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February 26th, 2008:

allAfrica.com: Africa: Governments and Companies Must Deliver on Global Transparency Initiative

Publish What You Pay (London)
PRESS RELEASE
26 February 2008
Accra

Governments and companies signed up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) must now deliver concrete results towards making revenues and payments from oil, gas and mining transparent and accountable, said the global civil society coalition Publish What You Pay (PWYP). Seven resource-rich countries were approved as EITI candidates by the EITI Board in Accra, Ghana on Friday 22 February, bringing the total number of EITI candidate countries to 22. [1] read more

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Houston Chronicle: Official estimates $31 billion at stake in oil royalty case

Feb. 26, 2008, 2:16PM
By SIOBHAN HUGHES
Dow Jones Newswires/AP

WASHINGTON  — A U.S. Interior Department official said today that the government may have a hard time collecting as much as $31 billion in royalty payments for leases issued in the late 1990s unless a court decision that rejected the government’s right to the payments is reversed.

The warning from Assistant Secretary Stephen Allred came at a hearing aimed at keeping visibility on disputed royalty payments for deepwater drilling. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has been pressing oil companies to make the payments, and promised to try again with legislation that would ban oil companies from participating in sales of new leases unless they pay royalties on a set of leases issued in 1998 and 1999. read more

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.

Daily Telegraph: Getting on with jumbo-size neighbours

Daily Telegraph image 

Trunk and disorderly; elephants are a common – and sometimes
destructive – presence in the Shell compound at Yenzi

Last Updated: 3:01pm GMT 26/02/2008Page 1 of 2

‘Is that a jumbo on the runway?” I asked an expat in the passport queue next to me. We both squinted. It was! I had just arrived at Gamba Airport in Gabon and already I had spotted my first elephant.
 
He was a handsome bull, with the straight tusks typical of the African forest variety, he emerged from the trees and began to career about the grounds, heading, unnervingly, towards the runway. A couple of officials rushed to sidetrack him but moments later the roar of another plane did the job. As the aircraft touched down, its propellers whirling, the elephant trumpeted, made a volte-face and fled into the forest. read more

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.

Daily Telegraph: A ‘tsunami’ of petrodollars to be unleashed

Daily Telegraph image

Morgan Stanley estimates there are trillions of petrodollars left in the pipeline

By Richard Blackden
Last Updated: 7:31am GMT 26/02/2008

The surge in the price of oil is set to unleash a tsunami of petrodollars onto financial markets, according to Morgan Stanley.

With the price of crude oil skirting the $100-a-barrel mark, strategists at the investment bank reckon as much as $2 trillion of petrodollars earned by the world’s oil exporters will need to be invested this year.

Many analysts expect oil, which first touched the historic $100 a mark in January and then closed above the level for the first time this month, to remain at lofty levels this year as a combination of higher demand from fast-growing economies such as China and dwindling supply leaves refineries struggling to produce sufficient oil. read more

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.

The Times: Grow your own winner

Skills shortages within the oil and gas sector are making companies look inwards to nurture and retain talent

February 27, 2008
Emily Ford

Oil may be running out, but for the moment the slippery black stuff needs more hands than it can get. Companies bend over backwards to recruit skilled, talented staff. Once they find them, retaining and managing that talent is vital – however enthusiastic, not all pipeline engineers want to spend their entire careers on rigs.

“There’s a dearth of talent across the board, at every level,” says Daniel Griggs, a director at BBT, a recruitment consultancy in the oil and gas sector. Companies struggle to fill vacancies in the Middle East, he says, and drilling and electrical engineers are just two roles where there are shortages. “Within these sectors it’s particularly important to retain staff [so] there’s good career progression.” After eight years you could have “senior” in your job title, Griggs says. “If someone’s willing to commit themselves to the industry they have great prospects.” Recruiters are looking at backgrounds creatively, rather than going for a 100 per cent fit. read more

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.

The Times: Incredible journey

February 27, 2008

Now in semi-retirement, Roger Colmer looks back on his 40-odd years of working in the oil and gas industry

Steve Smethurst

Michael Palin is probably the only person who has clocked up as many air miles as Roger Colmer. When we managed to locate the Shell veteran, he was “locked down” some 1,700km (1,000 miles) north of Perth, Australia, waiting for a tropical cyclone to pass.

He wasn’t fazed. His expat epiphany came back in 1969, when he decided to stop being a stress engineer for an aviation company and instead spend a year teaching in Jamaica with the volunteering charity VSO. read more

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.

Reuters: Russia’s Tatneft sees JV with Shell by mid-2008

Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:12am EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian mid-sized oil firm Tatneft (TATN3.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) hopes to set up joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to tap heavy oil deposits in mid 2008, the Russian firm said on Tuesday.

“We would like to set up the venture this summer,” Vasily Mozgovoi, advisor to Tatneft’s chief executive, told Reuters.

He added the company believed investments would make sense if the joint venture produced in the range of 100,000 barrels per day. read more

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.

Energy Current: EPA proposes minor permit for Shell’s Arctic drilling

Filed from Houston
2/26/2008 10:52:10 PM GMT
 
USA/ALASKA: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed that an air quality permit be issued to Shell Offshore that would regulate air emissions from the Kulluk floating Arctic drilling rig. Shell wants to use the Kulluk rig to explore for oil and gas in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska.

The EPA has determined that air emissions authorized by the permit would not adversely affect the health of those in nearby Arctic communities. The “minor” permit limits emissions of any single air pollutant to 245 tons per year for activities associated with the drill site. Without the limit set by the permit, the drilling project could trigger “major” permitting, which requires a more rigorous permitting process and technology review. read more

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.

Shell’s atrocious track record in Nigeria

By John Donovan

A guest on our Live Chat facility posted comments today painting a one sided picture of a benevolent Shell which bears no responsibility for the corruption in Nigeria. 

It is therefore timely to remind readers about matters of which Guest 3487 was either ignorant, or conveniently neglected to mention. 

ON-GOING OGONI U.S. CLASS ACTION AGAINST SHELL

There is on-going litigation in the U.S.A. involving extremely serious allegations against Shell.

The following are extracts from an article in the Daily Mail. read more

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Financial Times: Nigerian court rejects poll challenge

By Matthew Green
Published: February 26 2008 12:18 | Last updated: February 26 2008 18:20

Nigerian judges ended months of uncertainty over the fate of President Umaru Yar’Adua on Tuesday by dismissing a case calling for a rerun of last year’s presidential elections on the grounds of mass fraud.

The threat of being removed by the courts has weighed heavily on Mr Yar’Adua’s government since the April polls, which were branded “not credible” by European Union observers because of the level of cheating and violence. read more

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.

RA Novosti: Oil in the diet of Sakhalin whales

RA Novosti image

RA Novosti: Oil in the diet of Sakhalin whales

21:06 | 26/ 02/ 2008 

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) 

Environmentalists are again sounding alarm over the future of the unique population of the Western Pacific gray whales.

This time, Exxon Neftegaz Limited (ENL), a participant in oil projects on Sakhalin, is laying a pipeline via the Piltun Bay, a key feeding area for the gray whales.

Any negative impact on this area during construction or potential oil leaks may reduce the biological yield of the local waters and lead to the disappearance of the foraging grounds. read more

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.

RIA Novosti: Scattered inheritance

RA Novosti image

12:14 | 26/ 02/ 2008 

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Maxim Krans) – More than once Russia has confidently promised to meet the demand of European and other countries for oil and gas.

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has recently confirmed this at the Munich conference on security. But does Russia have enough energy resources?

Senator Gennady Oleinik, who has worked in several oil companies, is not so optimistic. Talking about the problems of Russia’s northern regions at a RIA Novosti news conference, he recalled that the North is the main national storeroom of natural resources, and a good owner should take care to keep it full. It is import to increase natural resources – at least by the amount of what has been put to use. But this is not being done now. read more

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.

Asia Times: Russia gas pact energizes Iran

Feb 27, 2008 

THE ROVING EYE
By Pepe Escobar

While Washington, facing European Union discomfort and frank opposition from Russia and China, remains obsessed with another round of United Nations sanctions against Iran, the facts on the ground spell an overwhelming “expansion of mutual cooperation” in the energy sector between Iran and Russia.

Iran holds the world’s second-largest proven natural gas reserves, behind only Russia. Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russia’s state-run gas exporter Gazprom, recently visited Tehran and met with Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari. The result is that Gazprom will develop “two or three” blocks of the monstrous South Pars gas field in Iran; and its daughter company, Gazpromneft, will also be part of a huge oil project in Iran. Gazprom has been in South Pars since 1997, alongside TotalFinaElf of France and Malaysia’s Petronas. read more

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.

Seeking Alpha: BP to Use Technology to Increase Output of Prudhoe Bay

Seeking Alpha image

posted on: February 25, 2008
Miranda Marquit: Bio & more articles

With worries about oil supply from OPEC mounting, and with concerns over the increasing costs of oil exploration, some Big Oil companies are focusing their efforts on getting as much as they can out of existing oil fields. One example? BP (BP) and its efforts in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. Prudhoe Bay is the most productive oil field in the United States, but BP has run into trouble with the oil field lately, with pipeline closures and leaks in the past couple of years. read more

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.

ITAR-TASS: Oil, gas production grows over 2 times in Sakhalin in 2007 against 2006

26.02.2008, 12.58
 
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, February 26 (Itar-Tass) — The production of oil and gas increased 2.5 times in Sakhalin in 2007 as against 2006. In 2007, 14.853 million tonnes of oil (6.162 million tonnes in 2006) and 6.409 billion cubic metres of gas (2.186 billion cubic metres in 2006) were produced. This was reported at a meeting of the administration of the Sakhalin Region that considered the results of socio-economic development of Sakhalin and the Kuriles.

The growth of oil and gas production is caused by the project Sakhalin-1’s reaching its full capacity. Its operator, the US company Exxon Neftegaz Ltd, extracted one million tonnes of oil in the Chaivo oil field in the Sea of Okhotsk a month. read more

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.

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Oando Acquires 2 Shell Oil Blocks for $625m

This Day (Lagos)
26 February 2008
Chika Amanze-Nwachuku

Indigenous oil marketing company, Oando Plc, has acquired Shell Nigeria’s 49.8 per cent stake in two oil blocks for $625.7 million.

Oando emerged the preferred bidder of the two deepwater blocks offshore Nigeria Oil Mining Lease (OML) in an international competitive bidding process. The company made an immediate payment of 10 per cent of the sum last Friday while the balance will be paid when the transaction is finalised.
 
An international newspaper had late last year reported that another Nigerian company, African Petroleum Plc, indicated interest in the oil blocks. read more

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.

International Herald Tribune: Texas oilman takes on Gazprom over contract claim

Reuters image 

A gas flare burning at the Yuzhno Russkoye field in western Siberia. A Texas company is suing Gazprom to try to establish that it owns 40 percent of the field. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

By Judy Dempsey Published: February 25, 2008

BERLIN: In a court case closely watched by investors, a Texas company is accusing Gazprom of refusing to honor an investment and property agreement in one of the biggest natural gas fields in Russia.

Richard Moncrief, chairman of Moncrief Oil International, said he had decided to use the German courts to establish what he said was a 40 percent stake worth $12 billion, in the vast Yuzhno-Russkoye field in western Siberia. The field is intended to supply the underwater Nord Stream pipeline, through which Russia will be able to supply natural gas directly to Germany and Western Europe, bypassing Ukraine, Belarus and Poland. read more

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.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shell pension plan mulls a move with hedge funds

By MARK COBLEY
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
February 26, 2008

Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s main U.K. pension plan, one of the biggest in the country, is considering a first investment in hedge funds after tax-policy fears were allayed by Revenue & Customs, the U.K.’s central tax authority.

The fund with £13 billion, or about $25 billion, in assets, recently sought clarification from Revenue & Customs.

“Such clearance has only recently been obtained, and the trustees will be looking at whether we make a small investment in hedge funds as part of a portfolio diversification exercise,” Rupert Cox, new chairman of the pension plan’s investment committee, told a members’ meeting last month. read more

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.

Financial Times: Biodiesel’s rise and robust China demand push palm oil higher

By Andrew Wood in Hong Kong and John Aglionby in Jakarta
Published: February 26 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 26 2008 02:00

The price of palm oil jumped nearly 6 per cent yesterday to reach a record high on the Bursa Malaysia derivatives exchange, boosted by strong demand from China and India.

Prices have doubled in 12 months as persistently expensive crude oil stokes demand for palm oil, which is increasingly made into biodiesel. The rise in palm oil prices is also linked to the surging cost of other vegetable oils. read more

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.

Financial Times: Treating oil addiction

Published: February 25 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 25 2008 02:00

Driving is as American as apple pie. At more than 9m barrels a day, gasoline accounts for almost half of US oil demand, and more than a 10th of that of the world. Capitol Hill wants to curb this. Use of biofuels, mainly ethanol, is to be expanded five-fold to 2.4m b/d by 2022. In addition, new cars must achieve 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from 21 mpg today.

Will it make a difference in 10 years? Ethanol provides only two-thirds the energy gasoline does, and the dominant corn-based variety requires a lot of energy to make. So the extra 1.3m b/d of ethanol possibly on the market by 2017 would actually displace only 700,000 b/d of gasoline consumption. read more

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.

Financial Times: Investment in North Sea falls sharply

By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor
Published: February 26 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 26 2008 02:00

Investment in oil and gas in the North Sea fell sharply last year, in spite of record oil prices, as the industry found it increasingly difficult to extract Britain’s remaining resources.

Companies invested £4.9bn in 2007, down 14 per cent from the previous year, according to Oil & Gas UK, the industry association. With costs rising by about 15-20 per cent over the period, the decline in the real value of investment was even steeper. read more

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.

The Guardian: Energy companies plead for tax breaks to help raise production

Terry Macalister
Tuesday February 26 2008

Britain’s oil and gas companies including BP, Shell and British Gas have been making record profits but say they need better tax breaks if they are going to meet higher production targets in the North Sea.

The energy sector is warning that unless the government stimulates activity the UK will miss its expected production targets and have to import more fuel from abroad, which may lead to higher energy costs for homeowners and lower tax revenues for the Treasury. read more

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.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: EPA Proposes Minor Air Permit for Shell Drilling Rig in Arctic’s Beaufort Sea

U.S. EPA.gov (press release), DC: EPA Proposes Minor Air Permit for Shell Drilling Rig in Arctic’s Beaufort Sea

Release date: 02/25/2008

Contact Information: Tony Brown, EPA/Seattle, 206-553-1203, [email protected] or Rick Albright, EPA/Seattle, 206-553-1847, [email protected]

(Seattle, WA – February 25, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to issue an air quality permit to Shell Offshore, Inc. (Shell), to regulate air emissions from the Kulluk floating drilling rig. Shell is planning to use the Kulluk, and its support vessels, to explore for oil and gas beneath the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska. read more

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.

The Beaumont Enterprise: Shell gives star to Port Arthur site for safety considerations

By The Enterprise
02/26/2008: Updated 02/25/2008 11:33:54 PM CST

Royal Dutch Shell employees and officials will celebrate a two-year collaboration today that earned the company’s tank farm in Port Arthur a coveted “star site” designation from the Office of Safety and Health Administration.

Stan Mays, Shell’s external affairs adviser, said the 30 employees at the Port Arthur Products Station led a “grassroots effort” to obtain the certification, which recognizes workplaces for focusing on safety. read more

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.