March 6th, 2008:

By Grant Smith

March 6 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose to $105.97 a barrel, the third day this week New York prices have reached a record, as the U.S. dollar fell to its lowest ever against the euro.

Gold and copper also advanced to all-time highs as the sinking dollar made commodities priced in the U.S. currency cheaper. Oil closed at a record yesterday after U.S. crude inventories fell for the first time in eight weeks and OPEC refrained from raising production.

“The reason we’ve gone above $105 is that the market is still focused on the weakness of the dollar,” Olivier Jakob, managing director of Petromatrix Gmbh in Zug, Switzerland, said. “It’s going to take more signs of demand destruction around the world before oil stops gaining on the dollar.” read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Exxon to Boost Spending, Broaden Exploration

By RUSSELL GOLD
March 6, 2008; Page B1

Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to increase its spending by more than $1 billion a year to find and tap new oil and natural-gas resources, aggressively increasing exploration in politically stable countries not usually thought to be energy-rich, including Germany, New Zealand and Greenland.

Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, announced yesterday a 25% increase in annual capital spending for the next few years, to between $25 billion and $30 billion, to adjust for higher costs and to pay for wider exploration. Just a year ago, it projected it would spend $20 billion a year.
 
In recent years, the oil industry has developed the ability to drill wells in two-mile-deep water. That technological feat has encouraged Exxon, among others, to look for new opportunities in deep waters around the globe, including nations that haven’t been big oil producers in the past. read more

By Sylvia Pfeifer in London
Published: March 6 2008 19:34 | Last updated: March 6 2008 19:34

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday tried to draw a line under one of the darkest chapters in its corporate history by settling the final class-action claim arising from an oil reserves misreporting scandal in 2004.

The Anglo-Dutch oil group shocked investors four years ago when it announced it had overstated its proven oil and gas reserves.

The scandal sent shares in Shell plummeting and eventually led to the departure of its three most senior executives, including Sir Philip Watts, the then chairman. read more

March 7, 2008
Robin Pagnamenta

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $80 million (£39.8 million) to settle an American class action lawsuit related to a 2004 downgrade of the oil giant’s reserves.

Shell said that it had reached an agreement in principle with two pension funds, the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. They had begun litigation after accusations that Shell had misled investors for years by overstating its reserves of oil and gas. read more

WATCH THE REPORT:

http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=11357

Last Modified: 06 Mar 2008
By: Tom Clarke

Channel 4 News reveals, courtesy of HSE findings, serious safety failings at a Shell oil platform where two men died in 2003.

The Health and Safety Executive report on the Brent Bravo platform shows maintenance of critical safety equipment was far below standard; fireproof doors, which may not have worked properly; and corroded pipe work left untreated.

And all this on an oil platform run by Shell – the biggest and richest oil company in the North Sea. read more

Thursday 6 March 2008: 19.11

Below is the full content – every word – of a statement sent today by former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell to Shell, the HSE, the news media and other interested parties. Associated documents will be added to the article ASAP. We have published it to coincide with a related report broadcast on TV Channel 4 News tonight at 7pm UK time.  

The Strange Case of Hill vs Hill

Introduction
 
This correspondence is FAO of Michiel Brandjes who is the Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) Secretary and General Counsel to the RDS Chairman Jorma Ollila. 
 
It is also directed FAO Greg Hill who at the time of the fatalities on Brent Bravo in September 2003 was the Production Director accountable for the Health and Safety of circa 1,500 direct and indirect employees on the 17 offshore installations data from which is attached on a Zip File. 
 
Greg Hill played another key role in that from 16th June 2006 onwards he was appointed to head a Crisis Reaction Team based in London.  Why this is important will be explained below in the Case of Hill vs Hill. 
 
A number of TV and Newspaper journalists are copied.  These journalists either met Hill in 2006 or were given briefings from his Crisis Reaction Team in the form of strong and categorical rebuttal of the allegations made against Shell by BBC Scotland and by the Oil Industry Magazine Upstream.  The Guardian and the London Times for example covered both the allegations and the rebuttal in significant detail.
 
This correspondence is also copied to Geoffrey Podger, CEO of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  At my instigation in a letter to the HSE Chairman he requested a senior HSE official Ian Whewell to carry out an investigation into the conduct of HSE officials in relation to the fatal accident investigation and the failure of those officials to pass information, vital to a public Inquiry into the fatalities, to the Procurator Fiscal. 
 
A number of Members of Parliament (MP) are also copied.  The MP’s have shown an interest in these matters and I copy them as witnesses and so that they are aware that these charges have substance, most of them have for example been copied on previous correspondence with HSE and the data from the post fatalities Shell Integrity Review. 
 
Much of what is said here has also been copied for circulation to the UK Parliamentary Select Committee responsible for holding the Health and Safety Commission and its Executive branch accountable for their performance in reducing risks to protect people at work in the UK. read more

Reuters, Thursday March 6 2008

AMSTERDAM, March 6 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc. said on Thursday it had agreed in principle to settle a class action with U.S. investors arising from its 2004 restatement of oil reserves.

Under the terms of the deal the group of U.S. claimants, who bought shares in the company in a period before the 2004 reserves restatement, would receive a base settlement of $79.9 million plus $2.95 million and interest.

The deal is subject to the approval of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. read more

03.06.08, 12:02 PM ET

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC (nyse: RDSA – news – people ) said it has settled the US class action lawsuit relating to the Anglo-Dutch oil group’s oil reserves downgrade in 2004.

Shell will pay over 80 mln usd to settle the claims from a class action filed by the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System.

This follows a similar agreement it made with the European investors last year. The 353 mln usd agreement with European shareholders is pending before the courts of appeals in the Netherlands. read more

Published: March 6, 2008 at 11:45 AM
By CARMEN GENTILE
UPI Energy Correspondent

Nigeria’s oil reserves will be depleted in 43 years, the shortest reserve life of any OPEC nation, according to a recent report.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency noted in its latest findings that Africa’s largest oil producer has the shortest shelf life for its reserves among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries whose reserve totals were calculated in the study.

Oil reserve estimates were not presented for Algeria, Angola and Ecuador, which rejoined OPEC late last year. read more

By Stephen Lendman
06 March, 2008
Countercurrents.org

The arguments are so one-sided, it’s practically a given that “peak oil” is real and threatening. Or is it? This article examines both sides. It lets readers decide and deals only with supply issues, not crucial environmental ones and the need to develop alternative energy sources. First some background.

The name most associated with “peak oil” is M. King Hubbert. He became the world’s best known geologist when he worked for Houston-based Shell Oil Company from 1943 to 1964. His theory goes something like this. Oil is a finite resource. Peak oil, or Hubbert’s peak, is the point at which maximum world production is reached, after which its rate terminally declines. read more

By Sasha L. Lightbourne
March 6th, 2008

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Labour Senator Dion Foulkes announced Wednesday the successful removal of the Shell oil tanker “The Ficus” from a reef off the southwest coast of New Providence.

The double-hulled tanker ran aground on February 27 and was re-floated Wednesday during an operation that started Monday afternoon, according to the minister.

“As announced previously, SMIT International, a salvage company, proposed rescuing the vessel by removing its cargo and refloating the vessel at high tide,” said a statement from the minister. read more

March 5, 2008, 10:32PM

Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian unit was dismissed from two lawsuits claiming it aided the torture and murder of dissidents in Nigeria in the 1990s, including the playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood ruled this week that Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria didn’t have enough direct business contacts with the U.S. to subject it to the jurisdiction of American courts.

Shell could not be reached for comment.

Nigeria’s former military government in 1995 hanged Saro-Wiwa, who protested Shell’s oil production in the Niger Delta. read more

By John Donovan

According to our calculations the Shell reserves fraud will probably cost Shell over $900 million USD approx.

This is made up of: –

$79.9 to U.S. shareholders
$2.95 million to U.S. shareholders
$35 million to be divided between U.S. and European settlement claimants
$352.6 million solely to European shareholders
$90 million paid as a settlement in 2005 of a U.S. class action brought by Shell U.S. employees
$47 million legal costs for European claims
$27 million legal costs for U.S. claims
$100 million – our rough estimate of Shell’s own legal costs covering both companies and all defendant employees
$150 million – fines imposed on Shell by the SEC and the FSA read more

By John Donovan

SOME SENSATIONAL INFORMATION BACKED UP BY DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED TO US TODAY BY BILL CAMPBELL, THE FORMER GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL.

The same information containing extremely serious allegations has been emailed to Michiel Brandjes, Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. It has also been supplied by Bill Campbell to a number of other important parties including the HSE.

We plan to publish it all later today.

In the meantime, this is extract from the statement made by Bill Campbell: read more

06 Mar 2008 

Royal Dutch Shell plc announced today that an agreement in principle was concluded to settle the pending United States class action arising from Shell’s* recategorization of its proved oil and gas reserves in 2004. The class is represented by the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. 

The agreement in principle is subject to specified conditions, including the execution of a definitive settlement agreement, the approvals of Shell’s Boards of Directors and of the relevant governmental authorities of the State of Pennsylvania, and the approval of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. read more

DAVID EBNER
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
March 5, 2008 at 7:32 PM EST

CALGARY — Oil sands projects could face tougher regulatory scrutiny after a federal court judge yesterday found the approval of Imperial Oil Ltd.’s $8-billion oil sands mine insufficient on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

A federal-Alberta review panel approved Imperial’s Kearl mine last year, saying it was in the public interest, although it worried about “critical challenges” on environmental issues and local problems in Fort McMurray. Alta. read more

Source: Port of Houston Authority

Photo Release — Clean & Green Critter Club Coming to a TV Near You
Animated Ads Aim to Encourage All Houstonians to Help Keep Buffalo Bayou and the Houston Ship Channel Clean

HOUSTON, March 5, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — The next phase of the Clean & Green Port of Houston Program has been launched with a new multi-faceted advertising campaign promoting the environmental initiative. The kick-off took place at a reception in February at the home of PHA Commissioner Elyse Lanier and former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier. The Port of Houston Authority, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and corporate partner Shell Oil Company sponsor the Clean & Green Port of Houston Program. The ads and promotional items carry the campaign tagline: “Don’t Trash Our Streets. Don’t Trash Our Bayou. Keep Houston Clean & Green.” Nearly 100 guests, Harris County Criminal Court Judges and other supporters of the Clean & Green Port of Houston Program, previewed the new TV ads and promotional items, including a coloring book for area schools.
 
Commissioner Lanier and The Hon. Caprice Cosper of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 339th District Court.
 
Photos accompanying this release are available at read more

Analyst says explorers assessing what’s in hand as discoveries hit a 10-year low

By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
March 5, 2008, 10:46PM

New oil and natural gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico hit a 10-year low last year, but that doesn’t mean the region is running dry, analysts with research firm Wood Mackenzie said Wednesday.

Companies are putting more of their time and money into assessing their current holdings in the Gulf rather than looking for new ones, said Julie Wilson, a lead analyst with the Edinburgh, Scotland-based research firm. read more

March 6, 2008 – 5:28PM

Woodside Petroleum is open to investment from Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds in the physical facilities of its LNG projects, the chief executive of the oil and gas producer, Don Voelte, said Thursday.

”We haven’t at this point gotten into that but I suspect that we are very open to talking to Singapore about such investments,” said Voelte, when asked about sovereign funds such as Temasek Holdings taking equity stakes.

Woodside had said in February it had no plans to issue stakes in its Browse and Sunrise liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects to customers. read more

Published: March 6 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 6 2008 02:00
From Mr Clement B. Booth and others.

Sir, As members of the EU Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (the EU CLG) we feel we must point out that not all industrial leaders are critical of the European Union’s targets to cut carbon emissions by 20 per cent, generate 20 per cent of energy from renewables and improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent by 2020 (“Sarkozy given emissions challenge”, February 27).

We believe the benefits of strong, early action on climate change outweigh the costs of not acting, and we support these targets. Furthermore, just last month, the group offered its support for the European Commission’s climate and energy package of policy proposals. We congratulate Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s leadership on this issue and we welcome the determination already shown by Nicolas Sarkozy to secure an agreement on this package during the French presidency of the EU. read more

By SOLOMON MOORE

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government is negotiating with American and European oil companies to manage the development of five new fields in northern and southern Iraq, an Oil Ministry official said Wednesday.

Iraq hopes to reach agreements that will help it reach its goal of increasing crude oil production — now 2.3 million barrels a day — by 500,000 barrels a day, said Asim Jihad, a spokesman for the Oil Ministry.

The oil minister, Hussain al-Sharistani, is in Vienna for a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and did not respond to requests for an interview. read more

Terry Macalister
Thursday March 6 2008

A business briefing by Asda would normally be an occasion to whet the appetite of environmental analysts along with financial ones as the WalMart subsidiary has never passed up an opportunity to bang the drum about its latest green or sustainability initiative.

But at last week’s trading update in the City, neither a 46-page strategy document nor an accompanying hour’s talk from the chief executive, Andy Bond, brought a reference to the subject. The discussion was all about “profitable growth”, “staff retention” and “customer focus”. read more