FRANK URQUHART
Tue 25 Jul 2006
THE oil giant Shell has announced plans for a £25 million “centre of excellence” in Aberdeen, underlining its commitment to the North Sea.
A new state-of-the-art technical campus will be built to serve as a long-term base for expertise to support engineering, design and subsea developments for the global oil and gas industry.
The development should ensure a continuing key role for Aberdeen in the worldwide industry long after the last drop of offshore oil has been recovered from the North Sea.
Kieron McFadyen, Shell’s vice- president for technical development in Europe, said the investment reinforced the company’s commitment to Scotland and the North Sea, and its drive to establish Aberdeen as a global hub for the worldwide oil and gas industry. He said: “We can do just about anything here in Aberdeen. And it is about bringing local capability to bear regionally and globally.”
Under the development proposals, all 2,500 staff working for Shell UK in Aberdeen will be united on its headquarters site at Tullos. The 950 employees currently working at the leased Seafield House, off Anderson Drive, will move into the new, seven-storey, triangular glass office complex when the building is completed in 2009.
Work on what the company says will be an “iconic” building is scheduled to start early next year.
Mr McFadyen said: “It will position Aberdeen as a global energy hub, where we can take the experience and the capability we have developed over many decades and deploy it globally.
“Our projects people provide engineering and management expertise for projects around the world. You will see people working from Aberdeen on projects in West Africa, in Russia, in the Middle East and in many other locations throughout the world. Working together on one campus, we will have a dynamic talent base where local, regional and global systems of working will make this a hub of exceptional talent.
“Aberdeen is a fantastic situation for the industry, at the heart of the supply chain and with the capability to reach around the world.”
Mr McFadyen said that the establishment of the “technical centre of excellence” in Aberdeen would provide the city with a long-term base for expertise to support engineering and geosciences for oil and gas projects around the world.
It is hoped it will lead to the creation of jobs in the future.
He went on: “We see scope for more jobs and we are already seeing signs of higher demand, and higher demand will mean more capability.”
News of the development was widely welcomed yesterday. Malcolm Webb, the chief executive of the UK Offshore Operators’ Association, said: “Shell’s announcement is a huge boost for the industry. It is another demonstration of the commitment being given by oil and gas companies to the long-term future of the North Sea.
“It is also tremendous news for the supply chain based in the north-east of Scotland, whose expertise is increasingly being sought all around the world.”
Aberdeen’s lord provost, John Reynolds, said: “Continued investment in the city can only be hugely beneficial for the local economy.”
Kate Dean, the leader of Aberdeen City Council, said: “This is a vote of confidence in the future of the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen. The fact that Shell are making this application says something about making Aberdeen a key centre of the global industry, long after North Sea oil reserves have been recovered.”
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1077122006
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.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
