July 28, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

 Companies were returning workers to U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms and restoring output shut due to Dolly. Shut-in gas was 5.5 percent of Gulf output Thursday, July 24, down from 7.9 percent July 23, and shut-in oil was 1.4 percent of Gulf output, down from 4.5 percent July 23. Dolly became a hurricane Tuesday afternoon and came ashore north of Port Isabel, Texas, about midday Wednesday. It dumped flooding rain over south Texas before breaking up near the Texas-Mexico border late Thursday. The Gulf provides 25 percent of U.S. oil output and 15 percent of U.S. natural gas production

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July 28, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

Nigerian militants announced on 28 July 2008 that they successfully sabotaged two oil pipelines in Nigeria’s Rivers state. The two Niger Delta pipelines — located in Kula and Rumuekpe — are reportedly owned and operated by Royal Dutch Shell, and the company has announced that an investigation has been launched into the “incident” involving their pipelines. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militant group claimed responsibility for the attacks on the oil facilities. Although the attacks did not cause significant disruptions in oil supply, they did cause Shell to decrease production at one of the pipelines. The attacks come following MEND’s statement on 23 July that it would destroy oil pipelines in the Niger Delta region to prove that it had not been paid off by oil companies to stop its campaign of violence.

Nigeria’s National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) announced on 28 July 2008 that it will renew its currently suspended strike. The union initially launched a strike on 11 July over rising diesel prices and low salaries, but suspended the action on 13 July when the government agreed to negotiate to improve working conditions. However, because the union’s two-week suspension is set to expire on 28 July and no significant progress has yet been made on the union’s demands, protests are set to renew on 28 July and are expected to be at full-scale by 30 July. No details have yet been released on the proposed union actions during this strike; the initial strike caused long lines at filling stations due to the resultant nationwide fuel shortage

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July 28, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

 On 27 July 2008 investigators announced that they believe a malfunctioning oxygen canister caused a minor explosion on a Qantas passenger aircraft two days earlier, forcing the flight to make an emergency landing in the Philippines. The London-to-Melbourne flight was jolted by a loud bang midway through its trip on 25 July, and ground crews discovered a 9 ftt/2.7 m hole in the fuselage after the aircraft landed. All passengers and crew were unharmed in the incident, and security officials launched an investigation into what caused the damage. Transportation safety experts stated that tests for residue from explosives came up negative, and a senior official in the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau claimed it was not a “security-related event.” The aircraft had been carrying a supply of oxygen bottles in the cargo hold.

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