News and information on Shell PLC
By Adam Smallman
Last Update: 7:41 AM ET Jun 27, 2007
VIENNA (MarketWatch) — The pace of gas deals in one-time pariah state Libya is to accelerate in early July when around 15 onshore and offshore areas are to go under the hammer.
The move by the Libyan government is attracting companies of the caliber of Italy’s Eni SpA, which has said it will bid for rights for the field, and comes just weeks after the country struck a huge deal with BP PLC to search for gas in its northwestern quarter.
Istanbul : Wed, 27 Jun 2007
The problem oil firms face in satisfying world demand is not a lack of supplies.
It is more due to their lack of ability to unlock new production and distribute it to consumers reliably, an oil industry conference heard.
‘There is a lot of oil and gas out there, but the time of easy oil has peaked,’ Ann Pickard, regional executive vice-president of Royal Dutch Shell for Africa said.
She said the industry would need to spend more in developing new fields, such as Canada’s oil sands, to meet red hot demand.
Published: June 27 2007 20:05 | Last updated: June 27 2007 20:05
What links the world’s largest listed company, riots in Tehran, and political attacks on the private equity industry? The curious, and longstanding relationship between politics and Big Oil.
High crude prices stoke not just the profits of oil companies, but also politicians’ blood pressure – and ambitions. The latest round of nationalisation in Venezuela’s oil fields, edging out ExxonMobil, reflects this: when the profit pie gets bigger, resource-rich governments push for a bigger slice. Yet it also excites US politicians, which is also risky.
By Isabel Gorst in Moscow and Ed Crooks in London
Published: June 27 2007 21:16 | Last updated: June 27 2007 21:16
The next delicate negotiation looming for ExxonMobil is over the gas from its Sakhalin 1 project off the eastern coast of Russia.
Gazprom this week urged Exxon to abandon plans to export the gas to China and instead commit supplies to gas markets in the Russian far east, or to the liquefied natural gas plant at the Gazprom-controlled Sakhalin 2 project.
Russia’s state-controlled gas company took a stake of 50 per cent plus one share at the end of last year, wresting control of Sakhalin 2 from Royal Dutch Shell with the help of pressure from the Russian government.
By Jon Nones
27 Jun 2007 at 12:50 PM
ExxonMobil’s chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson says the proposed reform of U.S. energy policy passing through Congress “almost defies any sense of logical or rational thinking.” He remains sceptical about the potential development of biofuels in the U.S.
The energy bill sets a target of 36 billion gallons (160 billion litres) a year of biofuel production by 2022. The bill also includes measures to punish “price gouging” by petrol suppliers, raise fuel economy for cars and support research into energy technologies.
By Alfred Donovan: Wednesday 27 June 2007
We have today received confirmation that the Sakhalin Public Prosecutors office has indeed conducted an investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption relating to Mr Craig and a number of companies, but has closed the case. There is no explanation given for reaching that decision.
We can only assume that either Shell EP General Counsel, Mr Keith Ruddock, was unaware of these facts when he corresponded with us on the subject earlier this week, or considered the information too sensitive to disclose.
Nigel Wilson, Energy writer
Thursday June 28, 2007
WOODSIDE is considering piping gas from its Browse Basin reservoirs to be processed on the Burrup Peninsula.
The move would avoid a clash with conservationists over the possible destruction of fragile Kimberley ecosystems.
Chief executive Don Voelte told the UBS energy and utilities conference in Sydney yesterday that the company was considering “at least four” development concepts for the Browse Basin, about 400km north of Broome.
He said that although Browse gas was more than 900km from the Burrup, aggregation through the proposed Pluto LNG plant on the peninsula could provide capital savings and minimise the need for infrastructure development in the Browse area, reducing environmental or cultural sensitivities and increasing and accelerating domestic gas development.
Jun 27, 2007
CALGARY–Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC want to sell their combined 18 per cent stake in the proposed $700 million Deep Panuke gas project off Nova Scotia’s Atlantic Coast, the broker handling the auction said yesterday.
Bids on Exxon Mobil’s 12 per cent and Shell’s 6 per cent of the long-delayed development are due Aug. 8, IndigoPool, the Houston-based acquisition and divestiture service, said in an email message.
EnCana Corp. is the operator of Deep Panuke, with a 78 per cent interest. It restarted efforts to develop it last year after halting its application in 2003 over high costs.
EXTRACT: As founder and manager of the Shell Group’s Spouse Employment Centre in The Hague, she is directly involved in planning the careers of expatriate partners/spouses.
27 June 2007
Work permit barriers for expat spouses can jeopardise a successful international assignment. But now there is an organisation tackling the trailing spouse permit issue. Patrick R. Rovers speaks with The Permits Foundation’s driving force, Kathleen van der Wilk-Carlton.
The Netherlands-based Permits Foundation was established in 2001 as an international corporate initiative to improve work permit regulations for the spouses of expatriate employees.
Construction at Ormen Lange. PHOTO: CORNELIUS POPPE – SCANPIX (ARKIV)
Hydro’s gas landing facility at Ormen Lange will cost NOK 17 billion (USD 2.86 billion) more than planned, financial daily Dagens Næringsliv reports.
This is the cost for phase two of the development, which has risen in cost from NOK 20 billion to 37 billion. When parliament approved the extension in 2003 the construction budget was NOK 16 billion, calculated as NOK 20 billion in 2007 currency.
Phase one of the project is currently being completed, on schedule and on budget.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
By: Daniel Hickey
WHEN, in 1895, Glenamoy National School was built, chances are that the local north Mayo men who laid the bricks would never have imagined that, over 100 years into the future, that national school – now a community centre – would be playing host to a talk by native American Indians.
But it is the quirks of circumstance – the ongoing dispute about the Corrib gas project in particular – which, last week, brought an all-woman delegation from the Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, Canada to the isolated bogland of north Mayo, connecting once isolated areas to a global network of protest.
June, 27 – 7:19 AM
SANTO DOMINGO. – A report of the Shell oil firm on the denunciations of altered fuel purchase invoices in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) found “the control structure is inadequate for such an important task” and admits there were cases “the freight was influenced” in addition to “deficiencies of the process.”
The report, which the newspaper Listin Diario quotes today, and which had been kept secret, was rendered by Shell’s representative in the Dominican Republic Rafael Maradiaga on March 19 and notes that “the errors or faults (detected in the invoicing) are not systemic.”
By Dan Robinson
Washington
26 June 2007
In another step aimed at increasing the economic cost to Iran of its controversial nuclear enrichment program, a key congressional panel has approved legislation to impose sanctions on Iran’s energy sector. VOA’s Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill.
The House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee approved the legislation, called the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007, by a vote of 37 to 1, recommending that it be moved for consideration by the full House.
Tom Lantos
EXTRACT: Several companies with multi-billion dollar operations in the U.S., or that are listed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY.OS), Total SA (TOT) and China’s National Offshore Oil Corp. (CEO), are in negotiations for major oil and gas deals with Iran and could be hit by the bill if passed.
June 26, 2007: 11:06 AM EST
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A key House panel Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to pass a wide-ranging bill that would toughen U.S. sanctions on Iran and on companies that invest in the country.
By Winnie Zhu
June 27 (Bloomberg) — China National Offshore Oil Corp., the nation’s biggest offshore oil explorer, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc borrowed $2.9 billion from banks to reduce the cost of financing their petrochemical venture in southern China.
The venture at Nanhai in Guangdong province borrowed $1.3 billion and 12.4 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) from a group of domestic banks to pay loans arranged in 2003, Liu Junshan, a spokesman for China National Offshore Oil, said today.
The $4.3 billion chemical plant at Daya Bay was the biggest Chinese joint venture with a foreign company when the investment was agreed in 2002. The plant, equally owned by China National Offshore Oil and Shell, started producing 2.3 million metric tons of chemicals including ethylene and propylene annually last year.
By Angela Macdonald-Smith
June 27 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, may process gas from fields in the Browse Basin off the northwestern coast in plants about 600 miles away to cut costs and minimize environmental effects.
Piping gas from the Browse fields to either the proposed Pluto liquefied natural gas project or the existing North West Shelf plant, both on the Burrup Peninsula, is one of at least four development options being considered for the project, Perth- based Woodside said today in a presentation. Sending the gas to Darwin is another of the four, said Roger Martin, a spokesman.
By Angela Macdonald-Smith
June 27 (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp.’s proposed $10 billion-plus Gorgon liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia is “in trouble” and may cost double the latest cost estimate, said Wall Street Access, a U.S. securities firm.
The project may be re-designed and the start-up may be delayed until 2014, Wall Street Access analyst Bernard Picchi said in a report yesterday. Chevron’s partners in Gorgon, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are developing “Plan B” options for LNG supply in the Pacific region “just in case Gorgon is dramatically delayed” or worse, he said.
June 27, 2007
Woodside CEO Don Voelte’s announcement that gas from the Browse Basin may be processed on the Burrup has been criticised as “unrealistic and short-sighted.”
Robin Chapple, a spokesperson for the Perth-based Friends of Australian Rock Art, said today that there was no room in Karratha or Dampier to support further industrial development on the Burrup.
“Karratha workers are living in seatainers” said Mr Chapple “and the local infrastructure is stretched beyond its capacity.” Mr Chapple said that he understood why Mr Voelte had floated the idea of processing Browse Basin gas at the Burrup.
From staff and wire reports Wednesday, June 27, 2007
[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/wyoming:Middle1]
PINEDALE — The Green River Valley Land Trust announced this week it raised $1.2 million to buy a conservation easement on 873 acres of the Murdock family ranch northwest of Pinedale.
The money came from more than 100 individuals and families from Sublette County, the state and country, as well as Ultra Resources Inc., Shell Exploration and Production Co., and Questar Market Resources. Those three companies are major natural gas players on the nearby Pinedale Anticline.
Wednesday June 27, 2007
By Mark Beyer and Andrew Hobbs
Woodside Petroleum managing director Don Voelte has raised the possibility that development of its giant Browse Basin gas field could be linked to its planned Pluto LNG plant or the existing North West Shelf Venture’s LNG plant, both on the Burrup Peninsula.
The Pluto and Browse projects have hitherto been considered separate opportunities and the possibility of them being linked represents a major shift in thinking.
Speaking at a conference in Sydney, Mr Voelte confirmed that Woodside was nearing a final investment decision on its Pluto project, which involves developng the Pluto gas field and building an LNG plant on the Burrup peninsula.
June 27, 2007
The U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee approved the bill toughening sanctions imposed on Iran and banning nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia.
The U.S. House of Representatives International Committee voted 37 to 1 for the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act. The bill provides for sanctioning oil and gas companies that do business with Iran, crosses out some tax breaks for companies that invest in Iran and bars sealing any nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia as long as the Kremlin goes on contributing to the nuclear effort of Iran.
As the trial over ‘zone pricing’ nears a close, a judge strikes expert testimony, saying it is inadequate.
By Elizabeth Douglass, Times Staff Writer
June 27, 2007
A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that pitted Shell Oil Co. against California station operators who said the company overcharged them for gasoline to drive customers to nearby stations that were owned by Shell.
U.S. District Judge James V. Selna’s decision to throw out key expert testimony and end the case was unusual because it came as attorneys for both sides were poised to deliver closing arguments to a jury.
Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:40 PM ET
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent
(Adds detail, quotes, background paragraphs 4-5,9-10,12-end)
WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) – President George W. Bush would be forced to sanction oil and gas companies doing business with Iran under legislation that cleared a first hurdle on Tuesday by winning overwhelming approval from a congressional committee.
The bill was approved 37 to 1 by the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee.
It also would eliminate some tax breaks for companies investing in Iran, decrease U.S. contributions to the World Bank if the bank invests in Iran and bar a nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia if Moscow continues to assist Tehran’s nuclear program.
In response to Chávez’ demands for equity, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips opt to walk away from what may be the world’s largest potential oil reserves
by Peter Wilson and Geri Smith
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez got what he wanted on June 26—he forced six global oil giants to hand equity stakes of 60% or more in four key heavy-oil ventures to state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Four companies, Chevron (CVX), BP (BP), France’s Total, and Norway’s Statoil (STO), signed agreements with Energy & Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez in a televised ceremony.
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- BP PLC (BP) Tuesday said it planned a $250 million investment in the U.K. North Sea to increase recoverable gas reserves and create opportunities for further development offshore.
The Dimlington onshore compression and terminals integration project will see investment in new gas compression facilities at the BP-operated terminal which receives gas from fields in the southern North Sea.
The announcement comes as other companies such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC ( RDSB.LN) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) have disclosed plans for significant divestment in U.K. North Sea fields as they face rising tax costs.
By JUDITH KOHLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
DENVER — Environmentalists say mining oil out of shale could require nearly three times the electricity used by the entire state of Colorado in 2005 and consume as much water each year as two cities the size Denver.
That’s why they’re insisting that questions about water and air pollutions be answered before the U.S. Bureau of Land Management moves forward on large-scale commercial oil shale development. Industry officials say it’s too early to quantify the potential impacts of a process that is still evolving.
(Shell global climate change adviser David Hone in Geelong.Photo: GLENN FERGUSON)
Martin Watters
27 June 2007
THE day a petroleum company insists immediate action is needed to stop CO2 emissions further warming the planet, is the day to start listening.
Shell International yesterday urged government, big business and consumers to urgently change society’s unsustainable energy use before 2025 and stop the planet warming disastrously by up to six degrees.
The petrol giant’s global climate change adviser David Hone flew from Europe to reveal the company’s vision for sustainable energy, including his work with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, at a meeting for Geelong leaders.
Published: Jun 27, 2007
What’s the fuss?
The surge in demand for energy coupled with high oil prices has led to a boom in exploration and production. Given that offshore activity is expected to represent 43% of oil production and 83% of gas production by the end of 2008 there is a lot of interest in the offshore market. In addition, as oil and gas prices continue to rise the exploration and production of previously ignored marginal fields is now becoming economically viable, meaning drill ships, production vessels and supply ships are all in demand. While the profits to be gained from traditional ship financing has levelled out, the offshore sector remains buoyant and is seen as a potential growth area with many ship finance banks moving into the market.
Seeds of hope: There’s mounting concern in the north about the headlong rush into biofuels, but the view from the south is very different. Terry Slavin on how the jatropha plant is holding out hope to some of the world’s poorest countries
Published: Jun 27, 2007
On the southern edge of the Sahara desert, seeds of hope for a renewable energy revolution in Africa are beginning to bear fruit.
Seven hundred Malian villages are now using diesel oil distilled from the seeds of the jatropha bush to light up their homes, run water pumps and refrigerate medicines.
ROGER EAST,
Published: Jun 27, 2007
For a world that’s hooked on fossil fuels, it sounds like a godsend: carbon capture and storage. Scrub up that CO2 gas (along with other noxious nasties) before it leaves the flue of the power station. Pipe it somewhere you can store it safely for a millennium or more. Nothing added to greenhouse gas emissions, and carte blanche to keep on burning coal, which the Chinese, most notably, are determined to do.
Worldwide geological storage capacity is in principle enough to cope with 80 times the world’s current annual CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. It has been projected that 20-40% of these emissions could be suitable for capture and storage by 2050. And, by that time, industry enthusiasts think the EU could actually manage to bury away 30bn tonnes – or five years’ worth of its own current emissions.
Published: Jun 27, 2007
SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) – Woodside Petroleum Ltd, the operator of the North-West Shelf gas venture in north Western Australia, has indicated the cost of constructing a fifth liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing train for the project may go beyond a revised estimate of 2.425 bln aud.
The group’s chief executive, Don Voelte, told a UBS conference in Sydney, Wednesday, that the cost of building the processing plant has risen.
However he said the expansion project is still on track for its first LNG shipments in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Published: Jun 27, 2007
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – China National Offshore Oil Corp’s petrochemical complex in Huizhou, Guangdong province, developed as a joint venture with Royal Dutch/Shell, has obtained a refinancing package equivalent to 22.28 bln yuan from a bank syndicate, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing CNOOC.
The loan comprises 1.3 bln usd and 12.4 bln yuan offered by a bank consortium including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Agricultural Bank of China and Zhonghai Trust & Investment Co Ltd, it said.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell-focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.website publishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA – HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. 
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website etc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
