Motorists queue at Shell station to get petrol. Photo/CHRIS OJOW

By ZEDDY SAMBU
Posted Thursday, April 1 2010 at 00:00

Kenya Shell employees on Thursday started a two-day go slow, protesting against lack of formal communication on reports that the firm was leaving the Kenyan market.

The employees, who donned black and red outfits, prompted the firm’s executives to hold an emergency meeting to try and calm the nerves of the restless staff.

Players in the oil market reckon that OiLibya is the front runner to snap up the assets at an estimated price of $2 billion (about Sh152 billion) for Shell’s African operations. read more

Los Angeles Times: Shell refineries reach Clean Air Act settlements

By Associated Press

March 31, 2010 | 12:02 p.m

ST. ROSE, La. (AP) — Two Shell chemical companies have agreed to install $6 million in pollution reduction equipment at two petroleum refineries in Louisiana and Alabama and upgrade a terminal in Puerto Rico as part of a Clean Air Act settlement with the federal government. read more

REUTERS

HOUSTON, March 31 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) on Wednesday started up its new Perdido oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the world’s deepest offshore drilling and production facility.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) Perdido, 100,000 barrels of oil per day, 200 million cubic feet per day of gas, the first producing platform in the Lower Tertiary, a frontier area in the deepest waters of the Gulf and furthest from shore; Mars, 160,000 barrels of oil per day, 121 million cubic feet of gas. read more

AlaskaDispatch

Royal Dutch Shell, which has spent several billion dollars trying to advance its offshore oil program off Alaska’s northern coast, heralded a decision by President Obama to allow exploration and drilling to continue.

The decision takes Bristol Bay leases off the table and may not lead to additional Arctic leases. But the decision does allow development of existing leases, including Shell’s in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. read more

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN) has agreed to pay $3.5 million in penalties and spend an estimated $6 million to install pollution-reduction equipments at three U.S. refineries to reduce harmful air emissions.

The equipment is intended to cut output of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by more than 1,450 tons a year at the facilities in Louisiana, Alabama and Puerto Rico.

Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno said the settlement is an example of businesses’ effort to comply with government environmental regulations. “We will continue to work with industry to achieve compliance under the Clean Air Act to remove harmful pollution from the air we breathe,” she added. read more

By Brian Swint and Brett Foley

March 31 (Bloomberg) — Oil companies may struggle to unload their excess refining capacity in Europe this year as profits from turning crude into fuel stay depressed.

Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. are seeking to sell refineries in Europe after the recession reduced demand. Eni SpA Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni said this month it’s “impossible” to find buyers after refining profit margins slumped to a 15-year low in December. read more

Peoples heads have been spinning so much from changes in the past 15 years they don’t even know what their job scope is anymore!

Series of Shell Blog postings by “Uncle Tom” on Mar 30th, 2010

Shell Management . . . . . .

In years past Shell looked at the long “cycles” in the business. Staying diversified meant when one part of the business wasn’t doing well, the other side of the business was. Being diversified kept the Company afloat.

Today’s Management Philosophy is a short term 1 to 2 year focus period, if results are not achieved in that short span of time, make changes quickly and expect better results. Change, change, change, change. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MARCH 30, 2010

By AMOL SHARMA

MUMBAI—Indian conglomerate Essar Group will decide by June whether to move forward with the purchase of three European oil refineries from Royal Dutch Shell PLC as part of its global expansion plans, the company’s chief executive said.

The companies extended their exclusive talks in November without specifying a time frame. Essar Group CEO Prashant Ruia said the company is studying whether the deal makes sense now, given the low refining margins globally in the oil business. read more

Shell’s reputation was besmirched by the conduct of its New Zealand executives, whose court testimony Justice Wild rejected as unreliable.

OPINION: Shell’s standing as a good New Zealand corporate citizen is on the line.

It will be at least  three weeks before Todd Energy’s fascinating $274 million lawsuit against oil multinational Shell finishes at the High Court in Wellington.

Justice Robert Dobson, assisted by economist lay member Professor Martin Richardson, is then likely to reserve his decision on the exemplary damages claim, relating to efforts by Shell and Austrian partner OMV to limit production at the Pohokura gasfield. read more

28 March 2010 – Issue : 879

The Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc look set to be grilled again by environmental group Greenpeace.

The latest action by Greenpeace would focus on their exploitation of Canadian oil sands, according to local media reports.

Greenpeace reportedly plans to launch more short-term actions to disrupt production in the Canadian oil sands over frustration with government handling of the industry.

Last year, Greenpeace actions temporarily disrupted crude production at Suncor Energy Inc’s Alberta oil sands operation and production at two of Royal Dutch Shell’s facilities in the western Canadian province. read more

Shell is obsessed with our online activities, not only in relation to our website, but also my role as a Wikipedian originating and editing articles relating to Shell.

I have noticed a suspicious correlation between Shell’s internal fretting about how to edit my Wikipedia contributions without being caught and editing undertaken during the same time period by Shell partisan contributors hiding behind pseudonyms

Article by John Donovan

As prominent critics of Royal Dutch Shell, it is invaluable for us to know what the company is saying, thinking and plotting about us.

The inside information comes mainly from Shell itself, which is obliged under the UK Data Protection Act to supply us on request with Shell documents and communications in which our names are mentioned.

As a result, despite redaction of some information by Shell lawyers, we have a wealth of evidence, confirming that contrary to the impression it would like to project, Shell is obsessed with our online activities, not only in relation to our website, but also my role as a Wikipedian originating and editing articles relating to Shell. read more

A clear example of what could be done right now is to address the plight of woodland caribou in the oilsands area, which are headed for extinction within 40 years unless a good portion of their habitat is protected and restored

Edmonton Journal: March 29, 2010 2:13 AM

How encouraging to have a former industry CEO, Clive Mather of Shell, speak so clearly the reality of the oilsands development and the need to actually improve performance rather than just the need to improve the messaging.

There is certainly much to improve and being honest about that, and then taking action to show the world Alberta can and will change is the only way to climb out of the tarry pit Alberta is in.

A clear example of what could be done right now is to address the plight of woodland caribou in the oilsands area, which are headed for extinction within 40 years unless a good portion of their habitat is protected and restored. read more

By Anthony Dipaola

March 29 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc is still in talks on a final agreement to develop natural gas in Iraq, the Middle East vice president for new business said.

“Iraq will become a regional player in the gas sector and an exporter to the region and the world,” Mounir Bouaziz said at a conference in Abu Dhabi today. “Iraq is losing $50 a second by flaring gas.” The country, which flares more than 1 billion cubic feet a day, has the potential to export 20 billion cubic meters a year of gas, Bouaziz said. read more

By Gavin Evans

March 29 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc has agreed to sell its New Zealand downstream assets to Infratil Ltd. and the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation for NZ$696.5 million ($492 million.)

The purchase, which remains conditional on funding and regulatory approval, will be funded with NZ$420 million of equity and a NZ$600 million banking facility, Wellington-based Infratil said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange.

Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, is selling its New Zealand fuel retailing and refining interests as part of a global strategy to focus on oil and gas production in expanding markets. It agreed in November to negotiate exclusively with the Infratil-led venture on the sale of the group’s 229 filling stations, port terminals and a 17 percent stake in New Zealand Refining Co. read more

Posting by Wilt Staph on Mar 28th, 2010 at 7:10 pm

Britain’s refinery capacity is around 92 million tonnes which is in the same ballpark as domestic consumption. Arguably, then, Stanlow which can process around 12m tonnes (13% of the UK total) is not surplus to requirements. But rumours abound that if Essar does buy the plant they will seek to close the refining capacity and just use it as a storage and entrepot depot. Around 900 Shell employees will be made redundant and few will have a chance of a job with Essar if they do close the refinery. read more

By Shaji Mathew

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Shell Oman Marketing Co., a petroleum products marketing and distribution firm, said it was sued for 26 million rials ($67.5 million) by an Omani company.

“An Omani LLC company has, without prior notice, filed a legal suit against Shell Oman Marketing for an alleged infringement of selling rights within the sultanate of Oman,” Shell Oman said in a statement to the Muscat bourse today. Shell Oman was named as a co-defendant, along with another Omani company, it said, without giving the names of other companies involved in the suit. read more

The Sunday Times: March 28, 2010

The company is expected to lodge an offer this week for a network of 800 petrol stations and the Lindsey oil refinery at Killingholme, Lincolnshire. The assets have been put up for sale by Total, the French oil group. It has hired JP Morgan, the investment bank, to sell its UK business, which employs 5,000 people. The business is expected to fetch more than £1 billion.

The prospect of the Kremlincontrolled giant owning key parts of the UK oil infrastructure could worry the government. When Gazprom was rumoured to be looking at a bid for Centrica, owner of British Gas, in 2006, ministers met to examine the “possible consequences resulting from any takeover of a major UK energy supplier”. read more

The Shell “Pecten” was one of the most familiar symbols in the world and Shell gas stations were in more than 120 countries – Shell was by far the market leader

POSTING ON SHELL BLOG: 27 March 2010

(By “Wilt Staph”)

The slow demise of Shell’s refining and marketing business (known as “Oil Products”) has been painful to watch for those who remember, or were part of, the glory days of the Shell brand. At one time Shell was arguably the most ubiquitous consumer brand of all in any sector – certainly on a global scale. The Shell “Pecten” was one of the most familiar symbols in the world and Shell gas stations were in more than 120 countries – Shell was by far the market leader. But over the last ten years or so this position of dominance has eroded and now Shell has announced that it will be withdrawing from around a third of the countries in which it retails automotive products – the beginning of the last phase of Shell’s existence as a marketer is underway and gathering pace. So where did it all go wrong? read more

The Irish Times – Friday, March 26, 2010

Glengad residents charges dropped

Local residents prosecuted for removing nets placed by Shell at Glengad beach, Co Mayo, to prevent sand martins nesting on the cliffs had the charges against them dropped by the State yesterday.

The charges against nine members of the Erris community were struck out by Judge Gerard Haughton at a special sitting of Belmullet District Court after the State indicated it would not be offering any evidence.

Last April, the residents were arrested and charged with theft after removing the nets from the cliff. Glengad beach, where it is planned that gas from the Corrib field will come ashore, is a protected habitat for birds and wildlife. read more

Herald News Services: Saturday March 27, 2010 2:17 AM

Jobs – Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s workforce in the Netherlands declined by 2.8 per cent to 11,323 employees last year after the company announced a restructuring program under new chief executive Peter Voser.

Shell, which vies with BP PLC as Europe’s biggest oil company, terminated the employment of 153 staff, while another 183 left the company, according to a statement on the website of Shell Netherlands. A total of 1,542 employees were reassigned to different locations and jobs. The Hague-based Shell had 11,645 employees in the Netherlands at the end of 2008. read more

Besides ExxonMobil's big bet, Royal Dutch Shell and China's biggest oil company are spending billions of dollars buying shale and coal seam companies in Australia with a view toward converting it into LNG and shipping to China.

Royal Dutch Shell has quietly expanded its position in an emerging natural gas field in South Texas as part of a broader bid to become a bigger player in the North American gas business in coming years, the company's top U.S. executive said Friday.

REPORT ON ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC AND OIL SANDS

There is a culpable short-termism about Shell at the moment. But we have seen it all before.

POSTING ON SHELL BLOG 26 MARCH 2010 BY “Wilt Staph”

There is a culpable short-termism about Shell at the moment. But we have seen it all before.

It is mind-blowing that one of the world’s largest corporations cannot:

(a) Decide what its strategy is

(b) Use its huge resources to stick with that strategy over the medium to long term.

I would humbly suggest:

(1) Concentrate exclusively on upstream and midstream oil and gas.

(2) Get rid of activities that fall outside the competances of those at the top (Refining and Marketing especially). read more

BBC NEWS

Friday, 26 March 2010

A UK judge has ruled that a British solicitor should be extradited to the US to face corruption charges.

Jeffrey Tesler, 61, from London, is accused by US authorities of involvement in a conspiracy to channel bribes to senior officials in Nigeria.

Mr Tesler was arrested last year following an extradition request from the US authorities.

It is alleged he channelled money to Nigerian officials, to obtain contracts valued at more than $6bn (£4bn).

Bribes were allegedly paid from a $132m (£88.4m) slush fund to influence the awarding of a construction contract for a natural gas plant on Bonny Island in Nigeria. read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: March 26 2010

Royal Dutch Shell is turning sugar and water into small quantities of synthetic petrol at a joint venture with a US technology company, it has announced.

Virent Energy Systems, based in Wisconsin, has been producing about two thirds of a barrel per day of its “biogasoline” from a demonstration plant.

Shell and Virent now plan to have a design for a commercial-scale plant by the end of the year, with hopes of possible production in 2015-16.

Shell has several joint ventures working on advanced biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, and in February set up a $12bn joint venture with Cosan of Brazil to produce and distribute ethanol and sugar. read more

NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS SUPPLIED

From: .nl>
Date: 25 March 2010 21:33:38 GMT
To: [email protected]
Subject: Deception by Dutch demissionair government concerning CO2 capture under the town of Barendrecht

Hi John,

I don’t know if you were informed of the latest “trick and deception” about the CO2 capture under the town of Barendrecht by the demissionair Dutch government (??due to lobby by Shell and/or help of Shell lawyers??).
End of last month the Dutch government has fallen and is in a demissionair state. This means they cannot take controversial decisions. read more

9NEWS

Thursday March 25, 2010
By Rebecca Le May and Xavier La Canna

Woodside Petroleum Ltd has quashed talk of a $15 billion takeover bid for Santos Ltd as analysts suggest the smaller company is more likely to appeal to other predators.

Royal Dutch Shell or ExxonMobil were more obvious candidates for a takeover of the Adelaide-based company, analysts said on Thursday as Woodside and Santos both denied media reports of a planned takeover.

Woodside chief executive Don Voelte told a conference in Perth the company did not comment on market rumours “but I can also just tell you that there’s nothing to it”. read more

Gerson Lehrman Group

March 24, 2010
Analysis by: Hans Linhardt

Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.

Summary

Shai Oster reported today in WSJ (B2) that China National Petroleum is ready to jointly develop with Shell unconventional sources of natural gas in China, thereby copying the advanced technologies for unconventional gas developments in the U.S.

Analysis

Shell has found Russia to be a rough territory to develop natural gas resources for LNG export and/or commercial appreciation.  It turns out China has learned their lesson from the Unocal takeover attempt without an IOC partner.  Now China’s energy sector is a much more sophisticated global energy resources player than the bullying Gazprom operation of Russia, inviting Shell to be a partner even for their own tight gas and potential  shale gas resources, to be equal in geology to the the U.S. and of enormous interest to China to avoid any significant dependance on Gazprom of Russia.  Significant developments are: read more

Associated Press – March 24, 2010 1:04 PM ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt says Shell Oil is expected to bring 400 workers and seven support vessels to Dutch Harbor to begin oil exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

The flotilla is anticipated to arrive in June and remain through October.

A bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior has conditionally approved Shell’s plan to drill up to three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea. read more

Bloomberg News
March 24, 2010, 12:53PM

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil producer, said it expects to double spending on acquisitions to about $2 billion this year.

Shell will dispose of about $1 billion in assets this year, The Hague-based company said in slides prepared for the Howard Weil Energy Conference in New Orleans. The company sees its net capital investment this year at $29 billion.

Shell spent $1 billion on acquisitions last year and is targeting another $1 billion in cost savings this year. It will cut 2,000 more jobs by the end of next year to weather the economic slowdown, which has caused fuel inventories to swell in the U.S. and Europe. read more

EMAIL UPDATE FROM BILL CAMPBELL, FORMER HSE GROUP AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL, ON  PENDING DECISION BY SCOTTISH LEGAL AUTHORITY ON POSSIBLE PROSECUTION AGAINST SHELL

From: [email protected]
Date: 24 March 2010 10:32:37 GMT
To: [email protected]
Subject: Update

John

The most recent update of yesterday.  I was aware of the delay caused by the illness of Andrew Grant who is currently a senior public prosecutor for Central region based in Stirling.  My assumption is that the Crown Office (or more specifically I guess the Lord Advocate) will make a decision based on the report to prosecute or otherwise.  Prosecution proceedings in Scotland, similar to England, are entered into under two criteria read more

BBC NEWS

Royal Dutch Shell has strengthened its ties in China with a 30-year deal to explore for natural gas in the country.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant will partner China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in the project.

The deal follow’s this week’s joint bid with PetroChina, owned by CNPC, for Australia’s Arrow Energy gas company.

Shell has been expanding its search for gas assets rapidly, and the deal secures the company a strong presence in resource-hungry China.

Under the agreement, which still needs clearance from the Beijing government, Shell and CNPC will initially search for gas in a 4,000 sq km area in the Sichuan province. read more

(LOOK BACK AT AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED DURING THE LAST TRANSFORMATION AT SHELL)

WHY IS THE WORLD’S MOST PROFITABLE COMPANY TURNING ITSELF INSIDE OUT? ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL LOOKED AT THE FUTURE AND DIDN’T LIKE THE VIEW. NOW IT IS CHANGING EVERYTHING FROM THE WAY ITS MANAGERS ACT TO THE WAY IT DOES BUSINESS.

(FORTUNE Magazine) – By all the usual measures, Royal Dutch/Shell should be sitting on top of the world. For the third year in a row it leads the Global 500 in total profits, having earned a staggering $8.9 billion in 1996. The company’s stock has been shining too. Since 1992 Shell has pumped out a 20% average annual total return. All of which makes it surprising to learn that this prosperous behemoth is, in fact, suffering a soul-shattering midlife crisis. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

TUESDAY MARCH 23, 2010

By RUSSELL GOLD

A biofuels start-up, working with oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC, has begun turning sugar beets into a gasoline substitute compatible with existing engines and pipelines.

Virent Energy Systems Inc. is expected to say Tuesday that its process of converting plants into liquid fuels is working at a 10,000-gallon-a-year pilot site in Madison, Wisc. “At today’s crude-oil and biomass costs, our process is competitive,” says Lee Edwards, Virent’s chief executive. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

By SHAI OSTER

BEIJING — China National Petroleum Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC Tuesday announced plans to jointly develop and produce natural gas in China’s Sichuan basin, the Anglo-Dutch giant’s second gas venture in China.

In a statement, Shell said the companies have submitted a production sharing contract to the Chinese government for approval.

The agreement comes more than a year after Shell began discussing with CNPC a production sharing contract for the Jinqiu gas field. CNPC is China’s largest oil and gas company by output. read more

The continuing use of the Nazi story at the top of the page and now the tabloid add-on about “hinting” Shell is involved with Taliban and road side bombs is a story too far Mr.D.

POSTING ON SHELL BLOG

MUSAINT
on Monday Mar 22nd, 2010 9:29 am
The continuing use of the Nazi story at the top of the page and now the tabloid add-on about “hinting” Shell is involved with Taliban and road side bombs is a story too far Mr.D. Way over the top and downgrades this website very badly indeed. Yes it’s your website but trying to taint Shell for all the worlds problems by linking them to governments they operate in is ridiculous.

REPLY TO MUSAINT BY JOHN DONOVAN read more

Published: March. 22, 2010 at 10:41 AM

ABUJA, Nigeria, March 22 (UPI) — Nigerian rebels in the oil-rich Niger Delta took responsibility for an explosion at a pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell in the south of the country.

The Joint Revolutionary Council said its militants in Buguma in the south of Nigeria “attacked and exploded” the Shell pipeline, CNN International reported.

Shell said it couldn’t confirm the explosion but it had been informed of the JRC claims. read more

March 22 (Bloomberg) — PetroChina Co. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc plan to export up to 8 million tons per year of LNG from the proposed Curtis Island plant in Australia, the Chinese company’s project manager, Aiji Ge, said in a statement today.

The companies will make a final investment decision on the plant by 2012, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Baizhen Chua in Beijing at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Beelin Ang at [email protected] read more

REUTERS

(Reuters) – When Nicholas Davies joined Brisbane-based Arrow Energy Ltd as chief executive in 2004, he was charged with growing the then junior explorer into one of Australia’s top coal seam gas producers by 2010.

Six years on, Arrow holds the largest coal seam gas acreage in Australia with plans to roll out the world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant using the unconventional gas resource, drawing energy giants Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina to launch a friendly takeover offer. read more

Associated Press, 03.21.10, 08:30 PM EDT

SYDNEY — Arrow Energy Ltd., a major owner of gas assets in Australia, has agreed to a sweetened takeover bid from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina Co. worth Australian dollars 3.44 billion ($3.15).

The deal comes as Australia ramps up major natural gas projects in response to booming demand from China and elsewhere as a less polluting fuel than coal to drive power generators. read more

March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co. agreed to buy Arrow Energy Ltd. after increasing their offer to A$3.5 billion ($3.2 billion), marking China’s entry to Australia’s coal-seam gas industry.

Iranians train Taliban to use roadside bombs

Miles Amoore Kabul

TALIBAN commanders have revealed that hundreds of insurgents have been trained in Iran to kill Nato forces in Afghanistan. read more

By Bloomberg News

March 20 (Bloomberg) — China may become of the world’s biggest natural gas markets by 2020 as the country seeks to reduce its carbon intensity by increasing the use of cleaner burning fuel, Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser (above) said today at a forum in Beijing.

Shell is working together with PetroChina Co., the nation’s largest oil producer, to seek new energy sources in China, Voser said, according to a Web cast of the conference on the Web site of the official People’s Daily in the Chinese language. read more

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which plans to produce oil from Canada’s oilsands for 40 years, earned 67 per cent more from operations in Alberta than from projects elsewhere between 2005 and 2009. The company earned $20 U.S. a barrel from oilsand mining on average, more than the $12 a barrel it gained from extraction projects excluding oilsands, The Hague-based Shell said in a report posted this week on its website. Oilsands contributed $3.1 billion to Shell’s earnings in the period. Shareholders have demanded a review of the risks of the oilsands projects at annual meetings in April. read more

By Sheila McNulty in Houston

Published: March 19 2010 22:33

Royal Dutch Shell has announced a “significant new oil discovery” in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico that has the potential to be a hub.

The discovery, located in the Appomattox prospect in 2,200 metres of water, follows three notable discoveries by Shell in the Gulf last year.

Shell is operator of the prospect, holding an 80 per cent interest, with partner Nexen holding 20 per cent.

FULL FT ARTICLE

Carrie Tait, Financial Post Published: Friday, March 19, 2010

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, under pressure from a small group of shareholders, has responded to critics’ concerns with a report detailing its activity in Alberta’s oil sands.

Shell said it published the 17-page report because it shares many of the same environmental and economic worries expressed by the shareholders who are demanding the oil and gas giant provide greater transparency with respect to its operations in northern Alberta.
read more

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Canadian oil explorer Nexen Inc (NXY.TO) said they had made a “significant” discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, the latest in a string of big finds in the Gulf in the past year.

The companies said in statements on Friday that they had made the discovery at the Appomattox prospect in Mississippi Canyon blocks 391 and 392.

The companies added that the find lifted confidence in other unexplored sites in the area.

“The Appomattox discovery confirms our confidence in the play and provides a strong basis to evaluate the remainder of our significant acreage position in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico,” Nexen Chief Executive Marvin Romanow said. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MARCH 18, 2010

By ROMY VARGHESE

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. offered its first corporate bond deal since 2008 as part of its plan to repay federal bailout funds, joining Shell and other borrowers tapping investor demand for new debt Thursday.

Shell International Finance, the finance arm of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, was marketing $4.25 billion in high-grade bonds, tying for the sixth-largest deal so far this year, according to Dealogic.

—Prabha Natarajan contributed to this article.

Write to Romy Varghese at [email protected] read more