THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
August 4, 2006 8:50 p.m.
Oil futures tumbled as Tropical Storm Chris was downgraded to a tropical depression, further calming worries that it could disrupt oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s Friday’s roundup of energy-related news:
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SPREADING SPILL: Lebanon’s environment minister warned that the oil spill caused when Israeli planes bombed a Lebanese power station nearly three weeks ago — called by some Lebanon’s worst environmental disaster ever — could pollute several Mediterranean shores, including those of Cyprus and Turkey. The oil has already affected about 10 kilometers of Syrian shoreline, according to the United Nations, and about two-thirds of Lebanon’s coast, according to Lebanon’s environment minister.
PROFIT PAIN: Though Big Oil has lately posted booming profits, not all energy companies have benefited. Occidental Petroleum posted a 44% drop in second-quarter earnings as a charge relating to its Ecuador operations in the latest quarter and a big gain from an asset sale a year ago made for a difficult comparison, MarketWatch reports. Occidental shares fell 2%. And Peoples Energy actually lost money in the quarter, saying its gas-distribution business was hurt by “warmer weather and conservation,” along with high costs and other woes. It also cut its full-year outlook, and its shares tumbled 2.5%.
•Split Decision: Jurors convicted two former energy traders — one formerly of Dynegy, the other formerly of El Paso — of a handful of wire-fraud charges, but either acquitted them or couldn’t reach a verdict on all conspiracy and false-reporting counts. The verdict baffled prosecutors and defendants.
•More Trouble in Nigeria: Militants kidnapped three Filipino oil workers in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, the BBC reports, a day after taking a German worker hostage. Kidnappings and other attacks by militants in the region have cut Nigeria’s oil production by 20% this year.
•Uneasy in Alberta: Alberta, the epicenter of Canada’s oil industry, is booming, but residents are wary, still smarting from the last bust, the London Free Press reports.
•Korean Fund in Demand: South Korean asset-management firms are bidding for the right to manage the country’s first government-led oil-exploration fund, worth about $207 million, the Korea Times reports.
•Singh Denies Report: Former Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh denied a leaked government report that accused him and his son of using government positions to take improper advantage of the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq, the Middle East Times reports.
•The New Black Gold: Coal is the new oil, Kiplinger’s declares, and the U.S. is to coal what Saudia Arabia is to oil. Kiplinger’s also points out that some U.S. coal-producing companies, such as Peabody Energy, have outperformed Big Oil stocks in the past three years.
•Turning the Tide: The New York Times checks up on the burgeoning field of tidal energy. In its infancy and still far from viable, the technology is attracting a lot of interest and cash.
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.
