Environment news

• Oil settles up 5 percent, trims gains after hours on API report

  12-07-2016 23:25
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged 5 percent on Tuesday, the biggest daily gain since April, as investors' covering of short positions and a technical rebound helped lift the market from two-month lows.
  
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• China suffers legal blow in South China Sea, U.S. urges caution

  12-07-2016 23:13
  By John Walcott and Ben Blanchard WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - China risks violating international law if it continues to strike a defiant tone and ignores an arbitration court ruling that denies its claims in the South China Sea despite calls from the United States and the head of the United Nations for the peaceful resolution of disputes in the oil-rich waters. ...
  
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• Weathered oil from DW Horizon spill may threaten fish embryos and larvae development

  12-07-2016 23:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  A research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have found that ultraviolet light is changing the structure of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil components into something more toxic, further threatening numerous commercially and ecologically important fishes. The DWH oil spill, in which more than three million barrels of crude oil got released in 2010 into the northern Gulf of Mexico,
  
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• Oil soars 5 percent in biggest one-day gain since April

  12-07-2016 21:42
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged 5 percent on Tuesday, the biggest daily gain since April, as investors' covering of short positions and a technical rebound helped lift the market off two-month lows. A rally in global equity markets to record highs added to the upbeat sentiment in oil, while the dollar fell, making greenback-denominated oil more attractive to holders of the euro and other currencies. [MKTS/GLOB] [.N] [USD/] Expectations were high, too, that trade data du
  
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• New 'Star Trek' Exhibit Lets You Join Starfleet Academy

  12-07-2016 21:35
  
  NEW YORK — Have you ever wondered what it might be like to train at the same institute as the heroes of the "Star Trek" universe? The new interactive Starfleet Academy Experience at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum here in Manhattan lets visitors test their aptitude in seven different specializations featured at the fictional academy: communications, medicine, science, engineering, navigation, tactical and command. Last month, Space.com attended a press preview event for
  
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• How Growing Sea Plants Can Help Slow Ocean Acidification

  12-07-2016 20:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers are finding that kelp, eelgrass, and other vegetation can effectively absorb CO2 and reduce acidity in the ocean. Growing these plants in local waters, scientists say, could help mitigate the damaging impacts of acidification on marine life.Oregon’s picturesque Netarts Bay has long been known for its oysters. But Netarts, like the whole west coast of North America, is getting more acidic. And the oysters don’t like it. Since the Industrial Revolution, carbon dio
  
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• Donald Trump would be world's only national leader to reject climate science

  12-07-2016 20:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Sierra Club report finds science of climate change accepted by leaders of every country recognized by US – including Bashar al-Assad and Kim Jong-unDonald Trump would be the only national leader in the world to dismiss the science of climate change should he become president, putting him out of step even with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea.
  The potential isolation of the US on climate change has been laid bare by
  
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• Oil jumps 4 percent in technical rebound from two-month lows

  12-07-2016 20:11
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged 4 percent on Tuesday, buoyed by investors covering short positions and an equities rally that lifted riskier assets globally, helping crude stage a technical rebound from two-month lows hit the previous session. Crude futures also got a lift from expectations that data would show an eighth straight week of declines in U.S. crude stockpiles. "The market's gotten really short over the past two weeks with everyone focused on weaker fundament
  
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• U.S. urges all countries to adhere to South China Sea ruling

  12-07-2016 19:25
  By Jeff Mason and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday that an arbitration court ruling that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea should be treated as final and binding and not as a reason to raise tensions. "We certainly would urge all parties not to use this as an opportunity to engage in escalatory or provocative action," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing aboard Air Force One. The Permanent Court
  
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• Oil up 4 percent in technical rally after two-month lows

  12-07-2016 18:25
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged as much as 4 percent on Tuesday in a technical correction and on short covering after a two-month lows hit in the previous session, traders said. Brent crude futures were up $1.95, or 4.2 percent, at $48.20 per barrel by 12:09 p.m. EDT (1709 London time). U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate futures rose $1.77, or 4 percent, to $46.53.
  
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• Drones to unleash vaccine-laced pellets in bid to save endangered ferrets

  12-07-2016 18:17 via theguardian.com
  
  US Fish and Wildlife Service to target diseased prairie dogs, food for the ferrets, via specially designed drones that shoot pellets in three directions at onceThe US government is set to unleash drones that fire vaccine-laced pellets in a bid to save the endangered black-footed ferret, a species that is facing a plague epidemic across America’s great plains.The US Fish and Wildlife (FWS) has developed a plan to bombard ferret habitat in Montana with the vaccine, which will be administered
  
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• Drones to unleash vaccine-laced M&Ms in bid to save endangered ferrets

  12-07-2016 18:17 via theguardian.com
  
  US Fish and Wildlife Service to target diseased prairie dogs, food for the ferrets, via specially designed drones that shoot the candies in three directions at onceThe US government is set to unleash drones that fire vaccine-covered M&Ms in a bid to save the endangered black-footed ferret, a species that is facing a plague epidemic across America’s great plains.
  The US Fish and Wildlife (FWS) has developed a plan to bombard ferret habitat in Montana with the vaccine, which will be admi
  
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• How The North Face is reshaping its supply chain through chemical responsibility

  12-07-2016 18:04
  
  EXCLUSIVE: For nearly a decade, outdoor wear giant North Face has been committed to a responsible chemistry programme which aims to create significant environmental savings that go beyond compliance, to identify environmentally preferable chemicals and to reduce overall chemical use in its supply chain.
  
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• Flavour changing neutrinos give insight into Big Bang

  12-07-2016 17:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts have shown a small difference that may explain why the universe did not destroy itself during the Big Bang, scientists have reported at major conference.
  
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• Ice algae: The engine of life in the central Arctic Ocean

  12-07-2016 17:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Algae that live in and under the sea ice play a much greater role for the Arctic food web than previously assumed. In a new study, biologists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) showed that not only animals that live directly under the ice thrive on carbon produced by so-called ice algae. Even species that mostly live at greater depth depend to a large extent on carbon from these algae. This also means that the decline of the Arctic sea ice may h
  
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• Oil jumps 2 percent, up from two-month lows on technical support

  12-07-2016 17:02
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose 2 percent on Tuesday to rebound from two-months lows on a technical correction, a dollar weakened by rising risk in global markets and bets that U.S. crude stockpiles fell for an eighth straight week. Saudi Arabia's energy minister also there were hundreds of millions of barrels of surplus crude oil in the global market, although a price above $50 a barrel was required to ensure continued investment in the space. Oil producing group OPEC sa
  
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• Hidden red hair gene a skin cancer risk

  12-07-2016 17:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  People can carry a "silent" red hair gene that raises their risk of dangerous skin cancer, experts warn.
  
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• New tool to predict fire risks unveiled as Indonesia's dry season takes hold

  12-07-2016 16:56
  By Beh Lih Yi JAKARTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A map using satellite technology to warn of fire risks aims at helping Southeast Asian governments better deploy their resources to combat raging blazes, which cloak the region in haze every year, an expert on forest fires said on Tuesday. Slash-and-burn agriculture, much of it clearing land for palm oil crops, blanketed Singapore, Malaysia and northern Indonesia in a choking "haze" for months last year. "We expect the Fire Risk Map to help go
  
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• Climate change is apparently shifting clouds towards the poles

  12-07-2016 16:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  The way clouds cover the Earth may be changing because of global warming, according to a study published Monday that used satellite data to track cloud patterns across about two decades, starting in the 1980s.Clouds in the mid-latitudes shifted toward the poles during that period, as the subtropical dry zones expanded and the highest cloud-tops got higher.These changes are predicted by most climate models of global warming, even though those models disagree on a lot of other things related to cl
  
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• Tribunal overwhelmingly rejects Beijing's South China Sea claims

  12-07-2016 15:37
  By Anthony Deutsch and Ben Blanchard AMSTERDAM/BEIJING (Reuters) - An arbitration court ruled on Tuesday that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and has breached the Philippines' sovereign rights with its actions, infuriating Beijing which dismissed the case as a farce. A defiant China, which boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, vowed again to ignore the ruling and said its armed forces would defend its sovereignty and maritim
  
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• UN: Robust standards would help green bond market drive low-carbon economy

  12-07-2016 15:33
  
  Green bonds have the potential to drive the global low-carbon transition in the wake of the Paris Agreement, but standardised criteria will be critical for the future credibility of the market, a new report from the United Nations (UN) has concluded.
  
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• U.S. urges parties to adhere by South China Sea ruling

  12-07-2016 14:47
  The United States urged all parties to avoid provocative statements or actions after an arbitration court ruled on Tuesday that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea. "The decision today by the Tribunal in the Philippines-China arbitration is an important contribution to the shared goal of a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. The United States is still studying the decision and has no co
  
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• Oil and shipping markets on edge after South China Sea ruling

  12-07-2016 14:34
  By Henning Gloystein and Keith Wallis SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Global oil and shipping markets reacted nervously on Tuesday after an international arbitration court ruled against Beijing's claims across large swathes of the South China Sea, fuelling geopolitical tensions in the vital waterway. A tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, found China had breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines and had no legal basis to its historic claims in the South China Sea, a major shipping lane between Europ
  
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• London sets the benchmark for mobilising climate finance

  12-07-2016 14:24
  
  A new report has praised London for its ability to mobilise climate finance, and has called on global cites to turn to the private sector in order to invest the necessary $57trn in infrastructure to transition to a low-carbon economy.
  
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• Vietnam welcomes South China Sea ruling, reasserts its own claims

  12-07-2016 14:23
  Vietnam welcomed a ruling by an international arbitration court concerning the South China Sea on Tuesday, saying it strongly supports peaceful resolution of disputes, while reasserting its own sovereignty claims. "Vietnam welcomes the arbitration court issuing its final ruling," foreign ministry spokesman, Le Hai Binh, said in a statement. "Vietnam strongly supports the resolution of the disputes in the South China Sea by peaceful means, including diplomatic and legal processes and refraining f
  
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• Regulating particulate pollution

  12-07-2016 14:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  An MIT analysis of how best to reduce fine particulate matter in the atmosphere has brought some surprising results. Due to past regulations, levels of key emissions that form those harmful particles are now lower than they were a decade ago, causing some experts to suggest that cutting them further might have little effect. Not true, concludes the MIT study. Using an atmospheric model, the researchers found that new policies to restrict the same emissions would be even more effective now than t
  
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• OPEC sees tighter 2017 oil market, Brexit drag on economy

  12-07-2016 13:55
  OPEC on Tuesday was upbeat on the oil market outlook for 2017, saying global demand for its crude would be higher than its current production and excess oil inventories would be whittled down. "After the UK's referendum to leave the EU, economic uncertainty has increased," OPEC said in the report. "Potential negative effects have led to a downward revision of global economic growth in 2016 to 3.0 percent from 3.1 percent." Other forecasters including the International Monetary Fund have cut econ
  
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• Drought triggers 'austerity' root system in grass crops

  12-07-2016 13:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Grass species of crops adopt an "austerity" strategy and limits the development of its root system during times of drought, a study reveals.
  
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• China foreign minister says South China sea ruling to worsen tensions

  12-07-2016 13:32
  BEIJING (Reuters) - The arbitration case on the South China Sea has put the dispute into dangerous territory of worsening tensions and confrontation, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday in comments carried by state news agency Xinhua, dismissing the case as a "farce". (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
  
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• OPEC says Brexit to weigh on global economy but sees tighter oil market in 2017

  12-07-2016 13:20
  OPEC cut its forecast for world economic growth this year on Tuesday, citing increased uncertainty following Britain's vote to leave the EU and said the pace of oil demand growth would slow slightly next year in its first 2017 forecast. "After the UK's referendum to leave the EU, economic uncertainty has increased," OPEC said in the report.
  
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• Taiwan rejects ruling on South China Sea island of Itu Aba

  12-07-2016 13:03
  Taiwan said Tuesday it does not accept a tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea, saying the decision on Itu Aba, Taipei's sole holding in the disputed Spratly Islands, had "seriously impaired" its territorial rights. The arbitration court in The Hague ruled that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it has breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines with its actions there, infuriating a defiant Beijing. Taiwan, formally known as the "Republic of China
  
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• Factbox - Hague tribunal says no legal basis for China claims in South China Sea

  12-07-2016 12:35
  HONG KONG/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A five judge tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Tuesday issued their award in a suit brought by the Philippines disputing Chinese actions in the South China Sea. ** That China has no "historic title" over the waters of the South China Sea. ** That none of the features of the Spratly Islands off the Philippines' west coast give China any right to an exclusive economic zone.
  
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• Tribunal says China has no historic title over South China Sea

  12-07-2016 12:06
  By Thomas Escritt and Ben Blanchard AMSTERDAM/BEIJING (Reuters) - An arbitration court ruled on Tuesday that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it has breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines with its actions there, a long-awaited ruling sure to infuriate Beijing. China, which has boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, vowed again to ignore the ruling and said its armed forces would defend its sovereignty and ma
  
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• Philippines urges 'restraint and sobriety' after South China Sea ruling

  12-07-2016 12:06
  MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' foreign minister called for "restraint and sobriety" in the South China Sea on Tuesday after an international arbitration court issued a decision favourable to Manila and condemned by Beijing. "Our experts are studying this award with the care and thoroughness that this significant arbitral outcome deserves," Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay told a news conference. "We call on all those concerned to exercise restraint and sobriety. The Philippines stro
  
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• Iran advisory body approves new oil and gas contract - Tasnim

  12-07-2016 12:00
  Iran's new oil and gas contract was approved on Tuesday after some amendments by the Resistance Economy Headquarters, a top government economic advisory body, the Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported. The Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) is a cornerstone of the country's plan to raise crude production through foreign investment. The launch of contracts has been postponed several times as hardline rivals of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani resisted any deal that could end the buy-back system, d
  
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• Hague tribunal ruling on South China Sea is final, legally binding - Japan Foreign Minister

  12-07-2016 11:54
  TOKYO (Reuters) - The Hague tribunal ruling on the South China Sea is final and legally binding, and the parties to the case are required to comply, Japan said on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement that Japan has consistently advocated the importance of the rule of law and the use of peaceful means, not the use of force or coercion, in seeking settlement of maritime disputes. (Reporting by Linda Sieg and Elaine Lies; Editing by Nick Macfie)
  
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• UK must prepare for 'inevitable changes' of climate risks, warns advisers

  12-07-2016 11:51
  
  The UK must work to implement immediate action to mitigate the "urgent" effects of climate change which looks set stifle food production, reduce water supplies and lead to thousands of deaths as temperatures rise, a new report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has warned.
  
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• UK must prepare for 'inevitable changes' of climate change risks, warns advisers

  12-07-2016 11:47
  
  The UK must work to implement immediate action to mitigate the "urgent" effects of climate change which looks set stifle food production, reduce water supplies and lead to thousands of deaths as temperatures rise, a new report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has warned.
  
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• Monkeys used stone tools 700 years ago

  12-07-2016 11:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How non-human archaeology revealed ancient evidence of monkey tool-use.
  
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• Oil bounces back from two-month lows on weaker dollar

  12-07-2016 11:24
  Brent crude was at $46.93 per barrel at 0853 GMT, up 68 cents or 1.5 percent from the last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 58 cents at $45.34 a barrel. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday the oil industry needed a price above $50 per barrel to sustain investments but added that downward pressure would prevail because of an inventory glut.
  
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• Global warming is shifting Earth's clouds, study shows

  12-07-2016 11:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Climate Central: The warming of the planet over the past few decades has shifted a key band of clouds poleward and increased the heights of clouds topsThe reaction of clouds to a warming atmosphere has been one of the major sources of uncertainty in estimating exactly how much the world will heat up from the accumulation of greenhouse gases, as some changes would enhance warming, while others would counteract it.The study, detailed Monday in the journal Nature, overcomes problems with the satell
  
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• China's Xinhua says court has issued "ill-founded award" on South China Sea

  12-07-2016 10:53
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's state-run Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that the "law-abusing tribunal" hearing a case about the disputed South China Sea had issued an "ill-founded award". It gave no other details. An arbitration court in The Hague will rule on Tuesday in a dispute about the South China Sea in which the Philippines is challenging China's right to exploit resources across vast swathes of the waters. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
  
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• Europe's oil imports 'dependent on unstable countries'

  12-07-2016 10:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Oil from geopolitically unstable regions such as Russia, Libya and Iraq accounts for 80% of Europe’s imports, report showsEurope is dependent on foreign and often geopolitically unstable regions such as Russia, Libya and Iraq for 80% of its imported oil, according to a report.Rosneft and Lukoil are the two companies benefiting most from the EU’s current oil imports regime, supplying a third of the continent’s imported crude in 2015, according to the new study. Statoil and Saudi
  
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• EC's Tusk says "rule-based order" is in common interests in sea dispute

  12-07-2016 10:36
  It is in the best interests of the people of China and Europe to protect the rule-based international order, European Council President Donald Tusk told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday ahead of an arbitration ruling from the Hague on the disputed South China Sea. "On the South China Sea we will see an important ruling today.
  
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• Beijing vows to ignore high-stakes South China Sea ruling

  12-07-2016 10:30
  By Thomas Escritt and Ben Blanchard AMSTERDAM/BEIJING (Reuters) - China said it will ignore a ruling expected on Tuesday by an arbitration court in The Hague in a case in which the Philippines is challenging Beijing's right to exploit resources across the South China Sea. China has boycotted the hearings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, saying it does not have jurisdiction over the dispute. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked how China would be getting the ruling, said it would have
  
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• US Senators detail a climate science "web of denial" but the impacts go well beyond their borders

  12-07-2016 10:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Australians have been both helpers and victims of the fossil fuelled web of climate science denial being detailed in the U.S SenateBy the middle of this week, about 20 Democratic Senators in the US will have stood up before their congress to talk about the fossil fuelled machinery of climate science denial.The Senators are naming the fossil fuel funders, describing the machinery and calling out the characters that make up a “web of denial”. Continue reading...
  
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• Premier Oil sees Brexit benefits as weak sterling cuts costs

  12-07-2016 09:59
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Premier Oil is benefiting from Brexit as a weaker pound means millions of dollars in savings on one of its new North Sea oil fields, the London-listed company said on Tuesday. Premier Oil, which is mainly spending pounds on bringing the Catcher oil field in the North Sea on stream next year, said it had saved around $100 million on that project alone thanks to the exchange rate effect. "We will be the beneficiary of Brexit, dare I mention it," Premier Oil Chi
  
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• Is Leeds ready to become the UK's 'Hydrogen city' hub?

  12-07-2016 09:30
  
  A new report has proposed that the city of Leeds should convert its gas grid to an all-hydrogen version by 2030 in order to test the viability of using hydrogen to help meet national carbon reduction targets.
  
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• Oil rises on brief Iraq loading halt; bearish investors cap gains

  12-07-2016 09:18
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil futures moved away from two-month lows on Tuesday as a brief halt in Iraqi crude loadings threatened to tighten supplies, but a drop in bullish bets by investors kept a lid on price gains. Brent crude was at $46.72 per barrel at 0712 GMT, up 47 cents or 1 percent from their last close and off a low of $45.90 hit in the prior session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 37 cents at $45.13 a barrel.
  
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• Three-quarters of UK construction firms operate a low-carbon strategy

  12-07-2016 09:00
  
  New research has revealed that the UK construction industry recognises its long-term duty to the environment, with 75% of companies now operating a low-carbon or carbon reduction strategy.
  
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