News and information on Shell Plc
Videotaped deposition of Dr Roelof Platenkamp, Shell Corporate Vice President of Petroleum Engineering and Development: taken in New York, New York November 14, 2006: 10:06 a.m.
Main Platenkamp Deposition, 200 pages
http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/main_start_platenkamp_dep_362.pdf
Platenkamp Exhibit 253
http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/ex253_362-2.pdf
Platenkamp Exhibit 254
http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/ex254_362_3.pdf
Platenkamp Exhibit 265
Andrew Clark in New York
Wednesday November 21 2007
Victims of BP’s Texas refinery disaster are seeking to overturn the oil firm’s guilty plea agreement with the US government, on the grounds that it is unduly lenient.
A lawyer representing a dozen people injured or bereaved when the refinery blew up in 2005 has filed papers arguing that a $50,000 fine by the US department of justice is a paltry criminal penalty for an explosion which killed 15 people and injured another 170.
Corpus Christi attorney David Perry wants BP to hand over profits of $1bn which, he says, the company made from the plant over six years while maintenance was neglected. “We have a saying that crime does not pay,” he told the Guardian. “To let someone keep $1bn in their pocket made from this illegal conduct – that, we feel, is outrageous.”
Andrew Clark
Wednesday November 21 2007
The price of oil closed above $98 a barrel for the first time yesterday as concerns about tight supply, winter demand and global political instability gripped the commodities market.
On New York’s Nymex energy exchange, the cost of a barrel of oil equalled its intraday record of $98.69 before ending the day up $3.39 at $98.03, pushing up against the $100-a-barrel level which it came close to breaching two weeks ago.
The spike was partly a result of a slump in the value of the dollar, which fell to a record low against the euro.
Wednesday November 21 2007
(Adds details and comment)
(Reuters) – Some operations at Royal Dutch Shell’s huge Scotford refining complex near Edmonton, Alberta, resumed on Tuesday, a day after a fire damaged its oil sands upgrader, the company said.
Shell’s 98,000 barrel per day refinery and its 155,000 bpd upgrader ran at reduced rates while its chemical plant was operating normally, company spokesman Randy Provencal said. Construction of an expansion to the upgrader was also continuing.
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Mehdi Shahbazi, the owner of several gas stations along the California coast who dedicated the last years of his life to fighting a passionate and at times eccentric battle in the name of consumer rights, has died.
Shahbazi had been on a hunger strike for more than four months to protest rising gas prices, and Shell Oil in particular. He died Nov. 14 at Stanford Medical Center, likely from complications related to the all-liquid diet and a pre-existing liver problem, said friends and family. He was 65.
By John Donovan
In April 2007, Shell offered to settle for $352.6 million plus $47 million in legal fees, non-U.S. shareholder claims relating to the 2004 oil reserves scandal. Shell pledged that it would make a request to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to contribute towards the settlement the $120 million fine imposed on Shell by the SEC in 2004.
Relevant Dutch Court Documents
Petition to Amsterdam Court of Appeal April 2007
http://www.shellnews.net/classactiondocs/dutch_petition.pdf
Proposed European Settlement April 2007
By Upstream staff
US supermajor Chevron said it remained committed to the Gorgon liquefied natural gas project off Australia despite concerns about rising costs at the $20 billion project, local media sources said.
Gorgon general manager Colin Beckett told Australia’s The Age newspaper: “We are ramping up our manpower and investment spend as we speak. We wouldn’t do that if it was not seen to be a robust use of our funds.”
However, Beckett admitted that the project was also feeling the heat from cost increases including higher labour and supplies costs.
20 Nov 2007 | 06:27 AM ET
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP)
For decades, Nigerian governments were content to let international oil companies do the pumping, merely taking taxes, royalties and a cut of profits.
Now with global oil prices surging near US$100 a barrel, Africa’s leading oil exporter wants to review agreements allowing oil companies to recoup their costs before sharing profits from deep water exploration, and consolidate all its joint venture oil assets into one potentially powerful company with a global reach.
By David Elliott
Last Update: 6:35 AM ET Nov 20, 2007
(Updates with background.)
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Tuesday an “operational upset” occurred at its 155,000 barrel-a-day Scotford Upgrader in Alberta, Canada, late Monday.
“At approximately 1600 Mountain Standard Time, or MST, today an operational upset occurred at the Scotford Upgrader east of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, when a leak occurred on the residue hydroconversion unit, which upgrades bitumen into synthetic crude oil,” Shell spokesman in London Saskia Kapinga said.
AN EXPANDED VERSION OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia: Braving a new frontier of oil exploration around Russia’s remote Sakhalin Island means conquering ice-locked seas, frequent earthquakes and muddy swamps fed by melting snow in the rapid springtime thaw.
Executives at the world’s largest oil and gas project, known as Sakhalin-2, say they are nearing the finish line as they aim to open up a vast new energy source for the nearby Asian economic powerhouses of Japan and South Korea along with the U.S. and others.
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
DENVER — Experts have found no additional signs of a World War I-era chemical weapon at a spot on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal where cleanup work is being done.
Crews completed an investigation Monday into a section where lewisite was detected in October during work at the arsenal, once a classified chemical munitions plant 10 miles northeast of Denver.
Over five days, workers used a neutralizing solution on the soil and inspected the trench where the chemical was reported.
A resident fishes near natural gas storage facilities on Sakhalin Island. Environmentalists say alleged violations in the area are more than just an excuse for Moscow to grab oil.
Burt Herman: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nov. 19, 2007, 7:56PM
By BURT HERMAN
Associated Press
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, RUSSIA — Braving a new frontier of oil exploration around Russia’s remote Sakhalin Island means conquering ice-locked seas, frequent earthquakes and muddy swamps fed by melting snow in the rapid springtime thaw.
By William Wallis
Published: November 20 2007 06:27 | Last updated: November 20 2007 06:27
It does not look much like oil. Even in the tropical heat it is about as liquid as beeswax. But that is a problem Fred Khalisa, permanent secretary at Uganda’s ministry of mines and energy, would rather have than not.
Until relatively recently, Mr Khalisa was the Ugandan government’s only oilman. He has spent much of his career seeking to validate the years of training he received, mapping prospective areas and galvanising interest from oil exploration companies.
By JOANNA SLATER and CHIP CUMMINS
November 20, 2007; Page A1
For many years, oil-rich Persian Gulf states have pegged their currencies to the dollar. Now that link is stoking a bad bout of inflation in their red-hot economies and putting policy makers in a dilemma: Break the dollar peg and risk undermining the U.S. currency, or keep it and face growing local discontent.
The dollar peg has “served the economy…very well in the past,” said Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi, the governor of the United Arab Emirates’ central bank, last week. “However, we have reached a crossroads.”
BY KORNEBARI NWIKE
President of the National Union of Ogoni Students (NUOS INTL; USA)
20 November 2007
Nigeria is noted for some of the most interesting and appalling attributes in world arena. It is foremost, the giant of Africa, the foremost corrupt nation on planet earth, the thirtieth poorest nation on earth, the world’s fifth largest producer of crude oil and natural gas and also among the twentieth major flarer of natural gas beside Russia, Iran, Qatar,Venezuala.
To maintain her lead in world oil production, she is now gearing efforts to actualize a production target of 4m barrels per day. There is nothing is wrong such projection though, but Nigeria need to integrate the plights of the poor Niger Delta communities and the environment into short, and long term planning. Increase in daily oil production invariably means increase in daily gas flaring and emission of carbon dioxide. According to the center for Strategic and International Studies, Nigeria accounts for 25% of world’s flaring which is estimated at 115 billion cubic meters per year. This cost Nigeria an estimated loss of $2.5 billion per year.
Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:20am ET
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) oil sands upgrading plant near Edmonton, Alberta, caught fire late on Monday and the company said it was taking units off line after crews extinguished the blaze.
Shell and Alberta’s energy regulator said the fire ignited after a release of light hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulphide at the 155,000 barrel-a-day plant. The upgrader turns tar-like crude from the oil sands into refinery-ready light oil.
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EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan
The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed. I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it. They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem. Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more
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