By Elida Moreno and Marianna Parraga | PANAMA CITY/SAN ANTONIO
Royal Dutch Shell agreed to lease capacity at a large oil terminal in Panama that has been used by U.S. refiner Tesoro Corp, sources involved in the deal told Reuters, gaining much-needed storage for its crude operations.
The facility, designed for storage and transshipment of oil, is owned by Petroterminal de Panama and provides up to 14 million barrels of storage capacity, a pipeline network that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and docks for very large tankers.
“We have signed a contract with Shell for a three-year period involving all the available space we have,” said an official from the Panamanian government.
It remained unclear when the contract would start and the capacity involved, but the source said the deal will soon be submitted to the Finance Ministry’s board of directors for approval.
Shell did not respond to requests for comment. Tesoro said it does not comment on contract agreements.
Access to oil facilities in Central America or the Caribbean is important for producers along the Atlantic basin because a saturated storage network has forced some to sell crude at very low prices in recent years during the oil-price crash.
Petroterminal de Panama in 2008 announced it would reverse the flow of its 81-mile (130-km) trans-Panamanian pipeline. After the completion of the project in 2010, Tesoro started shipping more than 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude through the line under a seven-year agreement.
The contract, which also included leasing existing facilities and building dedicated storage tanks for Tesoro, allowed the San Antonio, Texas-based firm to manage crude grades from Africa, South America and the North Sea for its Pacific refineries.
For Shell, having access to Panama would expand its current network in the Atlantic. After buying BG Group, it became the largest gas player in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago, where it also has blending and lubricant facilities.
Shell also participates in exploration and production projects in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Peru and Argentina, and has a trading unit in Barbados.
(Reporting by Elida Moreno in Panama City and Marianna Parraga in San Antonio; Editing by Gary McWilliams, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
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.
