News and information on Shell PLC
Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:04 PM BST
CALGARY, Alberta, April 19 (Reuters) – Shell Canada Ltd.’s
Royal Dutch Shell, one of the biggest oil majors, secured the minority shareholding of Shell Canada last month with a C$8.7 billion ($7.7 billion) bid to gain full control. Shell Canada is known for its vast Alberta oil sands reserves and natural gas business.
The Shell to Sea campaign received very good news from the High Court on Wednesday.
• The stance of the Rossport Five and Brid McGarry has been legally vindicated.
• The original pipeline route through Rossport, for which Shell had obtained Compulsory Acquisition Orders, is now defunct.
• Shell will have to pay the €1 million costs, including most of those of the Rossport landowners.
• The campaign against the pipeline and refinery scheme continues.
Shell was applying to drop the permanent injunction against several local landowners. They had dropped the interlocutory (temporary) injunction in September 2005 in order to get the five men out of prison. Since the middle of 2006 they have been trying to drop the permanent injunction.
What do you do when an aggressive goliath-like state company takes a keen interest in one of your largest foreign investments in the world, and uses the thin legality of the environmental agency to put you under the gun? As they muscle you up against the wall to whisper a clear threat: “give up majority control of this project and make it look legal, or lose everything in what would be seen as large scale investment-jacking,” what would be your response?
For Royal Dutch Shell, the difficult answer was the former, and today they are going about putting on the good face as they pass over the lunch money to the big bully Gazprom – a $7.5 billion majority stake of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project. Of course there is an argument that Shell is just looking out for the short term interests of its shareholders, and hoping to put a tourniquet on this financial wound, but in the long term, these gestures of surrender to Russia playing quasi-legal hardball only embolden these hostile tactics against foreign investors. Need proof? Look no further than the environmental watchdog (or attack dog, if you prefer) Oleg Mitvol, who is already busy putting the squeeze on Imperial Energy’s license in Siberia, causing a 17% dip in the share value.
Oleg Mitvol called upon the economic security department of the Federal Security Service to review certain foreign companies that have allegedly exaggerated their reserves and sold shares on foreign exchanges between 2003 and 2007. (royaldutchshellplc.com)
Front page / Russia: 04/19/2007 17:00 Source: AP ©
Some of the foreign oil, mining and gas companies have exaggerated their reserves to boost their share price, the deputy head of Russia’s environmental watchdog agency said Thursday.
Oleg Mitvol called upon the economic security department of the Federal Security Service – the KGB’s main successor _ to review certain foreign companies that have allegedly exaggerated their reserves and sold shares on foreign exchanges between 2003 and 2007.
*Alfred Donovan, a patent lawyer whose blog covers Royal Dutch Shell, takes a look at the largest patent filing in history. Shell thinks they have a sound method for getting top quality oil out of oil shale rock, which would remain profitable as long as oil stayed above $30/barrel. If it works, it would also be better for the environment than conventional drilling.
If they’re right, the US would add a truly vast amount of oil to its reserves. Indeed, the USA accounts for 62% of the world oil shale resources, and USA, Russia and Brazil together account for 86% in terms of shale oil content. Other countries with significant oil shale include, in order, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Morocco, Italy, Jordan and Canada (we’re focused on the tar sands, so haven’t fully explored), among others. Then there’s Israel.
04.19.07, 7:48 AM ET
COPENHAGEN (Thomson Financial) – AP Moller Maersk said oil production at its partly owned Dansk Undergrunds Consortium’s 14 oil fields in the North Sea totalled 281,300 barrels per day during March 2007, down 8 pct from a year earlier.
However, production increased 5 pct from February 2007, the group added.
The production of gas reached 426 mln cubic metres in March, down from 878 mln cubic metres a year earlier and 777 mln cubic metres in February, said AP Moller Maersk.
Created: 19.04.2007 10:45 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:45 MSK
On Wednesday, April 18, Russia’s state-run gas monopoly Gazprom has taken formal control of Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in the Far East. As MosNews reported, the gas giant bought a majority stake in the project from Royal Dutch/Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi in December 2006 for $7.45 billion. The partners agreed to part with half of their stakes after months of pressure from the Russian environmental oversight agency, which accused the project’s operator of gross environmental violations.
By Jim Kennett
April 19 (Bloomberg) — As head of a U.S. oil and gas company with operations in more than 40 countries, ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva travels the world, spending almost half the year outside of headquarters in Houston.
Those travels, and growing scientific certainty that burning fossil fuels is raising the Earth’s temperature, convinced Mulva that the U.S. was falling behind in combating climate change. So he became the first U.S. oil industry leader to back legislation to fight global warming, enrolling ConocoPhillips in an industry coalition that seeks a federal cap on greenhouse gas emissions.
By Julianna Goldman and Kristin Jensen
April 19 (Bloomberg) — “Double-dipping” — giving donations to two political candidates in the same race — isn’t uncommon, nor are contributions from chief executive officers.
What’s less common is when the double-dippers are top executives giving to both parties. In the first three months of this year, at least 35 chairmen or chief executive officers, including Verizon Communications Inc. CEO Ivan Seidenberg and Brady Dougan, who becomes head of Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group next month, have contributed to both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, according to Federal Election Commission figures.
By Matthew Craze and Dan Helft
April 18 (Bloomberg) — Bolivia resumed natural gas transmissions to Argentina after soldiers suppressing a riot near a pipeline partly owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc killed a protester, the pipeline’s operating company said.
Supply was disrupted yesterday when demonstrators stormed control stations at a compression plant that processes 90 percent of the gas Bolivia ships Argentina about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the border, the Hydrocarbons Chamber said. Operations have returned to normal, said Peresita Arandia, a spokeswoman for pipeline company Transredes SA.
By Angela Macdonald-Smith
April 19 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer, said rising costs may lead it to sell assets and scrap exploration ventures in riskier countries.
High levels of exploration and production are driving up costs, particularly in Western Australia, Chairman Charles Goode said today in an address to be delivered at the Perth-based company’s annual shareholder meeting in the Western Australian state capital. Woodside’s two largest proposed investments are the Pluto and Browse liquefied natural gas projects in Australia.
By Grant Smith
April 18 (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., Repsol YPF SA and Centrica Plc were among companies attending a Nigerian oil ministry presentation today on the auction of exploration rights in Africa’s biggest producer.
Nigeria plans to complete the auction, delayed from last year, of 41 on- and off-shore blocks next month. Repsol and Centrica, along with Cnooc Ltd., China National Petroleum Corp. and Korea National Oil Corp., are among 10 companies being offered preferential bidding rights on 17 of the blocks.
Joe Guy Collier, Detroit Free Press – Michigan
Published: Apr 18, 2007
A strong movement is forming to help wean U.S. consumers off gasoline, but key challenges must be overcome for alternatives to work, a panel of experts said Wednesday at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in downtown Detroit.
Powerful forces are lining up to drive change, said Margo Oge, director of the office of transportation and air quality for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Congress has made addressing climate change a top priority. President George W. Bush has set goals to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil.
Published: Apr 19, 2007
NIGERIAN crude exports are likely to rise rapidly from the end of May as Royal Dutch Shell is expected to restart operations at the Forcados terminal in the Niger Delta, writes Martyn Wingrove.
Energy Minister Edmund Daukoru believes the terminal and associated oil fields could be reopened by the end of May to increase his country’s crude exports.
The Forcados oil fields were able to produce 380,000 barrels per day before they were damaged by militant attacks early last year.
By Rebecca Bream,Utilities Correspondent
Published: April 18 2007 03:00 | Last updated: April 18 2007 03:00
Richard Budge, the mining entrepreneur once known as King Coal, has joined the race to build the UK’s first full-scale “clean coal” power station, following a technology deal with Shell, the oil and gas group.
Mr Budge is in the process of reopening the historic Hatfield colliery near Doncaster in south Yorkshire, and is due to have mining equipment installed at the coalface by September.
Terry Macalister
Thursday April 19, 2007
Shell and its partners put a brave face on a final deal signed yesterday to hand over a 50% stake in Sakhalin-2 – the world’s largest oil and gas export project – to Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom. They said the “uncertainty is over” and the deal should offer “growth opportunities”.
The $7.5bn (£3.7bn) sale coincided with an agreement that alleged environmental violations raised by the Kremlin could be sorted out at no extra cost and with no delay to the wider project in a move that will be seen by critics as evidence the charges were trumped up to put pressure on Shell to sell its stake.
• Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, and Nuon, the second-largest Dutch utility, said production from a new windfarm in the North Sea off the Dutch coast exceeded projections because of high winds.
• Shell WindEnergy will open an office in Oslo in June and look into other projects besides a wind farm it plans to build in western Norway.
• John Wood, an oil-field services and engineering company, was hired by Shell to provide maintenance, design and construction services at its onshore plants and loading terminals in Scotland, for an undisclosed amount of money.
April 19, 2007
Steve Hawkes
Shares in one of the year’s best-performing small stocks plunged yesterday when a Russian regulator attacked Imperial Energy, the British oil explorer.
Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, the Russian environmental protection agency, threatened to revoke Imperial’s licence in West Siberia and questioned a huge reserve upgrade, which last month revealed that the group was sitting on three billion barrels of oil.
“The company is not interested in geological exploration, and drilling volumes are ridiculously small,” Mr Mitvol said.
April19, 2007 It’s Ferrari’s 60th birthday this year, and we’re pleased to report the company to be in extraordinarily good health. One of the most recognised brands on the planet, Ferrari’s name is synonymous with automotive performance, technological innovation, elegant form, and excellence in seemingly everything. On the racetrack, Ferrari has participated in every event in Formula one history, having won 23% of these races, with more race wins, fastest laps, pole positions and championships than any other marque. Formula One is the world’s most expensive sport by a fair margin – fielding a vaguely competitive car costs half a billion dollars a year, and several teams have spent a billion dollars in a year and still been embarrassed by the speed of Ferrari. Formula One is also the world’s most watched sporting event and the resultant brand recognition is enormous. Ferrari does not advertise but its marketing department is fittingly innovative in showcasing and developing the brand in many ways with the recent examples including a Ferrari theme park for grown ups in Abu Dhabi, the worldwide Tour of Ferrari, and dressing up a series of the world’s showcase buildings, including the world’s tallest building, Taipei’s 508 metre 101 Tower. The anniversary celebrations have also spawned one of the world’s most outstanding adverts, not from Ferrari, but from its long-standing Formula One fuel partner Shell. Costing US$3.9 million, the two minute longform commercial involves a cavalcade of Ferrari’s most famous race cars driving flat-out through the streets Rome, Monaco, Rio, New York and Hong Kong and is yet another example of Antione Bardou-Jacquet’s astonishing talent. He was previously best known for the Honda “Cog” commercial. The commercial can be seen here – warn the neighbours, then turn up the speakers very loud for a wonderful experience.
18th April 2007
By Clare Watson
The UK unit of The Netherlands-based oil giant Shell has signed a license agreement with Powerfuel that entitles the company to use Shell’s proprietary gasification technology in its proposed 900MW integrated gasification combined cycle coal-fired power station in Hatfield, South Yorkshire.
According to Shell UK, the purpose of this approach is to enable carbon capture and storage to take place at the lowest cost using current technology. The partnership could see Powerfuel become the first commercial-scale coal-fired power generator with carbon capture in the world.
US firm Grant & Eisenhofer (G&E) landed an advisory role on the first-ever pan-European class settlement of securities fraud claims.
G&E, representing a European investment group of more than 50 investors, including some from the UK, agreed to resolve claims against Royal Dutch Shell over the company allegedly having reported an ‘overstatement’ of its oil and gas reserves.
The settlement is still awaiting approval from the Dutch courts, but when finalised it is expected that the shareholders will receive $450m (£227.55m).
Author: [email protected]
Published: 19/04/2007 02:10
US-style class action disputes took another step towards entering Europe’s legal market last week after a groundbreaking shareholder action settlement between Shell and some of its investors.
The $450m (£229m) settlement, one of the first of its kind in Europe, was between energy giant Royal Dutch Shell and a spread of European investors. Both sides agreed the deal after the European investors opted out of a wider class action by shareholders in the US.
Author: [email protected]
Published: 19/04/2007 02:19
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has overhauled its top-tier legal panel, awarding coveted places to 11 firms for international work.
Slaughter and May remains the FTSE 100 company’s principal adviser for corporate mandates across the globe and is joined by UK rivals Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters.
Although other firms were invited to tender in the review, which was finalised last month, the company opted to remain with largely the same list of advisers that it appointed to its panel in its last review in 2004.
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.website publishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA – HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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.
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
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. 
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 website etc. 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.
