June 19th, 2007:

By Andrew Trounson and Scott Murdoch

June 20, 2007 12:00am: Oil giant Shell may make another grab for Woodside: Woodside shares jump on the takeover talk

ROYAL Dutch Shell is believed to be testing the political waters before launching another tilt at Woodside Petroleum, after rumours hit the market that the Anglo-Dutch oil giant has Woodside on its radar again.

In 2001, Treasurer Peter Costello cited national interest when he vetoed Shell’s hostile $10 billion bid to take control of Woodside, in which it has a 34 per cent stake. read more

By David Lee Smith June 19, 2007

Amid the endless stream of news we receive from Iraq, far too little seems to involve the country’s crucial role in the world of energy.

Iraq holds a long-standing and strategically important position in oil and gas, since international giants BP (NYSE: BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) (NYSE: RDS-B) began operating there decades ago. The nation sits in a vital location, with Saudi Arabia to its south, Iran to its east, and Syria and Turkey to its north. Its lower flank straddles the Persian Gulf, making it reasonably accessible to Bahrain and Qatar. read more

Norval Scott, today at 12:27 PM EDT

Interesting presentation from OSUM, a new, private, junior oil sands company. It’s unusual enough for juniors to be involved in the oil sands game as the capital costs are usually prohibitive, but it’s even more unusual for a junior to be in Alberta’s carbonate – which OSUM is.

According to the presentation by CEO Richard Todd and COO Peter Putnam, OSUM may have as much as 1.74 billion barrels of recoverable resources in Saleski and Cold Lake. While development plans are in early stages, it’s targeting pilot applications in both jurisdictions, with commercial development seen post-2012. At Saleski, a project with the potential to produce 75,000 barrels a day is being targeted, while the Marie Lake project (in the Cold Lake region) is seen producing 30,000 b/d. The comopany is currently raising $45-million, although more funds will clearly be needed in the future. read more

Vanguard (Lagos)
19 June 2007
Hector Igbikiowubo

STAFF and contractors of Shell Companies in Nigeria are apprehensive over their fate as the company commences the implementation of cost cutting measures to its operations, to combat rising cost and falling oil revenues caused by production shut-ins.

Some staff and contractors who spoke on the basis of anonymity hinted that their fate currently hangs in a balance, adding that they were not aware of the extent of the planned cost cutting measures.
 
A spokesman of the Royal Dutch Shell in The Netherlands said last Sunday the company has started implementing a number of cost cuts to its operations in Nigeria, which are likely to include job cuts, to combat rising costs and falling oil revenues. read more

Dinakar Sethuraman
June 20, 2007

WOODSIDE Petroleum shares rose to their highest in a year after a report that 34 per cent shareholder Royal Dutch Shell might bid for Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer.

The stock of the Perth-based company rose as much as $1.23, or 2.7 per cent, to $47.18 on the stock exchange, a 52-week high after LNG Intelligence said Shell might try again to buy the rest of the company.

Woodside shares closed yesterday at $46.85, a full-day gain of 90¢.

Woodside spokesman Roger Martin declined to comment. read more

Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:19AM EDT

FRANKFURT, June 19 (Reuters) – Germany’s High Court (BGH) has ruled that operators of gas transmission grids must allow energy regulator Bundesnetzagentur access to internal data, it said on Tuesday.

It said publishing internal data would not hamper the companies in their freedom to operate as they wished, tightening conditions for the entire industry.

Three gas transport firms, ExxonMobil Gastransport, ExxonMobil/Shell joint venture BEB  and VNG Ontras, had complained about stipulations forcing them to cooperate with the regulator in 2005, a complaint which the court threw out. read more

06.19.07
 
MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) – The ongoing dispute between the Russian government and BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP over the Kovykta gas project licence could be resolved by Russia’s state gas monopoly Gazprom taking a stake in the project, Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said, cited by Russian news agencies.

Russian authorities are accusing the Kovykta operator, Rusia Petroleum, (held 62.4 pct by TNK-BP (nyse: BP – news – people ), 25.8 pct by the Russian group Interros and 11.2 pct by the Irkutsk provincial government), of not producing as much gas as it had undertaken to do when its licence was granted — 9 bln cubic metres per year. read more

19 June 2007
 
SANTO DOMINGO. – the Chamber of Deputies’ Energy and Mines Commission  president Pelegrín Castillo said Shell’s “big business” has been not to abide by the contract with the Dominican State to form the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa).

The deputy said the violation has meant fabulous profits for the foreign oil company.

In a statement to the newspaper Listin Diario, Castillo said Shell was forced to expand its refinement capacity as the national demand increased, though the multinational never did so as it was much more profitable to import finished products. read more

By Raphael Minder in Sydney
Published: June 19 2007 11:13 | Last updated: June 19 2007 11:13

The share price of Woodside Petroleum on Tuesday rose to a one-year-high on speculation that Australia’s biggest energy company could receive another takeover offer from Royal Dutch Shell, which holds a 34 per cent stake.

Neither company would comment on Tuesday after the share price closed at A$46.84, a rise of 2 per cent. Woodside said: ”We don’t comment on market speculation.”

Shell was prevented from buying Woodside in 2001 by Peter Costello, the Australian treasurer, on grounds of national interest. However, analysts have fuelled speculation that Woodside could be a takeover target because of its plans to become a world leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and its promising projects off the coast of Western Australia. read more

We have the worlds largest online library of news articles and leaked documents relating to the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. They are all available FREE for educational and research purposes.

Over 15,000 are stored here and on our sister website: www.ShellNews.net

Over 8,000 can be searched on this website by using our “Live Search” facility.

For access to over 7,200 further articles/documents, click on the link below

http://shell2004.com/blog/royal_dutch_shell_plc-news-archive-2004-2005.htm read more

Published: Jun 19, 2007

WANTED: thousands upon thousands of marine professionals. Great jobs are on offer ‘I would not swap this job for any other: I feel as though I am on a trip to the moon,’ enthuses Roberta Della Verita, one of the few professional female divers in the industry.

Even so, a massive skills shortage spans the world, and industry is having to roll up its sleeves and sharpen its recruiting. IMCA, the International Marine Contractors Association, with 365 member companies in 47 countries, is juggling with this ‘hot potato’ for all the oil patches, not just the North Sea. read more

Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent
Published: Jun 19, 2007

The Shell to Sea campaign says it will be notifying the Garda Ombudsman Commission and the Health and Safety Authority about last week’s incident in Pollathomas, north Mayo, which left more than 20 people injured.

In a related development, an early opponent of the Corrib gas pipeline has lodged a complaint with Mayo County Council about the Rossport solidarity camp.

Two gardaI and 20 residents and supporters of the Shell to Sea campaign were injured in last week’s clash at Pollathomas, when gardaI and Shell contractors attempted to place a temporary structure below the pier to support a proposed marine survey of Sruwaddaccon bay. read more

FT Headline: Laid low by scandal

By Ed Crooks, Financial Times
Published: Jun 19, 2007

After two years that no one would wish on a bitterest rival, the apppointment of a new chief executive has given BP the chance to make a new start. In the first six weeks of Tony Hayward’s leadership, many of the early signs have been good. But hopes that BP has turned the corner are premature. The company still has a long, hard road ahead.

From the explosion at its Texas City refinery in March 2005 that killed 15 people, the news about BP has been a litany of uncertainty, disappointment and failure. read more

Financial Times
Published: Jun 19, 2007

Rex Tillerson

Chairman, ExxonMobil

The appointment of Rex Tillerson, 55, to succeed Lee Raymond at the beginning of 2006 was a vote for continuity at the top of one of the world’s most succesful businesses.

A 30-year Exxon veteran, who was previously the group’s president, he has taken over a company that had established a reputation for industry-leading engineering competence and reliability, and a production growth outlook that is better than almost all of its “super-major” rivals among the international oil companies. read more

By Ed Crooks, Financial Times
Published: Jun 19, 2007

Thomas Brooks, vice chairman of Constellation, the US energy supplier, says he can measure the status of his industry by the reactions of his neighbours. A few years ago, when he told them what he did for a living, they would smile politely and their eyes would glaze over. Now, they are riveted, and bombard him with questions.

The twin imperatives of climate change and security of supply have focused attention on the energy industry as never before; not even in the crisis of the 1970s. read more

By Dinakar Sethuraman

June 19 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd. shares rose to the highest in a year after a report that 34 percent shareholder Royal Dutch Shell Plc may bid for Australia’s second- biggest oil and gas producer.

The stock of the Perth-based company rose as much as A$1.23, or 2.7 percent, to A$47.18 on the Australian Stock Exchange, a 52-week high after LNG Intelligence said Shell may try again to buy the rest of the company. Woodside spokesman Roger Martin declined to comment on the report. read more

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

June 19 (Bloomberg) — Inpex Holdings Inc. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. should delay plans for natural gas projects in Australia’s northwest until a coordinated plan is drawn up to minimize environmental effects, six lobby groups said.

The groups, including WWF-Australia, yesterday wrote to Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter asking for the state to assess all likely gas projects in the Kimberley, in Australia’s far northwest, to draw up “the most acceptable options” for development. A gas-processing “hub” used by all ventures should be considered, they said in the letter that was e-mailed to Bloomberg. read more

By Carola Hoyos, Financial Times
Published: Jun 19, 2007

John Paul Getty, one of the world’s first billionaires, once said: “The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights.”

Though the quip holds as true today as it did in 1916 when Mr Getty first struck oil in Oklahoma, it is likely the oil man was thinking of his fellow industrialists as the inheritors.

Today’s true power brokers are a group of state-owned oil companies that span the globe from China to Venezuela, rather than the Gettys, Rockefellers, Nobels and Rothchilds of yesteryear. read more

Published: June 19 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 19 2007 03:00

How apt that Nigeria’s recently installed vice-president is called Goodluck Jonathan. His appointment is seen as an attempt by the new government to quell violence inthe Delta region – his homeland and the centre of the country’soil industry.

The world needs Mr Jonathan to live up to his name. Rebel attacks and kidnappings mean 800,000 barrels a day of Nigeria’s output is currently offline. With the world’s effective spare capacity standing at 2.8m b/d – just 3 per cent of demand – that is a big factor in keeping the market tight and prices high. Similarly, just 25 per cent of Nigeria’s refining capacity is actually running. So Africa’s biggest energy producer imports about three-quarters of its gasoline, exacerbating a shortage of gasoline in Atlantic markets. And corruption fuels instability: the World Bank estimates that four-fifths of the country’s oil revenues accrue to just 1 per cent of the population. read more

By Ed Crooks, Financial Times
Published: Jun 19, 2007

In the past year, the energy industry has been going through the biggest merger boom since the wave of consolidation that swept through the major oil companies at the end of the 1990s.

Last year, the total value of deals involving energy companies was $566bn, according to Dealogic, an analysis firm, up from $372bn in 2005.

This year the value of deals is set to be higher still, with announcements for 2007 so far already nearly matching the 2005 total at $356bn. read more

Published: June 18 2007 12:57 | Last updated: June 18 2007 22:54

How apt that Nigeria’s recently installed vice-president is called Goodluck Jonathan. His appointment is seen as an attempt by the new government to quell violence in the Delta region – his homeland and the centre of the country’s oil industry.

The world needs Mr Jonathan to live up to his name. Rebel attacks and kidnappings mean 800,000 barrels a day of Nigeria’s output is currently offline. With the world’s effective spare capacity standing at 2.8m b/d – just 3 per cent of demand – that is a big factor in keeping the market tight and prices high. Similarly, just 25 per cent of Nigeria’s refining capacity is actually running. So Africa’s biggest energy producer imports about three-quarters of its gasoline, exacerbating a shortage of gasoline in Atlantic markets. And corruption fuels instability: the World Bank estimates that four-fifths of the country’s oil revenues accrue to just 1 per cent of the population. read more

18th June 2007
By Paul Stewart

Russia’s blatant drive to re-acquire control of strategic energy assets is a growing source of concern to western investors. Why, then, in an increasingly hostile political climate, would any private utility consider a foray into the Russian electricity sector? Key to this, it would appear, is that, for a while at least, the Kremlin will view power and hydrocarbons very differently.

BP is under increasing pressure from Moscow to relinquish control of prized upstream gas assets. Having publicly cannibalized Yukos and, more subtly, edged Sakhalin-2 out of Shell and into Gazprom hands, BP’s Kovykta field is next on the Kremlin’s list. read more

By Hector Igbikiowubo
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

STAFF and contractors of Shell Companies in Nigeria are apprehensive over their fate as the company commences the implementation of cost cutting measures to its  operations, to combat rising cost and falling oil revenues caused by production shut-ins.

Some staff and contractors who spoke on the basis of anonymity hinted that their fate currently hangs in a balance, adding that they were not aware of the extent of  the planned cost cutting measures.

A spokesman of the Royal Dutch Shell in The Netherlands said last Sunday the company has started implementing a number of cost cuts to its operations in Nigeria,  which are likely to include job cuts, to combat rising costs and falling oil revenues. read more

Last Update: Jun 18, 2007 7:36 PM
Posted By: brynn galindo

BAKERSFIELD – Bakersfield’s Flying J Refinery is leaking toxic chemicals into local groundwater and part of the Rosedale Highway facility has been shut down.

The implications are statewide: Even a small reduction in the state’s gasoline production can mean higher prices at the pump.

Kern County Environmental Health officials say there is no immediate danger to drinking water in the area, but the California Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered parts of the refinery closed until the problem can be located. read more

(BP CEO Tony Hayward)

By Miriam Elder (Moscow Times)
Monday, June 18, 2007

MOSCOW: The new chief executive of BP, Tony Hayward, issued an impassioned appeal Monday for Western markets to open up to Russian investment, backing a cause espoused by President Vladimir Putin even as officials threatened to revoke a license for BP’s flagship Russia project.

“When Russian companies want to make foreign investments, they should be encouraged to do so on a level playing field,” Hayward told an investment conference in Moscow. read more

BY STACEY SHEPARD, Californian staff writer
e-mail: [email protected] | Monday, Jun 18 2007 10:35 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jun 18 2007 10:41 PM

Portions of the Big West of California refinery have been shut down since Friday to identify the source of oil that has seeped into an underground water table over the past two weeks.

About 1,000 barrels of oil are believed to have been released from an underground pipeline at the Big West refinery, according to a hazardous materials report filed with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. read more

(John D. Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company USA, is on a 50-city tour to answer gas-buyer’s questions about controversial oil industry issues.) 

CEO John Hofmeister Is on a 50-City Tour to Answer ‘What’s up With Oil Prices?’

The full story was broadcast on “Nightline” on 18 June 2007 at 11:35 p.m. EDT
‘Lived in a Bunker’

By JOHN DONVAN and HOWARD ROSENBERG
June 18, 2007

When the price of gas rises from the day before — an “up” day — it seems that all the media outlets are saying the same thing. “Pain at the pump” is the mantra du jour when talking about oil prices these days. read more

By RON ALSOP
June 19, 2007; Page B7

Business schools have struggled in the post-Enron era to incorporate more content related to ethics and social responsibility in their curricula. Many have added a stand-alone course on corporate responsibility, but some academics consider that insufficient. M.B.A. Track columnist Ron Alsop discussed the challenge recently with Craig Smith, senior fellow in marketing and ethics at London Business School and the academic leader on a project with the European Academy of Business in Society to “mainstream” corporate responsibility. read more

18 June 2007
 
SANTO DOMINGO.- The deadline to file tender offers to purchase the Shell company’s shares in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) –the Caribbean nation’s only facility of that type- expires today Monday and it was reported that 3 of the 5 offers had been retired.

A source quoted by the newspaper El Nacional said they didn’t know the reasons why 3 parties retired and refused to identify them and those companies which are still interested in the acquisition. The first offer was to the Dominican State – Shell’s equal partner in Refidomsa- which declined and said it didn’t object the sale. read more