November 17, 2006
By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor
EUROPE’S oil refining industry is poised for a big upheaval as Royal Dutch Shell puts its French refineries up for sale. The Dutch multinational is pulling out of the refining market in France, seeking buyers for its three plants at Petit Couronne, Reichstett and Berre l’Etang.
Shell’s move to reduce its European refining capacity follows BP’s decision in June to put its Coryton refinery in Essex up for sale. Shell has already taken steps to reduce capacity with the closure of Shell Haven.
The Dutch company is believed to have appointed Citicorp and JPMorgan to conduct a tender offer for the French refineries but it may struggle to find a single buyer for complex assets in a mature high-cost market such as France. Major oil groups are focusing their downstream businesses on large integrated petrochemical plants where they can achieve huge economies of scale.
Buyers for Shell’s French plants are likely to come from smaller petrochemical groups rather than a major player such as Total which is already building a high-tech refinery in the country. They could include companies such as Petroplus and Ineos or Middle Eastern groups such as Sabic, the Saudi petrochemical company. The Swiss-based Petroplus has recently launched a public offering on the Swiss stock exchange to raise new capital.
Other possible investors could include Access Industries, the private industrial group owned by Len Blavatnik, who is one of BP’s Russian partners in the TNK-BP joint venture.
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.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
