October, 2006:

Tuesday October 31, 2006

Scientists

“This should be a turning point in a debate which has pitted short term economic interests against long-term costs to the environment, society and the economy”.
Martin Rees, president, Royal Society

“The review closes a chasm that has existed for 15 years between the precautionary concerns of scientists and the cost-benefit views of many economists. It finds most economists’ methods have been inadequate for a problem of this scale”
Michael Grubb, Imperial College read more

British oil major opts for positive spin as production delayed by subsea systems faults, writes Martyn Wingrove, Lloyds List: Published: Oct 31, 2006

BP WANTS to use the lessons it learns at the troubled Thunder Horse project in the Gulf of Mexico to help develop its next generation of projects, including the large Kaskida discovery.

But the British oil major will need contractors to develop subsea equipment that can be deployed in ultra-deepwater environments and cope with harsher reservoir conditions. read more

Published: Oct 31, 2006

SHELL will be breaking several water depth records with its Perdido development project in the US Gulf of Mexico including taking subsea completions to new depths, writes Martyn Wingrove.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major will be working with California-based Chevron and British oil group BP to develop three fields in ultra deepwaters in the Alaminos Canyon area.

Shell will be operator of the Perdido regional development and will instal the world’s deepest production spar over the Great White oil field and then will tie back Tobago and Silvertip oil fields as satellites. read more

U.S. Cites Cost Cuts’ Role In BP Refinery Blast Safety Board Lays Blame With Top-Level Decisions, Raising Firm’s Legal Risks
By CHIP CUMMINS
October 31, 2006; Page A3

Cost-cutting efforts by senior management at BP PLC contributed to a deadly explosion at a refinery in Texas last year, federal investigators said, a finding that ratchets up the legal stakes for the London-based oil giant.

In a summary of its preliminary findings yesterday, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board didn’t name specific senior managers or members of BP’s executive suite in London. But the federal agency alleged for the first time that high-level decisions to defer overhauls, cut staff and rein in costs at the Texas City, Texas, plant helped cause the accident, which killed 15 people and injured 180. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
October 30, 2006 5:32 p.m.

Crude-oil futures tumbled nearly 4% to close at less than $59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as traders again expressed skepticism about OPEC’s ability to keep a floor under prices in a world flush — for the moment, at least — with oil. Here’s Monday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
REPORT: BP CUTS CONTRIBUTED TO ACCIDENT: The good news for BP: The Prudhoe Bay oil field is back up to pre-shutdown speed. The bad news: Federal investigators said the oil giant’s cost cutting compromised safety at a Texas refinery and helped cause a deadly explosion at the plant in March 2005. The findings are the first allegations by outside investigators of a direct link between the company’s cost cutting and the accident and significantly raise the legal and financial stakes for BP. Read the text of the report and the transcript of last night’s 60 Minutes report on the refinery blast. read more

10.31.2006, 12:10 AM

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) – Mitsubishi Corp reported record net profit for the fiscal first half, thanks to higher commodity prices, prompting the company to upgrade its full-year forecasts.

Japan’s largest trading house said net profit for the six months to September increased 32 pct from a year earlier to 234.83 bln yen.

Operating income jumped 25 pct to an all-time high of 204.96 bln yen as revenue rose 9.1 pct to 9.83 trln, the second best on record.

‘Thanks to metal and energy prices rising beyond our initial expectations, we managed to report read more

October 31, 2006
 
Villagers occupying four oil pumping stations in Nigeria extended their protest to a third day on Friday in the hope of extracting contracts from Western oil companies.

The protesters had agreed on Wednesday to vacate the facilities on condition that they were given contracts to supply food and speed boats to the oil platforms located deep in the swamps of Rivers state in the eastern Niger Delta.

But villagers said Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron had yet to agree to the new contracts, holding up a final resolution of the crisis. read more

Monday, Oct. 30, 2006 at 9:32 PM

Detailed description of the issues surrounding the pipeline Shell wish to build through Rossport, a small village in the north west of Mayo.

Shell’s pipeline through Rossport is extraordinarily dangerous:

As acknowledged by Minister Dempsey in a written Dail reply to Deputy Michael Ring, it is unparalleled not only within Ireland but within Europe or elsewhere.

It will have a rated pressure of 345 Bar (5,000 lb/sq/in) and a normal working pressure of 150 Bar in contrast to Bord Gais Eireann maximum norms of 70 Bar (1,000 lb/sq/in). read more

30 October 2006

Calgary (Reuters) – Shell Canada Limited looks headed for big staffing changes after its Anglo-Dutch parent buys out minority shares, but that may not mean across-the-board layoffs, industry watchers said Friday.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of the world’s biggest oil companies, is offering $40 a share, or $7.7 billion to buy out the 22% of Shell Canada it does not already own.

After the buyout, some Shell Canada departments, such as investor and public relations, will likely be cut or drastically reduced in size. After all, the company, which employs about 5,000 people, will no longer have its own shareholders to report to. For the rest of the company, which includes profitable oil sands, natural gas, refining and marketing businesses, things are not so easy to predict. read more

Vanguard (Lagos)
October 30, 2006
Emma Amaize
Warri

FEDERATED Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) and other militant groups in the region, weekend, rolled out four conditions under which the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) will be allowed by the Ijaw to resume operations in the creeks of Delta State.

Leader of the group, Chief Bello Oboko, in a document said, “They must stop further devastating oil pollution of the Niger Delta environment, extinguish forthwith all gas flaring in the region, no longer operate behind the terror of soldiers, work toward the disbandment of Joint Security Task Force in the Niger Delta and demilitarise the Ijaw land, work to see to the immediate release of all Niger Delta activists from prisons, and also guarantee peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta crisis, which tension is identifiably caused by its practice of double standards/divide and rule”. read more

30.10.2006, 16.20
 
MOSCOW, October 30 (Itar-Tass) – Checks of the Sakhalin-2 project carried out by the Russian Audit Chamber have revealed numerous violations, mostly on the part the operator of the project, the Chamber’s auditor Sergei Abramov said.

He said that the “chamber as a top financial control authority also has checked bodies of executive power that must accomplish within their competence the control of the implementation of production sharing agreements”.

He said that apart from numerous irregularities revealed in earlier checks by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) of the Sakhalin Energy, which is the project’s operator, “we also have stated substantial violations by the operator of environmental legislation”. read more

Monday, Oct 30, 2006

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has said that, its presence in Ogoniland at the moment is not for oil exploration but to put out the fire on Yorla well 13.

The Emergency Response Team Commander of the Company, Mr. Ikechukwu Charles Okoro disclosed this Friday in a press briefing in Port Harcourt.

Mr. Okoro said that, the clarification had become necessary in view of the attempt by some persons to misinterpret the presence of the company in the area.

According to him, “we are aware that some people have misinterpreted the efforts to fight the fire to mean that SPDC has secretly begun operations in Ogoniland. read more

Posted October 30, 2006

To encourage smaller businesses who are leading the fight against climate change, Shell Springboard will make at least nine awards of up to £40,000 to UK small and medium sized businesses.

The awards will be given to the companies that convince business and environmental experts that their ideas are both environmentally sound and commercially viable businesses.

Research released by Shell Springboard shows that the challenge of tackling climate change could create a market of up to £30bn for British business over the next ten years – a massive potential market for businesses that develop technologies, products and services that help combat climate change. read more

Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:06am ET

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Shell said Monday it returned to service the smaller of two crude units at its joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, as scheduled.

The unit, which can process 70,000 barrels per day of crude oil, was shut down on Oct. 9 for 21 days of planned work.

The refinery, which is a joint venture between Petroleos Mexicano and Shell Oil, has a second crude unit rates at 240,000 bpd.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
 

30 October 2006

Cravath Swaine & Moore and Canadian firms Stikeman Elliott and Ogilvy Renault have scooped lead roles on Royal Dutch Shell’s acquisition of Shell Canada’s minority interests that it didn’t already own for CAD7.7bn (£3.64bn).

London-based corporate partner William Rogers, with employment partner Patricia Geoghegan and litigation partner Rory Millson led the team at Cravath, a panel firm of Royal Dutch Shell. The Wall Street firm is advising the oil giant on US aspects of the deal. read more

Oil firms toward $61; eyes Saudi ports, OPEC cuts

SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Oil nudged higher on Monday, extending last week’s gains while traders awaited further signs of OPEC’s compliance with output curbs and kept a close eye on Saudi oil facilities amid heightened security activity.

U.S. light, sweet crude for December delivery was up 13 cents a barrel at $60.88 in Globex electronic trading by 2343 GMT after gaining 39 cents on Friday, when news of a possible threat against a key Saudi export terminal spooked traders. read more