Aug 9, 2006
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RSDA) has now overtaken the U.K.’s BP PLC (BP) as Europe’s largest oil company by market capitalization, due to production setbacks at BP, analysts said Wednesday.
As of 1455 GMT, Shell’s share price was 1.35%, or 26p higher at 1,951 pence, valuing it at GBP126.775 billion. BP’s share price meanwhile has risen 0.5% or 3.5p to 617.5 pence, giving it a value of GBP121.575 billion.
Since the beginning of the year, Shell’s shares have outperformed BP’s shares by 4%, according to Dow Jones Newswires calculations.
A London-based analyst said he wasn’t surprised by Shell’s new ranking. “Shell looks cheap in terms of multiples and people are willing to accept that oil prices are going to stay high for a while.”
The analyst also added that BP’s shares had suffered lately due to the shutdown of the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska U.S., the delayed restart of its Texas City Refinery following the death of 15 workers, and continued problems with its Thunder Horse platform after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico last year.
The analyst also added that BP’s recent spate of share buybacks and dividend payouts was “shrinking its equity,” and therefore contributing to the drop in BP’s value.
BP’s CEO Lord John Browne earlier this year said the company’s cash redistribution, which totaled $19 billion in dividends and share buybacks in 2005, is expected to be about $50 billion between 2006 and 2008, assuming the Brent oil price averages about $41 a barrel.
The Brent crude oil price spiked to an intraday high of $78.64 a barrel Monday after BP announced the Prudhoe Bay shutdown over the weekend. BP shut down the oilfield after discovering extensive corrosion along the pipeline, which connects the field to the Pacific Ocean. The shutdown has led to a 400,000 barrel-a-day loss in output, roughly 8% of the U.S.’s total production.
As of 1502 GMT, Brent Crude Oil was up 0.66%, or 0.51 cents at $77.87 a barrel. Brent Crude Oil prices have risen 26.2% or $16.17 since the beginning of the year.
Company Web site: http://www.shell.com
http://www.bp.com
-Contact: 201-938-5400
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.
