go beyond oil

There’s a dangerous storm brewing in the North Sea. But this is no natural disaster - it’s been whipped up by oil and gas companies lobbying for a major tax cut.

In the Budget, the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a fuel duty stabiliser. When oil prices were high – over $75 a barrel to be precise – he’d cut taxes on motoring, and tax oil companies instead. When oil prices dropped below $75 a barrel, he’d whack a tax on fuel, but give oil companies a break. 

This morning Paula Bear swung into action as a Greenpeace activist. While our ships are confronting Cairn Energy's oil rig in the Arctic, she’s blocking the entrance to the wildcat drillers' headquarters in Edinburgh.

Horrified that Cairn Energy are drilling for oil in the Arctic, Paula’s rage was tipped over the edge when she learned that Cairn won’t even make their oil spill response plan public.

UPDATE: Watch BBC Newsnight's feature on the Wikileaks Arctic files

Submarine explorers planting Russian flags under the North Pole. Military tension between Nato and Russia. US diplomats manoeuvring in the wings. Aircraft carriers lurking and strike fighters changing hands.

Sound like something from a James Bond plot? Unfortunately it’s not.

New Wikileaks releases today have shown the Arctic oil rush is not just a threat to the environment and our climate, but also to peace.

How much oil lies under that Arctic ice? 90 billion barrels, according to the US Geological Survey.

But, how much really is that? If you ask an oil company, that’s a huge amount. With a barrel of oil over the hundred dollar mark, that's nine trillion dollars worth at today’s prices – if you could get at it all.

However, there’s a much more important number than the mind-boggling figures that the oil companies deal in.