1st June 2006

By Alfred Donovan

An article published on 22nd May by BrandRepubic.com (printed below) revealed Shell’s plans to appoint a digital agency to turn around the online reputation of Shell.

This represents a very considerable challenge as it is almost impossible to search for any online information relating to Shell without stumbling across websites containing negative content.

For example, if you Google “Royal Dutch Shell Plc”, the number 3 result (out of 867,000) happens to be a Wikipedia article about what is described as a “Domain name oversight”. The “oversight” was actually gross negligence on the part of Shell management which allowed me to obtain registration of the precise dotcom domain name for Royal Dutch Shell Plc (which adorns this website). Shell subsequently attempted to seize the domain name by issuing proceedings against an 88 year old war veteran, me. This act alone generated global adverse publicity for Shell in the news media and online. read more

31 May 2006
By John Donovan

On 16th May I attended the inaugural Royal Dutch Shell Plc AGM located in West London. This was the downgraded (satellite) venue for what are evidently considered to be second class Shell shareholders. I refer to the former shareholders in Shell Transport and Trading Company Plc.

Not a single board member of Royal Dutch Shell Plc was present. Instead we watched the granite faced retiring Royal Dutch Shell Chairman, Aad Jacobs, on a giant video screen during a long-drawn-out AGM with shareholder questions alternating between the two AGM venues – one in Holland and the other in the UK. read more

By Zaidi Isham Ismail
[email protected]

May 31 2006

OIL and gas service provider Saag Consolidated (M) Bhd has clinched a US$50 million contract from Russia’s Sakhalin Energy Investment Co Ltd.

Under the contract, Saag will be part of an exploration team assisting Sakhalin Energy, with the aim of stepping up crude oil production.

Sakhalin Energy is a Royal Dutch Shell plc-led consortium, of which the Anglo-Dutch oil giant takes up a 50 per cent interest in the Western Siberian oil field off Japan.

Russia is the world’s fifth largest oil producer. read more

RBC, 30.05.2006, St. Petersburg 19:14:02.Gazprom plans to complete asset swap talks with Shell within the terms of the Sakhalin-2 project by July 1, 2006, Gazpromexport’s (Gazprom’s fully owned subsidiary) Deputy General Director Sergei Yemelyanov said in St. Petersburg today.

As reported earlier, Gazprom and Royal Dutch/Shell signed a memorandum of understanding to swap assets within the terms of Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian field and Sakhalin-2 projects, according to which Gazprom would secure a 25-percent stake plus 1 share in the Sakhalin-2 project, and Shell would get a 50-percent stake in the Zapolyarnoye-Neocomian project. read more

By Emma Amaize
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 
 
Warri —  A militant group, the Iduwuni Volunteer Force (IVF) in Bayelsa State, has threatened to shut down all flow stations/oil wells in their area belonging to  Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) if no tenable explanation is offered by the company for its non-challant attitude to the people.

The militant group has been embroiled in a running battle in the past few weeks with Shell over a statement that about N800 million was expended by the Anglo-Dutch oil firm in the execution of development projects in some oil producing communities in Iduwini kingdom. read more

The price of crude oil resumed its volatile trading Tuesday, jumping 66 cents a barrel to close at more than $72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, driven in part by fresh evidence of China’s thirst for oil. Here is today’s news roundup on oil and energy.

* * *
STILL THIRSTY FOR OIL: China’s oil consumption rose 10.8% in April from a year ago, the biggest such gain since 2004, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing recently lifted the cap on fuel prices in China, encouraging refiners to buy more oil to make more fuel, feeding the surge in demand. Strong oil consumption in China, the world’s No. 2 oil consumer after the U.S., has helped keep global energy prices high. read more

· Staffing is biggest issue for industry, says union
· Firms already offering £10,000 signing-on fees

Terry Macalister
Wednesday May 31, 2006
The Guardian

A skills shortage threatens to derail Britain’s nuclear decommissioning and new building programme, the industry’s biggest trade union has warned.

Prospect, the engineering, science and management union, said the poaching of staff is already endemic among engineering and other companies ahead of a £50bn-plus dismantling bonanza and the final go-ahead for a second generation of nuclear power stations. read more

Business Wire: Deep Well’s Valuation is Set in the Oil Sands Game after Shell’s/BlackRock Takeover Bid; Deep Well’s Reserves Value is Estimated, in Comparison at $16.60 Per Share, Says Investrend Affiliate SISM Research Analyst Ernest C. Schlotter

May 30, 2006
 
(Investrend Research Syndicate) Ernest C. Schlotter, a senior analyst with Investrend affiliate SISM Research and a Starmine four star analyst, has placed an estimated reserve value of $13.20 to $16.60 per share on Deep Well Oil & Gas (OTC: DWOG) reserves. read more

By Thomas Catan
Published: May 30 2006 19:15 | Last updated: May 30 2006 19:15

With energy prices at record highs, oil and gas companies are hardly begging for money these days.
ExxonMobil has posted the largest annual profit in corporate history; BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other “supermajors” are struggling to find ways to use their huge infusions of cash.

Collectively, the largest oil companies have returned well over $120bn to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends over the past two years. ExxonMobil alone is returning $2bn to shareholders every month. read more

By Ellen Kelleher in London
Published: May 31 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 31 2006 03:00

There are two types of companies in which Luke Newman, manager of F&C’s £50.5m Special Situations fund, likes to invest: those that are undergoing some sort of change and those with share prices that imply little to no growth.
 
Mr Newman’s thesis is that value tends to be found when companies are either in a position of recovery or a turnround. The fund is quite focused as there are just 30 to 50 stocks in the portfolio.It has a bias toward mid- to small-cap stocks. read more

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Western Oil Sands Inc. (WTO.TO: Quote), whose sole business is a stake in a Canadian oil sands project, said on Tuesday it will explore for oil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

The Calgary-based firm said its WesternZagros Ltd. unit has signed a exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) with the Kurdistan Regional Government, Sulamaniyah Administration.

“We believe this EPSA is an early-entry opportunity into a highly prospective area and, subject to exploration success, could provide Western with an additional world-class asset,” Jim Houck, chief executive of Western Oil Sands, said in a statement. read more

A California state appeals court ruled in favor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) petition on behalf of three online journalists Friday, holding that the online journalists have the same right to protect the confidentiality of their sources as offline reporters do.A California state appeals court ruled in favor of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) petition on behalf of three online journalists Friday, holding that the online journalists have the same right to protect the confidentiality of their sources as offline reporters do.”Today’s decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large,” said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl, who argued the case before the appeals court last month. “The court has upheld the strong protections for the free flow of information to the press, and from the press to the public.”
Full story, For the full decision in the case [PDF], For more on Apple v. Does read more

30 May 2006

Online journalists have the same rights as traditional reporters, a Californian court has ruled.

The decision was made in a case brought by Apple against a number of reporters who published information online about a future Apple product launch.

Apple filed the lawsuit to find out the source of the reporter’s information.

But judges said that online journalists have the same right to protect the confidentiality of their sources as offline media.

“Today’s decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large,” said Attorney Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights organisation who have been defending the journalists. read more

Judge overturns AppleInsider and PowerPage rulings

Tom Sanders in California,
30 May 2006

California judge has ruled against Apple’s request to force several bloggers to reveal the sources of confidential information leaks. The ruling overturned an earlier verdict in Apple’s favour.

Apple had alleged that AppleInsider and PowerPage had violated its trade secrets.

Both websites published information in 2004 about a product codenamed Asteroid or Q97, a forthcoming application that would allow users to record analogue audio within Apple’s GarageBand software. read more

Martin Lynch,
30 May 2006

Apple’s attempts to force an online technology news site to reveal its source have been blocked by a US State appeals court.

Apple had initially been granted permission to subpoena the email records of Apple insider and another site Powerpage.org in order to ferret out a mole that had leaked product information.

However, the three-judge State of California Court of Appeal was far less impressed with Apple’s tactics.

They overturned the earlier judgement claiming Apple failed to undermine the journalistic status of bloggers and chastised the company for bringing any of it to court before conducting a thorough internal search for the leak. read more

By Tim Molloy
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Tempers are rising along with gas prices. Gas stations across the country report that drivers are taking out their gas rage against big oil by yelling at clerks and cashiers and sometimes driving off without paying.
 
“Everyone is suffering at the same time,” said Sam Shirazie, a clerk at a Chevron station east of downtown Los Angeles.

No detailed statistics are kept on incidents of gas rage. But the National Association of Convenience Stores said anecdotal evidence indicates they have increased since prices began climbing in February. read more

May 30, 2006
 
SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) – Royal Dutch Shell group and mining giant Anglo American Corp have formed an alliance that may result in the 5 bln aud Monash synthetic diesel and electricity project being developed in the Australian state of Victoria, the Age newspaper reported, citing the companies.

Shell and Anglo have formed the global alliance to pursue “clean”, coal-converting energy opportunities and have nominated the Monash project as their leading candidate, the daily said. read more

By Christopher Brown-Humesin Stockholm
Published: May 30 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 30 2006 03:00

Talk about a hard act tofollow. When Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo takes over as chief executive of Nokia on Thursday, he will be stepping into the shoes of Jorma Ollila, who over 14 years built the company into the world’s leading maker of mobile phones, a man repeatedly hailed as one of Europe’s top businessmen.

Not that 52-year-old Mr Kallasvuo appears daunted. “Mr Ollila is a hard act to follow. But I am not looking back, I am looking forward to the tasks and challenges ahead,” he tells the FT. read more

Published: May 30 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 30 2006 03:00

There are many reasons to express doubts about the move by Arcelor, the Luxembourg-based steel group, to buy Severstal of Russia in order to sidestep the hostile bid by Mittal Steel. One is the way the Arcelor board is presenting the takeover as a done deal, which only an absolute majority of all shareholders will be able to reject. A second is the opportunity for yet another oligarch’s fortune to leave Russia, with Alexei Mordashov picking up nearly one-third of Arcelor in return for his90 per cent of Severstal.
But the reason to welcome this deal, which will have been cleared in advance with the Kremlin, is that Vladimir Putin, the president, is evidently showing none of the neurosis about one of his country’s top two steelmakers coming under foreign control that he displays about foreign ownership in Russia’s energy sector. If only his evidently relaxed view on Severstal could become the template for a more general Russian openness to foreign investment. But only last week, at his summit with the European Union, Mr Putin was touchily describing the energy sector as “the holy of holies of our economy” and demanding reciprocity for any EU investment in it. read more

By Tom Mitchell in Daya Bay
Published: May 30 2006 01:39 | Last updated: May 30 2006 01:39

South China’s first industrial revolution bypassed Donglian, a poor village on the picturesque shores of Daya Bay. The factory sprawl that raced through Guangdong province’s manufacturing heartland in the 1980s and 1990s never reached this corner of the Pearl River delta, 80km north-east of Hong Kong. Even as the 20th century gave way to the 21st, Donglian’s residents still used water buffalo to plough their rice paddies.
 
Then Guangdong’s second industrial revolution landed right on top of Donglian in the form of CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company (CSPC) – Royal Dutch Shell’s $4.3bn (€3.4bn, £2.3bn) petrochemical joint venture with offshore oil producer CNOOC. Donglian’s ramshackle concrete and brick dwellings were razed, its wooded hills flattened and ancestral graves transplanted. read more

By Neil Chatterjee

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose toward $72 on Tuesday, as a dispute between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear programme rumbled on and OPEC delegates said the cartel would keep pumping at near maximum rates to soothe market fears.

U.S. crude for July delivery was trading 38 cents up at $71.75 a barrel by 0053 GMT. London Brent crude traded 32 cents up at $70.91, after both markets were closed on Monday for holidays.

“The gains are a little surprising but people are looking at Iran and waiting for the big OPEC meeting,” said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo. read more

By Barry FitzGerald
May 30, 2006

PROSPECTS for the vast brown coal resources in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley to host a $5 billion synthetic diesel and electricity project have soared.

Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell has thrown its money and technology behind the project, the Monash energy project near Traralgon, in a global alliance with the project promoter, South Africa’s Anglo American.

Shell and Anglo have formed the alliance to pursue “clean” coal conversion energy opportunities and have nominated the Monash project as their leading candidate. read more

Last Update: 10:49 AM ET May 29, 2006

RIO DE JANEIRO (MarketWatch) — Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.LN), and other private firms within a month will have to turn over their Bolivian gas station network to state-energy firm Yacimientos Petroliferas Fiscales Bolivianos, or YPFB, the Estado newswire said Monday.

Petrobras owns about 25% of Bolivia’s gas stations.

The transfer of the fuel distribution business also hits the companies Copenac, Pisco, Refipet, and Pexim, the newswire said. read more

Terry Macalister
Tuesday May 30, 2006

The Chinese government is to woo foreign companies such as BP and Shell to explore for oil in Tibet.

The controversial move follows a failure by the partly state-owned PetroChina to realise Beijing’s hopes that the disputed land could quickly become a major source of fuel for energy-starved China.

PetroChina is to oversee the opening up of 10 exploration blocks for foreign participation in the Qiantang basin, in the far north of Tibet. The company has asked its Daqing Oilfield subsidiary to prepare a package of data and bidding documents that it will present to foreign oil companies in the second half of this year. read more

By Thomas Catan
Published: May 29 2006 13:34 | Last updated: May 29 2006 13:34

Amid soaring energy prices, international oil companies are making unprecedented profits.
 
ExxonMobil posted the largest annual profit in corporate history this year. BP, Royal Dutch Shell and the other “supermajors” are having a difficult time working out what to do with the money.

Over the past two years, the largest oil companies have returned well over $120bn to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Exxon alone is returning more than $2bn to investors each month. read more

David Gow in Brussels
Saturday May 27, 2006
The Guardian

Arcelor, the pan-European steel group, yesterday torpedoed Mittal’s latest hostile takeover bid by buying Russia’s Severstal in an agreed 13bn euro (£8.8bn) deal designed to create an “unrivalled global champion” out of reach of its Indian-owned predator. The friendly transaction will see Alexei Mordashov, who owns 89% of Severstal, take 32% of the new group and, potentially, become its chief executive and even owner within a few years. read more

ST. LOUIS, MO, United States (UPI) — U.S. energy industry leaders are divided on the best way to produce energy from coal — with some providers showing reluctance to adopt cleaner technology.