By Leora Moldofsky in Sydney
Published: September 28 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 28 2007 03:00
Australia’s Woodside Petroleum has begun to dispose of its underperforming African asset interests with the announcement yesterday of the sale of its assets in Mauritania to the Malaysian state-owned group Petronas.
Woodside said it had sold its 47.4 per cent stake in the Chinguetti project to Petroliam Nasional Berhad for $418m. The A$990m ($871m) project, off the coast of Mauritania, is also operated by Woodside.
The Perth-based company, which is part-owned by Royal Dutch Shell, said: “Woodside continues to examine its options in relation to its remaining African assets.”
In August, Don Voelte, chief executive, said the energy group was considering quitting Africa and restructuring its port-folio to focus on its lucrative liquefied natural gas business.
Woodside’s African port-folio includes exploration ventures in Libya, Kenya, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and a stake in a natural gas project in Algeria.
While Chinguetti was scheduled to produce up to 75,000 barrels of oil per day, output at the oil field has fallen well short of estimates since the project came on line in February 2006.
By last November, output had dropped to 20,000 b/d – less than a third of anticipated production – and by June this year it had fallen to 15,000 b/d.
The project was also marred by political instability. Woodside had to pay a $100m “project bonus” to the government after a dispute with Mauritanian authorities over the validity of oil production contracts.
Petronas, which already has a share in two blocks in Mauritania, said the acquisition reflected its “commitment and long-term aspirations in Mauritania’s oil and gas industry and complements its overall growth strategy in Africa”.
The Malaysian company has invested heavily in sub-Saharan Africa.
Additional reporting by John Burton in Singapore
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
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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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