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<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><b>Financial Times:
Energy Source: a weekly briefing</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#1A1A1A"><b><br></b></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><b>Corporate
crunch</b><br>
By<b> Pilita Clark</b></font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><b>Quote of the
week</b><i> "Moving to a credible path away from disaster is
imaginable and economically beneficial"</i> -</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><u>Martin Wolf</u>
on the upside of addressing climate change<br>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><b><br>
</b>The collapse in global oil prices produced a spate of gloomy news
from the oil and gas industry this week, as some of the sector's
biggest names released their latest results. It started with a<u>
slide in profits at BP</u>, which set out long term cost-cutting plans
spanning several years to help it cope with a prolonged period of $60
a barrel oil.<br>
<br>
Then came news that Royal Dutch Shell would take a $2bn writedown
after<u> cancelling</u> its Carmon Creek oil sands project in Canada,
and that Norway's Statoil had put back the start date for its<u> $7bn
Mariner field</u>, the biggest North Sea project in more than a
decade. By Friday morning, the UK-listed<u> BG Group</u> had
reported a sharp fall in earnings, with more bad news finishing the
week in the US from<u> ExxonMobil and Chevron</u>.<br>
<br>
Not everyone in these companies was dwelling on oil prices this week.
Some were poring over the draft text of the new global climate change
agreement due to be brokered in Paris in December, which was<u>
finalised</u> in sometimes testy UN negotiations in Bonn at the end of
last week. An official<u> UN report</u> found the pledges to cut
greenhouse gas emissions that countries have made so far for the Paris
agreement will not be enough to stop risky levels of global
warming.<br>
<br>
And the sullen tone of the Bonn talks has underlined the pressure
negotiators from nearly 200 countries will face in Paris. As<u> John
Kerry</u>, the US secretary of state, wrote on Thursday: "Success
in Paris is not a given".<br>
<br>
This weekend, the UN global warming debate shifts to Dubai, where
envoys from around the world will gather to debate how to get rid of
hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the artificial chemicals used in
air-conditioners, refrigerators and other appliances that can be far
more potent than greenhouse gases, even if they are not as
common. Getting a deal on these fast-growing gases has proved
elusive but if the Dubai meeting is a success it will boost hopes of
achieving a broader<u> climate accord in Paris</u> a few weeks
later.<br>
<br>
Read more of our coverage at</font><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#0040C2"><u> www.ft.com/energy</u></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><br>
<b>Quote of the week</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1" color="#1A1A1A"><i>"Moving to a
credible path away from disaster is imaginable and economically
beneficial"</i> -<u> Martin Wolf</u> on the upside of addressing
climate change</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">" The increase in interaction
diversity with the beetle outbreak adds to growing evidence<br>
that insect outbreaks can increase components of biodiversity in
forest ecosystems at various<br>
temporal scales."</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Kristina L. Cockle and Kathy Martin.<b>
Temporal dynamics of a commensal network of cavity-nesting
vertebrates: increased diversity during an insect outbreak.</b><i>
Ecology</i>, 96(4), 2015, pp. 1093-1104</font><br>
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