Yereth RosenAlaska Dispatch News: July 31, 2015

Royal Dutch Shell began drilling an exploratory well in Alaska’s offshore waters Thursday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the company said.

At about 5 p.m. Alaska time, the Transocean Polar Pioneer began drilling at the Anglo-Dutch oil company’s Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, according to Anchorage-based spokeswoman Megan Baldino.

The move came on the same day as Shell announced deep job cuts and scaled back capital investment to its global operations — and as protesters rappelled from an Oregon bridge in efforts to block the Fennica, a Shell icebreaker, from returning to the Arctic. read more

The Port Arthur refinery is one of three refineries in the Gulf of Mexico region owned by Motiva Enterprises, LLC, which is another 50-50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Shell Oil Company. Its expansion took 5 years and $10 billion to complete. But with the bad news of shutting down the expansion project on June 9, nine days after the opening ceremony, due to fire and unexpected extensive corrosion in the new distillation unit, the company executives declined to answer questions about the duration of the shutdown, causes of the problem, expenses of the repairs and losses of potential revenues.

MENAFN – Arab News – 03/07/2012

This major shift in Aramco’s investment planning was reflected on all but one partnerships and joint ventures.

Locally, Aramco established a joint venture company with Sumitomo Chemical, named Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company (PetroRabigh), to operate a 400,000-barrel capacity refinery in Rabigh city on the western coast of Saudi Arabia, which produces naphtha, kerosene, gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and many other petrochemical polymers. read more

By Joe Blow

It was with some elation that I heard of Mr. Purves’ fall from grace with his superiors. In fact I popped the cork on a fine bottle of wine that I have been saving for just such an occasion.  As I sipped my wine and imagined what must have happened, many theories ran through my mind, “Did Botts suddenly grow a brain”, “Did Williams realize what an idiot Purves was”, “Did Voser finally listen to the people”.  Unfortunately for so many, this is a measure of justice, not the absolute Justice we deserve. read more

“It would indeed be ironic if the resources of one investigative arm of the U.S. government has been used by Shell in an attempt to impede the Shell/Gale Norton corruption investigation being carried out by another investigative arm of the U.S. government.”

By John Donovan

In December 2009, following an analysis of Shell internal communications and documents supplied to us by Shell in response to a SAR application under the Data Protection Act, it became clear that Shell had once again resorted to cloak and dagger activity directed against us.

Reuters revealed that Royal Dutch Shell had asked an anti-fraud agency “NCFTA”, to target our website – royaldutchshellplc.com – on the basis  that “There will be no attempt to do anything visible to Donovan”.  The article said that NCFTA, the US National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance in Pittsburgh, did not respond to emails or telephone calls from Reuters on the subject. read more

It is apparent Mr. Purves… feels that his most valued contribution is to spend his time getting rid of people who are both smarter and more capable then him.

As most of you have seen the insider posting regarding the un-timely departure of Todd Monette from his Technology Manager role at Deer Park Refinery, the word “Perseverance” comes to mind.  It is amazing to this writer that a VP in the Down Stream Manufacturing sector of a large integrated oil company has had nothing better to do for the last year and a half then to sit on high and grind his petty axes.  Seriously, you would think he might be concerned with managing cost structures in refining, constructing a blue goose of a ill thought out refinery expansion that has no market value, or other things consistent with what these blow hards do to earn their colossal salaries.  It is apparent Mr. Purves is not concerned with these things, he feels that his most valued contribution is to spend his time getting rid of people who are both smarter and more capable then him.  As has been previously mentioned here, Mr. Purves does not value others opinions when they differ from his.  The sad thing in this latest revelation is that it begs to question where will Mr. Purves stop?  He has already disposed of most of the more notable people that Mr. Monette has sponsored in his time as a senior leader with Shell/Motiva, I wonder how many others will get caught in his cross hairs.  When you look at the additional departures of James Rhame, and **** ******* at Port Arthur that were carried out the same day it becomes even more surprising.  So lets talk about Mr. Rhame, James was believed by many to be heir apparent to Monette at Port Arthur, Apparently not even his flipping over to Purves’ side could save him.  **** ******* is even more of a shocker as he was reportedly very close to Mr. Purves, I guess Mr. Purves must have questioned his allegiance since by the end of the Monette reign at Port Arthur Mr. ******* was perceived as being tight with Monette.  If I was Forrest Lauher, Steve Sanders, or Jeff “the Funk” Funkouser, I would be concerned. Only so many people can pile into that king sized bed at the lake, and you never know who will be next when it comes to Mr. William T Purves! read more

Greetings Folks,

Interesting developments regarding Thornal and Royer, Thanks for bringing them forward Golden Triangle Watchman, I had intended to but got rather busy of late.  Thornal was clearly an example of Purves rewarding his loyal subjects, Royer is a bit surprising.  You see folks Mr. Royer had intended or desired to work a few more years.  Of course, maybe the thought of being underling to the grossly incompetent and flagrantly arrogant Funk might have been to much for Leroy.  Or maybe Funk realized that Leroy was smarter than him and hence a threat.  Ordinarily I would feel sorry for Mr. Royer if it was not his desire to fade off in the sunset, however I don’t and I will tell you why.  Mr Royer is basically a pretty good guy with no guts, he didn’t have the stomach to stand up for his people in early 09 when 1.1 performers mysteriously from mid year review to end of year review became worthless pieces of crap.  As a leader you are duty bound to those below and above you, I dont fault Leroy for the way some people were treated in regards to their IPF, that was clearly above his head.  He did not however have to compromise his integrity and participate in slanderously fabricating untrue performance appraisals for these people.  I hope the shame I know you feel haunts you Leroy! read more

By John Donovan

Shell’s attempts at stemming the flow of leaked Royal Dutch Shell confidential information to this website using external security organizations, involving sinister “invisible” (covert) activity, has self-evidently been less than successful. The flow has increased substantially over recent months, as regular visitors and Shell management will have noticed.

THE MOTIVA MAFIA

It appears that the involvement of “external contacts”, with FBI connections, resulted from concern in June 2009 over postings on our Shell Blog relating to Tom Purves, a Shell / Motiva Vice President.  Mr Purves and his alleged cronies, collectively described as “The Motiva Mafia”, have been the subject of serious allegations from our contributors and remain the target of hostile postings. read more

Morale is at an all time low, managers and supervisors are more focused on the fear of job stability than effective leadership. Many who have not been affected by the current staff reduction exercises are scared, and some are looking for a way out of Shell.

By John Donovan

Rumors posted earlier today confirmed

A leaked email dated 25 September 2009 sent on behalf of Tom Purves (Royal Dutch Shell Vice President Manufacturing US Gulf Coast and Motiva Vice President of Manufacturing), announces senior staff changes involving the Motiva Norco Refinery, the Shell Norco Chemicals Plant and the Motiva Convent Refinery.

Certain information has been removed to protect our insider source.

THE LEAKED SHELL/MOTIVA INTERNAL EMAIL

From: Deroche, Liz O MOTIVA-DMM/60
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2009 8:33 AM
Subject: Senior staff changes involving the Motiva Norco Refinery, the Shell Norco Chemicals Plant and the Motiva Convent Refinery read more

By “Jo Blow”, a Shell/Motiva Insider.

I was asked to provide commentary on the email below which is a Shell/Motiva leaked email provided to this site by another insider.  This email is believed to be authentic and authored by the sender Tom Purves, Regional Vice President of Downstream Manufacturing for The Americas Gulf Coast Region.  The email was sent to the General Manager of the Motiva Norco Refinery, some site and corporate business planning people, and several finance people. read more

“Jo Blow” has asked us to substitute the posting below for the one previously displayed.

From “Jo Blow”

Greetings,

Yesterday I posted an article that I am not proud of.  I allowed my emotions to cause me to lower myself in the last paragraph to a level that I personally do not care to sink to and for that I am truly sorry to anyone who may have taken offense to the posting.  In regards to the people suffering through these difficult times, again my heart and prayers go out to you. read more

For whatever reason inside me, something compels me to continue revisiting the post made by Uncle Tom

By John Donovan

The following is a self-explanatory email I sent earlier today to Robert (Bob) Pease, President & Chief Executive Officer of Motiva Enterprises LLC, which is jointly owned by a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco and Shell.

From the Motiva Website:

Formed in 1998, Motiva Enterprises LLC operates primarily in the eastern and southern United States. Its operations include nearly 7,700 Shell-branded gasoline stations, three refineries with a combined capacity of 740,000 barrels per day, and ownership interest in 41 refined product storage terminals with an aggregate storage capacity of approximately 19.8 million barrels. read more

Dear Mr Funkhouser

You may have seen the email I sent yesterday to Tom Purves inviting him to provide for unedited publication on our website, his response to the serious allegations leveled against him by contributors to our Shell Blog facility.

As you are probably aware, you have also been a target for some equally serious allegations.

Leaving to one side abusive comments and rumors, here is a list of some of the main allegations: –

1. You have helped to create a climate of fear by bullying Motivia employees, brandishing a knife on one occasion when allegedly threatening to gut employees like a fish. read more

EMAIL TO TOM PURVES: I am sure you must be aware that you are a constant source of controversy and debate on our website royaldutchshellplc.com with all manner of allegations concerning your alleged misconduct and alleged lack of ethics. The number of postings over the last 24 hours in particular is extraordinary. No other Shell executive from anywhere in the world attracts as many unfavorable posts on our site.