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April 2nd, 2008:

Design lifts barriers to success

The Times: Design lifts barriers to success

April 3, 2008
Clare Dight

Simon Phelps explains how a US fellowship scheme gave him the impetus to build his own company

A short stint of work experience or a brief internship is all that many recent graduates manage to cite on their first CV. But not Simon Phelps, a graduate in computer-aided product design from Bournemouth University, who has set up his own company, Fluvial Innovations. In developing the portable flood-barrier system that he designed at university, he won many accolades and now, most importantly, a government contract. 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.

Working abroad, the ultimate experience

The Times: Working abroad, the ultimate experience

April 3, 2008

You won’t reach the top of a big company without earning your stripes abroad. So how do you gain the relevant experience?Carly Chynoweth

Ambitious executives who hope to secure the top job at a large company should start preparing now by securing an overseas posting. This is because international experience is becoming an essential component of would-be chief executives’ skill sets.

Research by Elisabeth Marx, a partner at Heidrick & Struggles, a recruitment firm, found that 67 per cent of FTSE 100 chief executives and 33 per cent of those at Fortune 100 companies have spent at least a year living and working overseas. 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.

Oil Rises, Gasoline Surges to Record on U.S. Fuel-Supply Drop

Bloomberg: Oil Rises, Gasoline Surges to Record on U.S. Fuel-Supply Drop

By Mark Shenk

April 2 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose more than $3 a barrel and gasoline surged to a record after an Energy Department report showed that U.S. supplies of the motor fuel fell a third week.

Gasoline stockpiles declined 4.53 million barrels to 224.7 million barrels last week, the biggest drop since August, the report showed. The dollar fell against the euro for the first time in three days, bolstering the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge. 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.

Shell Oil Subsidiary Will Pay $75,000 to Settle Clean Air Act Charges

Canadian Business Magazine
April 2, 2008 – 3:12 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Shell Oil Co. will pay a $75,000 fine and retire two storage tanks at a cost of more than $1 million to settle charges that it violated the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday the settlement with Shell subsidiary Motiva Enterprises LLC.

The two storage tanks were improperly maintained and leaked gasoline vapors, the agency alleged. The tanks are in a gasoline terminal owned by Motiva where gas is loaded onto tanker trucks, the agency said. The terminal is in Bridgeport, Conn. 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.

Shell Unit to Pay $75,000 fine in EPA Case

Houston Chronicle
April 2, 2008, 2:13PM
© 2008 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Shell Oil Co. will pay a $75,000 fine and retire two storage tanks at a cost of more than $1 million to settle charges that it violated the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday the settlement with Shell subsidiary Motiva Enterprises LLC.

The two storage tanks were improperly maintained and leaked gasoline vapors, the agency alleged. The tanks are in a gasoline terminal owned by Motiva where gas is loaded onto tanker trucks, the agency said. The terminal is in Bridgeport, Conn. 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.

Is there a Shell Corrib connection to the sudden resignation of Irish Premier, Bertie Ahern?

 Bertie Ahern image

By John Donovan

In December 2005 we published an article containing the following paragraph:

It appears that extremely powerful forces are at work and one wonders where the intrigue will lead in relation to the Corrib pipeline. Will “THE GREAT CORRIB GAS CONTROVERSY” turn into something even bigger – a full blown scandal?

http://www.shellnews.net/week49/shellnewscorrib14dec2005.htm

We made the comment in the knowledge that the Irish government has a reputation for corruption and over a number of years gave concessions to the Corrib pipeline consortium which many people believe were not in the best interests of the Irish people. 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.

Bertie Ahern, Irish Prime Minister, quits over tax affairs

The Times: Resignation of Irish PM Bertie Ahern

(Niall Carson/PA)
Bertie Ahern announcing his resignation today flanked by Cabinet members

Times Online: Bertie Ahern, Irish Prime Minister, quits over tax affairs

April 2, 2008
Philippe Naughton, and David Sharrock in Dublin

Bertie Ahern, Ireland’s long-serving Taoiseach, abruptly announced his resignation today amid continuing controversy over his personal financial affairs.

Mr Ahern will leave office on May 6 after almost 11 years in power – although with four years left of his third term in office. 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.

US oil firms come under pressure

BBC News image

Lawmakers took oil executives to task over record profits

BBC News: US oil firms come under pressure 

Page last updated at 07:44 GMT, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 08:44 UK

US lawmakers have taken oil giants to task over the industry’s huge profits as ordinary Americans struggle with record fuel prices.

Executives from five oil companies were forced to explain why they should continue to receive $18bn in tax breaks when they made $138bn profits in 2007.

They were also criticised for not investing more in renewable energy. 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.

Shell boss sees oil peak in 10 years

Upstreamonline Jeroen van der Veer image

Peak warning: Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer says production of easily-accessible oil will begin to decline within 10 years

upstreamonline.com
By Upstream staff

Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell, has said he expected exploitation of the earth’s easily accessible oil and gas reserves to peak within 10 years.

“It’s becoming technologically expensive, capital intensive and lead times are growing longer,” Van der Veer told an energy supply scenario seminar at the US think tank Centre for Strategic International Studies, Thomson Financial. 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.

Shell champs at Iraq bit

Upstreamonline.com
By Upstream staff

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell is ready to help Iraq boost oil production once that country’s government finalises a petroleum law covering big energy projects, the company’s boss Jeroen van der Veer said today.

“We are very much prepared to go back to Iraq,” Reuters quoted van der Veer saying at the Centre for Strategic & International Studies think tank in Washington DC.

But first, he said, Shell employees must be able to work safely in the country and a petroleum law must be passed. 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.

Profits realistic, oil execs insist: Exxon Mobil Chairman Lee Raymond’s $400 million 2005 retirement package?

Houston Chronicle
April 1, 2008, 11:10PM
GASOLINE PRICES

But lawmakers offer own ideas on industry behavior

By DAVID IVANOVICH
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Oil company executives expressed sympathy for consumers hurt by high energy costs Tuesday but defended their companies’ record profits.

With gasoline prices at an all-time high and angry truck drivers parking their rigs Tuesday in protest of even-higher diesel prices, executives from the nation’s five largest oil companies appeared before a House panel, where they were chastised by Democrats for their corporate profits and failure to invest more in renewable energy sources. 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.

Alternative-Ethanol Firm Gets Funding

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By JONATHAN SHIEBER and DON CLARK
April 1, 2008; Page C12

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

A group of investors is placing one of the biggest bets yet on a type of ethanol production that doesn’t involve food crops.

Range Fuels Inc., a start-up in Broomfield, Colo., on Tuesday is announcing $130 million in new equity funding. The money will go toward the first phase of construction on a plant in Soperton, Ga., which is expected to create ethanol using wood material that typically goes unused when timber is harvested. The company, which has received a $76 million grant commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy, expects the plant to be the first of its kind to operate on a commercial scale. 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.

Oil Chiefs Say High Prices Not Our Fault

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 2, 2008
Filed at 3:56 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Don’t blame us, oil industry chiefs told a skeptical Congress. Top executives of the country’s five biggest oil companies said Tuesday they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued it’s not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries.

Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying record gasoline prices at the pump. 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.

Taxing Big Oil

Financial Times
Published: April 2 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 2 2008 03:00

It is becoming a ritual: petrol prices rise and the oil industry is hauled before Congress for a kicking.

Six years into the oil bull market, Washington still struggles to frame a coherent response. President George W. Bush’s surprise at a recent briefing, when one journalist helpfully informed him that gasoline might soon reach the unheard-of price of $4 a gallon, spoke volumes.

Politicians have belatedly raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards. But they are reluctant to do more for fear of, horrors, limiting consumers’ choice about what cars they can drive. Big Oil makes a much easier target. The five majors testifying yesterday – ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and BP – made a collective net profit of more than $120bn 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.

Corporate websites: Sites now get the attention they deserve

Financial Times
By David Bowen
Published: April 2 2008 02:23 | Last updated: April 2 2008 02:23

Ten years ago the world’s largest companies were obsessed with getting their collective heads round the world wide web. But they paid it too much attention and by five years ago, many of them had all but lost interest – another mistake.

Now, websites are getting about the amount of attention they deserve, a good deal of which has been applied in the past year.

This is the main message from the second FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness. A third of the web estates we looked at last year have been substantially revised. Some have been overhauled, introducing a coherence they have never had. The big gripe of so many web managers – that bosses see the medium as marginal – is being widely addressed. 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.

Corporate website index: How well do websites serve their various audiences?

By David Bowen
Published: April 2 2008 02:23 | Last updated: April 2 2008 02:23

How well do corporate websites serve the various interest groups that use them?

The FT Bowen Craggs index examines this question in detail and reports on the findings in the main table, and in further tables on the Bowen Craggs website which anyone can recalibrate.

Here, we look at each user community and how it is served:

Serving society

Reputation management is a big issue for many companies and several have realised their website is a good place to address it. 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.

‘Friendly’ Colombia sitting on big oil reserves

Financial Times
By Ed Crooks in London
Published: April 2 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 2 2008 03:00

Colombia’s heavy oil area could hold 20bn barrels of recoverable resources, giving the country greater reserves than leading producers such as Mexico and Algeria, its natural resources agency said.

Foreign investment in Colombia’s oil and gas industry is booming, and the country hopes to lift oil production to 1m barrels a day in the next decade, from about 550,000 b/d currently.

Colombia’s heavy oil potential is dwarfed by that of its neighbour Venezuela, which is estimated to have at least 240bn barrels recoverable in its Orinoco belt region. But Colombia has the great advantage of welcoming foreign investment. 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.

Oil executives taken to task over soaring pump prices

· Energy firms lambasted over ballooning profits
· ExxonMobil ‘too sceptical’ on renewable fuels

Andrew Clark in New York
The Guardian
Wednesday April 2 2008
 

American lawmakers told top oil executives on Capitol Hill yesterday the laws of supply and demand were an inadequate excuse for rocketing petrol prices, ballooning profits and for slow progress on investment in renewable fuels.

Senior figures from BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips were summoned to Washington to appear before the select committee on energy independence and global warming – a body established last year after the Democrats seized control of Congress. 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.

Oil Chiefs Say High Prices Not Our Fault

The Guardian: Oil Chiefs Say High Prices Not Our Fault

AP foreign, Wednesday April 2 2008
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – Don’t blame us, oil industry chiefs told a skeptical Congress. Top executives of the country’s five biggest oil companies said Tuesday they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued it’s not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries.

Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying record gasoline prices at the pump. 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.

Strike at Shell-Gabon ends after 12 days

CNNMoney.com: Strike at Shell-Gabon ends after 12 days

April 02, 2008: 01:36 AM EST

LIBREVILLE, Apr. 2, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) — A strike that halted production at Shell-Gabon and an oil terminal used by other companies since March 20 was called off late Tuesday.

The company, in which Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (NYSE:RDS A) has a 75 percent stake and the Gabon government a 25 percent stake, announcned the strike had ended after mediation by Gabonese President Omar Bongo between unions and management. 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.