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May 24th, 2006:

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Oil-News Roundup 24 May 2006

Oil News Roundup

The WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE May 24, 2006Crude-oil futures surged by more than $1 to settle north of $71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, driven partly by worries about another robust hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico. Here is today’s roundup of news about oil and energy.

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BIG OIL UNDER ATTACK: Even longtime supporters of the oil industry are turning more critical of giant firms’ record profits. Amid these attacks, Big Oil is launching its most vigorous political offensive since the 1970s, but its current political woes go deeper than the recent surge in pump prices.

CHINA LETS GAS PRICES RISE: Just as it is starting to let its yuan trade with the slightest bit of extra freedom against the dollar, China is also loosening up its price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel. Beijing’s second price increase in two months will allow a 10% gain in the price of gas and an 11% gain in diesel, effective tomorrow. But those won’t likely be enough to quell demand or inspire the adoption of conservation measures, experts say, meaning China will probably keep putting upward pressure on global fuel prices for some time to come. On the bright side, China’s refiners will get a little more money for their efforts. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Under Attack, Big Oil Finds Reserves of Clout Running Low

Creaky Machinery
Under Attack, Big Oil Finds
Reserves of Clout Running Low

Giants Cut Back U.S. Lobbying As Action Shifted Abroad; New Bid to Play Catch-Up How Rep. Barton Turned Critic By BRODY MULLINS and RUSSELL GOLD May 24, 2006; Page A1Rep. Joe Barton should be Big Oil’s biggest friend in Congress. The Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee hails from a booming corner of the Texas energy patch. An engineer by training, he spent years working for a large integrated oil company, Atlantic Richfield Co. Since 2000, no House lawmaker has received more campaign contributions from oil and gas companies than Mr. Barton.

But in recent months, Mr. Barton has become a vocal industry critic. He struck from last summer’s energy bill a measure that would have relieved the companies of liability for pollution caused by a gasoline additive. He started an investigation into record profits. Earlier this month, he sent a letter to the top U.S.-based executive of BP PLC, which now owns the company that once employed him, demanding that the company spend more of its profits to expand refining capacity in the U.S. The same day he sent another letter to Exxon Mobil Corp. blasting the compensation and pension package for recently departed CEO Lee Raymond. Mr. Raymond received a lump-sum pension payment of nearly $100 million. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Voice of America: Shell Declines to Pay Nigeria Damages Pending Appeal

Shell Declines to Pay Nigeria Damages Pending Appeal
By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
An oil installation belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company in Odidi, Niger Delta area of Nigeria, Feb. 2006

Multinational oil company Shell, is set to defy a Nigerian court-ordered deadline to pay $1.5 billion in compensation damages to local communities in the Niger Delta. Shell’s decision not to pay the damages pending an appeal is likely to incense militants who have attacked oil-and-gas facilities in the past six months.

Shell says it will wait for a decision on its appeal before considering a court order to pay $1.5 billion in compensation damages to ethnic-Ijaw communities in the Niger Delta. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Gulf Daily News (Bahrain): Shell seeks to invest in $2.4bn China refinery

Shell seeks to invest in $2.4bn China refinery

Published: Wednesday, 24 May, 2006, 10:23 AM Doha Time

BEIJING: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, said it’s in talks about investing in a 19.3bn-yuan ($2.4bn) oil refinery being built by China National Offshore Oil Corp in southern China.

Shell wants to invest in the refinery to integrate the facility with an adjacent $4.3bn chemical joint venture with China National Offshore, Lim Haw Kuang, chairman of Shell’s companies in China, said at Daya Bay in Nanhai, an area in the southern province of Guangdong. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Expansion (Spain): Shell appointed technological partner for Extremadura refinery (La refineria de Extremadura 'ficha' a Shell como aliado tecnologico del proyecto)

Shell appointed technological partner for Extremadura refinery (La refineria de Extremadura 'ficha' a Shell como aliado tecnologico del proyecto)
Expansion; May 23, 2006

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In Spain, shareholders in an oil refinery in the Spanish autonomous region of Extremadura approve a rights issue and formed the board of directors of the company responsible for the project, Refineria Balboa. Spanish entrepreneur Alfonso Gallardo has a 47 per cent stake in the firm, while Sociedad de Fomento Industrial de Extremadura has a 20 per cent stake. The remaining 33 per cent is owned by leading Spanish electricity group Iberdrola and leading Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and savings bank Caja Madrid (10 per cent each) and Corporacion Empresarial de Caja Extremadura (3 per cent). read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Irish Times: Shell to Sea says poll findings support its campaign

Shell to Sea says poll findings support its campaign
Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Irish Times; May 23, 200

Political and business interests advocating progress on the current plans for Corrib Shell gas project are in the “minority” as a result of yesterday’s Irish Times /tns mrbi opinion poll findings, the Shell to Sea campaign has said.

The poll’s findings on the Corrib gas onshore pipeline give “the lie” to the claim that opponents of the high pressure onshore pipeline are in the minority, Dr Mark Garavan, Shell to Sea campaign spokesman, said yesterday. Shell E&P Ireland said it was “pleased that the majority of those surveyed want the Corrib project to go ahead”.

The poll conducted by The Irish Times / tns mrbi nationally early last week focused on the pipeline, rather than the entire project. It asked if the pipeline should go ahead on its current planned route, should be re-routed or should be scrapped. Only 20 per cent felt it should proceed on its planned route through Rossport to the onshore terminal at Bellanaboy in north Mayo; 44 per cent said it should take a different route, while 17 per cent said it should be scrapped. Dr Garavan said that in Connacht, “63 per cent support a reconfiguring of the project”.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

AFX Europe (Focus): Shell pledges to cooperate with Nigeria efforts to end row with Ogoniland

Shell pledges to cooperate with Nigeria efforts to end row with Ogoniland
AFX Europe (Focus); May 23, 2006

LAGOS (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell has pledged to cooperate with a government’s peace initiative to resolve its age-long row with Nigeria’s troubled Ogoniland.

Community unrest forced Shell to quit Ogoniland, where it had many oil wells, in 1993. Shell is Nigeria’s major operator, accounting for around half of the west African country’s daily output of 2.6 mln barrels.

President Olusegun Obasanjo last year set up a panel to reconcile Shell and the community.

“As a party to the reconciliation process, we commit to play our part to ensure the success of the peace initiative and as Mr President put it, ‘lay the foundation for genuine reconciliation in Ogoniland’,” Shell said in a statement here.

The Ogoni people, through the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), have been seeking local control of Nigeria’s oil wealth as well as compensation for exploration activities in their region.

Ogoniland is at the heart of the Niger Delta, home to Nigeria’s multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry. The region is also the centre of ethnic and militant unrest as a result of environmental neglect and degradation.

[email protected]

afp/cml

COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2005.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Reuters: Shell Canada's Mather sees consolidation

Shell Canada's Mather sees consolidation

Tue May 23, 2006 3:36 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shell Canada Ltd. (SHC.TO: Quote) Chief Executive Clive Mather said on Tuesday he expects further consolidation among Canada's heavy oil industry and that his company will be among the buyers.

Mather earlier this month agreed to pay C$2.4 billion ($2.2 billion) for BlackRock Ventures Inc., a small Canadian heavy oil and oil sands company. He told the Reuters Global Energy Summit in New York that more deals in the sector will soon emerge. read more

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THE NEW YORK TIMES: Shell Exec: Oil Cos. Follow the Markets

Shell Exec: Oil Cos. Follow the Markets

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: May 23, 2006 Filed at 10:00 a.m. ETAn oil company executive says there’s not much oil companies can do about skyrocketing gasoline prices.

John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company, tells NBC’s ”Today” show that lowering the wholesale price arbitrarily could cause a run on gasoline, which could then run out.

He says the markets set prices and the oil companies follow the markets.

His comments come as the head of the Federal Trade Commission prepares for some tough questioning today on Capitol Hill about price gouging.

Deborah Platt Majoras goes before the Senate Commerce Committee a day after the agency said it found only a few cases of gasoline price gouging after Hurricane Katrina. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.