Eight months after Hurricane Katrina shattered American oil output in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest producer in the region, Royal Dutch Shell, said yesterday that it had completed repairs on its Mars platform and would resume production ahead of schedule.
Mars, the biggest offshore structure in the gulf, was among the hardest hit by the storm that struck on Aug. 29. Production should start up again next month, Shell said, and the Mars platform is expected to return to producing 140,000 barrels of oil and natural gas a day, its level before the storm, by the end of June. Initially, the company estimated that repairs might last well into the second half of the year.read more
Royal Dutch Shell's Sakhalin-2 project agreed to sell as much as 210,000 tons per year of liquefied natural gas to Hiroshima Gas over a 20-year period, helping the Japanese utility diversify its sources of the fuel.
The agreement sets the terms for sales under an earlier accord signed last May, Sakhalin Energy Investments, the operator of the Sakhalin project in the Far East, said Thursday in an e-mailed statement. (Bloomberg)
London, UK – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should not fund Shell's proposed construction of the largest hydrocarbon construction project in the world in Russia's Far East without improved mitigation measures, says WWF. The EBRD’s consultation on the whether to fund the Sakhalin II oil and gas project closes today.
A recent review by some of the world’s leading whale experts concluded that Shell has provided no convincing evidence that the project is not harming the 100 remaining western gray whales. With only two months to go before offshore pipeline construction starts, the scientists reviewed the proposed mitigation measures and concluded that they could not be confident there would be no significant impact on the whales. read more
(BW) While US Points the Finger, China Gets Busy — Energy Leaders Note Chinese Developments Underway in World Energy Magazine
By Business Editors(c) 2006 Business Wire
–>
HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 20, 2006–Given limited amount of supplies in certain geographical areas, and that the impact of emissions on the environment will eventually affect us all, World Energy Magazine presents numerous references by world energy leaders to the fact that growing demand will only be met by “extending knowledge and applying technology.” BP p.l.c., Royal Dutch Shell p.l.c. and GE Oil & Gas CEOs refer to China as a place where solutions are already underway. To get up to speed read these articles now at www.worldenergysource.com.
BP p.l.c. CEO Lord Browne of Madingley reports on his visit to Beijing, that a “process of transition” is already beginning. “It was clear,” Browne noted, “…that there is no sense of complacency in China.” He was “struck,” he said, “by the amount of work being done on these issues,” referring to improving energy efficiency, coal options, and nuclear experiments, such as the experimental reactor being developed at Tsinghua University. China's desire for knowledge is “very powerful,” he states. Further, he offers, China's supply security will come from “links between the Chinese state companies and the private sector” as well as China's developing “…involvement in the international trading market.” Jeroen van der Veer adds in his article, that while science and technology is the essential first step, “Delivering Technology” is the challenge. read more
AFX News Limited Shell sees Gulf of Mexico Mars platform onstream by end-May 04.20.2006, 10:57 AM
LONDON (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC said its Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina last year, will be operational by the end of next month, ahead of previous schedules.
Shell U.K. Limited, on behalf of itself and co-venturer Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited (an ExxonMobil subsidiary), announced an increase in gas supply to the UK with the commencement of gas production from the Cutter field in the southern North Sea. The Cutter development will use wind and solar technologies in the production of natural gas.
The design of the Cutter field Trident Monotower installation is based on the construction of offshore wind turbines and therefore rests on a single leg. The lower construction and maintenance costs – the fabrication cost alone is around 40% of that of traditional platforms – of the unmanned Monotower platform, compared to conventional designs, enables the access and recovery of small pockets of resources that previously would have been deemed uneconomical. read more
MarketWatch: Sakhalin Energy signs LNG supply deal with Hiroshima Gas
6:20 AM ET Apr 20, 2006
MOSCOW (MarketWatch) — Sakhalin Energy, the Royal Dutch Shell PLC-led (RDSB.LN) consortium developing the Sakhalin-2 project off the coast of Russia's Far East, said Thursday it has signed a deal to sell 210,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas a year to Hiroshima Gas Co. (9535.TO).
The deal is to run for 20 years.
The company said the deal is the first to involve a use of a small LNG carrier. Hiroshima Gas is planning to use a newly built ice-class LNG vessel with a capacity of some 20,000 cubic meters to transport the LNG to its own regassification facilities at Hatsukaichi. read more
Shell planning, timing brings major project in under budget
Senior executives credit close monitoring and early intervention as key factors
PATRICK BRETHOUR
CALGARY — In a sector short of everything from concrete to carpenters, Shell Canada Ltd. has pulled off an increasingly rare feat with its $400-million project to retool its Edmonton and Montreal refineries — coming in under budget.
Good timing played a big part in that accomplishment, an important one for Shell after it overspent by billions in building its Athabasca Oil Sands Project earlier in the decade.
“Let me be very honest. We were very fortunate in getting these projects built when we did. I'm glad we didn't leave it even six months later,” said David Weston, senior vice-president of oil products for Shell Canada. The project wrapped up construction in December.read more
Shell Canada, Fort McKay band sign oilsands deal
Apr. 19, 2006. 06:10 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Shell Canada Ltd. (TSX: SHC) has signed an agreement with the Fort McKay First Nation to acquire oilsands leases through an exchange of options. The deal, announced Wednesday, involves Shell's Lease 90 and Fort McKay oilsands lands received as part of the band's treaty land-claim settlement.
The land will be leased to Shell for potential incorporation into the Athabasca oilsands project. Lease development models remain under review and financial details were not released Wednesday. “A lease of Fort McKay First Nation's land will be an excellent addition to our long-term business plan,” said Clive Mather, Shell Canada's CEO. “While additional work with government is still to be done, this agreement has the potential to return real value to both Shell and Fort McKay for many years to come.”
The Fort McKay First Nation — about 65 kilometres north of Fort McMurray — will be entitled to royalty payments on production and an option to acquire and work with Shell on the development of Lease 90. Chief Jim Boucher said his community is “excited about the possibility of becoming an oilsands developer in our own right.”
The Athabasca oilsands project consists of the Muskeg River Mine, about 75 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, and the Scotford upgrader, near Fort Saskatchewan, northeast of Edmonton.
The oilsands development is a joint venture among Shell Canada, with 60 per cent, Chevron Canada, with 20 per cent, and Western Oil Sands LP (TSX: WTO), with 20 per cent. Shell Canada's shares closed up 18 cents to $45.84 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
• Apache Corp, an American oil and gas company that specialises in tapping older fields, is to buy BP's wells in the shallow waters off the Gulf of Mexico for $1.3bn in cash.
• Vanco Energy, an American-based oil-exploration company, won a bid for licences to pump oil and natural gas in Ukraine's part of the Black Sea, seeing off competition from Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, the Ukrainian government said.
• Royal Dutch Shell has built a natural gas platform in the North Sea that uses only wind and solar power and will supply as much as 1pc of Britain's needs for the next 15 years.read more
That is the message to come out of the recent Aracon bunkering conference in Antwerp, writes Helen Hill Lloyds List; Apr 20, 2006
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Attending the recent Aracon bunkering conference in Antwerp, vague memories of a certain Spice Girls song came to mind 'I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.'read more
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti) – Sakhalin Energy, the operator for the massive Sakhalin II project, signed a contract Thursday with a leading Japanese firm to supply 210,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually for the next 20 years.
The deal with Hiroshima Gas, a leading Japanese producer and supplier of natural gas and LNG, says deliveries will be carried out using small vessels with ice-breaking capability to transport about 20,000 cubic meters of LNG each.
Sakhalin Energy, owned by Royal Dutch/Shell (55%) and Japan's Mitsui (25%) and Mitsubishi (20%), is developing two vast offshore fields off the island of Sakhalin in Russia's Far East that hold estimated recoverable reserves of 150 million metric tons of oil and 500 billion cubic meters of gas. It is also building Russia's first liquefied gas plant on Sakhalin with a designed capacity of 9.6 million tons a year.read more
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Manati gathers pace
PETROBRAS and Norse Energy have accelerated development on the Manati gas project off Brazil by bringing in a second jack-up rig.read more
Militants say exploded car bomb at military base in Nigerian oil hub
DULUE MBACHU AP Worldstream; Apr 20, 2006
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Ethnic militants fighting government forces in Nigeria's southern oil region said they exploded a car bomb at a military base in the city of Port Harcourt, the main hub of the country's oil industry.read more
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One of the Republic's biggest oil companies increased fuel charges yesterday as crude prices hit new highs on international markets, writes Meg Shreve and Barry O'Halloranread more
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MULTINATIONAL oil giants Shell, Exxon and British Petroleum have sought a ban on bidding by India's state-run Oil ' Natural Gas Corp and the privately owned Reliance Industries for fresh oil and gas blocks tenders on the sub-continent.read more
Extras play role in ratcheting up remuneration as executive pay packages increase by 11%
By Kate Burgess Published: April 20 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 20 2006 03:00
Investors leafing through the pile of remuneration reports and voting forms ahead of annual meetings will find that basic pay packets haven't grown nearly as much as bonus and incentive schemes.
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It is still early in the season but already some institutional shareholders have spotted a trend of “ratcheting” up overall executive remuneration where the double-digit rises are from extras rather than salary.read more
BP admits 30% cost overrun on Baku pipelineBy Carola Hoyosand Thomas Catan Published: April 20 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 20 2006 03:00
BP has admitted the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline project it manages will cost 30 per cent more than the energy group first expected.
//
David Woodward, head of BP Azerbaijan, yesterday said the 1,768 km (1,099 mile) pipeline, which is about six months late, would cost $3.9bn (£2.18bn) rather than $2.95bn.read more
Gazprom issues threat to EU gas supplyBy Neil Buckley and Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow Published: April 19 2006 19:33 | Last updated: April 19 2006 19:33
Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, on Wednesday told European Union countries not to block its international ambitions, warning that it could redirect supplies to other markets.
//
In a statement after a meeting between Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s chief executive, and EU ambassadors, the company said: “It is necessary to note that attempts to limit Gazprom’s activities in the European market and politicise questions of gas supply, which in fact are of an entirely economic nature, will not lead to good results.”read more
Mitsubishi Corp to invest up to 1.8 trln yen for energy projects – report
04.19.2006, 09:21 PM
TOKYO (AFX) – Mitsubishi Corp will spend 1.5-1.8 trln yen from this year to 2009 to fund existing gas and coal projects, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported without citing sources.
Major trading firms have been increasing their investments to take advantage of soaring prices for natural gas and other resources, the business daily said, adding the amount of Mitsubishi's investment marks a sharp increase from the 800 bln yen it initially projected for the years to March 2004 to 2007. read more
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Warned over gas pipeline protests
Security measures have been increased at two Scottish companies amid fears they could be targeted by protesters opposed to their work on a gas pipeline in Ireland.
Staff at Technip and Transocean, who are contracted by oil giant Shell, were briefed after both companies were mentioned on a website supporting the cause of five men jailed over their opposition to the project.
The men, known as the Rossport Five, were imprisoned for 94 days last year after they broke an injunction banning them from protesting against the high-pressure pipeline being built by Shell from the Corrib gasfield to an onshore refinery at Bellanboy in County Mayo.
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INDIA has started buying natural gas from Qatar and has initiated talks to build pipelines to bring it from Iran, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.read more
World's largest LNG project clings to shores of Russian Arctic
Sakhalin II could export from the middle of 2008, writes Bruce McMichael Lloyds List; Apr 19, 2006
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Russia's LNG production industry clings to the very edges of the country with the huge Sakhalin II project lying on the eastern seaboard and Shtokman nestling above the Arctic Circle in the north-west close to Norway.read more
'Bid' exposes UK's double standards in its dealings with foreign investorsBy Eugene G Zhukov Published: April 19 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 19 2006 03:00
From Mr Eugenue G. Zhukov.
//
Sir, I found Jean Eaglesham's report “Centrica threat led to rethink on mergers” (April 17) fascinating. I am far from being a specialist in UK government's affairs, but I found the fact that the Department of Trade and Industry has had to hold eight meetings to discuss possible ways to block a non-existing bid by Russia's Gazprom for UK's Centrica to be quite revealing in itself. The UK, which has built up a very solid reputation for being open and fair in dealing with foreign investors, is in danger of exposing itself to charges of double standards.read more
Initiative to expand university links gets £27m liftBy Miranda Green,Political Correspondent Published: April 19 2006 03:00 | Last updated: April 19 2006 03:00
A fresh drive to build links with overseas universities was launched yesterday with £27m of funding from the government, the British Council and businesses.
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BP, BAE systems, GlaxoSmithKline and Shell have each contributed £1m to the second wave of the prime minister's initiative for international education, which aims to bring another 100,000 students to the UK and build partnerships between universities here and abroad.read more
The world's first gas platform powered solely by wind and solar energy has begun production, in a breakthrough for the offshore industry in low-cost exploitation of marginal fields.
Royal Dutch Shell will announce today that it has begun pumping gas from its Cutter platform in the UK southern North Sea. The tiny platform, powered by two wind turbines and a pair of solar panels, cost £80m to develop and is expected to produce gas at the rate of some 3 million cubic feet a day for the next 15 years.read more
Oil Prices Settle at Record, Above $71Apr 18 3:26 PM US/Eastern Email this story
By BRAD FOSSAP Business Writer
WASHINGTON
Oil prices settled at a new high above $71 a barrel Tuesday as supply threats around the world overshadowed a new report from OPEC forecasting weakening global demand.
There was no fresh catalyst for Tuesday's buying, but analysts said the market psychology would likely remain bullish until there is some resolution to a variety of geopolitical uncertainties, particularly the West's nuclear dispute with Iran and output disruptions in Nigeria.
Global Insight oil analyst Kevin Lindemer said the slowing consumption growth and swelling inventories of crude oil in the United States would typically help pull down prices, but “all of that is getting swamped right now by Iran and Nigeria.”
read more
World’s Most Sustainable and Ethical Oil Companies – 2006
A new report about Ethics, Sustainability, Corporate Governance, Transparency and Corporate Social Responsibility of the major worldwide oil companies, is available from The Oil & Gas Journal Online Research Center. The report is by Management & Excellence S.A., the prestigious research and rating company.
This report makes an in-depth comparison of the business practices of 15 of the major worldwide oil companies. This is the third in-depth study measuring oil companies’ compliance with over 280 key areas of sustainability, corporate governance, ethics, social responsibility and transparency by the Madrid-based ethics research and rating company Management & Excellence S.A.
The study uses the M&E Facts Only method consisting of a list of 280 internationally recognized standards in sustainability, corporate governance, social responsibility and ethics, customized for the oil industry. M&E surveyed all companies included and researched public information services to determine actual point-by point compliance with these standards. All percentages in the report refer to the number of points with which a company complies out of a total of over 280.
The report provides a true comparison for evaluating the business practices of these major oil companies.
THIS REPORT PROVIDES THE LATEST INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRENDS AND MOVEMENTS OF COMPANIES IN THE OIL INDUSTRY, IN FIVE (5) AREAS ANALYZED; SUSTAINABILITY, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ETHICS, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND TRANSPARENCY.
This report is a must for evaluating the future for these companies and the industry.
Product No. M&E2006
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To order online go to the OGJ Online Research Center web sitewww.ogjresearch.com *Contact OGJ Online Research Center for Customized Reports
Following is a summary of the results of this study –A press release issued by Management & Excellence, S.A.
PRESS RELEASEShell Again Most Sustainable Oil Company in 2006Brazil’s Petrobras Moves to 2nd; Exxon Drops to 9th Place; Four of Top-5 Are European
Madrid, 22 February 2006: Shell tops the list of the worlds most sustainable and ethical oil companies for the third year running. In the 2006 study Shell achieves the highest score of any oil company ever, achieving 89.01%. This is the result of the third in-depth study measuring oil companies’ compliance with over 280 key areas of sustainability, corporate governance, ethics, social responsibility and transparency by the Madrid-based ethics research and rating company Management & Excellence S.A.
Shell was able to substantially improve its already strong 2005 performance of 82% even though this year’s study covered roughly twice as many areas as the 2005 study, thus adapting to higher benchmarks in sustainability in the oil business. Shell subscribes to no fewer than 12 codes of human rights and its board met a record 29 times in 2004. By comparison, top-rated BP’s board only met 8 times. The company offers grievance channels for its personnel in over 50 countries and is implementing 120 biodiversity projects worldwide. No oil company studied was as transparent as Shell: the company publishes 13 separate reports on topics ranging from environmental impact assessment to animal testing.
Nigeria to build highway, create jobs in oil delta
18 Apr 2006 16:05:30 GMTSource: Reuters
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, April 18 (Reuters) – Nigeria will build a $1.8 billion highway and create 20,000 new jobs to address a crisis in the Niger Delta, where militant attacks have halted a quarter of oil output, President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Tuesday.
A mediator appointed by the militants, whose four-month campaign of sabotage and kidnapping has shut down 550,000 barrels a day of crude exports, dismissed the proposals as insufficient to end the crisis.
Obasanjo announced the measures, which also include dredging of the River Niger, at the inaugural meeting of a new council designed to speed development in the delta states, which pump almost all Nigeria's oil but where most people live in poverty.
“We have a wonderful opportunity for a new beginning,” Obasanjo told delegates in the presidential villa, adding that the government of the world's eighth largest oil exporter had made mistakes.
Obasanjo listed a series of projects to be undertaken by the federal government — including a $1.8 billion East-West highway and 20,000 new jobs in the military, police, state oil company, and teaching — and called on state governors to come up with plans of their own for the next council meeting on July 18.
“The announcement from Abuja is not exciting enough to compel a positive response,” Oronto Douglas, an activist nominated by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to mediate with the government, told Reuters.
“The struggle has gone beyond just development,” he added.
MEND has demanded greater local control over oil revenues, the release of two jailed leaders from the delta and compensation for oil spills from Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>.
The demands were echoed by the Ijaw National Congress, a lobby group representing the largest tribe in the vast wetlands region, in a statement published over the weekend.
BOYCOTT
Many prominent delta activists stayed away from the Abuja meeting, dismissing it as a “jamboree”.
MEND has been threatening another attack on the oil industry since February, but has yet to carry it out. The group released the last of its foreign oil worker hostages at the end of March.
Obasanjo insisted the council should come up with concrete measures with detailed timelines. Saying the region's problems were not tribal, he called on governors to deal with armed groups in their states.
“You cannot carry weapons in one hand and expect that you will have a warm handshake with the other hand,” Obasanjo said.
Many inhabitants of the delta, a region almost the size of England dominated by mangrove-lined creeks, feel cheated out of the huge riches being extracted from their ancestral lands.
Their bitterness against government and Western oil companies fuels insecurity in a region awash with small arms and riven by internecine conflict.
Analysts say the conflict is linked to elections next year, when various zones are vying for the ruling party ticket.
Oil is Nigeria's economic lifeline and the government is keen for the main operator, Royal Dutch Shell, to resume production from areas it abandoned after the militant attacks.
Shell is reluctant to return to the oilfields until violence eases. The prolonged loss of high-quality Nigerian crude, most of it pumped by Shell, has helped push world oil prices towards new highs.read more
Shell yet to assess Nigerian oilfield, output shut
Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:33 AM GMT
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has yet to carry out an assessment of an offshore oilfield in Nigeria, a step required before it can restart output shut since February following rebel attacks, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
“There is no change,” the spokeswoman said, adding she could not say when the assessment would take place.
Shell previously said it hoped the appraisal of the EA field, which pumps 115,000 barrels per day (bpd), could take place last week.read more
Husky follows Shell in trying to squeeze oil from hard rock
Calgary firm pays $10-million for limestone leases
PATRICK BRETHOUR
CALGARY — Husky Energy Inc., saying it is aiming for a “dominant position” in the oil sands, is boosting its bet that it can wring crude out of limestone.
The Calgary-based integrated energy company said yesterday it has spent $10-million to acquire leases 95 kilometres west of Fort McMurray, in an area where the oil sands become oil rocks — where bitumen is trapped in limestone rather than clay.
Husky already had substantial holdings of what is technically known as carbonate in its Saleski leases. Saleski holds about 16.8 billion barrels of original bitumen in place, one of the most expansive measures of the potential of an oil reservoir. The new leases, adjacent to Saleski, contain another 2.7 billion barrels of bitumen in place. All told, the Saleski properties hold more than half of Husky's oil sands potential.read more
NEW YORK — Shell gas stations in Los Angeles will be giving out more than just gas at the pumps. NBC Universal Television Stations made a deal with Los Angeles-based VST Media Network to show national and local news, weather and entertainment news on daylight-viewable 17-inch screens with stereo speakers, reported Brandweek Magazine .
The programming will currently reach 17 Shell gas stations in Los Angeles with plans by VST to have 500 stations in L.A., San Francisco and San Diego by the end of the year, according to the report. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. read more
Oil Settles Above $70 a Barrel, Despite Inventories at 8-Year High
By BHUSHAN BAHREE in New York and ANN DAVIS in HoustonApril 18, 2006; Page A1
Crude oil closed above $70 a barrel for the first time, highlighting a phenomenon reshaping the petroleum world: Investment flows into oil futures are supplanting nitty-gritty supply-and-demand data as prime drivers of prices.
In contrast to past bull markets in crude, this year's run-up has occurred even though oil inventories in the U.S., the world's largest market, have swelled to their highest levels in nearly eight years.read more
Nestlé looks set to swallow up McCartney range of frozen meals
By Matthew Beard
Published: 17 April 2006
Devotees of ethical consumerism were dismayed when The Body Shop was sold last month to a company part-owned by Nestlé.
They may now have further food for thought following reports that the company set up by the vegetarian trailblazer Linda McCartney is also about to be swallowed up by the Swiss food giant, which is named today among a top 10 of “unethical” multinational companies.
The late wife of Sir Paul McCartney popularised a meat-free diet in the 1980s through her best-selling cookbooks, and in 1991 launched her eponymous range of frozen meals.read more
Nestlé looks set to swallow up McCartney range of frozen meals
Belfast Telegraph; Apr 17, 2006
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Devotees of ethical consumerism were dismayed when The Body Shop was sold last month to a company part-owned by Nestlé.read more
Oil giant studies options for transporting energy to Europe as it seeks access to Russia's Shtokman field, writes Martyn Wingrove Lloyds List; Apr 18, 2006
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STATOIL has conceptual plans to build a gas pipeline from the Barents Sea to existing infrastructure in the Norwegian Sea.read more
INT'L OIL GIANTS SEEK EXCLUSION OF INDIA'S ONGC, RIL FROM NELP VI
Asia Pulse; Apr 18, 2006
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NEW DELHI, April 18 Asia Pulse – Oil giants Shell, Exxon and BP have sought a ban on bidding by India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) (BSE:500312) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) (BSE:500325) for fresh oil and gas blocks put on tender in the sixth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).read more
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela reclaimed more than 10,700 square miles in potential drilling acreage from private oil companies last month by requiring them to join new state-controlled joint ventures, a newspaper reported Monday.
Under the new terms, PDVSA took at least a 60 percent stake in each field, hiked taxes and royalties, and took back drilling acreage that it claimed the companies had failed to invest in.
Unnamed foreign companies received a total of $900 million in “investment bonds” for use in new joint ventures to develop the oil acreage that was seized, El Tiempo said on its Web site.
Oil companies such as Chevron Corp., Brazil‘s Petrobras, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC lost oil acreage to PDVSA during the contract negotiations.
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and was the fourth-largest supplier of U.S. oil imports in 2005.
Oil multinational, Shell, has lamented inability to access its facilities located in Ogoniland, Rivers State, to clean up the March 24, 2006 spill in its Bomu Well-2, claiming that its workers on inspection were attacked by community youths.
The company also denied allegations that it ordered the manhandling of two youths of Ban-Ogoi, who reportedly escorted foreign journalists and human rights activists to a controversial power plant site constructed by it as alleged by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). read more
17.04.06 Japan Starts Building Gas Tanker for Sakhalin-2
VLADIVOSTOK, April 17. /FIS/. The ceremony dedicated to the startup of the construction of the first gas tanker by joint order of Sovkomflot and Japan's vessel owner NYK was held in Nagasaki. The ice-class tanker of the deadweight of 71.2 thousand tons will be named 'Grand Elena.'
The ship is intended for the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the oil and gas terminal currently constructed in Aniva Bay (southern extremity of Sakhalin) under Sakhalin-2 project. Startup of Russian LNG transportation is to begin in 2008.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller discussed current liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and new LNG projects with Yorihiko Kojima, the CEO of Mitsubishi Corp., last Tuesday, Gazprom said.
The two discussed Mitsubishi’s proposals on cooperation to implement oil and gas projects in Russia, including the Shtokman gas condensate field and the Baltic LNG project.
Mitsubishi is a party to the Sakhalin-2 LNG project, which calls for the construction of Russia’s first and the world’s biggest LNG plant. Gazprom is negotiating a role in the Sakhalin-2 project with Royal Dutch Shell.read more
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil leapt to $70 a barrel for the first time in seven and a half months on Monday, extending strong gains made last week as tension mounted between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
U.S. May crude (CLc1) oil futures traded 53 cents up at $69.85 a barrel by 0742 GMT, having hit $70 earlier, its highest since Hurricane Katrina battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in late August last year to send U.S. prices to a record-high ofread more
Nigeria: Ogoni rights group accuses oil giant Shell of breaching peace talks
BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom; Apr 17, 2006
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Text of report by Kelvin Ebiri entitled “Mosop warns Shell” published by Nigerian newspaper The Guardian website on 16 Aprilread more
A staffing crisis is crippling the oil and gas sector
AN ACUTE shortage of skills in the oil and gas industry has become a crisis, a problem as serious as the shortage of rigs and equipment and one that is forcing companies to absorb huge salary increases to keep projects running.
The dearth of qualified professionals — reservoir engineers, geophysicists and project designers — is so acute that oil and gas projects are being delayed, putting at risk expectations of future production and delivery of fuel.
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Alarm bells are ringing in the United States, where contractors working on major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects are complaining of labour and equipment shortages. According to Wood Mackenzie, a six-month delay to all the LNG projects under construction would leave the US with a potential gas shortfall of two billion cubic feet per day in the winter of 2008-09.
“The industry is in a people crisis,” said Dennis Proctor, chief executive of Hunting, a British oil services company that sells drilling and well technology to leading oil companies. “I have seen salaries double in a year.”
read more
BP HAS agreed to pay more than $500,000 a day to secure the continued use of a drillship in the Gulf of Mexico. The price, a record rate for an oceangoing rig, shows how rapidly oil exploration costs are rising as the search for new fields hots up.
From December next year, BP will pay a day rate of $520,000 (£297,000) to charter the Discoverer Enterprise, almost three times more than it pays at present for the use of the ship.
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The surge in price reflects a desperation among oil explorers to retain control of scarce resources, essential if the companies are to meet their own oil production targets. A shortage of drilling rigs is delaying exploration programmes in the North Sea while a surge in drilling activity in the Middle East is driving up the costs offshore of Texas and Louisiana as the newly rich state-owned oil companies of the Gulf compete with US multinationals for the latest technology.
Shortages in labour and equipment are causing concern that the scheduling of major projects will be affected and badly needed additions to global hydrocarbon output will be delayed, further increasing the upward pressure on oil and gas prices.
read more
We need to end our reliance on gas. The energy review will decide how it is to be done, writes Tracey Boles
WHEN Russia turned off the gas supply to Ukraine in January, Brian Wilson’s first thought was: “Our chickens have come home to roost.” The former energy minister had always thought it was wrong to make Britain dependent on gas. Now everyone could see the folly of the policy.
Wilson, minister for energy and construction from May 2002 until June 2003, said: “Being very dependent on one fuel is a security-of-supply issue. And even if supply is maintained, our control over price is limited.”
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The stand-off between Moscow and Kiev over new terms on Ukraine’s gas contracts did not last long. But the problems with Britain’s dependence on gas go on. Erratic supplies from the Continent during the winter and high wholesale prices have sent energy bills soaring.
The touch-and-go nature of gas supplies was one reason the government decided to tear up its energy policy and launch a review in December. The consultation on the review closed last week.
But whatever the outcome, there is a risk that Britain’s energy bills will continue to climb, particularly if investment in new infrastructure and cutting-edge technologies takes place against rising demand for energy.
read more
Offshore wind farms blown off schedule by two years
By Tim Webb
Published: 16 April 2006
More than half of the first phase of the UK's offshore wind farms will be built two years late, at the earliest. Developers are also warning that the second phase of much larger projects is unlikely to go ahead without government support, threatening Tony Blair's target for producing more energy from renewable sources .
The looming crisis faced by the wind industry comes as ministers begin drafting the second Energy Review in three years. Consultation for the latest review closed on Friday. The first one favoured renewable forms of energy, primarily wind power.read more
… it can mean £27,000 a day. An exclusive survey for The Observer charts the rises in the benefits packages enjoyed by the heads of the UK's largest companies. Heather Connon reports
The chief executives of Britain's 10 largest companies received salary and benefits packages worth an average of £6.5m last year, according to a detailed analysis of their remuneration prepared exclusively for The Observer. This was 11 per cent ahead of the total for the previous year.
Prepared for The Observer by consultancy Independent Remuneration Solutions (IRS), it is one of the only surveys to include all components of directors' pay – pensions, options and other share schemes as well as salary and bonuses. The 10 companies are worth £750m in total, equal to half the value of all FTSE 100 companies, and are used by remuneration consultants as a bellwether on which to base other companies' pay and perks packages.
read more
British consumers believe that McDonald's is the least ethical of high-profile corporations, according to a new survey.
The unwanted accolade follows sustained criticism of the burger giant's unhealthy fare and provides further evidence that McDonald's – for years the most successful retail brand in the world – is increasingly out of step with a body-conscious society.
McDonald's tops the poll ahead of other 'bogeyman' companies such as Shell and Nestle, according to the Ethical Index compiled by market research firm The Fraser Consultancy. Based on a survey of more than 1,300 consumers, it is the first to rank UK and overseas brands according to their 'ethical profile'.read more
Just as things seemed to be calming down in the delta region of Nigeria after a spate of kidnappings and insurgent attacks, the militant group calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta — MEND — announced last week to all who would listen that it was planning new violence against oil facilities in the region. Apparently unconcerned about tipping its hand to the authorities, MEND even gave a date for the start of its new campaign: April 25.
The guerrillas could not have hoped for a better reaction. Crude oil prices immediately jumped on the news, hitting $70 a barrel, as new fears about a supply squeeze hit the global oil market. Adding to the concern is that the latest message, sent to various news organizations, seems a lot angrier and more violent than previous missives. The references to endless buckets of blood sounded more like an Al Qaeda rant than a threat from oil-market saboteurs.read more
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell-focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
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.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders. (JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
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:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.
Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, on Wednesday told European Union countries not to block its international ambitions, warning that it could redirect supplies to other markets. 
NEW YORK — Shell gas stations in Los Angeles will be giving out more than just gas at the pumps. NBC Universal Television Stations made a deal with Los Angeles-based VST Media Network to show national and local news, weather and entertainment news on daylight-viewable 17-inch screens with stereo speakers, reported Brandweek Magazine .
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
