October 30th, 2006:

30 October 2006

Calgary (Reuters) – Shell Canada Limited looks headed for big staffing changes after its Anglo-Dutch parent buys out minority shares, but that may not mean across-the-board layoffs, industry watchers said Friday.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of the world’s biggest oil companies, is offering $40 a share, or $7.7 billion to buy out the 22% of Shell Canada it does not already own.

After the buyout, some Shell Canada departments, such as investor and public relations, will likely be cut or drastically reduced in size. After all, the company, which employs about 5,000 people, will no longer have its own shareholders to report to. For the rest of the company, which includes profitable oil sands, natural gas, refining and marketing businesses, things are not so easy to predict. read more

Vanguard (Lagos)
October 30, 2006
Emma Amaize
Warri

FEDERATED Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) and other militant groups in the region, weekend, rolled out four conditions under which the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) will be allowed by the Ijaw to resume operations in the creeks of Delta State.

Leader of the group, Chief Bello Oboko, in a document said, “They must stop further devastating oil pollution of the Niger Delta environment, extinguish forthwith all gas flaring in the region, no longer operate behind the terror of soldiers, work toward the disbandment of Joint Security Task Force in the Niger Delta and demilitarise the Ijaw land, work to see to the immediate release of all Niger Delta activists from prisons, and also guarantee peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta crisis, which tension is identifiably caused by its practice of double standards/divide and rule”. read more

30.10.2006, 16.20
 
MOSCOW, October 30 (Itar-Tass) – Checks of the Sakhalin-2 project carried out by the Russian Audit Chamber have revealed numerous violations, mostly on the part the operator of the project, the Chamber’s auditor Sergei Abramov said.

He said that the “chamber as a top financial control authority also has checked bodies of executive power that must accomplish within their competence the control of the implementation of production sharing agreements”.

He said that apart from numerous irregularities revealed in earlier checks by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) of the Sakhalin Energy, which is the project’s operator, “we also have stated substantial violations by the operator of environmental legislation”. read more

Monday, Oct 30, 2006

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has said that, its presence in Ogoniland at the moment is not for oil exploration but to put out the fire on Yorla well 13.

The Emergency Response Team Commander of the Company, Mr. Ikechukwu Charles Okoro disclosed this Friday in a press briefing in Port Harcourt.

Mr. Okoro said that, the clarification had become necessary in view of the attempt by some persons to misinterpret the presence of the company in the area.

According to him, “we are aware that some people have misinterpreted the efforts to fight the fire to mean that SPDC has secretly begun operations in Ogoniland. read more

Posted October 30, 2006

To encourage smaller businesses who are leading the fight against climate change, Shell Springboard will make at least nine awards of up to £40,000 to UK small and medium sized businesses.

The awards will be given to the companies that convince business and environmental experts that their ideas are both environmentally sound and commercially viable businesses.

Research released by Shell Springboard shows that the challenge of tackling climate change could create a market of up to £30bn for British business over the next ten years – a massive potential market for businesses that develop technologies, products and services that help combat climate change. read more

Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:06am ET

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Shell said Monday it returned to service the smaller of two crude units at its joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, as scheduled.

The unit, which can process 70,000 barrels per day of crude oil, was shut down on Oct. 9 for 21 days of planned work.

The refinery, which is a joint venture between Petroleos Mexicano and Shell Oil, has a second crude unit rates at 240,000 bpd.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
 

30 October 2006

Cravath Swaine & Moore and Canadian firms Stikeman Elliott and Ogilvy Renault have scooped lead roles on Royal Dutch Shell’s acquisition of Shell Canada’s minority interests that it didn’t already own for CAD7.7bn (£3.64bn).

London-based corporate partner William Rogers, with employment partner Patricia Geoghegan and litigation partner Rory Millson led the team at Cravath, a panel firm of Royal Dutch Shell. The Wall Street firm is advising the oil giant on US aspects of the deal. read more

Oil firms toward $61; eyes Saudi ports, OPEC cuts

SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Oil nudged higher on Monday, extending last week’s gains while traders awaited further signs of OPEC’s compliance with output curbs and kept a close eye on Saudi oil facilities amid heightened security activity.

U.S. light, sweet crude for December delivery was up 13 cents a barrel at $60.88 in Globex electronic trading by 2343 GMT after gaining 39 cents on Friday, when news of a possible threat against a key Saudi export terminal spooked traders. read more

By John Donovan
Monday 30 October 2006

The comment below was posted on our Live Chat facility today.

“Guest 7262: I have heard enough of the spin you publish on your website on behalf of your friend “Dr” Huong. You are exploiting him to suit your own agenda. The rabid Huong left us with no option other than to use the courts. He was circulating wholly unfounded shockingly abusive allegations against named Shell managerial staff. It was our duty to protect the individuals he defamed. We had no other choice.” read more

October 30 2006 at 01:28AM  
By William Nsoyoh

Yenagoa, Nigeria – Protesters angry over a lack of jobs and aid took over an oil-pumping station run by Italian oil firm Agip in Nigeria’s volatile southern delta region, forcing the company to shut the flow of oil there, a Nigerian security official said on Sunday.

Scores of protesters from the Egbema-Ngalabiri community invaded Agip’s nearby Clough Creek facility just before midnight on Saturday and forced workers there to shut operations, Joshua Benamesia, a security aide of the Bayelsa state government in charge of the area, said. Agip is a subsidiary of Italian energy company, ENI SpA. read more

EXTRACT: On the land, the government produced bombs, mustard gas, nerve gas and chlorine gas. Shell Oil manufactured pesticides there. The arsenal became one of the nation’s most polluted sites.

THE ARTICLE

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 29, 2006

COMMERCE CITY – The home where Lucille Egli McIntyre grew up looks nothing like it did in 1942 – when the federal government seized the farm for the war effort.

The red brick laid by her father is covered with chicken wire and white stucco. read more

EXTRACT: The a list of investments of the two major pensions funds in companies that it said did business in Iran. They included firms such as China Petroleum and Chemical and Royal Dutch/Shell. Citing those links, the Republican campaign charged in a statement distributed to reporters: “Bob Casey is aiding and abetting terrorism and genocide.”

THE ARTICLE

Monday, October 30, 2006

By James O’Toole,

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum charged yesterday that state Treasurer Bob Casey has “been AWOL in the war on terrorism” by failing to ensure that state funds are not invested in firms with ties to nations linked to terrorism. read more

By: Drilling of the Brugden prospect has revived the region’s exploration efforts, Lloyds List
Published: Oct 30, 2006

AFTER a flurry of activity in the 1990s, offshore drilling around the Faroe Islands had been all but dormant until this summer when Norway’s Statoil group spudded an exploration well on its licence 006 on the Brugden prospect.

The well was drilled by the Stena Don drilling rig, a semi-submersible capable of drilling in harsh waters up to 1,640 ft in depth. The well results were mixed as it did not find new reserves, but did give indications of future drilling potential. read more

Published: Oct 30, 2006

DUBAI, Oct 30 Asia Pulse – All of a sudden, Canada has turned into the new frontier in non-OPEC oil and gas developments.

Russia has rumbled about taking over the huge Sakhalin II field whereas OPEC itself cut back production over 1.2 million barrels a day, due to which the demands on non-OPEC producing countries have increased even more.

New emphasis on have been put on friendlier non-OPEC countries due to this step. It has been agreed by Shell Canada and Western Oil Sands that they would invest billions into the planned expansion of its Athabasca oil sands project in order to bring production up to 100,000 barrels per day. read more

By Jeremy Grant and Kate Burgess: Published: October 30 2006 02:00 | Last updated: October 30 2006 02:00

In the world of US corporate governance, a gigantic tug-of-war has played out for decades between company boards and shareholders in the companies they run.

At issue is the ability of shareholders to get access to the proxy, which would give them a say in who is elected to company boards. Frustration has been mounting among large institutional shareholder groups over a Securities and Exchange rule – known as 14a-8 – blocking their access. read more

Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:19pm ET

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), one of North America’s largest independent oil and gas companies, could become a takeover target of a major oil company because of its large presence in the Alberta oil sands, one of the world’s most promising energy regions, according to Barron’s.

But John Langille, a Canadian Natural vice chairman, said selling isn’t on the horizon.

“We want to continue to grow our company into a very strong independent,” he told Barron’s in the newspaper’s Oct. 30 edition. “Selling to someone else is not part of our game plan.” read more