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August 22nd, 2011:

Royal Dutch Shell blames 6 recent spills in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta on ‘sabotage’

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, August 22, 6:35 PM

LAGOS, Nigeria — Six recent oil spills from a Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline running through Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta were the result of “sabotage,” the company said Monday, blaming another nearby spill on a similar attack.

Shell’s comments come after someone set fire to the spreading spill in recent days, and as a U.N. report suggests it could take as much as 30 years to clean another region of the country’s Niger Delta.

Shell has blamed the majority of recent spills on oil thieves and militants roaming the delta’s winding creeks. Environmentalists and locals blame the oil company for 50 years of poverty and pollution there. read more

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Shell plans to remove oil from damaged North Sea pipe, U.K. says

Houston Chronicle: August 22, 2011 at 12.31 pm by Bloomberg

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, plans to remove crude remaining in a North Sea pipeline that leaked this month, the U.K. government said.

“Shell now plans to continue to secure the pipeline to protect it from the threat of storm or tidal damage,” Hugh Shaw, a government representative overseeing the operation, said today in an e-mailed statement. The work may take about 36 hours.

Shell divers closed the Gannet Alpha platform flow line off Scotland on Aug. 19. The company identified the leak after spotting a sheen on the water on Aug. 10. The pipeline still holds as much as 660 metric tons of crude, according to Glen Cayley, an Aberdeen, Scotland-based technical director at Shell’s exploration and production unit in Europe. read more

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.

Investigation into leak at Shell’s North Sea platform to get under way news

It has also emerged over the weekend that an internal investigation into Shell’s Gannet plaforms in 2003 had raised concerns over unapproved repairs and unreliable fire sensors. This is clear from papers held by Bill Campbell, a former senior Shell employee, who has questioned the company’s environmental and safety record.

22 August 2011

Shell says according to its estimates a leak at one of its platforms, 110 miles east of Aberdeen, Scotland had spewed 1,300 barrels of oil. The leak was detected on 10 August.

Following the spill, UK government inspectors are preparing to question a number of key players involved in the North Sea oil leak. This would include staff on the platform, officials at the company’s headquarters and the helicopter pilot who spotted the sheen.

Meanwhile, even as the investigation gets under way, an analysis of oil and chemical leaks from Shell’s Gannet platforms showed that the platform had seen at least 34 spillages since 2002, ranging from 1litre to 590 barrels. read more

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.

Oil spill investigation begins as Shell plugs North Sea leak

guardian.co.uk home

Successful plugging of two Gannet Alpha leaks come as a Scottish newspaper reveals Shell’s poor safety record in the region

An investigation by the Sunday Herald found that Shell had been officially censured 25 times in the past six years for breaking safety rules, giving it one of the worst safety records of any major oil company in the UK.


The oil sheen from a leak at Shell’s Gannett Alpha platform, 112 miles east of Aberdeen. Photograph: Marine Scotland

The oil sheen on the surface of the North Sea that followed the UK’s worst oil spill for a decade has finally disappeared, according to Shell, after the company managed to plug its leaking pipeline on Friday.

Government officials are now launching an investigation into the leak as part of an effort to discover how the spill came about and how to prevent such damage recurring.

Richard Lochhead, the Scottish cabinet secretary for rural affairs and the environment, also called on Shell to review its procedures for handling oil spills, after the company was heavily criticised for being too slow to disclose the leak to the public. Lochhead has written to Chris Huhne, the UK climate and energy secretary, to ask for a meeting on the procedure for communicating incidents. read more

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.

Oil production in North Sea scrutinized

Bill Campbell, whom The Daily Telegraph described as a “former senior Shell employee” questioned the company’s performance at Gannet as claims from 2003 surfaced over the platform’s maintenance record, the newspaper in London reports.

Published: Aug. 22, 2011 at 8:52 AM

LONDON, Aug. 22 (UPI) — Internal documents and British safety records indicate there were problems with North Sea oil production after Shell announced it closed its oil leak last week.

Royal Dutch Shell said that divers shut a relief valve and stopped an oil spill from its Gannet platform. At the height of the spill, reported Aug. 10, around 1,500 barrels of oil was dumping into the North Sea.

Bill Campbell, whom The Daily Telegraph described as a “former senior Shell employee” questioned the company’s performance at Gannet as claims from 2003 surfaced over the platform’s maintenance record, the newspaper in London reports. read more

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.

Shell denies swindling gov’t of excise taxes

“Shell has paid all the right taxes and strongly denies having engaged in any fraudulent activity, especially smuggling, as this is very much against its business principles…”



Posted at 08/22/2011 8:36 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. denied it has defrauded the government of billions of pesos of excise taxes for importing a blending component for unleaded gasoline.

In a statement, the oil importer said the product in question, alkalyte, is not a finished product and therefore not subject to an excise tax.

“However, when the alkylate is further processed into finished unleaded gasoline product that is fit and ready for consumption, the finished product is subject to the payment of excise taxes before the same is released from Shell’s refinery. In other words, no excise tax is lost on the alkylate imports in question,” it said. read more

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.

Shell: too early to return to Libya

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Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is keeping an ear close to the gound in Libya, but says it’s still much too early to consider returning there, a spokesman told Dutch news agency ANP.

Shell withdrew its personnel from Libya earlier this year because of heightening political tension. The company was conducting exploration for natural gas with the help of two drilling towers.

“We are watching the situation carefully and monitoring it to see when one can make contact [with the rebels] and when we can go back in and operate,” said Shell. “It’s too early to make a call.” read more

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.

Shell defends safety after North Sea oil leak

22 August 2011 Last updated at 09:55

Shell has said safety is its “foremost priority” after calls for North Sea activities to be restricted in the wake of the oil leak.

The company has been tackling the release of more than 200 tonnes of oil near the Gannet Alpha platform.

A relief valve was closed by divers on Friday.

Environmental organisation WWF Scotland said operations should be restricted pending an infrastructure audit. Shell said safety was always paramount.

The company said in a statement: “Safety is Shell’s foremost priority at all times. read more

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.

Halt Shell projects in North Sea, says WWF

Extracts from “Halt Shell projects in North Sea…”:

Shell technical director Glen Cayley has apologised and admitted the existing pipeline inspection and maintenance programme had let the company down.

WWF Scotland also described Shell’s performance during the spill as a “lesson on how to look evasive and shifty”.

BY CATRIONA WEBSTER: 22 August 2011

A LEADING environmental charity has called on the UK Government to restrict all Shell operations in the North Sea until a full audit of its installations is carried out.

WWF Scotland made the plea after it was revealed that the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had censured the oil giant 25 times in six years for breaking safety rules.

It was also reported yesterday that an internal investigation by Shell eight years ago raised serious concerns about safety in the Gannet oil field, where the company has been fighting to stem the worst North Sea oil leak in over a decade. read more

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.

Investigation gets under way as Shell plugs North Sea oil leak

It also emerged over the weekend that there was an internal investigation into Shell’s Gannet plaforms in 2003 raising concerns about unapproved repairs and unreliable fire sensors. The claims are made within papers held by Bill Campbell, a former senior Shell employee, who has questioned the company’s environmental and safety record.

Government inspectors are preparing to interview a number of key players involved in Shell’s North Sea oil leak, including staff on the platform, officials at the company’s headquarters and the helicopter pilot who spotted the sheen.

Government investigators are preparing to take a close look at Shell’s physical assets, including the pipeline where the source of the leak was discovered. Photo: Alamy

By , Energy Correspondent 5:30AM BST 22 Aug 2011

The start of their investigation comes as an analysis of oil and chemical leaks from Shell’s Gannet platforms shows that there have been at least 34 spillages since 2002, ranging from one litre to 590 barrels.

Data from surveys conducted on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency show that most of these 34 came from Shell’s Gannet Alpha platform, whose pipeline suffered the 10-day leak that ended on Friday. read more

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.

Shell, PetroChina Unit Arrow Bids $540 Million for Australia’s Bow Energy

By James Paton – Aug 22, 2011 8:09 AM GMT+0100

Arrow Energy Ltd., owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and PetroChina Co., offered about A$520 million ($540 million) for Bow Energy Ltd. (BOW), seeking more resources to underpin a proposed liquefied natural gas project in Australia.

Arrow, a coal-seam gas explorer and producer in Queensland state, offered A$1.48 a share in cash, Brisbane-based Bow said today in a statement. That’s 67 percent more than Bow’s price of 88.5 cents in Sydney trading on Aug. 19. The shares surged 60 percent today to A$1.415 at the 4:10 p.m. close. read more

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.

Fracking: Shell admits safety is not a given

GUY ROGERS | 22 August, 2011 00:44

The petroleum company heading calls for the Great Karoo to be opened up for exploration for natural gas has admitted that it cannot guarantee the safety of its operations.

This concession by Shell SA boss Jan Willem Eggink was made as the findings of a UN investigation of oil-industry pollution in Nigeria, with particular reference to the culpability of Shell, were released.

Shell wants to explore the Karoo for natural gas and recover it using hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”.

In fracking, shale several kilometres beneath the surface is ruptured to release tightly bound gas.

Fracking has been outlawed elsewhere in the world because it has been shown to pollute ground water reserves. read more

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.