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Business Week

Gasoline Gains as Flooding Slows Louisiana Refinery Start

By Barbara Powell – Sep 10, 2012 4:34 PM GMT+0100

Gasoline gained after a report that flooding and mechanical issues have slowed the startup of Motiva Enterprises LLC’s Convent, Louisiana, refinery as it tries to return to production after Hurricane Isaac.

Futures rose as Motiva expects to need another week to get the main production units running at the 255,000-barrel-a-day plant, according to two people familiar with operations. Three refineries in the Gulf Coast are starting and six are at reduced rates after the storm, which knocked out 13 percent of the area’s refining capacity when it struck Aug. 29. read more

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Plains to Buy BP Oil and Gas Assets for $5.55 Billion; Unveils $560 Million Deal with Shell

Dow Jones and Company, Inc.  09/10/2012 7:39 AM ET

Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP) has agreed to buy BP PLC’s (BP) deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties for $5.55 billion.

BP is selling its interests in three assets: the Marlin hub–consisting of the Marlin, Dorado and King fields–Horn Mountain, and Holstein. The deal also includes BP’s stake in two non-operated assets: Ram Powell and Diana Hoover, which BP had revealed it would sell in May.

Monday, BP said the divestment is in line with its global strategy of playing to its strengths, including the development of giant fields and deepwater exploration. read more

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South Africa Allows Exploration of Shale Gas Resources

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said, “If extraction of the gas can be done safely, let’s go and do it.” Source: South African Government via Bloomberg

By Franz Wild and Andres R. Martinez on September 07, 2012

South Africa, which has the world’s fifth-largest shale-gas resources, lifted a moratorium on the exploration of natural gas trapped in rock, the mines ministry said.

The government imposed a ban last year on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, while it studied the environmental repercussions of allowing companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (FO) and Bundu Oil & Gas (Pty) Ltd. to employ the practice. Fracking, which involves blasting water mixed with sand and chemicals underground to free trapped hydrocarbons from shale formations, has been banned in France. read more

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Shell Said by TradeWinds in Talks to Build and Charter Tankers

By Michelle Wiese Bockmann on September 07, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is in talks on building and chartering as many as 20 Medium Range tankers to carry oil products, TradeWinds reported, citing unidentified shipbrokers.

Shell and shipyards Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (010620) Co., based in Ulsan, South Korea, and SPP Shipbuilding Co. are discussing constructing 10 of the vessels with options to build another 10 at a possible price of $28.5 million, according to the shipping- industry newspaper. read more

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Shell to Build Canada Capture Project for Oil-Sands Emissions

By Eduard Gismatullin – Sep 5, 2012 1:19 PM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s biggest oil company, will build the first carbon capture and storage project in Canada that locks away emissions from mining oil sands.

The company, together with partners Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO), received government backing to start work on the Quest venture north of Edmonton, Shell said today in a statement. It’s designed to capture and permanently store underground more than 1 million tons of carbon-dioxide a year from Shell’s Scotford upgrader, the equivalent of talking 175,000 cars off the road. read more

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Shell Starts Shale Gas Exploration in Southeast Turkey

By Ercan Ersoy on September 05, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Turkiye Petrolleri AO, Turkey’s state oil and gas company, started exploring for shale gas in the southeast of the country, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.

Exploration began last week in Diyarbakir’s Saribugday-1 field, Yildiz said in Ankara during a meeting with Shell’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser, according to the state-owned Anatolia news agency.

There may be 13 trillion cubic meters of shale gas reserves, 1.8 trillion cubic meters of which is recoverable, Ismail Bahtiyar, chairman of the Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists, said April 20. read more

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Exxon, Shell Said Seeking Control of $46 Billion Kashagan Field

By Nariman Gizitdinov on August 30, 2012

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) are seeking bigger stakes in the Kashagan oil field and operating control before starting to expand the $46 billion project, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Exxon and Shell also want Kazakhstan’s government to extend the production-sharing agreement for 20 years before investing more in the Caspian Sea field, touted as the world’s biggest discovery in four decades when found, the people said, declining to be identified as the talks are confidential. read more

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Shell Seeks to Extend ’12 Oil-Drilling Time in U.S. Chukchi Sea

By Katarzyna Klimasinska on August 27, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is seeking additional drilling time in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska as delays have cost the company about two months of exploration this year.

Shell has spent $4.5 billion to obtain drilling rights, purchase equipment and procure permits from various federal agencies in pursuit of an underwater supply of oil estimated at more than 20 billion barrels.

While the company initially planned to begin in July, ice that remained longer than usual and Coast Guard concerns with a spill-containment barge, the Arctic Challenger, delayed the start and caused Shell to cut the number of wells planned for this year from five to one or two. read more

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Delays Leave Shell With Only Weeks to Drill in Arctic

An artist’s rendition of the Arctic Challenger barge. The vessel needs at least 14 days to get from Bellingham, Washington, to the exploration area, Shell said. Source: Superior Marine Technical Services

By Kasia Klimasinska on August 20, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) has spent seven years and $4.5 billion, and fought off at least 50 lawsuits, for a chance to tap what is thought to be the biggest source of oil in the U.S. outside of the Gulf of Mexico.

With the last of more than 30 permit applications still pending, time is running out to get much drilling done off the coast of Alaska before having to stop for winter. read more

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Groups call for study of Arctic Ocean corals

By Dan Joling on August 16, 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two environmental groups say cold-water corals discovered near a proposed Shell Oil drilling site in the Chukchi Sea deserve additional review, but the company contends they have been studied and are not threatened.

Greenpeace USA and the Center for Biological Diversity in a letter Thursday called on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to block drilling until the department conducts a supplemental environmental review of potential damage to the corals.

Shell hopes to drill at least one exploratory well this year during the summer open water season. Environmental groups have strongly opposed drilling, claiming too little is known about the Arctic ecosystem and that petroleum companies have not demonstrated they can clean up a spill in ice-choked waters. read more

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Shell Plans $2.5 Billion Issue in First Bond Sale Since 2010

By Charles Mead on August 14, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil producer, plans to raise $2.5 billion with its first bond offering in two years with a three-part sale.

The company intends to issue $1 billion of five-year notes that may yield 50 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, an equal portion of 10-year bonds with a 70 basis- point spread, and $500 million of 30-year debt that may pay 82 basis points more than benchmarks, according to a person familiar with the offering who asked not to be identified, citing lack of authorization to speak publicly about the sale. The bonds may be rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service, its second-highest grade, the person said. read more

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BP Said to Seek $7.9 Billion Selling Gulf of Mexico Fields

By Cathy Chan, Matthew Campbell and Brian Swint on August 14, 2012

BP Plc (BP/) is seeking as much as $7.9 billion before tax payments for a group of Gulf of Mexico oilfields as it unloads assets following its 2010 spill in the region, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The oil producer, Europe’s biggest after Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), has prepared preliminary information for prospective buyers of assets including the Horn Mountain, Holstein, Diana Hoover and Ram Powell fields, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the sale process is confidential. read more

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Shell Is to Blame for Delay in Arctic Wells, Salazar Says

By Kasia Klimasinska on August 13, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is chiefly to blame for delays in procuring permits to drill off the north coast of Alaska, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

Shell, which had planned to start exploration in July, is reworking the barge Arctic Challenger in Bellingham, Washington, to satisfy U.S. Coast Guard requirements. The vessel is a part of the system Shell has designed to collect oil spilled in case of a well blowout in the Arctic.

“They have not been able to get it done,” Salazar said of Shell at a press conference today in Anchorage, Alaska, monitored by telephone. “If they had got it done, they would already be up there today.” read more

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Shell Gains Acquisition Firepower as Cash Flow Cuts Debt

By Eduard Gismatullin on August 07, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is building the firepower to make acquisitions as record cash flow cuts debt to the lowest level in three years.

Europe’s largest oil producer generated $12.6 billion in free cash flow, the difference between revenue from operations and capital expenditure, during the first half. That’s the most for any six-month period since Shell became a single entity in 2005 and has allowed The Hague-based company to cut its ratio of net debt to equity to 8.8 percent, below any European rival. read more

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Shell’s Alaska Drilling Delayed by Bureaucracy, Republicans Say

By Kasia Klimasinska on August 02, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s drilling on U.S. leases off Alaska’s north coast is being delayed by federal bureaucrats, House Republicans said today in pushing to speed development by citing success on private lands in North Dakota.

North Dakota and its Bakken shale formation overtook Alaska as the second-largest oil-producing state in March, according to the Energy Information Administration. Alaska is seeking new oil sources as output from the nation’s largest field, Prudhoe Bay, declines and the flow through the Trans-Alaska pipeline drops. read more

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As the Arctic Opens for Oil, the Coast Guard Scrambles

By and on July 26, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS/A) has spent $4.5 billion since 2005 preparing to explore for oil off Alaska’s north coast in the Arctic. Shell, which may begin drilling next month, is one of at least six companies planning to extract oil, gas, and minerals from the Arctic as global warming melts ice and opens new sea lanes to commerce. The Arctic region holds about a fourth of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural gas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. About 84 percent of this treasure trove lies beneath the ocean floor. The U.S. has more than 1,000 miles of Arctic shoreline, and much of the country’s Arctic oil is there. read more

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Shell May Trim 2012 Alaska Drilling for Inspections, Ice

By Katarzyna Klimasinska on July 26, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) may have to scale back its Arctic oil-exploration this year after unrelenting ice and trouble passing U.S. Coast Guard inspections delayed the planned July start of drilling.

The company’s fleet remains in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, days away from the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the state’s north coast, waiting for ice to break up and the U.S. to issue final permits for drilling five test wells. Arctic conditions require Shell to quit work by late October, before ice reforms. read more

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Shell-Led Arctic Push Finds U.S. Shy

By Carol Wolf and Kasia Klimasinska on July 18, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) has spent $4.5 billion since 2005 preparing to explore for oil off Alaska’s north coast in the Arctic. U.S. taxpayers may end up paying almost as much to supervise future operations in the region.

Shell, which may begin drilling next month, is one of at least six companies planning to extract oil, gas and minerals in the Arctic as global warming melts ice and opens new sea lanes to commerce. As the companies move in, so must the Coast Guard, to defend U.S. interests, perform sea rescues and coordinate the government’s response to any oil spills. read more

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Spill Remedy Questioned by Coast Guard as Shell to Tap Arctic

By Katarzyna Klimasinska on July 16, 2012

The U.S. Coast Guard is awaiting permission from the Environmental Protection Agency before including chemical dispersants among the tools to respond to any oil spills once Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) begins drilling in Arctic waters.

Admiral Robert Papp, the Coast Guard commandant, said EPA approval is necessary before his agency can use the dispersants. He said he’s not convinced the technology will be as successful in limiting damage from any potential spill in Arctic waters, as it was in the warmer Gulf of Mexico after the BP Plc (BP/) disaster two years ago. read more

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Shell Said to Renew 1 Billion-Euro Deutsche Telekom Data Deal

By Cornelius Rahn on July 05, 2012

Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s T-Systems unit won an extension of a 1 billion-euro ($1.2 billion) deal to manage the data center infrastructure of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), two people familiar with the matter said.

The initial outsourcing contract, signed in March 2008, will be extended by at least another five years, the people said, asking not to be identified as the agreement hasn’t been announced yet. Under the deal, T-Systems is moving data into a cloud computing infrastructure, meaning Shell can access information and services remotely, without having to maintain its own servers, one person said. read more

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Putin Pushes International Oil CEOs for Access to Assets

By Jake Rudnitsky and Ilya Khrennikov on June 22, 2012

President Vladimir Putin asked the chief executives of U.S. and European energy producers to grant Russian companies access to international assets, holding out some of the world’s biggest untapped resources as a prize.

Putin is hosting the heads of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), ConocoPhillips, BP Plc (BP/) and Eni SpA (ENI) at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, using the three-day event to say Russia is one of the most welcoming countries for energy investments.

“Far from all countries allow such a broad involvement by foreign companies in the energy sector,” Putin said in a speech yesterday, pointing to Mexico and Norway as countries where state-owned companies dominate the energy industry. read more

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Statoil Asks Gazprom to Bring Shell Into Shtokman: RIA

By Marina Sysoyeva on June 21, 2012

Statoil ASA (STL) wants Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to become the main foreign partner in development of the Shtokman offshore natural gas project in Russia, RIA Novosti reported.

Statoil sent a letter to OAO Gazprom proposing the change, the Russian news agency reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter. Gazprom owns 51 percent of Shtokman Development AG, Statoil owns 24 percent and France’s Total SA (FP) owns 25 percent. The report didn’t say if Statoil is seeking a replacement for Total or to reduce the company’s stake in the project. read more

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Shell Says It Reduced Nigeria Gas Flaring 60% in Nine Years

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo on June 18, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), operator of Nigeria’s largest oil fields, said the flaring, or burning, of natural gas at its deposits in the West African country fell by more than 60 percent in the past nine years.

“Flaring dropped by more than 60 percent from over 0.6 billion cubic feet of gas a day to about 0.2 billion cubic feet,” the company said today in an e-mailed statement from Lagos, the commercial capital. The decline followed investments of more than $3 billion to build gathering facilities since 2000, Shell said. read more

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Shell Gear Needs More Tests Before Alaska Permits, Official Says

By Katarzyna Klimasinska on June 14, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) must complete more tests of its safety equipment before the U.S. lets the company drill for oil off the north coast of Alaska, a regulator said.

The examinations, which will verify whether Shell is able to stop the flow of oil in case of a blowout, will take place in coming weeks, James Watson, director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said today during a conference call.

“These tests must be successful before we approve any drilling activities, because safety is a must and it’s our No. 1 priority,” Watson said in Portland, Oregon, after looking over equipment to be used when a well fails. “There are still a number of inspections by BSEE and the U.S. Coast Guard” on Shell’s equipment. read more

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Exxon, Shell See U.S.-Led Gas Boom Boosting Worldwide Growth

By Dinakar Sethuraman, Rakteem Katakey and Yee Kai Pin on June 05, 2012

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) (XOM), the world’s biggest energy company, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) said a U.S.- led transformation of the natural-gas market will boost the global economy even as oil becomes more expensive.

“Natural gas is quickly becoming a key enabler of economic growth and environmental progress around the world,” Rex W. Tillerson, chief executive officer of Exxon, said at a conference today in Kuala Lumpur. “We are living at a historic moment in the evolution of energy markets. How we respond will shape the quality of life for generations to come.” read more

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Shell CEO Sees No Urgency to Sell $6 Billion Woodside Stake

By James Paton on June 05, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, sees no urgency over what to do with its $6 billion stake in Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser said today.

“We are under no urgency or pressure to do anything,” Voser told reporters today in Kuala Lumpur, where he’s attending an industry conference. “Woodside has an interesting growth model in terms of projects and has strategic value.”

Woodside, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, has slumped in Sydney trading since The Hague-based Shell sold 10 percent of the company at A$42.23 a share in November 2010. Shell still owns 23 percent of the Perth-based company, valued at A$6.1 billion ($6 billion) today. Woodside rose 4 percent today to A$32.10 at 2:24 p.m. in Sydney. read more

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Shell’s Battle of the River Plate: largest ever oil spill in fresh water

The court will fine Shell 100,000 pesos (US$28,000) for each day it falls behind in the clean-up operation, the paper reported.

Protests about the biggest fresh water oil spill in history

By John Donovan

Printed below is a news report about the largest ever oil spill in fresh water. Shell was responsible for the spill, which occurred in the River Plate on January 15, 1999, polluting drinking water and local wildlife.

The Municipality of Magdalena and some groups of inhabitants of the small town with a population of around 8,000 initiated claims against Shell (owner of the oil and the ship responsible for the spill). All these years later some of the resultant litigation is still in progress. Many inhabitants of Magdalena were under age at the time of the oil spill and are still waiting for justice to decide on their claim. read more

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Shell gets injunction for Arctic drill ships

The Associated Press March 29, 2012, 7:10PM ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

A federal judge has ordered representatives of Greenpeace USA to stay a kilometer away from Shell Oil’s drilling vessels destined for Arctic Ocean waters off Alaska’s northern shores.

The 29-page order signed Wednesday by Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage grants a preliminary injunction requested by Shell through Oct. 31, the end of the open water drilling season. A 500-meter safety zone is in place for support vessels. read more

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Shell Sued in U.K. Over ’Massive’ 2008 Nigerian Oil Spills


By Erik Larson – Mar 23, 2012 5:02 PM GMT

A unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, was sued in Britain by 11,000 Nigerians who say their land, rivers and wetlands were spoiled by two “massive” spills in the Niger River delta in 2008.

The lawsuit against Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was filed in London today by residents of the coastal Bodo community after talks failed to produce a deal, the group’s law firm Leigh Day & Co. said in a statement. While Shell admits liability for the leaks, it claims local people spilled most of the oil. read more

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U.S. Gulf Fuel Rises After Texas Refinery Reports Outage

By Aaron Clark – Mar 21, 2012 8:34 PM GMT

U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline strengthened after Motiva Enterprises LLC reported a power failure at its Port Arthur refinery in Texas.

“Operations followed stabilize, slow down, and shutdown procedures to minimize emissions” after an electrical storm knocked out power, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The failure caused emissions from a fluid catalytic cracker, the filing showed. read more

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Shell CEO Voser’s Compensation More Than Doubles on Awards

By Fred Pals on March 15, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser’s compensation more than doubled to 11.7 million euros ($15.3 million) in 2011 from the previous year after long-term incentive bonuses and awards were vested.

Voser’s total compensation included 6.5 million euros in awards that form part of Shell’s long-term incentive awards and deferred bonus plan, it said in an annual report today. Voser, who got 5.5 million euros in total compensation in 2010, had a base salary of 1.55 million euros and a bonus of 3.5 million euros in 2011. The base salary will increase by 3.2 percent to 1.6 million euros this year, the report said. read more

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Shell Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Bar Human-Rights Suit

By Bob Van Voris

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the company can’t be sued by Nigerians seeking damages for torture and murders committed by their government in the early 1990s.

The high court in Washington is considering whether companies are exempt from two statutes imposing liability for human-rights violations. Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, argued today that the Alien Tort Statute, which dates to 1789, can’t be used to sue corporations. The Nigerian plaintiffs claim there’s nothing in the law that limits liability to individuals. read more

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Shell Bids $1.6 Billion for African Oil Explorer Cove Energy

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, offered to buy African explorer Cove Energy Plc for 992.4 million pounds ($1.6 billion) to gain a foothold in Mozambique.

Shell is offering 195 pence for each Cove share, a 26 percent premium to the closing price of the London-based company yesterday, according to a statement. Cove’s board separately said it expected to recommend the proposed acquisition.

Cove put itself up for sale last month after reporting one of the world’s largest gas discoveries in a decade off Mozambique. Cove has an 8.5 percent stake in Rovuma Area 1, which holds 15 trillion to 30 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, enough to justify production of liquefied natural gas for Asian markets. The find is operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. read more

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Shell, UOP Among Companies Put on Blacklist by Iran, Mehr Says

By Ladane Nasseri – Feb 6, 2012 4:10 PM GMT

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has ordered five European companies, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, to be put on a blacklist for failing to meet their commitments in the nation’s refinery projects, Mehr reported.

Shell and UOP LLC, a unit of U.S.-based Honeywell International Inc., were among the companies named in the report published today by the state-run news agency.

Qasemi “ordered the National Iranian Oil Products Refining and Distribution Co. to halt foreign purchases of license in the country’s refinery projects at a time of increasing sanctions and lack of commitment of foreign companies,” according to the news agency. read more

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Shell, Cosan’s Sugar Venture Will Expand Output 9% in New Season

FEBRUARY 06, 2012

By Isis Almeida

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — Raizen, a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Cosan Industria & Comercio SA in Brazil, will process 9 percent more sugar cane in the season starting in April than a year earlier, commercial director Ivan Melo said.

Raizen’s cane processing in the 2012-13 season will be 57.6 million metric tons, with sugar output up about 15 percent to 4.3 million tons and ethanol supply about 10 percent higher at 2.4 billion liters (634 million gallons), Melo said in an interview at the Kingsman conference in Dubai today. Sweetener content will also rise, he said. read more

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PetroChina Boosts Shell Ties With 20% Stake in Shale Project

February 02, 2012, 11:40 AM EST

By Bloomberg News

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — PetroChina Co., the country’s biggest energy producer, boosted ties with Royal Dutch Shell Plc after agreeing to buy a 20 percent stake in its Groundbirch shale-gas project in Canada.

Shell will remain the operator of the project, Mao Zefeng, the Beijing-based senior assistant secretary to PetroChina’s board, said by telephone yesterday. He declined to give the value of the transaction.

PetroChina plans to pay more than $1 billion for a stake in the Groundbirch property, Hong Kong-based FinanceAsia reported on its website, without saying where it got the information. Shell and PetroChina’s parent agreed in June 2011 to increase cooperation in energy exploration in China, estimated to hold the world’s largest reserves of shale gas. read more

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Shell Losing $1 Billion a Year on U.S. Gulf Drilling Delays

February 02, 2012, 1:20 PM EST

By Eduard Gismatullin

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, is losing about $1 billion a year from drilling delays in the Gulf of Mexico since the 2010 Macondo disaster.

Shell’s production in the region will be curbed by about 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent this year, similar to 2011, Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said. The company expects to return to planned operations off the Gulf coast by 2014.

“The cash flow implications are a billion dollars or more per year relative to where we want to be,” Henry said in London today. “We are catching up.” read more

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Shell Seen Raising Dividend for First Time Since 2009: Energy

Shell may even go as far as paying a special dividend or buying back shares to maximize shareholder value, according to analysts at Citigroup Inc.

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Sakhalin-2 News

Gazprom Expansion of Sakhalin-2 LNG Plant May Cost $7 Billion

January 30, 2012, 5:20 AM EST

By Jake Rudnitsky

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom and its partners in the Sakhalin-2 project may decide on expanding their liquefied natural gas plant this year, to add supplies by 2018, said Andrey Galaev, the venture’s chief executive officer.

An expansion may cost $5 billion to $7 billion based on preliminary estimates, Galaev told reporters today in Moscow. Depending on changes in oil and gas prices, the construction cost may drop as low as $3 billion or climb as high as $8 billion, he said. read more

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Oil Grab in Falkland Islands Seen Tripling U.K. Reserves: Energy

The world’s largest oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc face a dilemma: whether the potential of a virgin basin outweighs the risk of a worsening international dispute.

January 25, 2012, 7:20 AM EST

By Brian Swint

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — Thirty years after Margaret Thatcher fought a 74-day war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, the prospect of an oil boom is reviving tensions.

Oil explorers are targeting 8.3 billion barrels in the waters around the islands this year, three times the U.K.’s reserves. Borders & Southern Petroleum Plc will drill the Stebbing prospect next month, one of three Falkland wells that Morgan Stanley ranks among the world’s top 15 offshore prospects this year. Meanwhile, Rockhopper Exploration Plc is seeking $2 billion from a larger oil company to develop the Sea Lion field, the islands’ first economically viable oil find. read more

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Shell CEO Says the Potential for Shale Gas in Europe Is Limited

By John Buckley

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc chief Peter Voser said the potential for shale gas development in Europe is limited by the region’s regulations and its dense population.

Shell expects expansion in shale and tight gas — which is locked in rock that’s difficult and expensive to break — in North America, China and Australia, and has signed a deal in Ukraine, the chief executive officer said in an interview in Shell Venster, the company’s Dutch-language personnel magazine. read more

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Shell-Exxon venture reports natural gas discovery

The Associated Press January 9, 2012, 2:45PM ET

AMSTERDAM

A joint venture between Shell and Exxon says it has successfully drilled a significant new onshore natural gas field in the Netherlands.

Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV says in a statement the field contains 4 billion cubic meters of gas, about enough to supply 2.5 million households for a year. Production is due to begin this summer, the company says.

The Metslawier-zuid well, 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) deep, is located near the city of Dokkum, 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Amsterdam. read more

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Shale Spurs U.S. States to Vie for Chemical Projects, WSJ Says

By Joe Carroll

Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — A surge in U.S. natural-gas production from shale rock is spurring states to compete for companies to produce chemicals from the fuel, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are vying to attract a plant that will turn gas into ethylene proposed by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Journal reported today. Shell intends to announce a site early next year, the newspaper said. Ethylene is a building block of plastics and other materials used to make pipes, paint and antifreeze. read more

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Chevron, Transocean Face Brazil Indictment Over Oil Leak

December 22, 2011, 11:33 AM EST

By Joe Carroll and Juan Pablo Spinetto

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp., the operator of the Brazilian offshore well that triggered oil leaks, and rig owner Transocean Ltd. will defend executives threatened with criminal indictments in the South American nation.

Chevron learned that Brazil’s federal police intend to indict employees involved in the drilling that led to the Nov. 7 leaks from seafloor fissures near the $3.6 billion Frade development, Kurt Glaubitz, a spokesman for the San Ramon, California-based company, said in a statement late yesterday. Transocean, in a separate statement late yesterday, said it will “vigorously defend the company and its collaborators.” read more

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Shell Shuts Nigeria’s Bonga Field After Leak During Loading

December 21, 2011, 5:39 AM EST

By Eduard Gismatullin

Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, shut its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga field off Nigeria after oil leaked during a tanker loading.

An export line from the field’s floating production, storage and offloading vessel was the likely cause of the leak, estimated at less than 40,000 barrels of crude, Shell said in a statement today. The oil flow has been halted.

“We are sorry this leak has happened,” Mutiu Sunmonu, the company’s Nigerian chairman, said in the statement. “It is important to stress that this was not a well-control incident of any sort, and to make clear that no-one has been injured.” read more

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Shell Wins Conditional U.S. Backing for Chukchi Sea Oil Plan

December 16, 2011, 5:06 PM EST

By Jim Snyder

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc won conditional U.S. approval for a plan to drill as many as six exploration wells in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea next year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said.

Final approval requires Shell to meet safety and environmental-protection measures, according to an e-mailed statement today from the Interior Department bureau. Shell will have to stop drilling 38 days before ice appears in the Arctic, to avoid an end-of-the season spill when cleanup is difficult, the agency said. The U.S. projects ice will form by Nov. 1. read more

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Gulf Gasoline Rises Amid Problems at Shell, Delek Refineries

December 16, 2011, 3:11 PM EST

By Paul Burkhardt

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Gulf Coast gasoline rose for a fifth straight session as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Delek US Holdings Inc. reported refinery problems in Texas and Louisiana.

Shell reported an “operations upset” at the Norco, Louisiana, refinery when furnaces were swapped yesterday, according to a filing with the National Response Center. Delek had emissions at its Tyler, Texas, plant, according to a filing with state regulators. read more

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Shell Plans to Seek Commitments on Westward Ho Pipeline Project

By Paul Burkhardt

Dec. 16, 2011 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to seek binding commitments to transport oil on its proposed Westward Ho pipeline after receiving enough interest from shippers, the company said in a statement.

Shell plans to conduct an open season for commitments in early 2012 to ship on the 30-inch line that would run from St. James, Louisiana, to the Port Neches/Nederland, Texas, area, the company said.

The Westward Ho line, which would ship around 600,000 barrels a day, may be completed and commissioned by early 2015, according to Shell. read more

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Senator seeks DOI oversight for Arctic OCS air

The Associated Press December 15, 2011, 5:46PM ET

By DAN JOLING

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Pollution emitted from drilling ships and support vessels in Arctic waters would be regulated by the Interior Department instead of the Environmental Protection Agency under language inserted into a spending bill by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The Alaska Republican announced the move Thursday and said it will address systemic problems in the EPA permitting process for offshore oil and natural gas exploration. read more

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Shell’s Arrow Energy Cleared by Australia, China to Purchase Bow

December 16, 2011, 2:21 AM EST

By James Paton

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — Arrow Energy Ltd., the natural gas producer owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co., won approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board to buy Bow Energy Ltd. for A$535 million ($534 million).

The transaction was also cleared by Chinese authorities, Brisbane-based Bow said today in a statement. The decisions follow approval earlier this month by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. read more

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