March 28th, 2007:

By Ed Crooks in London
Published: March 28 2007 14:10 | Last updated: March 28 2007 22:04

Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, will stay in office a year longer than had been planned and step down in June 2009, the company said.

Mr Van der Veer, who took over in 2004 as the company was reeling from a reserves misreporting scandal, had intended to leave in June next year, when he will be 60. But the company said he agreed with the board that a year later would be “an appropriate period for the succession”. read more

Published: March 29 2007

Lord Browne must be envious. When he announced that he would leave the helm of BP earlier than expected, the oil major’s market capitalisation jumped by almost £2bn. On Wednesday, when his counterpart at Royal Dutch Shell, Jeroen Van der Veer, said he would, in contrast, stay on a bit longer, shares in BP’s arch rival rose.

To be fair, the latter had more to do with an oil price spike. Mr Van der Veer turns 60 in October, so he would normally retire in June 2008. He will leave 12 months later instead, so the extension is pretty small. Still, it is a measure of how far Shell has come from the dark days of 2004 that investors can take any tinkering with governance in their stride. After all, Mr Van der Veer was tasked with rebuilding trust in Shell after a reserves scandal that lifted the lid on a decrepit corporate culture. read more

March 28, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Jeroen van der Veer took over a poisoned chalice in 2004 when he stepped into the breach at Royal Dutch Shell.

Since then he has done all that could have been expected of him.

He has restored the group’s reputation and positioned it for growth.

His problem is the legacy of the reserves scandal that led to his elevation in the first place.

Shell simply needs to find more oil and gas around the world, or risk falling behind its fierce rivals BP and Exxon.

Malcolm Brinded is the clear favourite to take over in 2009, but mainly because there is no apparent alternative. read more

March 28, 2007
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal antitrust regulators have cleared the sale of a Los Angeles-area oil refinery and 250 retail sites in Southern California by a division of Royal Dutch Shell PLC to independent oil company Tesoro Corp.

According to a notice issued by the Federal Trade Commission, the government has completed its investigation of the sale and ended a waiting period on the transaction.

Tesoro and Shell Oil Products USA announced the sale, valued at $1.63 billion, Jan. 29. In addition to the refinery and stores, Tesoro will acquire an oil storage terminal. read more

By Robert A. Mosbacher Sr., Chairman
Mosbacher Energy Company
and Kiril Stefan Alexandrov, Executive Director
U.S.-Russian Investment Symposium

This Symposium is helping American leaders in government, business and education learn more about the Russian business environment and encouraging partnerships between American and Russian businesses. Your efforts not only are strengthening our countries’ relationship but also are injecting new vitality into the global economy.

(President George W. Bush in his letter to the seventh U.S.-Russian Investment Symposium, November 10, 2003) read more

(STEPPING ASIDE: 59-year-old van der Veer will retire in June 2009)

Robert Lea,
28 March 2007

Britain’s biggest company could get a female chief executive after the boss of Shell today announced plans to quit. 

The £125bn oil supermajor today sounded the starting gun for a succession battle to see who will take over from chief executive Jeroen van der Veer.

Just weeks after arch-rival BP settled its own damaging succession – Tony Hayward, 49, is replacing Lord Browne – Shell said today that 59-year-old van der Veer will retire in June 2009. read more

F

rom page P1
Financial Post [email protected]
Exxon Mobil Corp., one of the well’s partners, said it is redeploying the rig, the Eirik Raude, to the Gulf of Mexico to drill one of its own prospects.
The consortium, which also includes Imperial Oil Ltd. and Shell Canada Ltd., had planned to drill two more wells this year in the Orphan Basin, an uncharted area estimated to contain between six and eight billion barrels of oil.
But drilling of Great Barasway, which started last August, took twice as long as expected.
The well, drilled in nearly 2,400 metres of water and aiming for a total depth of about 7,200 metres, was supposed to be finished before Christmas.
Instead, it’s only now wrapping up, partly due to a flurry of mechanical problems at the rig, including a leak that required it to be moved to Marystown for repairs.
The delay boosted the cost of the well to US$200-million, industry sources said yesterday, from an earlier US$140-million estimate, which itself would have been a Canadian record.
The Eirik Raude, one of the world’s largest rigs specializing in deep-water drilling, costs about US$1.5-million a day.
“Our experience reinforces the high-risk, high-cost nature of exploration in that area,” said ExxonMobil spokesman Alan Jeffers. “It really does require high levels of technical and financial capability to explore for and produce in those harsh environments.”A spokesman for Chevron, the lead partner with a 50% stake, said the well is a “tight hole” and wouldn’t reveal whether it found oil. The company also wouldn’t reveal the well’s costs, saying the information is proprietary.
Drilling in the basin may resume in 2008 or 2009, but there are no firm plans at this point.
“We are optimistic and hopeful that we will get to do more exploration work in the Orphan Basin, but now we need to sort out some things in terms of [finding] a rig and when,” said Chevron spokesman Dave Pommer.
Last fall, a Shell Canada executive said a single well could not tell the whole story of the basin, but also that Great Barasway would either be encouraging or discouraging.
The prospect is 390 kilometres northeast of St. John’s and 250 kilometres north of the Hibernia oil project. It is so remote it can only be reached by long-range helicopters.
The delay means there won’t be any more exploration drilling in Newfoundland’s offshore this year.
ConocoPhillips, which was expected to explore in the Laurentian Basin, postponed its plans until next year because it was unable to line up a rig, of which there is a shortage worldwide. Husky Energy Inc. isn’t drilling an exploratory well in the Jeanne d’Arc basin this year, as had been speculated.
In addition, the sector recently lost the development of Hibernia South, which would have extended the life of the Hibernia field, and Hebron Ben Nevis, a new heavy-oil development. The projects are on hold following disagreements between some of the same oil companies and the provincial government.
“The mood is pretty negative,” said Paul Barnes, spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in St. John’s. “It’s a year since Hebron failed to go ahead, and it’s a few months since Hibernia South didn’t get approved. And coupled with that we have a [proposed] energy plan, and a lot of people are concerned about what that may contain.”
The plan is expected to be released this spring and involve higher royalties and greater provincial control over the industry.
Mr. Barnes said exploration plans are being pushed back because of the availability of rigs, not the investment climate in Newfoundland.
read more

28 March 2007

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell in Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed the federal government had charged it with the alleged loss of some “radioactive tools” belonging to one of its contractors.

And it denied reports that it had been involved in any dumping of toxic waste in Nigeria.

The company said in a statement it was “aware that the federal government has filed some charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja against SPDC and some other corporate organizations.”

Shell is officially known as the Shell Petroleum Development Corp. (SPDC). read more

Environmental concerns raised over Sarnia location

The Canadian Press
TORONTO

Weeks after Ontario was engulfed in a gasoline shortage of epic proportions, Shell Canada is asking the public whether it would support construction of a new Sarnia-area oil refinery.

The company is to hold an open house Wednesday afternoon at a hotel in Wallaceburg, Ont., north of Chatham, to outline plans for a multibillion dollar refinery that would process heavy crude oil from Alberta.

The facility would be built alongside Shell’s existing refinery in St. Clair Township, said Leigh Anne Richardson, a spokesperson for Shell Canada. read more

Business Briefs
Web Posted: 03/28/2007 12:56 AM CDT

San Antonio-based refiner Tesoro Corp. on Tuesday got the go-ahead from the Federal Trade Commission to proceed with its $1.63 billion purchase of a refinery near Los Angeles, along with 250 retail stations from Royal Dutch Shell.

Tesoro still must get approval from the California attorney general, Tesoro spokeswoman Natalie Silva said.

Also, as announced earlier, Tesoro will not complete the purchase of the refinery until regular maintenance on the plant is finished, Silva said. Also Tuesday, the FTC gave Tesoro antitrust clearance on its $277 million purchase of 140 USA Petroleum retail stations, most of them in California, along with a terminal in New Mexico. Tesoro announced the Shell and the USA Petroleum deals Jan. 29.When completed, the acquisitions would make Tesoro the second-largest refiner on the West Coast after Chevron Corp. and would give the company its first retail presence in the vast California market. read more

Published: Mar 28, 2007

SHELL Livewire is looking for Britain’s Young Entrepreneur Of The Year. The awards are open to all budding Bransons, aged 16-30, whose businesses will have been trading for between three and 18 months on March 31, 2007.

Nominations are welcome from friends, family, business advisers and mentors. Entries, which need to be submitted by March 31, are via an online application form at www.shell-livewire.org/ win10k along with full entry details.

Winners of regional heats will compete for the UK title in June and the chance to win the top prize of pounds 10,000.
read more

Published: Mar 28, 2007

LAGOS (AFX) – Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed that the federal government had charged it with the alleged loss of some “radioactive tools” belonging to one of its contractors.

It also denied reports that it had been involved in any dumping of toxic waste in Nigeria.

The company said in a statement that it was “aware that the federal government has filed some charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja against SPDC and some other corporate organisations.” read more

EXTRACT: He took over three years ago when Sir Philip Watts, his controversial predecessor, was forced to quit after the reserves scandal that turned Royal Dutch Shell into a City laughing stock.

March 28, 2007
Steve Hawkes

The UK oil giant said that Jeroen van der Veer will leave in two years. He was expected to retire in 2008

Jeroen van der Veer will step down as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell in two years’ time, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant announced today.

The group said that the 59-year-old had agreed to extend his present contract by one year but would bow out on June 30, 2009. read more

Tom Fowler, Houston Chronicle – Texas – KRTBN
Published: Mar 28, 2007

Less than two years after Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy was purchased by Goldman Sachs, the wind power developer will be sold to Portugal’s largest utility for $2.2 billion.

Energias de Portugal, a utility with nearly 7 million customers in Portugal and Spain, announced its successful bid for the firm on Tuesday.

EDP said it will invest an additional $600 million in existing wind power projects as part of the deal and assume about $180 million in debt, bringing the total deal value to nearly $3 billion. read more

12:27 | 28/ 03/ 2007 

MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s environmental watchdog launched a probe Wednesday into alleged environmental violations at the Sakhalin I hydrocarbon project off Russia’s Pacific Coast, which is run by U.S. giant ExxonMobil, a Rosprirodnadzor deputy head said.

Oleg Mitvol said the Federal Agency for the Oversight of Natural Resources would start with paperwork, which would take a month, and continue with inspections at the site in May.

“We will examine the documents and later, in May, we will start environmental probes,” Mitvol said. read more

By Fred Pals

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, said Jeroen van der Veer will remain chief executive officer until June 30, 2009, in a statement intended to make clear its strategy and leadership in the coming years.

Van der Veer became chief executive in October 2004. He turns 60 in October of this year, the usual retirement age for a Dutch chief executive.

Van der Veer replaced Phil Watts, who departed earlier in the year after The Hague-based company admitted to overstating its reserves. Shell’s reserves announcement in January 2004 hurt the company’s reputation with investors and led to lawsuits and fines by regulators. read more