The Sunday Times
UK oil giants profits plunge $10bn
July 26, 2009
Danny Fortson
THE worlds biggest oil and gas companies are suffering the most precipitous fall in profits in the history of the industry, it will be revealed this week.
Several of the sectors top players including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group will announce quarterly earnings this week, revealing the extent of the damage wrought by a combination of recession, the falling value of gas and an oil price that remains far below the record levels it reached a year ago. Oil has fallen from $147 a barrel to $68.
Concerns are rising that if the situation does not improve quickly the industry could be forced into drastic restructuring, with some compelled to sell major assets, exit countries or even entire regions, and slash dividends.
One industry source said: If things continue like this, it wont be a question of selling a few old assets in the North Sea to help fund their capital programmes. It will be a question of getting out of the North Sea entirely.
The oil industry relies on cash flow to fund the hundreds of billions it spends every year to find new sources around the world. The recovery of the oil price from the lows it hit this year has been more than offset by weaker demand and falling gas prices.
When it reveals its performance for the three months to June on Thursday, Shell is expected to report profits of about $2.4 billion (£1.5 billion), down more than two-thirds compared with last year. The earnings call will be the first chaired by Peter Voser, who took over as chief executive this month. Investors will be keen for further details of his sweeping cost-cutting plans, expected to include thousands of redundancies.
BP is expected to announce earnings of $2.8 billion, also down about two-thirds from a year ago but marginally up on the $2.4 billion it made in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs expects BGs profits to have halved to $758m for the quarter. Together BG, BP and Shell will have seen profits drop $10.5 billion relative to a year ago.
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.
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.
