Posts from ‘September, 2011’

By Ann Koh and Yee Kai Pin – Sep 30, 2011 4:52 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) extinguished a fire that raged for two days at its largest oil refinery and said it’s shutting processing units at the Singapore plant as a precaution.

“The fire has been extinguished at Shell refinery at Pulau Bukom,” Europe’s biggest oil company said in a statement late yesterday. “However, there are traces of fuel vapor. We are prepared to shut down all refinery units if this is considered necessary from a safety perspective, with the exception of utilities.” read more

By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Sep 29, 2011 7:01 PM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s U.S. approval for oil exploration in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea will be contested by groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and an Inupiat village worried about the risk of spills.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York, and Point Hope, a settlement on Alaska’s North Slope, will sue the Obama administration for a decision allowing drilling in the Beaufort Sea, according to an e-mailed statement today from the groups. read more

EXTRACT FROM RELATED ARTICLE: Now that it is out in the open, the story in The Sunday Chronicle is actually very damaging for Shell…

(Is Shell Trying To Muscle Into InterOil’s LNG Project?)

Sunday September 25, 2011

THE O’Neill-Namah government has moved into damage control mode for the second LNG project development in Gulf Province.

Meetings are to be scheduled over the next seven days to avert sending out a potentially damaging sovereign risk signal to the foreign investment community. The move will also distance the government from the stigma of a potentially corrupt inducement money totalling $US100 million promised by a multi-national company to shaft the second LNG developer. read more

We hear from our sources…

“Strong rumours here in Erris, Co Mayo (beside Corrib gas development) that the project will grind to a halt following an up-and-coming court case involving a local contractor, Shell and the local police force (Garda). The word is that the CEO and others are heading for the exit over this matter.”

WARNING: These are rumors…

Attention Royal Dutch Shell Plc: If you confirm by email that any information printed under this headline is categorically untrue, it will be removed immediately. read more

SINGAPORE | Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:22am EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc is shutting down its entire Singapore refinery, the company’s largest, to get the fire that broke out on Wednesday under control, a senior company official told reporters.

Shell is shutting more units in the vicinity of the area where the incident happened, Martijn van Koten, vice president for manufacturing operations told reporters on Thursday, and it may take two days to complete the shutdown. read more

By Luke Pachymuthu

SINGAPORE | Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:45pm EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc halted tanker loading at its largest refinery, a half-a-million barrels-per-day plant in Singapore, as the company struggles to put out a fire burning since Wednesday afternoon.

The blaze has forced Shell to shut down a diesel-making unit, although the company said it could continue to supply the market from storage and other refineries.

“Fire-fighting operations are still underway,” the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said in a statement early on Thursday. read more

By Yaw Yan Chong and Alejandro Barbajosa

SINGAPORE | Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:57am EDT

(Reuters) – A fire has intensified at Royal Dutch Shell’s largest refinery, its half-a-million barrel per day Singapore plant, sending a plume of black smoke over the city-state.

Shell has evacuated non-essential staff from the refining complex, Singapore’s Civil Defense Force said.

“There is a fire and it grew significantly, but I am not aware of an explosion,” said Lee Tzu Yang, chairman for Shell Companies in Singapore told Reuters. read more

From pages 41, 42, 43 & 44 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

The report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Author: Albert ten Kate: May 2011.

Interfering with politics

Improper involvement?

Oil and politics have a lot to do with each other. The home states of Royal Dutch Shell are the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. These countries might want to secure their oil/gas imports and the economic benefits of having an international oil company based within their territory. These interests might overpower ethical interests, such as the protection of human rights in countries hosting the oil company. Home states often might have the same business interest than “their” oil companies. read more

Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:31am EDT

By Yaw Yan Chong and Francis Kan

(Reuters) – A fire at Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) petroleum complex offshore Singapore is still burning but has been contained, although it was not clear what impact the blaze was having on operations.

“We confirm that a fire in the Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site occurred today at approximately 1.15pm. Emergency responders are on the scene and the fire is contained. No injuries have been reported and the rest of the site’s operations are unaffected,” a Shell spokesman said. read more

By PHIL TAYLOR of Greenwire Published: September 27, 2011

A U.S. Geological Survey report last summer on the nation’s capacity to assess impacts from oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was credible and unbiased but failed to identify which scientific gaps are most important to fill, according to a new report commissioned by a pair of conservation groups.

The report (pdf) by the Pew Environment Group and Ocean Conservancy also recommended that the Interior Department better monitor cumulative changes in Arctic waters, disseminate more research to the public, synthesize existing knowledge and identify biologically important areas that should be off-limits to development. read more

ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 27 (UPI) — The amount of crude oil stolen from Royal Dutch Shell’s pipelines in the oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria is “unprecedented,” the company said.

“The scale of crude theft is unprecedented,” the company was quoted by the Platts news service as stating.

Shell declared force majeure in Nigeria, releasing the company from contractual obligations because of circumstances out of its control, through October. The action came after the company said a series of spills in the area may have been the result of sabotage on a pipeline carrying crude oil through the Niger Delta. read more

The inspector general found an e-mail from some dork at Shell Pipeline to a woman in the federal royalty office, asking her to join him at a tailgate party before a Houston Texans football game: “Have you and the girls meet at my place at 6 a.m. for bubble baths…

baltimoresun.com

Viewpoint: Sex, drugs and natural gas royalties

By Carl Hiaasen
September 17, 2008

People always say the Bush administration is in bed with the oil companies, but it turns out to be literally true.

According to the Interior Department, some government officials in charge of collecting oil and gas royalties smoked pot, snorted cocaine and had sex with employees of big energy firms.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were getting screwed at the gas pump.

Three reports delivered last week to Congress portray “a culture of ethical failure” in which employees of the federal Minerals Management Service often accepted gifts from oil and gas interests, steered lucrative contracts to cronies and partied hard with those with whom they did business on behalf of the U.S. taxpayer. read more

Royal Dutch Shell evasion of royalties:

“(Shell Defendants) have agreed to pay the United States $2.2 million plus interest to resolve claims that the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas…”

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–May 10, 2011. Shell Oil Company, Shell Offshore Inc., Shell Frontier Oil & Gas Inc., and Shell Western Exploration and Production (Shell Defendants) have agreed to pay the United States $2.2 million plus interest to resolve claims that the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from Federal leases, the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

The agreement was reached among the Shell Defendants, the Department of the Interior through its Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), and the Department of Justice. The total payment, including interest, is $2,287,145.74. read more

Royal Dutch Shell evasion of royalties: Plaintiffs win $66 million from Shell Oil after making the mistake of relying on Shell’s “honesty and integrity”:

“Shell told us [in 1995] that if we didn’t want to accept a nuisance value settlement, they would drag the case out and my clients would be dead before they ever got the money,” said Calvert. “They ended up being partly right.”

Sat May 17, 2008

NEWSOK.COM: Shell weighs appeal in royalty case

By Jack Money

Shell Oil Co. is weighing an appeal of a $66 million verdict this month by a Stephens County jury in a royalties payment case, company officials said Friday.

The verdict stems from a case where five women claimed they were owed royalties that had not been paid since the early 1970s.

Background to case

The royalties involved a well on a 20-acre lease in a 640-acre unit between Ardmore and Duncan. The area is one of old production, in which more than 100 wells have been drilled. read more

By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Sep 26, 2011 7:58 PM GMT+0100

President Barack Obama’s administration should add to protection for Arctic wildlife as the U.S. moves to allow oil-drilling off the Alaska coast next year, a study commissioned by environmental groups said.

The government should make special efforts to avoid harm in the most sensitive habitats and gather comprehensive data about seals, walruses and bowhead whales of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) has bought leases, and the research should be publicly accessible, according to a report released today by the Pew Environment Group and the Washington- based Ocean Conservancy. read more

Royal Dutch Shell evasion of royalties

Published: March 21, 2002

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group paid $33.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the State of Alabama claiming more royalties from natural gas Shell produced in state waters, a lawyer representing Alabama said.

Shell Oil, the United States unit of Royal Dutch/Shell, was sued in June 1999 for underpaying royalties as far back as 1991 for gas from Mobile Bay, said Richard Dorman of Cunningham, Bounds, Yance, Crowder & Brown.

Alabama got $27.1 million in the settlement. The remaining $6.4 million went for lawyers’ fees and expenses. read more

26 September 2011

LAGOS — Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell said Monday it has shut in 25,000 barrels per day of crude in a southern Nigerian oil field due to spills caused by sabotage and theft.

“The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) has shut in production from Imo River Field due to a recent upsurge of illegal bunkering and refining activities which have impacted the environment,” the company said in a statement.

“Some 25,000 barrels of oil per day is affected,” Shell said, adding it took the action on August 28 “to starve the illegal bunkerers of crude oil in order to prevent further environmental pollution.” read more

By James Paton

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Arrow Energy Ltd., owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co., agreed to buy Bow Energy Ltd. after sweetening its offer to A$535 million ($516 million), gaining resources for a natural gas project in Australia.

The coal-seam gas explorer and producer in Queensland state increased its cash offer to A$1.52 a share from A$1.48, Brisbane-based Bow said in a statement today. That’s 72 percent more than the stock’s price of 88.5 cents in Sydney trading before Arrow made its initial offer on Aug. 22. read more

Saturday 24 September 2011 Page 8

Extract

The spill occurred when the Skandi Foula, owned by Shell, was being refuelled at Torry dock.

A clean-up operation was under way last night and it is understood around 500 litres of oil were recovered.

In August the oil giant faced criticised after more than 200 tonnes of oil spilled into the North Sea from its Gannet Alpha platform, about two miles east of Aberdeen. It was the worst oil spill in the region in more than a decade. read more

By John Donovan

In the years immediately prior to WW2, Royal Dutch Shell was a business partner both Internationally and in Germany with IG Farben, the notorious German chemical firm, supplier of Zyklon-B gas to the Nazi death camps.

IG Farben used slave labor.

Extract from Time Magazine article 12 May 1947: Most damning charge was that Farben experimented on slave labor and concentration camp inmates with “deadly gases, vaccines and related products.” To supply slave labor for its synthetic rubber plant at Oswiecim, Farben allegedly constructed a concentration camp and worked the men, women & children so hard that an estimated 100 a day died from exhaustion. The U.S. would have no trouble proving that the Nazis could not have made war without Farben. read more

Published: Sept. 23, 2011 at 8:22 AM

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei, Sept. 23 (UPI) — Natural gas resources will help fuel economic growth in Asia, where advances are vastly outpacing the rest of the world, a Shell executive said.

Malcolm Brinded, executive director for upstream developments at Shell, spoke to delegates at an energy conference in Brunei.

He said advancing economies in Asia, coupled with the energy deficit brought on by Japan’s nuclear power disaster, means the region needs to “invest heavily” in all resources, including solar and wind. read more

September 22, 2011, 6:30 PM EDT

Far-flung Point Hope puts Shell’s plans for Arctic drilling on ice

Alaska Stock/Alamy

By Katarzyna Klimasinska

This summer, four-year-old Micah Kinneeveauk helped catch and kill his first seal. His proud grandmother plans to reward him with a special dessert at Thanksgiving: A big bowl of ice cream flavored with caribou meat and fat. Hunting seals and whales in the Chukchi Sea and caribou and polar bears on the tundra has provided food, clothing, and rites of passage for centuries in tiny Point Hope, Alaska, a barren gravel village of 800 Inupiat natives located 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Many of the people live largely on what they catch. read more

Alaska Dispatch | Sep 21, 2011

Environmental groups say they’re reviewing air quality permits approved Monday by the federal government for Shell Oil, which hopes to drill offshore next year in Alaska’s Arctic.

The Environmental Protection Agency authorized air emissions from Shell’s drill ship Discover and a support fleet of icebreakers, oil spill response vessels and supply ships to operate 120 days a year in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

According to reports by Dow Jones and Reuters, Shell could face additional legal challenges over the permits, the approval of which marked a “major milestone” in oil multinational’s multi-year, billion dollar Arctic offshore drilling quest. read more

The unions contend Royal Dutch/Shell, the world’s second largest multinational company in terms of sales, employs black slave labor in South Africa’s Rietspruit coal mine…

ublication: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: January 19, 1986
Author: Barry Cronin
Section: SUNDAY NEWS
Edition: FIVE STAR SPORTS FINAL
Page: 55

A coalition of labor unions has called on Americans to boycott products sold by the Shell Oil Co., a subsidiary of the Royal Dutch/ Shell Group, which has extensive oil, coal and chemical operations in South Africa.

The unions contend Royal Dutch/Shell, the world’s second largest multinational company in terms of sales, employs black slave labor in South Africa’s Rietspruit coal mine, of which it owns 50 percent with a South African firm. read more

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

By RYAN DEZEMBER

Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s chief executive says he has no plans to follow in the footsteps of rivals and shed refineries.

“We will remain an integrated oil company,” Peter Voser, head of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Several so-called integrated oil companies, which explore for oil and refine crude, have lately concluded they would be better off split into separate parts.

ConocoPhillips said in July that it is dividing itself into two publicly traded companies, one for each side of the business. That follows a similar move Marathon Oil Corp. made this summer when it created publicly traded Marathon Petroleum Corp. to run its refineries. Meanwhile, Murphy Oil Corp. has sold all of its refineries except for one in Wales, which it is actively shopping. read more

Royal Dutch Shell will invest more than $1.6bn in the second phase exploration of a key Brazilian oil block and also plans to compete in the country’s next auction of oil and gas concessions, senior company figures have disclosed.

By Robin Yapp, in Sao Paulo 7:07PM BST 21 Sep 2011

Already Brazil’s second biggest oil producer after the state-run energy giant Petrobras, Shell has had impressive results in the Campos Basin, part of Brazil’s pre-salt oil fields that lie deep below the Atlantic ocean and a thick layer of salt.

Production in the area has been 30pc higher than anticipated, convincing Shell to make substantial further investment in the hope of seeing similarly impressive results.

Andre Araujo, president of Shell Brazil, said the second phase development of the BC-10 block in the Campos Basin – in which Shell has a 50pc share and is believed to hold 400m barrels of recoverable oil – will start next year. read more

By Ed Crooks in New York

Published: September 21 2011 23:40

Extracts

Oil and gas supplies will struggle to keep up with world demand growth, making energy prices more expensive and more volatile in the long term, the head of Europe’s largest oil company has warned.

Peter Voser, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, told the Financial Times:

“We will have a lot of volatility ahead of us that we cannot avoid … for energy prices in general.”

Complete article

Environmental groups are considering a challenge to a set of permits issued to Royal Dutch Shell this week for oil drilling projects off the coast of Alaska, reports have said.

Bill Lehane and news wires 21 September 2011 12:25 GMT

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Monday it had approved the air quality permits for the Anglo-Dutch supermajor to operate the Discoverer drillship and supporting vessels in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas starting in 2012.

Environmental groups now say they are reviewing the EPA permits to determine whether to file a challenge with the agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), according to Dow Jones. read more

By John Donovan

In the years in the run up to WW2, Royal Dutch Shell was a business partner both Internationally and in Germany with IG Farben, the notorious German chemical firm. Farben supplied Zyklon-B gas to the Nazi concentration camps, in which millions of innocent people including children, were murdered in the Holocaust.

IG Farben shared patent rights to synthetic oil and other products with Shell.

Royal Dutch Shell group was also a major partner with Farben in jointly owned companies, including Deutsche Gasolin A.G., which operated a refinery and gasoline service station network in Nazi Germany. read more

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept 19 | Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:21pm EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has won two critical permits it needs to drill in Arctic waters off Alaska in the next two years, federal officials said on Monday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it issued Shell final air-quality permits the company needs to operate a huge drill ship and associated vessels in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

Loss of similar permits in a battle with environmentalists and Alaska native groups last winter forced Shell to abandon its plan to drill this year. read more

FINANCIAL TIMES ARTICLES CITING THE WEBSITE: Royaldutchshellplc.com

ENERGYSOURCE BLOG December 3, 2009

Spot news

…French companies dismiss claims of political fix (FT) Shell critic says oil major targeting his website Royaldutchshellplc.com operator cites released emails (Reuters) Nigerians urge Yar’Adua to step down Warnings of power vacuum… Kate Mackenzie

ENERGY SOURCE BLOG February 12, 2010

Shell’s directory leak shouldn’t be taken lightly

…corporations (in western countries)” to campaign for change in corporate practices. Meanwhile John Donovan at royaldutchshellplc.com is irked , because he says Shell asked him not to make the directory public for security and personal reasons… Kate Mackenzie read more

Activists campaigning against Shell’s plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean may be concerned at this development.

18 September 2011

By John Donovan

Hakluyt, the London corporate intelligence firm, which has been closely associated with Royal Dutch Shell, has recently opened a bureau in New York.

Titled Shell directors have been major shareholders in Haklut & Company Limited and were at one time the ultimate spymasters heading the company and an associated oversight foundation.

Ian Forbes McCredie OBE, the former/current MI6 senior official, who until December 2010 headed up Shell Corporate Security, has recently returned to the Hakluyt/MI6 spy nest. read more

By John Donovan

18 September 2011

Bloomberg has reported the release of a carcinogenic chemical –  butadiene – by Shell/Motiva at its Norco plant in Louisiana.

Butadiene is listed as a known carcinogen by the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry and the US EPA. At acute high exposure, damage to the central nervous system will start to occur. Symptoms such as distorted blurred vision, vertigo, general tiredness, decreased blood pressure, headache, nausea, decreased pulse rate, and fainting may be witnessed. As the exposure to butadiene occurs at a higher level and for a longer duration, the effects witnessed will become more serious. (INFORMATION FROM WIKIPEDIA) read more

NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT PRIMARILY HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL TRAGEDY IN OGONILAND, WHILE ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL IS A PARTNER IN CRIME: Says MOSOP. 17 September 2011

A MOSOP Committee set up on the 18th of August, 2011 by MOSOP President/Spokesman, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo to review the Nigerian Government threat that: “Pollution or no pollution, oil production will go on in Ogoniland as already planned,” submitted its report at a MOSOP General Assembly Meeting at Nonwa on Friday, 16th September, 2011. The Committee Report holds the Nigerian Government primarily responsible for the environmental tragedy in Ogoniland, saying that the Royal Dutch/Shell is a partner in crime. The Committee, which included representatives of ten affiliates of MOSOP, recommended what it calls “justifiable stiffer resistance,” against attempts to seize lands or resume oil production in Ogoniland. The resistance package includes use of tactics to protect Ogonis, their families and property against physical attack. The tactics are part of the indigenous Ogoni customary and traditional law, designed to prevent desecration of ancestral lands and sacred sites. read more