January 24th, 2008:

Terry Macalister
The Guardian,
Friday January 25 2008

Regal Petroleum has been referred to a London Stock Exchange disciplinary committee after allegedly breaking the rules over the disclosure of price sensitive information regarding wells drilled in the Aegean sea. The small exploration and production company, which has been dogged by controversy over the last eight years, said it “understood” that the case against it related to rules 10 and 11 of the code covering the Alternative Investment Market. read more

City Diary: Martin Waller
January 25, 2008

A curious letter from Jeroen van der Veer, the Shell chief executive, has been acquired by the royaldutchshellplc website, which is nothing to do with the company but often seems to receive internal stuff in error. It is about how we get out of needing more energy but creating less CO2. As readers may know, internal memos at Shell are not always entirely transparent. Van der Veer sets out two scenarios, Scramble, which “resembles a race through a mountainous desert”, and Blueprints, which “develops like a cautious ride on a road that is still under construction”. Puzzling stuff. read more

By John Donovan

Printed below is a self-explanatory letter sent on 22 January 2008 to all Shell staff by Jeroen van der Veer, the CEO of Shell. I have provided my associated email correspondence with Mr Michiel Brandjes, the Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc which also took place on 22 January.

Mr Brandjes argues that the fact that we received a Shell internal letter on the same day it was circulated does not justify it being described as a leaked letter. 

We will leave it to others to draw their own conclusions. read more

January 24, 2008

Would that it weren’t for this reason, but Mr. Putin’s increasingly heavy-handed dictatorial proclivities are going to benefit some of our companies. In November, I wrote that Shell (RDS.A) was going to have to come up with some big reserves in order to continue as a major player among integrated oils. Instead of buying Shell, I advised buying the type of company that I think Shell must buy if they are to increase their reserves and remain a serious player on the world energy stage. Among these are our currently-owned Chesapeake (CHK), Anadarko (APC), and Conoco Phillips (COP). I also personally own, and consider them a possible buyout from a company like Shell, EOG (EOG) and Ultra Pete (UPL). Others you might want to take a look at are former portfolio holdings Marathon (MRO) and Devon (DVN), as well as Cabot (COG), Occidental (OXY), Pioneer Natural (PXD), Talisman (TLM), and Murphy Oil (MUR). All are well-managed companies in an industry where it’s cheaper to buy resources than to drill for them. read more

Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:39am EST

DAVOS (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive said on Thursday he saw no reason to panic about the world economic outlook, saying energy demand growth this year would be higher than 2007.

“I look at the energy industry, and of course we look at the total economic climate, but we don’t see any reason for panic,” Jeroen van der Veer told Reuters.

Referring to the U.S. economy, he said: “I don’t see a real reason for a kind of panic. There may be a bit of slower growth.” read more

Published: Thursday, 24 January, 2008, 02:16 AM Doha Time 

By Jeroen van der Veer

BY 2100, the world’s energy system will be radically different from today’s.  Renewable energy like solar, wind, hydroelectricity, and biofuels will make up a large share of the energy mix, and nuclear energy, too, will have a place.

Humans will have found ways of dealing with air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. New technologies will have reduced the amount of energy needed to power buildings and vehicles. read more

By Maggie Urry
Published: January 24 2008 13:39 | Last updated: January 24 2008 13:39

Regal Petroleum’s colourful stock market career took a further twist on Thursday when it said it would raise £80m from a placing to develop its Ukrainian gas reserves.

The oil and gas company also revealed that it had been the subject of investigations by the Financial Services Authority and the London Stock Exchange over the failure of its Greek oil exploration, which in 2005 led to a sharp fall in the share price and the ousting of the group’s founder Frank Timis who was chairman and chief executive. read more

Three years ago, the top six names on the PFC Energy 50 ranking of the world’s largest oil & gas industry companies were ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron and Eni. This year’s top six include Petrochina, Gazprom, Sinopec and Petrobras, National Oil Companies (NOCs), whose shares are traded on public markets, but which are majority-owned by the governments of China, Russia and Brazil. The preeminent positions of these NOCs on the PFC Energy 50 list reflect a profound change in read more

Joanna Lillis
Thursday, January 24, 2008   

The renegotiation of a deal covering the development of the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan indicates that the balance of power in the Caspian Basin energy game is tipping.

Kazakhstan clinched the new deal with a foreign-dominated consortium, led by the Italian energy giant Eni SpA, on January 13. The agreement followed a standoff over rising costs and delays in oil production that had dragged out for six months. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In the days following the announcement, analysts proclaimed the big winner to be the Kazakhstani government. read more

Conditions need to improve before work resumes, top executive says
Jan. 23, 2008, 8:43PM
Associated Press

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — The head of Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday that “conditions must improve” before the company could resume production that was cut because of unrest in Nigeria.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, CEO Jeroen van der Veer said he would meet with Nigeria’s president, Umaru Yar’Adua, on Friday about security and energy funding.

Van der Veer said he hoped to regain its share of lost oil output, but “conditions must improve for us to restart production, and we’re not there yet.” read more

Written by Emma Arubi    
Wednesday, 23 January 2008 

OVER five  hundred and forty staff of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC has been penciled to lose their jobs before the end of February even as  management has indicated that more would still be eased out as the process of right sizing  continues.

Addressing the Union leaders about the reduction of staff strength in the oil company last Thursday, management disclosed that in the new organogram of the company, these 540 staff have “no slot” and they are yet to find places for them. read more

Published: January 24 2008 02:00 | Last updated: January 24 2008 02:00

From Mr Dick Martin.

Sir, D.R. Myddelton argues that the idea that any ordinary shareholder could use the bulky annual reports of GlaxoSmithKline, British American Tobacco and Royal Dutch Shell to help them make decisions is “ludicrous”.

His argument patronises those shareholders who are still lucky enough to receive these weighty tomes, which are essential reading for a full understanding of the companies in which they invest. Many companies send out the contemptible “annual review”, a slim document which fulfils the professor’s call for brevity, but which often lacks even a consolidated cash flow statement, and is certainly useless as a guide to decision-making. read more