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April 13th, 2006:

RIGZONE.com: Shell to Spend $1.55 Billion to End Gas Flare in Nigeria

Shell to Spend $1.55 Billion to End Gas Flare in Nigeria 

    

By Vincent Nwanma, Dow Jones Newswires     

 

LAGOS (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex)

 

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) (RDSB.LN) says it will spend an additional $1.55 billion to end gas flaring from its operations in Nigeria.

 

This amount will be used to capture gas still being flared from 28, out of its 75 flowstations in Nigeria, SPDC said in a statement sent to Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

ShellNews.net: ROYAL DUTCH SHELL APOLOGISES FOR IRISH JAILINGS

By Alfred Donovan

The Notice of Annual General Meeting currently arriving through the letter boxes of Royal Dutch Shell plc shareholders contains an apology by Shell for the jailing of the “Rossport Five”. They are the five Irish citizens jailed at the behest of Shell for three months because they opposed on environmental grounds, the laying of the Corrib gas pipeline in Ireland.

The apology on page 9 of the report says: –

“Shell regrets that five people were imprisoned for contempt of court and recognises the very negative impact this has had on the local community. Shell acknowledges that it must work in more effective partnership with the local community to recover the situation and to ensure wide acceptance of the way forward for Corrib. It believes that the Government-led mediation process, together with the ISR, will enable that partnership to move forward.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Times: Gongs and graduates go to the top recruiters

Gongs and graduates go to the top recruiters

By Martin Birchall

IF YOU’RE about to graduate from a UK university you’ve chosen a good time to do it. The number of jobs for new graduates has risen for the third year running — vacancies are up 10 per cent year-on-year — and there were at least a thousand employers competing on campus to hire the best graduates during the 2005-06 recruitment season.

With many organisations now close to filling their vacancies for autumn 2006, recruiters were in buoyant mood for last week’s annual celebration of Britain’s most sought-after employers, The Times Graduate Recruitment Awards 2006. Now in their ninth year, the awards recognise the graduate employers of choice in each of the major employment sectors.

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The NHS and Procter & Gamble were the only employers to win awards in more than one category — for general management and human resources, and marketing and sales respectively. The accountancy sector was dominated by the Big Four professional services firms, headed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The BBC was a runaway winner in the media sector and IBM a clear favourite for finalists interested in IT. Shell overtook last year’s engineering employer of choice Rolls-Royce and despite fierce competition from Aldi, Marks & Spencer held on to the award for the top retail employer. Clifford Chance retained its position as the legal employer of choice, as did HSBC for finance, Accenture for consulting and GlaxoSmithKline for research and development. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Daily Telegraph: Database: Energy

Energy

RWE may build a clean-coal power plant in the South-East for as much as £800m to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide from power generation.

An independent audit of Nigeria’s oil industry found gaps between the amount held in the central bank and what companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron said they paid.

Interconnector, owner of a reversible natural gas pipeline linking England and Belgium, will change the direction of its flow so gas is exported from the United Kingdom, after customers’ demands. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Lloyds Lists: UK gets first Gazprom LNG

UK gets first Gazprom LNG
Lloyds List; Apr 13, 2006

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GAZPROM has delivered its first liquefied natural gas cargo to the UK market as it expands into LNG through gas swaps, writes Martyn Wingrove. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: NYSE Considers Its Next Move

NYSE Considers Its Next Move

Nasdaq Stake in LSE May Push The Exchange to Fight or ExpandInto Other Financial Arenas By AARON LUCCHETTI in New York, EDWARD TAYLOR in Frankfurt, CHARLES FLEMING in Paris and ALISTAIR MACDONALD in LondonApril 13, 2006; Page C1

The New York Stock Exchange faces a dilemma in London.

Should the exchange, owned by NYSE Group Inc., challenge its archrival Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. in pursuit of Europe's biggest stock exchange, or make a different move to further the consolidation of the world's financial markets?

The NYSE's pickle was created by Nasdaq's purchase of a nearly 15% stake in London Stock Exchange PLC earlier this week, which gave the smaller Nasdaq a big say over the London exchange's future and a head start in making any bid. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

International Herald Tribune: Shell and Petronas stall in Indonesia

Shell and Petronas stall in Indonesia

By Peter Gelling International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2006

JAKARTA The more than 50 million cars, trucks, busses and motorbikes overwhelming Indonesia's urban streets have long held the interest of foreign gasoline companies.

So when the government deregulated the consumer market in 2001, companies like Royal Dutch Shell and Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia's state oil and gas company, quickly set plans in motion, and in the past few months opened Indonesia's first foreign-owned gas stations in Jakarta.

The stations opened with much fanfare, with talk of hundreds more in Indonesia. But the companies have not met their sales expectations and the government's decision to prohibit foreign operators from selling subsidized fuel, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the market, has stalled expansion.

Shell and Petronas, as the state company is called, knew they would be denied access to the subsidy sector when they applied for licenses, but were given indications by the government that the block would be lifted by 2005.

“It could mean we don't invest much more,” Bob Moran, chairman of Shell Indonesia, said of the inability to sell subsidized fuel.

For more than 30 years, the government has used state funds to defray fuel costs. Before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cut fuel subsidies last year, they had accounted for more than a quarter of the national budget. But the policy is widely supported by Indonesians, who are accustomed to paying some of the lowest prices in the world.

The number of motor vehicles in Indonesia has increased by an average of 20 percent a year over the last five years. Indonesia's potential, said Moran, is on par with India and China. Indonesia, he said, is becoming an important market for his company, which also has outlets in Malaysia, India, China and Singapore.

“We have thus moved relatively quickly here to start up our retail fuels business, despite the risks still associated with the regulatory environment,” he said.

Shell has opened three stations in Jakarta and plans to open several more before the end of year. Petronas opened its first station in March and is aiming for as many as 20 outlets by in 2007.

Most Indonesians still rely on Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned fuel company, the sole provider of subsidized fuel. Fuel is a major expense for the more than 110 million Indonesians living on less than $2 a day.

Analysts said it is unlikely that services like ATMs, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, or even guarantees of quality, will attract these customers to Shell or Petronas, whose specially formulated fuels are more expensive.

The big, brightly lit foreign-owned stations draw motorists from all over Jakarta, some driving more than an hour. When the stations first opened, cars waited in long lines to sample the new brand. But company officials said current customers are a wealthy minority and if they want their businesses to grow, Indonesia must continue to open up the market.

“At the moment, we cannot gain access to 90 percent of the demand,” Moran said.

The government deregulated the industry to move toward a more open market and encourage foreign investment. Subagyo Nafrizal Sikumbang, director of Bph Migas, Indonesia's market regulator, said the government was still committed to a level playing field and that opening up subsidized fuel was “just a matter of time.”

But how much time is unclear. The government extended Pertamina's monopoly on subsidized fuel for another year.

Moran said Shell was committed to invest in Indonesia, but large- scale investment would depend on the establishment of a “properly functioning, market-based system” in Indonesia.

“The distribution of subsidized fuels,” he said, “is a critical issue that needs to be addressed by the government.”

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.