July 23rd, 2006:

THIS IS A REPLY BY AN EXPERT TO A RECENT LETTER PUBLISHED BY UPSTREAM 

IS THE CURRENT SAFETY CASE REGIME FAILING?

In reply to the letter from Ian Whewell, Head of HSE’s Offshore Safety Division (OSD) in Aberdeen, Upstream 14th July 2006

In the above letter Mr. Whewell refutes the statement that there is high level incompetence and chronic weakness in the application of the current Safety Case regime, including failure of the verification scheme.  He states that this allegation is not supported by any evidence. read more

By Upstream staff

BILL Campbell developed a real passion for safety issues from an early age by learning the lessons from UK coal-mining disasters as to how best to protect workers against the ever-present threat of an industrial accident in a high-risk business, writes Christopher Hopson.

Today, as a seasoned technical professional, he can rightly boast at having spent over 40 years as a much sought-after safety expert with wide experience in both the UK mining and international oil and gas industries. “From a very early age I became interested in the behaviours of people who get themselves hurt,” he recalls. read more

The following document has been supplied to us for immediate publication. We will leave it to our readers to speculate as to the identity of the author.

It deals with the coments made by Royal Dutch Shell CEO, Jeroen van der Veer, in the leaked email we recently published: http://royaldutchshellgroup.com/2006/07/20/shell-insider-letter-suppying-leaked-jeoroen-van-der-veer-brent-scandal-bs-email/

The Response

Shell continue through press releases etc to give false and misleading Information to staff and media.  read more

By John Donovan

One of our readers, who shall remain nameless, has very kindly provided us with a copy of an internal email circulated in May 2003 by Mr Hans Bouman (a then senior manager at Shell) to a Shell colleague. It is of particular interest because it pre-dates the stunning news of the reserves fraud 8 months later which proved how right Bouman was in his analysis of the moral decline within Shell management. 

We have spoken to a number of our Shell insider sources about “Hans” Bouman. Apparently he had a reputation for being outspoken – a dangerous tendency at a multinational which prefers spin and cover-up rather than integrity and transparency.  However, when we did manage to obtain his email address and made contact, it was soon obvious that Mr Bouman is more cautious these days. No doubt he wishes to enjoy his retirement without being hassled by Shell lawyers. He confirmed the authenticity of the email but would provide no further information. read more

Author: Thomas Blythe

PROVIDENCE, R.I – The pier at the Port of Providence where a fire explosion occurred Tuesday night remains closed even as engineers began the delicate task of removing the remaining fuel from the pipes. Gasoline delivery at some Shell stations was disrupted since they reported that the fuel was completely over.

The fire occurred at a terminal run by Motiva Enterprises on Tuesday night. The company is a joint venture between Saudi Refining Inc. and Shell Oil Co. A company spokesperson said that they were transporting gas through third parties in Boston. “Some of the trucks are having to make longer runs, so supplies can be a little bit slow in getting there,” said Motiva spokesman Stan Mays.
 
Gov. Don Carcieri has ordered an inquiry as to why gasoline workers continued to unload despite warnings of lightning storms. The tanker Nordeuropa, a Danish vessel was hit, but apart from damage to its hydraulic pump systems, there was nothing untoward about it. read more

By Richard Orange
23 July 2006
 
Technology tends to be a trump card for those who argue oil and gas scarcity is an illusion. While some worried geologists fear oil production will peak, say, next year, their opponents – most of whom are economists – argue higher prices will spur new technologies that will inevitably bring new oil and gas reserves to market.

But while exploration is now increasing, Dave Pratt, at Aberdeen’s Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping, says his own electromagnetic imaging system is more or less the only transforming technology he’s aware of. OHM uses the different resistivity of water and oil to distinguish which of the two is trapped in geological formations revealed by seismic surveys. read more

EXTRACT: Earlier this year, rival Shell relaxed rules on its retirement age to extend the tenure of Rob Routs, one of its directors, to 62.

THE ARTICLE

By Rupert Steiner
23 July 2006

A RIFT has developed within the board of BP, the world’s second-largest oil company, over the future of chief executive Lord Browne. BP chairman Peter Sutherland is attempting to force Lord Browne to retire at 60 – in line with the firm’s current policy on retirement.

The Business can reveal that ahead of second-quarter results on Tuesday, Sutherland asked Browne, 58, to make a statement committing to standing down in February 2008. read more

EXTRACT: This week BP and rival Shell could report record quarterly profits of about $6 billion each. The bumper figures come just as diesel is expected to hit £1 a litre for the first time tomorrow.

THE ARTICLE

July 23, 2006
By Tracey Boles
 
A LEADING shareholder in BP is calling for the company to lift its mandatory retirement age of 60 so that chief executive Lord Browne can stay on at the oil giant.

Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS), which owns 1% of BP, intends to raise the matter at next year’s annual meeting if informal talks in the next few months do not yield the results it wants. 
 
Ian Jones, CIS’s head of corporate governance, said: “We want the compulsory retirement age removed. To forcibly retire is not necessarily in shareholder interests. We would be unhappy about Browne’s retirement being forced in that way.” read more

EXTRACT: Rosneft and BP are already partners on Sakhalin 5, an exploration block off the Russian island above Japan which could prove as big as the giant Sakhalin 2 project being developed by Shell.

THE ARTICLE

July 23, 2006

After the biggest float ever in the industry, the chief executive of the Russian oil giant reveals his vision to Tracey Boles 
 
THE chief executive of Rosneft owes his rise to the top of the Russian oil giant to an act of God. In 1995, when Sergei Bogdanchikov was working as general director of a Rosneft subsidiary on the Russian island of Sakhalin, an earthquake struck. read more

July 23, 2006 
 
YOU suggest Mayo will lose out if the current difficulties with the Corrib gas pipeline are unresolved (Editorial, last week). While I agree that aspects of the protest have unfortunately been hijacked, I find it difficult to embrace the supposed benefits suggested by Shell and echoed by yourselves and our own local authority.

Yes there has been some short-term employment and windfalls for local construction works. Some landowners have been compensated for access to their lands and will continue to receive ground rent after the project’s completion. Shell says 30 to 50 jobs will be created at the Bellanaboy terminal, and it has contributed to the coffers of Mayo county council for the upgrading of a stretch of road on which thousands of tonnes of peat are being transported for the clearing of the Bellanaboy site. 
 
But for the majority, the pipeline is merely passing through our county taking gas to other parts of the country without being piped to any of our own towns or fuelling any local industry. The most tangible evidence of the pipeline’s progress are the miles of potholed roads. read more

July 23, 2006
Extract from “News in Brief” 

THE oil companies BP and Shell are expected to announce record profits this week as forecourt prices for petrol and diesel soar because of turmoil in the Middle East.

The two firms’ earnings are forecast to be about £3.2 billion each for the three months to the end of June with the average price of diesel passing £1 a litre.

The size of profits has led to claims the firms are exploiting the rising price of crude oil.

EXTRACT: Precedents have been set recently. In May arch-rival Royal Dutch Shell relaxed its retirement age for one executive director and many believe a similar decision will allow Jeroen van der Veer, the company’s 58-year-old chief executive, to stay on beyond 60.

THE ARTICLE

By Sylvia Pfeifer, Deputy City Editor
(Filed: 23/07/2006)

City fears mount on successor to Browne

‘When did you last see the word ‘old’ used as a positive attribute for anything other than works of art or bottles of alcohol? This is an issue of prejudice against individual men and women whose active, useful lives are brought to a premature, and wholly unnecessary, end. The waste is shocking, and the prejudice is intolerable.” read more

EXTRACT: If he has a final message for Western investors concerned about putting their money into Russia, given the demise of Yukos, it is, of course, a positive one. He reels off recent examples of Western oil companies that have committed hard cash to Russia, from BP, Royal Dutch Shell and America’s ConocoPhillips to Asian companies.

THE ARTICLE

(Filed: 23/07/2006)

The flotation of Rosneft was surrounded by controversy but Sergey Bogdanchikov, its chief executive, tells Sylvia Pfeifer that investors’ concerns are unfounded read more