March 9th, 2007:

Tony Halpin in Moscow
March 10, 2007

The Moscow headquarters of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was raided yesterday by two teams of investigators from the Russian Government.

Ten Interior Ministry police officers demanded access to documents relating to allegations that the accountancy firm owes back taxes of 290 million roubles (£5.7 million) and investigators from the Prosecutor-General’s Office arrived to search for papers linked to its criminal inquiry into the fallen oil giant Yukos.

PwC was the auditor for Yukos, which was bankrupted by the Kremlin after being found guilty of fraud and tax evasion. Prosecutors laid fresh money-laundering charges last month against Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former chairman of the oil company, alleging that he stole $25 billion (£13 billion) from the company. He is serving eight years in jail for fraud and tax evasion. read more

Last Updated: Saturday 12:01am GMT 10/03/2007
Energy expert Tim Guinness looks at the future for the black stuff

What is the outlook for oil? In the 1960s, oil mostly traded between $10 and $15, adjusting for inflation since then. During the 1970s, two Middle East oil crises created a 13-year period where the oil price averaged $57 in today’s money and spiked at more than $100 in 1980.

The early 1980s saw the development of the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Alaska and a subsequent collapse in the oil price to under $20. For the next 17 years the oil price traded mainly between $20 and $30 a barrel in today’s money. read more

03.09.07, 7:02 AM ET

LONDON (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC said a team of investigators have gained access to the oil spill in Nigeria.

The team consisted of experts and engineers from the company and the Nigerian government, said a Shell spokeswoman.

‘The investigation team had gone in to find out the cause of the spill and the extent of the damage. They’ve gained access (to the site),’ she said.

She could not say how long the probe will take and how soon Shell can restore lost production. read more

09.03.2007 12:39

Chevron Corp. and partners may increase the proposed Gorgon liquefied natural gas project’s capacity in Australia by 50 percent to lower production costs, two executives at the venture said, Bloomberg reported.

Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc may build two production lines each able to produce as much as 7.5 million metric tons a year, instead of 5 million, said the executives, asking not to be identified before a decision is made. The plants will chill gas to minus 161 degrees Celsius, turning it into liquid so that it can be loaded onto a ship. read more

ABUJA (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell still has no access to the oil spill in Nigeria which forced it to close 187,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production, a company source said on Friday.

The company is negotiating with community groups in the Nembe Creek area of the Niger Delta to carry out an inspection and repairs to the trunk pipeline which feeds the Bonny export terminal.

“We need to meet people to discuss our licence to operate and freedom to operate. That process is well in hand and we will be there hopefully by the weekend,” said the source, asking not to be named because of company policy. read more

By Beate Evensen

March 9 (Bloomberg) — Norsk Hydro ASA, Norway’s second- largest oil producer, and its partners at the Ormen Lange gas field offshore Norway will invest 2.5 billion kroner ($404 million) to develop a subsea compression station at the deposit.

The station, which would be placed at a depth of 860 meters (2,800 feet), may halve the development and operation costs compared with a traditional platform solution, Hydro said in a statement on its Web site today.

The gas from Ormen Lange, whish is set to start production later this year, will initially be pumped straight from the field via pipelines to an onshore processing facility. After a few years, the pressure in the reservoir won’t be strong enough to transport the gas to shore, making it necessary to install a compression facility at the field. read more

ROSS MAROWITS CANADIAN PRESS
Friday 9 March 2007

Dépanneur chain Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is expanding its ever-growing reach in the United States by entering the Oklahoma City market with the acquisition of 53 outlets by its Circle K Stores subsidiary.

The price being paid to Star Fuel Marts LLC for the All Starbranded stores was not disclosed, but Couche-Tard said their 2006 sales totalled $215 million U.S.

“Oklahoma is an area we think is good for development, not only for this one, but we foresee additional developments going forward,” Couche-Tard chief financial officer Richard Fortin said in an interview. read more

Buyout offer key

BY CLAUDIA CATTANEOFinancial Post ccattaneo@nationalpost

CALGARY • Shell Canada Ltd. may delist its stock if enough shareholders tender to a buyout offer from its parent, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, leaving holdout minority shareholders out of touch with its performance, an amendment to the Shell Canada directors’ circular said yesterday.

In the amended document, Shell Canada’s independent directors observe that if Royal Dutch Shell collects enough shares, Shell Canada’s remaining shares may become increasingly illiquid, affecting their value. read more

Published: Mar 09, 2007

A Filipino engineer kidnapped in Nigeria a month ago was released unharmed, a Foreign Affairs official said Friday.

The official also denied reports that a Filipina businesswoman had been taken captive in Nigeria, saying she instead returned to the Philippines.

Winston Helera, who works for the Shell Petroleum Development Corp., was kidnapped on Feb. 6 in Nigeria’s restive southern oil region, which has seen a wave of kidnappings this year.

He was released Thursday in good condition, and will be reunited with his family in the Philippines soon, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Conejos told reporters. read more

Published: March 9 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 9 2007 02:00

“Y’all enjoy the cold weather in New York.” Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil, hails from sunny Texas. His quip rounded off one of the more important events in global oil’s calendar, namely Exxon’s latest strategy update, presented this week amid flurries of snow in Manhattan.

Chilly weather does wonders for energy demand. Along with fog in the Gulf of Mexico’s shipping lanes, it lay behind the surprise drop in US oil inventories reported on Wednesday. Light, sweet crude jumped by more than $1 a barrel in response. That, in turn, probably had more to do with the 1 per cent increase in Exxon’s share price that day than anything said in the meeting itself. read more

By Ruth Sullivan
Published: March 9 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 9 2007 02:00

Royal Dutch Shell is planning to appoint Rijkman Groenink, chairman of ABN Amro’s managing board, as a non-executive director.

He will replace Aarnout Loudon, who is retiring from the Anglo-Dutch oil company following the annual meeting on May 15.

Last month, the Dutch banking regulator intervened in a battle for control of ABN Amro after a hedge fund asked the group to consider breaking itself up to reverse years of poor share price performance. Ruth Sullivan read more

9 Mar, 2007

NEW DELHI: State-owned GAIL and Anglo-Dutch Shell have arrived at an agreement to share the pipeline link provided by the gas utility to the latter’s LNG (liquefied natural gas) import and regassification terminal at Hazira in Gujarat.

The two companies have initialled a broad framework of agreement for cooperation, which will help in transporting regassified LNG from Shell’s Hazira terminal to GAIL’s customers.

The pipeline link at Hazira has been completed and gas is likely to be pumped into it shortly. Under the agreement, the two companies will now work out the modalities for transmission of regassified LNG through GAIL’s pipeline, access of Shell’s regassification facility to GAIL, and long-term arrangements with regard to gas supply and distribution. read more

9 March 2007

Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region plans to invest more than 100 billion yuan (12.9 billion U.S. dollars) to build Asia’s largest liquefied-coal base, according to the regional development and reform commission.

The first group of projects, designed to produce methanol and other chemicals from coal, are under construction in the Ningdong Chemical Resource Base, which is located near coal deposits containing 80 percent of Ningxia’s known coal reserves, said Hao Linhai, director of the regional commission. read more

By Mark Ballard
Published Friday 9th March 2007 00:02 GMT

A salesman who helped Wipro, India’s largest outsourcing firm, win the “mother of all outsourcing deals” to supply IT services to Shell is suing the firm for unpaid commission on the deal.

Paul van den Berg, a business development manager at Wipro Limited in the UK between July 2003 and February 2005, is suing Wipro Ltd, the firm’s UK arm, for breach of contract to get what he says is unpaid commission of at least £1m on a deal estimated to be worth in excess of $200m. read more

March 08, 2005
By CSD Staff

Shell Oil Products US (Houston, TX) has exceeded its goals for the fourth quarter promotion and marketing campaign with MasterCard International and Citibank.

The promotion was designed to drive incremental traffic to Shell-branded gasoline stations and drive usage of MasterCard cards in addition to generating new applications for the ShellMasterCard from Citi Cards. As a result of the promotion, Shell MasterCard accounts booked during the fourth quarter increased significantly, and given that Shell MasterCard cardholders typically shop more loyally at Shell, these new accounts represent additional gasoline volume for Shell. Additionally, during the promotional period usage of the Shell MasterCard card increased by an average of 32% nationwide compared to the same period last year. read more

By CSD Staff

New $35 million campaign launched to show the difference between low- and high-grade fuels.

Shell Oil Products US has launched a $35 million integrated marketing campaign to let motorists know that “All Gasolines are not the Same.” The campaign entitled “Shell Passionate Experts” gives consumers a first-hand look at the potential damage that lower-quality gasoline can leave behind on critical engine parts, such as intake valves and fuel injectors.

“We constantly test Shell gasoline against the competition, both in the lab and on the road, to prove that there is a difference in the gasoline you choose,” said Karen Wildman, Shell brand and communications manager. “The results speak for themselves, and we wanted to build a campaign that let consumers see the difference first hand.” read more