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October 7th, 2006:

Sunday Telegraph: Green business ‘could be worth $1 trillion’

EXTRACT: …the campaign group added that it wants Shell to “seriously diversify into renewable energy” rather than “putting its efforts into bragging about being green”.

THE ARTICLE

By Liam Halligan (Filed: 08/10/2006)

New research suggests that global commerce could receive a ($1 trillion) £530bn boost from “green business” over the next five years as concerted international action creates large markets for technologies and products designed to tackle climate change. 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.

Sunday Telegraph: Greenwash: *Shell

EXTRACTS: When environmental campaigners speak of CSR campaigns with more “spin” than “substance”, Shell, BP and other oil giants are not far from their lips… Shell also puffs its £541m investment into solar and wind power over the past five years. Actually, that sum is worth just 1.1 per cent of the company’s total capital investment during that period. Then there is the heated topic of gas-flaring, the process by which excess gas emitted during oil exploration is burned off into the atmosphere. “The amount of natural gas from oil wells that we flare has been declining since 2001,” Shell’s annual report says. In fact, the company is expected to produce 7.9m tonnes of CO2 this year by flaring, compared with 7.3m tonnes last year. The review does not mention the alleged health effects to locals, which include child respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer. 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 Observer: It’s high time British companies got on the brand wagon

*Shell ranked at 89 out of 100 in the Interbrand Best Global Brands 2006 rankings; the lowest ranked oil company.

Will Hutton
Sunday October 8, 2006

We live in the age of the brand. Whether it’s the Conservative party’s new oak tree logo, on ample display in Bournemouth as purported evidence of a change of direction, or bidders vying to buy the branded website YouTube, the story is to get the branding right. This is now the vital precondition for business and political success.

It’s not easy. Establishing and maintaining a strong brand is elusive and expensive; for every revitalised Marks & Spencer or New Labour there is a litany of disasters. Branding has always mattered as a signal of a product’s quality, but in 2006 it counts even more. 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.

Reuters: Outspoken Putin critic shot dead in Moscow

Politkovskaya

(Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya speaks at a news conference in Moscow in this February 27, 2001, file photograph. Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Saturday at her apartment block in central Moscow, police said. REUTERS/Alexander Natruskin/File)

Oct 7, 4:57 PM (ET)
By James Kilner

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Saturday at her apartment block in central Moscow, police said. 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 Sunday Times: Red tape stifles free trade by the back door

EXTRACTS: The Russians, who are clamouring for admittance to the WTO on the grounds that theirs is a market economy eligible to sit at the table of free-trading nations, are using environmental regulations and national laws to wring concessions from international oil companies. Vladimir Putin’s government contends that Total’s licence to explore in the Arctic circle, and Royal Dutch Shell’s contract to develop natural gas in Sakhalin, on an island in Russia’s Far East, violate its environmental regulations, and that Exxon’s contract in Sakhalin doesn’t convey the rights the company believed it did. Besides, the terminal through which Exxon’s oil would pass on its way to market suddenly seems to the safety inspectors less safe than when they approved it. 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 Sunday Times: Corrib gas protesters are walking all over the supine gardai

October 08, 2006
Comment: Liam Fay 
 
According to protesters against the proposed Corrib gas terminal, the deployment of gardai at the site is a “waste of taxpayers’ money”. The more belligerent and intransigent the Bellanaboy demonstration becomes, however, the more economical the police presence appears. Call it a civics lesson for slow learners.

Throughout last week, phalanxes of gardai were required to escort 70 or so Shell personnel into and out of the site, in the teeth of intimidation by an angry mob of around 200. Among the more polite taunts flung by protesters at the workers, many of whom are locals, were “scab”, “traitor” and “may ye die roaring”. 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 Sunday Times: Shell to Sea leader receives a poor school report

October 08, 2006
Mark Tighe
 
BY day she is the headmistress of a primary school in Mayo; in her spare time she is a member a protest group harassing one of the world’s largest oil companies. But is Maura Harrington’s work suffering because of her extracurricular activities? 
 
A Department of Education inspection report into Inver National school, where Harrington is principal, calls for a new management structure and says staff meetings are lacking clear agendas, planning and record keeping. The report, written in Irish and recently posted on the department’s website, is critical compared to the anodyne assessments generally written by schools’ inspectors.
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.

Time Magazine: Royal Dutch Shell: The Diplomats of Oil: Monday, May 9, 1960

Time Magazine 1960

(See Cover)

STORY: The Diplomats of Oil

Along the steaming, mud-covered delta of Africa’s Niger River, bare-chested men labored amid crocodiles and screaming parrots this week to push shafts of steel deep into the earth. On the choppy waters of the Persian Gulf, others perched on a crablike platform and sent a snag-toothed bit boring into the ocean bed. Around the world, hundreds of men labored just as sweatily in 35 other countries — from the pampas of Argentina to the back hills of New Zealand — to probe the earth in an eager quest for the substance that makes the world’s wheels go round: oil. 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.

MarketWatch: Shell Oil Company and Richard Childress Racing Announce Primary Sponsorship

Chase Contender Kevin Harvick Takes the Wheel of Legendary No. 29 Chevy for Shell and Pennzoil Beginning in 2007 in NASCAR Nextel Cup
Last Update: 1:53 PM ET Oct 7, 2006

TALLADEGA, Ala., Oct 07, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — Shell Oil Company announced the brand’s return to NASCAR today through a multi-year primary sponsorship of Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Through the sponsorship both Shell and Pennzoil brands will be featured on the No. 29 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS to be driven by Kevin Harvick in the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series. Shell will also be the associate sponsor on other RCR cars including the No. 31 Cup car driven by Jeff Burton and the No. 07 Cup car driven by Clint Bowyer.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061007/NYSA004-a
              http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061007/NYSA004-b ) 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.

Gulf Times (Qatar): Japan loses ‘its control’ of Iranian oil gem Azadegan

EXTRACT: Long-standing US sanctions threaten action against foreign companies that invest heavily in Iran’s energy sector, but firms such as Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s ENI have run major projects there without incurring Washington’s wrath. The sanctions were extended by Congress last weekend.

THE ARTICLE

Published: Saturday, 7 October, 2006, 09:44 AM Doha Time 
 
Azadegan was Iran’s biggest oil find in 30 years when announced in 1999, with oil-in-place of 26bn barrels and recoverable resources then estimated at about 6bn barrels
TOKYO: Japan’s Inpex Holdings Inc has lost the right to lead the $2bn-plus development of Iran’s Azadegan oilfield, but will retain a token share in the Opec member’s biggest find in three decades. 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.

GrandPrix.com: Shell to up its profile in the United States

OCTOBER 7, 2006

GM Goodwrench, Dale Earnhardt’s primary sponsor between 1988 and his death in 2001, is believed to be cutting back on its sponsorship of Richard Childress Racing at the end of the current season, as the company looks more and more to controlling its spending in the face of serious economic problems.

In recent years the car – driven by Kevin Harvick after Earnhardt’s death – has been GM Goodwrench black at most races but switches to the gold of Reese’s candy in a selection of others. The word now is that next year the cars will have new primary sponsorship from Shell Oil. The Anglo-Dutch company was heavily involved with Bobby Rahal in CART some years ago but has only had one notable deal in NASCAR in the modern era, a Busch Series deal with Tony Stewart in 1998. 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 Washington Post: ‘Royal Dutch Shell engaging with human rights groups so as not to be perceived as complicit in atrocities’

Sudan

Children play in the North Darfur refugee camp of El Sallam on Wednesday Oct. 4, 2006. Some 80,000 refugees survive in El Sallam and the nearby camp of Abu Shouk, with humanitarian workers struggling to provide aid amid growing violence and security problems.(AP Photo / ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU) (Alfred De Montesquiou – AP)

THE ARTICLE

Washington Post headline: Sudan Divestment Effort Gains Momentum at State Level

By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 7, 2006; Page A12
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.

Itar-Tass: Storm warning issued for Kuril Islands, Sakhalin

07.10.2006, 09.10 
 
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, October 7 (Itar-Tass) — A powerful cyclone with violent winds is moving from Japan to the Kurile islands and Sakhalin. The storm with heavy rains will hit the Southern Kuriles late on Saturday. The wind speed will exceed 120 kilometres an hour. Waves in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific area near the Kuriles will be four to six metres high.

Sakhalin meteorologists issued a storm warning all over the territory, and rescuers repeated it for the Far Eastern fleet working near the Southern Kuriles. 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.

New York Times: New Indonesia Calamity: A Man-Made Mud Bath (*Mr Oleg Mitvol take note: this could happen in Sakhalin!)

(Sigit Pamungkas/Reuters
Houses in Sidoarjo, in Indonesia, were inundated by mud late last month, the result of a natural gas drilling project that has gone awry. )

*Introduction by a Shell Insider: This is what is known as a “well control incident”. An earthquake in Sakalin could cause the same thing to happen there (and earthquakes are frequent in Sakhalin)

THE ARTICLE

By RAYMOND BONNER and MUKTITA SUHARTONO
Published: October 6, 2006

KEDUNGBENDO, Indonesia, Oct. 5 — It started as a natural gas well. It has become geysers of mud and water, and in a country plagued by earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis another calamity in the making, though this one is largely man-made. 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.

Midland Reporter-Telegram: Shell president uses personal touch to explain prices

EXTRACT: In an accounting scandal in 2004-2005, Shell reduced its proven oil reserves, a move that continues to drag on profits. The company reserved $500 million in its second quarter to cover shareholder class action lawsuits.

THE ARTICLE

10/07/2006
Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK — If gasoline prices continue to drop, shareholders of Royal Dutch Shell PLC can take heart.

Lower prices create more demand, which will drive the price back up and bolster the profits of the big oil companies.

The president of the No. 3 oil company’ U.S. division, John Hofmeister, made that point during a stop in Little Rock as part of a 50-city tour. Hofmeister said he has selected personal appearances over an advertising campaign as a way to explain Shell’s take on the oil business to consumers. 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.

Petroleum News: coal-to-liquids study in works for Beluga coal

EXTRACT: Peterson said the relatively large size of the initial plant reflects not only the extensive track record in CTL technology of Sasol of South Africa and Shell, two companies interested in investing in the plant, but also the scope of competing projects around the world that have attracted renewed interest, thanks to high oil prices.

THE ARTICLE 

Taiwan set to join Alaska, potential investors in assessing scope and benefits of proposed 80,000 barrels-per-day Cook Inlet plant

Rose Ragsdale
For Petroleum News
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.

Vedomosti: Eni subsidiary accused of environmental violations on Sakhalin

It has now become clear why Italian energy firm Eni was so alarmed by the environmental conflict around the Sakhalin 2 energy project in Russia’s Far East. One of its subsidiaries is a project contractor, and is accused of illegal deforestation by the Russian environmental authorities. The General Prosecutor’s Office will now look into the matter.

Eni had planned to sign an agreement on cooperation in Europe and an asset swap with Russian gas giant Gazprom on October 15. However, on Wednesday its CEO, Paolo Scaroni, said the deal could be postponed due to the pressure the Russian authorities were putting on Western energy companies. 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.

Petroleum News: Canada, U.S. assert Arctic claims: not yet a Cold War but a decided chill is developing…

Both countries push ahead with plans to deploy military icebreakers to region as melting ice sets stage for pursuit of Arctic’s resources; Washington rejects Ottawa’s insistence that the Northwest Passage is an internal waterway

Gary Park
For Petroleum News
8 October 2006

It’s not yet a Cold War between Canada and the United States in the Arctic, but a decided chill is developing as both countries assert their right to sovereignty.

Both are pushing ahead with plans to build and deploy military icebreakers to the region as global warming and melting ice sets the stage for pursuit of the Arctic’s resource riches. 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.

Petroleum News: Petro-Canada opts for caution: Neil Carmata on Shell Canada’s Athabasca cost overruns…

Won’t plunge into Fort Hills until it has a solid fix on budget; once you issue a price tag ‘you can’t wear an overrun’ says Carmata; cost estimate possible in early ’07, approval maybe in ’08

Gary Park
For Petroleum News
8 October 2006

One of the key strategic thinkers behind Petro-Canada’s plans to unlock the value of its 10 billion oil sands resource knows enough about the pain of dealing with project overruns to want no part of miscalculating the estimated cost of the integrated Fort Hills project. 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: Oil News Roundup: week ending October 6, 2006

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
October 6, 2006 6:21 p.m.

Oil futures slid lower amid uncertainty over whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut output to shore up prices. The front-month November crude-oil contract fell 27 cents to settle at $59.76 a barrel. Here is Friday’s roundup of oil and energy news.

OPEC PRODUCTION DEAL: OPEC’s president aims to secure a supply-cut deal by Monday that will remove about one million barrels a day of crude from oversupplied markets and brake oil’s rapid decline. After a drop of almost $20 in oil since mid-July, and brimming fuel stockpiles around the world, six of OPEC’s 11 members, including top exporter Saudi Arabia, have already made voluntary cutbacks, said OPEC President Edmund Daukoru. 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.

RIA Novosti: Sakhalin PSA gives Russia 10% max. share – Audit Chamber

20:00 | 06/ 10/ 2006 

MOSCOW, October 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will receive no more than 10% of hydrocarbon output under the Shell-led Sakhalin II project off Russia’s Pacific coast given the way the project has been implemented in 2005 and 2006, Russia’s financial watchdog said Friday.

Sakhalin II is being run under a 1994 product-sharing agreement by a consortium led by the Anglo-Dutch oil major, but has met with strong opposition from environmental groups and authorities. The Ministry of Natural Resources withdrew its own ecological approval for the project in September, jeopardizing crucial liquefied natural gas supplies slated for 2008. 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 Guardian: £21m ransom demand for oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria

David Pallister
Saturday October 7, 2006

Intense negotiations were continuing last night to secure the release of four British oil workers who were kidnapped by a gang of armed militants in southern Nigeria.

The men were among seven seized while drinking in a bar inside an Exxon Mobil residential compound in the town of Eket in Akwa Ibom state. Two security guards were killed. A Nigerian official confirmed there had been a ransom demand, believed to be for £21m.

A Foreign Office spokesman said contact had been made with one of the seven, who reportedly said he and his colleagues were “OK”. The spokesman would not reveal which agency in Nigeria made contact with the captives. 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.

Irish Times: Corrib/Shell: Keeping up the pressure

Published: Oct 07, 2006

Despite clashes with gardaI, anti-pipeline protesters won’t give up, reports Lorna Siggins , Western Correspondent

Katie Melua would have aroused some interest if she had flown into north Co Mayo this week – and not for her distinctive singing. The 22-year-old set a new world concert record this week by performing some 303 metres below sea level on a Statoil gas rig.

Melua did undergo a medical and some training before her trip to Troll A in the North Sea. However, she was either unaware or unconcerned about the risks attached to such sea-based structures which Shell E&P Ireland has been keen to highlight over the past few weeks. Such a structure would have to be “almost as high as the Empire State building” if built for the Corrib field, Shell’s new Mayo-based deputy manager, Terry Nolan, said in Castlebar several weeks ago. Conceding that this related to height from the sea-bed at the well-head, his argument was quickly dismissed as “disingenuous” by the Shell to Sea campaign, which is seeking a shallow-water processing platform for the gas. 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.

Financial Times: Japan loses out on massive Iranian oilfield amid fears of US sanctions

By Gareth Smyth in Tehran

Published: October 7 2006 03:00 | Last updated: October 7 2006 03:00

Japan’s Inpex announced yesterday it had lost the leading role in developing Iran’s huge Azadegan oilfield, with its share of the $2bn (€1.6bn, £1.1bn) project slashed from 75 to 10 per cent.

Talks had failed to overcome fears on both sides that an agreement first signed in 2004 would fall foul of international sanctions against Tehran being touted by the US, a close ally of Tokyo, over Iran’s nuclear programme. 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.

Financial Times: Steady as she goes: 12. LINDA COOK Executive director, Shell Gas and Power

By Andrew Hill

Published: October 6 2006 10:45 | Last updated: October 6 2006 10:45

In-depth: Top 25 business women

How do women get to the top of the male-dominated corporate ladder? Differently from men, according to Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of Areva, the world’s biggest nuclear energy company. Speaking at last year’s inaugural Women’s Forum – a conference aimed at giving greater voice to women’s views on economic, social and corporate issues – she described how men “return from lunch at 3pm, read L’Equipe [the French sports newspaper], chat in the corridors and then start this contest to be last to leave, to show how important they are. Women do it the other way round: it’s a race to get home by 8 or 8.30pm because the family is waiting.” 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.

ThisDayOnline: Niger Delta: Shell Shut-in Another 9,000 Bpd

By Crusoe Osagie with agency Reports, 10.07.2006

Rising hostilities between soldiers of the Joint Military Task Force and militants in the Niger Delta has forced Shell to shut in another 9,000 barrel per day of oil production.

The closure of the Ekulama 1 flow station east of the Niger Delta was the first impact on oil output from a surge in violence in the eastern part of the Niger Delta this week, and adds to almost 500,000 bpd shut by Shell since February in the west of the region.

“We have shut in another 9,000 b/d as a result of this week’s attacks in the east. This brings to total, 27,000 barrels per day (of oil production) that is shut in at our eastern operation,” a company source told THISDAY yesterday. 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.

Kommersant: Audit Chamber Says Russia’s Profits from Sakhalin-2 Paltry

audit chamber

(Chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber Sergey Stepashin
Photo: Alexander Miridonov)

Oct. 07, 2006

Russia will get the smallest possible revenue from the Sakhalin-2 project which works on a production sharing agreement, the Russian Audit Chamber said. Experts believe that the new claims have been made to prompt the Sakhalin Energy operator to review the terms of the product sharing deal.

The Audit Chamber published a press release on Friday on auditing the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects. Sergey Stepashin’s agency reported that Sakhalin-2 is still carried out with little profit to Russia as the country still gets only 10 percent of the produce. The product sharing agreement of Sakhalin-2 says that in case the operating company does not have spare money and everything is spent on operational expenses, Russia will get only 10 percent of the produce. 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.

Kommersant: Sakhalin Region: GENERAL INFORMATION

sakhalin islands

Sakhalin Emblem

Sakhalin Region is spread over 59 islands. It was formed within its present boundaries on January 2, 1947, out of the former Sakhalin Region, Khabarovsk Territory, and territories that became Russian possessions after the victory over Japan in the Second World War. The region includes Sakhalin Island, the adjoining small islands, and the Kuril Islands. It is located on the eastern shores of the Eurasian mainland in the transition zone between the continent and the Pacific Ocean. 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.