Royal Dutch Shell said about 10 per cent of its stations were out of fuel as of Saturday morning in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and surrounding areas. It would continue delivering petrol to keep stations open as long as possible, but cautioned that its employees and operators would need to be evacuated.

REPLY TO THE LIVE CHAT QUESTION OF MUSAINT

By John Donovan

The EIGHT Shell Group companies collectively suing Dr Huong for alleged defamation have for several years buried him in High Court injunctions and applications seeking his imprisonment. The purpose of the multiple injunctions is to silence him. That background makes it dangerous to report events. Injunctions are meant to be temporary in nature pending a court hearing. They are not meant to drag on for several years. I do know from sources that due solely to an application by Shell, the court hearing for August 2008 has been put back to February 2009.

This further delay takes the action into its sixth year, yet amazingly the proceedings have not even reached the stage of the judge stipulating a time table regarding exchange of witness statements and discovery, with a trial date being set. Shell has allowed the litigation to drag on for so long that a new trial judge has had to be appointed.

Dr Huong has found it impossible to find a job as a production geologist while the flawed legal proceedings by Shell have hung over his head for all these years. What oil company would employ him in such circumstances?

This gross injustice has remained year after year despite the fact that the original judge and Shell were notified in writing within days of Shell issuing proceedings that Shell was suing the wrong party in respect of the wrong website in the wrong legal jurisdiction. It amounts to a monumental infringement of the basic human rights of Dr Huong under the UN declaration of universal human rights, which Shell purports to support. (Another PR deception designed to fool the gullible.)

It is one more indicator that evil lurks at the core of Shell senior management. Further confirmation of the dark side of Shell is in the pipeline. It’s the most astonishing and shocking story we have ever heard about Shell, all backed up by a host of evidence. We will put the evidence to Shell before publication.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2008

Irish Daily Mail

SHELL CALLS IN THE NAVY

This is the first time we have been used against civilian protestors, says Navy as gunboat is sent to protect Broadhaven Bay pipeline

By Sandra Murphy

A NAVY gunboat was yesterday deployed to help gardai quell escalating protests by Shell to Sea campaigners at the Corrib gas site. 

The Navy admitted that sending in the LE Orla, a 39-man warship, was the first time the Navy had been used against civilian demonstrators. 

The gunboat was brought in because protesters had entered the water in a bid to halt pipeline works. 

But despite this admission, and claims that the armed forces were being used to ‘crush’ protests, gardai said they were within their rights to call in the warship as back-up. 

The move comes only a week after pictures of a digger dropping a bucket full of earth on top of a protester caused national concern over events at the site. 

John Gilligan, Garda superintendent in Belmullet, Co. Mayo, said the decision to call in the warship had been made for ‘operational reasons’ because lives had been put at risk. 

He said; ‘There has been on-going concerns at this type of protest tactic and given the environment that we are dealing with - the sea - there is a level of danger to consider. He said the Garda Water Unit was put in an awkward position and the lives of protesters, Shell workers and gardai were put in danger. 

‘The last thing anyone wants is somebody to get hurt,’ he said. 

He said last week’s incident where gardai wrestled with 15 Shell to Sea activists who entered the sea to try and halt the offshore gas pipeline was ‘the most dangerous to date’. 

In their attempt to stop pipeline dredging works, he said there was a real safety fear as the protesters surrounded the heavy machinery. 

‘Last Thursday was a very dangerous situation, probably the worst we have experienced here. And it was because of the extreme steps they took, eight were arrested under the Public Order Act. Today was not as dangerous. However, it had every potential of being as much.’ 

Yesterday’s incident occurred when campaigners crossed the safety line and entered waters in Glengad in eight rubber dinghies and emerged in wet suits. 

Apparently concerned that they may drown in the dangerous swell near the work site, the head of operations called in the Irish Defence Forces to provide them with the LE Orla. 

A spokesman for the naval service said he could not recall any of its ships ever being directly involved in an operation against demonstrators. 

Campaigners opposed to the Corrib off-shore pipeline are expected to step up protests as the world’s largest pipe-laying ship, Solitaire, is due to sail in. 

John Monaghan spokesman of anti-Corrib group Pobal Chill Chomain, last night hit out at ‘the abuse of power’ by calling in the naval services.

‘The Navy coming in shows what the State intends to do. They literally want to crush any opposition to their botched plans for the Corrib project.’ A Defence Forces spokesman said the Le Orla, which was formally a British naval gunship patrolling Hong Kong, was merely carrying out its duty. 

‘It is there as an aid to the civil power. It was requested to assist gardai and provide them with a platform at sea.’ 

Asked if an Irish naval ship had been involved in a similar capacity before, he replied: ‘Not to my immediate knowledge.’ 

He added; ‘The Naval Service has been in discussions with the gardai about this operation. Any operation we undertake will be with the gardai.’ 

Shell said the Solitaire was still anchored off Killybegs in Co. Donegal and was expected to travel to the Mayo coast in next few days when conditions improved. 

A spokesman said: ‘The work that is continuing at the site at the moment is preparatory work, and surveying work, including excavating a trench ahead of the Solitaire arriving.’ 

Shell E&P has said it recognises people’s right to protest but urged everyone to take sensible precautions near the vessels and site at Glengad. 

Protesters have vowed to continue their campaign until work on the pipeline stops.

sandra.murphy@dailymail.ie

More spin and deceit by a Shell senior executive: “Datuk” Saw Choo Boon describes Petronas as a “competitor” when in fact the Malaysian national oil company, run by one of the worlds most corrupt and repressive governments, is a major partner of Shell. It is no doubt an example of the servile boot-licking which brought the reward of the equivalent of a knighthood for the Shell Malaysia chairman.

Email exchanges spanning three months and 40 pages show how officials at Shell sought to downplay the significance of a critical Russian environmental audit by persuading AEA to disperse its findings through the report, rather than leaving them in one potentially damning appendix

Royal Dutch Shell, BP and other oil companies wrapped up evacuations and shut down production Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Gustav churned toward the petroleum-rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Officials from Austrian energy giant OMV and the multinational Shell corporation are scheduled to attend a conference in Tehran sponsored by Iran’s state-run energy firm. “These two companies are co-sponsoring a conference by the state-owned energy company of the leading state-sponsor of terrorism and human rights violator,” the ADL said.

Linda Zarda Cook, a Shawnee native who earned a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from KU in 1980, ranks 43rd. Now the executive director of gas and power for Royal Dutch Shell, Cook is in the running to become CEO of the company in 2009

The sands have become a major focus for Shell Canada’s parent, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which picked up the outstanding shares of its subsidiary in 2007. That decision reinforces the theory that we’re moving deeper into the age of unconventional oil…

Shell and BP evacuated staff from rigs, while ExxonMobil and other operators activated contingency plans to cease operations on offshore facilities that account for a quarter of US crude oil production and 15% of natural gas output.