Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, is expanding exploration in the south of the continent, where nations plan to reduce fuel imports.
The company has obtained projects in Albania, Turkey and Ukraine in the last 12 months. In July, Shell and Total SA (FP) agreed to invest about $1.9 billion to develop the Tempa Rossa field in the Basilicata region in southern Italy. Shell also won two exploration licenses in the Gulf of Taranto off the coast of Italy in 2010.
“Italy is an emerging, interesting producer for us,” Andy Brown, Shell’s director of international production, said in an interview in London. “In terms of our prospective resources we’ve restocked our funnel quite successfully over the last few years.”
Turkey, which imports almost all of its energy, needs to find domestic oil and gas reserves to ensure security of supply and replace imports, which could cost the nation about $50 billion this year. Italy, which imports 84 percent of its energy, plans to double the share of its domestic production to 14 percent of energy demand in 2020, according to a strategic plan presented by the government this month. Ukraine wants to ease dependence on supplies from Russia.
“We are particularly busy in southern Europe,” Brown said. “We always knew there is oil in Albania.”
The Anglo-Dutch company in May paid $50.3 million to Petromanas Energy Inc. (PMI) for a 50 percent stake in Blocks 2 and 3 in Albania, according to the Calgary-based company.
Shale Exploration
In Turkey, Shell and state-owned Turkiye Petrolleri AO started exploring for shale gas in the Dadas area in the southeast of the country. Shell also started seismic work in the deepwater Mediterranean Sea south off Antalya. In March, it agreed with TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. (TNP) to survey the Sivas Basin in north-central Turkey.
“We have a big exploration portfolio now in Turkey,” Brown said. “We are well-placed.”
Shell, based in The Hague, planned to increase investment in exploration by 35 percent to about $5 billion this year, after raising spending 30 percent to $3.6 billion last year, it said in February. It secured interests in frontiers such as Tanzania, French Guiana and southern Africa.
“I see an enormous number of opportunities,” Brown said. “We are looking around the world at the various basins and we will obviously work hard to get access ahead of the competition.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at [email protected]
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.
