October 13th, 2006:

13/10/2006 – 14:17:51 

Sinn Féin’s environment spokesperson for Dublin South East, Daithí Doolan has called on the Dublin city manager to explain the alleged fuel deal that Dublin City Council has with Shell Oil.

Speaking today from City Hall Cllr. Doolan said: “If true, it is unacceptable that any such deal exists.

“Last year Dublin City Council passed a motion expressing their support for the Rossport Five and against Shell’s actions in Mayo.

“In light of this motion and the increasingly distressing scenes of Shells bully boy tactics in Mayo, I find it disturbing that allegations of a fuel deal between the Council and Shell have emerged. read more

(A worker inspects a pipeline that is part of the Sakhalin-2 project, some 220 km (137 miles) north of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island, October 12, 2006. Royal Dutch Shell says it has taken less than a month to clear all ecological violations on Russia’s Pacific island of Sakhalin as the group’s $20 billion (10.7 billion pound) project awaits new state probes. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin)

Shell says has put right most Sakhalin violations
By Dmitry Zhdannikov

MAKAROV, Russia (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell says it has taken less than a month to sort out most of the ecological violations Russian authorities have identified at its Sakhalin oil and gas project, but official probes continue. read more

Friday 13 October 2006
Reuters
 
MOSCOW — The Audit Chamber said Friday that the ExxonMobil-led Sakhalin-1 energy project had broken many terms of its production sharing agreement.The agency, which supervises the use of government finances, said in a statement that the group had started oil production two years later than expected and still had no clear gas export plans.

The agency has no enforcement powers but can send its conclusions for further investigation by prosecutors. It said it had sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin. read more

By Maher Chmaytelli

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Chevron Corp., are among 47 corporations that qualified to bid in Libya’s third auction of oil drilling rights.

Libya will auction the permits on Dec. 20. They give the permit holder the right to search for oil and gas in 14 offshore and onshore sites, covering a total area of 99,437 square kilometers (38,400 square miles), almost the size of Cuba.

A list of 47 companies that qualified to make offers was published on the Web site of Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corp. They were chosen from among 70 oil companies and investors that had expressed interest, it said. read more

By Beate Evensen and Stephen Voss

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — Statoil ASA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc said they were immediately halting production at two oil and gas platforms off the coast of Norway, following an order from the country’s Petroleum Safety Authority.

The authority told the companies yesterday to close the Snorre A and Draugen platforms because faulty lifeboats reduced their evacuation capacity. They kept pumping oil until again ordered to stop today, when the regulator reiterated it wouldn’t allow them an exemption. The closings affect 280,000 barrels of oil a day, or about a 10th of the country’s oil output, according to Statoil and Norway’s Petroleum Directorate. read more

13/10/2006 – 9:00:59 AM

A prominent member of the group protesting against the Corrib gas pipeline has been hospitalised after a confrontation with gardaí in Co Mayo this morning.

Eye-witnesses say local teacher Maura Harrington lost consciousness after being knocked to the ground by a member of the Gardaí. 

The incident happened just before 8am while local residents were gathering for their daily protest at the site of the Corrib gas terminal in Bellanaboy.

Independent TD and local doctor Jerry Cowley treated her at the scene before an ambulance arrived to take her to hospital. read more

Thursday 12 October 2006 19:57

Gardaí arrested three people for public order offences during protests at the entrance to the Corrib gas terminal site, at Bellanaboy near Belmullet, this morning.

Members of the Shell to Sea campaign group, which is opposing the terminal, have been staging a series of protests to oppose the terminal since 7.30am.

The first sit-down protest took place at a bridge on the road leading to the site. A second demonstration was taking place at the main gates.
 
The cost of policing demonstrations at the Corrib gas terminal site up to yesterday was €675,000, and it could reach almost €750,000 by the weekend. read more

By Louisa Nesbitt

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — A protester trying to prevent workers from entering the site of a Royal Dutch Shell Plc natural-gas terminal in western Ireland was injured and taken to a hospital, according to a member of the protest group.

Maura Harrington fell and hit her head today as she tried to pass police at the site in Bellanaboy, near Rossport in County Mayo, Vincent McGrath, a fellow protester, said in a telephone interview.

“She fell back on the road and came down on the back of her head,” McGrath said. Harrington was “concussed” and taken to a hospital, he said, without giving details of her condition. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
October 12, 2006 4:42 p.m.

Oil prices rebounded, partly in reaction to a surprise decline in heating-oil stocks, but still finished below $58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Here is Thursday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

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CHINA’S RECORD CRUDE IMPORTS: China, the world’s No. 2 oil consumer after the U.S., imported a record volume of crude in September, despite Beijing’s efforts to conserve energy and curb runaway economic growth. The fast-growing appetite for oil among developing countries, particularly China, was a major factor in the recent runup in oil prices. The latest figures show that demand isn’t abating, keeping pressure on supplies even as oil prices ease. read more