Edited by Jonathan Wheatley, Brazil Correspondent
Published: September 3 2007 02:43 | Last updated: September 3 2007 02:43
Jude Webber
The signs of serious trouble ahead in Argentina’s energy sector are becoming impossible to ignore – unless, apparently, you are in government.
The latest commotion concerns reports that ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, is seeking to sell its assets and exit the country. Esso Petrolera Argentina, an ExxonMobil unit, declined to comment on talk that JP MorganChase was offering its Campana refinery and 590 petrol stations for $200m – described by one energy M&A specialist as ”a lousy price”. Esso has 12 per cent of Argentine fuel sales.
But Rosario Sica, president of a petrol station operators’ association, said a senior Esso official had told her: “We are in these talks”, citing legal instability and the difficulty of turning a profit.
It is easy to see the official’s point. Foreign oil companies operating in Argentina are increasingly wearying of President Nestor Kirchner’s policy of keeping local fuel and energy prices artificially low, forcing them to import diesel at a loss to plug supply shortfalls. Royal Dutch/Shell says it is toughing it out for now, in spite of hefty fines and a lawsuit in which the government wants its boss jailed for allegedly undersupplying the market – something it denies.
Argentina needs an efficient energy sector to keep farming booming, so Esso’s threatened exit (after a century in the country) should be a loud wake-up call for Kirchner’s wife, Cristina Fernandez, expected to step into his shoes after elections next month.
Prominent local businessmen and Enarsa, a state energy company with no real operations, are being touted as possible buyers. If Mr Kirchner’s policies are to apply to them, too, they will need deep pockets.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
