oil
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in the energy sector around the world.
Oil refinery workers threaten sit-in protest today
Workers at Bahrain Petroleum Co. are due to hold a sit-in protest over pay.
The workers at Bapco oil refinery in Bahrain have threatened a 45 minute sit-in protest today if their demands for higher pay are not met.
Peruvian indigenous group wins oil pollution battle
Local residents return to their homes having reached an agreement over oil waste after a 15-day protest.
Protesters from the Achuar Indian communities in the northern Peru forest have won an agreement for an Argentine oil drilling firm to stop dumping toxic waste into the rainforest. The Native Federation of the Corrientes River brought jungle operations of Pluspetrol Norte to a standstill, demanding a clean-up of the harmful waste produced by 30 years of drilling in the area.
Nigerians storm oil platforms
Villagers in Nigeria have stormed and seized three Shell oil platforms in the Niger Delta.
A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell PLC said the seizures have forced oil production to be shut down at the platforms.
Officials, however, declined to say how much oil had been cut off after the platforms were attacked.
Appendix: Oil Wars and New World Orders in Historical Context
Introduction[1] Following the conversion of the Royal Navy from coal in 1911 and the development of petro-chemical industries after WW2, oil became a militarily and economically important resource for the major imperialist powers.
Indigenous Peruvians shut down Amazon oil facility
The Native Federation of the Corrientes River (FECONACO) has shut down Pluspetrol's Amazon oil facilities in protest at water contamination.
Seven hundred Peruvians have occupied oil facilities in the rainforest territories of Loreto, on the border with Ecuador, halting production. After 30 years of drilling, protesters are demanding that steps be taken to stop the Argentinian company Pluspetrol from continuing to dump one million barrels of untreated toxic waste each day.
1904-2003: History of Iraq
A short history of Iraq, focusing on foreign intervention, imperialism and attempts by Western powers to control oil and other resources in the country and the rest of the Middle East.
See also our 1900-2000: Iraq timeline
1900-2000: Iraq timeline
A timeline of key events in Iraqi history and class struggle in the 20th century.
Since the state of Iraq was created early this century, the working class in the area have suffered brutal exploitation and repression at the hands of the rival ruling class groups competing for power.
Iraqi oil workers win strike
Oil workers on strike in Iraq win a pay increase and profit-sharing.
Reuters reported that striking oil workers in southern Iraq on Wednesday ended action that closed the main pipeline supplying Baghdad with refined oil products a day after they had won higher pay, a union leader said.
"We received a document from the ministry of oil. It is a document to increase our salaries and to pay us (a) share in seasonal profits," Hassan al-Asadi said.
Iraqi oil union bank account frozen
The Iraqi regime has frozen all the bank accounts of the Iraqi oil workers' union, both abroad and within Iraq.
The Iraqi regime’s decision comes in the wake of a series of anti-union measures, including the disbanding of the council of the lawyers’ union, freezing the writers’ union accounts and the September 2005 decree making all trade union activity illegal.
General strike brings Guinea to its knees
A general strike over falling living standards paralysed Guinea on Thursday with activity grinding to a halt in spite of government warnings and the presence of armed riot police on the streets.
Banks, businesses, schools and offices shut while streets were virtually deserted as a result of industrial action aimed at forcing a reduction in the price of oil-based fuels and the quadrupling of wages, among other demands.
