Wednesday newspaper round-up: Carillion, BP, Vedanta, Unaoil
The government was too slow to spot mounting financial problems at troubled public sector outsourcing company Carillion, according to a report that reveals the Cabinet Office decided the contractor was not “high risk” even as it neared insolvency. The parliamentary public accounts committee, which produced the report, also warned that Carillion’s collapse indicates that too many public works contracts are concentrated in the hands of a few private firms. - Guardian
UK organisations were handed a record £4.2m in data protection fines last year, up nearly a million pounds from the previous year. As new GDPR laws will see companies risk even larger fines for failing compliance, analysis finds that last year the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) dealt 54 financial penalties in total for breaching current data protection laws. – Telegraph
BP has delayed its plans to drill a fresh well at one of its North Sea gas fields due to concerns that its Iranian partner could put the oil major in breach of looming US sanctions. BP was due to begin new work at the Rhum field but the oil major said it will wait for clarity on the US sanctions before moving ahead. – Telegraph
At least nine protesters were shot dead in southern India yesterday after police opened fire on crowds calling for the permanent closure of a copper smelter controlled by Vedanta, the London-listed miner. Protests in Tuticorin in the state of Tamil Nadu began after a gas leak in 2013 left dozens of people ill. – The Times
Fresh charges have been brought against two people involved in an investigation into allegations of bribery at Unaoil, an oil and gas consultancy business. The Serious Fraud Office said that it had charged Basil Al Jarah and Ziad Akle with conspiracy to pay alleged bribes to secure a £555 million contract to Leighton Contractors Singapore, linked with a scheme to build two oil pipelines in Iraq. – The Times
The United States has taken its first significant step towards a post-Brexit free-trade deal by setting up a committee seeking an “expeditious agreement” with the UK. The Senate UK Trade Caucus, a cross-party congressional committee that was unveiled yesterday, aims to build support in Congress for a US-UK free-trade deal before leading a “unified effort” to turn it into law. – The Times