December 8th, 2007:

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Britain’s wind power revolution

Hutton’s dramatic policy shift signals less reliance on nuclear energy
Offshore farms could provide all UK homes with electricity within 13 years

By Geoffrey Lean, Brian Brady and Jonathan Owen
Published: 09 December 2007

Britain is to embark on a wind power revolution that will produce enough electricity to power every home in the country, ministers will reveal tomorrow.

The Independent on Sunday has learnt that, in an astonishing U-turn, the Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton, will announce that he is opening up the seas around Britain to wind farms in the biggest ever renewable energy initiative. Only weeks ago he was resisting a major expansion of renewable sources, on the grounds that it would interfere with plans to build new nuclear power stations. read more

With clean energy now attracting 10 per cent of venture capital cash being invested in Europe, David Teather looks at how the markets are moving into low-carbon technology

December 09, 2007

Dr Steve Mahon, chief investment officer at the venture capital business Low Carbon Accelerator, has a fixation that some might find slightly odd. ‘I am particularly excited about algae right now,’ he says.

Algae, he quickly goes on to explain, is one of the many alternatives to fossil fuels currently being explored, and has the potential to become a significant source of renewable energy. The slimy substance can be used to produce biofuels, and in theory will have a vastly higher yield per hectare than more conventional biofuel crops, such as sugar cane or rape seed. It also doesn’t compete for land with food crops. read more

09 December 2007

As Commission President, José Manuel Barroso likes to boast that Europe “leads the world on climate change”, the cornerstone of its policy being the world’s largest “emissions trading scheme”, based on buying and selling “carbon credits”. In its first year, Britain paid out £470 million while Germany made £300 million profit (despite ordering 26 new coal-fired power stations).

NHS hospitals had to spend £1.7 million on credits, while BP and Shell made £40 million. The EU’s electricity supply industry enjoyed a windfall profit of £13.6 billion, with the biggest losers UK electricity consumers, whose bills rose by as much as 12 per cent. The net result was that EU carbon emissions rose by 1.5 per cent. read more

Inside the City

December 9, 2007
Grant Ringshaw

WHEN is a strategic u-turn not a u-turn? When it’s an evolution of strategy. That was the message BP tried to spin last week after reporting a Canadian oil-sands deal worth up to $10 billion (£4.9 billion) with Husky Energy.

Under Lord Browne, BP was critical of oil-sands schemes, mainly due to high production costs. Eight years ago, it sold assets in the region and focused on Russia and other tricky projects including deep-water fields.

Though BP was never totally against oil sands, what is curious is why it took so long to return. Production is difficult and makes sense only when oil prices are high – like now. But the potential is huge. Overall, output could reach 4m barrels a day by the end of the next decade, roughly the same as Iran’s current production. read more

Shell confidential reserves fraud discovery documents published on 8 December 2007

Videotaped Deposition of RODNEY SIDLE, held at the offices of LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae LLP, 125 West 55th Street, New York, New York. October 30, 2006 10:00 a.m. Rodney Sidle, Senior Reserves Consultant for Shell International Exploration & Production Inc. Includes confidential Shell internal correspondence and documents

Exhibit 284 (295 pages)

http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/ex284_364_9.pdf

Exhibit 285 (35 pages) read more

(The drawing of Alfred Donovan, 90 year old joint owner of the website Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com is reprinted with the kind consent of The Wall Street Journal)

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Associated Press – December 8, 2007 4:15 PM ET

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) – A jury has ruled that Shell Oil Company was not negligent when it used and stored oil field chemicals on land that was later turned into a subdivision.

Nine former and current residents sued the company. They say they lost property value and suffered health problems from the toxic chemicals. The chemicals were disposed of from 1946 to 1967.

The residents sued for undisclosed damages.

A 12-member jury deliberated 1 1/2 hours on the case that was filed in 1999. read more

ExxonMobil corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas

Author: Kostis Geropoulos
8 December 2007 – Issue : 759 

At the end of 2006, when Shell was effectively forced to yield majority control over the huge Russia’s Sakhalin II field to Gazprom, Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer stood up at the press conference and smiled through gritted teeth.

But less than a year later, Shell was back with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende asking the Russian government to allow them to participate in the development of the richest gas fields on the Yamal Peninsula located above the Arctic Circle. read more

As We mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the UK oil &gas industry’s Step Change in Safety initiative, I feel it is timely to reflect on the past 10 years and ask ourselves some difficult and searching questions.

What have we actually achieved? What challenges have we overcome, what challenges lie ahead? Are we taking our safety responsibility seriously enough or are we merely hiding behind glib cliches about safety being our number-one priority?

Let’s start with the facts. The industry’s safety record has improved significantly over the course of the last decade. read more

Safety league tables should be published for the UK North Sea, according to Ian Whewell, head of the Health & Safety Executive’s Offshore Safety Division.

He told Energy that this had been raised with the North Sea’s trade body, Oil &Gas UK, but that it could only work if operators agreed to step up to the plate and agreed to individual safety performance being put into the public domain.

Whewell admitted that HSE lacked the teeth needed to force the issue. It had to be voluntary. But tables could encourage greater consistency across the industry, with strong performers inspiring those lower down the table to make more effort. While trade union OILC thought it was an excellent idea – one that would lead to an improvement in safety performance, Oil &Gas UK was more circumspect, saying such an approach amounted to “naming and shaming”. read more

Published on Saturday, December 8, 2007

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Reuters): The Dominican Republic will hold an international tender next week to establish a fair value for the 50 percent stake in an oil refinery owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, officials said on Wednesday.

The government of the Caribbean country announced last month that it hoped to buy the 50 percent it does not already own in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery from Shell for $183 million. Shell has been seeking a buyer for its stake since January. read more

EXTRACT: “… the unprecedented expansion of power and influence of transnational corporations over the past decades has not only accelerated global trade and development, but also environmental damage and abuses of human rights in factories and corporate agriculture. The Union Carbide in Bhopal, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Royal Dutch/Shell Group behaviour in Nigeria, Nike sweatshops in Vietnam, Nestle marketing of powdered milk formula in developing countries, among others, energised the newly vibrant community of non governmental organisations. These groups began to demand accountability from the corporation’s annual reports of profit and loss to include the economic, legal, environmental and social impacts of their businesses, backing up their demands with boycotts, publicity, and litigation.” read more

Companies depend more on crude production rather than a balance of oil, natural gas output

By Isabel Ordonez | Dow Jones Newswires
December 9, 2007

Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Hess Corp. have been among the oil sector’s strongest performers, but they appear to be the most vulnerable to a sharp downward move in crude prices.

Among energy companies, Occidental (OXY) and Hess (HES) hold a special niche.

In terms of market capitalization, they are smaller and less diversified than giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which take pains to balance their assets between exploration and production activities and refining and marketing endeavors. These two business segments often act as a natural hedge: High oil prices compensate for narrow refining margins, and vice versa. read more

Associated Press
Dec. 8, 2007, 12:43AM

MINOCQUA, Wis. — Dozens of drivers made a mad rush for cheap gas after a station employee accidentally changed the price to 33 cents a gallon.

An employee closing Trig’s Minocqua Shell for the night mistakenly entered the price of a gallon of gasoline as 32.9 cents instead of $3.299 on Monday night.

He left about 10 p.m., but drivers could still use their credit cards to buy gas.

Word of the bargain spread fast in the rural northern Wisconsin community, with 42 people buying 586 gallons of gas in an hour and 45 minutes. One person had pumped 27 gallons and two purchased 18 gallons. read more