By Shigeru Sato
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) — Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., the Japanese unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, dropped to the lowest in more than 2 1/2 years in Tokyo trading after Morgan Stanley cut the stock’s rating to “underweight” from “equal-weight.”
Showa Shell fell 72 yen, or 6.7 percent, to close at 1,002 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. That is the lowest since May 18, 2005, when the stock closed at 1,000 yen.
The surge in benchmark New York Oil prices to records has increased retail prices for auto and heating fuels in Japan, cutting local demand for petroleum products. Sluggish fuel sales have eroded earnings at Showa Shell and other refiners, prompting them to diversify to compensate for weakness in their main business.
“With expensive crude oil contributing throughout calendar 2007, we factor for some increase in petroleum product prices, but still expect this to be an earnings burden as a full-scale price shift is unlikely,” Lalita Gupta, an energy analyst at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo, said in her report dated Jan. 15.
Benchmark oil prices have risen 78 percent in the past year, reaching a record $100.09 a barrel on Jan. 3.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shigeru Sato in Tokyo at [email protected] .
Last Updated: January 16, 2008 02:55 EST
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
