News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Group
Dear John
Hope you are keeping well.
Just yesterday, I came across the story of Carol Tan who recorded her experience in a website (link below).
http://shelledfordepression.com/openletter.html
I was not sure if you had run her story before….but if not, I think this was a well written and important piece, that would promote greater awareness among readers.
Regards
Results clouded by rivals and identity crisis! Titanic court battle looms for oil company! Executives may face charges!By Rowena Mason: 9:33PM BST 30 Jul 2011
If those headlines were meant for readers in 2011, the subject could be only one sorry corporate story: BP and its $40bn (£24bn) Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
However, the real answer lies six years earlier in another just as painful oil scandal that hit BP’s nearest rival, Royal Dutch Shell. This was the heated reaction to news that Shell had over-stated its oil reserves by a third in the years leading to 2004.
Downgrade after downgrade kept hitting the company’s share price until matters came to a head over an email from Shell’s head of exploration to the chief executive.
EMAIL RECEIVED BY JOHN DONOVANAfter 82 years Sunday 31st July is the last day of Shell’s ownership of Stanlow.
Can I thank you for all the help, and publicity, you have given us over the last few years. We are looking forward to becoming part of Essar and are not sorry to see Shell go.
Keep up the good work.Regards
ENDS
By IAN URBINA
WASHINGTON The Securities and Exchange Commission sent subpoenas this week to energy companies asking them for documents about how they calculate and publicly disclose the performance of their shale gas wells, according to oil and gas industry lawyers.
The subpoenas reflect the regulators interest in determining whether companies are overstating how their gas wells perform and how much gas these companies can profitably extract over the long term.
It is not clear how many subpoenas were sent. John Nester, a spokesman for the commission, declined to comment.
By Ross Davidson and Elaine Maslin
Published: 30/07/2011
THE UK Governments £10billion tax raid on North Sea operators has cast doubt on the future of another significant discovery.
Oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it would not develop the Fram field, which holds hundreds of millions of barrels of oil, until it had assessed the full extent of the tax impact.
The firm said it had submitted a field-development plan to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, but the tax rise had made even that decision more difficult.
By STEVE HAWKES Business Editor
SHELL revealed profits of £37,347 a MINUTE yesterday – as petrol prices soared back to within a PENNY of record levels.The oil giant raked in an incredible £4.9billion from April to June – up 77 per cent on last year.
Chief executive Peter Voser insisted the petrol price rise was down to sky-high oil prices.
He said Shell made “virtually nothing” on the forecourt – and told motorists to take their complaints to the Government.
Mr Voser said: “We are very competitive on the forecourt. And remember, 60 to 70 per cent of the price people pay at the pump is tax. The vast majority of our profits come outside the UK – in 89 to 90 other countries.”
By Steve Evans: Published 8 July 2011
Thanks to WikiLeaks and hacktivists Anonymous, data breaches have never been higher up the agenda.
CBR looks at some of the more infamous incidents of data loss.
Extract
Shell, 2010
Keep your workers happy seems to be the message behind this leak. Energy giant Shell was rocked in early 2010 when a database of 170,000 of its workers was emailed out to human rights groups and environmental activists, including Greenpeace and royaldutchshellplc.com, a website run by anti-Shell campaigners. It was rumoured that the database was emailed out of the company by a disgruntled employee. According to The Times, a covering letter criticising Shell’s activities in Nigeria was sent out with the database, apparently signed by more than 100 workers in the US, Holland and the UK.
Profits at Shell soared 77% to nearly £5bn in the last three months, but the oil group said there was little chance of lower prices for motorists, with energy prices due to rise even further in the long term.
Chief executive Peter Voser said there was no point in blaming Shell for high pump prices given that the company made virtually “nothing” on petrol and 60% to 70% of the price for each litre went to the government in taxes.
“It’s the end of low-cost oil and gas. I think we are going into a world where finding the oil and gas is going to be more complex. It needs more money, needs more investment,” said Voser.
By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Jul 28, 2011 5:00 PM GMT+0100
A lawsuit by environmental groups over Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)s oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico may become a backdoor moratorium that curtails U.S. development, said Marvin Odum, the companys U.S. president.
The Natural Resources Defense Council of New York and Oakland, California-based Earthjustice said Obama administration approval of a Shell exploration plan for the Gulfs deep waters violates environmental laws and should be withdrawn, according to June 9 petitions.
By Simon Packard – Jul 28, 2011 3:32 PM GMT+0100
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) sold most of its London headquarters campus to Canary Wharf Group Plc and a unit of Qatars sovereign wealth fund for 300 million pounds ($490 million).
Canary Wharf, which developed the former docks in east London of the same name, and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Co. bought Shell Centre to redevelop the 5.25-acre (2.12 hectares) site near Waterloo railroad station into offices, shops and apartments, according to a statement. Shells 27-story office tower at the center of the complex wasnt included.
Posted: 7/28/11 07:48 AM ET
An Open Letter to Michael Bromwich, Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement
Re: Shell’s push to drill in the Arctic
Dear Director Bromwich:
You recently said that you were studying how to treat “[offshore drilling] operators who may have behaved badly in the past and whether they should be allowed to continue operating in the future.” I’m writing to tell you about one company that has not only been “behaving badly” in the past but plans to continue doing so into the future. Shell Oil is pushing to drill in America’s Arctic Ocean an area pristine and untouched, home to some of our nation’s most beloved species of wildlife and relied upon for thousands of years by local indigenous peoples with no effective way to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic’s ice-covered, remote and extreme conditions.
28 July 2011 Last updated at 14:16
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has reported a 77% jump in second-quarter profit, thanks to higher energy prices.
Shell’s profit for the three months to June came in at $8bn (£4.9bn) on a current cost of supplies basis, up from $4.5bn in the same period last year.
Though oil and gas production was 2% lower than the same quarter in 2010, the company said it had benefited from asset sales in the first half of 2011.
Earlier this week, rival BP announced second-quarter profits of $5.3bn.
By Alexis Flynn: Published July 28, 2011 Dow Jones Newswires
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) Chief Executive Peter Voser said Thursday the Anglo-Dutch energy giant is in early stage talks with Russia and OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS) about further opportunities in the country after the recent collapse of a proposed BP PLC (BP)-Rosneft venture.
“We have had discussions with the Russian state and Rosneft and we are exploring opportunities within Russia and outside Russia. These talks are at a very early stage and it would be pure speculation to now talk about potential outcomes. The discussions are ongoing and we will inform the market at the appropriate time on how we are progressing,” said Voser.
Hello John
You may want to have a look here:
http://www.cairnindia.com/IR/Pages/QuarterResult.
A few years ago Shell got rid of this acreage for peanuts because it was not worth having.
Cairn thought differently .
Extracts from related articles:
(1): Its site in Rajasthan, India, bought from Shell for next to nothing, has turned into a significant oil find. More recently, Cairn has negotiated a deal with India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) that allows it to participate in a joint venture to build a major refinery in Rajasthan. Given India’s growing power, this is likely to become a rather valuable asset.
Jason Alden/Bloomberg: A Shell station in London, U.K. Shell posted adjusted earnings of $6.6 billion, matching the mean estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
By Eduard Gismatullin – Jul 28, 2011 8:47 AM GMT+0100
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europes biggest oil company, said second-quarter earnings almost doubled on higher oil prices and project startups in Qatar and Canada.
Net income rose to $8.66 billion from $4.39 billion a year earlier, The Hague-based Shell said today in a statement. Excluding one-time items and inventory changes, profit matched analyst estimates.
By JULIA WERDIGIER: July 28, 2011
LONDON Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest oil company in Europe, said on Thursday that its profit almost doubled in the second quarter on higher oil prices and as new oil and gas projects came on stream.
Profit rose to $8.7 billion in the April-through June period, from $4.4 billion in the same period last year, Shell said in a statement. Production fell 2 percent after Shell sold some assets and because of delays in drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.
We have made important progress with new production in 2011, and the ramp-up of our new projects should drive our financial performance in the coming quarters, the Shell chief executive Peter Voser said in the statement.
July 28, 2011, 3:06 a.m. EDT
By Alexis Flynn
LONDON -(MarketWatch)- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) Thursday posted a 56% rise in adjusted profit for the second quarter, buoyed by higher oil prices and the first contributions from its recently delivered flagship projects in Canada and Qatar.
“Our second quarter 2011 earnings were higher than year-ago levels, driven by increased energy prices and Shell’s operating performance,” said Chief Executive Peter Voser.
The Anglo-Dutch energy company said the clean current cost of supplies, a keenly-watched figure that strips out gains or losses from inventories and other non-operating items, was $6.55 billion in the three months ended June 30, compared with $4.20 billion in the second quarter of 2010. This was roughly in line with expectations of $6.54 billion in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of twelve analysts.
Environmental groups earlier this week challenged oil companies to prove they can clean up an oil spill in the Arctic. The challenge is all part of a ramped-up public relations and political effort by a coalition of more than a dozen national conservation organizations to pressure the Obama administration into rejecting industry permit applications for work in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas next summer.
So it’s unlikely Shell Oil and the other companies will pick up that particular gantlet — and how would they, really. Short of dumping some oil out there and mopping it up or burning it off how does one prove they can clean up a spill?
By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Jul 27, 2011 3:30 PM GMT+0100
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), blocked from exploring on federal leases off Alaska valued at more than $2 billion, said four years of government delays may be irresponsible and a waste of taxpayers money.
The company needs about 35 U.S. permits to start drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The area may produce about 700,000 barrels of oil per day for 40 years, Peter Slaiby, Shell Alaskas vice president, said in remarks prepared for a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing today.
By Ben Sharples and James Paton – Jul 27, 2011 7:19 AM GMT+0100
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europes largest oil company, will halt refining operations at its Clyde plant in Sydney before mid-2013 and convert the facility into a fuel-import terminal.
The plant, which processes about 79,000 barrels a day of crude oil and employs 310 people, is no longer regionally competitive against Asian mega-refineries, the Hague-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. The plan was initially announced in April.
By Damian Reece 12:17PM BST 26 Jul 2011
Management, led by Bob Dudley, is gradually losing the trust of shareholders who have sat through one failure after another, most recently the Macondo oil spill and then the spectacular blow up of its Russian strategy.
I expect one of the big pictures to emerge form this weeks results from the big oil companies is the marked divergence in the fortunes of BP and Royal Dutch Shell. Since BPs fatal accident in the Gulf of Mexico, its shares are off a third while Shell is up 15pc.
Not only for oil, but also for gas Shell is resorting to unconventional production methods. In December 2010, Shell-CEO Peter Voser stated: In recent years, Shell has increased investment in natural gas projects in countries like Qatar, Australia, Russia, the United States and Canada, with a special focus on tight gas, shale gas and coal-bed methane together these are known as unconventional gas. Were currently exploring the potential for unconventional gas outside North America in countries like China and South Africa, as well as some European countries. The Shell-CEO proceeds: I know by 2012 Shell will be producing more gas than oil, and, I know, when it comes to natural gas supplies, a revolution is under way. (…) Shell is set for strong growth in tight gas.
By Josie Ensor 6:00AM BST 25 Jul 2011
Royal Dutch Shell is set to post quarterly profits of £4bn on Tuesday, a 60pc increase on the year before, while BP’s profits are up just 21pc at £3.6bn despite rocketing oil prices.
BP’s sale of oil fields to pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster has eaten into production and profits, with output seen down 11pc in the quarter.
While the Anglo-Dutch giant Shell has benefited from production volume growth in the second quarter compared with other oil groups. Earnings from exploration and production in the second quarter are expected to show a 70pc uplift.
By Brian Swint – Jul 25, 2011 12:01 AM GMT+0100
Robert Dudley (right) could unlock $100 billion for BP Plc (BP/) investors by following ConocoPhillips and splitting up Europes second-biggest oil producer.
BP, trying to recover from last years Gulf of Mexico disaster, has lagged behind its three larger rivals this year, rising 1 percent in London even as oil peaked at $127 a barrel. Conocos decision last week to split its refinery arm from its exploration and production business led analysts at banks including UBS AG, Bank of America and JPMorgan Cazenove to recommend BP look at a similar move.
By Jamie Dunkley 6:20AM BST 25 Jul 2011
The oil group has picked a bid by Canary Wharf, which is majority owned by Songbird Estates and Qatari Diar, the property investment arm of the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, to develop the site. The pair are thought to have offered about £350m to secure the mandate. The deal, which is expected to be confirmed within days, will result in houses, offices and shops being built around the Shell Centre near Waterloo station in central London.
By SANFORD J. SCHMIDT: The Telegraph: July 22, 2011 7:58 PM
EDWARDSVILLE – For the third time this year, a victim of an aggressive form of leukemia who spent time in Roxana schools has filed suit against Shell Oil Co. and BP, claiming benzene around its refinery caused the disease.
Greg Wells of East Alton, who formerly lived in Wood River and attended Roxana schools, has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.
His lawyer, Christopher Dysart, said his client was diagnosed in May 2010.
July 24, 2011, 11:01 a.m. EDT
By London Bureau
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.K. property developer Canary Wharf is poised to seal a landmark deal to transform the area round Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSA.LN) London office with financial backing from Qatar, The Sunday Times reports without citing sources.
Shell is expected to announce within a fortnight that it has picked Canary Wharf and Qatari Diar, the property arm of the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, to transform more than five acres surrounding its tower on the south bank of the Thames. Canary Wharf and Qatar are believed to have offered up to GBP350 million for the deal, the report says.
By Rowena Mason
9:30PM BST 23 Jul 2011
High oil prices have boosted the earnings of Royal Dutch Shell, BP and BG Group, with the cost per barrel of crude averaging above $100 for the entire quarter. This has kept UK petrol prices near record highs, touching 140p a litre and causing hardship for millions of motorists.
Profits for the oil companies are expected to be their highest since oil prices rose to $147 per barrel in July 2008, just before the world tipped into financial crisis.
Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:19pm EDT
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 22 (Reuters) – U.S. federal regulators said on Friday they issued draft air-quality permits to Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and ConocoPhillips (COP.N), a key step for the oil companies’ drilling plans in Arctic waters of Alaska.
The permits cover Shell’s plans to drill two wells annually in 2012 and 2013 on leases in the Beaufort Sea, off Alaska’s northern coast, and ConocoPhillips’ plans to drill a yet-to-be-determined number of wells in 2012 the Chukchi Sea, off Alaska’s northwest coast.
Victoria MacDonald | July 22nd, 2011
WORKSAFE Victoria will visit Shell on Monday to probe how two contractors were exposed to potentially lethal gas in a leak at the Corio oil refinery yesterday.
Eight CFA crews from across Geelong were called to the Shell plant after the company sounded a major alert about 8.35am after hydrogen sulfide, a flammable and poisonous gas, was found to have leaked from one of the refinery pumps.
Yesterday’s alert was deemed to be of the highest level of three available to Shell, according to CFA sources.
SOURCE
7/20/2011 3:16 PM By David Yates
A certificate of written discovery was recently filed in an age discrimination suit against Motiva Enterprises.
Tyler resident Kurt Floersheim filed suit against his former employer, Motiva, on April 15 in Jefferson County District Court, alleging he was laid off so that two younger men could replace him.
Court records show that on July 11 Motiva filed a response to Floersheim’s request for disclosure.
The incident began on June 15, 2009, when Motiva informed Floersheim that he was being included in a reduction in force. He alleges that the day after he was laid off, Motiva hired two younger specialists to replace him.
Anglo-Dutch energy giant, Royal Dutch Shell has been pushing into China’s energy market. The company has been deepening ties with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and subsidiary PetroChina to explore and develop natural gas in the nation. In an exclusive broadcast interview with CNBC’s Christine Tan on Managing Asia, CEO Peter Voser says China looks set to surpass the U.S. and Canada in the supply of shale gas.
Q. How useful have your partnerships been with leading energy companies like Petrochina in giving you access into China, one of the world’s biggest energy markets?
I think it has developed extremely well. We are working with CNPC and PetroChina within China, but also globally. I think the success here is based on a win-win partnership, inside and outside China. If you only focus on what you can do inside China, and not let these companies participate on the global stage, I think this will not be successful. So we are combining with CNPC’s technologies to (extend) the global range. We are in Australia, Syria and Qatar. We have shale gas acre-age in China, and we do R&D together. We have similar partnership with Qatar Petroleum.
HOUSTON, July 21 (Reuters) – An executive at Royal Dutch Shell Plc sees a new Chinese partnership as an opportunity to avoid paying oilfield service companies for drilling they could do just as effectively themselves.
The venture with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp will build systems to automate repetitive drilling, with a goal of having them in the field by 2013, said Peter Sharpe, executive vice president, wells, at Shell Global Solutions International BV.
While Shell expects it will need traditional services in most instances, drilling in coalbed methane and heavy oil fields is relatively simple and can often be automated, he said.
Press Release
July 21, 2011
Ogoni pollution: Delayed release of UNEP report is suspicious, says ERA
The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and other civil society groups have cautioned the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) from further prevarication on the planned release of its two-year assessment of the environmental and public health impacts of oil spills in Ogoniland.
In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN said the people of Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta are becoming worried over UNEPs continued delay in releasing the report after failing to honour a pledge to do same earlier in the year.
Issued by Shell to Sea
Wednesday 20 th July 2011 11am
At 10.30 am this morning Shell to Sea campaigners stopped work for the second day in a row at the Bord na Móna site at Shramore, near Bangor, Co. Mayo. They are currently on the site and occupying machinery.
The site is currently preparing to store the 125,000 tonnes of peat that Shell will attempt to remove in the coming weeks. While rural communities are faced with a turf cutting ban, Shell is allowed to remove 125,000 tonnes from an area surrounded by EU Special Areas of Conservation, this on top of the 600,000 tonnes of peat that was removed during the creation of Shell’s refinery in Ballinaboy. A banner saying “Turf Cutting – One law for people, One law for Shell” was hung on the gates of the Bord na Móna site.
BY SISEKO NJOBENI
Published: 2011/07/20 07:44:11 AM
OIL company Shell will publicly disclose the names of chemicals to be used in the planned shale gas hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo, Shell SA Upstream GM Jan-Willem Eggink said yesterday.
The move by the company is meant to allay fears that hydraulic fracturing or fracking would lead to groundwater contamination in the water-scarce area.
Farmers, landowners and residents of the Karoo have come out against Shell and other companies plans to extract shale gas in the area, citing the negative environmental effects of fracking .
Shell is moving its Arctic drill rig, the Kulluk, to Seattle for maintenance and technical upgrades.
This according to the West Seattle Blog, which keeps a close eye on the industrial marine facilities there and saw the notice in a marine industry advisory. Actually, the popular hyperlocal online site is more interested in the fact that another floating industrial machine that looks like a giant golf ball and has dominated the skyline for two months needs to be moved to make way for the Kulluk. The golf-ball thing is actually the SBX, for military Sea-Based X-Band missile detecting radar system.
Perus Indian Affairs Department has revealed plans to open up uncontacted tribes reserves to oil companies just days before the countrys new government takes office.
New laws would allow the state to grant oil and gas companies open access to the reserves, despite the extreme risk this would pose to the Indians lives.
The proposal has generated a wave of criticism from indigenous organizations.
Around 15 tribes have chosen to resist contact in the Peruvian Amazon; all face extinction if their lands are opened up.
Introduction by John Donovan
Many visitors to royaldutchshellplc.com are aware of past litigation involving several hundred thoroughly disgruntled employees of Shell in Malaysia who sued Shell on various grounds, including wrongful dismissal and allegations that Shell management made unlawful deductions from the employee retirement fund.
That was not the only recent litigation.
Eight Royal Dutch Shell Companies joined together to sue a former Shell Malaysia Production Geologist, Dr John Huong (right), to stop him blowing the whistle on management misdeeds, including fraudulently inflating claimed hydrocarbon reserves and putting employee lives at risk due to lax safety procedures. Shell buried Dr Huong in multiple injunctions and made repeated attempts to have him imprisoned before settling the entire litigation out of court.
JULY 15, 2011
CALGARY, CanadaRoyal Dutch Shell PLC said Friday it plans to sell its stake in a long-stalled, C$16.2-billion (US$17 billion) natural-gas production and pipeline project in Canada’s far north, as well as its other assets in the region.
The fate of the Mackenzie Gas Project, which envisions bringing natural gas from fields bordering the Arctic Ocean to markets in North America, has long been in doubt. But Shell’s departure from the project marks the surprise capitulation of one of the project’s oldest and biggest partners. Consortium members have weathered years of regulatory review and roller-coasting gas prices, betting that the region’s gas trove would one day be economical.
Dear John,
Shell in Nigeria. An opportunity to discuss the challenges of this complex environment.
In 2009, Shell hosted a webchat focused on our work in Nigeria. It was a constructive and productive debate, which is why we now return to the subject.
At Shell we have enjoyed a long relationship with Nigeria, having been in the country for over 60 years, and have played a major role in developing the countrys oil and gas industry. Shell companies in Nigeria help support the countrys economy, which gets 85% of its income from the oil and gas industry, and have created thousands of skilled jobs for Nigerians. We invest millions of dollars each year in community development.
By Ejiofor Alike: 15 July 2011
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has stated that it is in the process of engaging the protesting youths of Kolo Creek communities of Bayelsa State who tampered with the company’s installations in such a manner that poses serious threat to people and the environment.
This is coming at a time the German government has pledged to increase her level of involvement in Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project, which accords with the Federal Government’s determination to earn more revenue from gas than oil.
Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:31pm EDT
* Mulva had said no to split in March (Rewrites to bring rivals higher, adds reserves graphic link and closing share price)
By Matt Daily and Anna Driver
NEW YORK/HOUSTON, July 14 (Reuters) – ConocoPhillips (COP.N) will spin off its refining arm in a bid to improve investment returns for shareholders, abandoning the bigger-is-better strategy that drove oil giants into mergers.
As an integrated oil major with exploration and production, as well as refining and marketing, ConocoPhillips ranked sixth globally and was often overshadowed by larger rivals such as Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Chevron (CVX.N).
July 14, 2011
-Since the end of 2005, ConocoPhillips shares have risen 27.8%, compared with Exxon Mobil and Chevron, up 46.8% and 85.12%, respectively.
– Blow to legacy of CEO Jim Mulva, who said he’ll retire once the separation is complete.
– Analysts: Conoco may have felt spinning off downstream assets a more immediate way to boost share price than continuing to try to sell refineries at prices buyers seem unwilling to pay.
– UBS analysts said split unlikely to unlock meaningful incremental value.
By Dulue Mbachu – Jul 14, 2011 5:14 PM GMT+0100
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)s Nigerian unit said protesters from four communities in the countrys southern delta besieged the companys Kolo Creek logistics base and tampered with installations.
The protesters from Imiringi, Elebele, Otuasega and Oruma villages adjoining the base are unhappy about not being supplied with electricity from company facilities, Tony Okonedo, a Shell spokesman in Nigeria, said today in an e-mailed statement. Led by youths, they have tampered with our installations in such a manner that poses serious threat to people and the environment, Okonedo said.
LUXEMBOURG, July 13 | Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:07am EDT
(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Dow Chemical (DOW.N) lost a court appeal on Wednesday against a fine levied by EU regulators five years ago for taking part in a cartel, but the court cut a fine imposed on Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI).
The General Court, Europe’s second-highest, also annulled penalties levied against Czech petrochemicals group Unipetrol (UNPEsp.PR) and Polish company Trade-Stomil.
“With regard to Unipetrol, its subsidiary Kaucuk and Trade-Stomil, the Court considers that the evidence admitted by the Commission is not sufficient for a finding that those companies participated in unlawful agreements,” the court found.
The question posed in the headline of the above article has been overtaken by events. News Corp has withdrawn its bid for the shares in BSKYB, which it does not already own. However, some of the matters he discussed about multinational companies remain relevant.
Some extracts from the Robert Peston article:
If ever there were a symbol of the uneasy balance of power between national governments and large multinationals companies, it is the spectacle of the British Parliament being poised to vote overwhelmingly (it seems) for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to abandon its bid for British Sky Broadcasting – but being powerless to force him to abandon that takeover.
By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Jul 12, 2011 6:39 PM GMT+0100
President Barack Obama created an interagency working group led by the Interior Department to oversee oil and natural gas exploration in Alaska.
The group will coordinate permit decisions and environmental reviews for onshore and offshore projects, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)s plan to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, David Hayes, deputy Interior secretary and the working-group leader, told reporters today in Washington.
10 July 2011 By John Burke Public Affairs Correspondent
Homeowners are facing the very likely risk that energy prices could rise due to competition between the new Corrib gas supply and the Bord Gáis owned undersea gas-supply interconnectors, the state energy regulator has warned.
In a paper published last week, the regulator said that any decline in demand for gas from the Bord Gáis interconnectors could be expected to fall following the addition of supply sources, but it also warned that this might lead to higher prices for consumers.
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website etc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.website publishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA – HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. 
