09 MAR 2020 Swiss investment bank UBS has committed to no longer providing finance for new offshore oil projects in the Arctic, greenfield thermal coal mines or greenfield oil sands projects. The bank’s new standards also include enhanced due diligence for transactions related to LNG and ultra-deepwater drilling. UBS reduced …
Read More »PUTIN UNVEILS MORE PLANS TO BOOST NORTHERN SEA ROUTE
08 Mar 2020 Cargo shipments passing through the Northern Sea Route, Russia’s remote Arctic sea artery, topped 30 million tons during the past year, officials have said, marking a major uptick in fossil fuel deliveries from one of the world’s most vulnerable environments. The shipping upswing, which President Vladimir Putin …
Read More »CRISPR USED ON PATIENT’S EYE IN ATTEMPT TO CURE GENETIC BLINDNESS, WORLD FIRST
9 MAR 2020 For the first time, doctors have attempted to cure blindness by gene-hacking a patient with CRISPR technology. A team from Oregon Health & Science Institute injected three droplets of fluid that delivered the CRISPR DNA fragments directly into a patient’s eyeball, The Associated Press reports, in hopes that it will reverse …
Read More »PSA NORWAY OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO FLOATEL GANGWAY INCIDENT
8 MAR 2020 Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) is investigating an incident aboard the Floatel Endurance, which suffered an accidental gangway disconnection on February 29 while working alongside Equinor’s Martin Linge offshore platform. No one was injured in the accident. “The PSA takes a serious view of what happened. An investigation team …
Read More »SAUDI FORCES REPORT ATTEMPTED BOMB-BOAT ATTACK ON TANKER OFF YEMEN
07 MAR 2020 Saudi Arabia’s military said Wednesday that its forces prevented an “imminent terrorist attack” against an oil tanker about 90 nautical miles southeast of Nishtun, Yemen in the Arabian Sea. “The failed terrorist attempt was carried out at [1439 hours] on Tuesday 03 March 2020 during the [voyage] …
Read More »WHO ISSUES GUIDELINES FOR COVID-19 CONTROL ON BOARD VESSELS
06 MAR 2020 The World Health Organization (WHO) has released guidelines to avoid or manage an outbreak of coronavirus on board ships. The recently-released guide calls on shipowners to provide crew with guidance so they can recognize signs and symptoms of the virus. If a suspected case is identified, WHO recommends that the ship …
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