August, 2006:

By Upstream staff

The US Interior Department said today it had sold almost 8.6 million barrels of crude oil the government collects from energy companies as royalties for drilling in federal offshore waters.

The crude should arrive in time to boost available US heating oil supplies this winter and may also help offset some of the crude that will be lost after BP shut down part of its giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska for pipeline repairs.

The oil, which will be delivered to seven energy companies at an average rate of 47,000 barrels per day over a six-month period beginning in October, will be processed into more than 350 million gallons of gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel and other petroleum products, the department said. read more

Published: Aug 22, 2006

HIGH oil and gas prices and increasing interest in deepwater exploration led to robust bidding on the latest Gulf of Mexico lease sale, writes Martyn Wingrove.

The US Minerals Management Service secured $340m in high bids from 62 companies for oil and gas leases in federal waters in the 200th sale of this kind.

The agency received 541 bids for 381 exploration tracts in the Western Gulf lease sale 200 with the total value of bids 38% higher than last year at $462.7m.

‘Sale 200 is the best western sale in terms of the number of bids in the past nine years and the best in eight years for the amount of money bid,’ said MMS’ Gulf of Mexico regional director Chris Oynes. read more

Published: Aug 22, 2006

OIL companies are gaining new exploration licences for offshore Australia after the country opened up new frontiers for hydrocarbon exploration.

Chevron and Shell have gained a large deepwater permit on the Exmouth plateau offshore Western Australia, where they secured three permits last year.

The two oil majors intend to shoot 930 miles of 2D seismic surveys over the 1,390 sq mile block over the next six years in search of large gas prospects.

The area is already home of the North West Shelf and Greater Gorgon gas complexes and lies close to the new oil fields coming on stream in the Exmouth sub-basin. read more

By: Christine Newman,
Published: Aug 22, 2006

Shell E&P Ireland has said that 5 million worth of services and work on the controversial Corrib Gas project in Co Mayo will be open to tender for local businesses.

Work has been suspended on the proposed terminal at Bellanaboy for almost a year. The company has indicated that it will begin work at the site next month despite the pledge by the Shell to Sea campaign group to continue protests which have been maintained at the site since last year.

Yesterday, Shell said it was seeking “expressions of interest” from local businesses to tender for services and work at the terminal to the value of 5 million. read more

Published: Aug 22, 2006

SHELL has started the first wells on its Pohokura project in New Zealand as it commissions the processing station and installs an offshore platform.

The Anglo-Dutch oil firm has started selling gas to local North Island markets and will begin to ship condensates to refineries soon after starting the onshore wells of New Zealand’s second largest field.

‘This is a significant step to deliver gas to meet New Zealand’s energy needs. Pohokura is one of the key projects we have coming on stream before the end of 2008,’ said Dominique Gardy, Shell’s head of exploration and production in Asia Pacific. read more

EXTRACT: Royal Dutch Shell, once regarded as a beacon of ethical solidity, fiddled its production reserve figures.

THE ARTICLE

By John Plender and Avinash Persaud
Published: August 22 2006 03:00 | Last updated: August 22 2006 03:00

The extraordinary expansion of company legislation and corporate governance codes across the world since the collapse of Enron, the energy trader, has had many unintended consequences. One of the more paradoxical is the damage that has been done to business ethics.

The attempt to legislate and regulate people into good behaviour has spawned a compliance culture rather than an ethical culture. Too many boards have outsourced the task of ethics to ethics officers, who have turned to consultants to define the company’s values. Ethics have become something that “other people” in the organisation worry about, leaving everyone else unfettered by such concerns. Does it matter? And if it does, what can be done about it? read more

By Dino Mahtani in Lagos

Published: August 22 2006 03:00 | Last updated: August 22 2006 03:00

A security crackdown in Nigeria’s oil producing delta region has heightened fears of further attacks against facilities as oil security analysts question the government’s methods.

At the weekend Nigerian security forces arrested about 100 people in operations in the country’s eastern delta oil hub of Port Harcourt. The operation, which a military spokesman said would be “the start of something bigger”, came in response to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s order to use “force for force” in response to a series of kidnappings of foreign oil workers during recent weeks. read more

EXTRACT: Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria’s largest foreign oil producer, is losing a total of 495 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of output it operates in Nigeria, largely due to militant attacks on installations.

THE ARTICLE

August 21, 2006, 21:15

Oil rose to almost $72 a barrel as Iran vowed to pursue its nuclear programme, inviting possible sanctions against the world’s fourth largest oil exporter.

Iran had said it would respond formally by tomorrow to Western incentives to halt nuclear enrichment. read more

August 21, 2006
Posted to the web August 21, 2006

Stephen Gunnion
Johannesburg

ROYAL Dutch Shell plans to locate one of its global super customer service centres (super-CSCs) in Cape Town, in a vote of confidence in the local economy, the group said at the weekend.

The centre will be one of a handful globally and will provide customer services and credit management support to business customers of its oil products in France and the Netherlands.

Shell is one of several companies looking at locating their call centres in SA due to its central time zone, low costs and stable labour force. read more

By Jack Uldrich
August 21, 2006

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) is now working with researchers from the Stochastic Systems Group at MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems to learn better ways to discover oil.

Now, if you think words like “stochastic” seem complex, you need to understand that the work the group is doing in designing new mathematical procedures is even more difficult to comprehend. But these procedures (actually, they’re algorithms) are important, because they can be used to quickly analyze complex images. read more

21 Aug 2006 18:42:18 GMT
By Segun Owen

YENAGOA, Nigeria, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Up to 10 Nigerian militants involved in the release of a hostage were killed in a shootout with troops when they ran into a military convoy in the oil-producing Niger Delta, authorities said on Monday.

The gunfight broke out on Sunday night when the militants, having taken possession of the captive employee of Royal Dutch Shell, ran into a heavily armed convoy escorting supplies to an oilfield in the Brass Creek area of Bayelsa state. read more

EXTRACT: On Sunday, a military patrol intercepted a militant boat in the southern delta as it prepared to release a Nigerian hostage – a Royal Dutch Shell employee who is now missing. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), which has claimed responsibility for this year’s attacks on facilities, said 10 militants were killed in the ensuing gun battle. Security sources said at least one soldier was also killed.

THE ARTICLE

By Dino Mahtani in Lagos

Published: August 21 2006 19:36 | Last updated: August 21 2006 19:36 read more

21/08/2006 16:35  – (SA)   

Lagos – A Nigerian militant group said 10 of its fighters were killed in an attempt to release a hostage employed by Royal Dutch Shell in the southern state of Bayelsa.

The movement for the emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an email that a gunfight between militants and soldiers erupted on Sunday night after militants went to help release the Shell worker, a Nigerian, who was abducted on August 8.

Monday, August 21 10:44:47

(BizWorld)

Shell is seeking tenders from local businesses for E5m worth of services and work at its Bellanaboy terminal site.

The firm said today that advertisements seeking expressions of interest for site services and sub-contractor work at the terminal will be published in local newspapers over the next few weeks.

It also said that other “significant” work opportunities for local businesses will be announced over the coming weeks.
  
Terry Nolan, Deputy Managing Director of Shell Ireland said: “One of the main concerns expressed by the people of Erris was that the project was not delivering enough tangible local benefits. We listened to what the community was telling us and worked in conjunction with the primary site contractor Roadbridge Ltd. to identify services and work that could be made open to tender to local businesses.” read more

21/08/2006 – 11:15:20

Shell E&P Ireland, on behalf of the Corrib Gas Partners, today announced that they are seeking “expressions of interest” from local businesses to tender for services and work worth €5m required at the Bellanaboy Bridge terminal.

Advertisements seeking expressions of interest for site services and sub-contractor work at the Bellanaboy Bridge terminal will be published in local newspapers over the next few weeks.

Shell is still facing fierce opposition in the Mayo area over its plans to construct a gas pipeline there.
read more

EXTRACT:  With 45 billion barrels of offshore oil, Sakhalin Island is another key to Russia’s future wealth. In conjunction with Gazprom, Russia has contracted Royal Dutch Shell, BP and ExxonMobil to manage the Sakhalin II project that requires building a complete production facility in an area with extreme conditions and little or no preexisting energy infrastructure. Costs for this program, considered “a vanguard project for all of Russia” and maybe the most ambitious energy recovery plan to date, have already exceeded $20 billion. read more

EXTRACT: He said he is securing monetary damages from the U.S. Army and Shell Oil regarding activities at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

THE ARTICLE

By Joel Stonington
Aspen Times Staff Writer
August 21, 2006

Colorado Attorney General John W. Suthers took a break from campaigning recently to address issues close to Aspenites’ hearts: drug busts and Taser use.

“We need to make sure officers are properly trained,” Suthers said while in Aspen last week. “If there is no danger to the officer, then you don’t need to use a Taser.” read more

EXTRACT: Some hundred years ago, Sir Marcus Samuel, founder of the Shell Transport & Trading Company, British half of the later Royal Dutch Shell, quizzed by a statutory committee investigating allegations of price gouging, responded, “price of oil, gentlemen, is what the market can bear.”

THE ARTICLE

Growth in demand for oil has been contained in those non-OECD countries which have raised administered prices of petroleum products

By Saumitra Chaudhuri

It is just two years and some months back that crude prices crossed the $40 per barrel (/bbl) mark. A perceptive industry analyst (Purvin Barrow, July 2004) had focused on the two ‘engines’ of demand growth—the US and Chinese transportation sectors—and the severe supply side squeeze with spare Opec capacity dropping sharply and inadequate new asset creation by oil companies in the environment of low oil prices characterising the second half of the previous decade. The conclusion was that if everything came out wrong—the ‘train wreck’ scenario, crude prices would rise to nearly $90/bbl in 2006 and gradually fall over the next few years. The moderate picture of ‘controlled’ shortfalls would see prices rise steadily to $55/bbl by 2006, with the up trend continuing to $60/bbl in 2007. read more

August 21 2006

LONDON: Owners of ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) will have to accept “spiralling” salaries because their fleets are expanding faster than available crews, according to the Oslo-based shipbroker Lorentzen & Stemoco AS.

The global fleet will reach 354 ships by 2010, from 207 now, requiring another 4,000 crew members, according to the report.

“As shipowners attempt to lure officers away from their present employers, spiralling wages are definitely on the LNG shipping agenda,” said the recent report. read more

EXTRACT: Our interpretation was that far from being “unmoved” by our activities, as Mr Wiseman claimed in one of his amusing emails to us, in fact certain members of Shell management collectively suffer from diarrhoea in reaction to our initiatives, to put it tactfully.

THE ARTICLE 

By John Donovan

I was interested to read on the Internet a recent article in Legal Week magazine (published below) headlined “Practising what you preach”. The author is Richard Wiseman, the General Counsel of Shell International Petroleum Company Limited. read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ShellNews.net comment: “Equilon Enterprises” is a Shell company.

By Adam Jadhav
08/16/2006
EDWARDSVILLE

With two oil companies floating a settlement offer to Hartford residents who have sat for years on polluted ground, two groups of attorneys are now fighting for control of the case.

It’s just the latest twist in the long and complicated struggle over the 4 million-gallon-lake of gas and oil stagnating underneath Hartford. Residents there have long argued that they’ve gotten sick from fumes that seep up through the ground; they also say the pollution – that has left soil practically flammable – has caused their property values to plummet. read more

Government orders use of `force for force’ against wave of kidnappings

Residents forced to flee as soldiers open fire `sporadically,’ radio reports

Aug. 19, 2006. 01:00 AM
AUSTIN EKEINDE
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria—Troops stormed a riverside slum in the southern oil capital of Port Harcourt yesterday, moving from house to house and shooting sporadically, forcing residents to flee, local radio reported.

The raid follows a government order for troops to use “force for force” against militants who have kidnapped more than a dozen foreign oil workers in a string of incidents in Africa’s top oil producer this month. read more

EXTRACT: The kidnappings follow a series of attacks on the oil industry in February which forced Royal Dutch Shell to evacuate hundreds of workers from oilfields in the western delta, reducing the Opec member nation’s output by a quarter.

THE REUTERS ARTICLE

By Austin Ekeinde

Port Harcourt – A German oil worker taken hostage in Nigeria was freed overnight unharmed after two weeks in captivity, a state government spokesperson said on Saturday.

The release of Guido Schiffarth was unconnected to a military raid, also on Friday night, on a suspected militant hideout on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, the largest city in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, authorities said. read more

By John Donovan

The Wikipedia extract below is from an article about Mr Jorma Ollila, who, perhaps as a punishement for past sins (we are all sinners), was appointed as the non-executive Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Plc . He took up his new role on 1st June 2006. He is indeed faced with a very considerable challenge.  I will send him a few words of encouragement next week. It must have been a shock to discover that Shell does not even own the dotcom domain name for Royal Dutch Shell Plc although the company is ranked No 3 in the Fortune 500 and has a market value of almost $250 BILLION.  At least Mr Ollila is not tainted by the reserves fraud.  read more

Environmental assessment for Chukchi, Beaufort Sea stipulates protections for wildlife, requires a conflict avoidance agreement

By Alan Bailey

The U.S. Minerals Management Service has published its final programmatic environmental assessment (or PEA) for seismic surveys in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The agency has prepared the PEA in response to a heightened level of seismic survey activity on the Arctic outer continental shelf — Shell, ConocoPhillips and GX Technologies are all shooting seismic in the Chukchi Sea this summer, while Shell is also shooting seismic in the Beaufort Sea. read more

The Associated Press

Senior executives at BP face a lawsuit filed by shareholders who claim the company’s poor maintenance practices at Prudhoe Bay led to the partial shutdown of the nation’s largest oil field.

The suit alleges that BP has known for years about the severe pipeline corrosion that led to the partial shutdown on Aug. 6, but took no substantial steps to properly monitor and repair the transit lines that ferry oil straight into the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline.

The closure has more than halved the field’s daily 400,000-barrel output. Oil from Prudhoe Bay makes up about 8 percent of domestic oil supply. read more

88% of proven reserves in grips of politically volatile, left-leaning regimes; Denver energy advisor says role in oil sands essential

By Gary Park

For Petroleum News

There’s 1.3 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves around the globe, enough, you might think, to ease worries of a supply crisis.

But after Thomas Petrie, chairman of Denver-based energy advisor Petrie Parkman & Co., has broken down that total the cause for concern becomes obvious.

Speaking to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association earlier in August, Petrie underscored the urgent need to find resources in regions that offer political stability and favor international oil companies over state-run operations. read more

Prime Minister Harper pledges action on sovereignty to protect ‘ever more valuable’ development of oil, gas and minerals

By Gary Park

For Petroleum News

Canada is determined to assert its sovereignty over land, water and ice off its Arctic coast, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during a visit to Nunavut Territory Aug. 12.

Challenging the refusal of some countries, notably the United States, to recognize Canada’s claim, he pledged that his government will regulate international navigation through the Northwest Passage, reinforcing its control over the valuable resources beneath those waters. read more

EXTRACTS: The deals have been surrounded with Fort Knox-style defences to deter the inquisitive, allegations of bribes and dubious commissions paid to a network of vested interests involved as major and minor players, and efforts by MPs to uncover the detailed terms of the biggest defence contracts ever won by British companies.

The oil-for-arms basis of the first deals only served to add to the mysterious workings of Al-Yamamah. BAE was “paid” in oil produced by Saudi outside its Opec quota and sold in the market by BP and Shell. read more

EXTRACTS: In the wake of the meltdowns at Enron and WorldCom, it was easy to find British voices saying: “It couldn’t happen here.”

Multi-billion pound blue chips have been largely free of reporting controversies since Royal Dutch Shell’s shock revision of its oil and gas reserves in early 2004.

THE ARTICLE

By Barney Jopson,

Published: August 19 2006 03:00 | Last updated: August 19 2006 03:00

In the wake of the meltdowns at Enron and WorldCom, it was easy to find British voices saying: “It couldn’t happen here.” read more

NEW ORLEANS — Bidders largely ignored court challenges to additional petroleum drilling off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana and made $340.9 million in high bids for 381 offshore tracts.

The bid total was the highest in eight years for the federal government’s annual sale of exploration leases in the western Gulf of Mexico. In last year’s sale, the Minerals Management Service accepted $283.4 million on 342 tracts.

Foreign-owned companies were among the top bidders.

Petrobras America Inc., a subsidiary of the Brazilian national oil company Petrobas and a major player in Gulf lease sales since 2004, was the highest total buyer, putting in 34 winning bids valued at $45.5 million. read more

By Terry Hillig
Friday, Aug. 18 2006

HARTFORD

Oil companies working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will expand
a system that collects vapors from an underground pool of gasoline.

The system recovers the vapors and pipes them to the former Premcor refinery
for burning. The expansion will include piping along additional streets and
more extraction wells. Work will begin early next month.

It’s all part of an effort to eliminate a decades-old problem. Residents of
northern Hartford have complained for 40 years about hydrocarbon fumes that
enter their homes through the ground. read more

KBR Joint Venture Signs Contract with Shell for Largest Gas to Liquids (GTL) Project in History; KBR/JGC Team to Provide EPC And Project Management Services for Pearl GTL Complex in Ras Laffan, Qatar

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 18, 2006–KBR announced today that it has signed a contract to provide project management and cost-reimbursable engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services to Qatar Shell GTL Limited, a Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary, for the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) project in Ras Laffan, Qatar. KBR, the engineering, construction and services subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) will undertake the work in a joint venture with JGC of Japan, incorporating the services of MWKL, a KBR/JGC subsidiary. read more

17 August 2006

OIL giant BP faced fresh controversy yesterday after shareholders filed a lawsuit against senior executives following the partial shutdown of its Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska.

BP was forced to slash production at Prudhoe Bay – the largest oil field in the US – after the discovery of corrosion in pipelines last week.

Highly respected BP chief executive Lord Browne of Madingley and other senior executives now face legal action after shareholders alleged the company knew about the pipeline corrosion for years. read more

Dear Sir

I work for Shell and as you have mentioned yourself several times on your site, there is a strong reason to remain anonymous and I assume you will respect this.

Recently my attention was called to your site and I read about the tragic Brent fatalities. Your personal remarks in several postings are spot-on: people are afraid to speak out since it may have severe consequences if the boss does not like it.

This generally means requests for budget to fix things are frowned upon, since some directors see this as wasting money and steering profit away from the shareholders. It also may look bad on their scorecard, no matter how much effort is spent spinning stories these scorecards are ‘balanced’ in order to keep everyone honest. read more