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August 20th, 2006:

The Wall Street Journal: In Iran Nuclear Standoff, Scant Leverage for West

EXTRACT: Iran’s oil-output capacity has stagnated for the past decade. Investments, including ones by France’s Total SA, Italy’s ENI SpA and Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC, have merely offset natural declines in Iranian fields.

THE ARTICLE

Differing National Interests,
Threat of Global Recession
Leave Few Workable Options
By BHUSHAN BAHREE and MARC CHAMPION
August 21, 2006; Page A3

For all of the tough talk likely in coming days about using global sanctions to shut down Iran’s nuclear-fuel program, the West has few real options for forcing Tehran to back down. 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.

AFX Europe (Focus): Shell, PetroChina competing for stake in Beijing Tongyi – report

Published: Aug 21, 2006

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina are understood to be bidding for a stake in Beijing Tongyi Petroleum Chemical Co Ltd, the China Securities Journal reported.

The size of the stake was not disclosed.

Beijing Tongyi is the only private firm out of China’s three major domestic lubricant producers, and the report said it is seeking to cut its bill for base oil through a tie up with a major oil supplier.

Base oil is a key raw material of lubricants. Currently Beijing Tongyi has to import 90 pct of its base oil needs, as the local market is largely controlled by by the firm’s two main state-owned rivals — PetroChina and Sinopec. 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.

Financial Times: Concession to history: when miners in Congo must look beyond the bottom line

EXTRACT: The problems companies could face in Katanga bear comparison with those of multinationals such as Shell in the Nigerian Delta. There, local groups have mounted sabotage campaigns and kidnapped foreign workers in a bid to force the companies to spend more of their revenue in the oil-producing region.For years, corrupt government officials looted the profits they received, meaning little of the oil wealth is seen in the Delta. The foreign groups then became the targets of local communities’ ire. 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.

MarketWatch: Shell awaits Sakhalin audit results

Last Update: 6:31 PM ET Aug 20, 2006

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Russia’s Resources Ministry is set to complete an audit of Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSB) $20 billion gas project on Sahkalin Island next week, The Business reports Sunday.

The findings are expected to increase pressure on Shell, which doubled the projected costs of the liquefied natural gas project last year.

Earlier this month, the ministry’s environmental monitoring arm threatened to take Shell to court, claiming the pipeline would create safety risks. 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.

XFN-ASIA: Shell, PetroChina competing for stake in Beijing Tongyi – report

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina are understood to be bidding for a stake in Beijing Tongyi Petroleum Chemical Co Ltd, the China Securities Journal reported.

The size of the stake was not disclosed.

Beijing Tongyi is the only private firm out of China’s three major domestic lubricant producers, and the report said it is seeking to cut its bill for base oil through a tie up with a major oil supplier.

Base oil is a key raw material of lubricants. Currently Beijing Tongyi has to import 90 pct of its base oil needs, as the local market is largely controlled by by the firm’s two main state-owned rivals — PetroChina and Sinopec. 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.

ShellNews.net: Ogoni petition to President Bush concerning Shell Oil

Below is a copy of a petition sent a month ago to US President George W Bush by the National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS INTL.) USA.

We have a copy of the signed letter.

For more information about the Ogoni people go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoni

THE PETITION 

NATIONAL UNION OF OGONI STUDENTS (NUOS INTL.), USA
2517 W. DEVON AVE. STE. 5
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60659
www.nuos-ogoni.org[email protected]  – 773.250.7004
 
July 21, 2006
 
The President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C 20500
 
His Excellency President G.W. Bush:
 
SAVE OGONI FROM NIGERIA GOVERNMENT AND SHELL OIL AGGRESSION
 
On behalf of the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, we the Ogoni students in the United States write to first, thank you and your administration for the genuine concern you have shown towards the development and stability of the African continent. At the same time we call on you and your administration to urgently intervene in the conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
 
We are compelled to send you this appeal because of the persistent strife, conflict, poverty and exploitation of our people by successive governments of Nigeria in collaboration with Shell Oil. Also, this appeal becomes necessary because Ogoni people are consistently denied their conceptual and legal rights and more so, insecurity from the multinational oil firms and Nigerian government has formed a psychological cloud around them.
 
The Niger Delta region has seen so many crises because Nigeria has refused to address minority grievances since independent. From genesis to date, Nigeria has evaded to accord equal status to the Ogoni people. Nigerian government treats Ogoni people like subjects, not citizens. An analysis is important here. Shell Oil started oil operation in Ogoni in 1958. The first sign of the current conflict started in 1970 when the Ogoni people through their chiefs petitioned against the reckless methods of operations by Shell Oil and British Petroleum (BP). Part of their petition read, “Our rivers, rivulets and creeks are all covered with crude oil…, we no longer breathe the natural oxygen, rather we inhale lethal and ghastly gases. We no longer use vegetables, they are all polluted.” Instead of Nigeria to address this grievance, she enacted legislation – Petroleum Act and Land Use Act (1978). These legislations deprive States, groups and citizens from having access to their resources. The federal government thereafter appropriated revenues to the constituent units solely at their discretion. This started the agitation for true federalism by Ogoni and other Niger Delta people to this day. Government in alliance with Shell Oil instead of fixing the structural and environmental problems in the country has resorted to manipulations, bribery and killings. Then in 1990 Ogoni people presented the Ogoni Bills of Rights to the Government of Nigeria but were ignored.
 
Another of such grievance is that, the government of Nigeria and its leadership continually works for the multinational oil corporations without recourse to the ordinary citizenry. For instance, Ogoni has over one hundred Oil wells and nine flow stations – Bomu, Bodo West, Tai, Korokoro, Yorla, Lubara Creek, and Afam etc. She has contributed over US$30 billion to the Nigerian treasury from 1958 to date. From 1970-2006, she has suffered over 3000 oil spills some of which have not been cleansed as stipulated by regulations. Also, Ogoni continue to suffer from carbon-dioxide and methane emissions. The people continue to suffer health hazards such as cancer, severe coronary heart/cardiovascular diseases, defective birth, and others. In all of these, Ogoni lacks basic necessities – such as: pipe-borne water, electricity, access roads, functional schools and healthcare systems.  
 
Ogoni did call on Shell oil and other oil firms operating in the area to conduct Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Studies but they refused. The Nigerian government remains silent on this. We view this as evil and racism against Ogoni and the minorities of the Niger Delta. We use this opportunity to inform you that the supply of ammunition and military hardware and training to Nigerian military  by western nations including the United States all help in killing innocent Ogoni citizens.
 
In protesting the above standard of conspiracy and corruption in the Niger Delta including Ogoni, Shell Oil was declared Persona non grata in Ogoniland on January 4, 1993 in a match which over 300,000 people took part. Since then, Shell Oil has appeared in court and before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission against Ogoni. She has now indulged in bribery and racketeering (both Politicians and government officials) to pave way for her return. This is against her earlier stance that she is “unwilling to return to Ogoni unless invited by the host community.” The situation is a clear testimony of how Nigeria and Shell Oil want to by-pass genuine negotiations and resume oil exploration in Ogoni. We are concerned because it would bring another round of bloodbath in the area. The truth is that, the Ogoni people although, not against reconciliation/negotiation, do not want Shell Oil any longer on their land after over 4000 Ogonis were killed, their leaders falsely accused and hanged by Shell Oil and the Nigeria State .The company do not have any respect for human lives and rights, the environment and laws. 
 
Sir, this petition is a declaration of the position of the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. Some of the fact on Shell Oil in Ogoni include: The murder of Ogoni leaders including Ken Saro Wiwa; supply of ammunitions and helicopters to the Nigeria government within 1993-96 with which the military grounded some of our villages which resulted in refugee crises. Within said period, many of our people were arrested and dumped in jail for months without trial. Others were tortured, maimed and killed, while our women were raped. Also, some were internally displaced whilst others were driven into exile in Benin Republic and remain refugees to date. We call on your administration to intervene in their resettlement.  
 
As a panacea to resolving the conflict, Ogoni people demand as follows:               
 
           1.    Addressing the legitimate demands of the Ogoni people as contained in the  
                  Ogoni Bills of Rights (OBR),                                                              
         
           2.    An Ogoni State, 
         
           3.    The United States should prevail on the Federal Government of Nigeria and
                  Rivers State Government to enforce the resolution of the Rivers State House
                  of Assembly during its Thirty- Four Legislative Session, Tuesday, April 06,
                  1993; which resolved among others that the Nigerian National Petroleum
                  Corporation (NNPC), Chevron Nigeria Limited (CML) and Shell Petroleum
                  Development Company (SPDC) pay a total of 22 billion Pounds Sterling to
                  the Ogoni People as compensation for ruining the Ogoni environment and the
                  health of the Ogoni People,                                
          
           4.    Exoneration of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others of trumped-up charges, 
          
           5.    Abrogation of obnoxious Land Use decree Act of 1978,    
    
           6.    Implementation of the 1996 United Nations Fact Finding Mission’s   
                   recommendations on Ogoni,                                                
         
           7.   Ogoni continues to stand by these and other demands.
 
Finally, His Excellency, the importance of the Niger Delta region to the economy of Nigeria and the entire world cannot be overemphasized, hence the need for its continued stability. It is unfortunate that a region that has contributed so much to the economy of the Nigeria nation has yet to see any development. It is also unfortunate that Nigeria and Shell Oil continue to evade environmental problems although the ecosystem in that region is near destruction. We therefore, urge you and your administration to prevail on the government of Nigeria to immediately open up negotiation with Ogoni people based on their genuine demands contained in the Ogoni Bills of Rights (OBR). We also urge you to advised President Obasanjo and Shell Oil to stop further attempts to go around Ogoni demands to start oil activity in Ogoni with the use of force because such move is inimical to peace.
 
Thank you for your service to humanity.
 
Signed:
(For: NUOS INTL, USA)
 
_______________________
KorneBari Nwike (President)
 
____________________________
Mrs. Blessing Wifa (Vice President)
 
____________________
Austin Lemea (Secretary)
 
__________________________________
Dum –Ale Tanee (Public Relations Officer)
 
 
Cc:  US Senators
       US House of Representatives
       US House Committee on Foreign 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: Oil output hit by high costs

EXTRACT: Royal Dutch Shell and BP, the world’s second- and third-largest fully publicly traded oil firms, both indicated in July they may miss their 2006 output targets.  Both firms cited the effect of production-sharing contracts under which they get fewer barrels at high prices. Shell’s output was hit by attacks on oil installations in Nigeria, where it is the top foreign producer.

THE ARTICLE

LONDON (Reuters)
Tight market for rigs and services delay projects

The world’s top oil firms are struggling to expand oil and gas output, hit by a tight market for drilling rigs and rising costs, hampering development of new supplies at a time of record prices. 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.

ShellNews.net: Sakhalin II: Another Shell scandal?

Letter to TheBusinessOnline regarding their article: Shell facing a rough ride over its Sakhalin Island gas project…

From John Donovan: 20 August 2006

The Stock Exchange listing particulars published on 19 May 2005 for the merger of The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company and Royal Dutch Petroleum Company stated: “Overall investment in the Sakhalin II project is expected to be over $10 billion.”

On 8 July 2005, news broke about Shell’s plans to agree a multi-billion dollar asset swap with Gazprom. Jeroen van der Veer, the Chief Executive of the unified company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, described the deal as a “win-win” situation for both companies, giving Gazprom an entry to sell gas into the lucrative American and Asia-Pacific market while Shell was gaining more reserves in Russia.  He said the deal “tees up” future acquisitions for Shell in Russia.  We were told that the deal was related to Shell recovering its credibility by restructuring, after inconveniently losing 25pc of its “proven” oil and gas. At the time, Mr Van der Veer denied suggestions that there had been pressure from the Kremlin to give Gazprom a stake in Sakhalin II.  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 Sunday Telegraph: Negotiate the boardroom maze

By Richard Northedge 

(Filed: 20/08/2006)

Shell and BP are deadly rivals. But when the board of the Unilever food and household products group meets, Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer finds himself in the same room as Antony Burgmans, BP director and chairman of Unilever. The practice of plucking directors from one company to become non-executives of another produces many strange pairings such as this.

When the GUS board meets, it brings together Britain’s top banks. The retailer plays host to the chairman of Lloyds TSB, Sir Victor Blank, HSBC director John Coombe, Standard Chartered director and former Barclays finance director Oliver Stocken, plus Andy Hornby, chief executive of HBOS. Rio Tinto and Xstrata are rival FTSE100 mining companies, yet when the brokers and bankers of JP Morgan Cazenove meet, Rio director David Mayhew rubs shoulders with Xstrata director Sir Steve Robson. 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.

TheBusinessOnline: Shell facing a rough ride over its Sakhalin Island gas project

By Richard Orange
20 August 2006
 
IN any competition for the oil industry’s most angst-filled executives, Royal Dutch Shell’s Russia negotiators would merit a mention, given the mounting pressure on Shell’s $20bn (E15.5bn, £10.6bn) gas project on Sakhalin Island.

Russia’s Resources Ministry is next week slated to finish its audit of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on Russia’s Far East coast.

Shell had to double the project’s planned costs last year and will get a rough ride when the ministry releases its findings. On top of that, the ministry’s environmental monitoring arm earlier this month threatened to take Shell to court, possibly next month, to stop construction on one of the project’s key pipelines, which it claims is at risk of mudslides. 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.