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August 17th, 2006:

MarketWatch: Mexico’s First-Ever Liquefied Natural Gas Cargo Arrives at Altamira’s Regasification Terminal

LNG Cargo’s Arrival Marks the Start of Altamira’s Commissioning Phase Last Update: 4:25 PM ET Aug 17, 2006

TAMPICO, Mexico, Aug 17, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Terminal de LNG de Altamira, a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell plc (50 percent), Total and Mitsui (each 25 percent), today announced the arrival of the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo ever to be delivered to Mexico.

The 138,000-cubic-meter, Shell-owned LNG cargo read more

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Dow Jones Newswires: Sakhalin Protesters Switch Focus To BP, Exxon In Sep -NGO

EXTRACT: Limiting environmental damage is critical for Sakhalin II as it seeks about $500 million in loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. A spokesman for the bank reiterated Tuesday that a decision on whether or not to back Sakhalin II is due in September.

THE ARTICLE 

17 August 2006  
 
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The indigenous people of Russia’s Sakhalin Island are to target ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and BP PLC (BP) in protests next month, diverting their attention away from Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), the leader of lobby group Sakhalin Environment Watch said this week. read more

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.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: New Alaska oil leases being offered despite uproar over pipeline corrosion

By H. Josef Hebert

11:44 a.m. August 16, 2006

WASHINGTON – The Interior Department is set to open a vast area of environmentally sensitive wetlands in Alaska to new oil drilling, even as opponents point to corroding pipelines to the east at Prudhoe Bay as a reason to keep the area off-limits.

The tens of thousands of acres in and around Lake Teshekpuk on Alaska’s North Slope are part of the oil-rich Barrow Arch that also includes the Prudhoe Bay fields that have kept oil flowing for decades. read more

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.

Voice of America: Nigeria to Crackdown on Delta ‘Terrorists’

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja

Nigeria’s president is ordering a crackdown on those behind a wave of kidnappings and violence in the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta. Security patrols are being increased in the region to ease security fears.

President Olusegun Obasanjo branded those behind the current wave of kidnappings in the delta as terrorists.

The Nigerian leader told security chiefs, oil companies executives and governors from the delta that the administration will no longer tolerate acts of violence now threatening the oil industry. He said the government will place sanctions on any government or oil industry body that pays ransoms. read more

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.

UpstreamOnline: Gulf lease sale sets a record

Anthony Guegel

High bids at today’s annual lease sale for the western Gulf of Mexico in New Orleans represented the highest total value received in eight years.

Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico regional director Chris Oynes said a total of $340,935,514 in high bids were offered for the services Lease Sale 200.

The total value of bids received amounted to $462,760,912, Oynes said.

Those figures are well in excess of the August 2005 western Gulf sale, in which $285.1 million in high bids were received and the sum of all bids was $335.6 million. read more

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.

The New York Times: Nano firm reduces diesel fumes, improves mileage

EXTRACT: Shell and Exxon are setting up factories in Qatar for converting natural gas to fuel. This fuel costs more than regular gasoline, but it produces fewer pollutants. Air pollution has become so bad in some areas that local governments have begun to regulate traffic. New Delhi, for instance, has banned diesel buses from certain areas.

THE ARTICLE
 
Michael Kanellos, for News.com
Published: August 16, 2006

The smell of diesel fumes is pervasive in the developing world, but a fuel additive from the United Kingdom may take the edge off the aroma. read more

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.

Reuters: Trico confirms 4 Niger Delta hostages safely released

EXTRACT: Those attacks forced Royal Dutch Shell to shut about 500,000 barrels per day of oil production, almost a quarter of the capacity of the OPEC member nation.

THE ARTICLE

16 Aug 2006 23:23:12 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Trico Marine Services Inc. confirmed on Wednesday that four of its employees had been safely released after being abducted from its supply vessel off the Niger Delta and held hostage for a week.

The two Norwegians and two Ukrainians were released on Tuesday, Aug. 15, the Houston-based oil field support services company said in a statement. read more

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.

The Wall Street Journal: Oil News Roundup: August 16, 2006 5:49 p.m.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
August 16, 2006 5:49 p.m.

Crude-oil futures tumbled to less than $72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, their lowest close since late June, after OPEC cut its outlook for global oil demand. Here is Wednesday’s roundup of energy-related news:

* * *
QUESTIONING FORCE MAJEURE: The Associated Press reports that some analysts are questioning whether Exxon-Mobil and ConocoPhillips should be able to declare force majeure on oil shipments from Prudhoe Bay, which is operating at less than half its normal capacity due to corrosion in some key pipelines. Force majeure, which lets oil companies break contractual obligations to deliver oil, is typically based on natural disasters or war, these analysts note, and the oil field’s partial shutdown was the result of neither. read more

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.

The Times: Bumper year for City as bonuses soar 16%

August 17, 2006
By Sarah Butler
 
DIRECTORS and City bankers are in line for bumper bonuses this year after an estimated 16 per cent rise in the spring payouts. 
 
The Office for National Statistics’ annual assessment of the scale of bonuses said that the payouts rose by £2.5 billion this year to an estimated £19 billion.

The rise follows a £1.5 billion increase last year, suggesting a 25 per cent rise over two years.

Bonuses for financial services workers account for by far the largest chunk of the payouts, about £10 billion overall. Many banks have reported record profits this year as the stock market has revived and acquisitions and mergers boomed. At the same time profits are rising at major British companies such as BP, Shell and Tesco, leading to big payouts for directors. read more

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.

Daily Telegraph: To the point: Beware – the spirit of the gold rush is still with us

EXTRACT: However high commodity prices soar, there comes a time when an investor in an exploration stock wants proof that the company really has proven reserves in the ground and that it can extract them profitably.

THE ARTICLE

By Edmond Warner
(Filed: 17/08/2006)

Ambition is engrained in the DNA of the human race. So too, unfortunately, are greed and gullibility. For every individual striving to better himself, there are others attuned to the opportunities to profit from the in-built weaknesses that are odds on to prevent him reaching his goal. This is as true now as it was, say, in the days of the gold rush. read more

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.

The Guardian: Cost of water shortage: civil unrest, mass migration and economic collapse

Analysts see widespread conflicts by 2015 but pin hopes on technology and better management

John Vidal, environment editor
Thursday August 17, 2006

Cholera may return to London, the mass migration of Africans could cause civil unrest in Europe and China’s economy could crash by 2015 as the supply of fresh water becomes critical to the global economy. That was the bleak assessment yesterday by forecasters from some of the world’s leading corporate users of fresh water, 200 of the largest food, oil, water and chemical companies. read more

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.

Western People (Ireland): Work to resume next month on gas project (*more Shell double-talk)

Wednesday, August 16, 2006
By: Orla Hearns

SEPIL looks set to cause confusion once again in relation to its intentions for the Corrib gas project in Erris.

Having resolved just weeks ago to give serious consideration to rerouting the controversial high pressure on-shore gas pipeline away from residences in the Ross-port area, the Company is about to announce a number of new initiatives relating to the gas project.

A spokesperson for SEPIL (Shell E&P Ireland Ltd) told the Western People yesterday, Monday, August 14, that the initiatives will relate to “enhancing local benefits, local employment and the procuring of services locally”. read more

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.

Terrace Standard (Canada): Shell cancels gas drill program

SHELL HAS abandoned plans to explore the Klappan region north of here for coalbed methane natural gas this year after failing to reach a deal with the Tahltan, whose traditional territory includes the area.

The company began work in the Klappan in 2004 and although it did not return last year after protests from some Tahltan, it had hopes to resume this year, said Shell official Jeff Mann.

Those hopes were pinned on what Mann called a voluntary benefits agreement for this year, a deal that could have provided up to $6 million in wages and contracts to Tahltan workers and Tahltan companies. read more

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.