September 1st, 2006:

EXTRACT: Pennzoil-Quaker State Inc. is a Shell Lubricants company and part of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Shell Lubricants companies operate in over 120 countries worldwide.

Two prominent automotive brands have come together to provide both their products and services to Canadian Suzuki dealers and their customers.

Suzuki Canada and Pennzoil-Quaker State Canada have announced a new relationship that is the culmination of a long-term global agreement between their respective parent companies, Suzuki Motor Corporation and Shell Lubricants. read more

EXTRACT: After years of breathing pollutants from a local facility owned by Motiva, part of Shell Oil, Port Arthur residents are now facing a pending expansion that would make the refinery the country’s largest.

THE ARTICLE

by Michelle Chen

Recent criminal charges against Citgo’s refinery in Corpus Christi represent a rare crack-down on an industry that operates with little state or federal oversight in Texas and pollutes low income communities of color with near impunity.

Sept. 1 – In Corpus Christi, Texas, the oil industry’s presence fills the atmosphere. The oddly sweet scent of petrochemicals floats in the breeze, residents say. One area is nicknamed the “Olive Garden,” for the wafting chemical concoction that hints at Italian fare. Occasionally, a corpse-like stench hangs overhead, in a sensory assault that stokes the outrage of community activists. read more

By Upstream staff

SHELL has been urged by Nigeria’s National Assembly to pay $3.2 billion into federal coffers that the House Committee on Petroleum Resources alleges are undischarged fiscal obligations arising from the country’s overly complicated petroleum laws, writes Barry Morgan.

The committee this week castigated Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru for failing to persuade the supermajor of its liability and for not appearing before the legislature when called.

The House Committee resolved to compel Daukoru’s attendance to explain the ministry’s inaction and to consider imposing “appropriate sanctions” on Shell. read more

Last Update: 1:32 PM ET Sep 1, 2006
By Greg Walters
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

MOSCOW (MarketWatch) — Russian authorities may order the Sakhalin Energy Ltd. international energy consortium to stop pumping oil if the company does not correct environmental violations registered over the past year, officials said Friday.

Analysts called the announcement an attempt to increase pressure on Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), which owns 55% of Sakhalin Energy, at a time when Shell and Russian state-owned natural gas concern OAO Gazprom (GSPBEX.RS) are at loggerheads over an asset swap involving Sakhalin Energy. read more

September 2006

Environmental groups campaigning to protect whales and salmon have forced Shell to reroute pipelines, doubling costs for its Sakhalin II project. And the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is reviewing the project before approving loans for it, while Royal Bank of Scotland is taking heat from London-based Platform Group for bidding to finance the project.

Write to the Editor at [email protected].

EXTRACT: On Wednesday, Nigeria’s two main oil-workers’ unions met to decide whether to strike in protest of a member’s death. Nelson Ujeya, employed by Royal Dutch Shell, died Aug. 20 after weeks in captivity when the military fired on a boat carrying him to freedom after local leaders negotiated his release. In all, 12 people died in the incident.

THE ARTICLE

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices rose above $70 a barrel Wednesday, as persistently high fuel demand and concerns about possible supply disruptions in the Middle East and Nigeria offset news of increasing U.S. oil inventories. read more

EXTRACT: Shell Canada rattled the industry in July with word that an expansion that had been expected to cost C$7 billion ($6.4 billion) now could come in as high as C$12.8 billion due to labor shortages and ballooning materials costs.

THE ARTICLE

By Upstream staff

Oil sands developers, not the Alberta government, must decide when multibillion-dollar projects should go ahead as demand for limited skilled labour leads to huge cost overruns and delays, the Canadian province’s outgoing leader said today. read more

By Upstream staff

Shell-led Sakhalin Energy Investments, operator ot the Sakhalin 2 oil and gas development near Sakhalin Island in Russia´s far east, has confirmed that it asked its sub-contractors to suspend construction work at several pipelines, writes Vladimir Afanasiev.

According to the company, its own“rigorous monitoring and inspection”had“detected some isolated examples of sub-contractors not implementing detailed design solutions”.

The company sent a letter on 15 August to sub-contractors with a request to halt any ongoing work on sections of oil and gas pipelines that together total about seven kilometres, a spokesman said in Moscow. read more

By Upstream staff

Shell is actively looking to sell the cargo of LNG it has sitting in storage on board a vessel off the Norwegian coast and has no plans to make a permanent storage facility in the area, writes Lucy Hine.

General manager of commercial shipping Andrew Robson said the company is looking for a commercial deal on the cargo, which is currently sitting on the 138,000-cbm Golar Winter (built 2004) in Vetlefjorden, Norway.

He acknowledged that the ship is a modern vessel designed to minimise cargo boil-off and so in theory could sit there for some time. However, he added:“We are actively looking to place the cargo in that ship into port somewhere as we speak.” read more

Supermajor looks at offloading contingency for possible storms

By Upstream staff

Supermajor Shell is examining use of a fast deployable, relocateable mooring buoy as an oil offloading contingency plan should another hurricane wreck crucial pipeline systems and cripple output from the US Gulf.

Last year’s Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were responsible for damage to over 450 pipelines, including over 100 large diameter lines of over 10 inches or greater, according to a report issued by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in May. read more

Oil Company Hopes
To Join With Gazprom
On $20 Billion Project
By ANNE-SYLVAINE CHASSANY
August 31, 2006

PARIS — Total SA, one of the few oil majors without a significant presence in Russia, is looking to the Shtokman liquefied-natural-gas project to help it catch up to its peers.

Menno Grouvel, Total’s senior vice president for continental Europe and central Asia, said that after missing out on opportunities in post-Communist Russia, Total now hopes Shtokman will provide a way into one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources. read more

By JOHN M. BIERS
August 31, 2006; Page B7

The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided to take no action against Philip Watts, the former top executive at what is now Royal Dutch Shell PLC, over the 2004 reserves-overbooking scandal, according to his lawyer.

The SEC conducted a two-year joint investigation with the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority and concluded that no action should be taken against Sir Philip, the former chairman of Shell’s committee of managing directors, the lawyer said. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
August 31, 2006 5:46 p.m.

Crude oil fell most of the day before bouncing in late trading amid ongoing concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, gaining 23 cents to $70.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices fell below $70 earlier in the session on optimism that output at the troubled Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska may be restored earlier than expected. And prices fell more than 7% in August. Here is Thursday’s roundup of oil-related news.

* * *
PRUDHOE POSITIVE: BP said tests on the condition of a pipeline in Prudhoe Bay were encouraging. BP is assessing corrosion in the pipeline in hopes of bringing the massive Alaskan facility back to full capacity, Bloomberg reports. The company has scanned 5% of a five-mile section of suspect pipe and is working on plans to bypass problematic areas so it can ramp up output. BP is hoping to convince federal officials that the section is suitable to reopen until it can be replaced next year. read more

By: Brian O’Connor, Daily Mail – London: KRTBN
Published: Aug 31, 2006

Former Shell chairman Sir Philip Watts has been cleared by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which spent two years investigating his role in Shell’s reserves scandal. His lawyers said the SEC “concluded that no action should be taken.”

Sir Philip said: “I am extremely pleased. I have acted properly and in good faith when disclosing proved reserves.”

Though the SEC made no public statement, it apparently also cleared Shell’s former exploration chief Walter van de Vijver and finance director Judy Boynton. read more

By: Andrew Dewson,
Published: Sep 01, 2006

Anyone lucky enough to have owned a handful of shares in Premier Oil four years ago should be grinning from ear to ear. The shares have risen almost 500 per cent since January 2002, a level of out-performance that few London listed stocks can match.

Mid-cap oil stocks have rarely found such favour with investors and if market rumours are to be believed Premier has caught the eye of more than one of the oil majors. The word in the market is that a bidding war could be likely for the group, which has production operations in Europe, Africa and the Indian subcontinent, with Shell and Pemex, the Mexican national producer, going head to head. Traders said a fight for Premier Oil could start at 1,250p per share as the stock climbed another 18p to 1,030p. read more

By Sybil Ackerman

Published: September 1 2006 03:00 | Last updated: September 1 2006 03:00

Environmentalists love to hate big oil companies. “I told you so,” we say to ourselves, as we learn about BP’s leaky oil pipes in Alaska. The fiasco in Alaska could spell serious trouble for BP, as the US Congress begins hearings. It is easy to cheer them on and urge them to take drastic actions against this corporate wrong doer. We should move beyond this knee-jerk reaction.

BP has, in fact, been a model of responsible corporate citizenship on environmental matters. In a survey I conducted, BP was the most transparent big oil and gas company on important climate change issues debated in Congress. What is more, BP is practising what it preaches. read more