June 21st, 2006:

FROM VOICE OF AMERICA
By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
21 June 2006

The Nigerian police says it is doing everything possible for the release of two Philippine oil workers seized by gunmen Tuesday.  Armed men in a speedboat kidnapped the oil workers near Nigeria’s oil capital Port Harcourt.
 
Police spokesman Haz Iwendi, who confirmed the incident, said the police have intensified efforts for the release of the kidnapped Philippine oil workers.

“Two Filipinos were kidnapped offshore by some men when they were on their oil rig,” he said.  “No group has claimed responsibility yet; we are still waiting for them.  Our men are on their trail.” read more

FROM Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand
22 June 2006 
By MARTA STEEMAN

Shell’s New Zealand oil and gas assets would shrink in value by more than $US100 million ($NZ162 million) if it did not take over the operator’s role at fields in which Shell held the majority share.

And if Shell did not take over that role, the potential “timely” sale of its New Zealand exploration assets could be hindered, a High Court judgment says.

Justice John Wild “decisively” ruled in favour of a Todd Petroleum Mining application for an injunction stopping Shell from taking over the operator’s role at New Zealand’s biggest gasfield, Maui. read more

FROM BLOOMBERG

June 21 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s third-largest publicly traded energy company, said it would be willing to renegotiate U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases that left out provisions that would have resulted in billions of dollars in royalty fees.

Shell in a letter to the U.S. Interior Department last week offered to “make a change in our 1998 and 1999 leases by considering the addition of price thresholds” that would trigger royalty payments when oil and gas prices are high, John Hofmeister, president of Shell’s U.S. arm, said today in prepared testimony for a U.S. House of Representatives hearing. read more

From The Associated Press

Oil industry opposes paying 1990s error in its favor
 
June 21, 2006

WASHINGTON – Oil companies are under pressure in Congress to renegotiate offshore drilling leases containing a government error that could give the industry a $10 billion windfall.

The oil companies are steadfastly against renegotiating any of the lease contracts, which involve 56 companies. Last month, the House passed a provision that would bar companies from 2007 offshore leases unless they agree to renegotiate the 1998-99 contracts. read more

MSNBC: Liquefied natural gas output to soar worldwide

The number of countries exporting liquefied natural gas will grow 30 per cent by the end of the decade, the US Department of Energy said on Tuesday.

Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the DOE, said: “We do see the emergence of a robust LNG trade, leading to perhaps a real global gas market.”

By 2010, 17 countries will export LNG, with Norway, Russia, Equatorial Guinea and Peru joining the group. read more

Published: Jun 21, 2006

Meath County Council is seeking damages of up to 6 million from multinational giant Shell after the leakage of petroleum products from one of its petrol stations halted construction of new civic offices in Trim, Co Meath.

In High Court proceedings, the council is claiming damages estimated at between 5 million and 6 million after a hydrocarbon discharge in 2001 contaminated a site, previously used as a car park for the local swimming pool, adjoining a petrol station owned by Irish Shell Ltd at Watergate Street, Trim. read more

By Harvey Pitt

Published: June 21 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 21 2006 03:00

Although the early Ptolemaic and Aristotelian concept of geocentrism – that the planets and Sun revolve around Earth – was discredited by Copernicus and Galileo by the late 16th century, many Americans residing in Congress and at certain regulatory agencies adhere to their own brand of “American geocentrism”. This takes as axiomatic that anything and everything American is not only good, it is the best. Nowhere do adherents deem this doctrine more applicable than in the regulation of capital markets. read more

By Virginia Marsh

Published: June 21 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 21 2006 03:00

Australia’s liquefied natural gas industry is on the brink of a A$50bn (US$37bn) investment boom that is set to make it the world’s third-largest LNG exporter within five years, in spite of the recent setback for Chevron’s Gorgon project.

For Woodside Petroleum, the pioneer of the local LNG sector, the planned investments mean it could overtake BP in the next decade to become the world’s biggest non-government owned LNG operator after Shell. read more

By Ivar Simensen in London and Richard Beales in New York

Published: June 21 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 21 2006 03:00

Royal Dutch Shell sold $1bn of five-year bonds yesterday, the Anglo-Dutch oil company’s first SEC-registered issue in the US market.

The bonds priced to yield 52 basis points over Treasuries, in line with guidance.

The scarcity of Shell paper helped the price below the prevailing Libor yield, among the tightest spreads in memory for a US corporate benchmark issue, according to a person close to the deal. read more