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August, 2007:

Houston Chronicle: Refiners’ profit streak could fade

By BRETT CLANTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Soaring gasoline prices this spring and summer may have pinched drivers, but they helped U.S. oil refiners rack up huge quarterly profits and extend a hot earnings run that began several years ago.

Refining profits for 22 of the largest energy companies jumped more than 20 percent to $11.8 billion in the April-to-June period this year compared with 2006, according to the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration.

That’s nearly double their second-quarter profits three years ago, and a record since at least the first quarter of 2000, when the Energy Information Administration began regularly compiling the profit figures. 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.

Lloyds List: Kazakhstan puts squeeze on Kashagan partners

Martyn Wingrove, Lloyds List
Published: Aug 31, 2007

KAZAKHSTAN’s government has halted offshore operations at the world’s largest oilfield development to put pressure on a consortium of Western companies, writes Martyn Wingrove.

Work on the giant Kashagan project in the northern Caspian has stopped as Kazakh officials accuse operator Agip KCO of breaking environmental and safety rules.

Analysts believe Kazakhstan has suspended the work permit for three months to force the Agip KCO partners to renegotiate fiscal sections on the production sharing agreements. 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 WALL STREET JOURNAL: Turkmenistan’s Energy Rush

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Turkmenistan’s Energy Rush

Vast Natural-Gas Stores
Spur Scramble for Access
By U.S., Russia, Europe

By GUY CHAZAN
August 31, 2007; Page A5

With a new leader flinging open the doors to the outside world, the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan is emerging as a crucible of regional rivalries as Russia, China, the U.S. and Europe compete for access to its vast energy reserves.

Since the death in December of Saparmurat Niyazov, an eccentric and reclusive dictator who charted a fiercely isolationist course for Turkmenistan, the country has begun to open up, unleashing a stampede of Western and Russian oil-and-gas men. 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: Venture Production

31 August 2007

It has been one of the few disappointments among the Tempus Ten tips for 2007, but after a 25 per cent share price fall in the first three months of the year, Venture Production, the North Sea oil and gas explorer, has begun to claw its way back.

The announcement yesterday that it had raised £585 million of new debt, £350 million of it with Barclays Bank, should add to the momentum. At the start of the year, Venture was a seen as a potential takeover target, but now it is more of a predator. The new debt facility – coupled with a recent £200 million cash injection from the private equity groups 3i and ArcLight – means that Venture has about £1 billion at its disposal for acquisitions. 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 Guardian: Interview: Jeroen van der Veer: Oil boss sees no answers blowing in the wind

We must accept we’re going to depend on fossil fuels, and clean up as best we can, Shell chief tells greens

Terry Macalister
Friday August 31, 2007

In a week dominated by headlines about boardroom greed, the name of the chief executive at the company that on some measurements is Britain’s biggest has been noticeable by its absence.

Jeroen van der Veer, the head of Shell, earned £2.9m in 2006, pretty much average for FTSE-100 firms and almost a quarter of what was paid to his former business rival, Lord Browne at BP. 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.

Anchorage Daily News: Shell asks court to rethink ban on drilling

BEAUFORT: Oil giant says judges were mistaken in halting exploratory effort.

By WESLEY LOY
[email protected]
Published: August 30, 2007

Shell is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its recent order blocking the Dutch oil giant’s plans to drill offshore exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea this summer and fall.

A group of organizations opposed to the drilling has asked the court to reject Shell’s request.

Lawyers for Shell argue a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco “overlooked or misunderstood” significant points of law or fact in issuing an Aug. 15 order blocking the drilling. 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.

money.cnn.com: ExxonMobil In Talks To Sell Argentina Unit For $200 Million – Report

August 30, 2007: 10:55 AM EST

BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- ExxonMobil (XOM) is in talks to sell its Argentine unit for some $200 million in a deal being brokered by J.P. Morgan, local daily Clarin reported Thursday.

According to the report, ExxonMobil plans to sell all of its Argentine assets, including 90 directly operated service stations, a 500-station franchise, a refinery, three fuel loading docks, a lubricants plant, two jet fuel stations, and gas fields in the provinces of Salta and Neuquen.

The newspaper cited an ExxonMobil spokesman as saying “we can’t confirm nor deny this information.” ExxonMobil and J.P. Morgan representatives were not immediately available for additional comment. 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.

National Post: ‘…grand larceny, Kremlin-style’

EXTRACT: “…many other companies with no political interests have been threatened and strong-armed, up to and including major oil companies such as Shell and ExxonMobil”.

Is Magna going in, or is Oleg getting out?

30 August 2007

PETER FOSTER

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently been flexing his muscles, both figuratively and literally.

He has also blatantly used the Russian judicial system to further the aims of the state and his business puppets. Hence the tie up between Frank Stronach’s Magna and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska — which was approved by Magna shareholders this week — has aroused a good deal of concern about exactly what Magna is letting itself in for. 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 Post (Canada): Global oil reserves up only 1% last year

Canada’s Oilsands Sole Booster, Study Says

Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
Published: Thursday, August 30, 2007

CALGARY — Record global oil and gas profits of US$243-billion and record spending of US$401-billion have resulted in a marginal 1% increase in world oil reserves last year — all of it coming from a 1.9-billion-barrel addition from Canada’s oilsands, according to a new study.

Without Canada’s contribution, 228 public oil and gas companies active globally and included in the study would have collectively produced more oil than they found, John S. Herold, a U.S.-based independent petroleum research company, and Harrison Lovegrove & Co., a global oil and gas advisory firm, said in the 2007 Global Upstream Performance Review, released yesterday. 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.

Shell Pennzoil brand attacked in US court action

By John Donovan

Pennzoil-Quaker State Company (PQS) is seeking $1 million in damages from a Pennsylvanian resident, Keith R. Smith, for alleged trademark infringement, counterfeiting, dilution, unfair competition, false advertising and unjust enrichment.

The draconian legal proceedings brought against Smith are in his capacity as the owner of Lube Pro, a single bay quick oil change facility located in Butler County Pennsylvania. Pennzoil products are available through authorized oil-change outlets throughout the USA. 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: Norsk Hydro Tests Ormen Lange, Sees Gas Production in October

By Paul Dobson

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Norsk Hydro ASA filled natural-gas pipes that connect Ormen Lange to an onshore processing plant as it prepares to start production at the 66 billion-krone ($11.3 billion) field.

The company, Norway’s second-largest oil producer, filled the pipes with gas produced at Statoil ASA’s Sleipner field after clearing them of water, Dag Ryen Ofstad, a spokesman for Hydro, said today in a phone interview. It also used gas from the Statoil field to test two of the three compressors needed for exports of gas via the Nyhamna processing plant. The third compressor is being tested, he added. 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.

This Day (Nigeria): Lawmakers Petition Presidency Over Oil Spillage

Okon Bassey,
Published: Aug 30, 2007

Worried by the refusal of the Anglo-Dutch oil Firm, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), to stop the spill from its corked oil well in Ikot Ada Udo Village, Ikot Abasi Local Government, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has written a petition on Shell and sent to the Presidency and the National Assembly.

The Assembly is appealing to President Umaru Yar’Adua to compel SPDC to without further delay, respond to the spill.

The state lawmakers who described action of the oil giant as “unholy act,” said quick intervention by the Presidency, National Assembly and lawmakers from the state in the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly would save the situation from further deterioration. 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.

Lloyds List: Statoil picks up Gulf of Mexico bids

Published: Aug 30, 2007

THE Norwegians have stormed the latest Gulf of Mexico lease sale to grab a large slice of deepwater exploration acreage, writes Martyn Wingrove.

State oil group Statoil made the highest bids of the 47 oil companies that participated in the US government’s latest exploration round, as it expands operations away from Europe.

Statoil submitted 40 bids for offshore acreage with a total value of $143m, almost three times as much as the nearest rival BP. The US Minerals Management Service, which is part of the Department of the Interior, attracted almost $290m in high bids from these 47 companies in the latest auction. 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: Tings Dey Happen, Culture Project, New York

By Brendan Lemon
Published: August 30 2007 18:04 | Last updated: August 30 2007 18:04

Not long after graduating from Northwestern University, in 2003, the American Dan Hoyle went to Nigeria to study the oil business, and he returned home to fashion Tings Dey Happen.

This 90-minute solo show, now off-Broadway, gives us the tribal warlords, bush fighters, oilmen, politicians, and expats who are the players in the resource-rich Niger Delta, a region that provides the US with 10 per cent of its oil but which is less familiar to most westerners than the moon. 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: Iraq on the lookout for joint ventures

By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent
Published: August 30 2007 03:00 | Last updated: August 30 2007 03:00

Iraq’s ministry of industry and minerals would open up all 65 of its state-owned enterprises to joint ventures with international investors by the end of the year, the minister said yesterday.

“We have 65 facilities under our banner and all of them will be made available for joint ventures,” Fawzi Hariri told the Financial Times yesterday. He was speaking at a conference in Dubai on investment opportunities in Iraq. 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 Wall Street Journal: Big Questions for Big Oil

Wall Street Journal Image

Big Questons for Big Oil

By SACHA KUMARIA
August 30, 2007

As summer draws rapidly to its conclusion, eyes are already turning to the colder months ahead and, inevitably, to the price of oil. In recent weeks, Goldman Sachs analysts have suggested that oil could reach $100 before the end of 2007.

A record number of options to buy oil at $100 a barrel have been sold. Some mainstream commentators are even raising the specter of $200 a barrel by mid-2008 if the risk premium — which industry estimates average at around $34 — increases in response to Iranian retaliation against further sanctions or growing unrest in Nigeria.
 
In such circumstances, one would expect such commentators to be bullish about the prospect for independent oil companies (IOCs) such as Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP. Rising oil prices have pushed these companies’ profits sky-high over the past five years. Yet a growing number of industry voices suggest that the era of the vertically integrated supermajor may be over, and that IOCs have been unable to adapt to the new global business environment. 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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