November 2nd, 2007:

Vol. 12, No. 44  Week of November 04, 2007

Mexico’s spluttering moves to open its doors more widely to international investment have yielded some benchmark deals covering technology, research and training.

Earlier in October state-owned Pemex agreed with Royal Dutch/Shell to study increasing productivity and recovery techniques for oil wells, followed by separate agreements with Calgary-based Nexen and Chevron to probe exploration and production methods, especially for offshore deepwater and coalbed methane. read more

By: Orla Hearns

A DEPARTMENT of the Environment representative travelled to Glenamoy last week to ascertain what damage, if any, may have been caused by the consultants to Shell E&P Ireland (SEPIL), RPS.

An investigation has been instigated by the Department of Environment and Local Government following revelations that RPS, who were hired by Shell to identify alternative route options for the high pressure onshore pipeline to the proposed gas refinery at Bellanaboy, drilled bore holes in the Glen-amoy bog complex which is an area of special conservation. read more

Ken Saro-Wiwa

Vigil in memory of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni Eight,  at Shell HQ, 52 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2 
 
12 years to the day since the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Baribor Bera, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Paul Levura and Felix Nuate at Port Harcourt Nigeria at the behest of Shell, activists will once again gather at the headquarters of Shell Ireland to lay a wreath and remember the brave campaign for justice that led to these nine innocent men being hanged. read more

Prices are climbing back towards $96 a barrel

Friday, 2 November 2007, 10:52 GMT 

Oil prices have rebounded to near their record $96-a-barrel mark after a brief respite and analysts expect further volatility ahead.

Crude oil rose $2.07 to $95.56 on Friday morning while Brent crude traded up $1.76 at $91.48.

Analysts maintained the brief retreat from rising prices after they hit $96 on Wednesday was only temporary.

Many observers now believe crude oil will probably break through $100 a barrel this year. read more

By Joe Carroll

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said third-quarter earnings dropped for the first time in five years after a glut of gasoline forced prices lower and refinery crude costs climbed to a record.

Net income fell 26 percent to $3.72 billion, or $1.75 a share, from $5.02 billion, or $2.29, a year earlier, San Ramon, California-based Chevron said today in a statement. Excluding such items as a cut in the valuation of overseas assets, per- share profit was 13 cents below the average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. read more

TOM ASHBY
Reuters
November 2, 2007 at 7:44 AM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria — Royal Dutch Shell is preparing for tough talks with Nigeria in a review of multi-billion dollar offshore oil contracts, a top executive told Reuters on Friday.

The government of President Umaru Yar’Adua has put its largest investors on notice that it wants a greater share of the profit from fields in deep water, which will account for a third of supply from Africa’s top producer by the end of next year.

Chima Ibeneche, managing director of Shell’s offshore division in Nigeria, said in an interview that he was not surprised by the announcement because there was an option for a review in 2008 written into some of the contracts. read more

Friday 2 November 2007

January 2004 email correspondence between Anton Barendregt, Royal Dutch Shell Group Reserves Auditor and John Hoppe DPE-RES: Confidential

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/424_7.pdf

SEPTEMBER 2003: Petroleum Resources Volume Guidelines Resource Classification and Value Realisation: This document is confidential and restricted to Shell personnel only (48 pages)

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/424_2.pdf

October 2002 communication from Anton Barendregt, Royal Dutch Shell Group Reserves Auditor, to Shell senior managers plus KPMG Accountants NV and PriceWaterhouseCoopers: Confidential read more

PRICE PER SHARE, PRICE PER BARREL
Through Oct. 30

Amid High Price of Crude,
Exxon, Rivals Are Pressed
By Margins, Costs, Nations

By RUSSELL GOLD and GUY CHAZAN
November 2, 2007; Page A3

Even as oil prices continue their climb, profits for Western oil companies appear to have peaked for the moment — as underscored by a surprisingly weak earnings report from Exxon Mobil Corp.

The reasons include aggressive governments that are grabbing a bigger slice of the oil pie, as well market dynamics that are somewhat sheltering consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere from the full effect of oil’s rise. read more

By Emiliya Mychasuk and Emiko Terazono

Published: November 2 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 2 2007 02:00

No sooner had the urbane Rio chairman Paul Skinner completed a summer merger with Alcan, than the the miner was being mooted by traders as a takeover target.

Well respected by investors, the 62-year-old has been Rio chairman since 2003 and now has a new chief executive by his side in Tom Albanese, who took over from the mining group’s veteran Leigh Clifford in May. They have the looming task of welding Rio and Alcan together. read more

By Dino Mahtani and Maggie Urry
Published: November 2 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 2 2007 02:00

Growing demand from Asia for liquefied natural gas helped BG Group offset the closure of a key North Sea pipeline during the three months to September.

The UK-based energy exploration and production group, which makes most of its turnover from natural gas, said underlying net income for the third quarter rose 8 per cent to £368m, ahead of analysts’ forecasts.

The shares, however, fell 8½p to 881p along with the market. BG’s share price hit a record of 914p last month after the announcement of exploration success in Brazil and speculation that Royal Dutch Shell and Brazil’s Petrobras were in talks to buy the company. read more

Published: November 2 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 2 2007 02:00

There’s reassuringly expensive, and there’s just plain expensive. Which is BG? Spun out of British Gas a decade ago, the oil and gas explorer has consistently commanded a premium rating to peers, largely on the strength of its sector-leading reserve life rates, vibrant liquefied natural gas operations, and one of the least gaffe-prone management teams in the business. These days it is at the upper end of that historic premium range, trading on 12 times forward enterprise value to debt-adjusted cash flow, almost 60 per cent above its rivals, and about 40 per cent higher on p/e. read more

By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Published: November 2 2007 03:13 | Last updated: November 2 2007 03:13

Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s president, this week moved to consolidate further his government’s hold over the country’s main sources of revenue when he presented his nominees to take over as the oil and industries ministers to parliament.

The move follows a recent cabinet reshuffle and the appointment two months ago of a central bank governor seen as more sympathetic to the president’s economic policy. Analysts suggest that, if his ministerial choices are approved, this will increase his influence over the top three organisations that administer the country’s resources. read more

Terry Macalister
Friday November 2, 2007

Investors in ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest quoted oil group, have been rewarded with more than $50bn (£25bn) of cash handouts over an 18-month period.

The figures were revealed yesterday as the US company announced a 10% drop in third-quarter profits at a time when crude prices hit a record high.

Exxon revealed in its “highlights” that it had paid out $26.7bn to shareholders through dividends and share buy-backs in the first nine months of the year, and $23.8bn in the same period of 2006. read more

It can run for hours at 20 metres per minute without getting tired.It lives longer, has more sex, and eats more without gaining weight. Could the science that created this supermouse be applied to humans?

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 02 November 2007

Scientists have been astounded by the creation of a genetically modified “supermouse” with extraordinary physical abilities – comparable to the performance of the very best athletes – raising the prospect that the discovery may one day be used to transform people’s capacities. read more

November 2, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Petrol prices moved closer to £1 a litre yesterday as the world’s largest quoted oil company joined BP and Shell in reporting a heavy fall in quarterly profits.

Unleaded moved to a new record average of 98.81p per litre, with pump prices at some supermarkets rising to 99.9p. An AA spokesman said: “It seems only a matter of time before we hit £1.”

Fresh concerns over the soaring price of petrol came as Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest quoted oil company, said that its net income in the three months to September 30 tumbled by 10 per cent to $9.41 billion (£4.61 billion) – the first time since 2002 that the company has suffered two consecutive quarterly profit slumps. read more

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: November 2, 2007

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — A federal judge in Louisiana handed the oil industry a major legal victory this week, saying the government had no authority to suspend billions of dollars’ worth of drilling incentives when energy prices were high.

If upheld, the ruling could free companies from paying the government up to $60 billion in royalties for oil and gas produced in publicly owned waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The ruling, in a lawsuit brought by Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas Corporation, is not a final verdict. But the judge flatly rejected all of the government’s arguments, not only refusing to throw out the case but also agreeing with the oil company that the government had overstepped its authority. read more

Associated Press
November 2, 2007
HOUSTON

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, said yesterday its profit fell 10 percent in the third quarter as higher crude prices failed to offset lower natural gas prices and refining and chemical margins.

The profit decline came even as Exxon Mobil set a U.S. record for quarterly revenue.

Exxon Mobil said net income declined to $9.41 billion, or $1.70 per share, in the third quarter, from $10.49 billion, or $1.77 per share, for the quarter last year. read more

By Carli Lourens and Julie Ziegler

Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) — Nigeria is “tired” of dealing with oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc and is inviting smaller producers to bid for rights to explore and operate in the country.

“We’re looking for new players — we’re getting tired of the big Exxons and Shells,” Tony Chukwueke, head of the country’s Petroleum Resources Department, said today in a speech in Cape Town, South Africa. “We’re looking for small” companies. read more