Saturday, January 10, 2009
Accusations that a big oil company is trying to manipulate California’s gasoline market are swirling around a Bakersfield refinery whose owner filed for bankruptcy late last month.
Flying J, owner of the Big West refinery, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 22 and reported that it was closing the plant for maintenance. But a memo written Thursday by a union official at the plant said “the refinery is out of Crude oil” and blamed Shell Oil for closing a pipeline that brings crude into the plant, effectively starving it of raw material.
Shell used to own the refinery and threatened to close it in 2004, saying it wasn’t profitable. California politicians, however, suspected Shell was trying to reduce the state’s gasoline supplies to drive up the price, and they pressured Shell to sell the plant instead.
Those suspicions resurfaced Friday, with Sen. Barbara Boxer asking California Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the union memo’s accusations.
“The Big West Refinery supplies our state with 2 percent of its gasoline and 6 percent of its diesel fuel, and in these tough economic times, Californians can’t afford high gas prices stemming from refinery closures,” Boxer, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to Brown, who said he would “take a hard look at the situation.”
A Shell spokeswoman said Friday that while her company was no longer shipping oil to the refinery, other oil suppliers were free to use the pipeline. In addition, the refinery draws crude from another pipeline not owned by Shell, said spokeswoman Alison Chassin. Flying J owes Shell money for crude already delivered to the plant, an amount she said was in the “tens of millions” of dollars.
With the refinery closed, Shell has had to scramble to find other sources of gasoline for Shell gas stations in the Bakersfield area. Accusations that Shell is trying to manipulate the gas market are unfounded, Chassin said.
“The closure of the Bakersfield refinery is absolutely not in our interest,” she said.
This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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.
