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.
Shell said in March it intends to reduce global refining and marketing costs by $1 billion by the end of next year as it seeks to accelerate production growth through 2014. The company, which also operates a second refinery at Geelong in Victoria state, acquired Clyde in 1928 and the plant supplies about 40 percent of Sydneys petroleum needs.
Shell must evolve as it strives to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market, Andrew Smith, vice president of the companys Australian downstream unit, said on a conference call. Australia is a growth center for Shells global business, particularly in liquefied natural gas, and the company is set to become one of the largest investors in the country.
Shell said in May it expects to invest about $30 billion in Australian oil and natural gas developments during the next five years. The company that month approved the Prelude floating LNG venture off the coast of northwest Australia.
Carbon Tax
The plan to end oil refining wasnt prompted by Australias proposed tax on carbon emissions, Shell said. Australia expects to make about 500 polluters pay A$23 a ton for their emissions from next year, before switching to a cap-and-trade system in 2015, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said this month.
There are seven oil refineries in Australia, with others operated by BP Plc (BP/), Caltex Australia Ltd. (CTX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)
Asian refining capacity is increasing, and it will have an impact on the Australian refining industry, but Im not going to crystal ball gaze on margins, Smith said. The conversion of Clyde into an import facility wont impact fuel prices, he said.
Profits from turning crude into fuels such as gasoline and diesel are unlikely to increase as new capacity outweighs demand, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in a June report.
OMV AG (OMV), central Europes largest oil company, said in May it started to close its 70,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Romania and turn it into a crude and fuel terminal.
LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) also said that month it was seeking a buyer for its 105,000 barrel-a-day Berre plant in southern France.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at [email protected]; James Paton in Sydney at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at [email protected]; Alexander Kwiatkowski at [email protected]
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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.
