Telegraph.co.uk
Royal Dutch Shell has defended the safety record of deepwater drilling, as cost-cutting helped it to make $4.4bn of profits in the last quarter.
By Rowena Mason
Published: 6:30AM BST 30 Jul 2010
The oil giant slashed its spending by $3.5bn over the last 18 months by shedding 7,000 staff and making operational savings. It saw a 15pc increase in profits on a cost of supply basis stripping out inventory changes and 49pc rise in pre-tax profits to $8.7bn.
Peter Voser, the chief executive, insisted that safety budgets and asset integrity had been ring-fenced from the cuts. US politicians have blamed cost-cutting for contributing to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak an allegation that BP denies.
The Anglo-Dutch company intends to carry on making “efficiency savings” but said its radical restructuring programme had come to an end earlier than planned.
Mr Voser said Shell’s deepwater drilling programme should continue, despite concerns about the industry’s capability to cope with an oil spill a mile under the sea.
“The recent announcement of Shell’s participation in a new $1bn Gulf of Mexico oil spill containment system is an example of where we are working with governments and partners to improve the industry’s capabilities,” Mr Voser said. Shell has taken a $56m hit on the new US deepwater drilling ban after BP’s accident and stands to lose around $200m by November.
Last year, the company lagged behind the profitability of BP, but Shell has a production pipeline that is aiming for an increase from 3m to 4.5m barrels per day by 2014. Current output will be boosted when its huge Qatar gas projects comes on stream over the next year.
Meanwhile, BP is slimming down, reducing its daily output from 3.8m to 3.5m via a huge asset sell-off.
Shell is also intending to accelerate its programme of asset disposals to $8bn by the end of 2011, focusing on selling refineries and petrol stations. Mr Voser said this was to fund growth rather than make the company smaller.
“With the Qatari projects on track to start up by year end, we continue to believe that Shell offers the most compelling risk-reward proposition,” said Alejandro Demichelis, an analyst at Merrill Lynch.
Shell’s share price stayed largely flat yesterday, rising 6 to £17.13. An interim dividend of 42p will be paid on September 8.
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.
