FINANCIAL TIMES
Majnoon win gives Shell a boost
By Carola Hoyos, Chief energy correspondent
Published: December 14 2009 20:54 | Last updated: December 14 2009 20:54
EXTRACTS
Royal Dutch Shell, in particular, is counting its blessing…
Shell, out of all of its peers, is struggling most to step up its production as old, profitable fields decline and new reserves are proving increasingly difficult to secure.
Moreover, the Anglo-Dutch oil group carries a very large extra burden. Shell has to fill the void left in 2004 when it was forced to cut its proved reserves by about a quarter after realising the company should never have booked those reserves with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, in the first place.
Shell has since tried to spend its way out of the gaping hole the error has left in its explorations and production portfolio. Shell has the sectors biggest capital expenditure budget of between $30bn and $33bn (£20.6bn) this year. BP, Shells closest competitor and another entrant in Iraq, has capex of $20bn this year. On a per barrel basis, Shell spends more than twice as much as BP.
But Peter Voser, Shells new chief executive, has promised to rein in costs, making the task of finding new reserves and production even more challenging.
So it must have been with some relief that Shell on Friday found it had put in the winning bid to develop Iraqs Majnoon oil field.
Psychologically, Iraq was more important to Shell than BP because they [Shell] are really struggling to stabilise production, let alone grow it, says Peter Hitchens, an analyst at Panmure Gordon in London.
FULL FT ARTICLE (SUBSCRIPTION)
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.
