April 29th, 2007:

April 29, 2007

Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell is expected to show the impact of falling energy prices when it publishes first-quarter results on Thursday.

Consensus market forecasts for the first three months of the year are for 5.56 billion US dollars ( 2.78bn), nearly 5% lower than last year’s 6.09 billion US dollars ( 3.31bn), despite predicted sales more than 7% higher at 82 billion US dollars.

The company has had to cope with a steep decline in oil prices from last August’s record levels, which saw BP’s first quarter profits decline by 17% last week. read more

EXTRACT: Shell Gas Lanka Ltd, whose liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unloading and storage terminal in Muturajawela, which was hit by bombs within minutes of the first attack, is part of Netherland’s Royal Dutch/Shell Group since 1995.
 
April 29, 2007 (LBO) – The Indian and Dutch partners of petroleum facilities targeted by Tamil Tigers, which are jointly owned with the government of Sri Lanka, are confident of resuming normal business as the damage is minimal, officials said.

The Tigers first hit a petroleum facility in Kolonnawa, a suburb of Colombo, which is jointly owned by Indian and Sri Lankan governments since 2002. read more

EnergyRUSSIA

Russian Natural Resource Minister Yury Trutnev hopes that a significant number of Sakhalin II energy problems will be resolved. “We will calculate the damages, submit them and we will hope that a significant number of the problems will be resolved. For the remainder compensation will be paid to the state. It is good that we all had sufficient will, despite political pressure from across the ocean, to bring this to its conclusion and ensure that the company came to its senses and started to work with a proper attitude to Russian nature,” he told journalists in Moscow. read more

GUY DIXON
 
THE FTSE 100 briefly breached the 6,500 barrier last Thursday, taking its lead from Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through the 13,000 mark.

But news that the US economy grew more slowly than expected in the first three months then expected weighed heavily on the FTSE and helped it close on Friday at 6,418.7 – a fall of 68.1 points over the week.

Yell, the Yellow Pages publisher, suffered a disastrous week after a warning over intense competition in the US wiped more than £800m off the value of the business. Shares finished the week more than 20% down at 480p. read more

Nigerian oil production appears to have weathered post election tensions so far, but the tinder box nature of politics in the country suggests that a deterioration, if it comes, will be sudden.

Crude prices added a geopolitical premium in the weeks ahead of the presidential elections held last weekend, but prices have since eased after traders succumbed to the view that a rally was unjustified unless oil output did fall.

Analysts say that the situation could turn, very quickly.

“There are concerns this is the quiet before the storm,” said Peter Luxton, energy analyst at Informa Global Markets. read more

By  Jason Womack     
Tulsa World, Okla.     

The president of Shell Oil Co. called for fewer drilling restrictions along the continental shelf and on federally owned lands Wednesday as a means of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

During a presentation in Tulsa, John Hofmeister told hundreds of energy and other business professionals that increased exploration in these historically protected areas would more than meet the nation’s oil demands.  

But while such drilling could eliminate America’s need to import 65 percent of its oil, it alone would not ensure the country’s energy security, Hofmeister said. read more

The Supervisory Board has approved the estimate of the second phase of the Sakhalin-2 project, GTRK Sakhalin TV reported on 19 April. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy jointly with the shareholders of the Sakhalin-2 project approved all documents needed for the implementation of the project with the participation of a Russian investor.

The Supervisory Board gathered for the first time in its new composition; in line with the decree of the Russian government, the composition of the representatives from the Russian side was renewed. Ivan Materov, deputy head of the Russian Ministry for Industry and Energy, and Sakhalin Region governor Ivan Malakhov, were approved as co-chairmen of the Supervisory Board. Ilya Trunin, head of the department for tax, customs and tariff policy of the Russian Finance Ministry; Sergey Fedorov, head of the department for state policy in the sphere of subsoil use of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources; Vladimir Kuznetsov, deputy head of the Federal Energy Agency; and Arkadiy Pinchevskiy, Sakhalin Region deputy governor, became members of the Supervisory Board. read more

MEMORIAL Three hydrogen vehicles at the spot where the Hindenburg crashed on May 6, 1937.
 
By DON SHERMAN
Published: April 29, 2007
LAKEHURST, N.J.

WHEN the largest aircraft ever built — the pride of Nazi Germany — crashed in flames at the United States Navy’s airship base here, it took 36 lives and smeared the reputation of hydrogen for decades.

In less than a minute, the Hindenburg disaster of 1937 turned hydrogen, which provided the zeppelin’s lift, into a pariah. But 70 years later, a growing number of advocates are promoting hydrogen as a panacea, a promising alternative to petroleum. In the last decade, every large carmaker has jumped on the hydrogen express. read more

By Stefan Milkowski
Staff Writer

JUNEAU — Two oil companies with leases on the North Slope said Friday they were pleased with Gov. Sarah Palin’s natural gas pipeline legislation.

Representatives from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Shell Exploration and Production both offered their support for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, which sets up a competitive bidding process for companies that want to build a gas pipeline from the North Slope.

Mark Hanley, Anadarko’s public affairs manager, told members of the Senate Finance Committee he thought AGIA addressed the concerns of exploration companies like Anadarko and would provide the competitive process Palin is seeking. read more

Saudi Arabia
Sunday 29 April 2007

Saudi Aramco and Shell have scaled back crude runs at their 305,000 barrels per day refinery in Jubail due to technical glitches, reported Reuters. The refinery, which focuses on the export market, had just resumed production following a month long routine maintenance break. The refinery should be back to normal in around a week’s time but some naphtha cargo loadings have had to be delayed.

Nick Mathiason
Sunday April 29, 2007

Shell has become the dominant oil major in a controversial Alaskan project at the heart of legal challenges from environmentalists and indigenous peoples against George Bush.

The energy giant has paid the US government millions of dollars for licences in the Beaufort Sea off the northern coast of Alaska, just 10 miles from the protected Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

Shell plans to drill this summer but campaigners say environmental impact assessments were rushed through without adequate consultation. They have launched a legal challenge to halt work. read more

Sunday, April 29, 2007 1:08:44 AM

NEW ORLEANS(AP)

An energy development company said Saturday it would sponsor the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival through at least 2010, a decision organizers said would guard against scaling back the popular event in a city slowly recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Terms of the deal with Shell Exploration & Production Co. were not released, though Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis said it is the first time the event _ traditionally driven by ticket sales _ will have a long-term corporate sponsor. read more