Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

October 23rd, 2006:

RIA Novosti: No plans to revoke Sakhalin II license-FM Lavrov

17:46 | 23/ 10/ 2006 

MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia does not seek to revoke the license of the Sakhalin II oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East, the Russian foreign minister said Monday.

Russia signed the Sakhalin II production-sharing agreement in 1994 with Sakhalin Energy, an investment company controlled by oil major Royal Dutch Shell. The company recently raised its cost estimate for the project, thereby putting off the date by which the Russian government will receive a share of the profits. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Prime-Tass: Chief of public spending watchdog calls for revising Sakhalin PSAs

MOSCOW, Oct 23 (Prime-Tass) — Sergei Stepashin, director of Russia’s Audit Chamber, called Monday for “a drastic revision” of production sharing agreements (PSAs) for the development of Sakhalin Island’s oil fields.

The Audit Chamber is Russia’s public spending and revenue watchdog.

However, the PSAs must remain in effect, he added.

The increase in Sakhalin Energy’s Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project’s costs would be unprofitable for the Russian government, Stepashin also said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Wall Street Journal: Shell Indicates Intention To Buy Out Shell Canada

By CHIP CUMMINS
October 23, 2006 5:39 a.m.

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it would offer to buy out minority shareholders in its Canadian affiliate for about C$7.7 billion, or $6.85 billion, representing the latest effort in the oil giant’s long-running restructuring. The move would also solidify its growing position in Canada, where it and a handful of other companies have invested billions in heavy, unconventional oil deposits.

Shell said it had approached the board of Shell Canada Ltd., indicating its intention to offer shareholders C$40, or about $35.60, cash per share for the approximately 22% interest in the Canadian unit that the Anglo-Dutch parent company doesn’t already own. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Wall Street Journal: Exxon Agrees to Sell Gas From Sakhalin-1 to China

By GREGORY L. WHITE
October 23, 2006 1:29 p.m.

MOSCOW — Exxon Mobil Corp. said it has reached a preliminary agreement to sell natural gas from a project on Russia’s Sakhalin Island to China. But the U.S. energy giant still needs to make a deal with OAO Gazprom, the Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, to get the fuel to market.

The $12.8 billion Sakhalin-1 project is starting to ship crude oil to Asian markets, but has held back large-scale gas development pending a deal on exports, which initially had been slated to start next year. At present, the project sells relatively small amounts of gas inside Russia at prices substantially below world-market levels. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Denver post: Shell to decide Colorado project by 2010

By Peter Cook
Bloomberg
Article Last Updated:10/23/2006 11:40:28 AM MDT
 
Royal Dutch Shell Plc is encouraged by its research on the extraction of crude oil from shale in Colorado and might be able to produce oil there by the middle of the next decade, the head of the company’s U.S. unit said.

A decision on whether to invest in U.S. oil shale production will probably be made by 2010, John Hofmeister said in an interview in Washington.

Hague-based Shell today offered to pay $7.7 billion (Canadian dollars) for the 22 percent of its Canadian unit that it doesn’t already own. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Bloomberg: Shell Offers to Buy Out Canada Unit for C$7.7 Billion (Update9)

By Mathew Carr and Sonja Franklin

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the second- biggest European oil company, offered C$7.7 billion ($6.8 billion) to buy out its Canadian unit and gain greater production from the oil sands.

Shell, which owns 78 percent of Shell Canada Ltd., offered C$40 a share for the rest, according to a statement today from the Hague-based company. That’s 22 percent more than the closing price of the unit’s stock at the end of last week. The shares climbed 29 percent, topping the offer price. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

ShellNews.net: leaked internal email from Royal Dutch Shell ‘Expatriate Policy Manager’, Stephanie Boyde

23 October 2005

Received today from a Shell Insider…

Dear Sir

I like your frank site and here perhaps is something you might care to publish. I refer to the Shell HR email I have supplied. Naturally I want my name kept secret as you will understand.

Here is another HR activity that escaped the attention of the big chiefs (who are quite busy with their own spin stories). All other oil companies (big and small) will smile because this is certain to trigger another exodus of competent Shell engineers. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

THE VOICE OF RUSSIA: RUSSIA CALLS FOR EQUAL PARTNERSHIP WITH EU

Viktor Yenikeev.
10/23/2006

An unofficial summit between Russia and the EU has taken place in Lahti, Finland. High on the agenda were strategic partnership and energy cooperation.

Russia and the European Union have reaffirmed mutual intention to develop both strategic partnership and energy cooperation. European Commission President Jose Barroza told a closing news conference that Russia and Europe both need one another, and Russia, as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel remarked, is both a leading EU partner and a top player on the international scene. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

RussiaProfile.Org: A Matter of Pride

By Paul Abelsky
Russia Profile
October 23, 2006

Russian-Japanese Relations Suffer From A Lack of Compromise

Japan waited 41 years for a male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne, and in September, Princess Kiko threw the country into elation with the birth of the longed-for boy. Russian-Japanese diplomatic relations, mired in an ongoing territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands that has befuddled several generations of policymakers, are also due resolution, though a compromise seems increasingly unlikely with every passing year. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

AFP: Obey or be shut down, Russia says

Russian officials warned Sakhalin-2 investors on Friday to comply with environmental laws or face shut-down, also suggesting there could be adjustments to the “economic model” in the huge Pacific coast oil and gas project.

“If the Russian Federation’s laws are going to be violated, if irreparable damage is done to the environment, we will take measures to stop the project,” Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev told reporters.

Moscow’s increasingly hard-nosed approach to foreign energy investors has shaken its European partners, while the controversy over Sakhalin-2 is sparking alarm in Japan and South Korea, the main markets for gas shipments meant to start in 2008. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

BBC News: EU shocked as Putin comes out fighting

Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel

(EU leaders were reportedly taken aback by Mr Putin’s rebuff)

By William Horsley
BBC News Europe analyst 
23 October 2006
 
Insiders’ reports from EU leaders’ dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday suggest Europe’s diplomats have begun the week suffering from diplomatic indigestion.

All 25 European Union leaders met Mr Putin in Finland.

Accounts of the meeting from some of those present there speak of unusually blunt exchanges between the two sides, in which Mr Putin said he would not listen to lectures about human rights, and rejected EU demands over its vitally important oil and gas business. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

ShellNews.net: The Hans Bouman, Engel van Spronsen Sakhalin emails

Published below in their entirety are the emails between two senior Shell managers, Hans Bouman and Engel van Spronsen which were the subject of a recent article published by MarketWatch: MarketWatch: Shell manager warned of Sakhalin faults in e-mails

Postings on our Live Chat facility and other incoming emails relating to the same issues are also published on this page. All of this information has been supplied to interested third parties including Oleg Mitvol, Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor (Russian Federal Environment Protection Agency. We are also sending information to Mitsui and Mitsubishi, Shell’s current partners in the Sakhalin II white elephant project, just in case they are being kept in the dark by the lead partner. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Sakhalin Energy: Cooperation Commitment with Russian Ministry of Natural Resources

Sakhalin Energy   
Friday, October 20, 2006

Sakhalin Energy CEO Ian Craig sent a letter today to Minister Yuri Trutnev of the Ministry for Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. In his letter the company’s CEO re-affirmed Sakhalin Energy’s commitment to cooperate with the Ministry for Natural Resources and Rosprirodnadzor in a constructive dialogue, and informed the Minister of the company’s work to rectify acknowledged non-compliant environmental practices identified during the Rosprirodnadzor August 2006 pipeline inspections. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

International Herald Tribune: Royal Dutch Shell bids to buy out minority stake in Shell Canada Ltd.

The Associated Press
Published: October 23, 2006
 
LONDON Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe’s second-largest oil company, said Monday it offered to buy out the minority shareholders in Shell Canada Ltd. as a further step in simplifying the structure of the energy group.
 
Shell, which holds 78 percent of the shares in Shell Canada, said it offered 40 Canadian dollars (US$35.55; €20.20) per share to acquire the stock it doesn’t already own. The offer values the stake at C$7.7 billion Canadian dollars (US$6.8 billion; €5.4 billion).
 
Royal Dutch Shell’s offer is conditional on more than half of the outstanding shares being tendered, the company said.
 
Royal Dutch Shell A shares were down 0.5 percent at 1758 pence (€26.26; US$33.12) in morning trading on the London Stock Exchange.
 
On the Net: http://www.shell.com read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell: Royal Dutch Shell plc proposes to acquire the minority shares in Shell Canada Limited

Investor Centre

Monday, October 23, 2006
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 278

Royal Dutch Shell plc (the ‘Group’) today announced that it has approached the Board of Directors of Shell Canada Limited to indicate its intention to offer to acquire the minority interests in Shell Canada Limited (Toronto Stock Exchange, ticker symbol SHC), for a cash price of C$40/share. This proposal would value Shell Canada Limited’s fully diluted minority share capital at approximately C$7.7 billion. The Group owns a 78% stake in Shell Canada Limited.
 
The proposed acquisition follows the successful unification of the Group in 2005 and is a further step in simplifying the Group structure. Once Shell Canada Limited is fully combined with the Group, the business will benefit from a simplified organization, additional economies of scale and portfolio development in the context of the Group’s global strategy. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Daily Telegraph: The week ahead

By Caroline Muspratt Last Updated: 11:17pm BST 22/10/2006

Thursday October 26

Oil giant Shell could give an update on its Sakhalin-2 project in Russia when it reports third-quarter results on Thursday as well as an outlook on oil prices. Analysts say the company could report slightly lower income for the third quarter as volumes are marginally down. Last year, earnings benefited from a strong result in the oil products division on the back of high refining margins, but this year margins are expected to be lower. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Comment Rules

  • Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
  • Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
  • Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
  • Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
  • Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.