November 6th, 2006:

Tuesday 7 November 2006

By Upstream staff

Two new pipelines across the Gulf from Iran may be needed to meet rapidly growing gas demand in the Middle East, a Shell executive said today.

“I could see a new trans-Gulf pipeline to Kuwait from Iran and another serving the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman,” said Martin Trachsel, Shell’s vice president for gas and power in the Middle East Gulf.

The pipelines would need to have capacity of 1 billion to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas to meet expected shortfalls in supplies by 2015, Trachsel told journalists on the sidelines of an industry event in London, Reuters said. read more

Crude-oil futures rose again Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, settling above $60 a barrel, boosted by attacks on Nigerian oil output.

Here’s Monday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
CHINA IN LINE FOR MORE OIL: China will be first in line for more crude-oil imports from Nigeria if output from Africa’s biggest producer swells to four million barrels a day within two years, said Nigerian oil minister Edmund Daukoru. Nigeria has been turning down buyers since February, when attacks by militants on oil installations in the Niger Delta started costing at least 500,000 barrels a day in production at any given time. The violence continued today, as armed protesters overran and shut down an oil facility operated by an Italian oil firm. read more

Tuesday November 7, 2006

The cash donation given by Royal Dutch Shell for community and environmental projects was £63.26m and not the £7.73m shown in the table, FTSE 100 give 0.79%, Giving List, page 2, yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/corrections/story/0,,1940992,00.html

By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor: Published: November 7 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 7 2006 02:00

Royal Dutch Shell has announced the development of three oilfields in deep water off the coast of Brazil, an area seen as a potentially extremely important source of new oil supplies.

The company is putting in a floating production vessel with capacity to process 100,000 barrels of oil a day in a project which will push back the frontiers of technology.

The floating production, storage and offloading vessel, which will pump the oil into tankers without the need to take it onshore, will be moored in 1,780m of water – some of the deepest for this type of vessel anywhere in the world. read more

By paul taylor: Published: November 7 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 7 2006 02:00

For most of the past 167 years, ever since Welsh scientist Sir William Robert Grove built the first fuel cell, they have been little more than laboratory curiosities or confined to military uses and the Nasa space programme.

But now it seems scientists are edging towards their goal of being able to produce practical, safe and low-cost fuel cells capable of powering everything from mobile phones and laptop PCs to electric vehicles. read more

Published: November 7 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 7 2006 02:00

Back when ‘Dallas’ ruled the airwaves, Big Oil was a racy mix of big hats, bigger hair and even bigger money. J.R. Ewing would have been horrified to think of his business becoming more like a dull old utility.

Historically, upstream oil and gas – as opposed to downstream businesses such as refining and marketing – generated the sector’s highest returns on capital. Investments made in the 1970s and 1980s provided accessible reserves for conversion into cash. Relatively light, fixed tax regimes meant leverage to the oil price. read more

Nov. 6 – Armed protesters overran and shut down an oil facility operated by an Italian oil firm on Monday in the latest violence to hit Africa’s biggest crude producer, government officials and the oil company said.

The protesters invaded the Tebidaba oil pumping station run by Agip in southern Bayelsa State and forced workers to shut it down, said Joshua Benamesia, a security aide to the state governor. Agip is a subsidiary of Italian energy company ENI SpA.

“They shut down the place,” he said by phone from the state capital, Yenagoa. “They always have demands but we don’t have the details of what they want for now.” read more

POSTED: 1537 GMT (2337 HKT), November 6, 2006

YENAGOA, Nigeria (AP) — Armed protesters have overrun and shut down an oil facility operated by Italian oil firm Agip in the latest violence to hit Africa’s biggest crude producer, government officials and the oil company said Monday.

The protesters invaded the Tebidaba oil pumping station run by Agip in southern Bayelsa State and forced workers to shut it down, said Joshua Benamesia, a security aide to the state governor. Agip is a subsidiary of Italian energy company ENI SpA. read more

Monday November 6th 2006 

The Shell to Sea group is calling on the Government to set up an independent public tribunal to investigate the controversial Corrib gas project.

The group wants the inquiry to make recommendations on how best to develop the scheme in line with environmental and health and safety concerns, as well as the views of the local community.

Shell to Sea has been campaigning for some time against plans by Shell Ireland to build an onshore terminal and a contentious pipeline to bring gas onshore from the Corrib field. read more

Nobel perplexed at owners reluctance to seize a golden opportunity, writes Neville Smith, Lloyds List
Published: Nov 06, 2006

TRADING pollution emissions from ships is an opportunity to make and save money, the head of industry pressure group SEAat has said.

But Shell’s Cor Nobel said he was perplexed at shipowners’ reluctance to grab what appeared a golden opportunity.

‘I cannot believe it has taken so long to convince people to consider these instruments,’ he said. ‘Here is an opportunity to earn money and save money as well as resources.’ read more

By: JOHANN HARI, The Independent – United Kingdom
Published: Nov 06, 2006

The Stern warning that our frenetic burning of fossil fuels is unleashing Weather of Mass Destruction across the world has been slowly seeping into Britain’s mental atmosphere over the past week. On cue, the oil corporations have renewed their PR campaign to promote themselves as the solution rather than the petrol-scented problem. They pump out adverts looking like Greenpeace brochures, pledging to be “at the forefront of action against global warming.” read more

By: Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Published: Nov 06, 2006

North Mayo’s Shell to Sea campaign is due to announce an initiative today aimed at breaking the deadlock over the Corrib gas project.

It is understood that the proposal, which will be outlined by the campaign in Castlebar this afternoon, could allow for dialogue between objecting local communities, Shell E&P Ireland and the Government.

An attempt by a Government-appointed party, former Ictu secretary-general Peter Cassells, to reach a mediated settlement failed earlier this year, and differences between the local community and Shell have become increasingly bitter since the company resumed work at its terminal site five weeks ago. read more

By KEITH JOHNSON
November 6, 2006; Page C1

MADRID — Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol YPF SA is an outlier among European oil companies.

Its international expansion has been a series of misadventures in Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela. The recent slump in oil prices and the steady rise in costs are pinching its already weak profitability. On top of all that, it is having more trouble than its rivals replacing what it produces with fresh reserves of oil and natural gas.

So why has Repsol’s stock risen 16% in the past eight weeks? read more

Mon Nov 6, 2006 6:37 AM GMT

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell was warned four years ago by one of its own officials of safety concerns over the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in Russia, the Guardian reported on Monday, quoting what it said were emails from him.

The internal messages sent to Engel van Spronsen, then technical director of the Shell-led Sakhalin Energy firm, voiced concerns about the size of the wells, drilling in an earthquake area and the project’s tight schedule, the newspaper said. read more

Mon Nov 6, 2006 3:16am ET

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Shell International Finance BV, guaranteed by oil company Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), plans to sell a long 3-year dollar bond, an official at one of the banks managing the sale said on Monday.

The deal, which has a maturity date of January 2010, will be launched and priced early this week, he said.

The bond is expected to yield 31 to 33 basis points over U.S. Treasuries, he said. Morgan Stanley and UBS are joint lead managers. read more