Oil Follow

Suzie Wylie looks at the motives behind the Argentinian government's expropriation of one oil company.

The panic that ensued when tanker drivers threatened to strike recently brought home the absolute centrality of oil to our modern economy.

BP may not have been able to plug the oil leak from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but it's good at plugging its own brand.

On 20 April a massive explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused the deaths of 11 workers and precipitated one of the most catastrophic oil spills in history. Mark Bergfeld argues that this disaster is a result of the rapacious plundering of the environment by companies like BP.

In the wake of the BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, Barack Obama poured scorn on the "cosy relationship" between Washington and the oil industry.

"I don't take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won't let them block change anymore," said Barack Obama in a campaign ad last year.

"The Shell drivers have driven a coach and horses through the Brown and Darling pay freeze," said Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, after the Shell tanker drivers won a 14 percent pay deal last month.

In recent months Iraq's oil workers have come into confrontation with the puppet government in Baghdad. Kamil Mahdi writes on a union movement forged in struggles.

Anna Zalik and Michael Watts explain why being "oil rich" has become a curse on the poor of Nigeria and Angola.

In a recent speech delivered in Porto Alegre, Chris Harman explains why the US is staking its imperial future on Iraq.

Diminishing oil supplies have epochal implications for the world economy.

Look which US company is at the front of the queue for Iraq contracts.