The WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
May 24, 2006Crude-oil futures surged by more than $1 to settle north of $71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, driven partly by worries about another robust hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico. Here is today’s roundup of news about oil and energy.
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BIG OIL UNDER ATTACK: Even longtime supporters of the oil industry are turning more critical of giant firms’ record profits. Amid these attacks, Big Oil is launching its most vigorous political offensive since the 1970s, but its current political woes go deeper than the recent surge in pump prices.
CHINA LETS GAS PRICES RISE: Just as it is starting to let its yuan trade with the slightest bit of extra freedom against the dollar, China is also loosening up its price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel. Beijing’s second price increase in two months will allow a 10% gain in the price of gas and an 11% gain in diesel, effective tomorrow. But those won’t likely be enough to quell demand or inspire the adoption of conservation measures, experts say, meaning China will probably keep putting upward pressure on global fuel prices for some time to come. On the bright side, China’s refiners will get a little more money for their efforts.read more
Creaky Machinery
Under Attack, Big Oil Finds
Reserves of Clout Running Low
Giants Cut Back U.S. Lobbying
As Action Shifted Abroad;
New Bid to Play Catch-Up
How Rep. Barton Turned Critic
By BRODY MULLINS and RUSSELL GOLD
May 24, 2006; Page A1Rep. Joe Barton should be Big Oil’s biggest friend in Congress. The Republican chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee hails from a booming corner of the Texas energy patch. An engineer by training, he spent years working for a large integrated oil company, Atlantic Richfield Co. Since 2000, no House lawmaker has received more campaign contributions from oil and gas companies than Mr. Barton.
But in recent months, Mr. Barton has become a vocal industry critic. He struck from last summer’s energy bill a measure that would have relieved the companies of liability for pollution caused by a gasoline additive. He started an investigation into record profits. Earlier this month, he sent a letter to the top U.S.-based executive of BP PLC, which now owns the company that once employed him, demanding that the company spend more of its profits to expand refining capacity in the U.S. The same day he sent another letter to Exxon Mobil Corp. blasting the compensation and pension package for recently departed CEO Lee Raymond. Mr. Raymond received a lump-sum pension payment of nearly $100 million.read more
Shell Declines to Pay Nigeria Damages Pending Appeal
By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
An oil installation belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company in Odidi, Niger Delta area of Nigeria, Feb. 2006
Multinational oil company Shell, is set to defy a Nigerian court-ordered deadline to pay $1.5 billion in compensation damages to local communities in the Niger Delta. Shell’s decision not to pay the damages pending an appeal is likely to incense militants who have attacked oil-and-gas facilities in the past six months.
Shell says it will wait for a decision on its appeal before considering a court order to pay $1.5 billion in compensation damages to ethnic-Ijaw communities in the Niger Delta.read more
Published: Wednesday, 24 May, 2006, 10:23 AM Doha Time
BEIJING: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, said it’s in talks about investing in a 19.3bn-yuan ($2.4bn) oil refinery being built by China National Offshore Oil Corp in southern China.
Shell wants to invest in the refinery to integrate the facility with an adjacent $4.3bn chemical joint venture with China National Offshore, Lim Haw Kuang, chairman of Shell’s companies in China, said at Daya Bay in Nanhai, an area in the southern province of Guangdong. read more
Shell appointed technological partner for Extremadura refinery (La refineria de Extremadura 'ficha' a Shell como aliado tecnologico del proyecto)
Expansion; May 23, 2006
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In Spain, shareholders in an oil refinery in the Spanish autonomous region of Extremadura approve a rights issue and formed the board of directors of the company responsible for the project, Refineria Balboa. Spanish entrepreneur Alfonso Gallardo has a 47 per cent stake in the firm, while Sociedad de Fomento Industrial de Extremadura has a 20 per cent stake. The remaining 33 per cent is owned by leading Spanish electricity group Iberdrola and leading Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and savings bank Caja Madrid (10 per cent each) and Corporacion Empresarial de Caja Extremadura (3 per cent).read more
Shell to Sea says poll findings support its campaign
Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Irish Times; May 23, 200
Political and business interests advocating progress on the current plans for Corrib Shell gas project are in the “minority” as a result of yesterday’s Irish Times /tns mrbi opinion poll findings, the Shell to Sea campaign has said.
The poll’s findings on the Corrib gas onshore pipeline give “the lie” to the claim that opponents of the high pressure onshore pipeline are in the minority, Dr Mark Garavan, Shell to Sea campaign spokesman, said yesterday. Shell E&P Ireland said it was “pleased that the majority of those surveyed want the Corrib project to go ahead”.
The poll conducted by The Irish Times / tns mrbi nationally early last week focused on the pipeline, rather than the entire project. It asked if the pipeline should go ahead on its current planned route, should be re-routed or should be scrapped. Only 20 per cent felt it should proceed on its planned route through Rossport to the onshore terminal at Bellanaboy in north Mayo; 44 per cent said it should take a different route, while 17 per cent said it should be scrapped. Dr Garavan said that in Connacht, “63 per cent support a reconfiguring of the project”.
Shell pledges to cooperate with Nigeria efforts to end row with Ogoniland
AFX Europe (Focus); May 23, 2006
LAGOS (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell has pledged to cooperate with a government’s peace initiative to resolve its age-long row with Nigeria’s troubled Ogoniland.
Community unrest forced Shell to quit Ogoniland, where it had many oil wells, in 1993. Shell is Nigeria’s major operator, accounting for around half of the west African country’s daily output of 2.6 mln barrels.
President Olusegun Obasanjo last year set up a panel to reconcile Shell and the community.
“As a party to the reconciliation process, we commit to play our part to ensure the success of the peace initiative and as Mr President put it, ‘lay the foundation for genuine reconciliation in Ogoniland’,” Shell said in a statement here.
The Ogoni people, through the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), have been seeking local control of Nigeria’s oil wealth as well as compensation for exploration activities in their region.
Ogoniland is at the heart of the Niger Delta, home to Nigeria’s multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry. The region is also the centre of ethnic and militant unrest as a result of environmental neglect and degradation.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shell Canada Ltd. (SHC.TO: Quote) Chief Executive Clive Mather said on Tuesday he expects further consolidation among Canada's heavy oil industry and that his company will be among the buyers.
Mather earlier this month agreed to pay C$2.4 billion ($2.2 billion) for BlackRock Ventures Inc., a small Canadian heavy oil and oil sands company. He told the Reuters Global Energy Summit in New York that more deals in the sector will soon emerge.read more
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2006
Filed at 10:00 a.m. ETAn oil company executive says there’s not much oil companies can do about skyrocketing gasoline prices.
John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company, tells NBC’s ”Today” show that lowering the wholesale price arbitrarily could cause a run on gasoline, which could then run out.
He says the markets set prices and the oil companies follow the markets.
His comments come as the head of the Federal Trade Commission prepares for some tough questioning today on Capitol Hill about price gouging.
Deborah Platt Majoras goes before the Senate Commerce Committee a day after the agency said it found only a few cases of gasoline price gouging after Hurricane Katrina.read more
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JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW
SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE
SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS
SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL
INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON
SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA
SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA
SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO
SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS
SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER
JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS
Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan
I used shell broadband. It was by far the worst broadband provider ever! The internet did not work most days. I had their super fast broadband and it dropped out constantly. Watching a movie was awful with the constant buffering. Customer support was super slow. Now their going to charge me for the useless router which I have sent back.
Date of experience: 21 November 2023
By far the worst broadband provider ever!
The worst ever
I used shell broadband. It was by far the worst broadband provider ever! The internet did not work most days. I had their super fast broadband and it dropped out constantly. Watching a movie was awful with the constant buffering. Customer support was super slow. Now their going to charge me for the useless router which I have sent back.
Date of experience: 21 November 2023
By far the worst broadband provider ever!
30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan
The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed.I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it.They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem.Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more
I ordered shell energy broadband on nov 2. I was promised connection the following week. They initiated the direct debit. I called the following week and was told router would arrive on 13 and service would go live on 17. No further email or communication until 20 when I was told service would start on 30th. Spent 10 minutes waiting on phone line and spoke to a polite assistant who was absolutely useless in solving my problem. Avoid this unprofessional and chaotic… Read more
Shell Energy Broadband Service is Appalling
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John Donovan, the website owner
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