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March 9th, 2006:

Harvard Business School Document (April 2000): Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria

A Shell insider has kindly supplied us with a copy of an important and revealing Harvard Business School document regarding the activities of Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria.
EXTRACT:
Brian Anderson faced a deeply disturbing situation. It was October 31,1995—just over a year since he'd been named managing director of Royal Dutch/Shell's Nigerian oil exploration and development operation. During the previous months, tensions between the Nigerian government and a group of activists for the Ogoni people—one of Nigeria's 240 minority tribes—had finally come to a head. Arrested and imprisoned on charges of inciting murder in May 1994, fourteen of the activists had been tried before a special military tribunal that was regarded by many as a hanging court. During the proceedings, Anderson had spoken out publicly about the defendants' right to due process, medical treatment, and lawyers of their choosing. However, his words had had no noticeable effect on the decisionmakers in the government in Abuja, headed by General Sani Abacha, the country's military dictator who in 1993 had usurped the power of a short-lived civilian government.
Among the imprisoned was Ken Saro-Wiwa, a vocal critic not only of the Nigerian government but also of Shell. A popular novel and screenplay writer, television producer, talented organizer, and environmentalist, Saro-Wiwa was—and had been since 1993—the leader of MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People). According to Emeka Achebe, the external relations manager for Shell's Nigeria operation at that time, the decision to try the Ogoni activists before a special military tribunal rather than a judge and civilian jury had two implications: first, the tribunal could impose the death sentence for being an accessory to murder…
The entire documents can be accessed via the first link at the top of the web page below: –
http://shell2004.com/2004 Documents/nopodds/nigeria.htm
read more

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Aljazeera.net: Nigerian rebels repel army

Thursday 09 March 2006, 14:11 Makka Time, 11:11 GMT
Heavy armed separatists have targeted soldiers and oil workers. Nigerian separatists say they have killed seven soldiers in a firefight during an attack by the army in the southern Niger Delta.
The separatists, in an email statement on Thursday, also threatened reprisals against the military and oil company Royal Dutch Shell.
The government's attack on fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) on Wednesday was the largest since last month, when a military bombardment of a separatist stronghold prompted a string of devastating attacks on oil installations and the kidnapping of nine foreign oil workers.
A Nigerian military spokesman confirmed that soldiers fought a fierce gun battle with a separatist group holding three Western oil workers hostage in the Niger Delta.
“There was an exchange of fire between government troops and the militants yesterday. I have no details yet on casualities,” Major Said Hammed said on Thursday.
Firefight
Referring to Wednesday's clash, the separatists' email said “our patrols on the Escravos River were attacked in the vicinity of Okerenkoko by four patrol boats belonging to the Nigerian Army”. It said that the battle lasted 45 minutes.
Okerenkoko is an ethnic Ijaw town 30km west of the port of Warri and is thought to be where Mend is holding the hostages.
The Mend statement said: “Seven soldiers were confirmed killed at the scene of the attack and an unspecified number reported dead upon arrival at the Shell terminal from where this attack was launched.”
The armed separatists have provided accurate information on previous incidents.
The fighters are still holding three foreign hostages – two Americans and one Briton – from last month's raids, when their attacks on pipelines and a loading platform forced Shell to cut 455,000 barrels a day output.
On Wednesday, the separatist group named an Ijaw activist as mediator for talks with the government, raising hopes of a resolution.
No casualties
The fighters said 32 troops initially attacked in four boats, but were reinforced by three more boats containing 24 more soldiers. They said they suffered no casualties.
The fighters also said they had received reports of army patrols firing indiscriminately into Ijaw communities near the village of Odidi.
Producing 2.6m bpd, Nigeria is
Africa's biggest exporter
“In the light of this, we are considering what further actions to take against the military and Shell installations in Forcados and Odidi,” the separatists said.
Shell has already evacuated staff from the Forcados region, and shut all its production from the western side of the delta.
According to a Nigerian skipper who rents small boats to oil firms in the area, witnesses saw six dead soldiers brought to Shell's Forcados terminal after fighters attacked a patrol boat escorting a tug.
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil exporter, producing 2.6 million barrels per day, but output has fallen by around 20% since the start of the latest round of violence.
Many among the Niger Delta's 14 million-strong Ijaw tribe say their region's oil wealth has been stolen by corrupt Nigerian officials and foreign oil majors, and several armed groups operate on the delta creeks. read more

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IrelandOn-Line: PDs: Develop Corrib to meet future needs

09/03/2006 – 15:38:04
The controversial Corrib gas field off Co Mayo must be developed to supply Ireland’s future energy needs, the Progressive Democrats claimed today.
A Government-appointed mediator is currently attempting to resolve a long-running dispute, which saw five local men serve more than three months in prison last year for breaching a High Court order halting a blockade of the construction of an inshore pipeline by Shell.
But the junior Government party today urged the rapid development of the gas field as a key priority in its Power The Future discussion document on Irish energy.
Launching the blueprint, Progressive Democrat (PD) TD for Dun Laoghaire, Fiona O’Malley, said the Atlantic Ocean field has the potential to supply 50% of Ireland’s gas needs and 15% of the country’s total energy needs.
Ms O’Malley said the junior Government party fully supported the current efforts of mediator Peter Cassells to find a solution to the issue.
“We have to find a solution. It is in the national interest. The potential that is there is huge,” she said.
However, Independent Co Mayo TD Jerry Cowley later said the PD proposal was disgraceful and showed how divorced the party was from reality.
“This inshore pipeline development cannot be railroaded through the communities of local people opposed to it and it’s irresponsible of the Government partners to make this their stated policy,” he added.
The 12-page PD document believes Ireland should aim to produce 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.
The Government is expected to publish its official energy policy in the coming months.
“I’d be concerned that there isn’t an official Government energy policy,” Ms O’Malley said.
She pointed out that energy issues had now shot to the top of the political agenda.
Ireland, as an island nation, was very vulnerable in EU energy terms, like Malta and Cyprus, she added.
The energy blueprint calls for grants for biomass plantations and increased use of wave and wind power to produce renewable energy.
It also proposes tax relief for converting diesel vehicles to run on vegetable oil.
An east-west interconnector between the UK and Ireland will also lead to a more efficient electricity market, the party said.
Multi-nationals should be encouraged to locate renewable energy R&D facilities in Ireland, Ms O’Malley noted.
The Government partner also calls for new market structures and improved regulation, as well as advanced research and development in energy technologies. read more

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Christian Aid: Ethical Shareholders support call for Shell resolution

Ethical Shareholders support call for Shell resolution /09.03.06
Oil multinational Shell has accepted an Annual General Meeting resolution from ethical shareholders following a campaign by Christian Aid partner the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility and a call for support on Christian Aid’s website.
ECCR delivered the shareholder resolution, which calls for ‘a major improvement in Shell’s performance in terms of community and stakeholder consultation, risk analysis, and social and environmental impact analysis’, to the company last week.
It was signed by more than 130 shareholders representing well over 600,000 shares. Shell has informed ECCR that it has accepted the resolution and will circulate it to shareholders under the provisions of the Companies Act. The resolution will now be presented at Shell’s Annual General Meeting and voted on by its shareholders. ‘In a world where money talks, it is increasingly important that ethical shareholders make their views known to try and influence company behaviour,’ said Andrew Pendleton, Christian Aid’s senior policy officer. read more

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Edubourse.com: Royal Dutch Shell plc – Directorate change

Source : La Société
Actualité du 09/03/06 à 14:12
The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A, NYSE: RDS.B) announce the intended election of Mr Nick Land, currently Chairman of Ernst & Young LLP to replace Sir Peter Burt, who will be retiring as a non-executive director of the Company following the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 16 May 2006. The Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting that Mr. Nick Land (58) be appointed as a non-executive director with effect from July 1st, 2006.
Sir Peter Burt served as a member of the board of The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company Plc from 2002 to 2005 and on the Royal Dutch Shell Board since October 2004. He is now stepping down due to pressure of other commitments.[1]
Nick Land has been serving as the Chairman and Chief Executive of Ernst & Young LLP[2] and as a member of the Global Executive Board of Ernst & Young Global LLP since 1995 from which positions he will stand down when he retires from the firm on June 30th 2006. Nick Land qualified as an accountant in 1970 and has been a partner since 1978.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Judge Business School and the Finance and Audit Committees of the National Gallery.
[1] Sir Peter Burt, formerly Governor of the Bank of Scotland, is Chairman of ITV plc and Promethean plc.
[2] Ernst & Young are not the external auditors of the Company. They do render a number of non-audit services to Royal Dutch Shell companies on an annual basis. Nick Land had no involvement in these services and will step down from all positions at Ernst & Young upon joining the Board of the Company.
Source : La Société read more

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RIGZONE: Shell Sets Sights on Closed Offshore Areas in Bristol Bay

Bby Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Shell's Alaska exploration manager said his company is supporting federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing in the North Aleutians Shelf area off Bristol Bay in Southwest Alaska.
Chandler Wilhelm also said the company now doesn't believe development of several state oil and gas leases Shell acquired last fall on the nearby Alaska Peninsula will be economic without more acreage, and potentially more Related Pictures
The geology of the region is more prone to natural gas discoveries than oil, and Shell is studying a possible liquefied natural gas project as a way of commercializing possible gas discoveries, Wilhelm said in an interview with Alaska reporters.
The U.S. Minerals Management Service recently put the North Aleutians Shelf area on its five-year plan for further study but did not commit to conducting a lease sale in the area. A federal OCS sale was held in the 1980s, but companies that acquired leases–including Shell–sold them back to the federal government after a ban on development was placed in the area.
Shell has been aggressive in acquiring offshore Alaska acreage in a bid to establish a reserve position in northern regions of North America. The company acquired extensive OCS leases in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea in a 2005 federal lease sale and has indicated interest in a planned federal sale in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast.
Shell drilled several exploration wells in the Chukchi in the 1980s. read more

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Statoil, Shell Offer Plan to Boost Oil Recovery in Norwegian Sea

By IAN TALLEY
March 9, 2006
OSLO — Statoil ASA and Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced plans for a multibillion-dollar project to increase oil recovery through carbon-dioxide injection at two oil fields in the Norwegian Sea.
The project, said by the companies to be the biggest of its kind in the world, envisions capturing the greenhouse gas from a new, 850-megawatt gas-fired power plant at Statoil's Tjeldbergodden methanol refinery in Norway. The carbon dioxide would then be pumped to Shell's Draugen field to increase crude output and later to Statoil's Heidrun field.
The companies have yet to make a final investment decision on the project. Statoil's Chief Executive Helge Lund yesterday said “substantial” government funding would be required to make it profitable and that the government has yet to approve the project or say how much it would be willing to contribute.
Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister Odd Roger Enoksen said he was “very excited and positive about the project.”
Shell and Statoil aim to start the power plant in 2010 or 2011, and supply carbon dioxide to Draugen in 2011 or 2012. The companies plan to seek government approval and funding commitments as soon as possible.
Statoil's senior vice president for the environment, Tor Fjaeran, said the power plant, capture technology and pipeline infrastructure would likely cost between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion. In addition, substantial investments would be required to reengineer the fields for carbon-dioxide injection and lay power cables to the platforms. He couldn't yet put a figure on those costs.
Carbon dioxide injected into a field can increase the internal pressure necessary for crude extraction. Shell hopes to increase Draugen's oil recovery to a near-record 85%. That could extend the lifetime of the 140,000 barrels-a-day field by five years to 2020. Carbon dioxide would be recycled from the Draugen field, shipped and injected into Statoil's 140,000 barrels-a-day Heidrun field for a higher recovery rate.
Thomas Palm, a carbon-dioxide expert from the Norwegian environmental organization Zero, as in zero carbon-dioxide emissions, said the project could conservatively increase recovery of the two fields by 155 million barrels of oil over the project's lifetime.
Shell Executive Vice President Graeme Sweeney said the companies are lobbying Norway and the European Union to include Norwegian power stations and carbon storage in the carbon-dioxide emission credit system so that the project could go ahead.
Write to Ian Talley at [email protected] read more

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Daily Telegraph: Database: Energy: Opec will maintain production near a two-decade high…

Energy
• Statoil, Norway's largest oil company, raised its stake in a licence in the Norwegian Sea to 75pc by purchasing a stake from BP. Shell and Statoil plan to use carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, from a Norwegian power plant to increase output at oil and natural gas fields starting as early as 2010.
• Opec will maintain production near a two-decade high as violence in Nigeria and a dispute with Iran keep prices above $60 a barrel.

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Daily Telegraph: Underground role for green villain

By Christopher Hope and Caroline Muspratt (Filed: 09/03/2006)
Shell and Statoil have come up with an ingenious way of producing more oil from two North Sea fields while cutting greenhouse gases at the same time.
The scheme involves capturing between 2m and 2.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from a specially-built power station and injecting the gas into the neighbouring fields, forcing oil to rise and be extracted more easily.
Shell said that the plan, to be used on the Draugem and Heidrum offshore oil and gas fields in the Norwegian North Sea, would increase the life of the fields by five years.
Jeroen van der Veer, Shell chief executive, said: “This is an important milestone for Shell towards our vision for greener fossil fuels with part of the carbon dioxide captured and sequestrated underground.”
But it will cost. The companies warned that the project in Norway, to be phased in during 2010-2012 was “technologically and commercially challenging” and that it would depend on government funding and involvement. A final investment decision for the project could be made by the end of 2008.
Statoil suggested the plan will cost up to £860m, half of which will be spent on the power plant and the remainder on the cost of trapping the gas. Helge Lund, Statoil's chief executive, said the project made financial sense because of the soaring cost of trading CO2.
He added: “The dilemma in the world today is that we have increased energy demand and for the foreseeable future have to cover that. There are some negative impacts of that, including CO2, and industry is part of that problem so we have to take an offensive approach.” read more

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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Exxon to Lift Output by 25 Percent by 2010

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday it will plow an extra $2 billion a year into oil and natural-gas drilling, refining and chemicals manufacturing in order to lift output by 25 percent by the end of the decade.
The world's largest publicly traded energy company, which reported the highest profit ever for a U.S. company in 2005, said capital expenditures would rise from $17.7 billion now to almost $20 billion a year between 2007 and 2010. By then, the company plans to pump 5 million barrels a day of oil and natural gas, up from 4 million barrels per day in 2005.
In his first appearance as chief executive at Exxon's annual analyst meeting, Rex Tillerson echoed the disciplined confidence of his recently retired predecessor, Lee Raymond, assuring Wall Street that the Irving, Texas-based company would not stray from its long-term strategy to take advantage of today's high energy prices and record profits.
''We are patient, and we are not opportunity constrained,'' Tillerson said, identifying 22 major projects that would start up between 2006 and 2008 in order to keep the company on a production growth rate that exceeds 3 percent per year.
Oppenheimer & Co. oil analyst Fadel Gheit said ''it's a different skipper, but the same ship on the same course.''
''All they want to do is maintain the same speed,'' said Gheit, who credited Exxon with having the most efficient operations among its peers, so that it outperforms rivals no matter what the price.
Tillerson expressed some concerns, though, about the high price of oil, suggesting that global economic growth was not sustainable at current levels with crude futures trading near $60 a barrel.
''You have to put a question mark around just how long the global economy can live at $60 a barrel,'' Tillerson said during a question and answer session with journalists.
''It puts a lot of pressure on the developing economies. That's China, that's India,'' he said. ''And to the extent it affects those countries, obviously it will affect the U.S. economy.''
Crude-oil futures settled Wednesday at $60.02 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, falling by $1.56 after OPEC said it would maintain current output levels in spite of concerns expressed by some member countries about rising global inventories. The inventories are needed, analysts say, to offset fears of supply disruptions as extremists target oil facilities from the Middle East to Nigeria and a confrontation escalates over Iran's suspect nuclear program.
Shares of Exxon fell 14 cents to close at $59.71 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
While Exxon and its peers have been verbally attacked by some members of Congress seeking a so-called windfall profits tax — an outcry that gained momentum after gasoline prices jumped above $3 a gallon late last year — Tillerson sought to deflect some of the criticism by pointing out that Exxon has invested more money than it has earned over the past 15 years. He said the criticism coming out of Washington only highlights ''how little the working fundamentals of our business are understood.''
Still, the greater political challenges for Exxon could very well be outside the United States, as energy-rich countries such as Venezuela and Russia seek tighter control of their resources and more compensation from outside oil and gas producers. Exxon operates in both countries.
''It's difficult to make any new commitments to major investments in Venezuela,'' Tillerson said in response to an analyst's question about geopolitical challenges. And he said there is ''still a question of the Russian government deciding where they want the foreign investors to play and how they want them to participate.''
Tillerson said some Wall Street analysts believe Exxon has a ''cash problem'' because it had more than $33 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of 2005. He pledged to ''minimize the cash on our balance sheets,'' but said Exxon would not make short-sighted investments and ''we are not going to buy expensive volumes.''
Exxon said it earned roughly $16 for every barrel produced in 2005, meaning its return on capital employed was 40 percent higher than the average of its competitors, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Chevron Corp.
Exxon reported net profit of $36.1 billion in 2005 thanks to the jump in prices for oil, natural gas and gasoline.
More Articles in Business > read more

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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Nigerian Militants Say Kill 7 Soldiers in Gunfight

By REUTERS
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian militants said on Thursday they killed seven soldiers in a firefight during an attack by the army in the southern Niger Delta, and threatened reprisals against the military and oil company Royal Dutch Shell.
It was the biggest military attack on militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta since mid-February, when a military bombardment of a militant stronghold prompted a string of devastating attacks on oil installations and the kidnapping of nine foreign oil workers.
“Our patrols on the Escravos River were attacked in the vicinity of Okerenkoko by four patrol boats belonging to the Nigerian Army,'' the militants said in an email, adding that there was a 45 minute firefight in the attack which occurred on Wednesday evening.
“Seven soldiers were confirmed killed at the scene of the attack and an unspecified number reported dead upon arrival at the Shell terminal from where this attack was launched,'' they said.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the statement, but the militants have provided accurate information on previous such incidents.
The militants are still holding three foreign hostages — two Americans and one Briton — from last month's raids, when their attacks on pipelines and a loading platform forced Shell to cut 455,000 barrels a day output, or one fifth of the OPEC member's oil output.
On Wednesday, they named an Ijaw activist as mediator for talks with the government, raising hopes of a speedy resolution to the three-month-old crisis.
The militants said 32 troops initially attacked in four boats, but were reinforced by three more boats containing 24 more soldiers. They said they suffered no casualties.
The military was not immediately available for comment.
The militants also said they had received reports of army patrols firing indiscriminately into Ijaw communities near the village of Odidi.
“In the light of this, we are considering what further actions to take against the military and Shell installations in Forcados and Odidi,'' the militants said.
Shell has already evacuated all its staff from the Forcados region, and shut all its production from the western side of the delta. read more

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AP Worldstream: Nigeria militants report firefight with army troops

Mar 09, 2006
A Nigerian militant group holding three foreign oil workers hostage said its fighters clashed with army troops in this West African nation's oil-rich delta region.
The militants said in an e-mailed statement that one of their vessels was attacked Wednesday on the Escravos River by four Nigerian navy patrol boats, sparking a 45-minute gunbattle they claimed left seven government soldiers dead.
The reported skirmish could not be independently confirmed and military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
“The Nigerian government and military should note that we have sufficient firepower in that vicinity to repel any attack,” the militants said.
The militants took nine foreign oil workers hostage Feb. 18 from a barge owned by the Houston-based oil services company Willbros Group Inc., which was laying pipeline in the delta for Royal Dutch Shell. They released six of them last week after 12 days in captivity. The remaining three include two Americans and a Briton.
The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claims to be fighting to win a greater share of oil wealth on behalf of the Niger Delta's impoverished inhabitants, who have remained poor despite the fact that most of Nigeria's oil is being pumped from the swampy region. The government characterizes the militants as criminals and oil thieves.
The militants accused the military of launching Wednesday's attack from a Shell terminal in Forcados with nearly three dozen soldiers. They said the military brought in reinforcements from the oil city of Warri.
A wave of militant attacks over the last two months has forced Nigeria to cut daily exports by 20 percent. Nigeria normally produces about 2.5 million barrels per day.
Militants have warned more violence was likely to strike Africa's biggest crude producer. Besides the kidnappings, militias have blown up oil pipelines and attacked two of Shell's oil platforms in recent months.
Earlier Wednesday, the military said it had replaced a general who was heading a special task force battling the militants in the delta. Brig Gen. Elias Zamani was transferred to army headquarters and replaced by Brig Gen. Albert Ilogho, who was heading the National War College in the capital, Abuja, military spokesman Col. Mohammed Yusuf said. He described the move as “a routine change” unrelated to recent unrest. read more

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Vanguard (Nigeria): Itsekiri community gives Shell quit notice

By Emma Amaize
Posted to the Web: Thursday, March 09, 2006
WARRI — THE people of Adaka, an Itsekiri community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, yesterday, gave the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) a seven-day ultimatum to remove all its oil facilities and evacuate its staff from the Ovorh field in the state.
The community in a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo, signed by its President, Emmanuel Jule; Secretary- Samson Oniyeyone and spokesman Andrew Okotie said their grouse was that the company has refused to abide and respect the directive of the state government to recognize them as a host community of the Ovorh field.
“Since SPDC management is not prepared to dialogue with us, adhere to government directive and respect our landlordship and court judgment delivered in 1951 in respect of the said land, which SPDC currently trespassed in Ovorh field, we are prepared to use the action and language they best understand and this will lead to a total breakdown of law and order in the field”, they stated.
The community in a similar letter, dated March 1 to the Commander of the JTF accused the company of disrespecting the state government’s position that it should enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the villagers, pointing out that it was a similar behavior that compelled the people to mobilized to the field to stop its drilling operation, last two months.
They said that it was because of the intervention of the state government and the JTF that made the community to simmer down and wondered why the SPDC has refused to obey the written directive by the state government to it to recognise the people like others it had so acknowledged.
Delta State Commissioner for Inter Ethnic Relations and Conflict Resolution, Mr. Ovozourie Macaulay in a letter dated February 6, said that after careful consideration of reports emanating from the meetings held by the various ministries/departments and the presentations made by each community cum the report of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the state government found out that Ugborhen, Adaka and Urhiorodje communities were impacted on the Avhor fields, operated by the SPDC. read more

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The Independent: Shell unveils carbon burial plan for North Sea

By Michael Harrison
Published: 09 March 2006
Plans for the world's biggest project to capture the greenhouse gases produced by electricity generation and store them under the sea in giant oilfields were unveiled yesterday by Shell and Statoil, the state-controlled Norwegian oil producer.
The companies envisage spending $1.5bn (£860m) to build a new gas-fired station in Norway and then pump the carbon dioxide it produces into two oil and gas fields off the Norwegian coast to help enhance production.
Shell and Statoil said the go-ahead for the project, which is due to come on stream in 2010, would depend on government support and could enable Norway to cut its carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonnes a year.
These so-called “carbon capture” schemes have become an increasingly viable way of combating global warming by containing the greenhouse gases produced by fossil-fuel generation and using them to enhance oil production in a more environmentally friendly way.
The station would produce 860 megwatts of electricity – of which about one-fifth would be used to power the carbon capture plant. The remainder would either be sold into the grid or used to meet the needs of the two fields – Draugen and Heidrun – and to help fire up the giant Orman Lange gas field.
Graeme Sweeney, the executive vice-president of Shell, said extra electricity-generating capacity would be needed in that part of Norway to meet demand from offshore operators and local industry, irrespective of whether its own project went ahead.
He added that if the project proved a success, the model could be adopted in other parts of the world, possibly including the UK sector of the North Sea, where carbon capture and injection could give a new lease of life to declining oil and gas fields. read more

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The Guardian: Buried at sea: Shell's plan for greenhouse gases

Terry Macalister
Thursday March 9, 2006
The biggest-ever scheme to bury greenhouse gases below the seabed is being planned by energy groups Shell and Statoil. The plan will allow Norwegian gas to be developed for Britain with less environmental damage.
Up to 2.5m tonnes of carbon dioxide annually – the same as would be produced by 1m cars – is to be captured and stored in offshore oil fields, Draugen and Heidrun, at a cost of up to $1.5bn (£867m).
Carbon capture and storage is seen as a potentially vital tool for cutting CO2 emissions and helping to reduce global warming but the technique is still in its infancy. The Norwegian project will not reduce existing CO2 levels but will lead to cleaner power being produced to run the Ormen Lange field, which will eventually provide up to 20% of the UK's entire gas needs.
Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said: “This is an important milestone towards our vision for greener fossil fuels with part of the CO2 captured and sequestered underground.”
His Statoil counterpart, Helge Lund, said that if it was successful the technology could be used at other fields off Norway and around the world. The country's environment minister, Helen Bjoernoy, said the plan should be seen as a “showcase for Norway as an environmentally-friendly technology country” but she said it was too early to say whether the government would help finance it.
A new gas-fired power station will be built at Tjeldbergodden in mid-Norway which will be used to provide power for the Ormen Lange field and surrounding communities. CO2 from the plant will be injected into the Draugen and Heidrun oil reservoirs to push out further supplies of oil, leaving the CO2 safe under the seabed.
The project will be phased in between 2010 and 2012 and the two oil companies admit they are still relying on “substantial government funding” to get it off the ground. Although this claims to be the biggest offshore project, Statoil has been capturing CO2 on the Sleipner field off Norway since 1996. Shell has been using greenhouses gases since the 1970s in oil recovery in Texas but the cost of seabed schemes has deterred many others.
BP has recently announced an ambitious plan to build a hydrogen plant in Peterhead in Scotland. Carbon dioxide emitted in the production of hydrogen would be reinjected into a North Sea oil field. It also has announced plans for an even larger hydrogen-fuelled plant in California with the CO2 emissions there being piped off to other oil fields for storage. read more

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