Tag: BP

BP has pumped oil worth £15.4bn in Iraq since 2011 when it began production in the country for the first time in nearly four decades, new analysis shows. The new information comes on the 20-year anniversary of the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, which was judged to be illegal by the UN. However, neither […]

Last month Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) agreed for BP to start drilling for and producing natural gas in a major project off the coast of the north African country. The UK corporation, on whose board sits former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers, controls exploration areas in Libya equivalent to nearly three times the size […]

Egyptian dictator Abdul Fattah al-Sisi assumed power in 2014 after a military coup had overthrown Egypt’s first democratically-elected leader the previous year.  Since then he has presided over a human rights crackdown in the North African country, locking up thousands of political prisoners. Arbitary arrest and torture are widespread.  Sisi’s Egypt, which is set to […]

In September 2022, the BBC aired a documentary titled “The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros”. The three-part series, co-released with US outlet PBS, documents the rise of Brazil’s far right leader Jair Bolsonaro – who went from an obscure dictatorship-era military figure to the winner of the country’s 2018 presidential election. “Jair Bolsonaro […]

“Handsome” sums were provided by BP and Shell to the Information Research Department (IRD), which was Britain’s Cold War propaganda arm between 1948 and 1977, declassified files show.  The IRD used the secret subsidies to fund British covert propaganda operations during the 1950s and 1960s across the Middle East and Africa, where Britain’s oil interests […]

The Queen is facing calls to return a gift she received from a foreign dictatorship last month. Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev sent Queen Elizabeth a horse named ‘Shohrat’ as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations at Windsor Castle. Her Majesty said the gift was “very kind” and “very generous”. Azerbaijan is the third repressive […]

After Vladimir Putin became president of Russia in 2000, the number of export licences granted by the UK government for equipment with potential military use jumped 550% over six years, Declassified has found. At the time, Putin was waging a brutal war in the breakaway province of Chechnya in Russia’s North Caucasus, involving atrocities which […]

Britain’s flagship petroleum corporation BP pumped more than 5.5 billion barrels of Russian oil during the rule of Vladimir Putin, after his regime approved BP’s purchase of a host of lucrative assets, Declassified has found.  The oil was pumped between 2002-20 and was worth in excess of £271 billion based on average prices during the […]

Alan Duncan, the foreign minister responsible for the Americas from 2016-19, spoke to Vitol’s chief executive Ian Taylor “to gather information on the state of” Venezuela’s oil industry, Declassified can reveal. The conversation only became public knowledge when Duncan, a former oil trader himself, applied for permission to the UK government to take up a […]

The British government sought, in 2000, to integrate Putin’s Russia into the Western-ruled economic system, despite its brutal military campaign in Chechnya, documents obtained by Declassified show.

New research reveals that dozens of senior UK defence, foreign office and intelligence officials find employment with oil, gas and mining corporations once they leave public office, rubber-stamped by a Whitehall committee which pays little attention to potential conflicts of interest. Such private profiting from energy companies is likely to restrict Britain from taking stronger action to address climate change.

Former British prime minister John Major praised Oman’s dictator, Sultan Qaboos, for passing a law that gave him absolute power, describing it as ‘clearly a most imaginative and constructive step forward’. The law enacted in 1996 by the close British ally effectively banned political parties, independent media and criticism of the ruler.

There is money and power in identifying Russia and cyber attacks as the key security threats facing Britain — but not in addressing the more important issues of pandemics and climate change. Former UK intelligence chiefs are personally profiting from the ‘revolving door’ between government and business, and the public is paying the price.