Indications emerged on Friday that Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited will spend $12.35bn (about N1.96tn) on the planned drilling of 19 new oil wells as part of the expansion of Bonga deep water oil field.
June, 2013:
Bonga: 19 new oil wells may gulp N1.96tn
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.
OPINION: We told you so
Anyone who has followed development like this for any length of time will not be shocked that Shell officials lied to cover their interests following the grounding of the Kulluk. But this blatantly obvious situation should motivate elected officials and the Coast Guard to require more oversight. We’ve been handed a gift with the Kulluk grounding, the gift of time and perspective. Hopefully, Alaska will make good use of it.
May 31st 2:53 pm | Carey Restino
Last week, the operations manager for Royal Dutch Shell told Coast Guard investigators that the end-of-the year tax liability was a primary consideration in the decision to move the Royal Dutch Shell contracted rig the Kulluk from Unalaska before the end of the year.
That’s what Alaska Media reporter Jim Paulin reported back when the Kulluk went aground. He’d followed up on a tip that he’d heard long before things went awry in Shell’s world and the response he got back from a Shell spokesman was very clear – taxes were a factor, and a frustration to the company. No one said for sure how much liability Shell faced for the Kulluk but the term “millions” was floated around. Some news agencies came up with $6 million based on general assumptions about the value of the rig. Alaska taxes 2 percent of the value of property used in oil and gas exploration, and properties are assessed on Jan. 1. The state tax examiner later said that because the oil exploration conducted by Shell occurred outside state waters, the rig was not liable for taxes.
Costly Risk In New Oil Exploration
June 1, 2013 |
Over the past few years, the large Western oil majors have been plagued by projects running substantially over budget, and taking much longer to complete than initially estimated. These hurdles are part of the broader challenge facing oil companies — how to cope with the end of the era of “easy oil.” Let’s take a closer look at one project — the Kashagan oil field — that epitomizes these challenges.
A primer on Kashagan
Kashagan is a vast untapped oil field in Kazakhstan with massive hydrocarbon potential. Yet, despite its operators — a consortium of companies including ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOMÂ Â ) , Eni, and Royal Dutch Shell –Â having plowed more than $30 billion into the project over the past decade, the field has yet to produce a single drop of oil.
Shell Covered Up The Fact That They Moved Kulluk For Taxes
 
…the two Arctic drilling barges deployed by Shell were plagued with issues. The first was under criminal investigation for failing safety requirements, while the second was the Kulluk
Rachel Maddow: Shell Covered Up The Fact That They Moved Kulluk For Taxes
Posted: 05/31/2013 11:43 am EDTÂ Â |Â Â Updated: 05/31/2013 12:45 pm EDT
Rachel Maddow concluded earlier this week that “oil companies lie.”
Although this is not the first time the MSNBC host has criticized an oil giant, recent revelations about Shell’s Arctic drilling led Maddow to reiterate her stance.
In an investigation conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard, a Shell official admitted that the Kulluk, a drilling barge that ran aground on December 31, 2012, was being moved in an effort to avoid a possible $6 million tax.
Shell’s Misadventures in Alaska
Though Royal Dutch Shell has made major strides over the past decade in overcoming the negativity surrounding the 2004 reserve overstatement scandal, which led to the ouster of its CEO and other top executives, the company continues to be plagued by operational blunders that are straining its relationships with shareholders. At the company’s annual meeting last Tuesday, top executives were overwhelmed by a barrage of questions from anxious shareholders about the company’s beleaguered oil campaign off the northern coast of Alaska, which, despite nearly $5 billion of investment, has yet to produce a single drop of oil.
Oil executives tune out the call of the wild Arctic
The Arctic may hold 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its gas, but a series of blunders and failures there are making executives fight shy of such a sensitive area and turn their attention back to more conventional resources and the shale revolution. The turning point likely came on New Year’s eve, when Royal Dutch Shell’s drillship ran aground in rough waters off Alaska, setting off a public relations storm that inflicted much pain on the firm, made more acute by how little it had to show for the $4.5 billion it has spent on the Arctic since 2005.
ONGC, Shell set to split $6bn gas buy
MUMBAI: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Royal Dutch Shell will equally split the prized 20% stake acquisition in Rovuma basin gas block in Mozambique, after the sellers decided to court individual buyers due to difference in priorities.
The stake on offer is valued between $5-6 billion. Indian conglomerate Videocon Industries, which is selling 10% shares, wants to maximize the value. US based Anadarko Petroleum, the operator of the block, is offloading an equal stake but wants a pedigree global partner with better track record and execution skills.
ONGC is the frontrunner to pick up the Videocon stake while Royal Dutch Shell might end up buying Anadarko shares. The Videocon stake sale to ONGC may be announced next month. Anadarko sale to Shell is likely to take more time.
Coast Guard Concludes Hearing into Kulluk Grounding
The Coast Guard says testimony taken during the formal marine causalty investigation hearing, held in the city Assembly Chambers at the Loussac Library, may lead to anything from new industry requirements to criminal charges.
May 30, 2013|By Dan Carpenter | Channel 2 News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The U.S. Coast Guard has wrapped up its investigative hearing into the grounding of the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig Kulluk, after nine days of testimony in Anchorage from key industry and government professionals.
On Thursday, the investigating panel looked into how Shell calculates risks before towing one of its vessels.
Jonathan Wilson, who managed the recovery tow of the Kulluk from Kiliuda Bay to Dutch Harbor in February, spoke over the phone from London. Wilson says the job was considered a “critical tow†due to a number of factors, including the state of the rig after it was damaged during its Dec. 31 grounding on Sitkalidak Island near Kodiak.
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.
