November 12th, 2007:

· PM pledges ‘hard-headed’ approach to nuclear talks
· Russia and China likely to reject new sanctions

Patrick Wintour, Julian Borger and Simon Tisdall
Tuesday November 13, 2007

Gordon Brown declared last night that Britain “will lead” the international campaign to stop Iran’s nuclear programme, calling for new sanctions on oil and gas investments in the Islamic Republic if it fails to comply with UN resolutions.

In his first set-piece foreign policy speech, the prime minister described his approach as “hard-headed internationalism” and said that if Iran continued to ignore UN security council demands to suspend uranium enrichment, Britain would call for tighter sanctions. read more

November 13, 2007
Philip Webster, Political Editor

Gordon Brown last night proposed a worldwide ban on companies developing Iran’s oil and gas fields if it failed to curb its nuclear ambitions.

He promised to take the lead in seeking tougher penalties through the United Nations and the European Union as Britain and the United States seek to increase the pressure on Tehran.

In his first major speech on foreign policy the Prime Minister said that Iran had a choice — confrontation with the international community and stringent sanctions against it; or dropping its nuclear plans, ending support for terrorism and having a transformed relationship with the world. read more

Published: Nov. 12, 2007 at 2:20 PM

ABUJA, Nigeria, Nov. 12 (UPI) — Nigeria’s attorney general is being sent to the United States to investigate a multimillion-dollar bribery case involving a Houston firm.

An executive of Willbros Group recently pleaded guilty to paying $6 million in bribes in 2003 to a Nigeria official in an effort to win an oil contract, The Daily Trust reported Monday.

Former senior executive Jason Steph said he also paid $1.8 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials in 2005 to secure a contract worth $387 million to build a gas pipeline in Nigeria for Royal Dutch Shell. read more

By Alfred and John Donovan
Tuesday 13 November 2007

The Shell Group Managing Directors present at the CMD Meeting held on 22 & 23 July 2002 included Philip Watts, Jeroen van der Veer, Paul Skinner (part time), Walter van de Vijver and Malcolm Brinded. Judy Boynton was also present. Other Shell Executives in attendance at various times included Linda Cook, Lynn Elsenhans, Lorin Brass, James Smith, Din Megat and Dominique Gardy. Keith Ruddock acted as Secretary to the Committee.

Every page of the minutes was marked “MOST CONFIDENTIAL” because the discussions covered Shell’s commercially sensitive plans. There is a considerable amount of interesting information. We will comment on just a few issues. read more

THE LINK TO OUR SHELL RESERVES LITIGATION WEBPAGE UPDATED DAILY

http://www.shellnews.net/2007/royal-dutch-shell-reserves-litigation-may-2007.html

By John Donovan

Since there is a discussion taking place on our Live Chat facility about who was responsible for the Shell reserves fraud, I thought it might assist the debate to republish the findings of the FSA. Just in case anyone has forgotten, apart from the “market abuse” finding there was a documented cover-up involving attempted destruction of evidence (as revealed in the Davis Polk & Wardwell Report). The SEC findings were blunter and the fine imposed more substantial: $120 million. The Chairman of the SEC has publicly described the affair as corporate fraud. It is my view that Watts and van de Vijver were responsible for the fraud which ruined Shell’s reputation. Others are entitled to take a different view but all of the evidence points mainly towards those two individuals. Links to the SEC and FSA Reports are available at the foot of this article. read more

11/12/2007 9:48:22 AM GMT
 
BRUNEI:  Brunei Shell Petroleum Co. Sdn Bhd has found gas in the Bubut structure located just seven kilometres (four miles) from the shoreline and only 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Brunei liquefied natural gas (BLNG) plant.  Gas was found in an exploration well drilled by Premium Drilling jackup Deep Driller 2 in deep, high-pressure sand reservoirs.

Brunei Shell will be re-evaluating the nearby Danau structure drilled in the 1970s. Appraisal work will be conducted in both fields to define the full potential that could be tapped for an integrated development of and early production from the two fields using the facilities at the BLNG plant. read more

By Alfred and John Donovan

In the last three days the following articles have been published by us on the open Internet concerning highly confidential documents relating to Royal Dutch Shell. They include the “MOST CONFIDENTIAL” minutes of a CMD Meeting (Committee of Shell Group Managing Directors) in which serious reservations were expressed about trusting Gazprom as a project partner.

Top secret minutes reveal ‘considerable concern’ by Shell Execs over Gazprom

Scandal linked to dysfunctional relationship at the top of Royal Dutch Shell read more

By Sohbet Karbuz

SHELL

On July 10, 1985 the President of Shell USA John Bookout gave a speech in San Antonio on “two centuries of fossil fuel energy,” which was later on published in 1989.[2] In his talk he showed a chart showing oil and gas peaking about 2010 and 2015 respectively and declining thereafter.

“[Referring to the Shell Scenarios] Oil supplies seem likely to peak around 2025, and may have fallen considerably below current levels by 2050.” – Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading and a Managing Director of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. 4 February 1998. read more

By John Willman, Business Editor
Published: November 12 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 12 2007 02:00

BP and BAE Systems are among British companies that slashed their research and development spending last year, according to government figures that show a 9 per cent rise in R&D investment by top UK groups.

The annual R&D Scoreboard, published on Monday by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, says the 850 largest companies, including subsidiaries of foreign groups, spent almost £21bn ($43.6m) on R&D in 2006. read more

By Sheila McNulty in Houston
Published: November 12 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 12 2007 02:00

The Big Five international oil companies have cut exploration spending in real terms between 1998 and 2006, failing to respond to the incentive of high prices.

ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips used 56 per cent of their increased operating cash flow on share buybacks and dividends instead of exploration, according to a study released today by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. read more

Asian energy companies are looking for diversification in an unlikely place: U.S. oil fields that are often nearly tapped out

By BRIAN BASKIN
November 12, 2007

European energy companies have grabbed the headlines recently with mega-deals for Gulf of Mexico oil and gas projects, but Asian energy companies are quietly expanding their presence in the U.S. The deals may be smaller, but carry an outsized importance for resource-starved countries like Japan and Korea, which are picking up mostly older oil and gas fields to anchor a new global strategy that includes riskier pursuits in Africa and the Middle East. read more

By Upstream staff

Oil fell more than $1 toward $95 today after Saudi Arabia said Opec would discuss boosting oil output at an upcoming meeting to cool surging oil prices.

US light crude for December delivery fell as much as $1.28 in early electronic trading and was down $1.14 at $95.18 a barrel by 0344 GMT.

US oil struck a record high of $98.62 a barrel last Wednesday due to winter supply concerns and a falling US dollar.

London Brent crude lost 88 cents to $92.30 a barrel.

“The Opec uncertainty does provide some downward pressure this morning but the market may shift its focus to the expiring December options contract later in the day and start rising again,” Gerard Burg, a resource analyst at the National Bank of Australia, tol.d Reuters. read more

By Tina Seeley

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) — Five current and former traders from Coral Energy Resources, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, agreed to pay $1 million to settle U.S. allegations that they reported false information on natural-gas trades to manipulate prices.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the settlement today in an e-mailed statement. The regulator filed a complaint in February 2005 alleging the traders sent false reports to index publishers between October 2001 and June 2002. read more