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February 20th, 2007:

The Times: Al-Yamamah an echo of 1980s sleaze

February 21, 2007
David Robertson, Business Correspondent

The al-Yamamah arms-for-oil deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia is the largest export order signed by the UK, but even after 22 years its controversial legacy clings to those involved.

The names linked with al-Yamamah read like an encyclopaedia of the past two decades. They include Margaret Thatcher, Michael Heseltine, Mark Thatcher and Tony Blair.

BAE Systems, Britain’s prime defence contractor, has been the biggest beneficiary of al-Yamamah, which means “dove of peace” in Arabic, racking in $43 billion (£21.9 billion) from the Saudis since the deal was signed in 1985. 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: Qatar plant ditched

February 21, 2007
Business in Brief

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have dropped plans to build a gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar because of spiralling costs, the country’s energy minister said, but Abdullah al-Attiyah added that other projects were not under threat. He said that ground would be broken for a multibillion-dollar GTL plant with Royal Dutch Shell tomorrow. (Reuters)

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article1415301.ece

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.

Jeroen Van der Veer is right

By J.E Crozier

Regarding the article: Reuters: Shell chief calls for global carbon market

Jeroen Van der Veer is right. We will continue to increase our consumption of fossil fuels for at least the next twenty years. The introduction of solar power sources won’t stop the growth pattern for fossils. It may however cause a slackening in the value that fossils command on the open market, (don’t tell Putin or the Saudis). It will take at least 20 years for solar to develop wide enough market penetration to affect fossils market value.
 
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 Mayo News: Shell to Sea shows clear cracks

Tuesday, 20 February 2007 

Áine Ryan

LEADING Shell to Sea activist, Maura Harrington, has denied a significant split has developed within the campaign after a group of protestors entered the proposed Shell refinery site after last Friday’s Solidarity Day in Bellanaboy. This is despite a clear condemnation of the incursion by campaign spokespeople, Mary Corduff, Dr Mark Garavan and Vincent McGrath. 

“Rather than call it a split, it would properly be called diversity. There is one element of the campaign that has a more narrow version of what constitutes peaceful protest and another element is committed to NVDA [Non-Violent Direct Action],” stated Ms Harrington. She  was among the protestors, the majority of whom were apparently visitors to the area, who entered the Shell property. 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.

ABC News: Attorneys plan to depose BP CEO over 2005 deadly plant explosion

(02/20/07 – GALVESTON, TX) – Attorneys representing workers injured during BP PLC’s deadly Texas City plant explosion in 2005 said Monday they plan to question outgoing company chief executive Lord John Browne about the accident this week, unless the Texas Supreme Court intervenes.

Earlier this month, a Houston appeals court ordered Browne give a deposition to attorneys for Clarence Kinard and E.J. Godeaux, contract workers suing BP for injuries they sustained during the blast. Fifteen people died and more than 170 others were injured. 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: Update on lawsuits against Royal Dutch Shell

Tuesday 20 February 2007

By John Donovan

We are delighted to report an excellent response to our recent article…

09/02/2007  Do you have grounds for a lawsuit against Shell?

We have had contact with potential plaintiffs, litigants/lawyers and various interested parties and sources located around the world, including the UK, The Hague, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, New York and Houston.

Several hundred pages of documents, including copies of court papers served on Shell, have been supplied to us.

We have put potential plaintiffs, existing litigants (and Shell insiders) into direct contact, so that they can exchange information, including similar fact evidence, and arrange to obtain/supply witness testimony. 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.

2theadvocate.com: Katrina attorney facing disbarment ‘over an explosion at Shell Oil Co.’s Norco refinery in 1988’

Associated Press
Published: Feb 20, 2007  
   
NEW ORLEANS — A key attorney involved in suing the federal government over damage caused by levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina faces disbarment stemming from a case he handled 16 years ago.

Next week, the Louisiana Supreme Court will hold a hearing on whether to debar Joseph Bruno over his violation of attorney-conduct rules during his handling of a lawsuit over an explosion at Shell Oil Co.’s Norco refinery in 1988.

A sharply divided Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended disbarring him. The high court has scheduled a Feb. 27 hearing to weigh the matter. 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.

Detroit News: Shell, Dow and others fined for price fixing

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

APPEAL: Shell, Dow and others fined for price fixing

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Dow Chemical Co. , and two other companies are appealing European Union fines levied against them for fixing prices of synthetic rubber. Shell and Dow, the largest U.S. chemicals maker, were among five companies fined $682 million by EU regulators in November for rigging prices of rubber ingredients used in tires and shoes.

Detroit News, wire and Bloomberg News reports.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070220/BIZ/702200327/1001/rss21 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: Around the Markets: Vietnam and Zambia overtake bigger developing countries

EXTRACT: In Nigeria, attacks have forced a Royal Dutch Shell unit to halt production of about 500,000 barrels of oil a day, almost a quarter of the country’s current output.

THE ARTICLE

By Alexis Xydias and Michael Tsang Bloomberg News

Published: February 20, 2007

LONDON: The smallest emerging stock markets are elbowing aside Brazil, Russia, India and China to become the world’s best performers.

An index of 22 so-called frontier countries rose 12 percent in January, the fastest-ever start to a year. Five of them, including Vietnam, Ukraine and Croatia, are among the top 10 markets this year. A measure of BRIC stocks — as the shares of Brazil, Russia, India and China are known — fell after a 53 percent gain in 2006 made Indian and Chinese shares the most expensive among the biggest emerging nations. 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.

allAfrica.com: Oil Coys Should Forfeit Part of their Income for the Development of Host Communities?

Hayford Alile
Sam Eyoboka, Vanguard (Nigeria)

DISTURBED by the un-ending crises in the Niger Delta, the chairman of Oceanic Bank International and Spiritual leader of Saint Joseph Chosen Church of God, Apostle Hayford Alile, has advocated an arrangement where licences of oil blocks will forfeit part of their income for the development of the host communities.

He also questioned the rationale behind multinational oil corporations operating in Nigeria being quoted in their home Stock Markets without being quoted in the Nigerian Stock Market, stressing that secrecy surrounding the operations of oil companies in the country calls for serious scrutiny. 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.

Asia Pulse: CHEVRON AWARDED NEW ACREAGE OFFSHORE AUSTRALIA

Published: Feb 20, 2007

(Full text of a statement. Contact details below.)

Chevron Awarded New Acreage Offshore Australia

SAN RAMON, Calif., Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ —

Chevron Named Operator and Awarded 50 Percent Interest in Exploration Block

Chevron Corporation today announced that its subsidiary Chevron Australia Pty Ltd has been awarded the exploration rights to acreage in the highly prospective Greater Gorgon Area located off the northwest coast of Australia.

Chevron Australia will be the operator of the block and will hold a 50 percent interest; the Australian subsidiaries of ExxonMobil and Shell will each hold a 25 percent interest. 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.

FT REPORT – PROPERTY: Russia still speaks a different language

By Jim PIckard, Financial Times
Published: Feb 20, 2007

Russia has always been an almost universal no-no on the European property investment map. And with just reason. For all the talk of a post-Soviet democracy which would be ever more liberal and progressive, few would argue that this is the case today.

The Chechen war, a poor human rights record, widespread corruption: no wonder property investors have shied away.

Consider Yukos, where founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky saw his wealth confiscated and his freedom curtailed. Or Royal Dutch/Shell, which saw its Sakhalin-2 deal undermined last 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.

FT REPORT – PROPERTY: Rising trend spreads out from capital

EXTRACT: The strong office market is being felt beyond Warsaw. Regional cities such as Krakow are hosting business process outsourcing operations, like Shell’s finance and accounting office, which will employ 800.

THE ARTICLE

By Jan Cienski in Warsaw, Financial Times
Published: Feb 20, 2007

When James Foley signed a pre-lease agreement three years ago to move Ernst & Young’s Warsaw operation to Rondo I, a new office complex in the heart of the Polish capital, he was afraid that the consulting firm would be alone in the building, which opened last 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.

Financial Times: The Geopolitics of Energy: Speech given at the IP Week, 2007

By Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent

Introduction:

John Paul Getty once said: “The meek shall inherit the earth, but not its mineral rights.” If ever that were true it surely is today. The national oil companies that have inherited the world’s oil and gas resources are far from pushovers, while the international oil companies who have ventured into ever more treacherous territory to claim their thinning slice of the inheritance have adventurous souls deeply hidden beneath the thick layers of their corporate wrapping. 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.

Financial Times: DTI approves plans for biggest offshore wind farm

By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor
Published: February 20 2007 02:00 | Last updated: February 20 2007 02:00

Plans for what is set to be Britain’s biggest offshore wind farm when it opens at the end of the decade have been approved by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Greater Gabbard, a joint venture backed by Airtricity of Ireland and Fluor of the US, is intended to generate 500MW of electricity from a site 12 miles off the coast of Suffolk. It will open in 2009 and be up to full capacity the following 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.

Bloomberg News: Chevron, partners awarded license

Chevron Corp. and its partners in the Gorgon liquefied natural gas project have won a license to explore off Australia’s northwest coast as they seek more reserves in the area for export.

Chevron will be the operator of the license and 50 percent owner, while Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp. will each own 25 percent, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company said in a statement distributed on PRNewswire.

The license is in a “highly prospective” area near the Gorgon natural gas fields, it 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.
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