Ron Bousso, Shadia Nasralla: JUNE 25 2018
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it will develop the Fram gas field in the North Sea, its third project approval in the aging basin this year.
Shell’s final investment decision (FID) on Fram follows the green light for the expansion of the Penguins field in January, and the 50-50 joint venture Alligin field in the west of Shetlands area which is operated by BP.
The UK North Sea is one of the world’s oldest offshore basins whose production started in the 1970s and peaked in the late 1990s. It has enjoyed a modest production revival in recent years thanks to a wave of new projects coming on stream.
Shell and other producers have used the collapse in oil prices since 2014 to reduce costs of projects thanks to lower rig rates, simpler designs and the use of technology.
The Fram project will include drilling two wells that will be connected by pipeline to Shell’s Shearwater platform rather than to a new one, saving money and allowing faster development.
It is expected to start production in early to mid 2020 and will generate profit at oil prices of $40 a barrel, Steve Phimister, Shell’s U.K. head of upstream said. Benchmark crude oil is currently trading at around $75 a barrel.
“It is really good momentum that we’ve got going. It is very much in line with our strategy to maximize the use of our existing infrastructure in production hubs,” Phimister said.
Shell currently produces 140,000 bpd and plans to at least maintain that level by 2030, he told Reuters.
Fram is operated by Shell, which holds a 32 percent stake in the field, while Exxon Mobil’s UK subsidiary Esso holds the remaining 68 percent.
(This story has been refiled to add dropped word ‘oil’ in headline)
Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Jan Harvey
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.
