Posts from ‘July, 2006’

Six Lucky Winners Will Each Receive Lifetime Supply of Free Gasoline

HOUSTON, July 31 /PRNewswire/ — Drivers nationwide who stop by their local Shell stations now have a chance to win free gasoline for life through the Shell “Million Gallon Giveaway.” Starting today and continuing through October 1, Shell will give away more than $2 million in free fuel and instant- win prizes — including six grand prizes of a lifetime supply of free gasoline — and hundreds of thousands of $10 Shell Gas Cards in the “Million Gallon Giveaway.”

According to Karen Wildman, brand and communications manager for Shell, this promotion is sure to resonate with consumers. “Who doesn’t want to win free gasoline? Anybody you ask will probably tell you that they would love to receive a $10 Shell Gas Card to use towards your next fill-up. It’s great being able to reward customers coming to our stations, let alone awarding six lucky winners with a lifetime supply of Shell gasoline.”

Wonder what someone would do with a lifetime supply of gas? Americans already have a good idea if they won the prize. According to a recent survey* conducted by Shell, the majority of Americans (76 percent) said that if they won a lifetime supply of gasoline they would share it with family and friends. Some respondents said they would actually take specific actions if they won, with 23 percent choosing to drive across the country and nine percent buying a bigger or different car.

How to Enter

From July 31 through October 1, 2006, consumers can enter the giveaway by visiting participating Shell locations to pick up an official scratch-and-win game card (the sweepstakes is void in Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and Puerto Rico). More than 200,000 winners will receive a $10 Shell Gift Card. Official Rules** are available at participating Shell stations.

There is no purchase necessary to enter or to win, and determining whether a card is a winner is as simple as scratching the card to reveal the hidden message. Holders of the six grand-prize-winning cards should call the toll- free number located near the prize message as soon as possible, and must call no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Time on October 31, 2006 to redeem their prize.

About the Campaign

To help people get the most from every fuel purchase they do make, each “Million Gallon Giveaway” scratch-and-win sweepstakes card will feature a money-saving fuel tip related to driving or vehicle maintenance habits that can improve fuel efficiency.

The “Million Gallon Giveaway” is part of the $30 million marketing campaign Shell launched in June, 2006 to communicate that all gasolines are not the same. The summer campaign builds on the company’s commitment to provide high quality fuel to consumers by educating consumers that all Shell gasolines not only surpass government standards for detergency, they meet top automakers’ highest standard. The higher standard, to which the campaign alludes, is the TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline standard introduced by BMW, GM, Honda and Toyota.

   *  The study was conducted June 14-20, 2006 by StrategyOne to reveal
      consumers’ perception of gasoline knowledge and usage among a
      nationally representative sample of 1,000 men and women ages 18 and
      above.  Margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent
      level of confidence.

   ** NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Promotion ends 10/1/06.  Open only to legal
      residents of the fifty (50) U.S. (and D.C.) 16 or older with a valid
      driver’s license as of 7/31/06. Void in MD, NJ, VA, Puerto Rico and
      where prohibited. TO PLAY: Obtain a Game Card at any participating
      Shell station between 7/31/06 and 10/1/06. Limit one Game Card per
      eligible person per day while distribution supply lasts   PRIZES: (6)
      Grand Prizes: Free “Gasoline for Life”, awarded in the form of Shell
      Gift Cards for gasoline, ARV: $90,551.25/each; Odds — 1: 41,666,667.
      (214,000) First Prizes: $10 Shell Gift Card for gasoline, ARV:
      $10/each; Odds — 1: 1,168. The aggregate ARV of all Grand and First
      Prizes is $2,683,307.50.   In-Store Prizes: Medium beverage of the
      participating Shell station’s choice (excluding alcohol), ARV: up to a
      maximum of $1.50/each; Odds — 1:20. In-Store Prizes are not available
      at all participating Shell stations. The ARV of In-Store Prizes at
      each Shell location that offers an In-Store Game is up to $2,250 per
      location   TO CLAIM A PRIZE: Grand Prize: Call the toll-free number on
      the Game Card before 10/31/06 at 5 p.m. ET for redemption
      instructions. First Prize: Show your potential winning Game Card to
      the Shell attendant to receive an inactive $10 Shell Gift Card. To
      activate, call the toll-free number on the Gift Card instruction
      sticker before 10/31/06 at 5 p.m. ET. YOU MUST HAVE THIS GAME CARD.
      In-Store Prize: Redeem your beverage before 10/31/06 at 5 p.m. local
      time only at the Shell station where you obtained the Game Card.  *See
      Official Rules in participating Shell stations for additional
      eligibility restrictions, “Gasoline for Life” and other prize
      descriptions/restrictions, 2nd Chance Drawing info and complete
      details. For Official Rules by mail, send a SASE by 10/31/06 to:
      Redemption Center, Shell Million Gallon Giveaway Rules, P.O. Box 3193,
      Oak Brook, IL 60522-3193.  VT residents may omit return postage.
      SPONSOR:  Shell Oil Products US, 12700 Northborough, Houston, TX
      77067.
Shell Oil Products US, a subsidiary of Shell Oil Company, is a leader in the refining, transportation and marketing of fuels, and has a network of approximately 6,000 branded gasoline stations in the Western United States. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group (NYSE: RDS.A) and (NYSE: RDS.B) . For more information, please visit http://www.shell.com/ .

Motiva Enterprises LLC refines and markets branded products through approximately 7,700 Shell-branded stations in the Eastern and Southern United States. Shell Oil Company is a 50 percent owner of Motiva Enterprises LLC, along with Saudi Refining, Inc.

Disclaimer statement:

This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risk factors associated with the oil, gas, power, chemicals and renewables business. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, but may be affected by a variety of variables which could cause actual results, trends or reserves replacement to differ materially, including, but not limited to: price fluctuations, actual demand, currency fluctuations, drilling and production results, reserve estimates, loss of market, industry competition, environmental risks, physical risks, risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets and the successful negotiation and consummation of transactions, the risk of doing business in developing countries, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorization of reserves, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates.

Please refer to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2005 (as amended) for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect the Shell Group’s businesses. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any member of the Shell Group undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or other information.

Cautionary Note to US Investors:

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms in this presentation, such as “expected producible resources” and “amount of reserves we expect to produce”, that the SEC’s guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC.

Website: http://www.shellus.com/
Website: http://www.shell.com/

Oil giant seeks financial support for troubled Sakhalin project from UK taxpayers

Alex Hawkes, Accountancy Age, 31 Jul 2006

Shell is facing opposition in its attempts to raise finance for its overspent Sakhalin oil and gas project because the consortium behind it is based in a tax haven.

The group, which is owned by Shell, is seeking cash from UK taxpayers to help fund the project.

James Leaton of WWF told The Observer: ‘It is unacceptable that taxpayers’ money is being spent to endorse projects based in a tax haven that contribute to climate change.’

The UK’s Export Credits Guarantee Department is considering whether to issue credit guarantees totaling £1bn to the project, the paper reported.

Leaton said: ‘ECGD was set up to promote UK exports. Less than 5% of the project is British and it is already 75% complete.’

Shell said: ‘UK contractors will benefit from multimillion-pound contracts on this project.’

EXTRACT: News of the Agip incident and of a Shell pipeline leak that shut down a further 210,000 bpd pushed world oil prices up last week.

THE ARTICLE

By Upstream staff

Attackers have vacated an Agip oil pumping station in Bayelsa state in southern Nigeria and freed all hostages they were holding there after they were paid off by government, police said today.

A spokesman for Agip declined to comment and there was no word on when operations at the Ogbainbiri flow station might resume. Agip’s parent, Italy’s Eni, said the attack last Tuesday had caused a “significant decrease” in output.

Agip normally exports 200,000 barrels per day through its Brass tanker terminal in Bayelsa, located in the Niger Delta.

“They have vacated the facility and released the soldiers and the civilians. The soldiers have reposted more men there to take control of the facility,” police commissioner Hafiz Ringim told Reuters from the Bayelsa state capital Yenagoa.

Asked what had prompted the attackers, irate youths from the local community, to leave the flow station, he said: “They have collected money from government.”

Hostage takings are frequent in the Niger Delta and local activists say kidnappers are usually paid off to release their captives, fuelling the cycle of violence. However, authorities rarely admit that any money has changed hands.

Eni originally said about 40 subcontractors, security and catering staff were present at the flow station at the time of the attack but gave no information on what had happened to them.

The official who headed a Bayelsa state government delegation that negotiated with the attackers, Victor Akenge, said he had seen at least eight Nigerian security forces and 16 civilian staff being held at the flow station.

“The facility was vacated late yesterday and all the hostages were accounted for,” Akenge said this morning.

The attack intensified concerns about Nigerian oil output, which has been down by about a quarter since February, mostly because of militant attacks on Shell facilities.

News of the Agip incident and of a Shell pipeline leak that shut down a further 210,000 bpd pushed world oil prices up last week.

The invasion of the flow station stemmed from local anger over a perceived failure by Agip to implement a memorandum of understanding signed with the community.

Disputes between oil companies and local residents demanding jobs and investments for their communities are frequent in the Niger Delta, an impoverished wetlands region that is home to Africa’s biggest oil industry.

Companies often sign MoUs with what they call “host communities” and disputes tend to arise when the residents feel promises have not been kept.

 

Monday, July 31, 2006; Posted: 02:23 AM 
 
(RTTNews) – Royal Dutch Shell announced that Shell Canada has issued a formal proposal to proceed with Expansion 1 to the other Athabasca Oil Sands Project joint venture owners. The company stated that Shell Canada completed an extensive feasibility study followed by a rigorous cost estimate and assurance review process in support of this formal proposal.

Royal Dutch added that the heated markets for labour, materials and equipment have impacted all facets of this 100 thousand bpd expansion project. Although the capital intensity of the project, estimated at between $275 and $350 per annual flowing barrel, has increased significantly from earlier estimates, Expansion 1 remains viable under a wide range of pricing scenarios.

The company indicated that Shell Canada intends to make a final investment decision for this project in the fourth quarter of 2006 pending regulatory approvals. First bitumen production is expected in late 2009 followed by upgrader production in late 2010.

Copyright(c) 2006 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

EXTRACT: In Nigeria, the world’s eighth-biggest exporter, there was no apparent progress toward restoring the more than one-quarter of production shut in by militants, with attackers who closed an Agip pumping station last Tuesday still in talks. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said it did not expect a significant recovery in output before the end of the year.

THE ARTICLE 

By REUTERS
Published: July 31, 2006
Filed at 1:59 a.m. ET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil held steady above $73 a barrel on Monday, with traders torn between hope for a Middle East truce and fear of escalation after the bloodiest attack in the nearly three-week war between Israel and Hizbollah.

U.S. light, sweet crude for September deliveryslipped 6 cents to $73.18 a barrel by 0531 GMT after sliding $1.30 on Friday, partly hit by data showing that U.S. economic growth had slowed to a 2.5 percent annualized rate in the second quarter.

London ICE Brent (LCOc1) crude rose 4 cents to $73.43.

Friday’s profit-taking retreat was largely pinned on brighter prospects for a ceasefire in the Middle East that would end a 19-day war traders fear might draw in neighboring oil producers like Syria or Iran, both supporters of the Hizbollah guerrillas.

But on Sunday an Israeli air strike on the southern village of Qana killed at least 54 Lebanese civilians, including 37 children, both intensifying pressure for an immediate halt to the fighting and fuelling more anger across the Arab world.

The attack forced U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to abort a planned trip to Beirut for mediation talks.

“The Israel-Lebanon conflict seems to have escalated again over the weekend. While there’s been no direct impact on oil supply, the conflict seemed ring-fenced by last Friday, but after the weekend’s tragic events that seems less certain,” said Tobin Gorey, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Israel has suspended its aerial bombardment of southern Lebanon for 48 hours to allow for an investigation into the attack and will co-ordinate with the United Nations to allow a 24-hour window for residents to leave the area if they wish.

It said that air strikes that hit roads near the border with Syria, reported by Lebanese security sources, had occurred before the start of the two-day suspension.

World leaders condemned the attack on Lebanon, but the United States and Britain again refrained from joining calls for an immediate ceasefire, highlighting the divisions in the international community.

However, hopes for an end to fighting brightened again after Rice said on Monday she believed a ceasefire could be forged this week. Rice told reporters in Jerusalem she would call for a U.N. resolution this week on the ceasefire and the formation of an international stabilization force for Lebanon.

In Nigeria, the world’s eighth-biggest exporter, there was no apparent progress toward restoring the more than one-quarter of production shut in by militants, with attackers who closed an Agip pumping station last Tuesday still in talks.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said it did not expect a significant recovery in output before the end of the year.

Offsetting the supply outages, the U.S. economy in the second quarter grew at less than half the 5.6 percent rate registered in the first quarter, raising concerns about a possible slowing in oil demand from the world’s biggest consumer.

And Iraq will resume exports through its oil pipeline to Turkey at 600,000-700,000 barrels per day (bpd), Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said at the weekend. A senior ministry source said the flow, shut off since a new bout of sabotage on July 9, should start in a few days.

By: JULIA FINCH, The Guardian – United Kingdom
Published: Jul 31, 2006

Exxonmobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Total – collectively they have always been known as Big Oil. But the recent rise in the oil price to around $74 a barrel has made them a whole lot Bigger.

Exxonmobil – the world’s biggest company – has just became the first ever firm to unveil sales of more than $1bn a day. That is pounds 540m every 24 hours. Or pounds 6,250 a second. Every second. Exxon, based in Irving, Texas (where else?), was reporting sales up more than 12% to $99bn and profits up 36% to more than $10bn – and that was just for three months. That probably ensures it will once again top the global corporate rankings when the numbers are totted up at the end of this financial year.

The world’s megacorps are neatly summarised in the Fortune 500 – an annual ranking by the US business magazine. This year’s list shows Exxon sitting on top of the pile, having ousted Wal-Mart. Exxon’s sales, at $340bn last year – slightly more than the national income of Sweden – came in at $25bn more than Wal-Mart.

With their sales powered by globalisation and economic growth in countries such as India and China, five of the world’s top 10 companies are now oil majors. Four more are car makers.

But sales do not always equal profits. Take General Motors, the world’s fifth- biggest corporation and the biggest car company. Last year it raked in revenues of $192bn – and made a humungous loss of $10.6bn. And several of the biggest profit earners are outside the biggest sellers. Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, chalks up the third biggest profits, but is ranked only 14th in the Fortune 500. Bank of America and the UK’s HSBC are also in the top 10 profit earners, but are 37th and 26th on revenue.

But maybe a better measure of profitability is not the biggest numbers, but the highest profits compared to revenue. The top echelons in this ranking are reserved for names such as Coca-Cola, Intel and Microsoft. But perched on top, head and shoulders above its peers, is a company that produces more than pounds 40 of profits for every pounds 100 of revenue. Let’s hear it for the UK’s National Grid.

Julia Finch

Published: Jul 31, 2006

TEHRAN, July 31 Asia Pulse – International oil giant Shell will make its final decision on whether to invest in Phase 13 of South Pars gas field development project in 2007.

According to Tehran based English-language newspaper Iran Daily in its Sunday edition, managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company Akbar Torkan said the final investment decision (FID) on Phase 13 of South Pars gas field which pertains to Shell will be made available next year, adding that the FID on Phase 11 will also be available at the end of this year.

He said that based on talks with the managing director of Shell, the company is not going to finalize its decision on investment in Phase 13 this year, however, according to the plan, the company is expected to make its final investment decision in 2007 instead.

“There are no obstacles to the development of Phase 13 whose contract has already been inked and approved by Shell.” On signing a contract with Total to develop Phase 11, Torkan said that initial measures have been taken to sign the contract with the French company. “At the moment, both Total and National Iranian Oil Company are finalizing the contract.”

(IRNA)

By: Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent, Irish Times
Published: Jul 31, 2006

Shell to Sea campaigners have set out on a walk to Dublin to highlight their concerns, and among walkers on yesterday’s second leg from Bellanaboy to Bellacorick was marathon runner Patricia Murphy, who had climbed Croagh Patrick first in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, Shell E&P Ireland’s legal action against north Mayo landowners is due back in the High Court today when Ms Justice Mary Laffoy rules on aspects of the case’s full hearing in the autumn.

The ruling on a series of applications relating to the Corrib onshore gas pipeline will be delivered irrespective of whether Shell decides to withdraw its own legal action in light of the proposal to modify the pipeline route.

The company is expected to signal its intentions to review the route shortly, following last week’s recommendation by Government mediator Peter Cassells that it should be modified in the vicinity of Rossport village.

Three legal teams will receive the Laffoy ruling, which will deal with Shell’s permanent injunction application against six named parties – landowners Willie Corduff, BrId McGarry, Philip McGrath, Brendan Philbin, Monica Muller and environmentalist Peter Sweetman.

Paraic Ferry, solicitor for Mr Corduff and Mr McGrath, said the ruling would be important in determining applications for discovery of documents, ministerial consent issues and the order in which issues will be dealt with in October – if Shell pursues its application. A spokesman for Shell said yesterday it would be in court today and could not comment further.

A separate legal action has been filed by Ms McGarry, the largest landowner on the current route, and Mr Philbin, in which they are seeking to join the Minister for Marine and Natural Resources and the State in their counter claim.

Ms McGarry said any route change would not address the “fundamental flaws” in the project, principally location of the onshore terminal at Bellanaboy, which is the reason for the 9km pipeline.

(This article was originally published Friday.)

LAGOS (MarketWatch) — Chevron Nigeria, a unit of ChevronTexaco (CVX), says 23,000 barrels per day of its production are affected by a recent attack on a pipeline belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, but explained it has not declared force majeure on its commitments to buyers.

“Our production of approximately 23,000 bpd cannot however be sent through the Shell line to Bonny Terminal,” Chevron said in an e-mail to Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

A pipeline belonging to Shell in the east area of Niger Delta was vandalized by unknown persons last weekend, forcing it to declare a force majeure on 180,000 b/d. Shell had previously shut in 477,000 b/d in the western area of the region.

Another attack on a flowstation Tuesday belonging to Agip Nigeria Oil Company, a unit of ENI Group, in Agbainbiri, Bayelsa State, led to a shut in of 35,000 b/d of crude oil.
The latest incidents in the Niger Delta raised Nigeria’s total shut-in production to 715,000 b/d.

-Contact: 201-938-5400 

July 31 (Bloomberg) — Energy prices have risen so high that New Zealand is inviting Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and other natural gas producers to send rigs to one of the most inhospitable seas on Earth.

Next month, New Zealand will seek bids to explore in the Great South Basin, off the nation’s southern coast. The area was last explored during the oil shocks of the 1970s, when drillers found the cost of battling 15-meter (50-foot) waves too high to merit exploiting the area’s gas fields.

“We were just shut down for weeks on end,” said Trevor Christie, 55, who worked on a rig in the region during the 1970s. “You just closed up everything. We were forbidden from walking across the heli-deck — you’d just get blown away.”

Now, as record oil prices push countries to use more gas, explorers such as Shell are venturing into deeper waters and more remote locations to find new supplies. At stake below the seas south of New Zealand are fields that may contain as much as 7 trillion cubic feet of gas. That’s enough to supply the U.K for two years, according to the earlier tests.

“The easy oil and gas has been found,” said Tony Regan, lead consultant with Singapore-based Tri-Zen International Pte, which has advised clients including Shell and BP Plc. “All the oil companies are well aware that they’ve got to look further afield, at deeper water, tougher areas.”

Screaming Sixties

Oil companies are being offered the chance to explore 140,000 square miles (362,000 square kilometers) of ocean off New Zealand’s South Island, in the so-called “Furious 50s” and “Screaming 60s.” Those latitudes are renowned among sailors for the prevailing westerly winds that circle the globe.

“That’s where some of the consistently highest waves in the world come from,” said Richard Gorman, a scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Winds in the region peak at more than 150 kilometers an hour and exceed 36 kilometers about 40 percent of the time, according to the institute. In some areas, production vessels may spend as much as 30 percent of a year idle.

New Zealand’s Crown Minerals department is offering 40 permits covering 9,000 square kilometers each. Some extend as far as 500 kilometers south of the country’s mainland.

Still, the rewards could be high. Eight exploration wells were drilled in the basin between 1976 and 1985, at water depths of 60 meters to 880 meters. Three showed gas and light oil. Prices then were too low to warrant development.

Export Potential

One well, Toroa, drilled by Hunt International Petroleum in 1977, may have tapped a field holding more than a billion barrels of oil and seven trillion cubic feet of gas, according to Magellan Petroleum Corp., which held a license over the area until 2005.

New Zealand has gotten most of its gas from the 27-year-old Maui field. Lying in 110 meters of water, 35 kilometers off the western coast of the country’s more temperate North Island, the field contains an estimated 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas.

New Zealand uses about 160 billion cubic feet of gas a year. A large find would probably be exported as liquefied natural gas to avoid swamping the domestic gas market. A smaller near-shore find could supply Dunedin and Invercargill, the nation’s southern-most cities.

“We will have a look at what’s being offered,” Shell New Zealand Ltd. spokeswoman Jackie Maitland said. “We look forward to seeing what the government puts up.”

Arctic Drilling

Shell, Europe’s No. 2 oil company, is exploring in harsher climates as prices above $70 a barrel attract companies to fields for the first time since the oil shocks of the 1970s. The Hague-based producer is leading a $20 billion project to get oil from Russia’s ice-bound Sakhalin island. The U.K.’s BG Group Plc plans to drill in Norwegian waters in the Arctic Circle.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, has expressed an interest in the area and is waiting for details before deciding whether to participate, said Peter Thornbury, a Wellington, New Zealand spokesman. The Irving, Texas-based company last year bought seismic data over part of the basin.

Shell is the biggest gas producer in New Zealand. OMV AG, central Europe’s biggest oil company and a partner in Shell’s Maui and Pohokura gas fields, said in March it viewed the Great South Basin as an opportunity to keep New Zealand among its core producing areas.

“Our position hasn’t changed,” OMV New Zealand Ltd. Managing Director Stephen Hounsell said. “We really want to get the thing sorted out in terms of start and finish dates and what’s going to be involved.”

Final Terms

New Zealand’s Crown Minerals department is completing the final terms of the offer for an announcement early August, Group Manager Adam Feeley said. A mid-March closing date will give successful bidders enough time to prepare work for the 2007-2008 summer, he said.

“People who are currently not in New Zealand have flown from all over the world to come and talk to us,” he said, declining to name interested oil companies.

Chevron Corp.’s Perth-based spokesman Scott Walker, Ernie Delfos, Australian exploration manager at Italy’s Eni Spa, and Total SA’s Paris-based spokeswoman Patricia Marie all declined to comment on whether their companies will bid. All three are looking for gas off the coast of nearby Australia.

Modern rigs will easily cope with the water depths in the Great South Basin, where there is a “plausible opportunity” for a big find, said Mac Beggs, managing director of consulting firm Geosphere Ltd. in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

“It’s still not without a number of challenges,” said Beggs, a 25-year industry veteran who was head of the hydrocarbons group at New Zealand’s Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences. “The sea conditions and the weather conditions are as bad as anywhere on the planet.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Gavin Evans in Wellington at  gavinevans@bloomberg.net