June 17th, 2007:

Published: Jun 17, 2007

New York state lawmakers called Sunday for the state to divest its billions of dollars in pension funds from companies that do business with the countries on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist nations: Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea.

“Do we really want our dollars going to our enemies?” said Democratic State Senator Jeff Klein. “Clearly it seems strange that New York state is sending young men and women overseas, however we’re not yet tapping our most important weapon, our pension fund.” read more

Published: Jun 17, 2007

The fight for customers on the Polish petrol market is growing intense. At the moment only PKN Orlen can feel relatively safe. With 1,910 petrol stations and the largest share in retail (estimated at 27 percent of the market), its position seems unthreatened.

However, the challenger – BP – cannot afford to be complacent with its 325 stations and market share exceeding 10 percent. Its position is threatened by Shell. “We reached a 10-percent market share at the end of last year. The network of our petrol stations will soon go past the magic barrier of 300,” said Pawel Zuk, general director at Shell Polska. read more

Published: June 17 2007 16:54 | Last updated: June 17 2007 16:54

Gazprom is playing a twisted psychological game with Britain’s energy companies.

Almost exactly a year ago, the Russian gas monopoly said it was “analysing and reviewing” a bid for Centrica, the UK’s biggest gas supplier.

Centrica’s shares rose 25 per cent to an all-time high. Days later, Gazprom said that its comments had been misinterpreted, even though they came straight from the mouth of Alexander Shkuta, deputy general director. read more

AP: June 17, 2007, 12:37 PM EDT
 
NEW YORK — State Sen. Jeff Klein called Sunday for New York state to divest its pension funds from companies that do business with the nations on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist nations: Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea.

“Do we really want our dollars going to our enemies?” said Klein, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Westchester. “Clearly it seems strange that New York state is sending young men and women overseas, however we’re not yet tapping our most important weapon, our pension fund.” read more

By Joe Carroll

June 15 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-largest oil company, withdrew a permit application for an oil-shale project in Colorado after costs rose and engineers decided to redesign some equipment.

The Hague-based Shell has no plans to abandon the project, spokeswoman Jill Davis said today in an interview. The application for a state permit to build a pilot oil-shale project on federally-owned land will be resubmitted after more data is available from tests on nearby privately owned land, she said. read more

By Glen Carey

June 17 (Bloomberg) — Petroleum Development Oman, a state- controlled company in which Royal Dutch Shell Plc is the largest foreign investor, plans to more than double production at its Mabrouk oil field as part of its plan to stem the decline in the nation’s oil output.

PDO, which accounts for more than 80 percent of Oman’s oil production, plans to raise output at to 15,000-20,000 barrels a day by the end of 2009 from the current 8,000 barrels a day, the company said in an e-mailed statement received today. read more

By Tracy Dove, Ph.D
Editor, Russia Today
June 16, 2007

It was over 15 years ago that NBC’s Tom Brokaw said that in order to understand Russia, one must look back at Russian history. Retired and writing books now, Mr. Brokaw knew what he was saying even then; judging from the past, Vladimir Putin’s muscle politics are nothing that shouldn’t be expected, and I am immediately suspect of anyone who calls himself an expert on Russia and reacts to the undemocratic policies of Mr. Putin with any degree of surprise. read more

17 June 2007

Colonel Qadhafi has compared the Libyan economy to a bucket with holes in it; you keep pouring things in but it never seems to be full.

A few years of higher oil prices have given Libya relatively high spending power. With a population of not much more than 5 million it has reserves of over $50 billion. Unlike other oil and gas producing countries in the region Libya has very large unexplored areas which are attractive to the oil and gas industry, and has offered terms which have had the international companies queueing up. Over 30 new ones from all over the world entered the Libyan market last year, joining American companies which have returned and European companies which never left. Already they are finding oil and gas, and of course spending on everything from catering to mine clearance. Libya itself is spending more on much-needed infrastructure. Although the thrift learned in the difficult years of low prices combined with UN sanctions is not unlearned overnight, it seems inevitable that this process will accelerate. read more

Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:20 AM BST

MANILA (Reuters) – Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc  is studying a 15 billion pesos ($321 million) upgrade of its refinery, dropping an earlier plan to expand the facility, a top industry source said.

Pilipinas Shell has commissioned a study for the refinery upgrade plan, which is expected to be completed by September, the source, who asked for anonymity, told reporters over the weekend.

“It will be a multibillion-peso investment, or around 15 billion pesos, because they need to meet the sulphur and aromatic content requirements as prescribed in the Clean Air Act,” the source said. read more

Vidya Ram, 06.15.07, 2:00 PM ET

LONDON – Royal Dutch Shell proved on Friday that its shares are well slicked against the problems plaguing its Nigerian operations.

Shares in the Anglo-Dutch energy company ended the day up, despite a published report that it would cut spending in its operations in Nigeria to combat spiraling costs and lost revenue.

The company’s A shares closed up 42 pence (83 cents), or 2.1%, to £20.02 ($39.58), while its B shares closed up 49 pence (97 cents), or 2.5%, at £20.40 ($40.34) in Friday trading, both comfortably above the market average. The FTSE 100 closed up 82.50 pence, or 1.2%, at 6,732.40 points. read more

June 11, 2007
Steve Hawkes in St Petersburg

Gazprom, the Kremlin-control-led gas giant, has signalled that it wants to strike a wider deal with BP over its future in Russia as part of any agreement regarding the $20 billion (£10 billion) Kovykta gas project.

Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom’s deputy chief executive, said that, while he was still hopeful a compromise could be reached over the Siberian field, the Russian group was also interested in projects involving other interests BP holds in the country. read more

A SENIOR executive with Shell yesterday warned of further potential job losses in the oil giant’s North Sea operations, only a day after it put six major offshore assets on sale.

John Gallagher, Shell’s technical vice-president for exploration and production in Europe, revealed that the company is to embark on a major review of costs across its entire European operations.

At least 400 staff posts in Aberdeen and offshore are in doubt after Shell’s controversial decision to sell the fields and to abandon plans for a GBP 25 million sub-sea centre of excellence at its Aberdeen headquarters complex. read more

MARTYN McLAUGHLIN

ONE of Scotland’s most oil-dependent communities has resigned itself to the “eventual conclusion of the islands’ oil era”.

Shetland Islands Council is about to embark on a 30-year plan for the Sullom Voe site, where oil operations could be replaced by a modern airport, or a plant making wind turbines.

At its peak, Sullom Voe handled 800 tankers a year, but now it deals with only around 200,or 400,000 barrels a day. About 6 per cent of the islands’ 22,000 population are involved directly or indirectly in the oil industry. read more

TERRY MURDEN
 ([email protected])
Sunday 17 June 2007

SHELL and ExxonMobil’s decision to sell some of their oilfield assets in the North Sea came not so much out of the blue last week, but as a relief to those who want the process to accelerate.

The scaling down of the big oil companies’ operations in the region has been a slow process, largely because of the 40-year licences awarded in the late 1960s and 1970s, allowing the majors simply to hang on to them.

Since the government began issuing threats to withdraw licences unless operations resumed, more than 30 wells have been drilled and some acreage has been farmed out to smaller firms in what is largely acknowledged to be one of the world’s fastest-declining areas for oil production. read more

TERRY MURDEN
BUSINESS AND CITY EDITOR
Sun 17 Jun 2007

VENTURE Production and French company Perenco are believed to be heading a list of independents eager to get hold of the mature fields put up for sale last week by Shell and ExxonMobil.

The assets are expected to fetch more than $600m and are the latest in a series of sales by the major oil companies as they withdraw from the region to seek bigger exploration opportunities elsewhere.

One oil expert said there would be a lot of interest from a growing number of smaller companies now flourishing in the North Sea and specialising in extracting oil from wells deemed too small for the big companies. read more