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August 26th, 2012:

Report claims Shell paid warlords and militants not to attack its pipelines in the Niger Delta

By Rob Davies: PUBLISHED: 21:53, 26 August 2012 | UPDATED: 21:54, 26 August 2012

Shell paid warlords and militants not to attack its pipelines in the Niger Delta, contributing to armed violence in the troubled region, according to a new report.

According to evidence obtained from leaked US Embassy cables and interviews with local people, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant paid ‘protection’ money to dangerous militant groups.

Shell fights a daily battle against oil theft and the threat to its staff from kidnappers, forcing it to go to great lengths to resolve the security situation. 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.

Exclusive: Iraq pipeline delays threaten Shell’s Majnoon

Published: Sunday, 26 Aug 2012 | 9:40 AM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Delays in Iraq’s pipeline construction threaten to stall production at Royal Dutch Shell’s <RDSa.L> Majnoon oilfield for at least three months, forcing the field to miss a 2012 target of 175,000 barrels per day, oil ministry documents showed.Wary of losses, Shell has asked Iraq for a waiver to start recovering costs if Majnoon does not meet its first commercial production target by year-end – a contract requirement before costs can be retrieved, according to documents seen by Reuters.

Shell’s troubles illustrate infrastructure hurdles facing oil operators in the OPEC nation. Some oil majors have begun signing deals with Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, which they say offers more attractive conditions than the country’s federal government in southern oilfields.

Majnoon is shut for maintenance. But lagging development could put off completion of the new pipeline until the first quarter of next year, according to a Shell document filed with the oil ministry. 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.

Nigeria hits Shell with $1.5bn bill

Daily Telegraph: Nigeria hits Shell with $1.5bn bill

“Shell and Nigeria’s state oil company would ultimately be forced to increase environmental spending in the country.”

By James Moore (Filed: 26/08/2004)

Shell faced fresh regulatory difficulties yesterday as the Nigerian Senate called on it to pay $1.5 billion (£840m) in compensation to pollution-hit communities living near its oil field in the Niger delta.

The move comes a day after the US Securities & Exchange Commission and UK Financial Services Authority issued damning reports spelling out the reasons for imposing penalties of $120m and £17m after Shell overstated proven oil and gas reserves from 1998 until this year by nearly five billion 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.

Federal scientists still concerned over Shell’s Jackpine oilsands expansion

 By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press  | August 26, 2012

EDMONTON – Regulatory documents indicate federal scientists still have significant concerns over Shell’s proposed Jackpine oilsands mine expansion even as the project heads into public hearings.

Five years after Shell Canada first proposed the 100,000-barrel-a-day project, it has been finally scheduled to go before a joint federal-provincial environmental hearing Oct. 29.

In their final submissions to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, several federal departments say they still have questions about Shell’s plans. They include how growth in the industry has outpaced the company’s assessment of cumulative effects, how changing flow in the Athabasca River will affect contaminant levels and how well Shell is able to control effluent from artificial lakes that will be used to store tailings. 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.

Nigeria: Shell’s Oily Friendship With Human Rights Abusers

The leak of documents from Shell reveal its deep financial ties to human rights abusers.

Shell spent at least $383 million on security in Nigeria between 2007 and 2009, or a substantial 40% of the company’s billion-dollar global security spending, according to internal financial data leaked to oil watchdog Platform. Shell’s leaked data is analysed in a new Platform briefing, Dirty Work: Shell’s security spending in Nigeria and beyond.

The briefing, as reported in the Guardian and Data Blog, reveals the extent of Shell’s financial support for Nigerian government forces and other armed groups during a period of intense conflict in the Niger Delta. It follows Platform’s 2011 report, Counting the Cost, which showed how Shell’s reliance on government forces in Nigeria and its routine payments to armed militant groups had exacerbated human rights abuses. Amongst this report’s findings, contracts implicated Shell in the funding of militants; funding that helped to perpetuate ongoing conflict in the Delta region. The new briefing confirms the vast scale of Shell’s security expenditure and its devastating consequences. 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.

Why Libya’s ‘sweet’ crude oil is not enough to tempt BP or Shell

Libya is now producing 1.5m barrels of high-quality oil a day. But with exploration by BP and Shell so far disappointing, British involvement in the country remains slow

: The Observer,

A decade ago Libya was at the centre of dramatic stories alleging cloak-and-dagger diplomacy between then-BP boss Lord Browne, Colonel Gaddafi and MI6 agents. And barely 12 months ago British warplanes were in action over Tripoli – this time fighting to topple the North African dictator former prime minister Tony Blair had previously decided to embrace.

But if these two events were seen by critics as the UK manoeuvring for an “oil boom” that would benefit both countries and an energy-hungry Blighty economy, it must be deemed a bit of a failure. 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.

Discoverer drillship sets sail for Shell’s Arctic leases

Posted on August 25, 2012 at 10:45 pm by Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Alaska

The Noble Discoverer began a one-week trek to the Chukchi Sea on Saturday afternoon, moving Shell one step closer to drilling for oil in Arctic waters this summer.

The drillship, which left Dutch Harbor for Shell’s Chukchi drilling site on Saturday afternoon, comes one week after the company’s Kulluk drilling rig launched its own two-week journey north.

The vessels’ departure marks the first time that working drilling rigs have chartered a course for the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in roughly two decades, during the last era of oil exploration in U.S. Arctic waters. 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.