November 1st, 2007:

By John Donovan

Secret documents published for the first time on the open Internet reveal that a top Executive of the Royal Dutch Shell Group gave blatantly false information when questioned by financial analysts in a presentation in New York.

On Friday, February 7, 2003, Sir Philip Watts, the then Group Chairman of the Royal Dutch Shell Group and his fellow members of the Committee of Royal Dutch Shell Group Managing Directors (the CMD) made a presentation to financial analysts in New York City. The other CMD members’ present were Paul Skinner, Walter van de Vijver, Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer. The Group Chief Financial Officer Judy Boynton was also in attendance. read more

The Business: Wednesday, 31st October 2007

No need to scream

By Philip Thornton

Like a precocious child seeing how long it can hold its breath, the world economy has remained defiantly indifferent to the relentless rise in the price of oil. Hardly a day goes by without West Texas Intermediate, the light crude that is the market benchmark, hitting new records. Oil for December delivery reached a trading peak of $93.20 (£45.46; €65.63) a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange earlier this week. It is just a matter of time before it smashes through the symbolic $100 barrier. read more

PUBLISHED HERE: THE “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL” 202 PAGE DAVIS POLK & WARDWELL REPORT TO THE SHELL GROUP AUDIT COMMITTEE (Now searchable)

go to…

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/Binder1_405-6_OCR.PDF

Please be patient as there are 202 confidential pages to download

Shell Confidential: Guide for the Administration of proved Reserves and Production for External Disclosure

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/423_7_pdf.pdf

Email Correspondence on 22 Aug 2000 between Heinz Rothermund and Phil Watts

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/423_3_pdf.pdf

Confidential Minutes of EPA Region Reserves Challenge Session, 19 Nov 2003

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/423_4_pdf.pdf

MARKED CONFIDENTIAL: From Anton Barendregt, Group Reserves Auditor, circulated 6 Dec 2002 to Frank Coopman and other notables read more

By Joe Carroll

Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest oil company, posted its biggest drop in quarterly profit in more than three years after equipment and power failures slowed gasoline output and refining margins narrowed.

Third-quarter net income fell to $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, from $10.5 billion, or $1.77, a year earlier, Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil said today in a statement. Per-share profit was 4 cents below the average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, sending the company’s stock lower. read more

updated 9:35 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2007
By Peg Mackey

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil eased on Thursday after earlier striking a record high beyond $96 a barrel following a sharp decline in U.S. crude stocks that stoked supply concerns and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut.

U.S. crude closed in on an inflation-adjusted high of $101.70 hit in 1980 on the very day OPEC injected an extra 500,000 barrels per day in a failed attempt to check oil’s relentless rise from $70 in mid-August.

Oil dealers saw little standing in the way of the price blasting into triple digits. read more

Jan Moir

Why has Robert Stewart been put on the sex offenders’ list for having sex with a bicycle? Can’t a person have sex with the inanimate object of his choice, without it coming to the attention of the police?

Mr Stewart was discovered having sexual relations with a consenting bicycle (but without onions) in the privacy of his Ayr hostel bedroom by two chambermaids. They knocked to gain access, then walked in when no reply was forthcoming.

That’s so annoying, isn’t it, especially when one is reaching a private moment of rare rapture with one’s -inner tube? read more

By Ayesha Daya and Glen Carey

Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) — Yemen, the smallest oil producer in the Persian Gulf, could triple its hydrocarbons reserves by developing its offshore oil fields with help from international companies, the country’s oil minister said.

“We have 10 billion barrels of oil in place based on the areas currently in production,” Khaled Bahah said today in an interview in Dubai. “Studies made a decade ago in the Red Sea areas suggested 22 billion barrels of hydrocarbons in place.” read more

By Upstream staff

At least two people have been reported killed in a clash between Nigerian forces and suspected militants near a Shell field off the country’s Niger Delta.

The night-time incident apparently occurred when armed militants in speedboats ran into a Nigerian navy patrol assigned to protect the field.

The clash comes just hours after militants in the restive delta region freed six foreign oil workers seized in a raid on another offshore facility, the BBC reported.

Some accounts suggested the Nigerian military suffered casualties in the incident, but report remained sketchy, it said. read more

By Upstream staff

Oil leaped more than 1% today, briefly topping $96 for the first time and extending the previous day’s 5% jump after an unexpected sharp fall in US crude stocks and data showing strong economic growth.

The rise toward oil’s inflation-adjusted peak of $101.70 from April 1980 was also supported by US dollar weakness after a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, and Qatar’s oil minister reiterated that the roaring market was beyond Opec’s control.

US oil for December delivery rose as high as $96.24 a barrel in electronic trade. By 0739 GMT it was up 86 cents at $95.39 a barrel, paring some gains. December Brent crude also hit its record high of $91.63, up $1 on the day. read more

Fuel Shortages, Unrest
Spur Beijing to Act;
Market Turning Point?

By SHAI OSTER in Beijing, PATRICK BARTA in Bangkok and RUSSELL GOLD in Austin, Texas

November 1, 2007; Page A1

One of the biggest forces behind the near-quadrupling of oil prices this decade has been voracious fuel demand in China and other developing nations. But with crude closing in on $100 a barrel, shortages and price spikes are sparking economic and social tensions from Beijing to Tehran. That stress could signal a turning point in the long-running energy boom. read more

Anadarko Prevails
In Motion to Protect
Royalty-Relief Pact
By JOHN M. BIERS and IAN TALLEY
November 1, 2007; Page A12

A federal court sided with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in a closely watched case on oil and natural-gas royalties, a development that could help the energy industry resist government efforts to revamp lucrative production agreements in the petroleum-rich Gulf of Mexico.

The federal court in Lake Charles, La., sided with Anadarko’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that the federal government couldn’t collect royalties on some Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production despite surging energy prices. Anadarko said in a federal filing last year that the royalties and interest it was fighting to protect totaled $157 million. read more

Posted by Ed Crooks on October 31, 2007 in Peak Oil

Peak oil – the prospect that global oil production is close to or even past its peak – turned out to be the dominant theme of the first day of the 2007 Oil & Money conference in London. With prices close to $90 a barrel – even though they fell sharply on Tuesday – the threat of oil shortages seems much more pressing than it did a year ago.

Plenty of speakers showed versions of a chart showing investment into upstream projects – finding and producing oil – soaring in the past five years, while total output remains almost flat. There was a lot of talk about the battle against the brutal logic of decline rates – the rate at which production declines from mature fields – and how today’s oil finds were smaller, more challenging to produce and generally of lower quality than the finds of past decades. read more

By Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Published: November 1 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 1 2007 02:00

For a direct illustration of the cost of fuel subsidies in India, one need only look at the disaster that has befallen private sector petrol pump operators in the country.

In August, frustrated by the government’s pricing policies, the heads of the three largest operators, Shell India, Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, took the rare step of sending Manmohan Singh, prime minister, a letter calling for a meeting with him on the issue. read more

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
Published: October 31 2007 15:57 | Last updated: October 31 2007 15:57

Fuel shortages in China spread to the capital for the first time this week as soaring global crude prices and government-set pump prices forced state-owned refiners to cut production to avoid huge losses.

Downtown Beijing was not affected but on the outskirts of the city numerous petrol stations were temporarily closed or rationing petrol and diesel, in scenes repeated across the country, according to local media. read more

By Javier Blas in London
Published: October 31 2007 19:41 | Last updated: November 1 2007 07:18

Crude oil prices hit a nominal all-time high above $96 a barrel in after-hours trading on Wednesday night after US inventories had suffered another big drop that left them at their lowest level in two years.

The US department of energy reported that crude oil inventories fell 3.9m to 312.7m in the week ending last Friday. That is the lowest level since October 2005, when the US oil industry was recovering from the impact of hurricanes Rita and Katrina. read more

Edited by David Litterick
Last Updated: 1:16am GMT 01/11/2007

Imperial Energy is one of several Western companies whose Russian operations felt the impact of the country’s sometimes erratic regulatory regime. The oil firm’s shares see-sawed amid threats that its operating licences would be revoked. But is the political discount weighing on Imperial’s shares about to ease?

As with BP, Shell and Peter Hambro Mining, Imperial has faced the wrath of Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of Russia’s environmental regulator who has made a name for himself with his attacks on foreign resources companies. But two things would appear to be moving in Imperial’s favour – one political, the other operational. read more

November 1, 2007

Robert Lindsay Premier Oil’s 72p rise to £12.40 made it one of the top mid-cap performers on talk that Italy’s oil giant Eni, Australia’s Santos, or Shell were looking to bid. Fellow target Burren Energy, where Eni has declared an interest, gained 35p to £12.10, well above the £11 the company has said indicative offers have reached, and Cairn Energy– also rumoured to be sought for its Indian oil fields – gained 74p to £23.53. BP, one of the rumoured Cairn predators, was up 2½p at 625p. read more

Nov 1 12:44 AM US/Eastern
By GILLIAN WONG
Associated Press Writer       
 
SINGAPORE (AP) – The price of oil rose to a new record above $96 a barrel Thursday after a surprise drop in U.S. crude stockpiles raised concerns about supplies for coming winter demand. Other energy futures also gained.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s move to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point also supported prices.

It was the second week in a row the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a sharp and unexpected drop in oil inventories. read more

By Ambereen Choudhury and Thom Rose
Bloomberg News
Thursday, November 1, 2007

LONDON: Macquarie Bank and the RREEF infrastructure fund of Deutsche Bank are among firms that could bid for a German gas storage and transport network owned partly by Exxon Mobil, according to five people involved with the proposals.

The network, BEB Transport & Speicher Service, a joint venture between Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, may sell for at least €1 billion, or $1.4 billion, said the people, who declined to be identified because the bidding is confidential. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 1, 2007
Filed at 3:04 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) — Chicago drivers have a new way to pay for gasoline: with their fingertips.

Ten Shell gas stations in the Windy City are testing biometric systems that let consumers walk up to the pump, scan their fingertips on a device and fill up their vehicles. The systems, also installed at Shell convenience stores, are directly linked to customers’ checking or credit-card accounts for payment.

”When we talk to customers, they’re always looking for ways to make buying gasoline quicker and easier, and always looking for ways to make their transactions faster and more secure,” said Chris Susse, Shell’s manager of global refueling innovations. ”They don’t want to carry more cards, kits and keychains, and they want it to be free.” read more