The block, South Gato do Mato, is adjacent to a prospect that Shell and Total are already exploring jointly. Shell is operator in both areas with an 80 percent stake.
Araujo said it was too soon to forecast when the first oil might be produced there, but reiterated that the company is committed to investing an average of $2 billion a year in Latin America’s top economy through 2020.
Shell won half the blocks awarded in Brazil’s deepwater auction in October in a historic opening of the pre-salt play to foreign operators. Billions of barrels of oil are trapped below thousands of feet of salt in the country’s Atlantic waters.
Wael Sawan, executive vice president for Shell’s deepwater division, told Reuters the company was confident it could pump oil from the fields on offer for less than $40 a barrel.
During the event, Araujo also said the company is looking for opportunities in renewable energy in Brazil, which could be through acquisitions or working with partners.
“There are a lot of companies that believe that renewable energy in Brazil will grow, that there are business opportunities. Why not go in?” he said, adding that Raízen, partly owned by Shell, already invests in the sector.
Raízen is a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Cosan SA Indústria e Comércio, a Brazilian energy and infrastructure group. Besides being the world’s largest sugar producer, Raízen is a large ethanol maker and generates electricity from biomass by burning dried-crushed cane at power plants adjacent to the mills.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe
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.
