March 21st, 2007:

By Post Reporter

Protests at the Bellinaboy site in Co Mayo, where Shell is building its gas terminal, may intensify when the company starts the next phase of its project next month.

Protests at the Bellinaboy site in Co Mayo, where Shell is building its gas terminal, may intensify when the company starts the next phase of its project next month.

This entails the removing of 450,000 tonnes of peat from the site to clear the way for construction.

Heavy traffic movements accompanying the work are likely to attract more protesters to the site. Shell plans to start producing gas from he field towards the end of 2009.Whatever the arguments about Shell’s method of bringing gas ashore, there is no doubt that, in the medium term, the Corrib find is a key factor in energy supply. read more

EXTRACT: Earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell said it planned to appoint Mr Groenink as non-executive director at the oil giant. But the Dutch press, pointing out Mr Groenink’s duties at Shell could take up as many as 30 days per year, have criticised the appointment at a crucial juncture for ABN Amro. “What inspired Rijkman Groenink to become a director at Royal Dutch Shell?” asked Elsevier magazine, saying the top executive of a bank under attack should not be distracted by other pressing duties. “Groenink’s timing is remarkable.”  read more

An article we missed…

2 February 2007

Shell’s planned investment in a US$10bn (£5.1bn) Iranian liquefied natural gas (LNG) project could now lead to US sanctions. But, given historical reluctance to enforce sanctions against multinationals, Shell may reckon the risk is worthwhile as it scrambles to shore-up future production, after Russia seized control of Sakhalin Energy LNG.

Losing Sakhalin cost Shell both previously-touted production targets and roughly one-tenth of booked reserves – the Iranian deal would address the former, but not the latter. Under Iran’s ‘buyback’ contract, foreign hydrocarbon investors receive costs plus a pre-agreed margin through production at market prices, retaining no ongoing interest. Analysts therefore don’t recognise reserves on buy-backs when forecasting a company’s future reserves, but they do include the in-kind payment in a company’s production base. read more

March 20, 2007, 3:15 pm
Posted by WSJ.com Staff

As Energy Roundup has written, BP’s safety record in the past two years — as measured only by the deaths of employees and contractors — hasn’t been as bad as that of rival Royal Dutch Shell, which employs roughly the same number of people.

In fact, the Financial Times expanded that comparison to include several other oil majors and a greater number of years. The paper’s conclusion? “BP is far from uniquely bad among the oil and gas ’super-majors’ for its record of workforce deaths.” Their data are the source for the table. read more

By Upstream staff
21 March 2007 09:06 GMT  | last updated: 21 March 2007 12:45 GMT

Total’s chief executive Christophe de Margerie has been detained by French police for questioning in a probe into alleged corruption in Iran.

De Margerie, who took the helm at French giant Total last month, has been under investigation for several months by French judges probing corruption allegations linked to the Iraqi oil-for-food programme and a gas project in Iran.

A Total spokesman has confirmed de Margerie will be questioned by French police from the financial brigade. read more

Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:48 PM BST

AMSTERDAM, March 21 (Reuters) – Shell said on Wednesday it had signed a deal to sell its liquified petroleum gas (LPG) businesses in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland to France’s Rubis .

The sale is part of the Anglo-Dutch oil major’s strategy to streamline its downstream activities. Shell did not give financial details.

“The LPG business is making significant progress in simplifying our portfolio, reducing complexity and operating costs,” Erwin Friederich, vice president for Shell’s global LPG business, said in a statement. read more

By NICOLE GERRING

ST. CLAIR TWP., Ontario – The proposed construction of a new oil refinery could be an economic boon for Lambton County.

Shell Canada announced this month a proposal to build a massive new oil refinery in St. Clair Township north of Sombra. The refinery would be the first to be built in two decades in North America.

The refinery project could cost between $6 and $8 billion and provide 600 to 700 new permanent jobs, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said. The project would require labor from Canada and the United States, he said. read more

03.21.07, 7:14 AM ET

LONDON (AFX) – TNK-BP has reiterated that its shareholders, led by oil giant BP PLC, are not selling shares, denying a news report the owners may be forced to share control of the Russian joint venture with state-run companies like Gazprom and Rosneft.

BP owns 50 pct of TNK-BP, while the remaining 50 pct is held by Russian partner Alfa and Access/Renova.

‘I feel it necessary to explain again that all speculation about a possible change of TNK-BP’s shareholding structure is not true,’ said Robert Dudley, chief executive of TNK-BP, in a statement. read more

By Fred Pals

March 21 (Bloomberg) — Rubis SA, a French distributor of liquefied petroleum gas, agreed to buy LPG operations from Royal Dutch Shell Plc. in six European countries, doubling its volume in the market for the fuel.

Rubis agreed to buy Shell’s distribution operations in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Romania, Spain and Switzerland for as much as 90 million euros ($120 million), Rubis said in a statement today on its Web site.

The company plans to sell new shares to finance the purchase, which represents 180 million euros in sales and will double Rubis’s LPG volume to 250,000 tons, it said in the statement. read more

Viewpoint
Published: Wednesday, 21 March, 2007, 08:38 AM Doha Time 

If the damning report into BP’s failing safety culture was not enough bad news this week, now the Russians are coming.

The oil and gas giant has told investors that it could be forced to share the lucrative joint venture, TNK-BP, with a government-controlled energy group, likely to be Gazprom or Rosneft, by the end of the year.

BP owns 50% of the business, which reported pre-tax earnings of more than $11bn for 2006, and the other half is controlled by private Russian entities. read more

By Lorna Siggins and Fiona McGarry
Published: Mar 21, 2007

Two Mayo local authorities have adopted motions urging the Government to renegotiate all deals regarding the State’s natural resources, including the Corrib gas field.

Also, NUI Seanad candidate Dr Mark Garavan has lodged a petition with the European Parliament’s petitions committee referring to alleged breaches of a series of EU directives over the Corrib project.

The motion to review the State’s financial terms for oil and gas exploitation was tabled by Sinn fein councillor Gerry Murray and adopted unanimously at last week’s meeting of Mayo County Council. A similar motion was carried last week by members of Westport Urban District Council. read more

By Thomas Content
Published: Mar 21, 2007: Wisconsin

How bad is Big Oil’s image?: So bad that the chief executive of one of the nation’s largest oil companies is on a 50-city tour trying to communicate what the industry is doing to expand oil production, respond to consumer frustration over energy costs, and deliver a message about bills being drafted in Madison and Washington, D.C.

John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil USA, on Tuesday used an appearance in Milwaukee, 29th on the 50-city tour, to praise efforts under way in Congress to enact a law restricting emissions of gases linked to global warming and criticize a state plan to tax oil company profits. read more

Published: March 21 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 21 2007 02:00

Beijing’s drivers are paying less for their petrol this month, with PetroChina having temporarily cut pump prices during March. Coincidentally, this came just as the National People’s Congress was sitting down to meet in the Chinese capital.

Political influence over PetroChina, the world’s fourth largest oil and gas company by market capitalisation, is a given – the state owns 88 per cent of it. For minority investors, that is a double-edged sword. On one hand, Beijing can unlock access to energy reserves overseas. On the other, it claws back gains that might otherwise line the pockets of shareholders. read more

EXTRACT: Shell’s global solutions division has developed a water purification technology based on a membrane filter system, in collaboration with Auxill, a specialist Dutch company. This is designed to offer safe, continuous and affordable drinking water to small, remote communities often left out of large-scale water projects.

THE ARTICLE

By Alison Maitland
Published: March 21 2007 02:17 | Last updated: March 21 2007 02:17

In a world where more than 1bn people live without safe drinking water and more than 2bn lack basic sanitation, business is often seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. read more

By Sarah Murray
Published: March 21 2007 02:17 | Last updated: March 21 2007 02:17

When Paul Bowen visits one of Coca-Cola’s facilities he hands a small plastic cup to the people he meets.

The cup measures water leaks. Hold it under a drip for five seconds and it calculates how much water is being lost from the leak every year. “It’s extremely visual and you’d be surprised how many people go and get a wrench and tighten things down very quickly,” says Mr Bowen, Coca-Cola’s water technologies manager for quality and technical services. read more

By Catherine Belton in London
Published: March 21 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 21 2007 02:00

Rosneft’s securing of $22bn in loans from western banks, confirmed yesterday, puts it in a prime position to take over the rest of Yukos when Russia’s one-time biggest oil major goes under the hammer in bankruptcy auctions that start next week. But a fight could still be brewing over Yukos’ biggest assets.

The state-controlled energy major announced yesterday its board had approved a record $22bn in loans to help finance acquisitions of Yukos assets, valued by a court-appointed bankruptcy receiver at just over $26bn. It said its subsidiary RN Razvitie would use up to $9bn of the funds to bid for Yukos’ 9.44 per cent stake in Rosneft in an auction to be held on March 27. The stake has a starting price of $7.5bn, compared with an estimated market value of $8.86bn. read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: March 21 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 21 2007 02:00

Royal Dutch Shell had a dual company structure for almost a century after Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading merged in 1907.

There were two boards and two separate shares for the two companies, brought together by a joint committee of managing directors and a chairman for the group.

This structure served it well as it maintained its status as one of the world’s biggest oil and gas groups. But after the reserves misreporting scandal of 2004, it was decided that the company needed a more modern and streamlined structure. The two companies were merged, with the head office in the Hague. Ed Crooks read more

March 20, 2007 12:39 p.m.

BP is struggling to put behind it a series of problems in the U.S., including a refinery explosion in Texas that killed 15 people in March 2005 and an oil spill in Alaska discovered earlier this year. Below is a timeline of the energy giant’s woes.

2002

June: BP agrees to a $45.8 million settlement with the state of California, resolving allegations that dozens of service stations it now owns in the state didn’t make required safety upgrades.

2005

March: A deadly explosion at BP’s Texas City, Texas, refinery kills 15 workers, all of them employees of contractors doing work at the plant. It was the third fatal accident at the petrochemical and refining facility in the past year and the deadliest U.S. petro-chemical accident in 15 years. read more

March 20, 2007 12:53 p.m.

Following is the full text of a release from BP PLC in response to the final government report about a 2005 explosion at a BP plant in Texas City, Texas, that left 15 workers dead.

BP Products North America Inc. Statement on CSB Final Report

Release date: 20 March 2007

BP accepted responsibility for the March 23, 2005 explosion and fire at the Texas City refinery. We have apologized to those harmed. While we cannot change the past or repair all the damage this incident caused, we have worked diligently to provide fair compensation, without the need for lengthy court proceedings, to those who were injured and to the families of those who died. read more

March 20, 2007 11:16 a.m.

U.S. Chemical Safety Board Investigators Conclude “Organizational and Safety Deficiencies at All Levels of the BP Corporation” Caused March 2005 Texas City Disaster That Killed 15, Injured 180

HOUSTON, March 20, 2007 – In a 335-page final report released today, federal investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) conclude that “organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation” caused the March 23, 2005, explosion at the BP Texas City refinery, the worst industrial accident in the United States since 1990. The report calls on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to increase inspection and enforcement at U.S. oil refineries and chemical plants, and to require these corporations to evaluate the safety impact of mergers, reorganizations, downsizing, and budget cuts. read more

By CHIP CUMMINS
March 21, 2007; Page A10

A new report into a BP PLC refinery accident in Texas in 2005 raises fresh questions about the role that cost cutting and budgetary constraints played in the plant’s poor condition and safety record.

According to a report published yesterday by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, BP executives failed to heed years of warnings about serious deficiencies at the company’s Texas City refinery, including an internal assessment that budget constraints had jeopardized the plant’s safety. The CSB, as the federal agency is known, investigates big industrial-chemical accidents. read more

March 20, 2007, 3:15 pm
Posted by WSJ.com Staff

As Energy Roundup has written, BP’s safety record in the past two years — as measured only by the deaths of employees and contractors — hasn’t been as bad as that of rival Royal Dutch Shell, which employs roughly the same number of people.

In fact, the Financial Times expanded that comparison to include several other oil majors and a greater number of years. The paper’s conclusion? “BP is far from uniquely bad among the oil and gas ’super-majors’ for its record of workforce deaths.” Their data are the source for the table. read more

  
By REUTERS
Published: March 21, 2007

LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) — The British bank Barclays and a Dutch rival, ABN Amro, said Tuesday that after a merger, their company would be listed in London, have its headquarters in Amsterdam and would split the top two jobs.

John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, would take the same job in a combined bank, and ABN’s chief, Rijkman W. J. Groenink, would probably be chairman under the proposals, the companies said.

Barclays and ABN also outlined a framework of objectives they aim to reach agreement on, including using the Dutch Central Bank as lead regulator and having a British board and governance and management structures. read more

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: March 21, 2007

WASHINGTON, March 20 — For all its efforts to apply economic and political pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, the United States has never used a potentially potent tool in its arsenal — penalties on foreign companies that assist Iran in producing oil and natural gas.

That may be about to change. The Bush administration has quietly been warning energy companies, including Shell, Repsol and SKS, the Malaysian oil company, as well as the governments of China, India, Pakistan and Malaysia, that penalties are possible if they pursue energy deals with Iran. read more

Last Updated: 12:59am GMT 21/03/2007

Oil giant accused of failing to respond adequately to warning signs of a disaster, reports David Litterick

BP blatantly ignored problems at its Texas City refinery and instigated significant cost-cutting even though the plant was seriously in need of repair, the US Chemical Safety Board ruled. The CSB – investigating the explosion that killed 15 people, injured scores more and damaged homes up to three quarters of a mile away – described a litany of problems at the refinery. read more

(John Manzoni was BP operations chief at the time of the explosion)

By Russell Hotten, Industry Editor
Last Updated: 1:14am GMT 21/03/2007

Executives at the oil giant BP repeatedly ignored safety warnings over three years and ordered budget cuts at its Texas City refinery in the US, which exploded, killing 15 workers and injuring hundreds more, an investigation into the disaster says.
 
The damning report, published yesterday, directly implicates the BP board, saying that “at least one” executive received a series of safety audits warning of problems at Texas City. The report from the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) says it will not name names because it “does not affix blame”. John Manzoni was head of refinery operations at the time. read more

March 21, 2007

Game plan stymied by boys in blueIn The Hague, Shell’s new £55 million ad campaign features the true story of chief engineer Jaap van Ballegooijen, who realised how to recover extra pockets of oil from wells in Brunei after seeing his son Max turn around his bendy straw to finish a milkshake. He featured in PR work last year.

For the “Eureka” campaign, however, he gets the full Hollywood treatment.

Colleagues note that Jaap has lost quite a bit of weight as well as his trademark beard. read more

21 March 2007

doha • The Qatar Football Association and Qatar Shell (Shell) yesterday signed an agreement making Shell a Platinum Sponsor of the Emir and Heir Apparent Cups for the 2006-2007 season, which are scheduled to begin next month.

Through the renewed top-level sponsorship of Qatar’s national sport, Shell has once again demonstrated its strong commitment to the wider local community and its support of the country’s vision to further develop its growing football programme.

The agreement was signed by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, Qatar Football Association President, and Andy Brown, Shell Country Chairman. read more

By Gavin Evans

March 21 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its partners in New Zealand’s NZ$1 billion ($710 million) Pohokura gas project have produced the first fuel from the field’s offshore production facility.

Gas and light oil is flowing from the first of six wells the venture will drill off the Taranaki coast during the coming year, Shell Exploration New Zealand Ltd. said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg today.

Pohokura, owned by Shell, OMV AG, and Wellington-based Todd Energy Ltd., is the country’s second-largest gas field. Output started last year from three onshore wells the venture completed in September. read more