Saturday, July 06, 2013
LONDON Britain must get tough with major oil firms that prevent smaller producers from getting access to platforms and pipelines, or risk leaving as much as $500 billion worth of oil in the ground, North Sea oil companies say.
Output from the North Sea has been in steep decline as mature fields are exhausted and global firms such as BP and Shell focus on more promising projects elsewhere. But there is still oil under the sea bed that a host of smaller operators is keen to extract, and Britain’s cash-strapped government is anxious to maximise tax revenues.
The problem is, many small producers lack the infrastructure to get their oil to market and need access to platform hubs and pipelines owned and operated by the big oil companies. And much of that infrastructure is coming to the end of its working life.
Helping small rivals, however, is at best a low priority for oil majors, and at worst unprofitable and not in their interest.
“It’s more of a headache than anything else,†said Stephane Foucaud, managing director at research and analysis firm First Energy Capital. “They (oil majors) want to exit the North Sea, so dealing with small offtake agreements is not a priority.†The industry’s infrastructure code of practice is meant to help smaller players bring new fields onstream that require access to third party platforms and pipelines. That often doesn’t happen, according to industry insiders.
“We look for owners of infrastructure to market it … and use it for the greater good, but there is a variation in that,†said Simon Toole, head of licensing exploration and development at Britain’s Department of Energy & Climate Change. Time is running out. By the middle of the next decade, over half of existing North Sea infrastructure will be decommissioned or no longer available for use. Consultants Hannon Westwood estimate some 4.88 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in recoverable reserves, worth some $500 billion, are at risk of being stranded as a result.
“Decommissioning has been pushed back but it does need to start happening,†said Philip Whittaker, an associate director at the Boston Consulting Group.
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.
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.
