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April 7th, 2007:

Sunday Telegraph: Shell’s Sakhalin boss faces reshuffle axe

By Sylvia Pfeifer, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:00am BST 08/04/2007

Royal Dutch Shell could lose management control of Sakhalin Energy, the Russian company which runs the giant Sakhalin project in eastern Siberia.

The loss would be a further blow to the Anglo-Dutch oil group and comes after Shell was forced to cede majority ownership of the company to Gazprom, the state-owned gas monopoly.

Until now, a Shell appointee – currently Ian Craig – has led the Sakhalin Energy consortium. Until last year it was made up of Shell and its Japanese partners, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, but under an initial agreement signed last December, Shell sold half its share plus half the stakes owned by the Japanese to Gazprom. It is understood that as part of the agreement, both Gazprom and Shell will now appoint executive directors. While there is expected to be a balance in the appointments – there are six directors – a Gazprom appointee could end up running the company. A final agreement is expected to be signed by the end of this year. 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.

Montreal Gazette: After 96 years, Shell returns to parent

Founded in Montreal in 1911, Shell Canada grew from a single station to become one of the country’s largest will be handed over to Royal Dutch Shell

LISA SCHMIDT, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, April 07, 2007

When Shell Canada Ltd. leaves the public realm this year, it will mark the end of a long history in Canada.

With all but one per cent of Shell’s shares now in the hands of its Anglo-Dutch parent Royal Dutch Shell, transition plans already are under way.

This week, four members of Shell Canada’s board resigned, reducing its number to eight. 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.

Edmonton Journal: Royal Dutch Shell cuts emissions, spillage due to facility disruptions

Saturday 7 April 2007

Work fatalities rise from company’s presence in Nigeria

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, had the lowest level of oil spills and natural gas flaring in at least a decade last year, while worker fatalities rose, company data showed.

Shell, based in The Hague, spilled 5,700 tons of oil and oil products last year. That’s down from 9,000 tons in 2005, which included 3,900 tons of spills caused by hurricane damage.

The flaring, or venting, of natural gas into the atmosphere from Shell’s global operations, fell to 5.7 million tons from 8 million tons, “mainly as a result of production being shut-in in Nigeria,” Shell said in an annual declaration, which also reported on executive pay and oil and gas reserves. 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.

BBC News: Two new abductions in Niger Delta

Most foreigners are simply held for ransom by militants

Two Turkish oil workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria’s volatile Niger Delta area, police say.

The two men, said to work as engineers for the Italian oil company Agip, were seized on Friday evening while driving through the city of Port Harcourt.

Kidnappings of foreign oil workers are common in the oil-rich but economically poor Niger Delta region.

The pair are thought to be the only foreigners now held captive, after four others were freed this week. 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.

SeeItReal.com: Shell Loses Fifty to a Hundred Billion or so

Shell said that “there were no legal grounds for Russia’s resources ministry to cancel environmental approval for Sakhalin 2.”

There would not have been any legal grounds had Shell realized the power of the internet in the hands of someone Shell antiagonized. Had the “legal grounds” not been leaked, Shell would not have had to capitulate.

Dow Jones announced that Shell settled the Sakhalin-2 project environmental problem with Russia, by giving up control of the project and half of Shell’s entire future revenue stream for less than half of Shell’s development costs. “The Sakhalin Energy consortium, led by Shell, agreed to sell a 50% stake plus one share in Sakhalin-2, the world’s largest integrated oil and gas project, to Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom for $7.45 billion” – Dow Jones. That “one share” is Shell’s loss of financial control. Russia will now pay Shell instead of Shell paying Russia on a project Shell engineered, built and controlled until today.   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: Shell drops LNG plans in Louisiana

Offshore facility in Gulf faced opposition over environmental issues, but import capacity seems adequate for available supplies

Week of April 08, 2007: Vol. 12, No. 14
By Allen Baker

Royal Dutch Shell has dropped plans for a liquefied natural gas import facility 38 miles south of Louisiana’s Cameron Parish, citing the substantial capacity already available for importing liquefied natural gas into the U.S. market, particularly along the Gulf Coast.

The Shell decision came on the heels of a March 13 cancellation by Chevron Corp. of a proposed West Coast import terminal in Mexico, near the California border. 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: Occidental’s $416.3 Million CEO: Pay Package Puts Irani in Lofty Air

By RUSSELL GOLD
April 7, 2007; Page B3

Talk about your six-figure paychecks — and then some.

Ray R. Irani, longtime chairman and chief executive of Occidental Petroleum Corp., received compensation last year valued at $416.3 million, making it one of the richest corporate paydays ever.

Nearly two-thirds of the money came from exercising stock options, reflecting huge gains that Occidental’s share price has made in an era of rising oil prices.

Only a handful of CEOs have ever made more money in a year. In 2001, Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison gained $706 million from exercising stock options. Walt Disney Co.’s former CEO Michael Eisner scored $570 million 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.

BBC Monitoring Service: Oil giants interested in Iran’s tenders despite sanctions – agency

Text of report in English by Iranian Mehr news agency in English

Tehran, 06 April: International oil companies are buying the tender documents of Iran’s 17 oil blocks amid new sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, an Iranian oil official said here on Friday.

On March 24, the UN Security Council voted to impose new sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment. The sanctions target freezing assets of Iranian state-owned Bank Sepah and the restriction of international movements of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards elites. 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: Old Mutual looks towards the future

EXTRACT: BP, up 1.2 per cent to 554½p, drew support from a research note published by ABN Amro that claimed a merger with rival Royal Dutch Shell, 1 per cent stronger at £16.91, could generate synergies of $10.3bn (£5.2bn) a year before tax.

By Neil Hume and Robert Orr
Published: April 7 2007 03:00 | Last updated: April 7 2007 03:00

Old Mutual was among the biggest risers as the FTSE 100 closed at its highest level in almost six weeks.

Shares in the UK and South African insurer rose 2.4 per cent to 170.5p on Thursday after Citigroup upgraded to “buy”, citing valuation. read more

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

The Times: Turks shun gas project in genocide row

April 6, 2007
Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

Turkey has pulled out of talks with Gaz de France over a €4.5 billion (£3 billion) gas pipeline project in protest over a French law that prohibits denial of the massacre of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire.

The Nabucco project, a 3,300km pipe, which would bring central Asian gas to Europe, is seeking support from leading gas utilities, but the project is becoming embroiled in political difficulties.

Botas, the Turkish state pipeline company, is reported to oppose the participation of Gaz de France because of the French Government’s stance on the Armenian issue. 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 Zealand Herald: Plenty of corporate lemons in the orange nation

Saturday April 07, 2007
By Matthew Lynn

ABN Amro Holdings is locked in negotiations with Barclays about creating one of the largest financial-services companies in the world. They may seal a deal.

Or another bank may yet decide to gatecrash the party.

Still, one winner is already clear: the Dutch economy.

That may seem paradoxical. The political and industrial establishment of the Netherlands would be horrified at the prospect of hostile raiders and hedge funds destroying the cosy cartel of companies that form the backbone of the economy. 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: Shell may resume Niger Delta oil output in months

Fri Apr 6, 2007 7:09 PM BST

AMSTERDAM, April 6 (Reuters) – Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc may resume oil production in the Niger Delta in several months time, Shell said on Friday.

“(Shell’s chief executive) Jeroen van der Veer has said that we may resume output in the Niger Delta in months,” a Shell spokesman said, confirming statements Van der Veer made on Thursday at a Paris oil conference as reported by a Dutch newspaper.

About 477,000 barrels per day could be taken back into production by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in which Shell holds 30 percent, the spokesman said. Production was shut down after attacks in February last year. 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.