Shell Sets Up First Iraq Office Since the 1970s
BAGHDAD Royal Dutch Shell, one of the worlds biggest oil companies, completed a multibillion-dollar natural gas deal with theIraq government on Monday and quietly mentioned that it had established an office in Baghdad the first foreign petroleum giant to do so since this countrys oil industry was nationalized three decades ago.
The company described the events here as a milestone that partly reflected the vast improvement in Iraqs stability compared with the worst years of the war. But in a sobering reminder of the underlying dangers to doing business here, the company would not disclose the location of its Baghdad office, and the senior Shell official who announced the gas deal was accompanied by a phalanx of armed guards.
We are ready to establish a presence, the official, Linda Cook, executive director of the companys gas and power unit and a member of the board, said during a news conference in Baghdads heavily guarded Green Zone in response to a question
Ms. Cook, who oversaw the signing of the gas deal with the Iraqi government, appeared with Iraqs oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani.
The joint venture to recapture gas that now goes to waste during oil extraction in Basra, in southern Iraq is the companys official return to Iraq after 36 years. Along with BP, Exxon Mobil and Total, Shell was among the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company before losing their oil concessions to nationalization as Saddam Hussein was rising to power in the 1970s.
Much of the recaptured gas will go to power stations and industrial sites like petrochemical and fertilizer plants, Mr. Shahristani said. Shell is one of more than 30 foreign companies bidding on long-term contracts for six important oil fields. The winners will be announced in 2009. A condition for any winning bid set by the Iraqi government is the willingness to establish and staff a companys presence in Baghdad.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
