July 5th, 2007:

· Russians ready to invest in bolstering gas supplies
· Powerful company to grow stronger and take up arms

Terry Macalister
Friday July 6, 2007

Gazprom has promised to spend $420bn (£210bn) by 2030 on building up its gas supply capability and has specifically targeted BP as one of the companies with whom it could arrange “asset swaps”.

The ambitious plans were revealed by the chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, before an announcement expected today that it has bought Natural Gas Shipping Services (NGSS), a supply business in Britain. read more

July 6, 2007
Carl Mortished: Analysis

Canada is marching north to assert sovereignty in the Arctic, to repel Danes and claim Hans Island, a rock the size of a football field between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. It is not quite war but it is enough for Canada’s Prime Minister to tour the Arctic Circle to assert Canadian control of the Northwest Passage.

A mad scramble is under way for Arctic riches: fish, diamonds, oil and gas. Two years ago Canada incensed the Danes by flying its flag from Hans Island; both claim sovereignty. America and Russia are quarreling over the Beaufort Sea while Norway and Russia wrangle over the Barents Sea. Underlying the disputes is the certain knowledge that vast oil and gasfields lie beneath the ice. This is the last frontier for oil and gas and the irony is that it may not contain quite the scale of riches once believed. The US Geological Survey estimated that a quarter of the world’s undiscovered hydrocarbons lay in the Arctic. A recent study by Wood Mackenzie suggests it may be more like one-fifth and mostly gas. The total known Arctic resource, say the consultants, is 233 billion barrels with a further undiscovered 166 billion barrels. About 69 per cent of it is Russian gas. read more

July 6, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Shell is preparing its biggest exploration programme in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska for more than a decade, a move that could establish a new frontier for the oil and gas industry.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant expects to start a controversial three-year programme next month with a small armada of ships drilling a dozen wells in the Beaufort Sea 30 miles off the Alaskan coast.

Industry experts have claimed that it could spark a rush into one of the world’s biggest untapped energy reserves. Authorities believe that the Beaufort Sea contains eight billion barrels of oil and nearly 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Despite fierce opposition from local communities and environmentalists, the US Minerals Management Service gave Shell the green light for the venture in February. read more

Published: Jul 05, 2007

Seven years after to have sold to Agip part of its fuels distribution business in Brazil, Shell is planning to expand its market share from 11,5% to 15%, says president Vasco Dias, also pointing to the interest of the corporation to explore natural gas reserves.

In 2000 Shell divested 285 gasoline stations out of its 4,000 stations chain; the following year sold others 245 stations and shrunk operations. Currently it has 2,290 stations and is building again, while Vasco does not discards acquisitions. read more

Companies have been tripping all over themselves in the past year or so to prove their commitment to healing the planet. “Green” PR campaigns generally have succeeded in helping boost corporate reputations. Companies from GE to News Corp have won praise for green initiatives.

Prepare now for the backlash. One group, the Dutch oil group Shell, has been called out for its claims that it has been creatively using its waste carbon dioxide to help grow flowers.

Friends of the Earth Netherlands challenged the veracity of a Shell advertising campaign in which flowers were shown blowing out of a refinery chimney. The ads ran in European newspapers and magazines in May. read more

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- David Greer, the deputy head of the Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Ltd., has resigned, a Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) spokesman said Thursday. Shell, which initially appointed Greer, agreed to relinquish the control of Sakhalin Energy to OAO Gazprom (GSPBEX.RS) last year. The venture operates an oil and gas project in the Russian Far East.

Shell “can confirm that David Greer has decided to leave Sakhalin Energy and Shell to pursue personal business interests,” the spokesman said. “We wish him well and thank him” for the contribution he made during 27 years at Shell, he added. read more

Shell gasoline station in Philadelphia (Jim Lo Scalzo for USN&WR)

By Alex Markels
Posted 7/5/07

You might expect the chief executive of the world’s second-largest oil company to pooh-pooh the recent surge of interest in renewable energy. But despite Royal Dutch Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer’s recent contention that the public has placed too much faith in the potential for solar and wind energy, the 59-year-old Dutchman raised some eyebrows when he simultaneously argued that the world can meet its demand for energy and control greenhouse gases over the next half-century while still relying on fossil fuels to supply 70 percent of the world’s energy needs.  read more

1. July 5th, 2007 11:06

Thank you for your response. I totally agree that the staff implications of a merger are paramount. Both corporations have fine staff – arguably their most valuable assets. Shell was rather cavalier in letting staff go (even very skilled and experienced people in the upstream) on cost grounds some years ago. They paid the price and have been very actively recruiting over the past couple of years or so. One of the benefits of a Shell/BP merger must be a degree of rationalisation throughout the organisation and no doubt a combine Shell/BP would require many fewer staff at all levels than two separate companies. read more

Comment in response to…

Former Shell Executive Paddy Briggs comments on the possibility of a BP Shell merger

July 5th, 2007 09:36

Thank you for a thoughtful post.

I worked at Shell in E&P in technical and leadership positions both in the USA and Europe for nearly 30 years. These days I am an invited speaker & consultant (& university professor in the geosciences) in the area of the impeding “great crew change.” Simply stated: There is a buildup of staff at around age 50 in certain exploration and production disciplines. These staff are your mentors, decision makers (or enablers to decision makers) & problem solvers. These are the staff you want to entice to stay longer at Shell, rather than jump ship or retire. A merger of the sort hypothesized here, between upstream RD and upstream BP, may cause great angst to this critical pool of staff. It will need to be handled very delicately, in my opinion. And preservation of employee and retiree benefits will be important as well. read more

Nick Fletcher
Wednesday July 4, 2007

BP added 1.5p to 605.5p and Royal Dutch Shell climbed 13p to £20.80 after speculation the two had revived merger talks. Traders noted, however, that Shell yesterday bought back 390,000 of its own shares, making the tale unlikely.

Extract from…

http://business.guardian.co.uk/marketforces/story/0,,2117892,00.html

By Alfred Donovan: 5 July 2007 

Bloomberg reports that Jeroen van der Veer is commemorating Shell’s 100th anniversary at the company’s headquarters in The Hague today.

I am a little hurt that no invitation has arrived. Perhaps it was delayed in the UK Postal strike?

Never mind, there is always the next time.

By Stephen Voss

July 5 (Bloomberg) — An OAO Gazprom and Royal Dutch Shell Plc joint venture said Russia had started testing a liquefied natural gas plant at Sakhalin, a further step toward the country’s first LNG export sales, scheduled for 2008.

The LNG facility at the Sakhalin-2 project will be commissioned, or tested, using gas from Shell’s LNG tanker Granosa, which docked at the plant’s jetty in Prigorodnoye earlier today, the Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. venture said in a statement. read more

Posted on Jul 5th, 2007

Phil Davis submits: Nigerian rebels kidnapped 5 RDS.A workers from an island rig, sending oil to $74 in Europe.

U.S. crude futures are up at $72 again despite inventories holding a 9-year high, which does not included the 19M barrels (or more) that are parked in tankers sitting in the Gulf of Mexico. We have oil inventories today where they will use a 500,000 barrel draw down as an excuse to break the 5% rule for the week, despite the fact that 500,000 barrels represents .00357 of the U.S.’s weekly consumption of 140M barrels. read more

July 5, 2007
Jonathan Clayton

On my last visit to the Niger Delta, a few weeks ago, the militants warned that unless the new government took “serious measures” to address their grievances they would bring total chaos to the area.

With the Colombia-style kidnapping of a three-year-old British toddler that threat is now becoming a reality.

Sources in Port Harcourt describe the situation in Nigeria’s oil capital as the worst they have ever known. Militant groups, many under the banner of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), had already succeeded in cutting oil output from the area by around a quarter since they first began hitting oil production some 18 months ago. read more

Thursday, 5 July 2007
 
The three-year-old daughter of an expatriate worker said to be British has been kidnapped by gunmen in the Niger Delta, Nigerian police have said.

The toddler was seized from a car on her way to school in the oil city of Port Harcourt in the early morning.

The kidnapping follows that of five oil workers on Wednesday, the first since the main militant group in the area called off a month-long ceasefire.

The UK’s Foreign Office has not confirmed the nationality of the girl. read more

The government of the Dominican Republic is accusing Shell of defrauding the country of “tens of millions” of dollars.

The government’s corruption prevention department, Depreco, will investigate the claim, which the justice ministry made on 15 June.

The ministry accused Shell of keeping gasoline and diesel prices artificially high by altering invoices to increase the shipping cost of imported crude destined for the 35,000 b/d Refidomsa refinery, which Shell operates and jointly owns with the government. read more

From Alfred Donovan

Dear Mr Campbell

I would like to suggest that you send an email to every UK Member of Parliament notifying them of your continuing grave concerns about Shell management’s policy of putting profits before employee safety.

I have an almost complete list of MP email addresses. If you draft a suitable communication – perhaps along the lines set out below – we would happily do the donkey work and send the email, which would have to be sent one at a time.  There is no cost involved.  I would set up an email address in your name and forward on to you any emailed responses. We could also supply your address so that MP’s could reply by letter if they wished to do so. I predict that you would hear from government ministers with responsibility in relevant matters.  read more

By BOBBY MAGILL The Daily Sentinel

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Oil shale experts say their confidence in Royal Dutch Shell’s in situ oil shale extraction technology was not shaken when the company announced last month it withdrew a state mining permit application for its long-awaited oil shale test.

“I don’t think it has implications,” said James T. Bartis, lead author of the 2005 RAND Corp. report on the prospects for oil shale development in the United States. “What they’re doing is they’re acknowledging things are complicated and they need to do their homework first.” read more

By Christian Schmollinger and Gavin Evans

July 5 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil traded near a 10-month high in New York on concern renewed violence in Nigeria and refinery breakdowns may restrict U.S. fuel supplies.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said five expatriate contractors were abducted from a rig in Nigeria, where militant groups this week ended a one-month truce with the government. A U.S. government report today will probably show the nation’s gasoline stockpiles remained below the five-year average as rising demand and plant faults hamper refiners’ efforts to store fuel. read more

Published: Jul 05, 2007

MUSCAT, July 5 Asia Pulse – The Shell representative office in the Sultanate has signed an agreement with the Omani Society for Oil Services (OPAL) and the Oman Oil Refinery Company (OORC) to train 42 Omanis in the technical field.

The 12-month programme is aimed at training 42 Omani Diploma holders in engineering specialties at the Oman Oil Refinery training centres, who will become technicians in the fields of mechanics, electricity, equipment and operations and be employed at a number of private sector companies. read more

David Crawshaw,
Published: Jul 05, 2007

CANBERRA, July 5 AAP – Foreign affairs officials say they are working with oil giant Shell to try to secure the release of an Australian kidnapped by armed militants in Nigeria.

The man, named in media reports as Jason Lane from Queensland, was taken hostage yesterday alongside four other foreign contractors, including two New Zealanders, who had been drilling an oil well in Nigeria’s volatile south.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said today the Australian high commission in Abuja, the capital, was “working closely with the company to secure the man’s release”. The Australian government was taking the matter “very seriously”, a DFAT spokeswoman said. She was unable to confirm the Australian’s identity or provide details about his health, but said the man’s next of kin had been informed. read more

Alexis Douglas B. Romero,
Published: Jul 05, 2007

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) has signed a contract with Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. for the supply of P556 million worth of lubricating oil for the power generator’s power plants and barges.

Under the deal, Shell will deliver 6.5 million liters of engine lubricating oil to six power plants in the main grid and another 62 smaller plants and barges operated by the Napocor Small Power Unit Group.

Dennis S. Gana, manager of Napocor Corporate Communications Division, said, “we expect to save by as much as 30% because the price is already in the contract and therefore fixed. We will not be subject to price changes.” read more

By Andrew Jack
Published: July 5 2007 04:04 | Last updated: July 5 2007 04:04

When a thousand senior corporate figures, top government officials and heads of non-profit groups gather in Switzerland today, they come together not in Davos but in Geneva, to discuss corporate citizenship.

The conference, organised by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), highlights growing interest by business in issues beyond the conventional bottom line, whether driven by self-interest or by a broader sense of responsibility to their community. read more

By Toby Shelley
Published: July 5 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 5 2007 03:00

Sibir Energy looks set to seal a deal this autumn with Gazprom, creating an enlarged company that will combine its assets with the Russian state-controlled behemoth’s stake in a refinery and a disputed oil field.

Stuard Detmer, downstream director of Sibir, said talks along these lines had resumed after a break last year caused by senior management changes at Gazpromneft, Gazprom’s oil-producing arm.

The incentives for Sibir are powerful. The deal would be a vehicle for solving long-running disagreements over control of Moscow Refinery and another dispute over the South Priobskoye oil field in western Siberia. It would also mitigate the perceived political risk that weighs on Sibir’s share price. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 5, 2007
Filed at 1:33 a.m. ET

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices were little changed in Asian trading Thursday as market participants awaited the release of U.S. government fuel stocks data expected to show gasoline supplies rose last week.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery gained 2 cents to $71.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore, up from Tuesday’s settlement at $71.41.

The market was closed to floor trading Wednesday in the United States for Independence Day. read more

4th July 2007
By Clare Watson

Media reports are surfacing stating that UK oil titan BP and its fellow player Shell could be planning a friendly merger, in a deal that would create a GBP250 billion oil behemoth. According to The Times, the deal would create synergies resulting in GBP2.5 billion cost savings.

It has been reported that the merger was previously discussed by BP and Shell while the former company was still under its previous CEO Lord Browne. However, now that Tony Hayward has taken over Lord Browne’s position, BP seems to have revived the talks. read more