Tue Jun 2, 2009 5:18am EDT
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Tuesday it had seen costs come down in the last few months as it renegotiated with project contractors.
“As far as projects are concerned and normal operating costs, we see a lot of our renegotiations … enter with lower costs at this moment,” Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Abu Dhabi.
Big oil suppliers, including those in the oil-exporting Gulf region, have driven down project price tags by billions of dollars as they force contractors to go back to the drawing board to factor in cheaper costs.
“I think at this moment we still have a lot of pressure on cost savings in projects. Renegotiation costs will come down,” van der Veer said.
“I think it’s early days to say how far,” he added.
Shell has pledged to continue investing despite a decline in crude prices from peaks of almost $150 a barrel last summer. The company plans to invest $31-32 billion in projects this year, compared with $30 billion last year.
Shell last month, like many oil companies, reported sharply lower first-quarter profits due to a halving of the price of crude to an average of around $44 a barrel in the quarter from $97/bbl a year earlier.
Oil prices have since recovered to just below $68/bbl on Tuesday.
Van der Veer will be replaced as chief executive by Shell’s current Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser in July.
(Reporting by Luke Pachymuthu, editing by Will Waterman)
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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.
