November 9th, 2006:

09 November 2006

From a Shell Insider

John

I hate to admit it, but I almost wonder if Richard Wiseman is actually part of the 95% of Shell who are competent, honest and ethical….unlike the other 5% who dominate the senior management positions…
 
Or is he perhaps mellowing with the prospect of early retirement and a package when Shell is merged with BP?

09.11.2006, 22.01
 
MOSCOW, November 9 (Itar-Tass) – Sakhalin Energy company, the operator of Sakhalin-2 offshore oil and gas project has filed a plan of nature conservation measures with the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Igor Ignatyev, the company’s vice-president for corporate issues said.

“The plan was compiled with account of results of a recent trip to Sakhalin by Natural Resource Minister Yuri Trutnev,” Ignatyev said.

He added that the company managed to meet the deadline that Trutnev had set for presenting a plan aimed at eliminating the shortcomings of environmental legislation. read more

Shell Oil isn’t just about oil anymore. The multinational company has invested $1 billion in wind over the last decade, owns companies working on solar and hydrogen technologies and will soon announce the acquisition of an entity that uses municipal waste to produce biofuel.  

(PressZoom) – “With these, we could go a very long way toward meeting energy security requirements,” according to John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company. But conservation has to take hold “in our hearts, minds and behavior of who we are as a people. We have to teach our young people that energy is a precious commodity. We’re doing a disservice to young people, because instead of teaching about energy, we’re allowing ignorance to reign.” read more

TNK-BP contributes considerably to BP’s output

Russia has launched a criminal probe into alleged breaches of licences at Rospan – a unit of TNK-BP, the oil and gas firm 50%-owned by BP.

It follows a move to revoke two of Rospan’s gas licences in Siberia due to alleged environmental violations.

Some analysts have said Russia wants to reduce the influence of outside investors to increase the Kremlin’s control over the energy sector.

Projects led by other giants including Shell and Exxon Mobil also face probes. read more

Project to add output important for U.S. firm
Bloomberg: Thursday, November 09, 2006

Devon Energy Corp., the biggest independent oil and natural-gas producer in the U.S, said costs to double output at an Alberta oilsands project may be about a third higher than the initial stage.

Adding daily output of 35,000 barrels a day by 2011 at its Jackfish project may cost $600 million Cdn to $750 million, the Oklahoma City-based company said in a filing with Alberta regulators.

The first phase cost about $550 million, said Chris Seasons, president of Devon’s Canadian unit. read more

Richard Wiseman is Shell General Counsel (Mergers & Acquisitions). Formally a Shell director, Mr Wiseman to his credit, has acquired a global reputation (with our help), as a purveyor of candid admissions on behalf of Shell.

EMAIL FROM JOHN DONOVAN TO RICHARD WISEMAN

Wednesday 8 November 2006 

Dear Mr Wiseman

I understand that the letter printed below originated from a very senior source within Royal Dutch Shell. I have it on reliable authority that it is an authentic letter from Sir Henry Deterding, a founder of Royal Dutch Petroleum. It is evident from the content that he was somewhat less than fond of lawyers. Please let me know if you take issue with the authenticity of this notable letter or any of the wise conclusions reached by Sir Henry. I have taken the liberty of correcting two typing errors. By a sheer fluke, Sir Henry had great success in the same specialist field as you now operate in: mergers and acquisitions.  It appears that like you (with your admitted undercover agent connections) he also flirted with danger – see Wikipedia extract at foot of email.  So it appears that you have a lot in common. A knighthood must be in the pipeline.   read more

Published: Nov 09, 2006

FIRST LETTER

Madam, – The dismissal by Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey of Shell to Sea’s initiative as reported by Lorna Siggins (Nov 7th) is most disturbing. This follows his self-serving declaration that the Erris situation is as intractable as that in the North.

Let us be quite clear. Shell’s “modus operandi” is firmly established internationally: it will only operate to the minimum standards required by the client government.

It is not Shell but Mr Dempsey’s Government which dictates the play. It forms one side of this dispute. read more

November 9, 2006; Page D5

PARIS — French oil company Total SA Wednesday reported a 34% drop in third-quarter net profit due to financial effects.

Net profit fell to €2.42 billion ($3.09 billion) from €3.65 billion a year earlier. Stripping out financial effects stemming from the takeover of drug maker Aventis by Sanofi-Synthelabo — in which Total held a significant stake — as well as other items, profit would have dropped slightly to €3.11 billion from €3.13 billion, the company said, as high oil prices failed to offset a weaker dollar and disruptions in Nigeria. The adjusted profit expressed in dollars would have risen 4% to $3.96 billion, Total said. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE

Crude-oil futures rebounded by nearly $1 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, settling at nearly $60, as traders assessed declines in U.S. gasoline and diesel-fuel inventories and the possibility of further OPEC production cuts. Here’s Wednesday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
ELECTION’S ENERGY IMPACT: Democrats, who last night took the House of Representatives and may be poised to take the Senate, are likely to push for greater use of alternative fuels, and depending on how legislation is structured, that could help or hurt U.S. auto makers. There may also be some movement on issues that have been stymied or ignored by Republicans, notably measures to curb climate change. However, both industry and environmental groups caution that margins in Congress remain so tight that the chances to make sweeping changes before the next presidential election are slim. read more

EXTRACT: BP is not the only British firm facing political turbulence in Russia; Shell’s involvement in the offshore Sakhalin-2 gas project is attracting its fair share of political interference too. Prosecutors have accused the Shell-led consortium of numerous environmental violations and have raised the spectre of significant financial damages as well as the possible withdrawal of key licences. There too it has been suggested that politics are at work; Gazprom is negotiating to take a 25 per cent stake in Sakhalin-2 from a reluctant Shell. read more

(István Kapitány, Vice President of Shell’s retail business in central, southern and eastern Europe)

November 9, 2006 – Volume XIV, Issue 45 

István Kapitány, the former chairman and chief executive of Shell Hungary, has been appointed Vice President of Shell’s retail business in central, southern and eastern Europe.

“As far as we know, no Hungarian manager has ever been appointed to a similarly high position at an international energy company,” said Eva Fenichel, CEE issues manager at Shell Hungary Zrt. read more

By Kathleen Welch
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
 
LAST month, the nation’s leaders were still debating whether they could afford to tackle global warming. Today, they should be asking whether they can afford not to.

A groundbreaking new study by Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist for the World Bank, found that uncontrolled climate change could spark a worldwide recession, consuming up to 20 percent of global economic output over the coming decades. But instead of forecasting economic doom and gloom, Stern described his conclusions as “essentially optimistic.” read more

NETHERLANDS: November 9, 2006

AMSTERDAM – The Dutch government will publish new legislation by next week, introducing compulsory blending of biofuels with diesel and petrol from the start of next year, the environment ministry said on Wednesday. 

The rules, first announced late last year, will from Jan. 1 require blending of petrol and diesel at oil refineries with a 2-percent content of biodiesel or ethanol.

The blending requirement will be raised to 5.75 percent in 2010 to meet European Union targets to increase the share of renewable energy in a bid to cut pollution from fossil fuels and reduce dependence on crude oil imports. read more

Thursday, November 09, 2006  

2006/11/9
By Winnie Zhu SHANGHAI, Bloomberg

China will complete a highway across the world’s biggest sandy desert, near the ancient Silk Road, six months before schedule to tap oil fields in the west of the country and reduce reliance on imports.

The road across the Taklamakan desert, near China’s nuclear bomb test site in Xinjiang, will open in June after 22 months of construction, said Li Lixin, head of the highway project office. The journey for rigs and oil workers from Aksu city in the north to the Tarim Basin in the south, where a third of China’s oil reserves are, will be halved. read more

HOUSTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. Congress should open new areas to offshore drilling before new lawmakers take their seats next year, Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSB.LN) U.S. unit president John Hofmeister said Wednesday.

“We do hope that the current Congress does pass the OCS bill before the end of the current term,” Hofmeister told Dow Jones Newswires, referring to legislation that would give oil companies access to some areas of the Outer Continental Shelf that are currently off-limits to drilling. read more

John Hofmeister: “Playing both sides”

By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Energy companies had thrown in their lot — lock, stock and oil barrel — with the Republicans.

Now they face a Democratically controlled House, and perhaps Senate, whose leaders have vowed to take aim at Big Oil within the first 100 hours of a new Congress.

“The oil industry should be worried,” noted Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog group. “The Democrats have already signaled that they’re not going to be nearly as friendly to the industry as the Republicans have been.” read more

EXTRACT: “…two union protesters posing as luncheon guests disrupted a speech by Shell Oil Co.’s president. The protesters, both with the Service Employees International Union, jumped up during John Hofmeister’s speech and lectured him on the low wages janitors are paid to clean Shell’s office buildings.”

THE ARTICLE

Headline: Striking janitors rally at Houston police headquarters
By L.M. SIXEL and ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Hundreds of members of “Justice for Janitors” rallied in front of Houston police headquarters tonight. read more