June, 2006:

From The Houston Chronicle/The Associated Press

June 30, 2006

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Oil giant Chevron Corp. said Friday it is now the sole owner of U.S. rights to the Texaco brand of gas after a licensing agreement with Royal Dutch Shell PL expired.

Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001, but was required to license the Texaco retail brand to Shell for the sale of gas in the United States through June 2006. The companies have shared those rights since July 2004.

Starting July 1, only Texaco stations supplied by Chevron are allowed to carry the Texaco brand, Chevron said. The company has 1,800 retail locations in the United States with the Texaco brand. read more

Pure Energy: Norway Out?
From StockHouse Editorials
By Luke Burgess

How we might lose 4% of global oil production

When the drilling for Norwegian oil began back in 1965 there was a great deal of doubt surrounding the belief that much crude lay resting beneath the icy waters of the North Sea.

British Petroleum’s chief geologist at the time was one of the biggest skeptics around. In fact, he actually declared that if any oil was ever found, he’d drink it.

And for the next few years he managed to avoid that awful-sounding task. Oil companies drilled dry hole after dry hole. A total of 30 ‘unproduceable’ wells were drilled. read more

This is not a current news report: It is a news release from 2003 being added to our online searchable news archive under the category of “Shell Litigation”

U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Public Affairs

NEWS RELEASE

FOR RELEASE: August 5, 2003 CONTACT: Nicolette Humphries    (202) 208-3985 

Shell to Pay $49 Million in Settlement Agreement with Minerals Management Service

The Minerals Management Service has reached a $49 million settlement agreement with Shell Oil Company on unauthorized flaring or venting of large volumes of natural gas at its Auger platform and other facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.  The settlement agreement, which is the largest in MMS’s history, was forged in cooperation with the Department of Interior’s Office of the Inspector General, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana, and the Department of Justice. read more

From Upstreamonline
By Russell Searancke

Malaysian energy giant Petronas will build a 480-kilometre gas pipeline as part of the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT) integrated project.

The project, which Petronas said it was undertaking with its production sharing contract partners, involves the construction of a subsea pipeline from offshore Sabah to a new onshore oil and gas processing terminal in Kimanis, Sabah, with a storage capacity of 300,000 barrels per day of oil, and an onshore gas terminal. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com: Call for inquiry into oil rig safety regulator

Terry Macalister
Friday June 30, 2006
From The Guardian

Members of the Scottish parliament are calling for an inquiry into North Sea safety regulators, alleging they have failed to properly monitor the operations of Shell.

The move comes ahead of a report being published by Aberdeen’s sheriff court into an accident on Shell’s Brent Bravo platform in 2003 when two men died.

It follows revelations in this newspaper that a senior Shell consultant, Bill Campbell, told the oil company as far back as 1999 that employees had been falsifying maintenance documents relating to North Sea platforms. Shell rejects the allegations of tampering with paperwork. read more

From Houston Business Journal

Stacy Methvin has been appointed president and CEO of Shell Chemical LP, effective July 1.

In addition to her new role, Methvin will continue to have responsibility for Base Chemicals Americas and Global C4s and C5s.

Methvin takes over the leadership position from Fran Keeth, executive vice president-chemicals.

She will continue to report to Keeth from her Houston base.

Methvin began her career with Shell in 1979 as a geological engineer in the exploration and production offices in New Orleans. Since then she has held several managerial positions in E&P before taking up an assignment as president of Shell Deer Park Refining Co. in 1998, followed by president of Shell Pipeline Co. LP in 2002. She joined the chemicals leadership team as vice president of Base Chemicals Americas and Global C4s and C5s in January 2005. read more

By: Lorna Siggins in Castlebar, Co Mayo, Irish Times
Published: Jun 30, 2006

“Bertie Ahern and his backbenchers are split, aren’t they? Mary Harney and Michael McDowell are split, aren’t they? They’re together for years, we are only new into this, and if they think there’s a split, let them come on to the land with their pipe again!”

The speaker, Rossport farmer Willie Corduff, was in jovial mood yesterday outside Mayo County Council’s offices in Castlebar. A year ago, he and four colleagues were sent to jail for contempt of court over their opposition to the Corrib gas onshore pipeline. read more

By: Michael Harrison Business Editor,
The Independent – United Kingdom
Published: Jun 30, 2006

Thousands of rural households that rely on LPG for cooking and heating are being overcharged by a handful of dominant suppliers, including two giant oil companies, the Competition Commission ruled yesterday.

Unveiling plans for a shake-up in the market, the commission said that prices were higher than they needed to be because the big four LPG firms – Shell, BP, Calor and Flogas, which control 90 per cent of the market -discouraged competition and made it difficult for households to switch to other suppliers. read more

FROM THE FINANCIAL TIMES (LEX COLUMN)

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

BP’s sunflower is wilting. Having splashed its decidedly organic logo all over the place in the past year or so, right now BP could probably use its old one: a shield.

An allegation of price-fixing in the US propane market follows other public relations disasters for BP’s American operations. The worst was a fatal explosion at its Texas City refinery in March 2005, but it also faces a criminal investigation into pipeline leaks in Alaska. read more

FROM THE FINANCIAL TIMES
By Alistair Darling and David Miliband

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

Yesterday the government made a critical decision on Britain’s contribution to tackling climate change. The decision reflects three principles: our ambition to be world leaders in creating a low-carbon economy and to balance environmental and economic objectives; our commitment to do this through collective action at a European level; and our determination to use market mechanisms to enable businesses to find the cheapest way possible of meeting our objectives. read more

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 30, 2006

BP has tripped up in the U.S. — again. Last year, an explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery killed 15 people, triggering several federal investigations. This year, authorities opened a criminal probe into the company following a large spill from its pipelines in Alaska. And now the European oil company has been charged with cornering the $30 billion-a-year U.S. propane market, forcing up prices for millions of rural Americans in 2004. Other oil majors haven’t suffered a similar string of mishaps in the U.S. What has BP got wrong? read more

Terry Macalister
Friday June 30, 2006
From The Guardian

Members of the Scottish parliament are calling for an inquiry into North Sea safety regulators, alleging they have failed to properly monitor the operations of Shell.

The move comes ahead of a report being published by Aberdeen’s sheriff court into an accident on Shell’s Brent Bravo platform in 2003 when two men died.

It follows revelations in this newspaper that a senior Shell consultant, Bill Campbell, told the oil company as far back as 1999 that employees had been falsifying maintenance documents relating to North Sea platforms. Shell rejects the allegations of tampering with paperwork. read more

Terry Macalister
Friday June 30, 2006
From The Guardian

BP found itself under fire again yesterday when a raft of initiatives were announced to crack down on suppliers of liquefied petroleum gas.

The Competition Commission said its final report supported provisional findings that “competition is not working as well as it should be in this market, and that LPG consumers are losing out as a result”.

The judgment comes less than 24 hours after BP faced a civil lawsuit from a US regulator over allegations of price manipulation in the propane sector. read more

Nils Pratley
Friday June 30, 2006
From The Guardian

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action, reckoned Ian Fleming. In BP’s case, three times could look like the actions of a company where corners are being cut. A fire in a Texas refinery killed 15 and hurt 500 last year; a BP pipeline spilled oil in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in March; now come claims that BP traders tried to corner the market in propane – those canisters relied on by 7 million Americans who live beyond the reach of the US gas grid. read more

From The New York Times

By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: June 30, 2006

MAASLAND, the Netherlands — A few miles north of Rotterdam, in a region the Dutch call “glass city” for its thousands of greenhouses, gardeners like Frank van Os are part of an unconventional experiment by Royal Dutch Shell to curb carbon emissions.

Mr. van Os produces four million roses each year, flooding the atmosphere inside his vast glass canopy with pure carbon dioxide to bolster his crop. What is unusual is that he now gets the carbon dioxide piped in directly from Pernis, a Shell refinery that is Europe’s largest and typically discharges tons of the gas into the atmosphere every year. read more

FROM MARKETWATCH
Former BP energy trader pleads guilty to price gouging scheme
By Stephanie I. Cohen & Jim Jelter

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Federal regulators on Wednesday accused BP Plc.’s North American energy trading unit of briefly cornering the U.S. propane market in 2004 in a scheme that jacked up homeowners and businesses’ heating bills across the rural Northeast.

At the same time, the Justice Department announced that one of BP’s former traders, 34-year-old Dennis Abbott of Houston, had pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme and was working with federal investigators checking to determine if other BP executives were involved, paving the way for a possible criminal case. Abbott faces a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison for conspiring to drive up propane prices. read more

Shell and partners announce plans to create world’s largest hydrogen public transport project

29 June 2006

Provider: Fuel Cell Today 

Shell Hydrogen B.V., in partnership with Connexxion Holding N.V. and MAN Truck & Bus Company N.V., today announced plans to work towards creating the world’s largest hydrogen-fuelled public transport operation in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The project aims to have the largest hydrogen bus fleet operational in a single region before the end of the decade.
In a Memorandum of Understanding signed today, Shell Hydrogen and its partners agreed to conduct an in-depth economic and technical study of the project and to seek additional stakeholders, before making a possible investment decision in 2007. > read more

From Reuters
Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:21am ET

AMSTERDAM, June 29 (Reuters) – Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research)(RDSb.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that it is working with Dutch public transport and MAN Truck & Bus Company (MANG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) to create a fleet of hydrogen-fueled buses in Rotterdam.

“The project aims to have the largest hydrogen bus fleet operational in a single region before the end of the decade,” Shell said in a statement. read more

From San Jose Mercury News
By Ken McLaughlin

Mehdi Shahbazi is losing his home and livelihood because he has been protesting what he calls “gouging” by oil company executives.

More photosMehdi Shahbazi, the feisty Marina gas station owner who is going broke battling Big Oil, has won a round in federal court in San Jose.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel earlier this month denied Shell Oil Co.’s request for a preliminary injunction to force Shahbazi to leave his beloved gas station on Del Monte Boulevard. read more

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Energy Stalks
Big Players Join Race to Put
Farm Waste Into Your Gas Tank

With Federal Push, Companies
Propose Plants That Turn
Husks, Grass Into Ethanol
Delving Into Elephant Dung
By JOHN J. FIALKA and SCOTT KILMAN
June 29, 2006; Page A1

WILMINGTON, Del. — One way to wean America from its addiction to foreign oil might well lie in the muddy solution swirling about a glass container on top of a DuPont Co. laboratory bench.

Inside the liter-size vessel, a desert-loving bacterium is making motor fuel. The organism, which normally lives on the agave plant of tequila fame, is munching on the chopped-up leaves and stalk of a plant, and excreting a dilute form of ethanol, the gasoline substitute normally made from corn kernels in the U.S. read more

From The Daily Telegraph
(Filed: 29/06/2006)

A surge in exploration interest offers a ray of hope, but renewable plans for the future shine brightest, writes Roland Gribben

A boost for North Sea oil exploration has provided an unexpected bonus for the Government. Just months after oil companies warned that tax changes in the North Sea regime would deter development and encourage companies to give a higher priority to more attractive openings elsewhere, the Department of Trade and Industry has reported the number of companies applying for new exploration and production licences is running at the highest level for 35 years.
 
North Sea surge: there are a record number of licence applications read more

From Lloyds List
Published: Jun 29, 2006

The growing fleet and size of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers should help to increase spot trading in the industry, predicts Bob Salmon, general manager for shipping at Shell Trading, writes Tony Gray.

Mr Salmon, also a committee member of industry group the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, said that the existing fleet was expected to double over the next decade.

In addition, the cargo-carrying capacity of the latest generation of new vessels was increasing substantially to more than 200,000 cu m. read more

By: Huw Williams, The Independent
Published: Jun 29, 2006

A wind-and rainswept platform perched high above a raging North Sea is not many people’s idea of an ideal working environment, but Britain’s oil and gas industry urgently needs recruits. There is a shortage of skilled workers, and with exploration under way for new reserves, many companies are finding it difficult to get the right staff. And despite the perception of hostile conditions, many of the positions aren’t out on a rig’ they are in comfortable offices on dry land. read more

By: MIKE MCCARTHY ENVIRONMENT EDITOR, The Independent
Published: Jun 29, 2006

What is ethanol?

Ethanol is the best known of the biofuels, and they in turn are any fuels derived from recently living organisms or their byproducts. So wood and straw are biofuels, as is camel dung. But in practice today biofuels are mainly alcohols or other hydrocarbons distilled from the residues of specially-grown crops such as sugar cane, sugar beet, oilseed rape or maize, and used as substitutes for petrol or diesel in the engines of motor vehicles. read more

From New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Published: Jun 29, 2006

KUCHING: Poverty has not stopped Andy Mark Tipi from doing well in last year’s Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination.

On Tuesday, the efforts of the SM Teknik Sejingkat student, who scored 6As and 1B which made him one of the State’s top achievers, were recognised when Sarawak Shell Berhad offered him a scholarship.

He was among 145 students awarded bursaries and scholarships by the company for doing well in their studies and co-curricular activities. read more

From The Financial Times
By Joyce Dundas

Published: June 29 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 29 2006 03:00

Shell Group has appointed Steven Fries as its chief economist to be based in The Hague.

Mr Fries joins from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development where he was deputy chief economist and acting chief economist.

He takes up the post on July 1.

He is knowledgeable on Russia, an important territory for Shell, and emerging countries.

Mr Fries is regarded as intelligent and meticulous, if a little reticent in his public pronouncements. read more

From Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) – Fuel wholesaler True North Energy LLC bought 29 Shell-branded retail stations and three supply contracts in the Columbus, Ohio, area, Shell Oil Products US said Wednesday.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Shell said Toledo, Ohio-based True North Energy will keep the stations under the Shell brand. True North is a joint venture between Shell Oil Co. and The Lyden Co., a family run company that began as a bulk fuel delivery business. True North is Shell’s largest fuel wholesaler, and it will supply 335 million gallons annually to 230 Shell-branded stations in Ohio and Michigan after the deal. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com: Shell Announces Strengthened Truenorth Assets; True North Energy to Acquire 29 Branded Locations in Columbus

From PRNewswire

    HOUSTON, June 28 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Shell Oil Products US (Shell),
the marketer of the no. 1 selling gasoline brand in America, announced that
its affiliate, True North Energy, LLC of Toledo, Ohio, was the successful
bidder for 29 Shell-branded locations and three supply contracts in the
Columbus area. Last fall, Shell had publicly stated its intent to sell
retail assets in 16 regions to better support its wholesale business and
move toward its vision of becoming the best fuels retailer in the world.
    This transaction means that Truenorth, Shell’s largest fuel wholesaler,
will now supply 335 million gallons annually to 230 Shell-branded locations
in Ohio and Michigan. Truenorth will continue to use the Shell brand at the
29 locations purchased, thereby better serving customers and maintaining
awareness of the Shell brand in the region. According to a confidentiality
agreement between the parties, the purchase price cannot be disclosed at
this time. read more

From Planet Ark

Reuters

CALGARY, Alberta – Speeches planned by the premier of Nova Scotia and his energy minister for later this week have fueled speculation that EnCana Corp.’s long-stalled Deep Panuke natural gas project may be revived.

Premier Rodney MacDonald and Energy Minister Bill Dooks are slated to speak at a breakfast meeting of the Offshore/Onshore Technologies Association in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday, although a government official declined to say if the 1 trillion cubic foot gas field was on the agenda. read more

January 28, 2006
By Bruce Cameron and Charlene Clayton

A ruling against oil company Shell may force many trustees to reassess whether their funds are in surplus or whether surpluses have been understated.

In the first ruling of its kind, a tribunal appointed by the Registrar of Pension Funds has found that the Southern African arm of petroleum giant Shell should repay millions of rands to its staff defined benefit pension fund.

The ruling is based on what a 2001 amendment to the Pension Funds Act on the distribution of pension fund surpluses defines as the improper use of pension fund surpluses by employers. The ruling was made even though the “improper” use of the money occurred before the promulgation of the legislation and the practice was not illegal at the time. read more

The Scotsman
From Reuters
By Tom Ashby

KEGBARA-DERE, Nigeria (Reuters) – Crude oil seeping from a gnarled steel wellhead forms a lake the size of a soccer pitch near the Nigerian village of Kegbara-Dere, but these oilfields have not exported a drop in 13 years.

The Ogoni tribe kicked Royal Dutch Shell out of this part of the Niger Delta in 1993 protesting that they had received nothing in return for four decades of oil production. Today, the same grievances are fuelling a revolt across the entire oil heartland of Africa’s largest producer. read more

From Macon.com:

Lessons from Katrina, Rita foster changes by energy businesses

By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers

DEER PARK, Texas – With weather forecasters expecting an “above-average” hurricane season, government regulators and major players in the energy sector hope errors made last year during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita won’t be repeated.

Mistakes and mechanical failures coupled with last year’s unprecedented back-to-back severe storms disrupted U.S. oil production and gasoline distribution and sent global oil prices soaring past $70 a barrel and gasoline above $3 a gallon. Natural gas prices also doubled. read more

From The Houston Chronicle
June 28, 2006, 12:01AM
U.S. ARAB ECONOMIC FORUM
Saudi says crude is flowing freely
Prince calls lack of refining capacity the real problem

By LYNN J. COOK and BILL HENSEL JR.
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Saudi Arabian crude is stranded in tankers on the high seas, circling the globe in a desperate search for buyers, according to the kingdom’s ambassador to the U.S., Prince Turki al-Faisal.

The ambassador told an audience at the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum held at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Tuesday that 350,000 barrels of heavy crude oil have been lifted from the ground but cannot be sold because the world lacks the refining capacity to turn it into useful fuels like gasoline or diesel. read more

From Ireland-Online

Opponents of the Corrib gas pipeline in north Co Mayo are staging a protest outside the Dáil in Dublin today.

The demonstration has been mounted as part of the Shell to Sea group’s campaign to highlight what they say is the Government’s “effective handover of Ireland’s natural resources” to the global oil firm, adding the Government has allowed Shell to exploit the Corrib natural gas field without paying any royalties to the Irish State.

Shell to Sea is hoping the matter becomes an election issue. read more

FROM REUTERS

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Furious about gas prices? Watch for a friendly oil executive coming to a town near you.

Top executives at oil giant Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) have begun a 50-city tour across the United States this summer in hopes of persuading angry consumers that Big Oil is not ripping them off.

The move is the first such effort in the company’s history, as major oil firms try to dampen a U.S. political firestorm over soaring gasoline prices and record earnings for the companies that sell fuel products. read more

From The Daily Telegraph:
By James Quinn (Filed: 28/06/2006)

The value of fines imposed by the Financial Services Authority fell by 22pc in the year to March 2006.

Fines levied in the year by the City watchdog amounted to £17.4m, the bulk of which related to a near-£14m fine paid by Citigroup Global Markets, according to the FSA’s annual report.

In the previous year, the FSA imposed £22.2m of fines including £17m against Shell Transport and Trading.

Two weeks ago FSA chief executive John Tiner outlined his intention to regulate firms using a series of principles as well as strict rules. read more

From The Irish Independent
By Teresa O’Malley

THE irrational stance of a small group of protesters is hampering the Shell gas developments for the country, according to the chief executive of Chambers Ireland, John Dunne.

Mr Dunne was speaking at the weekend in Mullingar, at Chambers Ireland annual regional policy conference.

One of the contributors to the conference was External Affairs manager for Shell Ireland, John Egan.

He outlined the project and its potential impact in re-defining regional economies and said that the company was sorry about the jailing of five Rossport men last year, as was stated by the company earlier this year. read more

At US-Arab economic forum, energy execs say energy independence is “naive”

By: STEVE QUINN
Associated Press
Published: Jun 27, 2006

Becoming energy independent is “naive” and would harm U.S. relations with Arab countries, energy executives told world and business leaders at a forum designed to improve those nations’ ties.

Executives from Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Marathon Oil Co. and Shell Oil Co. took the stage at the U.S. Arab Economic Forum on Tuesday, the forum’s second day, and spoke out against the idea advanced by lawmakers that the United States is being crippled by its dependence on foreign oil. read more

From Asia Pulse
Published: Jun 28, 2006

PERTH, June 28 Asia Pulse – China has commissioned its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, receiving LNG from Australia’s North West Shelf joint venture.

The North West Shelf joint venture, which is operated by Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL), is the first international supplier of LNG into China and joint venture president Peter Cleary said it was the beginning of a 25-year relationship.

“We would like to congratulate our Chinese customers on the safe and successful commissioning of their new LNG facilities in the Guangdong province,” he said in China today. read more

From The Financial Times
By Carola Hoyos in London

Published: June 28 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 28 2006 03:00

Iraq was yesterday poised to restart its critical northern oil exports after a nine-month interruption caused by pipeline sabotage.

The country’s marketing company this week sold several batches of oil from its storage tanks at the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the end point of its northern export route, freeing up room for new supplies to be pumped from the fields.

Though shipping brokers were optimistic, they cautioned that the 600-mile pipeline was still vulnerable to attack and that the flow could prove temporary. read more

From Upstreamonline
By Upstream staff

Supermajor Shell’s Sakhalin II operating company, Sakhalin Energy, has installed Russia’s first offshore gas platform on the Lunskoye field in the Sea of Okhotsk, north-east of Russia’s Sakhalin Island.

The successful mating of the Lunskoye-A’s 21,800-tonne topsides with the four legs of the concrete gravity-base structure (CGBS) placed on the seabed last season broke the world record for a “floatover” operation, Shell said.

The procedure involved floating the purpose-built barge carrying the facility between the CGBS legs, then ballasting it down to lower the topsides onto the legs. Leg mating units, each weighing 130 tonnes, were pre-installed in each leg to centre the topsides and help absorb shock. read more

From Upstreamonline
By Upstream staff

27 June 2006

Technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon capture and offshore wind, needs government support to make it competitive, Graeme Sweeney, the head of Shell International Renewables, part of Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell, said today.

The debate about where to source future energy is an increasingly hot topic as countries such as Britain, the US and China plan to build new power plant, and concerns about energy security and the threat of climate change grow, Reuters reported. read more

From Rigzone
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 

Shell Canada says that as of 1:01 a.m. on June 27, 2006, approximately 4,319,949 additional common shares of BlackRock Ventures Inc. (TSX: BVI) have been validly deposited to the offer by BR Oil Sands Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shell Canada, to acquire all of the common shares of BlackRock (including common shares issuable upon the exercise or surrender of any options or conversion of any convertible debentures).

BR Oil Sands Corporation has taken up these additional shares, which,together with those shares previously taken up, represent approximately 98% of the common shares of BlackRock on a fully- diluted basis. BR Oil Sands Corporation will pay for these additional shares today by providing the depositary with sufficient funds for transmittal to the holders of these shares. read more

From allAfrica.com
Lagos

In the first half of this year an average of more than four hostages have been seized monthly in the Niger Delta, an unprecedented rate of kidnappings since the first stirrings of violent protest in the early 1990s in the region that produces most of Nigeria’s oil.

The two Filipino hostages freed on Sunday by armed militants in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta brought to 29 the number of oil workers seized and released since January in the increasingly volatile region. read more

MSNBC/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Clears House committee, faces likely filibuster in the Senate

Updated: 11:18 a.m. ET June 27, 2006

Legislation that would end a quarter-century ban on drilling in most of the Outer Continental Shelf advanced in the House on Wednesday. The measure would allow oil and gas development in restricted offshore waters unless a state prohibited it.

The House Resources Committee approved the legislation in 29-9 vote, and its sponsors say it has a good chance of being approved by the full House read more

From The Mayo News
By Michael Duffy

JUNE 29 is a date that will be forever etched in the memories of five men from north Mayo whose collective name, the Rossport Five, is now part of the vernacular across the country.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the first anniversary of the day when Michael Ó Seighin, Willie Corduff, Vincent McGrath, Philip McGrath and Brendan Philbin were first incarcerated in Cloverhill Prison and this week they have denied reports that there is ‘a split in the camp’.

A report in last weekend’s issue of The Sunday Times suggested that the ‘five’ had become ‘four’ after Brendan Philbin decided to ‘pursue his case against Shell through a separate legal strategy’, but Dr Mark Garavan, spokesman for the Shell to Sea group, denied this, stating that Mr Philbin was ‘still very much in touch with what is going on but the other four men are, for the most part, conducting the negotiations’. read more

From New Europe News

Gazprom and Shell are planning to build a plant to process 12 billion cubic metres of gas a year according to gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology near Nadym, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Ryazanov said at the Renaissance Capital annual investors’ conference last Monday.

Implementing the project could become one of the ways to resolve problems with using low-pressure gas in the region, he said. Ryazanov told reporters later that the economics of the said project is dependent on transport tariffs for railway freight. Gazprom held talks recently with Russian Railways (RZD) on favourable tariffs for the long-term, or “at least for the project’s recoupment period,” he said. Investment in the project could be USD seven-eight billion, Ryazanov said. read more

From The Associated Press

“Iraq certainly is a country with incredible resources”

Iraq’s instability has kept foreign oil companies from investing in reconstruction, compounding what officials see as a litany of woes confronting the country’s once-dominant oil sector–from corruption to poorly maintained fields.

While the world’s thirst for oil grows, untapped Iraqi reserves and current production that still has not reached prewar levels remain a problem with no imminent solution. read more

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Severe Shortage
Of Skilled Workers
Boosts Job Prospects
By BENOIT FAUCON and NAHED AL-ALI
June 26, 2006

LONDON — Twenty years ago, it’s unlikely that Diana Leo, a middle-aged woman with business and engineering degrees, would have been found running an oil rig in the North Sea.

But in 2004, Ms. Leo, a native of Denmark’s Faroe Islands, became installations manager for the Nelson platform, a Royal Dutch Shell PLC facility 175 kilometers off the Scottish coast that produces 44,000 barrels of oil and 445,000 cubic meters of natural gas each day. She has overall responsibility for the platform, taking care of safety and making sure cost and production targets are met. read more

6/27/2006
Source: Reuters

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia • Russia’s first giant natural gas platform has been installed off the island of Sakhalin in the far east of the country, a consortium led by energy group Royal Dutch Shell announced yesterday.

David Grier, executive director of the Shell-led Sakhalin Energy consortium, said the completion of the Lounskaya 2 platform meant Sakhalin Energy was on course to begin delivering gas to clients in the Asia-Pacific region in 2008.

The construction, which weighs 22,000 tonnes and was built by South Korean group Samsung, was transported on a giant Chinese-made barge. It was installed 15km off the island of Sakhalin, where the sea is 48 metres deep. The gas extracted by the platform will be transported to the north of Sakhalin then taken south to be liquefied. read more