July 6th, 2007:

Mark Tran
Friday July 6, 2007

Kidnapping has become a growth industry in the Niger delta, which remains an area of abject poverty despite being the source of the country’s oil wealth.

Since the start of last year, about 200 adult expatriates have been abducted in the delta. The region, which contains all of the country’s nine oil-producing states, covers an area of 46,000 square miles – roughly the size of Ireland. Most kidnappings end quickly and without incident once the ransom cash is handed over. read more

By Steven Pearlstein
Friday, July 6, 2007; Page D01
MOSCOW

I celebrated this July 4 at the rooftop bar of the opulent new Ritz-Carlton hotel here, taking in the breathtaking views of the gilded domes of the Kremlin, where Soviet leaders plotted their war against American economic and military power. Across a skyline drenched by the late-setting sun, ultra-modern glass towers vie for attention with Stalin-era monuments. Below, a steady stream of fashionable shoppers emerges from the high-end boutiques that have rented space in the redeveloped GUM department store, where in Soviet days the limited selection of dour and shoddy merchandise would sell out every day. read more

The Associated Press
Published: July 5, 2007

JUNEAU, Alaska: State labor department officials on Thursday said they are reviewing congressional concerns about alleged safety risks at a natural gas processing facility operated by BP PLC in Prudhoe Bay.

Among the allegations is that the facility is holding nearly double its safe capacity, putting workers’ lives at risk.

State officials have said the London-based company plans to back up claims they made to Alaska Occupational Safety and Health officials that there is no imminent danger to the plant’s work force or any other area workers. It was not immediately known when these comments were made. read more

12:16 – 06 July 2007

Royal Dutch Shell led the London market higher amid reports of a major exploration campaign in the Arctic.

The stock gained more than 2%, or 50p, to 2106p after it emerged that the firm was set to embark on the new venture in a bid to exploit untapped oil and gas reserves in the Beaufort Sea.

The heavily-weighted stock helped the FTSE 100 Index move 39.8 points ahead to 6675 by mid-morning.

July 6, 2007

D ear Mr. Berko: I don’t have an oil stock in my modest $142,000 portfolio, which contains 17 different issues. I just sold 150 shares of Bank of America (I know you like the stock) because their online banking system program stinks and because they take weeks to clear the out-of-state checks I get from vendors. Please tell me what you think about Chevron because that’s the oil company I’m looking at and would buy 150 shares. But I’m concerned about the size of the fine and the consequences Chevron must deal with because it paid bribes to purchase oil from Iraq in 2001 and 2003. I know I should have bought oil stocks 10 years ago but now is better than never. I did buy Kinder Morgan and Valero when you recommended them in 1997 and still own them with huge profits. read more

FTSE 100 on the rise, reflecting strength in miners as well as oils
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:12 AM ET Jul 6, 2007

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Shares of major oil companies advanced Friday in London, with Royal Dutch Shell hitting a multiyear high and rival BP gaining ground after the two got upgraded by Deutsche Bank analysts.

Miners were also making fresh highs as the trading week drew toward a close.
Broadly, London’s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX: news, chart, profile) added 22 points, or 0.3%, to 6,657.20. read more

6 July 2007

Having held an overweight exposure to equities over the past year, the Gartmore Cautious Managed Fund effectively moved to an underweight exposure in June. Chris Burvill, Gartmore’s Head of UK Equity Income and manager of the Gartmore Cautious Managed Fund, says; “We have redeployed some cash in the UK bond market, locking-in attractive yields of around 5.7%.”

Chris has become more optimistic about gilts after recent falls and raised the Gartmore Cautious Managed Fund’s bond exposure to 43% – the highest it’s ever been. “We’ve positioned the Fund more defensively recently. Our equity exposure is just below 50% and we see no reason to go above 50% now.” read more

Issue Date: CSP Daily News, July 6, 2007

BP, Shell may be thinking about getting together 
 
LONDON — BP and Royal Dutch/Shell are thought to have revived plans for a merger to create an oil giant—in fact, the world’s biggest, surpassing ExxonMobil—with a market value of £250 billion ($503.17 billion U.S.), according to a report by The Times of London.

The newspaper said that Britain’s two largest oil companies have engaged financial advisors to discuss terms for a so-called friendly merger that could result in £2.5 billion ($5.03 billion U.S.) of cost savings for the enlarged group. read more

By Ying Lou

July 6 (Bloomberg) — China is likely to resist increasing fuel prices this year as a response to gains in crude oil costs because of concern this would add to inflation, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said.

Inflation is above the central bank’s 3 percent target and this situation precludes a price increase, Hong Kong-based analyst Brynjar Eirik Bustnes wrote in a research note on PetroChina Co. yesterday. The situation places an “artificial cap” on earnings at the nation’s biggest oil company, he said. read more

· Three-year-old is first foreign child to be taken
· Residents blame criminals rather than insurgents

Julian Borger and Olly Owen in Lagos
Friday July 6, 2007

The Foreign Office yesterday demanded the “immediate safe release” of a three-year-old British girl kidnapped in the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt, amid a worsening spate of abductions.

Margaret Hill was seized by up to seven gunmen in a Honda car, who stopped in front of the car taking her to school, smashed its windows with their guns and stabbed the driver in the arm. A local radio station broadcast an interview with a witness who said the gunmen had fired in the air to scare away other people. read more

Published: Jul 06, 2007

Madam, – Brendan Cafferty’s article arguing that the general election result shows that the Shell to Sea campaign has lost the argument over Corrib gas is flawed on a number of grounds (Opinion & Analysis, July 4th).

Firstly, the Erris Peninsula is one of the least populated areas in the country and consequently has very little electoral clout. No doubt the latter point would have been a key consideration in choosing it as the location for the proposed on-shore refinery in an effort to minimise any political backlash. read more

Published: Jul 06, 2007

The Corrib gas field is significant in Irish terms, containing enough to satisfy 60 per cent of the country’s demand, writes Claire Shoesmith.

While much has been written about the Corrib gas field, the involvement of oil giant Shell and the views of local objectors, little coverage has been given to what is actually going on 83km off the Mayo coast and what, in the long term, will be the impact of these activities on Ireland and its economy.

First discovered back in 1996, the Corrib gas field is estimated to contain about one trillion cubic ft of gas, enough to satisfy about 60 per cent of Ireland’s demand over the 15-year life of the field. read more

Published: July 6 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 6 2007 03:00

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. read more

By DAVID BIRD
July 6, 2007; Page C3

Fresh threats of Nigerian oil supply cuts are renewing worry over nationalistic and tribal moves to control production and may put a floor under crude oil prices above $70 a barrel.

Light, sweet crude oil for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 40 cents higher at $71.81 a barrel, a 10-month high, as rising petroleum stockpiles in weekly government data failed to ease supply worries powering a weeklong rally.
 
Crude oil inventories jumped 3.1 million barrels last week to 354 million barrels, the highest level since mid-May 1998, the Energy Information Administration reported. Gasoline stockpiles rose 1.8 million barrels to 204.4 million barrels. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 6, 2007
Filed at 2:06 a.m. ET

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices inched higher Friday in Asia, approaching US$72 a barrel, after renewed violence and kidnappings in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery gained 4 cents to $71.85 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore.

Despite larger-than-expected increases in U.S. crude and petroleum product inventories, the contract advanced 40 cents Thursday to settle at $71.81 a barrel. read more

EXTRACTS: The State Ethics Commission has said that officials are allowed to conduct political business while on official trips without reimbursing the state for the political portion of the travel. Participants in some of Mr. Bruno’s trips said there were discussions of nonpolitical activities. “We did meet with Bruno on energy issues in general and the Broadwater project specifically,” said Bruce Gyory, a lobbyist who helped arrange a May 17 meeting in New York City between Mr. Bruno and executives of his client, TransCanada, and Shell. The two companies are partners in Broadwater, a project to build a natural gas facility in Long Island Sound.
 
BY DANNY HAKIM and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Published: July 6, 2007 read more

By JAMES KANTER
Published: July 6, 2007

LONDON, July 5 — Seeking to match a desire to make money with his environmental instincts, Louis Redshaw, a former electricity trader, met with five investment banks in 2004 to propose the trading of carbon dioxide. Only one, Barclays Capital, was interested.

Three years later, the situation has turned, and carbon specialists like Mr. Redshaw, 34, are among the rising stars in the London financial district. Managing emissions has become one of the fastest-growing specialties in financial services, and companies are scrambling to find workers. Their goal is a slice of a market now worth about $30 billion and that could grow to $1 trillion within a decade. read more

EXTRACT: Shell sources said the gift of cases of champagne might have been against company policy. The company said: “We are now investigating the circumstances.”

Elena Egawhary
Friday July 6, 2007

The hospitality chalets at the All England Lawn Tennis Club have always been synonymous with public relations excess. But the identity of one unexpected recipient of the corporate Pimm’s and strawberries has raised eyebrows among green campaigners.

The giant oil company Chevron has provided an all-expenses-paid day out at Wimbledon for Jim Campbell, the civil servant in charge of regulating Britain’s oil and gas industry, including responsibility for pollution and oil spills. read more

By James Kanter Published: July 5, 2007

PARIS: Royal Dutch Shell has been ordered to withdraw an advertisement in the Netherlands that sought to portray the oil giant as environmentally friendly, and British authorities said Thursday they had opened a formal investigation in the case.

The advertisement, part of a global campaign by Shell, shows smokestacks emitting flowers. It states that Shell recycles its emissions of carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming, by piping them into greenhouses. It also states that its emissions of sulfur dioxide, another pollutant, are used to make concrete. read more

By Andreas Hippin

July 6 (Bloomberg) — European oil stocks may rise as Deutsche Bank AG raised its price estimates for companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Total SA.

UBS AG fell in pre-market trading after the world’s biggest money manager ousted Chief Executive Officer Peter Wuffli. Roche Holding AG will probably drop after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said babies are at increased risk of death if they are given the drugmaker’s Rocephin along with products containing calcium. read more

6 July 2007

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 on Wednesday alongside four other foreign contractors, including two New Zealanders, who had been drilling an oil well in Nigeria’s volatile south.

Employed by a company called Lone Star Drilling, they were in the process of drilling a well for the Anglo-Dutch oil giant in the Soku region when they were seized. read more

Pyotr Tsyrendorzhiyev / Itar-Tass
A carrier loading gas from Russia’s first LNG plant Thursday in Sakhalin.

Friday, July 6, 2007. Issue 3693. Page 7.
Reuters
 
Gazprom will invest $420 billion in the gas sector by 2030 to ensure enough supplies to the domestic market and exports, its chairman said in remarks published Thursday.

“It is an average of $18 billion per year. We have the money and it will be invested,” Dmitry Medvedev told Vedomosti in an interview.

Medvedev rebutted criticism that state-controlled Gazprom was investing too little in production and instead chasing after acquisitions — including taking control of the Sakhalin-2 and Kovykta gas projects previously run by Western oil majors. read more

Thu Jul 5, 2007 5:17 PM BST

AMSTERDAM, July 5 (Reuters) – A Dutch advertising watchdog on Thursday banned a Royal Dutch Shell Plc poster ad about its pro-environment activities, Friends of the Earth Netherlands said.

The environmental group had complained about an ad designed to show how waste carbon dioxide grew flowers and depicting a “refinery emitting flowers from its chimneys instead of smoke.”

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant confirmed it had received notice from the Dutch Advertising Authority, although it had only taken issue with a some parts of the poster and not the whole ad. read more

Friday 06 July 2007

My note the other day arguing that there is life in the oil majors yet has caused a stir among readers. As you might expect from an environmentally-conscious readership such as The Independent’s, many have argued that the low-carbon economy the world must adopt to deal with climate change means oil companies have little or no future.

At the other end of the spectrum comes the possibly more realistic if depressing view that Asian growth means that demand for hydrocarbons will continue to grow exponentially, making these companies extraordinarily valuable properties. read more