March 11th, 2008:

Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:56pm GMT

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) – A U.S. congressional committee on Tuesday asked the leaders of the world’s five biggest publicly traded oil companies to testify at a hearing in early April on why the companies still need federal tax breaks while earning huge profits off record oil prices.

The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming sent letters on the April 1 hearing to Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and the U.S. units of BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research). read more

By Ed Crooks in London
Published: March 11 2008 22:13 | Last updated: March 11 2008 22:13

The soaring oil price did little to stimulate mergers and acquisitions activity in the oil and gas industry last year, according to the leading study of deals in the sector, to be published on Wednesday.

The survey from John S. Herold, a research firm, and Standard Chartered, a bank, also found that the prices paid for oil and gas reserves were little changed from 2006 levels, even though oil on the commodities markets rose 55 per cent during the year. read more

By Javier Blas and Neil Dennis
Published: March 11 2008 11:10 | Last updated: March 11 2008 20:11

Oil came close to breaching $110 a barrel, boosted by signs that demand in China remained robust and investors were seeking protection against further weakness in the US dollar.

The rise in oil prices came after the International Energy Agency, the western countries’ energy watchdog, said that global oil demand growth in 2008 was relatively robust in spite of record prices and an economic slowdown in the US. read more

Filed from Houston
3/11/2008 7:09:49 PM GMT
 
THAILAND: Shell will issue an international tender within the next four months to selected consortia, formed from shipyards in Japan and Korea and international engineering procurement and construction contractors, for a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) construction project, said Jon Chadwick, vice president of Shell Gas & Power’s Asia operations, at GasTech 2008 in Bangkok this week.

Shell has settled on a “design-one-build-many approach” to its FLNG design, which is cyclone tolerant and features a 3.5 million tons/year LNG facility with additional hydrocarbon liquids capacity and is 1,476 feet (450 m) long by 246 feet (75 m) wide. read more

The CJP is only the premier organization that arranges the unique training for all stakeholders to provide them the opportunity to understand, learn, act and implement the Jatropha plans from ground zero to Biodiesel production in a very successful manner
The search for a viable alternative feedstock for biodiesel in 2007 has run hot and cold in 2007, Jatropha feedstocks garnered a great deal of attention from investors and the media. We are happy to note that our untiring efforts have made the Jatropha an alternative feedstock for building a sustainable biodiesel industry. A number of new development projects and plantations involving thousands and hundreds of thousands of hectares with investment of billions of dollars have been initiated during the year 2007.
Jumping of a lot of companies on the bandwagon has enhanced the role and responsibility of the CJP to provide them, the right steps to start the successful business ensuring that this crop is planted in the right way and with due cares to what’s possible in terms of sustainable farming techniques. read more

The Associated Press
Published: March 11, 2008

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Royal Dutch Shell PLC has signed a deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Brazil’s government-run oil giant Petrobras, the companies said in a joint statement Tuesday.

The gas will meet part of Petrobras’ import needs to fuel thermoelectric plants in Brazil, the companies said.

Shell will provide part of the liquefied natural gas to two offshore regasification terminals off the coast of northeastern Ceara state and near Rio de Janeiro. read more

By John Donovan

Today has proven to be one of the more lively days on Live Chat.

One outspoken contributor claimed:

“Shell remains a top dog among oil companies”

Someone quickly took issue with this assertion, observing:

Top Dog? The description of vd Veer, Brinded and Cook that I heard very recently from a very senior person in Shell was “headless chickens”.

In this connection we received information this afternoon that many people at the top in Shell now regard the company as a lost cause. According to one source the Pearl project is being hyped up on the basis that Shell still has two more years to dream up excuses for start-up delays. read more

March 11th, 2008 06:28

UpstreamOnline: Pearl GTL set for big payback

Paddy what do you say to this … great investment … have you put your money into RDS shares now?

Goblok

By Philip Davis: Bio & more articles

In March of 2005, Goldman Sachs kicked off the oil speculation boom by releasing a report that “Oil Could Spike to $105.”

BILL CAMPBELL, FORMER GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL

By John Donovan

Below is the full content – every word – of a statement former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell has sent to Shell, the HSE, the news media and other interested parties. This article was first published to coincide with a related report broadcast on TV Channel 4 News broadcast nationally in the UK. Bill Campbell appeared on the report. Bill and I had discussions on the subject with a Channel 4 News Producer prior to the broadcast. The article is now updated with associated Shell internal documents published without Shell’s consent. read more

By Damon Evans

Woodside’s North West Shelf train-V liquefied natural gas expansion project looks set to be delayed by at least three months till September due to construction delays on site.

“The original completion date was targeted in June, with first gas loaded in July, but it looks like construction delays will set back completion until at least September,” said a source on the sidelines at GasTech.

The push is on to finish the project that is located in Karratha in North West Australia, but productivity problems with builders is slowing construction down, added the source. read more

By Damon Evans

The $18 billion Shell-led Pearl gas-to-liquids plant on the eastern coast of Qatar is set to reap the rewards of the current high oil price climate and is likely to have a payback period of as little as four years due burgeoning GTL economics.

The Pearl plant will be the largest GTL plant in the world when it starts up in 2010 and will produce around 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent well head gas over the life of the project, said Shell’s managing director of Pearl GTL, Andy Brown, at the GasTech conference today. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Crude-Oil Futures Soar To Another High, $107.90

By BRIAN BASKIN
March 11, 2008; Page C7

HOUSTON — Crude futures moved further into uncharted territory, with oil gaining momentum in defiance of a decline in other commodities.
 
Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose $2.75, or 2.6%, to $107.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a settlement record. The front-month contract hit an intraday high of $108.21, marking the ninth out of the last 10 sessions in which a record was set. read more

By Raphael Minder in Bangkok
Published: March 11 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 11 2008 02:00

Chevron, the US oil and gas company, said yesterday it would develop a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub in Australia, adding to its Gorgon venture and rivalling a neighbouring project owned by Woodside Petroleum, the Australian producer.

The US energy company said it was studying where along the coast of Western Australia to build a gas plant, which would be capable of producing 5m tonnes of gas per year from Wheatstone – a gas field next to Woodside’s Pluto project. read more

Terry Macalister
Tuesday March 11 2008

Former BP chief Lord Browne has underlined the growing commercial value of tropical forests by joining a business that claims to mix “ethical” conservation with selling carbon credits. Browne’s appointment at Sustainable Forestry Management came as oil companies Shell and ExxonMobil said they may sell Infineum, a biofuels joint venture. Browne had wanted to take BP “beyond petroleum” and promoted green initiatives. Since leaving last May he predicted big money would be made in trading carbon as much as oil. read more

The re-branding of the BP stations by Shell will be completed by June this year.

Story by NATION Correspondent
Publication Date: 3/11/2008 

Mr Edgar Omoto, Shell manager in charge of business improvement, said about 50 stations have already been re-branded.

“The programme is well ahead of time and we expect that by the end of June, all the service stations shall bear our corporate logo and colours,” he said.

Initially, it was expected that by the end of this month, the company would have re-branded about 40 stations across the country. read more