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Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) issued a scathing rebuke Monday of President Joe Biden’s administration after it approved a scaled-down version of an oil drilling project in a petroleum-rich region of northern Alaska. Markey, a climate hawk and cosponsor of the failed Green New Deal, called the administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, a multibillion-dollar oil drilling endeavor in the federal North Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a “disastrous decision.”

Daren Beaudo, a company spokesman, confirmed that an internal communication was sent to employees earlier this week informing them of the upcoming staff reductions. Most of those affected workers will receive layoff notifications next month. The largest portion of the job cuts will come from North America, he said, where the Houston oil producer drills for crude from the oil sands in northern Canada to the shale plays in South Texas. The firm will also trim about 1,000 core contractors from its workforce. Beaudo said ConocoPhillips has informed employees, city and state agencies that more than 500 of the firm’s...

There’s fallout from the July 27 Houston Chronicle exposé of a trip to Azerbaijan by 10 member of the House that violated House rules. The trip was ostensibly sponsored by nonprofit groups but was actually funded by oil companies BP, Conoco Phillips and SOCAR, the national oil company of Azerbaijan. According to the New York Post today: Rep. Gregory Meeks pushed to let an Iran-backed natural-gas project dodge US sanctions — after attending an illicit junket paid for by energy companies. Also from the Post: “Congressman Meeks went on a 2013 Congressional trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, subsidized in part...

As the US and world powers approach a November 24 deadline on nuclear talks with Iran, governmental sources in the Islamic regime have reported that they are conducting secret talks with America about renewing diplomatic ties for the first time in 35 years. Iranian government advisers spoke to the British Times, and said secret talks with American officials have centered around the possibility of opening a US trade office in the Iranian capital of Tehran if a nuclear deal is reached. Those talks are to continue this week, and according to the officials will take place in the Azerbaijani capital...

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. and Conoco Phillips Alaska told the Senate Resources Committee there are projects the companies could do on Alaska's North Slope to increase oil production, but those projects will have trouble attracting capital investment because of high state taxes. Damien Bilbao, head of finance, developments and resources for BP, discussed a proposed reduction in the "progressivity" of the state oil production tax from 0.35 from 0.40. He told the committee: "A change of five-hundredth of a percentage point will not sway our investment decisions in Alaska." (He was discussing an earlier version of Senate Bill 192 than...

Natural gas is the key to fueling global energy demands and fostering economic growth, outgoing ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva told the World Petroleum Congress this morning. But in a speech before the 20th annual gathering in Doha, Qatar, Mulva also warned that government policies favoring renewable energy or hindering natural gas extraction could stifle production and use of the fossil fuel. “Nature has given mankind the gift of natural gas,” Mulva said, according to prepared remarks. “Our hope now is: Please don’t let government mess it up.” Mulva’s message today echoes the themes of a nationwide advertising campaign ConocoPhillips launched...

Energy: As the House passes a bill to open up offshore drilling, the Senate holds another show trial of oil executives showing why people blame them, not the administration, for high gas prices. Last week they fought back. Summoned for what Sen. Orrin Hatch labeled a dog-and-pony show, executives of Exxon Mobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, BP America and Chevron appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday and, in often-heated exchanges, indicated their days as whipping boys are over. The hearing was called ostensibly to support the Democrats' Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, a bill with no chance of passage....

Three Major Firms Pull Out of Climate Change Alliance ConocoPhillips, BP America and Caterpillar pulled out of a leading alliance of businesses and environmental groups pushing for climate change legislation on Tuesday, citing complaints that the bills under consideration are unfair to American industry. The sudden pullout of three corporate giants from a leading alliance of businesses and environmental groups could be the death knell for climate change legislation languishing on Capitol Hill. ConocoPhillips, BP America and Caterpillar's announced Tuesday they will pull out of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, citing complaints that the bills now in Congress are unfair...

Although they never should have been a part of it in the first place, three major companies have exited the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a coalition of corporations and environmental groups. USCAP’s mission is to “quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.” The House has obliged and the result, the Waxman-Markey bill, is too strong for both the Senate and the American people. Instead of taking a principled stand against massive government intervention in the energy economy, corporate executives argued that global warming legislation was coming anyway, so it was better to...

Here's another sign of the shifting political winds on global warming: ConocoPhillips (COP), BP (BP) and Caterpillar (CAT) have decided not to renew their membership in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a broad alliance of corporations and environmentalists supporting cap-and-trade legislation. “House climate legislation and Senate proposals to date have disadvantaged the transportation sector and its consumers, left domestic refineries unfairly penalized versus international competition, and ignored the critical role that natural gas can play

Federal regulators have denied a request by U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips to build a system of bridges to expand oil drilling on Alaska's North Slope, saying the project would harm aquatic wildlife. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied ConocoPhillips' application to build the bridges over the Colville River, in a decision Friday, saying other alternatives would meet overall project goals while better preserving marine wildlife. Houston-based Conoco plans to appeal the decision, company spokeswoman Natalie M. Lowman said Monday. She added that the company is "disappointed with their decision." Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the state's governor, Sean Parnell,...

ConocoPhillips reports much higher profits in Alaska compared to rest of the country Alaska's big three oil producers and their allies are seeking tax cuts they say will make additional drilling in Alaska more profitable to the companies and could encourage more investment in the state's oil fields. The companies have said high taxes are driving away investment, but they may be doing better in Alaska than they're letting on, however. ConocoPhillips Co. data for 2009 released last week revealed that the company was highly profitable in Alaska but lost money elsewhere in the country. ConocoPhillips' Securities and Exchange Commission...

ConocoPhillips is budgeting $832 million for capital expenses in Alaska this year, representing 8.8 percent of the $9.5 billion budgeted for companywide capital expenses. The Houston-based major spent $1.4 billion in the state last year, representing 8.6 percent of total companywide capital spending last year. However, $506 million of the Alaska spending in 2008 went to high bids at a February lease sale for Chukchi Sea acreage. The 2009 budget for Alaska is a 41 percent reduction over total spending in the state in 2008, but only an 8.3 percent reduction not counting the Chukchi Sea high bids. The company...

Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.The Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations this week providing legal protection to seven oil companies planning to search for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea off the northwestern coast of Alaska if "small numbers" of polar bears or Pacific walruses are incidentally harmed by their activities over the next five years.Environmentalists said the new regulations give oil companies a blank check to...

Greens Thwart Gasoline Production By Steven Milloy Four-plus-dollar gasoline is forcing Americans to realize that we need increased domestic oil production to meet our ever-growing demand for affordable fuel. But even if the greens lose the political battle over drilling offshore and in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they nevertheless are way ahead of the game as they implement a back-up plan to make sure that not a drop of that oil ever eases our gasoline crunch. The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, successfully pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block ConocoPhillips’...

(AP) - ConocoPhillips said today it's submitted a proposal to develop an Alaskan pipeline to carry about four billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States and Canada.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) today announced that it has submitted a proposal to the governor of Alaska to advance the development of the Alaska Gas Pipeline Project. The proposed pipeline would transport approximately 4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Alaska North Slope to markets in Canada and the United States. ConocoPhillips is prepared to make significant investments, without state matching funds, to advance this project as part of this proposal. The company already has efforts underway to begin new field data acquisition to support the pipeline permit applications. “We desire to work directly and purposefully with the...

George Stephanopolus interviewed Hillary Clinton this morning. After the LONG interview, there was a Conoco/Philips commercial for its Tyson Renewable project. Conoco didn’t mention Tyson by name. They just called them “one of America’s largest food processors”. You remember Tyson don't you? Remember Hillary's skilled foray into options trading? Just so you know what CP and Tyson's "renewable diesel" is about, it's a mechanism for Big-Oil to grab $1.00 per gallon in federal tax credits (a subsidy, for what some people call mixing a little fat with diesel fuel) ON TOP of the huge, HUGE profits that they are already...

Petroleum company ConocoPhillips plans to build a water sustainability center in Doha, Qatar. The center, to be located in the Qatar Science & Technology Park at Education City, will examine ways to treat and use by-product water from oil production and refining operations, as well as other projects relating to industrial and municipal water sustainability. The company said it will invest $25 million in the center over the first five to seven years. The center will conduct research on and develop and test technologies relating to water production and management, and will be designated as ConocoPhillips' worldwide center for water...

On Tuesday, Exxon Mobil Corporation and ConocoPhillips refused to comply with deadlines imposed by Venezuela and its leftist president, Hugo Chavez. The effect of failure of either oil major to sign onto deals that would have imposed significantly tougher business conditions was effectively muted by the apparent willingness of four other oil firms to do just that, however. As such, most analysts did not think the refusal of the two companies to sign new deals would have a major impact on the ability of Venezuela to continue to move supplies from the region. Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez had previously warned...