether the US is ready to move from quick profits to investments in renewable technology.
Flickr/shannonpatrick
John Mathews, Macquarie Graduate School of Management
The Obama Administration is facing a critical choice over whether to approve an extension of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. If approved it will carry heavy crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries…
South Korean volunteer workers clean up an oil spill in December 2007. Could such scenes soon be a thing of the past?
AAP
We’re all too familiar with footage of ruptured tankers or busted rigs dumping millions of litres of oil into the sea, coating shorelines and animals in crude sludge. Many traditional methods of cleaning…
The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a tragedy, but what legacy has it left?
AAP/Bevil Knapp.
It is now two and a half years since the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Both the people and the ecosystem of the Gulf were changed by this massive spill; how well…
In August 2009, a blowout at the Montara wellhead platform became Australia’s third-largest oil spill. Three years later, a fine of $510,000 has been levied on the Thai-based oil company PTT Exploration…
Christmas Island has been once again in the headlines: not because of incidents involving asylum-seekers, but because of the recent sinking and breaking up of the Panamanian phosphate carrier MC Tycoon…
The Rena disaster could push New Zealand to stronger maritime laws.
AAP
Last week the Rena, a Liberian-registered container ship, ran aground on Astrolaube Reef in the Bay of Plenty, around 12 nautical miles from the New Zealand coast. The stricken vessel has been stuck there…
Oil gets into the ocean in all sorts of ways, but oil spills are the most visible.
AAP
Responding to oil spills, like that in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty, is a very complex, high pressure situation. Decisions must be made based on whatever data are available at the time. One of the difficulties…
Rena’s list has worsened to about 18° to starboard and between 200 and 300 tonnes of oil has leaked into the ocean.
AFP PHOTO/MARITIME NEW ZEALAND
Dispersants used to break down the 300 tonnes of oil that has leaked from a cargo ship into New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty may do marine ecosystems more harm than good, an ocean oil spill expert has said…
Fist-sized clumps of oil have washed ashore New Zealand beaches following the shipwreck of cargo boat Rena on Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga Harbour.
AAP
Experts have warned of damage to marine ecosystems after the cargo ship Rena struck a New Zealand reef and leaked around 50 tonnes of oil into the Bay of Plenty. New Zealand maritime authorities said on…