New ebook available globally, including: Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk; Amazon.fr; Amazon.de; Amazon.nl; Amazon.com.au; Amazon.ca; Amazon.es; Amazon.it; Amazon.in

About: John Donovan, Shell’s nightmare

His ebook tells the truly extraordinary story of a series of battles in an epic feud between him and the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell. It all stemmed from the repeated theft of intellectual property by Shell.

Donovan was chairman of a sales promotion agency, Don Marketing, that devised spectacularly successful forecourt promotions for Shell on an international basis. Many involved budgets of several million dollars. A mutually beneficial relationship lasted for over a decade.

This was followed by two decades of acrimony involving six High Court actions, a County Court case and proceedings via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). read more

By Royston Wild : The Motley Fool – Thursday, 14 April, 2016

Despite my repeated warnings of impending doom, share prices of many of the Footie’s commodity and retail giants have been carried higher again against a backcloth of giddy investor appetite.

Diversified commodities play Anglo American (LSE: AAL) has seen its share price explode 160% during the past three months, while oil giant Shell (LSE: RDSB) has enjoyed a 31% rise. Grocery house Tesco (LSE: TSCO) has seen its share value advance by a more modest 7% during the period.

But a recovery from January’s multi-year lows does not suggest that these stocks are on the cusp of a stunning turnaround. As legendary economist John Maynard Keynes’ famously pronounced: “the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” read more

A Lawyer, John Owubokiri, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order contractors handling the construction of the Total’s Egina floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to stop work on the platform until all the legal issues are resolved.

Owubokiri, who is a principal partner, Owubokiri & Co, said Buhari recognises the rule of law and due process, therefore, flagrant disrespect of the law by the owners of the Egina project should be dealt with to deter future occurrence. read more

By Micheal Kaufman on Apr 14, 2016

The oil slump has persisted for over 18 months now and it’s not surprising that several small and mid-sized companies have yielded to bankruptcy and debt pressures. Previously, the Street analysts were optimistic about the future outlook and the profitability of the oil giants; however, those expectations were reversed when the market situation took a turn for the worse in January.

The oil majors undertook several measures to tackle the slump. For starters, they lowered their capital and operating expenditures, went forth with mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity financing. They have taken the decision to reduce top executives’ pay amid one of the worst commodity downturns in the industry. read more

Angela Macdonald-Smith: Energy Reporter: 15 April 2016

Shell Australia chairman Andrew Smith is set to call on LNG industry leaders to drop their egos and get serious about collaboration to reduce costs, deliver better returns and improve competitiveness.

“We must put collaboration ahead of our industry’s natural desire to immortalise our own activities in concrete and steel,” Mr Smith will tell the LNG18 conference in Perth on Friday.

“Australia’s LNG industry will deliver greater economic value and better international competitiveness when we get better at the sharing of infrastructure on commercial terms.” read more

14 April 2016

BP shareholders have rejected a pay package of almost £14m for chief executive Bob Dudley at the oil company’s annual general meeting.

Just over 59% of investors rejected Mr Dudley’s 20% increase, one of the largest rejections to date of a corporate pay deal in the UK.

The vote is non-binding on BP, but earlier, chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg promised to review future pay terms.

Mr Dudley received the rise despite BP’s falling profits and job cuts.

The final voting figures will be released later, with some major investors abstaining. read more

By John McManus: BBC News: 14 April 2016

The head of energy giant Shell’s UK and Ireland operations has said the UK government should have continued to support a scheme to develop carbon capture technology.

The technology – to store carbon emissions from fossil fuels underground – was being developed at Peterhead power station with the help of Shell.

Chancellor George Osborne cancelled the competition in his Autumn Statement.

Shell’s Paul Goodfellow said the technology needed more development. read more

Written by Phil Allan – 14/04/2016

The head of Shell’s UK upstream operation said the North Sea oil industry is a “prize worth fighting for” in the years to come, but said more still needs to be done to ensure the long-term future of the sector.

Paul Goodfellow said many positive steps have been taken but industry, the Oil and Gas Authority and Westminster and Holyrood governments needs to continue to work together to transform the basin into highly competitive province.

Goodfellow said: “There’s too much at stake not to make this work.” read more