By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 3:36am GMT 23/03/2007
The chief executive of Premier Oil has predicted that the industry is ripe for consolidation as some of the “big boys” of the sector struggle to meet their production growth targets.
Simon Lockett, whose FTSE 250 company was in takeover talks last year, said the industry was entering a period of stability which should encourage deals.
Mr Lockett said: “We are starting to see a more stable oil price, which provides the conditions for investment and consolidation.” He would not name names, but he said: “I can see more deals being done by the big boys because they need to deliver the numbers in terms of growth.”
Meeting production targets has been a problem for some oil majors, especially BP. Speculation that the company could be forced to seek a merger with Royal Dutch Shell refuses to die.
Mr Lockett said Premier’s own production was “going like crazy”. The oil and gas company, which posted strong annual profit figures yesterday, saw production fall slightly last year to 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day because of a disappointing performance from assets in Mauritania.
However, output for the group this year is predicted to be above 35,000 barrels a day, and Mr Lockett said he was “increasingly confident” that production will exceed the medium-term target level of 50,000 barrels, with the company hitting 70,000 barrels from about 2011.
Premier saw pre-tax profits rise 75pc to $67.6m (£34m) on the back of strong oil and gas prices. Premier got an average of $64.90 a barrel of oil in 2006, from $48.38 in 2005. Mr Lockett predicts that the oil price will hover around $55 to $58 a barrel in the near term.
Premier has operations in the North Sea, southern Asia, and north and west Africa. Its shares fell 20p to £12.32p. There is no dividend.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/03/23/cnoil23.xml
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.
