January 8th, 2008:

http://www.shellnews.net/2007/royal-dutch-shell-reserves-litigation-may-2007.html

By Kelly Fiveash
Published Tuesday 8th January 2008 15:19 GMT

Royal Dutch Shell faces legal action from trade union Unite over the terms of its redundancy package, a week after telling staff that more than 3,000 IT jobs were to be outsourced at the firm.

A leaked memo that appeared on an anti-Shell website last week revealed that staff at the oil giant had been told of the firm’s plans to shift 3,200 IT jobs offshore in a cash-saving exercise.

Unite, the union previously known as Amicus, has complained that Shell’s redundancy package is inadequate. read more

01.08.08, 10:40 AM ET
By Tom Bergin

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Gazprom will find it hard to become a major player in Nigeria, making it unlikely the Russian gas giant will rival Western oil companies’ dominance there, or be able to divert Nigerian gas from European markets.

Analysts warn nonetheless that if, in its quest to forge ahead overseas, Gazprom redirects cash from domestic to foreign investment, gas supplies to Europe may still be at risk.

State-controlled Gazprom said this week it wanted a foothold in Nigeria and a Nigerian government official said the Russian gas export monopoly had offered an initial investment of up to $2.5 billion to secure it. read more

A man discards a bag of dog feces in San Francisco, California, en route to be processed into fuel.

January 7, 2008 — Updated 0030 GMT (0830 HKT)

Story Highlights

Livestock globally produce 13 billion tons of manure a year

One cubic foot of biogas can be produced from one pound of cow manure

Biomass market growing 25-35 percent a year

By Rachel Oliver
For CNN
    
(CNN) — While the meat-producing community is often condemned for its contribution to climate change, some observers of late have become as interested in what the animals expel as the animals themselves: Manure. read more

Tuesday, January 8, 2008
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 319

In the second quarter of 2007 Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (Shell), announced that as from the fourth quarter 2007 the Oil Sands operations in Canada will be disclosed separately from the Exploration & Production segment in the quarterly results announcements. The Canadian in-situ activities will continue to be reported under the Exploration & Production segment.
 
Until the third quarter of 2007 the Oil Sands financial results were included in the Exploration & Production segment of Shell’s financial statements. read more

By Henry Meyer

(Bloomberg) — The U.K. vowed to defy a Russian order to shut down its cultural offices outside Moscow, setting the scene for possible confrontation between the two countries.

Russia on Dec. 12 ordered the British Council, the U.K. government’s cultural promotion body, to close its centers in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg by Jan. 1. Both offices plan to reopen by Jan. 14 after the extended Russian New Year public holidays end, a British Council spokeswoman said by phone from London today. read more

Published on 7 Jan 2008 by Observatoire Mediterranean de l’Energie. Archived on 7 Jan 2008.

By Sohbet Karbuz

Introduction

The developments in the oil market in recent years have helped building up a rather pessimist widespread perception about the future of oil and oil industry, which is focused on one common question: Are we running out of oil? The short answer is, No! That is the good news. The bad news is that each additional barrel of high quality oil to global supply is getting more costly and difficult to find, develop, extract and bring to where it is demanded. read more

Amsterdam could become the class action capital of Europe — if the U.S. declines the honor

Michael Goldhaber
The American Lawyer
January 7, 2008

Walter van de Vijver, then the head of oil and gas exploration at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, committed one of the great e-mail gaffes of all time when he wrote to the company chairman in November 2003, “I am becoming sick and tired about lying about the extent of our reserves issues.”

Shell would later slash its reserves estimate by some 4 billion barrels, with the largest reduction occurring in Nigeria. Shell’s restatements, followed by the revelation of this and other embarrassing e-mails in an internal investigation, touched off a predictable round of securities fraud suits in the U.S. courts — and a less predictable chain of events in Europe. read more

This Day (Lagos)
8 January 2008
Chika Amanze-Nwachuku
Lagos

Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer, Jeroen vander Veer has warned that production would fall rapidly if investment in the Nigerian oil fields were discontinued due to the escalating Niger Delta crisis.

He however stated that the company would continue to invest in Nigeria notwithstanding the current tense situation in the oil-rich region provided its employees can work there safely.

“Nigeria is very rich in oil and gas, onshore and offshore, If you look at the long term, i.e. overdecades, these reserves will indeed be produced. We can and want to participate in this, but only if our people can work safely there”, he said. read more

Written by Emma Amaize    
Monday, 07 January 2008 

Ogoni  resident in the United States of America  (USA) under the auspices of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) marked the Ogoni Day in America , yesterday, with prayer and fasting, and a call on the Federal Government to create an Ogoni state.

In an online message, jointly signed by the president, Ikpobari Senewo,secretary, Catherine Nwileh-Ibeagha and publicity secretary/public relations officer, Baridon Gumnwee,  which, was sent to Vanguard, the group said Ogoni was viable and rich enough to become a state under any name deemed appropriate by the authorities and would in no way, be a burden or liability to Nigeria.         read more

By Michael Steen in Amsterdam
Published: January 8 2008 02:00 | Last updated: January 8 2008 02:00

Record oil and gas prices are delaying major hydrocarbons projects as governments haggle with oil companies over taking a higher share in revenues, Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive said yesterday.

Jeroen van der Veer, who has overseen heavy investment in “unconventional” oil sources such as Canada’s oil sands, also expressed surprise at the small effect on demand that crude prices near $100 a barrel have had. read more

Russian project considered the world’s largest

Jan. 8, 2008

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, RUSSIA

Braving a new frontier of oil exploration around Russia’s remote Sakhalin Island means conquering ice-locked seas, frequent earthquakes and muddy swamps fed by melting snow in the rapid springtime thaw.

Executives at the world’s largest oil and gas project, known as Sakhalin-2, say they are nearing the finish line as they aim to open up a vast new energy source for the nearby Asian economic powerhouses of Japan and South Korea along with the U.S. and others. read more

  
Written by Emma Amaize    
Monday, 07 January 2008 
 
MILITANTS, Sunday night, in Delta State, blew up the Beniboye flow station pipeline, owned by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and a water disposal pipeline, belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Burutu Local Government Area of the state for allegedly polluting the oil communities in the area and failing to do clean ups as demanded.

There was no report of any casualty, although details of the two incidents were sketchy at press time. Vanguard learnt that some community leaders had pleaded with the militants against blowing up the oil installations but were rebuffed. read more