NILS PRATLEY The Guardian – United Kingdom; Apr 25, 2006
var html = getInAdHTML(“box”,FTSite,FTSection,FTPage,FTIndustry); document.write(html);
if (showAd == 1) { var o = DOMGetElement(“artAd”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } } else { var o = DOMGetElement(“artImg”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } }
Blame the speculators. Blame the profiteering oil companies. Blame America's threats towards Iran. The hunt for a culprit for $75-a-barrel oil has begun and, as usual when the price is debated, the single biggest reason for the rise will probably be lost in rhetoric.read more
THE FOLLOWING IS A SELF-EXPLANATORY LETTER FAXED ON 20 APRIL 2006 TO LAWYERS ACTING FOR THE EIGHT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES WHO HAVE JUST ISSUED FURTHER LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DR JOHN HUONG INCLUDING A FURTHER HIGH COURT INJUNCTION IN RESPECT OF CORRESPONDENCE/INFORMATION PUBLISHED RECENTLY ON THIS WEBSITE.
ShellNews.net: Dow Jones & Company/Wall Street Journal threats against this website
Ms Selene Costello, Legal Counsel acting for Dow Jones & Company, sent what is known as a “cease and desist” letter to us in December 2005 in relation to images and content published on this website which were created by The Wall Street Journal.
One of the images was in relation to an article published by The Wall Street Journal about this website (accessible via the link below).
The Independent: Shell urged to abandon $20bn Siberian pipeline that could drive whale species to extinction
By Jonathan Brown
Published: 25 April 2006
Spring is being keenly awaited on Sakhalin in Russia's far east after another long winter. But when it finally comes in June it offers little prospect of a thaw in relations between environmentalists and Shell.
With the melting of the ice after eight months, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant is set to enter a crucial offshore construction phase in the development of its $20bn [£11.2bn] oil and gas programme. Wildlife campaigners say the price of the pipeline could be the extinction of a species of whale.read more
Despite Federal Government’s unrelenting war against the vandalisation of petroleum pipelines, dare-devil vandals operating along the creeks of the Niger Delta continued to wreak havoc on the nation’s oil facilities, a situation which has forced the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), to raise an alarm over the imminent fire out break as vandals broke into its condensate line.read more
BLOOMBERG: Shell Canada 1st-Quarter Profit Rises as Energy Prices Climb
April 24 (Bloomberg) — Shell Canada Ltd., the Canadian oil company controlled by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said first-quarter net income rose to C$447 million ($393.5 million) from C$417 million as energy prices increased.
Per-share profit climbed to 53 cents from 50 cents a year earlier, the Calgary-based company said today in a statement.
The company was expected to earn 54 cents a share, the average estimate from eight analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Thomson has declined to comment on the parameters of its estimates. read more
MSNBC: Shell refinery pumps $6M into security upgrades
By Mavis Scanlon
Partly to curtail any risk of a terrorist attack, the Shell Oil Products US Martinez Refinery is undertaking a $6 million security upgrade.
The project includes new fencing around portions of the 800-acre refinery, upgrades to its camera system, and crash devices at gates. Some of the work has already been completed, but the majority of the project will be wrapped up this year.
If Royal Dutch oil giant, Shell, would have to return to its abandoned oil sites in volatile Ogoniland in Rivers State, it would certainly have to muster enough patience to cross the landmines on its path.
After the elevation of Mr Basil Omiyi, an indigene of the Niger Delta in 2004 as Shell’s first indigenous Managing Director, it looked as if the prospect for peace between the Ogoni and the oil firm was quite high. read more
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – Sakhalin Energy has signed a letter of intent with a consortium of construction firms that won a tender to build oil and gas pipeline infrastructure on the far-eastern island, the regional press department said Monday.
Sakhalin Energy, a Dutch-British-Japanese, venture is the operator of the Sakhalin-II energy project and developing two vast fields on the island that have estimated recoverable reserves of 150 million metric tons of oil and 500 billion cubic meters of gas. read more
Chávez Plans to Take More Control Of Oil Away From Foreign Firms
By DAVID LUHNOW and PETER MILLARDApril 24, 2006; Page A1
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is planning a new assault on Big Oil, potentially taking a major step toward nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry that could hurt oil-company profits, reduce production and put further pressure on global oil prices.
Venezuela's Congress, made up entirely of Mr. Chávez's allies, is considering sharply raising taxes and royalties on foreign companies' operations in the Orinoco River basin, the country's richest oil deposit. Major oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips of the U.S. and Total SA of France have invested billions of dollars there to turn the basin's characteristically tar-like oil into some 600,000 barrels a day of lighter, synthetic crude.read more
AVERAGE petrol prices are expected to pass £1 a litre for the first time as the oil price surge shows no sign of ending.
Gordon Brown led a chorus of concerned voices over the weekend about the economic effects of spiralling oil costs.
NI_MPU('middle');
Prices at British petrol stations have been climbing steadily at a rate of about a penny a litre every week since the beginning of this month.
Crude oil reached $75 a barrel in trading on Wall Street last Friday. The most recent figures available, from Thursday last week, showed that forecourt prices were only fractionally below the British record highs set on September 14 last year when about 3,000 service stations ran dry.
read more
Oil consumers and producers talk – but will they listen?
Irish Independent; Apr 24, 2006
var html = getInAdHTML(“box”,FTSite,FTSection,FTPage,FTIndustry); document.write(html);
if (showAd == 1) { var o = DOMGetElement(“artAd”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } } else { var o = DOMGetElement(“artImg”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } }
THE world's oil producers and consumers agreed yesterday that record $75-a-barrel crude was a danger to everyone, but appeared further apart than ever in their quest to bring prices down.read more
Published: April 24 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 24 2006 03:00
On New Year's Day, Rex W. Tillerson woke up to find himself at thehelm of the world's largest publicly traded company. If that was not enough to worry about, he was stepping into a job vacated bya man widely regarded as one of the most successful chief executives in the oil business.
But if Mr Tillerson is apprehensive, he is not showing it. Did he ever imagine that he would be heading ExxonMobil, the company he has been employed by for his entire adult life?read more
Oil companies rub hands over price jackpot while consumers fume
PARIS, Apr.24 (AFP) – While governments and consumers weep over the rise and rise of fuel prices, oil companies are rubbing their hands in glee.
Last year the world's 250 top oil companies earned profits totalling 243 billion euros (300 billion dollars), a 35-percent increase on 2004, and that in spite of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that undermined production, according to figures from French brokerage Aurel Leven.
With the new record highs in the price of crude, which topped 75 dollars a barrel for the first time ever in New York on Friday, these companies are guaranteed an even better harvest this year.
Analysts, who in February were predicting an average price over the year of 55 dollars a barrel, subsequently upped their forecasts to above 60 dollars.
They could raise their sights still further if the current price surge continues, said Aurel Leven analyst Christian Parisot.
The world's largest oil group, US giant ExxonMobil, posted a profit in 2005 of 36 billion dollars on turnover of 371 billion.
That is more than the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil producer.
The global number two, Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell, broke the all-time profit record for a British firm in 2005, raking in 22.94 billion dollars.
Just behind Shell, France's Total made 15 billion.
According to a study by Moody's credit-rating agency, the 13 largest oil companies in the world gave around 100 billion dollars back to their shareholders.
But while the latter are smiling from ear to ear, consumers at petrol stations are pretty disgusted by the massive profits the big bosses are making.
Last summer, fuel topped the symbolic price of 1.50 euros (1.9 dollars) a litre in many European countries.
In France, where 65 percent of the price of petrol is tax, Finance Minister Thierry Breton tried in autumn 2005 to put pressure on oil companies to delay passing on crude price hikes to motorists.
He was convinced, he added, of the necessity for the oil giants to invest substantially in production, refining and research into alternative energy sources — something that largely fell by the wayside in the years of low oil prices.
Consumers are making similar demands in some countries.
In the United States, there is increasing clamour for oil firm profits to be taxed.
Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton asked President George W. Bush to create a special fund to help increase the States' energy independence, fed in part by such a tax.
In Britain, Chancellor Gordon Brown stepped in in December 2005, increasing the tax on profits gained by North Sea oil firms from 10 to 20 percent.
In France, consumer association UCF-Que Choisir is calling for Total to pay a one-off tax of five billion euros, to be creamed off its “astronomical” profits, which would be invested in public transport.
The oil companies are fighting back, pointing precisely to the fact that they are now, thanks to this manna, in a position to boost investments.
And the International Energy Agency — whose 26 member nations include the home countries of the world's three largest oil firms, the United States, Britain and France — tends to side with the boardrooms.
The oil companies' profits are “big in absolute terms but in proportion with their assets” and “not any bigger than those of other industrial or commercial activities”, said IEA executive director Claude Mandil.
Royal Dutch Shell has named the four schools that are to be “learning partners” at its global project academy.
//
Cranfield School of Management in the UK, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands; the University of Texas at Austin/McCombs School of Business in the US and Australia’s Queensland University of Technology will all take part in the initiative.read more
DOHA (Reuters) – Iran's dispute with the West over its nuclear work is not scaring foreign investors from the country's prized oil, which Tehran vows to keep exporting no matter what.
Iran stands accused of seeking to develop nuclear weapons and may face United Nations sanctions if it does not stop enriching uranium. Iran says it only wants to produce electricity.read more
NEW ORLEANS – The Gulf of Mexico's largest producing oil platform knocked offline by Hurricane Katrina could be running again in May, just before the start of this year's hurricane season.
Shell Exploration & Production Co., a unit of Britain's Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said repairs to its Mars platform will be finished this month, with partial production restored in late May. Hurricane season starts June 1.read more
Bush warns of 'tough summer' with higher petrol prices: Apr 22 10:54 PM
US President George W. Bush has warned rising oil prices will mean a “tough summer” for US consumers as the high cost of gasoline (petrol) showed signs of becoming a big political issue.
But even as more Americans expressed discontent over the price of filling up their gas tanks, Bush suggested there was little his government could do in the short term about the problem. read more
THE price of oil will hit $85 (E68.8, £47.6) by the end of the year, threatening an economic slowdown and pushing up the price of petrol at the pumps to more than £1 a litre, economists are warning this weekend.
The surging price will be caused by continuing buoyant demand caused by strong economic growth in Asia and across the world; as well as by rising tensions in Iran, Iraq and Nigeria.
The growing likelihood of a further rise in the price of oil was revealed in a poll by research house Ideaglobal this weekend. The average view was a peak of $85 a barrel this year but at least one respondent said the price of oil could go even higher to reach $90.
The poll follows another surge in the price on Friday. The June futures contract for crude-oil rose above $75 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, reaching a new high in nominal terms.
Prices jumped after US energy secretary Samuel Bodman warned that changes in specifications for petrol may cause brief shortages heading into the summer driving season.
Leading multinational companies are pushing through drastic improvements to their procedures to boost efficiency and reduce their need for oil.
The International Air Transport Association says efficiency improvements worldwide mean the industry would break even with oil priced at $48 a barrel in 2005, against $22 a barrel in 2003.
The soaring price of oil has so far not affected the performance of the US economy, which is expected to have grown by a buoyant 4.9% in the first quarter when early official estimates of the figures are released this week.
After adjusting for inflation, the price of oil reached a record of $97.55 in April 1980. But the current surge in the price of oil is also going hand in hand with strong price rises in other commodities and precious metals.
The price of gold bounced back to $635 an ounce in New York on Friday. Strong commodity price increases have fuelled fears of increased price pressures or at least diminishing corporate margins.
Shell CEO Says Oil Industry Will Remain Involved in Iran
A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP
OHA, Qatar — Though Iran's nuclear dispute with the West is growing more heated, the oil industry can expect to stay involved in the Islamic nation for decades, Royal Dutch Shell Plc chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said Saturday.
“One has to realize that with Iran when you look at both the oil and gas reserves that they have a very strong position as a country,” Mr. van der Veer said. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 10th International Energy Forum here, the Shell executive said: “In the complete order of magnitude,” looking at Iran and the nuclear energy challenge “you see only the short-term politics.”read more
Airmiles is to relaunch its service tomorrow following complaints that the scheme has become worthless.
The scheme, where points awarded for money spent in shops can be swapped for flights and holidays, has been running since 1988 and has 8 million collectors. But critics say limited availability of flights makes Airmiles almost impossible to use and that you must spend vast amounts to get a flight that would cost peanuts with a low-cost airline.
'Over a year, I spent a lot of money in the supermarket, yet when I tried to buy a flight with the Airmiles I'd saved I realised I didn't even have enough for two return flights to Paris,' said Natalie Harper, 28, from West Sussex. 'There was very limited availability whenever I tried to book. I ended up paying for flights partly with Airmiles and the rest in cash, which worked out to be more expensive than just buying a cheap air fare anyway.' read more
Champagne, chandeliers and toastmasters might seem a long way away from the world inhabited by Arab women. Indeed, the City might seem an odd sort of place for Arab women to converge. And, as venues go, Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, might seem stranger still. But it was to this grandest of Georgian houses that some 300 Arab women, not least Sheikha Lubna al-Qasimi, Arabia's first female economy minister, repaired on Thursday for a 'celebration dinner'.
Their mission? Not only to foster links with Britain's commercial heart but to prove that, from Morocco to Oman, women, in this field at least, are beginning to take the lead.
'If you look at the history of Islam, even the Prophet Muhammad married a businesswoman,' said al-Qasimi, who holds what is regarded as the most important cabinet post in the United Arab Emirates. 'Khadija was her name, she was his boss and she recruited him to work with her,' she smiled, as the likes of Cherie Blair worked the distinctly veil-less crowd.
read more
Reuters: Hard to say when Shell oil output to restart – Nigeria
Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:18 AM BST
DOHA (Reuters) – It is hard to judge when Nigerian oil output shut by militant attacks will return and the industry has to win the acceptance of those living in the impoverished Niger delta, Nigeria's oil minister said on Sunday.
Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru told reporters last Tuesday's inaugural meeting of a council to speed development in the region went very well. The delta pumps almost all Nigeria's oil but most people live in poverty.read more
SHELL’s environmental record on the Russian island of Sakhalin has come under attack ahead of a crucial decision by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on funding for the oil company’s $20 billion (£11.2 billion) project on the island.
The oil giant’s subsidiary Sakhalin Energy has applied for a loan of hundreds of millions of dollars from the EBRD as part of a $6 billion package of financing for the second phase of its Sakhalin II project. read more
Husky Energy has built on its major role in Alberta’s oil sands, picking up almost 23,680 acres for C$10 million in a region that is attracting a flurry of attention.
The Saleski property gives Husky another 2.7 billion barrels of bitumen reserves and will allow the company to become “a dominant oil sands player,” President and Chief Executive Officer John Lau said in a statement April 17.He said the purchase allows Husky to consolidate its total Saleski leases to 178,560 acres and builds its potential resources to 19.5 billion barrels of original bitumen in place. read more
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management narrowed the field of oil companies hoping to exploit vast oil-shale reserves in Utah and Colorado, government officials said April 10.
In a second elimination round, ExxonMobil and a tiny Utah company, Oil-Tech, were knocked out of the running for research and development leases to work BLM’s 160-acre parcels.
Exxon wasn’t prepared to commence research until as late as 2014 for a government program meant to expedite experimental works by this summer, said Jim Edwards, chief of BLM’s solid minerals branch in Colorado. read more
Sand beats land in Canadian sales
For the first time in any three-month period, oil sands edged out conventional properties in Western Canada government auctions of exploration rights.
The northern Alberta swamps attracted spending of C$860.15 million on 428,868 hectares (1.06 million acres) in the opening quarter — 10 times greater than in the same period of 2005 — just over half the C$1.69 billion spent by companies across Canada.
The deciding factor was the C$467.7 million spent by Sure Northern Energy, a subsidiary of Shell Exploration & Production of the Americas, on 10 parcels in a new bitumen play.read more
The Washington Post: Oil's top brass talk prices at summit
By Peg Mackey and Janet McBride
Reuters
Saturday, April 22, 2006
DOHA (Reuters) – Chief executives of the world's top oil firms met ministers from the biggest producers and consumers on Saturday as record crude prices of above $75 a barrel added urgency to consumers' calls for more supply investment.
A four-year rally, fueled by disruptions from the oilfield to the refinery gate, has led to bumper profits for Exxon Mobil , Royal Dutch Shell and BP and billions of dollars in oil revenues for producers like Saudi Arabia.read more
Venezuela reclaimed more than 27,000 square kilometers (10,700 square miles) in potential drilling acreage from private oil companies in March by requiring them to join new state-controlled joint ventures, a local daily reported April 17.
Amid efforts by the Venezuelan government to take greater control of the oil industry and boost its share of revenues, private companies operating 32 oil fields were required to form joint ventures with the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA. Under the new terms, PDVSA took at least a 60 percent stake in each field, hiked taxes and royalties, and took back drilling acreage that it claimed the companies had failed to invest in. read more
DOHA (Reuters) – Chief executives of the world's top energy companies met ministers from the biggest producers on Saturday with record oil prices of above $75 a barrel speeding the race for supply investment.
A four-year rally, fuelled by supply constraints from the oilfield to the refinery gate, has left both sides with bumper profits. This year, worries over Iran's exports and crises in Iraq's and Nigeria's industry have pushed oil to levels that threaten economic growth.
read more
By Steven Mufson and Timothy Dwyer Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, April 22, 2006; D01
Congressional leaders yesterday planned to ask President Bush to order investigations into possible price gouging by oil companies as crude oil prices hit new highs on world markets and average gasoline prices in the nation's capital blew through the $3-a-gallon mark.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) are preparing to send a letter to the president Monday asking him to direct the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate alleged price gouging and instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to issue waivers that might make it easier for oil refiners to produce adequate gasoline supplies, Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said.read more
Leaders Question Gasoline PricesHastert, Frist to Ask Bush for Probe
By Steven Mufson and Timothy Dwyer Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, April 22, 2006; D01
Congressional leaders yesterday planned to ask President Bush to order investigations into possible price gouging by oil companies as crude oil prices hit new highs on world markets and average gasoline prices in the nation's capital blew through the $3-a-gallon mark.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) are preparing to send a letter to the president Monday asking him to direct the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate alleged price gouging and instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to issue waivers that might make it easier for oil refiners to produce adequate gasoline supplies, Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said.read more
Published: April 21 2006 19:05 | Last updated: April 22 2006 01:40
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven leading economies raised the pressure on oil producers to increase supplies after oil hit a new record of over $75 a barrel in New York on Friday.
They called for further steps from producers to increase the transparency of their reserves and raise investment in exploration and refining capacity.read more
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Scattered gas stations from New Hampshire to Virginia are facing temporary shortages as the industry grapples with a transition to more ethanol-blended fuel.
Analysts and industry officials said occasional shortages are possible for another few weeks, though they emphasized that the problem has more to do with delivery schedules than a dearth of fuel. Empty pumps are not nearly as frequent as they were after Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out the electricity needed to run pipelines delivering fuel from the Gulf Coast to the rest of the country.read more
DOHA (Reuters) – The world's energy consumers and producers traded blame over record high oil prices they agree are a danger to all on Friday as they arrived here for three days of talks aimed at bringing the two sides closer together.
Oil raced to an all-time high above $74 a barrel this week as Iran defied world pressure to halt its nuclear programme, a quarter of Nigeria's output lay idle after rebel attacks and Iraq's once significant oil industry was mired in crisis.read more
NEW YORK (AP) — Crude-oil prices broke through $75 a barrel to hit a new record Friday, fueled by concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and tight U.S. gasoline supplies.
Prices at the pump also kept rising, with the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline at $2.855, up 3 cents from a day earlier and more than 60 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report.read more
Shell will offer to market State of Alaska’s natural gas
Kristen Nelson
Petroleum News
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski met in The Hague April 11 with Malcolm Brinded, Royal Dutch Shell executive director, exploration and production.
The governor’s office said Shell expressed interest in marketing Alaska’s share of natural gas from the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline and indicated it would soon submit an independent proposal to the state to market its gas. Shell is one of the largest transporters and marketers of natural gas in the world, the governor’s office said.read more
Shell says performance will determine fate of refinery Posted: 3:26 AM | Apr. 22, 2006
Abigail L. Ho Inquirer
THE ROBUST financial performance of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. last year may prompt it to upgrade its refinery and even expand it with a fresh capital infusion, Shell country chairman Edgar Chua said.
The unit of Royal Dutch Shell is to decide on whether to close down or expand its Philippine refinery, and last year's strong performance will weigh heavily on its decision, Chua said. read more
Shell's service stations in SW China face tight supplyE-mailPrint | | Disable live quotes
Last Update: 9:44 AM ET Apr 21, 2006
BEIJING (MarketWatch) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RSDB.LN) gasoline service stations in Chengdu, southwestern China, are mostly facing a shortage of supply, partly due to rising crude oil prices.
“Most of our local service stations are short of 90 RON and 93 RON gasoline, and I'm not sure when the company will resume supply,” a staff from a Shell service station in Chengdu, Sichuan province said Friday.
The shortage was “due to the tight supply (of oil products) at wholesalers in the southwestern region, partly caused by rising crude oil prices,” said Liu Xiaowei, a Beijing-based Shell official.
Shell's suppliers of oil products in Chengdu consist of PetroChina Co. (PTR), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP), or Sinopec, and some independent suppliers, she said.
“We are seeking various channels to resume the supply. So far, our local company (Sichuan Shell Fuel Oil Co.) has been resuming filling service for most types of oil products (in Chengdu),” she said.
Shell's service stations in China mostly supply three types of gasoline – 90 RON, 93 RON and 97 RON – as well as diesel.
Shell's service stations in the country's other regions last year also suffered from unstable supply of oil products, partly because “Shell has no wholesale right in China so far,” she said.
China is expected to open up its domestic oil products wholesale market to foreign companies by the end of this year, as part of its World Trade Organization commitments.
“We need to consider the market access criteria” before making any entry decisions, she said.
China's Ministry of Commerce is expected to announce the entry criteria sometime in the middle of the year.
Shell currently has around 70 service stations in the cities of Beijing and Tianjin in northern China, Guangdong province in the south and Chengdu city in the southwest, she said.
Shell has also joined Sinopec in operating around 200 service stations in eastern China's Jiangsu province and plans to build another 500 stations in the province.
-Edited by George Bernard
-Contact: 201-938-5400
Security concerns continue to overshadow Shell's Nigeria oil operationsE-mailPrint | | Disable live quotes
Last Update: 6:10 AM ET Apr 21, 2006
LAGOS (MarketWatch) — A spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Co. in Nigeria said Friday that security concerns in the troubled oil-rich Delta region continued to hamper the restart of up to a fifth of the country's crude output.
“We are not in a hurry to start crude oil production,” said the official from SPDC, a Royal Dutch Shell PLC-led (RDSB.LN) joint venture with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNP.YY).
The SPDC spokesman added: “What we are looking for is security. We want to be assured that we can walk in there and clean up the place and remain there to produce,” he said.
A Shell spokeswoman in London reconfirmed Friday that 455,000 barrels a day of Nigerian production from its local joint-venture remained shutdown. Shell owns 30% in the venture, in which the Nigerian state oil company is a majority shareholder.
She added that the Forcados terminal and the offshore EA field remain under force majeure, a clause that allows suppliers of crude to halt deliveries to customers without a legal breach of contract.
In an e-mail late Thursday, the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said: “For the errant oil companies that still choose to remain and operate in our lands and waters, we shall come like a thief in the night.”
Militants Wednesday changed tactics and carried out a car bomb attack at a military barracks in the oil center of Port Harcourt, killing at least one person. Previously, they have kidnapped foreign oil workers but released them unharmed.
Nigeria has also lost more than $1.5 billion in crude export revenues and the government recently moved in more troops to secure oil facilities in the Delta.
However, the Shell official said the presence of troops wasn't guarantee enough for the company to resume operations.
“Were the soldiers not there when the militants attacked the pipelines?” he asked.
“There is a difference between guarding a flow station and a pipeline, which runs across several kilometers,” he noted.
Facilities attacked by the militants include flow stations and a pipeline belonging to SPDC; a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Co., a unit of Italy's Eni SpA (E), and a gas pipeline belonging to Chevron Corp. (CVX) unit ChevronTexaco Nigeria.
The group has also said it would target ExxonMobil Corp.'s (XOM) operations.
ExxonMobil said this week that crude output at its offshore Yoho facility is returning to normal following an “operational event” last weekend.
Its subsidiary, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, has developed the $1.3 billion Yoho project since 2002 and the shallow-water project currently produces about 150,000 b/d, with a peak production goal of 165,000 b/d, according to previous reports from the company.
MEND said Wednesday: “In the coming weeks, we will carry out similar attacks against relevant oil industry targets and individuals. “At a time of our choosing, we will resume our attacks with greater devastation and no compassion on those who choose to disregard our warnings,' they warned in an e-mail signed by Jomo Gbomo. read more
Russia’s Gazprom Enters Booming LNG Markets with Giant Arctic Gas Field
Reuters
Giant Russian gas firm Gazprom will kick-start a late entry in the booming liquefied natural gas market within days, launching a huge Arctic project that it hopes will one day make it the dominant U.S. supplier.
After 15 years of delays, Gazprom —- a former Soviet ministry now worth over $240 billion —- is poised to start down the road to LNG by naming foreign partners whose know-how and capital is key to unlocking the vast Shtokman project.
Entering LNG will free Gazprom from its static pipeline network and allow it to ship gas globally for the first time, giving the export monopoly more bargaining power as it seeks to expand downstream into European markets.
“It should not be forgotten that we are actively seeking new markets such as North America and China,” CEO Alexei Miller said after meeting European Union ambassadors this week. “It’s no coincidence that competition for energy resources is growing.”
With gas reservoirs equivalent to Exxon’s oil reserves, Shtokman poses an alluring but technically daunting challenge for the five firms shortlisted as possible partners: U.S. majors ChevronConocoPhillips, France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil and Norsk Hydro.
Gazprom wants help producing gas in the iceberg-strewn seas around Shtokman, pumping it 550 km to shore, liquefying it and shipping it to the United States for re-gasification and sale.
In return, each must offer attractive projects of their own, a secretive negotiation that makes picking winners a tough call. “I wouldn’t bet on this at all,” said Kaha Kiknavelidze at UBS. “It’s a blind bet unless you know what they’re offering.”
Most analysts polled by Reuters were reluctant to make a definite call, but several said the Norwegians’ offshore experience stood them in good stead, with Statoil ahead of Hydro because of its size and access to a U.S. re-gas terminal.
Total is least favored to be named, with the two U.S. firms well-placed by virtue of their presence in the target market.
If Shtokman’s size —- 3.7 trillion cubic meters of gas, equivalent to 23.3 billion barrels of oil —- makes oilmen gawp in wonder, its risks are almost equally unfathomable, with cost estimates ranging from $12 billion to beyond $34 billion.
Deutsche Bank says a 10 percent stake would be worth around $600 million, while Citigroup sees $1.9 billion nearer the mark.
Whoever Gazprom picks, it will retain control of Shtokman and use it as a battering ram to enter the U.S. market. It aims to pump 70 billion cubic meters of gas a year at Shtokman, providing 15 million tons of LNG in early years, and to grab a tenth of the U.S. market by 2010 and 20 percent later.
“To my mind, that’s extraordinarily ambitious,” said Patrick Nevins, a lawyer specializing in energy regulation at Hogan & Hartson in Washington DC. But U.S. gas players are bracing for Gazprom’s entry. “If you go into any LNG conference in America, Gazprom is the looming presence in the room.”
Gazprom forecasts that U.S. LNG demand will hit 40 million tons a year by 2011, a year after Shtokman is due to come on stream, and by 2030 demand will boom to 100-250 million tons, most of which is not covered by existing contracts.
It says Shtokman has the edge over Qatar, another gas hub, with lower shipping costs and a cold climate that makes freezing the gas easier. Gazprom says those advantages could make it the dominant supplier to the United States. Russia’s vast gas reserves offer several other opportunities for LNG projects: the Yamal peninsula in northern Russia, remote east Siberia and Sakhalin Island in the Pacific.
The latter is already under development and Gazprom has found a way in, negotiating to take 25 percent of the $20 billion Sakhalin-2 project led by Royal Dutch/Shell. East Siberian gas is likely to go into a big new project to supply China via two pipelines and Yamal is not being publicly discussed, although some say it is only a matter of time before Gazprom tries to open up another northern route. Global warming could also help to free up more shipping.
“The way Arctic ice is developing, anywhere with sea access is becoming much more accessible at least for part of the year,” Shell’s Russia chief Chris Finlayson told Reuters recently.
To get yet more LNG, Gazprom has said it may swap piped gas with LNG bought by China under long-term contracts. “It seems to me that what they’re looking to do is to effectively buy up LNG destined for China and sell it somewhere else,” said Julian Lee at the Center for Global Energy Studies.
But analysts say Gazprom is a long way from ruling the U.S. market, which is rich in domestic and Canadian gas and tends to rely more on spot trades than on the fixed long-term contracts favored in such LNG markets as South Korea.
The fight for the U.S. market may also be stiffer than in Europe, where Gazprom has 25 percent of the market and governments are courting it to secure future energy supplies.
“The Western Europeans have been much more malleable in their relationship with Russia, whereas in Washington the hawks are sharpening their talons as they look at Russia,” said Caius Rapanu, energy analyst at UralSib in Moscow.
var html = getInAdHTML(“box”,FTSite,FTSection,FTPage,FTIndustry); document.write(html);
if (showAd == 1) { var o = DOMGetElement(“artAd”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } } else { var o = DOMGetElement(“artImg”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } }
AFTER years in the planning the Netherlands' first offshore wind farm, Egmond aan Zee, began to become a reality as the first foundation pile was driven in, writes Helen Hill in Amsterdam.read more
Shell's Philippine unit says 2005 net profit nearly doubles to 5.7 bln pesos
AFX Asia (Focus); Apr 21, 2006
var html = getInAdHTML(“box”,FTSite,FTSection,FTPage,FTIndustry); document.write(html);
if (showAd == 1) { var o = DOMGetElement(“artAd”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } } else { var o = DOMGetElement(“artImg”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } }
MANILA (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp posted net profit of 5.7 bln pesos last year, almost double the 2.98 bln it reported for 2004 due to positive refining margins and higher export revenues.read more
var html = getInAdHTML(“box”,FTSite,FTSection,FTPage,FTIndustry); document.write(html);
if (showAd == 1) { var o = DOMGetElement(“artAd”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } } else { var o = DOMGetElement(“artImg”); if (o) { DOMElementShow(o); } }
SHELL is ahead of schedule on repairing the Mars tension leg platform, damaged by hurricanes last year and expects it back online next month, writes Martyn Wingrove.read more
AP – Thu Apr 20, 5:20 PM ET
The price of full service high octane gas reaches $4.049 dollars per gallon Thursday, April 20, 2006, at a gas station in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Oil prices held steady near record highs Thursday after weekly data showed a drop in U.S. gasoline stocks, raising worries that refiners don't have an adequate inventory cushion ahead of the peak summer driving season. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
WASHINGTON, April 20 — Democrats running for Congress are moving quickly to use the most recent surge in oil and gasoline prices to bash Republicans over energy policy, and more broadly, the direction of the country.
With oil prices hitting a high this week and prices at the pump topping $3 a gallon in many places, Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic Senate candidate in Minnesota, is making the issue the centerpiece of her campaign. Ms. Klobuchar says it “is one of the first things people bring up” at her campaign stops. read more
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil fell nearly $1 on Friday on profit-taking by fund investors after a rally to record highs, though prices held above $72 on tension over Iran's nuclear program and other supply disruption worries.
U.S. oil for new front-month June (CLM6) traded 75 cents lower at $72.94 a barrel by 0419 GMT, after hitting a new front-month record of $73.50. The May contract expired at $71.95.read more
SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices touched a new record above $73 a barrel Friday amid concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions and declining U.S. gasoline stocks.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery, which became the front-month contract Friday, opened in electronic trading at a high of $73.50 a barrel — setting a new intraday record for a front-month contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange.read more
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell-focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders.
(JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.