Royal Dutch Shell has won approval to drill the first new deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico almost a year after a spill by rival BP halted the industry’s expansion.
An offshore crude oil rig platform (left) sits peacefully in the Gulf of Mexico, USA. By contrast, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, is seen burning after an explosion last April.
By Richard Blackden, US Business Editor 11:38PM GMT 21 Mar 2011
US authorities have given the green light to the Anglo-Dutch company’s plan to drill three wells to a depth of about 2,950 feet in a field 130 miles off the coast of Louisana.
Shell will still be required to apply for specific permits for each well it drills.
The award is significant because the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has so far only handed out a small number of deepwater permits to resume work on wells on which work had started before last April’s explosion at BP’s Macondo well.
The authorities said on Monday that under new regulations brought in since the spill, Shell had been required to assess the environmental impact of each new well, rather than just the whole field.
The decision to approve the plan “unmistakably demonstrates that oil and gas exploration can continue responsibly in deep water,” insisted Michael Bromwich, the director of BOEMRE.
The White House has faced intense pressure to allow the resumption of deepwater drilling in the Gulf from the oil and gas industry, which claims thousands of jobs have already been lost. A moratorium on deepwater drilling, which was imposed in the weeks after the fatal explosion, was lifted a month early. A sharp rise in the oil price in the wake of upheaval in North Africa and the Middle East has only added to those calls for a resumption of drilling.
Shell said that the decision by authorities reflects “Shells robust and comprehensive approach to responsible offshore development.”
There are currently 13 exploration other plans that the BOEMRE is reviewing. However, the decision by authorities is likely to cause unease among critics who claim that BP’s spill showed that containing and cleaning up a spill quickly is beyond the ability of the industry.
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.
