Stavnitser says Russia is almost certainly retaliating for Ukraine’s recent, highly successful attacks on Russian shipping, including sanctioned vessels carrying oil, as well as other ships involved in ferrying supplies to Russian-occupied Crimea. Using its own drones, Ukraine’s Operation MoLoChKa (which roughly translates as “Moscow will fall through Crimea”) has struck around 200 Russian vessels,…
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has developed their own app, external developed an app to provide alerts when bathing water quality could be affected by pollution, including sewage spills. It says the information comes from various sources including voluntarily data from water companies in England and Wales, from sensors that monitor when a Combined Sewer Overflow…
The North Sea has increasingly become a topic for political debate. In its 2024 general election manifesto, Labour said it would not issue new licences for drilling, but would honour existing ones. But in recent months, as the Iran war pushed up global oil prices, calls have grown for more North Sea drilling to be…
Satellite view of Tuapse Oil Refinery, Russia. Ukrainian drones struck fuel storage tanks at the Rosneft‑operated facility, igniting a major fire visible for kilometers. Gallo Images | Gallo Images | Getty Images The Strait of Hormuz is rattling global trade, but the waterway is just one example of a vital maritime corridor becoming a frontline,…
The US military campaign to protect merchant shipping from Iranian attacks by asserting direct maritime control in the strait of Hormuz is not an idea unique to Donald Trump’s administration. Almost exactly 200 years ago, in the period 1825-27, a powerful US naval squadron led by Commodore John Rodgers was sent to the Mediterranean to…
In a field in southern Ukraine, soldiers scrawled sardonic messages on a sleek grey attack drone that would soon be hunting Russian ships on the Black Sea — part of a widening Ukrainian campaign to isolate Crimea and weaken Moscow’s war effort. Operating far behind the front line on Ukraine’s sweeping steppe, such units have…
But Russia’s ramping up of attacks against cargo ships is likely meant to deter foreign companies from buying Ukrainian products and using its Black Sea maritime corridor. On Sunday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi said his government and the military command were “preparing decisions that will enhance the safety of navigation and help protect civilian…
Other options for Burnham include scrapping the Energy Profits Levy (EPL), or windfall tax. This was introduced when prices spiked at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has a headline rate of 78%, which is taken whether oil and gas prices are high or low. The industry says it makes the North Sea…
Andy Burnham will announce plans for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea when he becomes prime minister on Monday, the BBC has been told. The Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto – which the new leader said he would follow – had pledged to not issue new licences but to honour existing ones. At…
It’s 23 years since Nathan Outlaw opened the Black Pig in Rock, Cornwall, when he was 25 years old. It was a long shot that everyone told him not to take – he already had a great job at the Vineyard in Stockcross, Berkshire; his wife, Rachel, was eight-and-a-half months pregnant; and he’d won a…
