January 21st, 2008:

By Roland Gribben
Last Updated: 7:59pm GMT 21/01/2008

Pressure has paid off for a small pioneering company wanting to produce electricity from geo-pressure.

Malcolm Wicks, energy minister, has performed a second U-turn in accepting the technology as a renewable source of energy. The first came almost a year ago, when he intervened to overrule Ofgem, the energy regulator, which had given the go-ahead for Bath-based 2oC to develop the technology as a subsidised renewable source.

At the time, he accepted the advice of officials who felt the gas-based technology did not have renewable credentials. read more

EXTRACT: Oil, the other FTSE support, failed to offer stability as oil prices succumbed to US recession fears, leaving Cairn Energy down 218p at £22.99, BP down 35p at 519p and Shell off 108p at £17.75. BP has already guided analysts that its fourth-quarter figures will be far below expectations.

THE ARTICLE 

January 22, 2008
Large caps
Robert Lindsay

“It’s as though we’ve hit an air pocket and there’s nothing to hold up prices,” one senior trader said yesterday, as shares suffered their biggest decline since September 11, 2001. “This is closer to Black Monday, 1987,” he added. “There’s just a complete change of sentiment”. read more

EXTRACT: Shares of BP and Royal Dutch Shell also fell as oil prices slid by almost $2 to a six-week low below $89 a barrel.

January 22, 2008
Siobhan Kennedy, Leo Lewis, Peter Stiff and Christine Seib

Some of the most influential UK fund managers sounded a warning of more turmoil to come yesterday as global investors fled financial markets in mounting fears of an imminent American recession.

Stock markets around the world tumbled in the worst falls seen since the panic selling that took hold in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States. read more

By Joanna Chung and Robert Orr in London and Andrew Wood in Hong Kong
Published: January 21 2008 19:12 | Last updated: January 21 2008 21:45

Global equities plunged on Monday as investor concerns over the economic outlook and financial market turbulence snowballed into a sweeping sell-off.

Tumbling Asian shares led European stock markets into their biggest one-day fall since 9/11 as the prospect of a US recession and further fall-out from credit market turmoil prompted near panic among investors, who rushed to the safety of government bonds. read more

Associated Press
January 21, 2008 6:43 a.m.

Oil prices fell sharply Monday as fears over the U.S. economy drove down stock markets in Asia and Europe. Further pressure came from concerns OPEC won’t raise crude production levels.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $1.48 to $89.09 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract rose 44 cents to settle at $90.57 a barrel on Friday. In London, Brent crude futures fell $ 1.29 to $87.94 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. read more

By MARK LANDLER and HEATHER TIMMONS
Published: January 21, 2008

FRANKFURT — Fears that the United States is in a recession reverberated around the world on Monday, sending stock markets from Frankfurt to Bombay into a tailspin and puncturing the hopes of many investors that Europe and Asia will be able to sidestep an American downturn.

U.S. Worries Deliver a New Jolt Overseas (January 21, 2008) On a day when United States markets were closed in observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday, the world’s eyes were trained nervously on the United States. Investors reacted with what many analysts described as panic to the multiplying signs of weakness in the American economy. read more

21 January 2008

The Guardian newspaper published an article today by Caitlin Fitzsimmons which made the point that “Consumers are becoming more environmentally aware and demand the same from their brands, which means a new role for marketers…”

The article mentioned that in November 2007 the UK Advertising Standards Authority censored Royal Dutch Shell for advertising which claimed Shell “used its waste carbon dioxide to grow flowers, when less than 0.5% of Shell’s waste CO2 is used for this purpose.” read more

Monday, January 21st, 2008
By Jason Simpkins
Associate Editor

After months of discussion and management restructuring, work at one of the world’s largest oil fields is set to continue.

Under the terms of a new agreement Eni S.p.A (E), the Italian oil company, will cede its control over operations at the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s state oil company, KazMunayGaz, will pay $1.78 billion to double its stake in the project from 8.33% to 16.81%.

The Kashagan field is located in the icy shallows of the Caspian Sea, and is one of the largest discoveries of the past 40 years, with estimated oil reserves of 38 billion barrels. But extraction has proved difficult as the project jointly managed by Eni, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Total SA (TOT), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A, RDS.B), Conoco Phillips (COP), and INPEX Holdings Inc., has suffered repeated setbacks and cost overruns. read more

By Michael Taylor ReutersPublished: January 21, 2008

LONDON: The FTSE 100 fell 5.5 percent on Monday, suffering its largest one-day loss since September 11, 2001 as the index tracked global markets lower on deepening fears of a possible U.S. recession.

The FTSE 100 closed down 323.5 points at 5,578.2, its lowest close since June 2006 and wiping nearly 77 billion pounds from the value of its constituent stocks.

The blue-chip index has now lost more than 13 percent since the start of the year.

“Very nervous,” said Jawaid Afsar, a trader at Securequity on the current equity climate. “It is very, very nerve-racking. It’s very frightening and people are just concerned (over) recession fears, credit fears … Writedowns and all the rest of it are just part of the same sort of thing at the moment.” read more

EXTRACT: Most recently, in November, the Advertising Standards Authority rapped Shell for an ad that claimed the oil company used its waste carbon dioxide to grow flowers, when less than 0.5% of Shell’s waste CO2 is used for this purpose.

THE ARTICLE: The Guardian: Make it green and keep them keen

Inside marketing & PR: Consumers are becoming more environmentally aware and demand the same from their brands, which means a new role for marketers, says Caitlin Fitzsimmons

Caitlin Fitzsimmons MediaGuardian, Monday January 21 2008 read more

21/01/2008 16:10 LAGOS, Jan 21 (AFP)

Anglo-Dutch energy group Shell said Monday it has complained in a letter to the Nigerian parliament that the activities of oil thieves and vandals are hampering its operations in the country.

“The letter in question was to inform the Federal Legislature on the challenges posed to our operations by illegal bunkering and crude oil theft,” company spokeswoman Caroline Wittgen said.

“We remain concerned about the effects of these illegal activities on the Nigerian economy and appeal for concerted efforts to stop them,” she told AFP. read more

By Reuters | 21 Jan 2008 | 05:38 AM ET

OPEC will examine all options when its ministers meet in February, the UAE oil minister said on Monday, adding that there was a disconnect between market fundamentals and high oil prices.

Mohammed al-Hamli declined to comment on his meeting earlier on Monday with visiting U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman or on what he expects OPEC to decide at the meeting, which is due to consider output policy.

“OPEC will meet in February and we will look then at all the options,” Hamli told reporters in Abu Dhabi. “There is a disconnect between fundamentals and the price.” read more

EXTRACT: Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) and France’s Total SA (TOT) have contracts to develop gas fields in southern Iran. But Iranian officials have criticized the companies the past year, suggesting they were slowing their work under US pressure.
 
TNA with wire services
21 January 2008

Tehran and Ankara are continuing negotiations on restoring Iranian gas to Turkey which stopped about two weeks ago due to domestic shortages.

“We are still in talks with Iran to resume export of 30 million cubic meters of gas per day to Turkey,” Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said over the weekend. read more

Shell’s van der Veer warns against “destroying” shareholder value

Monday, 21 January 2008, 12:41 GMT 

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso is under pressure to respond to fears that new proposals on climate change will harm industry.

Some of Europe’s top business leaders warn the plans could hit the amount firms invest in the field and actually be worse for the environment.

Industrialists say changing the carbon emissions trading system is premature.

In a speech on Monday, Mr Barroso will urge business to pick up the baton and seize the opportunity with both hands. read more

Jan 19, 2008 12:00 PM

BEST EVENT MANAGEMENT, CALGARY, ALBERTA

Shell Canada celebrated 97 years as one of the most prominent oil companies in Canada with “A Ship in Full Sail” road show, which served as a morale-boosting grand finale for the company after Royal Dutch Shell acquired it.

The event included 11,000 employees, 13 events, nine cities, six weeks and two languages — English and French.

The event wasn’t green-lighted until Royal Dutch Shell made an official offer to Shell Canada — meanwhile the event team kept mum and put suppliers on retainer in case the event moved forward. read more

January 21, 2008

By Dr. Robert Weber

Royal Dutch Shell has long been seen as one of the early business scenario planning pioneers. Scenario Mapping form of scenario plannning was created by Dave Mason, Jim Herman, and others at NCRI with awareness of Shell’s methods.

Paddy Briggs, who retired from Shell after 37 years, isn’t so upbeat on Shell’s use of scenarios. Briggs’ main point is that Shell uses scenarios for public relations and that their scenarios have little actual impact on corporate decision-making and shareholder value. After discussing several examples of how scenarios made no difference to Shell’s decision-making regarding China and Russia, Briggs concludes: read more