June 12th, 2007:

EXTRACT: Some claim total independence but more than half of corporate foundations source trustees from the founder company. Shell Foundation has a board of six trustees – three members from Shell, including its two most senior figures – and three external members.

FIRST ARTICLE

13 June 2007

· Northern Rock Foundation: income £32,784,000, grants total £27,106,728 (2006)

· Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales: income £23,636,000, grants total £23,245,000 (2005)

· Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland: income £8,000,000, grants total £7,000,000 (2005) (estimate) read more

 June 12th, 2007 07:55

Comment by Dave Stroop on the article…

The Wall Street Journal: Shell’s Safety Record is Worse than BP’s

Dear Mr John Donovan,

I am pleased that Shell accepted liability for the deaths of the two men on Brent Bravo. I can remember that night, like it was yesterday. In fact I can remember it vividly!

The Shell Management of the platform were culpable in every way, why some people may ask? Well, they were in charge of the site. However, employees also have a responsibility, not just to the employers, but, also to their families and their co-workers. What makes a qualified technician, with many years experience on the installation, carry out a task which the management did not know about? Did he have a permit? Did he carry out activities as per the procedures he WAS trained in? Did he remove himself from the area as per evacuation procedures he WAS trained in? read more

EXTRACT: Shell, which owns 33 per cent of Woodside, would benefit both by owning a better quality investment and sending a clear signal that it did not intend to bid for either company, Cazenove continued.

June 13, 2007
Bryce Elder

Rolls-Royce outperformed a weak market trend on hopes that the engine maker was set to increase its market share.

According to the trade press, negotiations between General Electric and Airbus to supply alternative engines for the latter’s new A350 Xtra Wide Body family of jets have stalled, leaving Rolls the only supplier. Airbus plans to make 13 of the twin-engined jets per month. read more

(Video screens showing Putin speaking at the St. Petersburg forum Sunday. He was standing on a stage to the right.)

Wednesday, June 13, 2007. Issue 3676. Page 1.
By Anna Smolchenko
Staff Writer  
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
 
ST. PETERSBURG — Foreign investors are brimming with praise for Russia’s economic course after a St. Petersburg forum during which they got to quiz President Vladimir Putin behind closed doors.

Hundreds of foreign business leaders attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum over the weekend, and more than 100 of them sat down with Putin on Saturday evening. read more

Tuesday, 12 June 2007 19:42

Up to eight alternative routes for the Corrib Gas pipeline were to be outlined today in an attempt to break the deadlock in Co Mayo.

But opponents of the project, who were involved in a serious confrontation yesterday evening with construction sub-contractors and gardaí, said it is going to be extremely difficult to see how any agreement could be reached with Shell Ireland.

The latest incident took place at Pollatomish Pier when locals and members of the Shell to Sea campaign group attempted to prevent contractors from erecting a security cabin at the pier. read more

TUESDAY 12/06/2007

Shell is set to unveil a number of possible alternative routes for the controversial Corrib gas pipeline later today.   
 
The global oil giant is hoping that one of the routes will be supported by the local community, which has been protesting against the project since last year.

The new proposals, which have been drawn up by a firm employed by Shell Ireland, will be outlined at a meeting later today in Belmullet, Co Mayo.

A group of local landowners spent three months in prison last year as part of major protests against the existing pipeline route, which they say poses an unacceptable risk to households.
 
http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=82881&pt=n read more

By John Alfred Donovan

David Greer, Shell Deputy Chief Executive of the $22 billion Sakhalin-2 project in Russia was recently exposed as a plagiarist after circulating a motivational memo containing inspirational passages borrowed from a speech made by U.S. General George S Patton over 60 years ago. The fallout included extensive media coverage which has ruined his reputation and damaged Shell’s standing with the Russian government.

The Literary Dictionary of the Oxford University Press has the following definition for plagiarism: read more

By Nesa Subrahmaniyan and Christian Schmollinger

June 12 (Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly, said overseas shipments will increase 11 percent by 2015 as it invests in plants that turn the fuel into liquid for transportation by ships.

Overseas sales may rise to 180 billion cubic meters from 161.5 billion cubic meters last year, Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev said at the two-day Asia Oil and Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur today. The Baltic liquefied natural gas project will start to supply as much as 7 million metric tons a year to Atlantic markets by 2012, he said. read more

06.12.07, 5:58 AM ET

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia (Thomson Financial) – The construction of the engineering infrastructure of the Sakhalin-2 project have been completed by over 80 pct, Interfax reported, citing Hilary Mercer, the construction manager of the Sakhalin Energy.

‘The Sakhalin-2 project is approaching the completion of construction works and the beginning of the gas production and gas deliveries to Asian-Pacific markets. Export of liquefied natural gas will allow Sakhalin to become a strategic supplier in the energy market. The first batch of liquefied gas will be exported in about a year,’ she said. read more

Global Research, June 11, 2007
Mathaba News Network 

THE TIMES: In light of BP and Shell’s experience in Russia, should British companies invest in Russia?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Shell. I would like to clarify the issue. What are you interested in with respect to Shell and BP? Shell in Sakhalin, is that right?

THE TIMES: Yes, it is a question about Sakhalin, about BP’s permit. Will it be necessary to renounce the permit or they may still expect to keep it?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Have you seen the original agreement? Have you ever read it? read more

06.12.07, 3:18 AM ET

LAGOS (Thomson Financial) – An armed group fighting for control of oil resources in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria has released 12 foreign workers and one Nigerian it had been holding hostage, police said today.

‘Twelve foreigners and one Nigerian were handed over last night (Monday). The governor went to release them himself and brought them to Yenagoa,’ Julian Opaleke, the police chief of the southern Bayelsa state, told AFP.

Officials gave the nationalities of the foreigners released as three Americans, five Britons, two Indians, a Filipino and a South African. read more

Published: Tuesday, 12 June, 2007, 01:53 AM Doha Time 
By Pratap John

DOHA: Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), the overseas investment arm of QP, will soon form a joint venture with Shell to invest in energy-related ventures outside Qatar.

Speaking to Gulf Times here yesterday, HE the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said QPI’s remit would cover upstream oil and gas exploration to building refineries and petrochemical plants.

“We don’t identify locations using a map. We go wherever there are opportunities. We are looking at various countries,” al-Attiyah said. He said QP’s partnership with Shell was significant because the latter had made huge investments in Qatar. It has invested billions of dollars on Pearl GTL, Qatar’s second and the world’s largest fully integrated gas-to-liquids plant. Shell has also invested in Qatargas 4. read more

By Upstream staff

China appears to be holding back on its plans to buy more liquefied natural gas because of rising prices, Royal Dutch Shell executive Peter de Wit said today.

“Prices for LNG have gone up a lot and I think there is rethinking on the Chinese side to see how much and what time LNG imports are needed,” said de Wit, executive vice president for global business at Shell Gas and Power International.

“They are building terminals and they are planning [new] terminals, but the pace of terminal development has been slower than had been anticipated and had been announced by the Chinese authorities some years ago,” he said. read more

By Upstream staff

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell has resurrected an Arctic drillship that has spent 13 years anchored near the Canadian port of Tuktoyaktuk for its forthcoming drilling campaign in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea.

The company is wrapping up a major overhaul of the vessel, which was left unused when interest in drilling in the region waned in the early 1990s.

Houston-based Frontier Drilling, operating through local subsidiary Kulluk Services, has replaced most of the ship’s electronic and mechanical equipment and completed repair work to her hull. read more

By DAVID WINNING
June 12, 2007; Page A12

BEIJING — China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.’s decision to cut the cost of gasoline at some filling stations in Guangzhou city has reignited the debate about market pricing in China.

Sinopec, as the company is known, trimmed pump prices 10 fen, or 1.3 cents, per liter at six gasoline stations in Guangzhou more than a week ago in an apparent attempt to grab market share from rivals including PetroChina Co., Xinhua news agency reported. Sinopec’s move mirrored March price cuts in Beijing and Guangdong by PetroChina, a step some industry experts said might have boosted those stations’ fuel sales by as much as 33%. read more

By Catherine Belton andNeil Buckley in Moscow
Published: June 12 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 12 2007 03:00

Business leaders with investments in Russia have hit back at the government’s mounting criticism of the Putin regime, warning that the attacks could damage British interests there.

Peter Hambro, executive chairman of Peter Hambro Mining, an Aim-listed company that is one of Russia’s biggest gold miners, said the claim from Tony Blair that western companies could shun Russia unless it shared democratic values “ran the risk of being damaging” for British businesses in Russia. read more

By Hector Igbikiowubo & Emma Arubi
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, June 12, 2007

LAGOS — OIL and gas industry exploration and production operators have served notice that an increase in militant attacks in the Niger Delta area may be imminent especially following advice from the British Home Office urging its nationals to leave Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States.

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) may also be considering relocating its Nigeria headquarters from Port Harcourt to Lagos on account of the order from the British home office. read more

Don’t light a match.

By Merran Smith
Published: June 12, 2007 

When Royal Dutch Shell’s directors took the reins of Shell Canada earlier this month, they inherited a brewing resource conflict in a remote corner of British Columbia that bears a striking resemblance to Royal Dutch’s difficulties in other parts of the world.

The setting is a remote alpine basin southeast of Dease Lake, where the shared origin of the Nass, Stikine and Skeena Rivers gives the area its local name: the Sacred Headwaters. A stunning, expansive wilderness, it is the territory of the Tahltan people, who have hunted and trapped there for generations. It also happens to be underlain by one of British Columbia’s largest potential coalbed methane deposits, to which Shell Canada — and now Royal Dutch Shell — holds drilling rights. read more