November 21st, 2007:

November 22, 2007
Nick Hasell: Tempus 

Only a year or so ago, Shell and Regal Petroleum might have been seen as the two least-likely bedfellows in the oil and gas sector. The debacle surrounding Regal’s dry well in Greece, in a field previously claimed to contain a billion barrels of oil, and the promotional antics of founder Frank Timis – notorious for his two convictions for heroin possession in the 1990s – made Regal a byword for the excesses and overhyping of AIM’s natural resources stocks. read more

November 22, 2007
Robin Pagnamenta

Royal Dutch Shell and its partners have told the Russian Government that developing vast gasfields in the Siberian Arctic would take half a century and cost “hundreds of billions” of dollars.

Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s chief executive, met President Putin this month to discuss the proposed project in the Yamal Peninsula and Kara Sea. He was accompanied by a high-level Dutch business delegation.

They estimated that the region could hold more than 30 trillion cubic metres of gas, more than the combined proved reserves of Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian gas monopoly. read more

IN RE ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL TRANSPORT SECURITIES LITIGATION: Appealable Judgment by U.S. District Court Judge Joel A. Pisano: Ordered that the Clerk is directed to enter a final judgment in this matter directing that Peter M. Wood’s and the other Non-U.S. Purchasers’ claims are dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction: 16 November 2007

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/456_appealable_judgment.pdf

Posted 21 November 2007

LONDON – China’s Cnooc Ltd. is considering buying interests in Nigerian blocks held by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, according to a person familiar with the matter, the latest indication of China’s rising assertiveness in Africa’s oil sector.

Cnooc spokesman Xiao Zongwei declined to comment.

The stakes, each of 49.8 percent, could fetch up to $900 million, a source said, adding Nigerian oil companies had also expressed interest for them. Agip, a unit of Eni SpA, owns the remaining 50.2 percent in each block. read more

Category: Articles Posted by: raja petra

Recent street protests have highlighted the self-serving nature of Malaysia’s Government

GUEST COLUMNISTS
Michael Backman
The Age

THE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and everyone will accept the verdict.

For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest. It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave. read more

07-11-2007
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KUALA LUMPUR: Shell Malaysia Ltd, British American Tobacco Group Service Delivery and Samsung Electronics Display (M) Sdn Bhd have been announced as the finalists for the Malaysia Outstanding HR Achievement Award category presented to large organisations with 300 employees and above for the Malaysia HR Awards 2007.

The Malaysia HR Awards is organised by the country’s largest recruitment company, Kelly Services, in partnership with the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM). read more

*Some of the 399 former Shell employees known as “Team A”

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

KUCHING: The Federal Court (FC) here has granted leave or permission to 399 former employees of two major petroleum corporations to appeal against their ex-employers in connection with their pension funds.

The FC yesterday agreed that there was merit to their application for leave.

The applicants led by one Chong Thian Fook contended that the pension funds namely Retirement Benefit Fund or Provident Fund (lump sum) had been miscalculated and as a result had shortchanged them. read more

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said the Belicoso-1 well that was targeting a discovery that may supply an expansion of the Pluto liquefied natural gas project failed to find gas.

Results from the well still support further exploration in the area off Australia’s northwestern coast, Perth-based Woodside, which is 34 percent owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. The failure of the well isn’t critical for future expansion of Pluto, it said. read more

November 21, 2007 
 
SANTO DOMINGO. – The President’s adviser on Energy matters, Arístides Fernandez Zucco, said the US$183 million price the company Shell set for its stake in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) is an amount which “they themselves don’t believe.”

Whereas former Refidomsa president Leopoldo Espaillat Nanita considers Shell’s price “is a maneuver which totally violates the agreement signed with the Dominican State and approved by Congress and the company’s own statutes.” He said Shell must justify it’s 50 percent of the shares, as the alliance agreement limited its participation to only 25 percent. read more

By Greg Walters

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its partners said Russia’s Yamal peninsula and Kara Sea may hold more than 30 trillion cubic meters of gas, enough to supply the world for a decade, in a plan presented in the Kremlin.

Shell Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer and his counterparts in Dutch companies including gas trader GasTerra BV told Russian President Vladimir Putin that development of the Arctic region may cost “several hundred billion” dollars and take more than 50 years, according to a slide presentation received yesterday from GasTerra. read more

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Shell Exploration & Production Ukraine Investments (I) B.V. has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Regal Petroleum plc, to acquire a 51% interest in Regal Petroleum (Jersey) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Regal Petroleum plc indirectly holding the licences for the Mekhediviska-Golotvschinska and Svyrydivske gas fields in Ukraine.

Under the terms of the MOU, Shell would become the operator of the gas fields which are in the Dniepr Donetsk sedimentary basin where most of Ukraine’s gas and condensate production is located. read more

November 22, 2007

CRUDE oil rose above $US99 a barrel for the first time after a fire at an oil-sands plant in Canada raised concerns about supplies to US refineries.

New York futures rose to within US71¢ of $US100 a barrel after the blaze at a Royal Dutch Shell plant in Alberta cut its 155,000-barrel-a-day output by more than half.

“Now that we are so close to $100, we have to get there,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist with CFC Seymour in Hong Kong.

Crude oil for January delivery climbed as much as $US1.26, or 1.3%, to a record $US99.29 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract climbed $US3.39, or 3.6%, to $US98.03 a barrel yesterday, the highest close since trading began in 1983. read more

21 November 2007

A three year investigation and the inspection of nearly 100 offshore installations has resulted in the offshore industry receiving a stark warning from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). 

The sector was told that while significant improvements had been made “more must be done!” 

The stark message came at the launch of the KP3 report – a major investigation carried out by the HSE’s Aberdeen based Offshore Division into the safety and integrity of offshore installations and the equipment on them. read more

Wednesday, 21 November 2007, 11:25 GMT 
 
North Sea oil companies have been told that more must be done to improve their offshore safety record.

It follows a three-year investigation by the Health and Safety Executive.

HSE inspectors focused in particular on the safety and integrity of almost 100 offshore installations and their equipment.

Industry body Oil and Gas UK said the report highlighted the need for more work to be done, despite recent investment in maintenance. 

The report revealed that the HSE found a wide variation in performance across the sector and “worrying” variations within some companies. read more

By Dino Mahtani
Published: November 21 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 21 2007 02:00

The government’s Health and Safety Executive is today due to issue a “stark warning” to the UK oil industry for failing to make sufficient improvements to the safety of its offshore facilities.

The HSE undertook a three-year investigation and inspection of nearly 100 offshore installations and noted a wide variation of performance across the sector and within companies.

The body accuses senior managers in the oil industry of “not giving ongoing maintenance sufficient priority” and has asked the industry to do more to avoid further action being taken. read more

By John O’Doherty in London and Roman Olearchyk in Kiev
Published: November 21 2007 09:36 | Last updated: November 21 2007 09:52

Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday announced that it has signed a preliminary $410m agreement to take a 51 per cent interest in two Ukrainian gas fields controlled by a subsidiary of Regal Petroleum, the Aim-listed oil and gas group founded by Frank Timis.

Under the terms of a non-binding memorandum of understanding, Shell will pay $50m (£198m) for a 51 per cent stake in the Mekhediviska-Golotvschinska and Svyrydivske gas fields, Regal’s main assets, and invest an initial $360m to develop the two gasfields 180km northeast of Kiev. read more

The Wall Street Journal: Oil Surges Above $98 a Barrel

Inventory Data
To Become Focus;
Gold Touches $800
By MATT CHAMBERS
November 21, 2007; Page C8

Crude-oil futures surged to a record settlement high above $98 a barrel as the dollar fell, potentially paving the way for another run at $100.

Expectations of colder weather toward the end of the month in the Northeast, the world’s biggest heating-oil market, as well as a fire at an oil-sands upgrader in Canada and positioning before key weekly U.S. inventory data also boosted crude prices. read more

Published: November 21 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 21 2007 02:00

Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, president of Iran, reckons he has pinpointed the soft underbelly of the US: the dollar. He urges Opec to consider pricing crude oil in other currencies.

Iran can invoice its oil customers in cowrie shells if it likes, but that would not change the underlying value of the product. Shifting oil markers to other currencies would only make for inefficient markets. It could potentially hit the dollar, though only through secondary effects: by knocking confidence and spurring diversification of global foreign exchange holdings. read more

08:50 – 21 November 2007

The Health and Safety Executive will today tell the offshore industry that more must be done, despite significant improvements.

This follows a three-year investigation and the inspection of nearly 100 offshore installations.

The stark message to the industry will be made at the launch of the KP3 report – an investigation carried out by the HSE’s Aberdeen-based offshore division into the safety and integrity of platforms and the equipment on them. The report’s findings included a wide variation in performance across the sector and, worryingly, wide variations within some companies. read more

Nov 20 03:49 PM US/Eastern

God is Brazilian,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday in relation to his government’s announcement earlier this month that massive new oil reserves had been discovered offshore.

“This discovery… proves that God is Brazilian,” he said during a speech at his presidential palace in the capital Brasilia.

His theological assertion is not original: Brazilians have long claimed that God shares their nationality on the basis of the natural resources at their disposal. read more

By Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Margaret Cronin Fisk

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Victims of BP Plc’s 2005 Texas refinery blast are seeking $2 billion after attacking a U.S. plea deal as “shockingly lenient” and successfully urging recusal of the judge in the case on claims of a conflict of interest.

The victims’ lawyer said he will ask a new judge for the award on claims related to the blast instead of the $50 million provided for under the plea bargain. He argued in court papers filed in Houston yesterday that U.S. District Judge Gray Miller should remove himself since he worked for BP’s law firm at the time of the explosion that killed 15 workers. Miller stepped aside a few hours later. read more

Regal Petroleum Plc (RPT LN): The U.K. oil and natural-gas producer with assets in eastern Europe has agreed to sell 51 percent of its Jersey business to a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. The shares were unchanged at 172 pence.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Thompson in London at [email protected] .

Last Updated: November 21, 2007 02:48 EST

By Christian Schmollinger

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose above $99 a barrel for the first time as a slumping U.S. dollar increased demand for commodities at a time of declining heating oil inventories.

Futures in New York rose to within 71 cents of $100 as the dollar fell on speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates for a third time this year. U.S. distillate fuel supply probably fell for a second week, according to a Bloomberg survey.

“Reaching $100 oil will be a major psychological barrier,” said Gavin Wendt, senior resources analyst with Fat Prophets in Sydney. “Every week we draw inexorably closer to the winter heating season.” read more

By GILLIAN WONG 11.21.07, 3:27 AM ET

SINGAPORE – Crude oil prices rose to a record above $99 a barrel in Asian trading Wednesday, lifted by worries about inadequate supplies as the Northern Hemisphere enters winter and on news of refinery problems.

The declining U.S. dollar and speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will again cut interest rates also boosted prices. Some investors put their money into oil contracts, betting that gains in their price will offset dollar weakness.

“The market is now really looking at $100 a barrel as the next target to hit,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. “The fact that we are having this surge in pricing in this short trading week underscores the strength of this bull run for oil.” read more

Reuters Wednesday November 21 2007
(Adds detail, Shell quote, background)

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with oil and gas explorer Regal Petroleum Plc to jointly develop and operate Regal’s MEX-GOL and SV gas fields in Ukraine.

Regal said Shell’s Ukrainian subsidiary would buy, subject to due diligence, a 51 percent stake in Regal subsidiary, Regal Petroleum (Jersey) Ltd, for $50 million in cash and pay the first $360 million to develop the fields. read more

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 12:14:03 AM Oman Time
 
MUSCAT — As part of a series of Shell professional courses run in 2007, and in association with the Shell Learning Centre, the Shell Representative Office Oman organised a “Women Career Development Programme” from November 10 to 13 in its office in Muscat.

It was a two-day course exclusively for women and more than 40 participants from various government, private sector and non-governmental organisations attended the course. The “Women Career Development Programme” course was designed to enable women to discuss issues affecting them in the workplace, to help them to understand how they can form individual leadership behaviours and how they can utilise these behaviours to achieve their full potential. The course also focused on increasing self-knowledge and understanding the impact that one can have on others. Karine Jaffredo, a professional Learning and Development consultant at the Shell Learning Centre in The Netherlands conducted the training course. read more