By Upstream staff
Crude oil storage caverns leased by the Shell-operated Mars oil field in the US Gulf of Mexico are full, forcing producers to sell production at sharply lower prices, traders and industry sources said on Tuesday.
Differentials for Mars crude have fallen by $2 per barrel in the last week to $8.50 below WTI amid heavy selling, with traders reporting parcels of distressed August Mars crude on offer due to the lack of storage space.
Crude oil storage capacity throughout the US has become difficult to find in large quantities as refiners have been storing crude oil in anticipation of higher prices in the future, Reuters reported.
Mars blend crude is delivered from offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico to rented storage at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (Loop). Industry sources said Mars has about six million barrels of storage capacity at LOOP.
“The Mars cavern is pretty full. The rest of Loop still has capacity to handle incoming shipments,” said a source familiar with operations at the facility.
Mars blend production has risen since Shell restarted the Mars field in May after repairing damage to the Mars Platform caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Shell said it expects Mars to return to pre-Katrina production rates of 140,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 157 million cubic feet of gas per day by June.
“When they turned that field back on, production came back a lot stronger than they expected, and Loop doesn’t want them to use up any more space, so they have to sell,” said a Gulf Coast crude oil trader.
Shell holds a 71.5% stake in the Mars field. BP owns the remaining interest.
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.
