Energy, Mining & Utilities

U.S. hostage Macon Hawkins and five other foreign oil workers kidnapped last month by Nigerian militants were freed today. Read More

A Nigerian court said on Friday Royal Dutch Shell should pay $1.5 billion (861 billion pounds) in damages for pollution in oil-producing Bayelsa state, the latest instalment in a long-running case. Read More

For the first time in the four-week trial of two former Enron executives, the actions of the company's directors in a critical month in 2001 came under scrutiny during a cross-examination. Read More

Three British bankers may be extradited to the United States to face Enron-related fraud charges, the High Court ruled on Tuesday in a ruling that was the first test case of laws introduced to speed the transfer of suspected terrorists. Read More

Villagers in Okerenkoko, once a peaceful settlement along a creek in Nigeria's oil-producing delta region, have feared for weeks what a big military operation against a guerrilla insurgency could bring. Read More

Bolivia´s President Evo Morales is analyzing Monday with specialized officials the current situation of Andina Co., controlled by Spanish transnational Repsol which is accused of illegally trafficking petroleum. Read More

A lawyer for Jeffrey K. Skilling, a former Enron chief executive, tried Wednesday to portray the head of the company's broadband unit as an out-of-touch manager who was criticized for his free-spending ways and did not even know how many employees were working under him. Read More

A House Republican began a broad investigation on Wednesday of an Interior Department program that is expected to give billions of dollars in benefits over the next five years to companies that pump oil and gas on federal territory. Read More

Newmont Mining agreed Thursday to pay $30 million to Indonesia in a settlement of a civil lawsuit in which the government argued that the company had polluted a bay with arsenic and mercury. Read More

Nationwide, 700 premature deaths, 30,000 asthma attacks and 400 pediatric emergency room visits each year are linked to current pollution from six Maryland power plants, according to a new study released today by the Maryland Nurses Association (MNA). Read More