July 24th, 2006:

GRAEME SMITH July 25 2006
 
THE future of Aberdeen as a world centre for the energy industry was given a huge boost yesterday with the announcement that Shell UK is to build a £25m centre as a global hub.

BP is already building a £45m headquarters in the city and the Shell announcement helps destroy any myth that the industry in Aberdeen is in decline.

Campus Tullos will sit next to its current headquarters which incorporates five phases of development that started in 1973. Shell’s first office in the city was in an upper floor of a building in Union Street in 1964. read more

Aberdeen City Council has today welcomed Shell UK Limited’s announcement that it plans to invest £25million in new offices in the City.

The state-of-the-art building at Tullos would house around 950 staff, securing and creating new employment in Aberdeen.

This significant commitment to the North-east and the future of the North Sea by a major player in the international oil and gas industry is seen as key to achieving the ambitions of the Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Forum (ACSEF), of which the City Council is a main partner. read more

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, July 24 – As many as a dozen international oil companies reportedly have expressed interest in the Krishna Godavari basin gas and oil discovery block off India’s Andhra Pradesh coast.

Malaysia’s New Straits Times newspaper said the companies have submitted nonbinding bids for development of the block, which is owned by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp.

GSPC last month found new reserves of oil and gas on the block, where it plans to invest $369.9 million. GSPC is said to be interested in selling 20-30% of its 80% participating interest in the block. read more

Guest 57: McFadyen always claimed to be a fighter of overheads.  “I am a welder from Glasgow”. Now it has become clear why the push towards Aberdeen as a ‘centre of excellence’ was rammed through, despite the fact that Shell Expro is on a steep decline and in a few years there is not much left for EPE as the main contribution comes from the Netherlands. It will presumably result in some knighthoods for the boys. But does it add reserves, reduce costs or increase production? I dare say no. read more

Oil giant Shell has announced plans for a new £25m “centre of excellence” in Aberdeen to show its commitment to the North Sea.

Work on the seven-storey triangular glass office complex is expected to start next year and finish in 2009.

It will be situated next to the company’s base in Tullos, providing space for about 1,000 workers and will be known as Campus Tullos.

Shell said it would be “a hub of exceptional talent” for the industry.

Shell’s European technical vice-president Kieron McFadyen said: “This is excellent news for Shell, excellent news for the city and excellent news for the oil and gas industry. read more

guest_2770

Two articles show the difference between Shell and BP: BP have settled with Colombian farmers, and shut in their leaking wells. Shell apparently prefer to pay their lawyers, jail their opponents and maximise production at any cost in terms of lives and the environment.

guest_2770

UKP25MM for a new office in Aberdeen, and the promise of jobs for years to come. Is this what it takes to deflect the consequences of Brent and Warffum?

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Dear Sir/madam,

Read to my great dismay that Royal Dutch Shell has chosen the VERY location for its Sakhalin ll project that the endangered species of North Pacific gray whales use and NEED as feeding ground.

How does that rhyme with all Shell’s TV spots showing HOW much Royal Dutch Shell cares for the Environment Worldwide ? I really started to believe it somehow until I read about this Sakhalin ll project.

Would you please reconsider and place your project elsewhere – as there ARE other options in the same area. That would truly be an honorable gesture,much needed !!! read more

EXTRACT: It shut off a further 12 wells this week after unnamed employees told the Financial Times newspaper that the company was operating leaking wells near its Prudhoe Bay facility.

The Article

By Upstream staff

Alaskan state officials have started inspections of 57 BP-operated wells on Alaska’s North Slope that were shut down over concerns that they were leaking oil-based insulation fluids, it was reported.

An inspector from the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission began examining the integrity of wells thought to be affected by the leaks, Commissioner Cathy Foerster, told the Associated Press in Anchorage. She said the investigation would include other wells if necessary and was independent of BP’s internal investigation. read more

Oil giant BP has agreed an out-of-court settlement with a group of Colombian farmers over a pipeline it built.

The farmers had been demanding $28m (£11.9m) in compensation, saying the Ocensa pipeline had threatened their livelihoods and was a health risk.

They also claimed that they had faced threats from paramilitary groups for opposing the project, though emphasised this had nothing to do with BP.

The amount the farmers will be paid has not been revealed.

The case, which would have been heard in London’s High court, alleged the 1990s project damaged local farming, fishing and gold mining industries. read more

One of the curious things about Google is that if enough people start
searching on a specific parameter (eg nam warffum), after a few days the
number of hits increases dramatically. It’s almost as if an additional item
is added to the index. Anyway, we checked Google again this morning and
“NAM+warffum” now gives 12300 hits, as opposed to a few dozen last week
before we published our story.  

It’s nice to know that our articles have an impact.

Amongst the items returned on the search is a press release issued by NAM
announcing the conclusions of the investigation. read more

MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Russia’s Natural Resource Ministry Monday said it had recorded an oil spill in the east of the country from a pipeline belonging to Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).

The four-metric-ton spill took place Saturday in the Sakhalin region at a pipeline of Exxon Neftegaz Ltd., a subsidiary of the U.S. oil giant. The oil came from the Chaivo offshore field.

The pipeline remains closed while clean-up work is being carried out.
Company Web site: http://www.exxonmobil.com

-By Andrew Langley, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 974 80 55; [email protected] 
 
Lundi 24 juillet 2006 / 9h59
  read more

Published: 24 July 2006

It’s among the biggest, the rarest, and most beautiful creatures on Earth. But now the western north Pacific gray whale is being forced to share its home with one of the most ambitious oil and gas drilling projects ever undertaken. Rich Cookson travels to Sakhalin island, in Russia’s far east, to discover how our insatiable thirst for energy threatens the whales’ wild and remote feeding grounds – and could even drive them to extinction

The old Soviet lighthouse on the edge of Pitlun lagoon is the best place to see one of the rarest whales in the world. From the rusting metal balcony at the top, there’s a fine view over the only known feeding ground of the critically endangered western north Pacific gray whale – and at this time of year they are easy to spot as they feed in seas thick with marine life. read more

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said that 70 per  cent of the 4,000 contracts it awards annually, are  done by Nigerians.

Shell’s Corporate Government Relations Manager,  Mr Harriman Oyofo, said this in a statement issued  in Warri, Delta,  while reacting to an  ultimatum given to the company by Ogbe-Ijoh  community in Warri area.

This is in demonstration of our commitment to  promoting local content and contracting, Oyofo  said.

The Ogbe-Ijoh community in Warri South West had  given Shell the ultimatum to address the issue of  recognising its traditional ruler, the award of  contracts to its people and community development. read more

2006-07-24 09:10:15
By Dominic Nkolimwa

It is business as usual yesterday for the Scandinavia Express Services Limited after the company won liquidation respite from the Commercial Court in Dar es Salaam late last week.

Dismissing prayers from Shell Tanzania and other creditors of the company, High Court’s Judge Nathalia Kimaro ruled declaring the company bankrupt would not be beneficial to either party.

According to the Judge, Shell Tanzania Limited failed to prove the winding up order it sought would be beneficial to all creditors of Scandinavia proportionally. read more

Monday, July 24, 2006. Issue 3459. Page 8.
Reuters

NEW DELHI — Flagship Indian energy firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp. is in talks over exporting its share of natural gas from Sakhalin-1 via Royal Dutch Shell’s nearby LNG terminal, an Indian oil ministry official said.

The move to make liquefied natural gas at Sakhalin-1, a multibillion-dollar project on the Pacific Coast, runs counter to operator ExxonMobil’s long-held plan to sell the gas via a pipeline to nearby Japan.

“We are keen on getting LNG from Sakhalin-1,” the ministry official, who did not wish to be identified, said Friday. “India needs LNG desperately. Shell has a liquefaction facility for Sakhalin-2 and we can use that. We have had some discussions and will meet them again on July 31.” read more

EXTRACT: Santos holds a 40 per cent stake in the project, Shell Development (Australia) has 50 per cent and Osaka Gas Australia has 10 per cent. 

THE ARTICLE

July 24, 2006 – 2:13PM

Oil and gas explorer Santos has discovered gas at its Evans Shoal South exploration well.

The South-1 well is north-west of Darwin and the company said it would continue technical assessments to determine the significance of well results.

The well reached a total depth of 4097 metres and encountered hydrocarbons in both the primary and secondary objectives. No hydrocarbons were recovered to the surface. read more

EXTRACT: Shell’s Nigerian venture has yet to resume full production after a series of rebel attacks that began in January. Output of about 473,000 barrels a day remains halted, London-based spokesman Axel Zander said on July 20.

THE ARTICLE

July 24 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil companies, may say this week that second- quarter earnings climbed because of a surge in crude prices and a rebound in refining profits.

London-based BP may say profit rose 2.9 percent to $5.97 billion from $5.8 billion a year earlier, under accounting that eliminates one-time items, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 analysts. Shell probably earned $6.2 billion, a 19 percent jump from $5.2 billion a year earlier, a survey of 10 analysts found. read more

EXTRACT: Rising oil prices should still mean profits for the full year rise to more than £12bn this year, up from just over £11bn last time. BG Group is due to post figures today, while Royal Dutch Shell will deliver its second quarter update on Thursday.

THE ARTICLE

Mon 24 Jul 2006
VICTORIA THOMSON

THE half-year earnings season will start in earnest this week with figures from the likes of BP and Northern Rock while the retirement date of BP chief executive Lord Browne could overshadow another round of strong quarterly results from the oil sector. read more

EXTRACT: Lerach through the years had wrung billions of dollars out of WorldCom Inc., AT&T Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Apple Computer Inc. and a long list of blue-chip corporations. He did that generally through mammoth class-action lawsuits — triggered by a drop in the target’s stock price — that alleged that boardroom misconduct and fraud had occurred.

THE ARTICLE

Prosecutors may want to indict William Lerach, but his career and the shareholder suits he pioneered are booming.
By Molly Selvin, Times Staff Writer
July 23, 2006 read more