The Times
Motorists in Britain might be grumbling as petrol prices begin to nudge up again, but analysts have some good news for them: the slump in oil demand this year is likely to be bigger than expected.
That is bad news for the oil companies, of course, and HSBC is predicting that cashflows at Shell, for one, will be negative for the next two years. As a result, its shares slid 44p to £16.11. Cairn Energy also fell 47p to £17.33 and BP dropped 12¼p to 485¾p. All that was enough to drive the FTSE 100 down 31.52 points to 4,059.88.
According to Reuters, analysts are predicting an average decline in demand of 430,000 barrels per day this year to 85.43 million barrels, compared with a fall of only 20,000 that had been predicted in November.
Majors such as Shell and BP have been gambling on a recovery in the oil price by storing it in offshore tankers, but there is no sign of an oil price recovery. Richard Savage, a Mirabaud analyst, said that oil might never recover to the heights it reached last summer, given that Americans who burn a quarter of the worlds oil are now buying smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and President Obama is backing renewable energy.
HSBC analysts said that Shells operating cashflow would fall by $7 billion this year from last, while its capital expenditure would rise by $3 billion. It was still a buy, though, because of its strong balance sheet.
The possible need for cash for mid-cap oil companies was highlighted by Tullow Oil, which raised £400 million in a share placing via RBS and Merrill Lynch. It said that it was abandoning its attempt to sell its stake in a Congo (Brazzaville) oilfield to South Korea for £317 million. Tullow defied the sector, rising 25p to 625½p, as analysts said that the cash should help banks to sanction a crucial loan to finance production off Ghana.
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.
