Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:17pm GMT
* Essar makes bid, given deadline to make firm offer
* Shell will withdraw plant from sale if no deal
* Shell continues to withdraw from European refining
By Tom Bergin
LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has told employees at its Stanlow refinery that India’s Essar group has made a “credible” bid for the plant, a union official said.
A Shell spokesman confirmed that the Anglo-Dutch oil giant was in talks with Essar and had given the group until the end of February to come up with a firm bid.
“If by then we cannot get the right value for the assets and do the right deal, they will be withdrawn from sale,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement.
“We are not considering closure or conversion into a terminal,” he added.
Shell is reducing its involvement in refining, especially in Europe, to invest more money upstream in more lucrative oil and gas production.
With many refineries on the block in Europe, prices have come off the levels seen a few years ago but Stanlow could still be worth several hundred million dollars, analysts said.
India’s Energy Group controls two energy-focussed units, London-listed Essar Energy and India-listed Essar Oil. It was unclear which unit was bidding for the refinery.
Essar Energy was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Hans Peters)
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
