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April 21st, 2007:

Petroleum News: Shell E&P takes national safety, environmental award

Vol. 12, No. 16  Week of April 22, 2007

On April 17, Shell Exploration & Production Co. received its third national award since the end of March when the U.S. Department of the Interior presented the oil and gas major with its annual SAFE award.

SAFE, which stands for Safety Award for Excellence, recognizes offshore operators with “outstanding safety and pollution prevention” records, Interior’s Minerals Management Service said.

Walter Cruickshank, deputy director of MMS, presented the award to Shell in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. 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 leads sale

Vol. 12, No. 16  Week of April 22, 2007
Kristen Nelson

Leasing moved farther offshore in the Shell-dominated Beaufort Sea outer continental shelf lease sale held April 18 in Anchorage. Total high bids were $42,165,195 in Minerals Management Service sale 202. All but a handful of tracts receiving bids are out beyond existing OCS leases.

Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. accounted for $39,272,708 of the $42 million high bids, 93 percent, and took 49 of 92 tracts.

This is the second MMS Beaufort Sea sale in a row dominated by Shell, which accounted for $44 million of $46 million in high bids at sale 195, held in March 2005, the company’s return to Alaska (see story in April 3, 2005, issue of Petroleum News). Shell had the 10 top bids at this year’s sale, with the highest at $14,104,239, an average of $6,122 per hectare for Flaxman Island tract 6609. All of those 10 highest bids were for Flaxman Island blocks, the easternmost area of the sale receiving bids. 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.

abs-cbnnews.com (Philippines): Unmoved by delays, Shell still downbeat on refining

SINGAPORE – Royal Dutch Shell is sticking to its downbeat view of refining margins at the end of this decade, despite a wave of project delays and cancellations that has brightened the outlook, a top executive said on Friday.

Major construction or expansion plans worldwide have been dropping at an accelerated rate this year due to the soaring cost of materials and human resources, prompting at least one investment bank to more than double its forward profit forecasts.

U.S. ConocoPhillips warned last month that a new UAE plant may be delayed or cancelled, while Kuwait may also scrap plans for a huge new refinery. 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: Energy Blog: Report: Big Oil to Benefit From Melting Arctic Ice

Wall Street Journal Image

Oil companies may have less of this stuff getting in their way. (AP/Prentice Danner)

April 20, 2007, 5:03 pm
Posted by WSJ.com Staff

The rapid melting of Arctic ice is opening up new waters to oil exploration, furthering the world’s use of fossil fuels — and contributing to more global warming and still more Arctic-ice melting, according to a new equity research report today.
 
Oil companies may have less of this stuff getting in their way. (AP/Prentice Danner)
The report, by Bernstein Research analysts Neil McMahon and Oswald Clint, says the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that one quarter of the world’s undiscovered resources of oil and natural gas lie under Arctic waters. They suggest that estimate — made in 2000 — could understate the amount of reserves in the Arctic. 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.

Daily Mail (London): ‘Hyperactive’ Oleg Mitvol

Alex Brummer column
Published: Apr 20, 2007

The timing of the assault by Aviva on the Russian savings market could have been better. Having failed to match its competitor the Pru in China, one of the fast expanding BRIC economies, Aviva fancies its chances in Russia where it has a connection dating back to 1856 and the Czars.

It is planning a massive direct sales staff of 5,000 and is aiming to grab 10pc of the Russian market. As in much of the rest of Europe, where it is market leader, Aviva is also hoping to reach customers through banking alliances. 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: Claims made by Shell on gas cold-venting an ‘insult’

Anton McNulty,
Published: Apr 21, 2007

Suggestions that Shell E&P Ireland held a series of formal consultation meetings with residents living near the Bellanaboy site regarding the decision to cold-vent the gas rather than flare it have been described as an “insult to the intelligence of the people”.

On the fifth day of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) oral hearing into the issuing of an Integrated Pollution Prevention Licence (IPPC) at the Broadhaven Bay Hotel in Belmullet, Agnes McLaverty, of Shell, said there had been a series of public exhibitions in Rossport, Belmullet, Ballina and other areas where the issue of cold-venting and flaring was raised. 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: Rossport five man wins ‘Nobel’ prize for environment

Lorna Siggins
Published: Apr 21, 2007

A north Mayo farmer who was jailed over his opposition to the Corrib gas pipeline and an Icelandic businessman who lobbied the Government to implement the new ban on driftnetting for salmon are among six winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize.

Willie Corduff, one of the “Rossport five”, and Orri Vigfusson of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund have been selected for Europe and for the islands and island nations respectively – the first time that the award has gone to Ireland, or an Irish-related campaign. 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.

AP Worldstream: Bolivian military retakes natural gas pipeline from protesters

JUAN KARITA,
Published: Apr 21, 2007

The military retook a control station on a pipeline that sends natural gas to Argentina and were slowly restoring operations after days of violent protests at gas installations in southern Bolivia, the government said late Friday.

Juan Ramon Quintana, chief of staff for President Evo Morales, told a news conference that shipments of gas to Argentina would be “normalized” Saturday.

Defense Minister Walker San Miguel said troops and police were guarding all energy instalations in southern Bolivia following disturbances that killed at least one person and wounded dozens more amid a provincial dispute over ownership of a rich gas deposit. There were no reports of violence in Friday’s retaking of the control station. 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 Independent: Tempers flare between locals and Shell

Published: Apr 21, 2007

SHELL have been accused of “insulting the intelligence” of local people in Mayo.

Locals near the Bellaghaboy site were reacting after Shell E&P Ireland (SEPIL) held a series of formal meetings regarding the decision to cold-vent the offsore gas rather than flare it.

On the fifth day of the Environmental Protection Agency’s oral hearing into the issuing of an Integrated Pollution Prevention Licence, Agnes McLaverty of SEPIL said the company had chosen cold-venting to ease residents’ concerns over the visual impact. The cold-venting of gas, usually methane, entails it being released directly into the environment, without it being burned. 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: Nigerian polls prompt fears over oil supply disruption

By Chris Flood
Published: April 21 2007 03:00 | Last updated: April 21 2007 03:00

London’s InterContinental Exchange is to launch a contract for Middle Eastern sour crude oil futures to compete with the contract that will trade on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange. The DME intends to start its contract in June, but ICE, which sponsors the Brent sweet crude contract, said it would launch on May 21, pending UK regulatory approval.

Oil prices rose yesterday as traders’ attention turned to Nigeria’s presidential elections this weekend and the possibility of disruptions to supplies from the world’s eighth largest crude exporter. 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: Growing Unrest Posing a Threat to Nigerian Oil

New York Times Nigerian Gas Flaring

(Lacking fuel for cooking, many people in the Niger Delta resort to using the heat from pipeline gas flares. A child dried cassava over burning gas.)

By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: April 21, 2007

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria — There are few safe places left for oil companies in the Niger Delta, the epicenter of this country’s petroleum industry.

Armed rebel gangs have blown up pipelines, disabled pumping stations, and kidnapped over 150 foreign oil workers in the last year. Companies now confine employees to heavily fortified compounds, allowing them to travel only by armored car or helicopter. 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: Still shopping around

Leader
Saturday April 21, 2007

Whatever their stripe, most businesses’ favourite colour is green. Big companies queue up to announce initiatives for cutting their carbon footprint. Timberlands, the rapper’s boots of choice, are sold with “nutrition labels” relating the amount of energy used in their manufacture and how much of it is renewable. British Gas has this week launched a green-energy unit to sell low-carbon products. Even Shell has a new advert in which an oil executive shows his sulky son how the employer is cleaning up its act. What is evidently intended as a bit of green mollification is unlikely to have that effect: not only does the ad paint the environmentally aware as sullen teenagers; it appears on the oil giant’s website next to details of a partnership with Ferrari. 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.