Environment news

• Nigeria's Kaduna refinery expected to resume by mid-April - NNPC

  02-04-2016 23:48
  By Garba Muhammad KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's 110,000 barrel per day refinery in the northern city of Kaduna is expected to restart by mid-April, the head of the upstream division at the state oil company said on Saturday. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) halted crude flows to its refineries around mid-January after the key pipelines feeding the plants were attacked. The refineries - in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri - were then shut down a few days later.
  
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• Nigeria's oil company offers to discuss revenue retention claims - NRGI

  02-04-2016 22:57
  Nigeria's state oil company has offered to talk to an international watchdog that says it failed to hand over billions of dollars in oil revenues despite government promises to tackle mismanagement and corruption. President Muhammadu Buhari last year fired senior staff at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and approved a revamp of its structure last month. NRGI said that was an increase of 12 percent from the proportion kept under the administration led by Buhari's predecessor, G
  
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• Libyan oil firm NOC says it will work with new unity government

  02-04-2016 22:24
  By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Saturday it was working with the U.N.-backed unity government, which arrived in Tripoli this week, to coordinate future oil sales and "put a period of divisions and rivalry behind us". NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla also welcomed the U.N. Security Council's renewal on Thursday of measures to prevent illicit oil exports from Libya, a reference to efforts by Libya's eastern government to sell oil independently. ...
  
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• Guards killed in attack on Libyan oil field by suspected IS militants - spokesman

  02-04-2016 22:05
  Two guards were killed in an attempted attack on an oil field in eastern Libya by suspected Islamic State militants on Saturday, a guards spokesman said. Ali al-Hassi said guards had repelled the attack on Bayda field, about 250 km (155 miles) south of the major oil terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf. A security official from the nearby town of Maradah said the militants were in a convoy of about 10 vehicles.
  
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• Russian oil output highest in 30 years ahead of Doha meeting

  02-04-2016 17:55
  By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's oil production rose 0.3 percent to 10.91 million barrels per day in March, its highest level in nearly 30 years, raising questions over Moscow's commitment to freeze output ahead of a producers' meeting in Doha later in April. Energy Ministry data on Saturday showed that in tonnes, oil output reached 46.149 million in March versus 43.064 million, or 10.88 million bpd, in February. Leading oil producers, including Russia, are due to meet in Doha o
  
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• Russia says oil output increase will not hamper production deal - agencies

  02-04-2016 17:55
  An increase in Russian oil production towards a record high in March will not be an obstacle to an expected agreement on a production freeze, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday, local news agencies reported. Novak said that it was important that Russia's average production over a prolonged period would not exceed its output level in January, as previously agreed. Russia's oil production rose 0.3 percent to 10.91 million barrels per day in March, its highest level in nearly
  
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• Scotland shuts down its last coal-fired electric power plant

  02-04-2016 15:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  After nearly 50 years of service, Scotland’s last coal-fired power plant — Longannet Power Station — has finally gone offline, putting an end to over 100 years of burning coal for electricity.It’s an important moment for Scottish Power, which looks ahead to clean power initiatives with the goal of going all-renewable by 2020,But it’s also a very symbolic action for the world. Hopefully other nations will follow suit, creating a domino effect as c
  
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• Cherry blossoms around the world – in pictures

  02-04-2016 15:00
  
  It’s a sign that spring has arrived as cherry trees burst into flower around the world. Here are some of the most beautiful, including a selection submitted by our readers via GuardianWitness Continue reading...
  
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• Iraq to probe claims of Unaoil corruption against top officials

  02-04-2016 14:28
  Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday directed the country's highest corruption watchdog to investigate claims of graft in the awarding of oil contracts by the OPEC exporter and urged the courts to prosecute. A joint report this week by Australia's Fairfax Media and the Huffington Post, citing hundreds of thousands of emails, linked energy services company Unaoil and several international oil companies to corrupt practices such as claims of bribery in countries including Iraq. "Prime
  
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• Libyan oil firm NOC says will work with new unity government to rebuild economy

  02-04-2016 14:02
  By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Saturday it was working with the U.N.-backed unity government, which arrived in Tripoli this week, to coordinate future oil sales and "put a period of divisions and rivalry behind us". NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla also welcomed the U.N. Security Council's renewal on Thursday of measures to prevent illicit oil exports from Libya, a reference to efforts by Libya's eastern government to sell oil independently.
  
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• Does climate change make it immoral to have kids? | Dave Bry

  02-04-2016 13:00
  
  Bringing children into a disintegrating environment used to be a theoretical fear. Now it’s a very real oneThe decision whether or not to have a child is one of the bigger ones a person will make in life – often the biggest. I needed some strong convincing from my wife when it came time for us to make it. Most of my reluctance was self-interested: I liked my life well enough, and I didn’t want to change it. My wife talked about feeling a biological imperative, which I had no an
  
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• The 'next Einstein'? She's from Africa

  02-04-2016 10:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Might she come from Africa?
  
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• Russian tourist killed by a crocodile in Indonesia

  02-04-2016 08:52
  
  The 37-year-old’s body was found four days after he went snorkelling off the Raja Ampat islands of West PapuaA Russian tourist has been mauled to death by a crocodile in a popular diving site in eastern Indonesia.Related: Experience: I fought off a mountain lionContinue reading...
  
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• Forests drowned in ancient memory

  02-04-2016 06:30
  
  Borth, Ceredigion The stumps rise from clots of dark peat lying on boulder-clay and held together by a lattice of blanched rootsSmall waves hissed into the pebbled shore, clacked stone against stone as I made my way to the drowned forest. One of many around the coasts of Wales (a particularly fine example lies just beyond the east end of Rhyl’s promenade), that at Borth has become more prominent since storms in 2014 scoured away covering sand, which in time will conceal it again. Continue
  
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• Lower indoor temperatures in winter correlate with thinner waistlines

  02-04-2016 00:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Elderly adults are bigger around the middle when they turn up the heat inside their homes during the cold season and have smaller waistlines when their homes stay cool, new research finds. Investigators from Japan will present their study results Friday at the Endocrine Society's 98th annual meeting in Boston."Although cold exposure may be a trigger of cardiovascular disease, our data suggest that safe and appropriate cold exposure may be an effective preventive measure against obesity," said th
  
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