August 23rd, 2006:

By John Donovan

The following comment was posted by guest 1731 on our “Live Chat” facility on 22 August 2006:

“The remarks in the Richard Wiseman story come across as being melodramatic. Do you have any proof that what you are saying is true? Have you not got anything positive to say about him or Shell?”
 
The following was my light hearted response:

“Guest 1731 thanks for your interesting and perfectly reasonable questions. Are you a colleague of Mr Wiseman or is this he in person? If so, we are honoured by your visit. In any event, we will respond in detail tomorrow. Suffice it to say that we do have proof about the agent activity (Mr Wiseman is already painfully aware of this fact.) With regards to positive comments, we will need time to put our minds to that challenge.”
 
This is my more serious response. read more

Sakhalin Energy has completed the construction of the first LNG loading berth in Russia, as the Company informs.

The berth for the loading of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is one of the integral elements of the LNG production plant that is under construction in the south of Sakhalin.

The berth can receive tankers with tonnage from 18,000 cubic meters to 145,000 cubic meters.

Sakhalin Energy is the operator of the Sakhalin-2 project. Under this project, the Piltun-Actokhskoye and Lunskoye Fields are being developed, their mineable reserves being 17.3 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1 billion barrels of oil.
  read more

Last Update: 6:15 PM ET Aug 22, 2006

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The discovery of severe corrosion in BP PLC’s (BP) Prudhoe Bay pipeline system doesn’t warrant the introduction of new U.S. regulations, Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSB.LN) top U.S. executive said Tuesday.

BP earlier this month shut off about half of crude oil production from Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, the largest producing field in the U.S., after finding a small oil spill caused by unexpectedly worn-out pipelines. read more

Wednesday 23 August 2006, 15:11 Makka Time, 12:11 GMT  
 
Gunmen have kidnapped 17 oil workers this month

Nigeria’s oil workers’ unions are considering pulling all their members out of the Niger delta after a series of abductions.

Two oil unions have called an emergency meeting after the kidnappings of 17 workers, mostly foreigners, in the last month. Oil companies have imposed strict travel restrictions on their staff to try to keep them safe.

Government attempts to rescue a Nigerian hostage in the delta ended in a shoot-out on Sunday. Up to 10 members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta were killed and it is still unclear whether the hostage, an employee of Royal Dutch Shell, survived. read more

CEO says nations should open up more territory to satiate demand

Bloomberg News
Aug. 23, 2006, 12:28AM

Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson urged governments on Tuesday to open more territory to energy exploration to boost supplies and satisfy rising world demand.

“By providing timely access to resources, governments enable energy companies to bring the full extent of their technology and know-how to bear to new supply opportunities,” Tillerson said at a conference in Stavanger, Norway, according to a text of his remarks. read more

By Upstream staff

Oil prices edged lower to under $73 a barrel today, as world powers studied Iran’s offer of more talks to resolve a nuclear dispute before it leads to sanctions being imposed on Tehran.

US crude for October delivery was 30 cents down at $72.80 a barrel by 0255 GMT, after falling 20 cents yesterday. The September contract expired 18 cents up at $72.63 yesterday after a three-day rally. London Brent crude for October slipped 33 cents to $72.91 a barrel.

Last night Iran said its reply to a package of incentives by world powers contained ideas that would allow serious talks about its standoff to start straight away. But it was not clear whether the response went far enough to avert United Nations sanctions. read more

by KNUT EVENSEN in Stavanger
Photo by VASILIY BAZIUK/AP

ExxonMobil has put its 15% stake in BP’s Skarv field on the block, another signal that the Norwegian Sea is not a top priority for the US supermajor.

Sources told Upstream that the supermajor opened a data room for interested companies last week, and suggested that ExxonMobil is testing the market to see what kind of price it can fetch for its asset.

Through recent asset transactions, ExxonMobil has signalled that this part of the Norwegian continental shelf is not part of its future plans. read more

BLACK GOLD: Oil companies will have a major surplus of cash according to a new report

Sam Fleming,
23 August 2006

GLOBAL oil majors are set to generate an extraordinary £53bn of surplus cash in the next three years, Citigroup has claimed – some 11% more than between 2003 and 2005.

Yet this apparently favourable scenario masks a gathering crisis for many of the biggest oil players, as they find it ever harder to find new opportunities to put their profits to work and drive up value for shareholders. read more

By IAN MCDONALD and RUSSELL GOLD
August 23, 2006; Page C1

In today’s energy-stock sector, investors might want to borrow a credo from Watergate-era reporters: Follow the money.

Thanks to soaring energy prices, the world’s biggest oil and natural-gas companies are sitting on mountains of cash. Exxon Mobil Corp. had more than $32 billion in its coffers at the end of June — nearly equal to the combined stock-market value of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. At the same time, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Chevron Corp. and BP PLC had a total of more than $26 billion in cash. read more

• UK real estate billionaire John Whittaker’s Peel Holdings said it doesn’t plan to make a takeover offer for UK Coal.

• ExxonMobil chief executive officer Rex Tillerson urged governments around the world to open more territory to oil and gas exploration.

• Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian venture said an employee may have been hurt in a clash between soldiers and militants on Sunday, amid increasing violence in the Niger River delta region.

EXTRACT: At least 508,000 bpd or about a sixth of Nigeria’s output capacity has been shut in due to militant attacks and pipeline leaks this year, with its largest producer, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), most affected. 

THE ARTICLE

By REUTERS
Published: August 22, 2006
Filed at 11:14 p.m. ET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices edged down to under $73 a barrel on Wednesday, as world powers studied Iran’s offer of more talks to resolve a nuclear dispute that could lead to sanctions against the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter. read more

BP may face charges over Prudhoe Bay
NICK BEVENS BUSINESS EDITOR

BP LOOKS set to be taken to court by the Alaskan authorities, after they raised the possibility of both criminal and civil action against the British oil giant over the closure of Prudhoe Bay, America’s largest oil field.

The state’s attorney-general, David Márquez, said yesterday he has created a task force in the Department of Law to review the state’s legal rights, “particularly the full extent to which BP and possibly other parties can be held legally responsible for losses incurred by the state”. read more

By Tom Cahill and Sonja Franklin Bloomberg News
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006

PARIS BP’s shutdown of the largest U.S. oil field may be the first of many, as decaying pipelines threaten to add to already soaring energy prices in the next decade.

“We’ll look back on this event as the Pearl Harbor Day in energy,” said Matthew Simmons, chairman of energy investment bank Simmons & Co. in Houston. The chance that the leaks and corrosion found at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska by BP, the British oil company, are an isolated occurrence is “zero,” said Simmons, who is writing a book on aging oil infrastructure. read more

 EXTRACT: Andy Corrigan, a spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell Plc of The Hague, said maintenance spending has been “stepped up significantly in recent years.” He wasn’t more specific. Shell in February said its capital spending will rise 27 percent this year, to $19 billion. The company, the world’s second-largest oil company by market value, last month said production will be lower than expected.

THE ARTICLE

By Tom Cahill and Sonja Franklin

(Bloomberg) — BP Plc’s shutdown of the largest U.S. oil field may be the first of many, as decaying pipelines threaten to add 20 percent to energy prices in the next decade. read more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) — The president of Shell Oil said Tuesday if Americans cut their gas consumption slightly, there would be a significant drop in prices.

However, said John Hofmeister, the current political leadership refuses to actively promote conservation as an antidote to high prices, despite industry briefings that lay out the potential savings.

“If we could conserve even 5 percent of gasoline we would see in a period of six to eight weeks a significant difference in the price of gas,” Hofmeister told the Infragard National Conference, a critical infrastructure protection convention in Washington. “The political leadership has chosen not to actively promote conservation. So we continue to produce to demand and that’s what keeps prices up,” Hofmeister said. read more

Last Update: 9:30 PM ET Aug 22, 2006

By Maya Jackson Randall and Ian Talley

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Shell Oil Co. (RDSB) President John Hofmeister told reporters Tuesday the company is in talks with the U.S. Department of Interior to address concerns that some Gulf of Mexico drilling leases don’t require oil companies to pay royalties to the federal government.

Hofmeister said he’s interested in resolving the dispute and optimistic about being able to reach an agreement that could satisfy all parties, leaving open the possibility that the company would rework the flawed 1999 and 1998 leases to address U.S. lawmakers’ concerns. read more

By Peter Wilson

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp., Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are among 13 companies that bought information packets for Venezuela’s auction later this year of four offshore natural-gas tracts, Petroleos de Venezuela SA said.

The 13 paid $350,000 apiece for the packets as a prelude to possible bidding in the auction, the Caracas-based company said in a press statement today.

Thirty-four companies were initially invited to participate in the auction.

Venezuela expects investment of $172 million during the next four years to develop the four blocks, which may have gas reserves of as much as 11 trillion cubic feet, Petroleos de Venezuela President Rafael Ramirez said earlier this month. read more

LOS ANGELES, Aug 22, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX

In response to the oil companies’ lawsuit against Proposition 87 filed today, The California Clean Energy Initiative issued this offer of settlement.

Please note this settlement offer was sent to ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and Occidental Petroleum, which are bankrolling the anti-87 campaign.

Dear Oil Company Executive:

We are writing to offer settlement of the lawsuit your agents filed against The California Clean Energy Initiative regarding the use of certain Web addresses. We will initially turn over to you the Web addresses in question provided you and your agents agree with our terms, which are as follows: read more