By Andy Critchlow & Stephen Voss
DUBAI: Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s second-biggest oil company, yesterday said the Pearl GTL project may cost as much as $18bn, triple earlier estimates.
The project will cost $4 to $6 per barrel of oil equivalent to produce, The Hague-based Shell said yesterday in a statement. The venture is expected to produce the equivalent of 3bn barrels of oil during its lifetime, the company said in a separate statement.
Oil and gas project costs are climbing amid shortages of equipment, labour and raw materials such as steel. A year ago, Shell said costs for its Sakhalin II venture in Russia’s Far East doubled to $20bn. Shell yesterday cut its 2006 output target.
“Shell is falling behind competitors in gaining access to traditional oil and gas opportunities,” said Jason Kenney, an analyst at ING Wholesale Banking in Edinburgh, who has a “hold” recommendation for Shell. “Their focus on expensive, unconventional projects like Pearl GTL is still to be proven.”
Shell spokesman Andy Corrigan declined to provide a figure for the project’s overall cost. Earlier this year, the estimated the cost of the gas-to-liquids project was put at $6bn.
The Qatari GTL project involves developing offshore resources in Qatar’s North Field and turning them into fuels similar to diesel, Shell said. The facility will be built in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Shell’s oil and gas reserves at current production levels will run out in about nine years, the lowest level among its peers. Last year, Shell replaced 67% of its output, compared with 95% for BP Plc, using US accounting rules.
The reserves controversy led to the ouster of Shell’s chairman, investor lawsuits and fines from US and UK regulators.
Shell yesterday also said second-quarter net income climbed 40% to $7.32bn as record crude prices overcame production losses in Nigeria.
The company lowered its full-year output target, saying “no firm date can be given” for starting shuttered Nigerian output.
South Africa’s Sasol Ltd was the first to begin GTL production in Qatar, when its 34,000 barrel-a-day Oryx plant opened in Ras Laffan in June.
Shell already sells GTL fuels from an existing plant in Bintulu, Malaysia. – Bloomberg
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.
