Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

February 15th, 2007:

The Guardian: BP offers Gazprom a stake after Kremlin sets impossible target

Terry Macalister
Friday February 16, 2007

BP has offered to hand over a majority stake in Kovykta, one of Russia’s most exciting gas projects, to the state-owned Gazprom. The concession follows mounting pressure from the Kremlin similar to that which forced Shell to cede control over the Sakhalin-2 scheme.

The British company, whose Russian joint venture TNK-BP holds a 65% stake in Kovykta, was told last week by Russia’s resources ministry that it must put right violations by May or lose the operating licence for the eastern Siberian field. 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 Times: Siberian discovery could affect BP’s plans

February 16, 2007
Carl Mortished

An obscure Russian company with links to Anatoly Karpov, the former chess champion, has made a gas find in eastern Siberia that could have a dramatic impact on BP’s efforts to develop Kovykta, a giant gasfield that is the jewel in the crown of BP’s Russian joint venture, TNK-BP.

Petromir, a company founded by Mr Karpov in 1999, has registered a 1.2 trillion cubic metre gas find at Angaro-Lenskoye in the Irkutsk region only 100 kilometres from Kovykta. It is estimated to contain 1.9 trillion cubic metres of gas. 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 Times: Turning the tables at oil jamboree

Martin Waller: City Diary
February 16, 2007

Eyebrows rose at the official dinner at the Grosvenor House to mark IP Week, the annual jamboree for the oil industry.

All the big oil companies take tables, but this year there was a conspicuous absentee. No sign of BP, the UK’s biggest company, which by coincidence, doubtless, is now emerging from its worst year ever. BP confirms that no one saw fit to book space.

Those with long memories recall that last year Lord Browne of Madingley, the BP chief executive, gave the keynote address and used it to rubbish Shell, then emerging from its missing reserves scandal. 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.

DavidCorn.com: See How They Spin

February 15, 2007

From a press release issued by the Republicans of the Senate energy committee:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today announced that Matthew Letourneau will become Republican communications director for the committee effective March 5.

Letourneau, currently the deputy press secretary on Domenici’s personal staff, will replace Marnie Funk, who is leaving the committee to become Vice President of Communications/Washington for The Royal Dutch Shell Group. 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: Denmark’s DUC Says January Oil, Condensate Output Drops 4.3%

By Bunny Nooryani

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Dansk Undergrunds Consortium, which accounts for more than 80 percent of Denmark’s petroleum output, said oil and condensate production fell 4.3 percent in January from a month earlier.

Production averaged 278,000 barrels a day in January, from 290,500 barrels a day a month earlier, Maersk Oil, which operates the venture, said on its Web site today. The group’s natural-gas output rose to 853 million standard cubic meters in January from 828 million cubic meters the previous month. 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.

Reuters: Russia won’t hand Exxon bigger Sakhalin reserves

MOSCOW, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Russia told Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile , Research) on Thursday it was still ruling out any automatic enlargement of the U.S. oil major’s Sakhalin-1 licence territory, just as the project has hit peak output and is seeking new reserves.

Moscow said it would put the adjacent deposits into an auction, despite their discovery by Exxon.

The resources ministry said in a statement that deputy minister Alexei Varlamov told the head of Exxon in Russia, Ben Haynes, “the ministry’s position was unchanged”. 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.

Calgary Herald: U.S. takes nations to task over oil dealings

Thursday, 15 February 2007
REUTERS

A drive by big oil-producing nations like Venezuela to renegotiate deals with international companies has already hurt global crude production, a trend that could worsen if foreign investment declines further.

In nations like Ecuador, Bolivia and major exporter Russia, soaring energy prices have emboldened governments to take a hard line on production contracts, many of which were struck in the 1990s when oil prices were below $20 a barrel.

That’s a far cry from the highs near $80 a barrel set last year that left billions of dollars of export revenue on the table for leaders like firebrand Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, who relies heavily on the country’s state-owned oil company to finance his leftwing social agenda. 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.

UpstreamOnline: Bodman hits out at oil nationalism

By Upstream staff

US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman today gave a sobering view of tight energy supplies and reservoir access challenges around the world, and called on global leaders to act to remove the “unacceptable risk” to energy security.

Without naming them outright, Bodman took to task leaders in countries that have seized on their plentiful crude oil supplies as a way to further their national agendas.

In Venezuela, some of the world’s top oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Statoil are facing a 1 May deadline to renegotiate deals in the Orinoco oil region or have their multibillion-dollar projects seized. 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.

Reuters: Shell chief calls for global carbon market

Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:24AM EST

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the second biggest western oil major, has called for a global “cap and trade” system to cut carbon emissions and promote renewable energy resources and energy security.

Chief Executive Jeroen Van der Veer, speaking late on Wednesday at an industry dinner, said such a system would reward companies that invested large sums to capture and store carbon dioxide (CO2).

“The best news would be to get more cap and trade schemes around the world and merge them post 2012 (when the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions expires),” van der Veer told Reuters after making his speech. 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: EnCana’s Fourth-Quarter Net Income Falls 72% to $663 Million

By Ian McKinnon

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — EnCana Corp., Canada’s largest natural-gas producer, said fourth-quarter profit plunged 72 percent on lower gas prices and a smaller gain from assets sales than a year earlier.

Net income fell to $663 million, or 82 cents a share, from $2.37 billion, or $2.71, a year earlier, the Calgary-based company said today in a statement distributed on PR Newswire. Sales after royalties fell 38 percent to $3.68 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Randy Eresman, 48, is selling assets to focus on production from North American gas wells and oil- sands projects in northern Alberta. An oil-sands venture with ConocoPhillips that started in January added refining to the company’s production 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.

TwinCities.com: Few ‘virtuous’ firms without sin, few ‘villains’ without virtue

Posted on Thu, Feb. 15, 2007
BY DAVID VOGEL

Sustainable firms. Green businesses. Socially responsible corporations. A growing number of magazines, activist groups and Web sites publish such lists, suggesting that one can distinguish the good companies from the bad.

The claim that such distinctions are possible is likewise central to ethical mutual funds, indexes and stock-rating services that recommend “responsible” investing — with some even asserting that “better” firms have superior financial performance. 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.

AFX News Limited: Total CEO targets Upstream profitability of at least 20 pct vs 35 pct

EXTRACT:Total is not interested in buying the French refinery operations being sold by Royal Dutch Shell (nyse: RDSA – news – people ), Margerie said.

PARIS (AFX) – Christophe de Margerie, the new chief executive of Total, said the group’s Upstream oil production activities are unlikely to maintain their current profitability, due to higher taxes in oil producing countries and cost increases.

But although the Upstream division will not maintain the 35.5 pct return on capital employed in 2006, Margerie said the company will continue generating a return on capital of at least 20 pct. 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.

Dow Jones Newswires: Total Exec: Decision on Gas Project in Iran Within Months (same gas field – South Pars – as Shell/Repsol development)

By  Anne-Sylvaine Chassany    

PARIS (Dow Jones Newswires): French oil major Total SA (TOT) expects to be able to make a decision to start drilling in the South Pars gas field “in the next months”, Yves-Louis Darricarrere, the company’s chief of exploration and production told reporters Wednesday.

The technical and the commercial discussions are in progress, Darricarrere said during a press conference on the company’s full-year earnings.

Total will weigh geopolitical risks of investing there once these talks are completed, he 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.

ArabNews.com: The Global Shell & Pea Game

Tanya Cariina Hsu, [email protected]
 
Shocking in its passivity, the world is quietly watching to see what the United States will do about Iran. No one is willing to take affirmative action, draw the line, and say no; the US takes this as tacit approval to go full steam ahead in moving to its next step toward its conquest of the Middle East and its energy resources, in order to control the world’s economic supply. The war has never been about weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, or bringing democracy to a people who would greet the “liberators” with flowers. Prior to the “New Pearl Harbor” of Sept. 11, 2001, the US already had attack plans drawn up and ready for a bombing campaign in Afghanistan. The neoconservatives were merely the Bush cheerleading team, touting the wars freely across the media, in personal readiness of the increased military spending to come their way via massive defense contract commissions, especially linked to the seemingly ever-threatened Israel. 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.

Dow Jones Newswires: Oil Industry’s Mega-Projects Face Looming Labor Shortage

By  Brian Baskin          

HOUSTON (Dow Jones Newswires): Good project managers in the oil industry may be like rock stars, but they’re becoming just as rare.

As an aging generation of workers retires, industry experts say the resulting shortfall in skilled labor could lead to an increase in delays and problems on mega oil and gas projects.

The industry suffers from an “if we can problem,” said David Hobbs, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, speaking at the consultancy’s annual conference, referring to chronic delays plaguing mega-projects around the world. 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.

Rigzone.com: Feinstein Eyes Budget Process to Recoup Royalties

E&E Daily     

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wants to attach language to the Interior Departments’s fiscal 2008 spending bill that would help the federal government recoup almost $10 billion in oil and natural gas lease royalties.

At issue are leases the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service issued in 1998 and 1999 to companies drilling for oil and gas deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico. The leases granted royalty “relief” to the companies as a way to encourage drilling in hard-to-reach domestic areas, so long as prices for the commodities remained low. 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.