Oil-News Roundup
May 9, 2006
Crude-oil futures fell slightly and ended below $70 as traders responded to reports of a feelings-soothing letter from Iran's president to President Bush. Here is today's well of news about oil and fuel prices.
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SHELL BUYS BLACKROCK: Shell Canada Ltd., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, agreed to buy Canadian bitumen producer BlackRock Ventures Inc. for about $2.17 billion. Shell and other major oil companies have been scrambling to pump more oil and natural gas out of the ground. BlackRock (not to be confused with the famous New York private-equity firm) specializes in squeezing bitumen, a low-grade, sticky crude oil, from oil-sands deposits in Alberta. While turning oil sands into crude is a costly and difficult process, it has become an increasingly attractive alternative as oil prices have skyrocketed along with political tensions in parts of the world where crude comes easier.
HEDGING AT THE PUMP: While many Americans are paying $3 or more a gallon for gasoline, others are paying much, much less. Among those lucky few are customers of First Fuel Banks, a Minnesota company that bills itself as the only gasoline retailer in the country where customers can buy fuel for the future and hedge against rising prices, the Associated Press reports.
•$100 Oil?: International Energy Agency executive director Claude Mandil warned that oil prices would likely stay high and could climb to $100 a barrel, Australia's Courier Mail reports.
•Telecommuting to Cope: Some cities are better suited for telecommuting than others, making them the best-prepared to handle a gas-price shock, the Wall Street Journal Online reports.
•Japan Gas Prices: Japan's average retail gasoline price has hit about $4.56 a gallon, its highest level in more than 15 years, the Associated Press reports.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
