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August 6th, 2007:

capitalnews9.com: Shell Oil president visits Albany

Updated: 8/6/2007 2:53:44 PM
By: Ryan Peterson
   
ALBANY, N.Y. — Shell Oil Company President Jeff Hofmeister said, “One thing I’ve learned is how unpopular the oil industry is, and we’re very sorry about that.”

Just as the latest AAA survey shows that the national average for a gallon of regular gas has dropped 9 cents in the past month, the president of Shell Oil Company is talking about all things energy in Albany.

Hofmeister said, “People are very nervous about running out of energy. The whole supply/demand issue can be dealt with if we move public policy towards the area of more production of oil and gas.”   
  
The stop is part of a 50-city tour to speak with and listen to business and community leaders about the energy industry. Hofmeister said there is a “razor’s edge divide” between the supply and demand and that’s why prices keep going up. 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: Oil service cos. see profit in project management

Mon Aug 6, 2007 2:08PM EDT
By Anna Driver and Michael Erman

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oilfield service firms see growing profit in managing entire projects, as state-owned oil companies tighten their grip on resources and seek to cut out big oil companies, the historic middlemen.

A three-year rally in oil prices has left resource-rich countries such as Russia and Venezuela more intent on taking ownership of their oil and natural gas reserves, shrinking the pool for companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research). 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.

paguntaka.org: 10 billion Oil investment in Iran

The international oil companies have made dlrs 10 billion in investment in Iranian oil and gas sectors in the past several years, member of Majlis Presiding Board Ahmad Nejabat said on Monday.

“Despite the US pressure, European oil companies have been involved in developing Iranian oil industry.” He said that Total of France, Royal Dutch/Shell and other international oil companies have made large investment in developing the twelfth and 13th stages of South Pars gas field.

He said that it is unlikely for the European states to bow to the US pressure for tougher sanctions on Iran, because they will not allow their national interests to be damaged by the US greed. 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 Straits Times (Malaysia): Working women, balancing acts

Chai Mei Ling; Wong Ying Sim; Aniza Zainudin,
Published: Aug 05, 2007

EVEN as working mothers worldwide mull over the decision of whether to hang up their powersuits and don the apron, they are asked to consider a different perspective. CHAI MEI LING, WONG YING SIM and ANIZA ZAINUDIN at the Women’s Summit, find out more about the options and challenges women face when juggling the work-life balance.

About one-tenth of the Malaysian population last year scrubbed, cooked and cleaned their way to billions of ringgit. 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.

Lloyds List: Gas Market Report

Published: Aug 06, 2007

NORTH WEST EUROPE: ANSI for August was set at $602 for propane and $594 for butane.

The price of the large propane cargoes picked up over the last week with a couple of trades concluded in the mid $620s but was seen as being selective not speculative buying. Since then buying interest has been subdued but is still seen as being there for August cargoes especially anything within the first 20 days. However, most people feel that unless the buyers for storage start to buy then prices will start to slide with a belief that September will be a more abundant month as productions start to get back to normal after the summer maintenance. A petchem company launched a tender for end August/early September arrival which was awarded to Sonatrach so we will see at least one import to the area. 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.

Investors Chronicle: Oil be damned

Created: 2 August 2007
Written by: Paul Mumford

Just occasionally the markets feel so cyclical you almost want to accuse them of unoriginality. Rewind a year and we were riding out another summer of volatility (albeit the drivers were quite different). Pundits were predicting that oil prices could hit $100/barrel. Now, a recent report from Goldman Sachs suggests the slightly more modest figure of $95 by the end of the year.

Yet second time around, the story is more interesting, as supply and demand data indicates that oil & gas is much more remarkable than the commodities ‘bubble’ so derided by the market’s volatility 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.

Forbes / Associated Press: Putin: More Oil Transparency Needed

Associated Press 08.06.07, 11:21 AM ET
 
MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin on Monday called for more clear and transparent rules for foreigners investing in Russia’s petroleum industry.

“We are consistently directing our efforts at establishing transparent terms for foreign investors,” Putin told a Cabinet meeting.

“I should point out that Russia has one of the most liberal regimes of foreign investment in the oil and gas sector,” Putin said in televised comments. 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.

In High Praise of Mr Michiel Brandjes, Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

By Alfred Donovan

06 August 2007

Printed below is some self-explanatory correspondence with Mr Michiel Brandjes, Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.  Mr Brandjes has acted swiftly in responding to the question I put to him on Friday and has supplied a straight forward unequivocal answer.  What more could anyone ask.  We make a lot of negative comments about Shell so it is pleasant change to be able to praise a senior Shell official. Thank you Mr Brandjes.

The Correspondence 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: Putin camp looks to return in 2012

By Neil Buckley in Moscow

A senior ally of Vladimir Putin has said his party would be ready to nominate Mr Putin for the Russian presidency in 2012, fuelling speculation that the Russian leader could return four years after an interim candidate is elected next year.

Sergei Mironov, speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, added he was sure that after next March’s presidential ballot Russia would change its constitution for the following elections to lengthen the presidential term from four to five or even seven years. That could potentially see Mr Putin return in 2012 and remain president until 2019 or beyond. 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: Lex Column: Arctic oil

Published: August 6 2007 14:04 | Last updated: August 6 2007 14:04

At the height of the Cold War, the US stuck a flag on the Moon. In the midst of a new East-West standoff, Russia has gone in the opposite direction: planting its tricolour in the sea-bed beneath the North Pole.

That Russia has adopted a tactic resonant of imperial land grabs might raise a wry smile were the implications not so serious. In a dreadful circularity, global warming, helped along by the burning of fossil fuels, is causing the Arctic’s ice sheet to recede – making any oil and gas there easier to access. The potential prize is huge: Bernstein Research says a quarter of the world’s undiscovered reserves may lie beneath the region. 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.

Globe & Mail: Slew of deals shows oil sands fever not breaking

In spite of increasing construction costs, $38-billion worth of agreements and development plans announced last week

JUDY MONCHUK
Canadian Press; Reuters
August 6, 2007

CALGARY — The bout of oil sands fever sweeping through northern Alberta shows no sign of slowing down.

An eye-popping $38-billion in deals and development plans announced last week show skyrocketing construction costs haven’t dampened interest, only that those intrigued have a blueprint for mining and refining the buried energy treasure. 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 Edmonton Journal: Oilsands work just getting started

Companies have global-level growth plans for Alberta’s rich-making resource

Monday, August 6, 2007   
Gordon Jaremko

Edmonton / A year after former Shell Canada president Clive Mather gave out a hint, the scale of development on Alberta’s horizon is coming into sharper focus.

“What we’re saying is this is only the beginning,” Mather said as he escorted U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on an oilsands tour north of Fort McMurray.

“There’s an awful lot more to come,” Mather said. Syncrude Canada chief executive Charles Ruigrok echoed his Shell peer, saying the province’s 141,000-square-kilometre bitumen belt is catching and holding the attention of global industry and finance. 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.

Rossport Update from the activists supporting the local Shell to Sea campaign

06 August 2007

After over eighteen months of providing a base for activists supporting the local Shell to Sea campaign, the Rossport Solidarity Camp was served notice to quit by Mayo County Council two weeks ago. For the past year and a half the council has accepted the camp’s existence without complaint.  It seems no coincidence that the council’s moves to evict the camp come at a time when Shell has been extensively surveying the estuary that runs alongside the camp in preparation for pipeline development. It is likely that pressure has been applied on the council to evict now to minimize the risk of disruption to the laying of the pipeline. 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.

UpstreamOnline: Chevron wins China prize

By Upstream staff

US supermajor Chevron has won the keenly contested bidding contest for the right to develop PetroChina’s Luojiazhai sour gas field in south-west China’s Sichuan province, according to reports today.

Chevron was chosen by PetroChina ahead of rivals Statoil of Norway, France’s Total and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, Dow Jones newswire reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Luojiazhai is known for its harsh, mountainous terrain and PetroChina has limited technology to ensure safe gas production, leading it to seek foreign expertise in developing the field. 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: Business Big Shot: Paul Skinner: Skinner saw at first hand the reputational damage caused by scandal during his career at Shell

August 6, 2007

Paul Skinner is inventing a new job in Rio Tinto, that of corporate patriarch. Rio’s chairman has become the guiding hand promoting a culture of ethics, safety and environmental protection within the world’s second-largest mining group.

Mr Skinner is a veteran oilman and saw at first hand the reputational damage caused by scandal during his career at Shell. He has been chairman of Rio since 2003 and has clocked up a huge number of air miles travelling to the company’s far-flung mines. 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.

Basell makes offer to acquire Shell’s oil refinery at the Berre l’Etang petrochemical complex in France

http://www.chemie.de/news/e/66859/

06 Aug 2007 – Basell and Société de Pétroles Shell SAS announced today that Basell has made an offer to buy the Shell oil refinery and associated infrastructure and businesses at the Berre l’Etang petrochemical complex in France. Subject to staff council consultation, review and approval from regulatory authorities and agreement on the sale and purchase documents, the transaction is expected to close early 2008. A purchase price of $700 million has been agreed.
 
With world-scale polypropylene and polyethylene plants, a steam cracker and butadiene extraction unit at the same site and a polyethylene plant at nearby Fos sur Mer, Basell is currently the largest customer of the Shell refinery. The refinery’s products include naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuels for a variety of applications, bitumen and heating oil.
 
“The refinery is of strategic importance to Basell because it provides a further backward integration of our activities at the Berre site, one of our core European sites,” said Volker Trautz, CEO of Basell. “Its products play an important role in support of our Polyolefins Europe business and through the acquisition we will be able to simplify existing interfaces and operate even more effectively.”
 
In 2006, to strengthen its ethylene and propylene integration, Basell acquired the remaining 50% interest in the steam cracker at the same petrochemical complex at Berre from Shell, its former partner in the cracker joint venture. If the refinery transaction is completed the approximately 1,500 Shell employees at the site will transfer to Basell (of this 1,500, about 500 already work for Basell’s site activities). 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.