March, 2007:

• SSS cracks hostage-taking ring

From Funso Muraina in Abuja and Ahamefula Ogbu in Port Harcourt, 03.26.2007

The Federal Government has filed a law suit against Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and three other companies for violation of nuclear safety and radiation law by allegedly dumping radioactive substances in Warri, Delta State.

This comes just as the State Security Services (SSS) in Port Harcourt has cracked the hostage taking ring in the city as they arrested and paraded two men, Ekene Ibebuka (21) and Nnamdi Eme (42) while declaring  their alleged sponsor and former gubernatorial aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Clark Igodo wanted with N5 million price on his head. read more

(Allan J. Samuel: We provide the technology for Shell’s involvement in various segment of the market)

By SABRY TAHIR

SHELL Global Solutions’ current focus is to provide solutions for Shell’s multi-billion dollar ethylene cracker in Singapore, while preparing to meet the challenges arising from Asia-Pacific’s growing concern for the environment.

Shell Global Solutions engineering and analytical technology manager (Asia-Pacific Service Centre) Allan J. Samuel said the Kuala Lumpur office was committed to providing multi-million dollar technical consultation and technology implementation work for the 800,000-tonnes-per-annum ethylene cracker on Bukom Island. read more

(Reuters)

LAGOS – Two hostages, one Lebanese and the other Indian, were released on Sunday after they were abducted two days ago in Nigeria’s oil producing delta region, local authorities said.

The two construction workers, employed by Nigerian firm Setraco, were taken at gunpoint from their workplace near the city of Warri on Friday.

‘All the waterways were blocked so they had no way to move further into the creeks, so they were released,’ said Brigadier General Alfred Ilogho, who heads a military task force in the area. read more

The Dutchman has increased central command while boosting the status of scientists

Monday March 26, 2007
Carl Mortished

There is something of the good soldier about Jeroen van der Veer. In the chaos of Shell’s reserves crisis, he was hoisted on to the stage after the hasty removal of Sir Philip Watts, the chairman, and Walter van de Vijver, the head of exploration. Nothing in the century-long history of Shell had prepared the company, its staff and the outside world for the sacking of its two most senior officers and the revelation that, at the heart of its core business, there was a massive deception: not all the barrels of oil were proven. read more

Iran has announced that Shell and Repsol have started operations for the development of a major project for production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in South Pars energy zone.

Shell and Repsol have signed a contract with Iran to develop Persian LNG at South Pars Phases 13 and 14.

Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, Akbar Torkan, said the companies have started the engineering operations for Persian LNG and there have been no delays.

Torkan added that Shell and Repsol have awarded the contract for the project’s onshore engineering operations to France’s Technip. read more

By Sylvia Pfeifer,
Last Updated: 12:15am GMT 25/03/2007

Western investors in Russia’s energy sector need to be aware that the rules of engagement have changed, the president of Europe’s top development bank has warned.

Jean Lemierre, the president of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, said in an interview that potential investors needed to be consider that “the Russian government has made very clear that the pattern of investments in these strategic sectors has changed”. read more

By Danny Fortson and Tim Webb
Published: 25 March 2007

Major investors in Barclays have publicly questioned the logic of the planned £80bn takeover of ABN Amro. If John Varley, the chief executive of Barclays, succeeds in taking over the bank’s Dutch rival, the deal would be the largest ever in the financial services industry.

It would create one of the world’s largest consumer and investment banking groups, with operations in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East.

But investors have expressed grave doubts about whether the tie-up would lead to a devaluation of their holdings or even if such a tie-up makes business sense. read more

Jasper Gerard
Sunday March 25, 2007

Much muttering about the ‘Jewish money man’ from north London whose donations propelled a war-hungry champion of the transatlantic alliance into Downing Street.

How grateful we should be for his generosity in the face of the establishment’s ugly anti-semitism: I refer not to Lord Levy, but to Robert Waley Cohen. As chairman of Shell, he handed a fortune to Churchill in 1936 to fund his unofficial tilt at the premiership; without it, we might have been denied a leader to defeat Hitler. read more

Vol. 12, No. 12  Week of March 25, 2007
By Alan Bailey

Alaska’s Office of Project Management and Permitting has extended the Alaska Coastal Management Plan consistency review period for Shell’s Beaufort Sea 2007 to 2009 drilling program. OPMP has not yet determined a revised deadline for comments on the plan, but does not anticipate a lengthy delay in the review process, Ben Greene, OPMP oil, gas and energy manager, told Petroleum News March 20.

The deadline for public comments had been March 19. read more

Vol. 12, No. 12  Week of March 25, 2007
By Gary Park

Now that it has the assets of Shell Canada in its grasp, Royal Dutch Shell sees the takeover as an opportunity to “create an integrated unconventional oil business on an international scale,” said Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer.

That is a clear reference to the extensive oil sands holdings of Shell Canada in the Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River regions of Alberta.

Royal Dutch has never made much of a secret of its desire to rebuild its global reserves after an accounting scandal three years ago. read more

Published: March 24 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 24 2007 02:00

Taking out insurance in Russia is a sensible idea, but the premiums can be huge. TNK-BP, BP’s Russian joint venture, is an anomaly in Russia’s energy landscape: a big player with a high degree of foreign ownership but no government involvement.

It finds itself under pressure from Russian officials and many think the endgame is that Gazprom will end up with a majority stake in the joint venture.

As with Moscow’s professed environmental concerns over Royal Dutch Shell’s project in Sakhalin, its current indignance regarding TNK-BP’s giant Kovykta gas field has more than a hint of the absurd about it. Officials are demanding that Kovykta begins pumping 9bn cubic metres of gas per year, even though none can be exported yet. Unless the locals have worked out a way to breathe the stuff, that is unreasonable – a regional population of less than 3m implies per capita gas usage at more than three times the rate of the European Union. read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: March 24 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 24 2007 02:00

When Lord Browne, BP’s chief executive, met Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday, it was an occasion for pleasantries and formalities, not hard bargaining.

Lord Browne was introducing his successor Tony Hayward, who takes over at the beginning of August, and turning on the charm for the man who controls the world’s biggest oil and gas reserves.

The atmosphere of the meeting will have been helped by the announcement yesterday morning from TNK-BP, BP’s 50 per cent-owned Russian joint venture, that it was prepared to pay $7.5bn (£3.8bn) or more for a 9.44 per cent stake in Rosneft, the state-controlled oil company. The stake, one of the assets of the bankrupt Yukos group, is going up for auction next Tuesday. read more

“Keep your friends close but your enemies closer,” is the advice Don Vito Corleone gives his son in “The Godfather.” BP’s outgoing chief executive, John Browne, might say the same about Russia to the oil group’s incoming CEO, Tony Hayward. Both men were to meet with President Vladimir Putin Friday. Two quite separate issues will probably top the agenda. The first is whether a Russian state-owned energy firm might muscle into BP’s Kovykta gas field. The second is whether the same might happen at BP’s Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. read more

By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: March 24, 2007

MOSCOW, March 23 — BP said on Friday that it planned to bid against the state-owned oil giant Rosneft in a bankruptcy auction for assets of the Yukos oil company, a surprise announcement that signaled BP’s deepening involvement in Russia’s turbulent energy sector.

BP owns about $1 billion in stock in Rosneft, a company it considers a strategic partner. On Friday, BP’s chief executive, John Browne, was in Moscow to meet his counterpart from Rosneft and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, along with BP’s designated successor for the top job, Tony Hayward. read more

· Browne and Hayward hold key meeting in Kremlin
· Assets of bankrupt Yukos to be auctioned next week

Luke Harding in Moscow
Saturday March 24, 2007

The head of BP yesterday said that his company planned to expand its operations in Russia and deepen cooperation with state energy firms following a crunch meeting in the Kremlin with Vladimir Putin.

BP’s chief executive Lord Browne emerged from his encounter with Russia’s president declaring that he wanted to work together with Russia’s leading energy producers. His statement appeared to win Mr Putin’s cautious endorsement. read more

24 March 2007

BP is playing a high-risk game in Russia. Bidding for the bankrupt Yukos’s stake in energy giant Rosneft is fraught with complications, but in the current climate maybe Lord Browne and Co felt they had little choice.

BP is a sizeable player in the Russian oil and gas industry through its 50pc stake in TNK-BP. But there is a problem: President Putin wants to return Russia’s prize energy assets to state control. Among other things, Moscow desires control of TNK-BP’s vast and potentially very lucrative Kovykta gas field. read more

Last Updated: 2:22am GMT 24/03/2007: A round-up of headlines from across the financial sectors, provided by Bloomberg News.

ENERGY

• BP’s Russian unit said it will bid for bankrupt OAO Yukos Oil’s stake in OAO Rosneft in an effort to build “strategic” ties with the state oil company.

• Royal Dutch Shell reopened a pipeline in Nigeria that was shut following a spill earlier this month and started boosting production, which had been cut by 187,000 barrels a day.

• Tersus Energy said its full-year pre-tax loss narrowed after the company sold its stake in Dynamotive Energy Systems Corp. read more

By Russell Hotten, Industry Editor
Last Updated: 3:10am GMT 24/03/2007

BP’s Russian joint venture unexpectedly announced yesterday that it will take part in an auction for a £3.5bn-plus stake in state-owned oil producer Rosneft that belongs to the now-bankrupt Yukos.  
 
The controversial decision came on the day that departing BP chief executive Lord Browne, and his successor Tony Hayward, met Russia’s president Vladimir Putin for talks about the company’s future in the country. read more

March 24, 2007
Carl Mortished, Analysis

Just as his predecessor William Knox d’Arcy paid tribute at the court of the Shah of Persia, the chief executive of BP, Lord Browne of Madingley, was yesterday granted an audience with President Putin of Russia.

A concession secured by Knox d’Arcy to explore for oil in Persia was the foundation of the Anglo-Persian oil company, which later became BP. Persian oil has not played much of a role at BP since the Iranian revolution and Lord Browne has recently said that BP will not do business in the country, the risk of rousing American ire being too great. read more

March 24, 2007
Carl Mortished, David Robertson, Kevin O’Flynn and Julian Evans

The Russian arm of BP is to bid for a $9 billion (£4.6 billion) shareholding in Rosneft, to be sold in an auction of the remaining assets of Yukos, the bankrupt Russian oil company.

The surprise move by TNK-BP emerged hours before Lord Browne of Madingley, BP’s chief executive, and his successor Tony Hayward, met President Putin.

Any attempt to purchase the 9.44 per cent stake in Rosneft could put BP into competition with Rosneft, which is itself intending to bid for Yukos assets. read more

March 24, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Walter van de Vijver, the controversial exploration director forced to quit Royal Dutch Shell three years ago, is raising $1 billion (£510 million) for a return to the oil and gas industry.

The Dutchman is heading a new venture that plans to help international oil companies and state-controlled firms increase production from ageing and dormant fields.

The company, Delta Hydrocarbons, yesterday revealed that it had raised £385 million from 3i, SHV Holdings and Upstream Capital Partners. 3i is running a separate fund-raising for the rest. read more

Mar 23, 2007 2:41 PM (4 hrs ago)

TORRANCE, Calif. – Toxic fumes were released from an oil refinery but nobody was injured, authorities said.

Hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide were released into flares at the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery after the plant south of Los Angeles had a problem with its sulfur recovery unit and shut down shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, officials said.

The flare system acts as a “safety relief valve” for the refinery that combines liquid and vapors with steam and burns it off, according to information on the refinery’s Web site. read more

By Mathew Carr

March 23 (Bloomberg) — Delta Hydrocarbons, a company run by a former Royal Dutch Shell Plc executive, is raising $1 billion to help national oil companies worldwide enhance oil recovery, said 3i Group Plc, an investor.

London-based 3i will invest $250 million in the venture, it said in an e-mailed statement today. Delta is managed by Walter van de Vijver, formerly chief executive of the exploration and production unit of Royal Dutch Shell, 3i said in the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at [email protected] read more

By Upstream staff

French giant Total said today that its chief executive Christophe de Margerie would return to work, adding it was “business as usual” after he was placed under formal investigation by a judge in an inquiry into kickbacks related to a 1997 gas deal in Iran.

De Margerie, who was detained on Wednesday, was freed without bail late last night but put under formal investigation for “corruption of foreign officials” and “misuse of company assets”, a preliminary step before a possible trial. read more

By Trisha Huang

March 23 (Bloomberg) — Royal Shell Dutch Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, said its ethylene and mono-ethylene glycol plants in Singapore are on schedule for operation in 2009 or 2010.

The first piles were driven into the ground on Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island, the company’s chemical unit said in a statement today.

The Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex, which will have a cracker with a capacity to make 800,000 metric tons of ethylene from naphtha and other petroleum products, is Shell’s biggest chemical investment in Singapore, the company said. Construction of the plants started in October. read more

By Victor Epstein

March 22 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, reported that several units were idled yesterday by a power failure at a refinery in Deer Park, Texas.

The idled refinery equipment included two crude units, a hydrotreater, vacuum flashers and an 85,000-barrel-a-day delayed coker, Shell said in a filing with Texas environmental regulators. The plant is owned by Shell, based in The Hague, and Mexico’s state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos. read more

Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped the security manager of a German construction company in the oil capital, Port Harcourt, police say.

The Dutch manager was reportedly seized at dawn by his abductors, who arrived on the waterfront by the construction camp in three speedboats.

They are said to have exchanged heavy gunfire with guards before escaping.

About 60 foreigners – mostly oil workers – have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta so far this year.

The wave of attacks and kidnappings has led to a 25% cut in Nigeria’s oil output.
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6483695.stm read more

In their own words…

Mar 22nd 2007

THE Chemical Safety Board, an American government agency that investigates industrial disasters, has long maintained that in the past BP’s bosses did not spend enough time and money on the safety of their employees.

Its latest report on the subject, released on March 20th, was no different: it argued that such failings contributed to an explosion in 2005 at BP’s refinery in Texas City, Texas, which killed 15 people and injured 180. This time around, however, the board also published documents that tell of the employees’ misgivings in their own words: read more

Mar 22nd 2007
Oil-rich Iran may have to ration petrol
Reuters 

IRANIANS last week celebrated the start of their new year, but alongside the festive goldfish and fireworks displays, 1386 might bring a rise in their petrol bills. After two years of dithering, the government is at last ready to introduce rationing and a price hike to reduce a subsidy that costs the country billions of dollars a year.

Petrol rationing in a country with the world’s second-largest reserves of crude oil might sound slightly strange. But Iran’s big problem is a shortage of refineries; it can only satisfy about 60% of its soaring demand with locally produced petrol. It imports the rest at market prices of about 45 cents a litre—five times what motorists pay at the pumps. read more

EXTRACT: Several foreign companies have been seeking opportunities in China’s CBM sector, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC

In order to meet the rising demand for energy, China has quickened its pace in developing coalbed methane (CBM), a clean fuel.

CBM is more commonly known as coalmine gas. With components similar to natural gas, it is a practical and reliable alternative energy source, said Sun Maoyuan, president of China United Coalbed Methane Co Ltd.

“Last year our company drilled 391 CBM wells in the nation,” he said. “And we achieved the production capacity of 200 million cubic meters. This year we aim to drill more than 400 wells and increase our production capacity to 450 million cubic meters.” read more

EXTRACT: One of the biggest targets is Royal Dutch Shell, which plans a $10 billion investment in an Iranian gas field. If enough government entities deny Shell the necessary capital, Shell’s CEO has said that the company would cancel its Iranian project, Mandel points out.

THE ARTICLE

BY: MARILYN H. KARFELD Senior Staff Reporter

Just as divestment from companies doing business in South Africa helped bring down its apartheid regime, a campaign using economic pressure to isolate Iran is now gaining traction. read more

Tom Shiel,
Published: Mar 23, 2007

Some 30 protesters were still occupying part of the Corrib gas terminal site in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo last evening to highlight their fears over possible contamination of local water supplies.

Activists made their way on to the site through a gate in the afternoon.

A number of gardaI were on standby during the protest but did not interfere.

The incursion followed an earlier seepage of a brown-coloured liquid from the site. Local streams feed into Carrowmore lake, the source of drinking water for thousands of homes in the Erris area. read more

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.” read more

Fri 23 Mar 2007, 1:19 GMT
 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Shell Oil Products, a unit of Shell Oil Company, is being awarded two U.S. Defense Logistics Agency contracts totaling up to $1.2 billion for aviation turbine fuel, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Work under the contracts is to wrap up on April 30, 2008, the Defense Department said in its daily contract summary.

Separately, it said Valero Marketing and Supply Co., San Antonio, Texas, is being awarded a deal valued at up to $499.4 million for fuel, and Shell Chemical Yabucoa, Inc., Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, has won one valued at up to $143 million for naval distillate fuel. read more

CALGARY, Alberta–Shell Canada Ltd. has settled on a location in southern Ontario for its planned heavy-oil refinery, but most other details for the new facility are still being worked out, a spokeswoman for the company said Thursday.

The company, Canada’s No. 3 oil producer and refiner, said the new operation is likely to be built near the small community of Sombra, which has a population of about 280. Sombra is south of Sarnia, the center of Ontario’s petrochemical industry.

The new plant will process between 150,000 and 250,000 barrels a day of heavy oil from Shell Canada’s oil sands operations in Alberta but other details, including cost, configuration and a potential tie to the company’s nearby 72,000 barrel a day refinery in Sarnia, are still sketchy. read more

A Nigerian Senate committee has indicted the president and his deputy for corruption over an oil fund.

The committee recommends both President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar be prosecuted.

The committee resigned after pressure to block the report. The Senate will now consider the report but not until after general elections next month.

Mr Obasanjo stands down after two terms in office, but Mr Abubakar has been barred from running.

It is the first time a Nigerian Senate committee has accused President Obasanjo of corruption. read more

2007-03-22 13:30:56 –

ZAGREB, Croatia, March 22 /PRNewswire/ — CROSCO Integrated Drilling & Well Services Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce the recent commencement of drilling services for Gulfsands Petroleum PLC in Syria. Drilling services are being provided with CROSCO’s 2000 HP drilling rig EMSCO 602 (Emsco C-2 II). Currently CROSCO is drilling the Khurbet East exploration well KHE 1. The total drilling depth of the KHE 1 well is expected to be approximately 3,700 meters.

Vedran Buratovic, General Manager of CROSCO’s Syrian Branch stated, “CROSCO is pleased to be providing drilling services for the second time to Gulfsands Petroleum. During 2006 CROSCO drilled the Suwaidiyah North 1 Well also in Block 26 with CROSCO 1500 HP drilling rig MIDCO 501. CROSCO drilling rig EMSCO 602 recently completed a successful long term engagement for Shell lead Al Furat Petroleum Company. Upon completion of the Gulfsands project, the EMSCO 602 drilling rig will be mobilized to Egypt for a two year contract with RWE Dea Nile. Prior to commencing drilling services for RWE Dea, the EMSCO 602 drilling rig will be serviced and completely retrofitted with new Caterpillar 3512 diesel engines as well as new silicon controlled rectifiers, new motor control center and new shale shakers.” read more

Michael Meacher
March 22, 2007 1:30 PM

The recent cabinet agreement in Baghdad on the new draft oil law was hailed as a landmark deal bringing together the warring factions in the allocation of the country’s oil wealth. What was concealed was that this is being forced through by relentless pressure from the US and will sow the seeds of intense future conflict, with serious knock-on impacts on the world economy.

The draft law, now before the Iraqi parliament, sets up “production sharing partnerships” to allow the US and British oil majors to extract Iraqi oil for up to 30 years. While Iraq would retain legal ownership of its oil, companies like Exxon, Chevron, Shell and BP that invest in the infrastructure and refineries would get a large share of the profits. read more

By David R. Sands
March 22, 2007

Iranian leaders yesterday vowed to defy a U.S.-led drive to halt the country’s nuclear program, warning that proposed United Nations sanctions will not work and promising to “strike the enemies” trying to pressure the country.

As the U.N. Security Council debated a new round of sanctions in New York, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said in a nationally televised address in Tehran that Iran would not be deterred from pursuing its nuclear programs. read more

Published: Mar 22, 2007

FRENCH unions and the port authority remained locked in negotiations yesterday as a strike continued at the Fos-Lavera oil and gas terminal at Marseille, writes Sandra Speares.

French union the Confederation Generale du Travail has put a draft proposal to its membership to end the dispute, which has been going on for more than a week, over whether port employed stevedores will be used to unload LNG cargoes at a new Gaz de France terminal due to commence operations later this year. read more

The U.S. is enlisting foreign companies to help cut off petro revenues to its nuclear adversary

Published: Mar 22, 2007

WASHINGTON – 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

Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:29AM GMT

OSLO (Reuters) – BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has filed a plan for further development of the Valhall oilfield off Norway, including planned investments of 14 billion Norwegian crowns (1.15 billion pounds), Norwegian energy officials said on Friday.

The Valhall field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea has been in operation since 1982 and produces around 70,000 barrels of oil per day. Now BP plans to build a new platform to replace three old platforms, the ministry of petroleum and energy said. read more

By Vibeke Laroi

March 22 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, and partners plan to spend about 14 billion kroner ($2.3 billion) on a new platform in the North Sea Valhall oil field to extend the field’s production life to 2049.

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy received a plan for developing the Valhall field from London-based BP, the operator, and its partners Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Hess Corp. and Total SA, the ministry said in a statement today. read more

By Fred Pals

March 21 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc., Europe’s biggest oil company by market value, said that its Berre oil refinery in Berre l’Etang, France, has been shut for maintenance.

The maintenance works started March 14 and will last about five weeks, Shell said on the Web site of the Berre petrochemical refinery complex. The project is the first major turnaround in six years, the company said on the Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Pals in Amsterdam at [email protected] read more

Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:21 AM BST

LAGOS, March 22 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) has completed repairs to a big Nigerian oil pipeline that broke open on March 4, forcing the company to reduce output by 187,000 barrels per day, a spokesman said on Thursday.

The company is now performing integrity tests on the pipeline with a view to resuming production from the Nembe Creek area, which pumps crude oil to the Bonny export terminal in the Niger Delta.

“The pipeline has been clamped and we are doing integrity testing to be able to reopen the flow-stations,” spokesman Bisi Ojediran said. read more

(Reuters) – Dutch bank ABN AMRO , which is in exclusive talks to merge with Barclays , would not be the first major company to be jointly managed or listed in the Netherlands and Britain.

The following is a list of major Anglo-Dutch corporate alliances:

For the day’s news on ABN, click on [ID:nL21397388].

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

The global’s second-largest energy company has its roots in the Shell Transport and Trading Company and Royal Dutch Petroleum, which joined forces in 1903 to oppose U.S. oil giant Standard Oil. read more

Contact:  Carla Vigue, Office of the Governor, 608-261-2162
Company’s Complaints of “Discrimination” Hard to Swallow, Morgan Says

MADISON – The Doyle administration today responded to complaints by Shell Oil that it is unfair to ask oil companies to give relief to taxpayers and help pay for transportation needs.

Instead of raising taxes on consumers or forcing residents to pay tolls, Governor Doyle has proposed an oil company assessment of 2.5 percent per barrel, with criminal penalties if oil companies try to pass along the fee to consumers.  This morning, speaking at a forum on energy issues, Shell Oil Company President John Hofmeister said that the Governor’s proposal amounts to “corporate discrimination.” (Wispolitics.com News Summary)  read more

EXTRACT: “Why can a company like Shell have a gas station on every corner in the US while simultaneously investing in Iran?”

By Guy Dinmore
Published: March 22 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 22 2007 02:00

With a stroke of the pen and a tick of the box, the US public is being urged to help bring down enemy regimes by going “terror-free” with investments.

Foreign companies doing business with Iran are the main target of the campaign, which aims to persuade US investors to sell stocks in such companies, valued at billions of dollars. read more

Posting in response to our article…

Do you have grounds for a lawsuit against Shell? Have you, your firm or family been cheated or injured by Shell?

March 21st, 2007 23:45

For 13 years now Southern Farmers a group of Black farmers in the great island of Barbados in the West Indies have been fighting SHELL ANTILLES LTD, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum over an underground leak which has contaminated a 186 acres of our glorious island, including our water irrigation not to mention our soil which is prime agricultural land. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 21, 2007
Filed at 5:10 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Biotechnology was first applied in medicine, then farming. Today, dozens of lifesaving drugs are on the market, while many crops are genetically engineered to withstand weed killers.

Now, a 2-year-old push to develop alternative fuels is driving biotechnology’s growth into the industrial sector.

Thousands of corporate executives and scientists gather this weekend in Orlando, Fla. for an industry trade show specifically aimed at touting biotechnology’s so-called third wave, industrial applications. The word on everyone’s lips: ethanol. read more