Crude-oil futures rose to a two-week high of more than $55 a barrel Wednesday, reversing losses amid signs OPEC members are complying more with production cuts and as traders reassessed U.S. government inventory data.
Here is Wednesday’s roundup of oil and energy news:
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CONOCOPHILLIPS PROFIT FALLS: ConocoPhillips, kicking off the fourth-quarter earnings season for major U.S. oil companies at a time of moderating energy prices, posted a 13% drop in profit, reflecting lower oil and gas sales revenue and narrower refining and marketing margins. The third-largest U.S. oil company by market capitalization reported net income of $3.2 billion for the fourth quarter, down from $3.68 billion a year earlier.
•Bush Promotes Alternative Fuels: President Bush, trying to generate traction from his State of the Union address, campaigned for an energy plan that targets Americans’ gas-guzzling habits. On a trip to Delaware, he warned that the nation’s reliance on oil poses a national security threat. The U.S. must come to rely on its own sources of fuels, not the oil-rich lands of those who pose dangers to the nation, he said.
•OPEC’s President Pushes Back: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, OPEC’s president sneered at all the talk these days about alternative energy, noting that hydrocarbons make up 90% of the world’s energy consumption, the Daily Davos reports.
•Hawaii’s Gas Pains: More than eight months after Hawaii suspended its first-in-the-nation cap on gas prices, the latest attempt to lower motorists’ bills is stuck in neutral.
•Worries for Poultry Producers: Mr. Bush’s plan to power up ethanol production is raising red flags among the nation’s poultry and meat producers, Washington Wire reports. They worry that rapidly rising ethanol production will further push up prices for corn, the main animal feed grain.
•The SPR-Iran Connection: MarketBeat casts a skeptical eye at market rumors that Mr. Bush’s plan to boost the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is in preparation for an attack on Iran.
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.
