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March 15th, 2008:

Houston Chronicle: Big oil’s political profits may slip

Houston Chronicle image

A motorist fills the tank of his SUV at a Shell station in southwest Houston. High fuel prices are increasing political pressure on big oil companies.
STEVE UECKERT: CHRONICLE

As energy costs continue to soar, industry feeling heat in Congress

By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
March 15, 2008, 12:18AM

It sounds like an oil executive’s vision of Nirvana: $4-a-gallon gasoline this summer and $100-a-barrel oil for the foreseeable future.

But mix in a groundswell of consumer outrage and vote-hungry presidential and congressional candidates in tight races in November, and that good dream turns bad as new laws are proposed to battle high prices and penalize the industry. 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.

Pasadena Star News: Whittier area rich in oil history

By Airan Scruby, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/15/2008 10:06:01 PM PDT

Timeline of drilling in Whittier

WHITTIER – There’s oil in those hills, and for the first time since 1992, oil wells and holding tanks may again dot the landscape.

Last week, city officials announced plans to explore drilling in the Whittier Hills using more environmentally friendly methods.

“The oil market is approaching $100 a barrel,” Matrix Oil Corp. Vice President Mike McCaskey said Friday. “We think it’s a viable project on a test basis.” 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 SUNDAY TIMES: Invest in oil rigs

16 March 2008

Oil prices soared to $111 a barrel last week as investors piled money into crude oil as a protection against inflation and share-price turbulence.

The traditional way to invest in the oil price is to buy shares in one of the big producers, Shell or BP.

However, investment experts are recommending oil-rig bonds as one of the least risky ways to benefit from booming crude prices.

These bonds are issued by companies to finance the construction of rigs and oil and gas projects. They pay a fixed income so, as long as the firm issuing them does not run into trouble, the returns are relatively secure. 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 Sunday Times: Harness the power of eco-boffins

Green business: Technological skill and entrepreneurial instinct must work together to be a success

March 16, 2008
Andrew Stone

The green energy sector is booming. Concern over climate change, sustainability and energy prices has created the conditions for entrepreneurs to profit as investors jostle to fund green power generation and technologies that cut waste and boost efficiency.

Entrepreneurs able to form an effective management team and put a solid business together have never had a better chance to create a successful green business, according to financier and entrepreneur Philip Holbeche. 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 Hartford Courant (Connecticut): U.S. May Act Soon On Broadwater

By DAVID FUNKHOUSER | Courant Staff Writer
March 15, 2008

The federal agency charged with reviewing the Broadwater natural gas project in Long Island Sound could make its long-awaited final decision Thursday in Washington.

The controversial project is on the agenda of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the panel will hear a presentation from its staff, said spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen.

Even if approved, the project still needs approvals from three New York State agencies to go forward. Opponents in Connecticut, including Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, have vowed to take the matter to court if Broadwater wins approval from federal and New York state regulators. 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.

thestar.com: Strangling oil supplies

thestar.com image

A car passes in front of Imperial Oil’s Dartmouth refinery on Feb. 20, 2008. 
ANDREW VAUGHAN/THE CANADIAN PRESS
 
Despite masses of cash pumped into search for new sources, Big Oil can’t replenish its reserves

Mar 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Tyler Hamilton
Energy Reporter

Investors in energy stocks are understandably excited. Record profits, strong demand and healthy share prices offer plenty of reason to celebrate.

With oil surging past $110 (U.S.) a barrel this week, and with increased talk of consolidation in the oil sands, there’s also a sense that the good times will last. 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.

BBC News: Nigerian deals ‘wasted billions’

BBC News image

Olusegun Obasanjo is still influential in Nigeria’s ruling party

Some $2.2bn-worth of Nigerian energy contracts were awarded without a bidding process by the former president and his energy minister, officials say.

One was to a company with less than $200 of base capital at the time, a witness told a parliamentary committee.

It is investigating why $16bn of investment in the energy sector during Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight years in power failed to end power shortages.

Ex-President Abdulsalami Abubakar heads one of the firms, the committee heard. 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: Global ‘Oil Shock’ Rattles World Stock Markets

March 14, 2008
Gary Dorsch: Bio & more articles

Cleaning up the mess that Mr Greenspan left behind was never going to be easy.

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 TRUTH ABOUT SHELL IN NIGERIA

By John Donovan

Since we have a regular visitor to our Live Chat facility who is in a state of denial about Shell’s track record in Nigeria, I have put together a collection of articles and other information to enlighten them.

The Wall Street Journal: Nigerian Troops Raid Oil Delta Village; 6 Killed

EXTRACT: Royal Dutch/Shell (RD SC), which produces half of Nigeria’s oil, admitted Thursday that it “sometimes feed conflict by the way we award contracts, gain access to land and deal with community representatives.” The statement was in response to a critical independent report commissioned by the firm that reported warned mounting violence could force the firm to completely abandon onshore operations by 2008. 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.

Palm Beach Post: South Florida gas stations get ethanol blends

EXTRACT: Houston-based Shell Oil Co. spokesman L K Herlong said he expects most Florida Shell stations to provide ethanol-blended gasoline by December. Shell will begin offering E10 in southeast Florida next week, he said.

By SUSAN SALISBURY
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 15, 2008

South Florida motorists such as salesman Angel Gonzalez of West Palm Beach now have another choice at the gasoline pump, even if they aren’t all that familiar with it.

“I don’t know anything about it. I know I have to buy gas,” said Gonzalez, 31, who works in Boca Raton and was filling his Honda Accord with a fuel called E10 at a Hess Express in suburban West Palm Beach. 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.

AlaskaJournal.com: Kivalina says oil companies to blame for erosion, climate change

By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Web posted Sunday, March 16, 2008

Physical evidence of climate change has been surfacing for years, and it was so gradual that it wasn’t enough to cause alarm in the beginning, said Colleen Swan, tribal administrator for the Native village of Kivalina.

There were changes in the timing of the migration of certain sea mammals and thinning sea ice conditions that make it unsafe for hunters to set up camps on sea ice. There were also changes in weather patterns, bringing rain in late January, when temperatures were traditionally below zero on the barrier island in the Chukchi Sea in Northwestern 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 Globe & Mail (Canada): Iogen on track to get funding for biofuel refinery

With financing from the federal government, large-scale plant would be the first in Canada to use wheat straw to make ethanol

SHAWN MCCARTHY
GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
March 15, 2008

OTTAWA — Iogen Corp. said yesterday it is closing in on federal funding that will allow it to build Canada’s first cellulosic ethanol refinery, a $500-million plant in northern Saskatchewan that will use wheat straw to produce biofuel, electricity, enzymes and fertilizer.

Ottawa’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) confirmed yesterday that Iogen is eligible for financing under its next-generation biofuel fund, subject to the corporation completing its due diligence and a final decision from its board. 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: Peak Oil? Industry Numbers Disagree

Posted by Keith Johnson
March 14, 2008, 10:45 pm

The supply of oil, one of the most crucial elements for all energy choices—renewable or otherwise—is a subject of dispute even among the denizens of the industry.

The “peak-oil” debate returned on the final day of The Wall Street Journal’s “ECO:nomics” conference, politely pitting a reluctant oil-industry worrier, Christophe de Margerie, head of France’s Total SA, against Daniel Yergin, head of bullish Cambridge Energy Research Associates. The question they hashed out: What does a $110-a-barrel price say about the supply of 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.

NY Times: Behind Bear Stearns Rescue Plan, a Wall St. Domino Theory: …’could have triggered widespread panic and potentially a collapse of the financial system’

THE NEW YORK TIMES
 
By JENNY ANDERSON and VIKAS BAJAJ
Published: March 15, 2008

The Federal Reserve’s unusual decision to provide emergency assistance to Bear Stearns underscores a long-building concern that one failure could spread across the financial system.

Wall Street firms like Bear Stearns conduct business with many individuals, corporations, financial companies, pension funds and hedge funds. They also do billions of dollars of business with each other every day, borrowing and lending securities at a dizzying pace and fueling the wheels of capitalism. 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: Opec and commodity traders to mull oil price

March 15, 2008

Carl Mortished, World Business Editor

A closed meeting of big oil companies, Opec and leading commodity exchanges will discuss the upwards spiral of the crude oil price amid mounting concern that the recent surge is not reflecting the slowdown in the global economy.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which will convene the discussion in Paris on Monday, said that it would debate “the complex process of price formation”. Oil market experts from big oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and StatoilHydro, are expected to attend the meeting, alongside representatives from the crude oil futures markets and pricing agencies. The IEA said that the meeting would include refiners and oil-trading institutions. 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: Need to know: Saturday March 15, 2008

Natural resources

Abu Dhabi National Energy Company said that it was in exclusive negotiations with Royal Dutch Shell and the ExxonMobil unit Esso Exploration and Production for the purchase of some of their North Sea assets. The talks relate to Shell and Esso’s equity interests in the Tern, Eider, Cormorant North, South Cormorant fields and related sub-sea satellite fields and infrastructure.

Opec: A closed meeting of big oil companies, Opec and representatives of leading commodity exchanges on Monday will discuss the upwards spiral of the crude oil price. 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.

Vanguard (Nigeria): Rivers govt disowns SPDC over statement

Written by George Onah, Port Harcourt    
Saturday, 15 March 2008 

The Rivers State Government has disowned the Shell Petroleum  Development Company, SPDC, over a statement allegedly  credited to the government that it had directed the company  to secure oil wells in Ogoniland.

An online statement signed by the Director of Press Affairs  to the Governor, Ogbonna Nwuke, said the state government  was not in any position to give such directives to Shell  but that it was the responsibility of the Federal  Government to do so when the need arises. 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.