August 6th, 2006:

RBC, Moscow.The Sakhalin Energy consortium (the Sakhalin-2 project operator) took into account the area’s landscape features when developing the designs of the coastal oil and gas pipelines and applied additional safety measures to pipeline sections located in the areas exposed to mudslides, a source within the consortium said commenting on a statement issued by Rosprirodnadzor, the Russian federal environment and natural resources regulator, claiming that coastal oil and gas pipelines may be destroyed by mudslides (according to expert estimates, these pipeline sections total around 12 kilometers in length out of 800 kilometers constructed within the project). read more

By Alfred Donovan

An interested party who we will not identity recently drew to the attention of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), documents published on ShellNews.net regarding Bill Campbell, the former Group Auditor of Shell International.  The documents in question related to the Shell Brent scandal and the associated Fatal Accident Inquiry. 

A number of individuals, who have expert knowledge of the issues involved, including Bill Campbell, may be surprised at the content of the self-explanatory emailed reply.  It would seem that Shell is not the only party operating in an environment of extreme denial (to paraphrase the words of Bill Campbell in relation to his former employer). read more

6 August 2006  

Mr Kandiah
T H Liew & Partners                               
Level 28 Central Plaza                            
34 Jalan Ismail                                     
50250 Kuala Lumpur                                     
Malaysia

Dear Mr Kandiah

RE: LAW SUIT NO. S2-23-41-2004
EIGHT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL COMPANIES –v- DR HUONG YIU TUONG 

I am writing with regard to the contempt of court proceedings which you have brought against Dr John Huong of behalf of the EIGHT multinational companies within the Royal Dutch Shell Group which you represent in the related defamation action.  I understand from Mr Eric Siow of Lee Ong & Kandiah, the esteemed lawyers acting for Dr John Huong, that the hearing is now to take place on Thursday, 17th August. I further understand that the plaintiff Shell companies are asking the High Court to expunge the testimony provided by my father, Alfred Donovan, if he is not produced in Court by Dr Huong for cross-examination.  read more

By Daniel Yergin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 928 pages
(ISBN: 0-671-79932-0)

Review by KAM RASLAN

OIL is the dominating commodity of our age. In 1900 oil was only used for lighting and for the handful of cars owned by the rich. 

Today it’s impossible to imagine our lives without oil: wars are fought to control it, economies survive on it and you can’t go to the shops without oil.
 
Daniel Yergin’s brilliant Pulitzer Prize winner, The Prize, charts the history of oil: the first gushers in Pennsylvania in the 1860s, Standard Oil’s monopoly, two world wars, global cloak-and-dagger prospecting, and the coups and plots that are its saddest impact.  read more

OMAN DIARY BY RAVINDRA NATH

6 August 2006

HIGH-LEVEL decision-makers from around the globe will gather in Muscat next month for a day-long meeting that will discuss a host of issues of key importance to Oman, such as the implications of the country’s drive to localise jobs and the role of the private sector in diversifying the economy away from oil.

Economist Conferences’ inaugural ‘Business Roundtable’ with the Omani government on September 10 will bring together top-rated speakers including Maqbool bin Ali bin Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell, Frank Chapman, Chief Executive, BG Group, Ahmed Abubaker Janahi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AAJ Holdings, Joseph Hanania, Managing Director, HP Middle East, and U.S. Awashti, Managing Director, IFFCO (New Delhi).   read more

By Gene Maddaus

Shell Oil unveiled plans this week to expand its Carson tank farm and other facilities, while offering the city much-needed land for a new maintenance yard.

Shell holds 446 acres at the center of Carson, south of Del Amo Boulevard and west of Wilmington Avenue. More than a third of that land is taken up by large, white cylindrical fuel storage tanks — which some neighbors argue pose a threat to air quality.

A dismantled refinery, which was shut down in the 1990s, occupies a quarter of the land. read more

By Richard Orange
06 August 2006
 
ROYAL Dutch Shell has entered talks with Indian gas giant Gail to sell up to a quarter of its troubled Hazira Liquefied Natural Gas terminal, in Gujarat, western India. The move is designed to break the deadlock between the two companies over Shell’s access to Gail’s pipeline system.

Gail is expected to pay Shell around $150m (E117m, £79m) for the stake in the terminal, which cost Shell $600m to build.

An Indian-based banker said: “The deal will take a few months. Gail will first have to do the due diligence and then make a formal offer.” read more