Word: oiled
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...appearance, but not market leader Anheuser-Busch. Tractor Supply lands on the list; Wal-Mart doesn't. Even with the economic crisis, a number of financial firms show up, including asset manager Blackrock, regional bank Iberiabank and homebuilder NVR (parent of Ryan Homes). The decade's best industry: oil and natural gas. A full 34 companies - 17% of the list - either drill, transport, refine or sell the stuff. (See the worst business deals...
...brief weeks this autumn, there were hopes that the long-running civil war in the Niger Delta in southeastern Nigeria might finally be coming to an end. President Umaru Mousa Yar'Adua announced an amnesty deal for rebels and promised billions of dollars of investment in the poor but oil-rich delta, a 10% stake for the local population in the region's oil ventures and a small monthly stipend and re-training for ex-fighters. In return, thousands of militants declared a ceasefire and handed in their weapons, while their leaders initiated talks with the government on an eventual...
...also introduced promising greater transparency in a notoriously opaque business - a sign the government was willing to crack down on the kind of corruption that has served Nigeria so badly, fueling unrest not only in the delta but the north of the country, as well. (See "Nigerian Blood for Oil" in the most underreported stories...
Nigeria matters. As oil-rich nations from Russia to Venezuela to Iran become ever more nationalistic and tighten their supplies of fuel, more high-quality oil discoveries are being made off West Africa's coast, giving the world a (usually) reliable new source of oil. The U.S. already imports 16% of its oil from Africa, according to the U.S.-based Energy Information Administration, and wants to raise that to 25% in the future. Nigeria holds by far the biggest reserves in Africa and supplies 8 to 10% of all U.S. oil imports, according to the EIA. But in recent years...
...insurgency's leaders are under the most pressure from their rank-and-file members to deliver a final settlement. Now, Nigeria's notoriously corrupt bureaucrats are in charge of the peace process, and one rebel leader says that many are reverting to type. "They offered me an oil field to call off my boys," says the leader. "These guys aren't sincere. All they care about is getting oil production back up. They think they can just buy us off." (Read "'Nigeria's Taliban': How Big a Threat...