Posts from ‘December, 2009’

Being a Shell critic is potentially a very dangerous pursuit: 12 December 2009

Shell spying globally on its own employees: 10 December 2009

Complete and utter disarray at Royal Dutch Shell: 8 December 2009

Leaked Shell appointments list Upstream Americas: 8 December 2009

Shell IT espionage and dirty tricks: 8 December 2009

Age and racial discrimination alleged in Shell jobs restructuring: 7 December 2009

Age discrimination at Shell: a message directed at Shell Ethics Chief Richard Wiseman: 6 December 2009

LEAKED SHELL INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FROM SENIOR EXECS: 6 December 2009

Action being taken in respect of sinister revelations in Shell emails: 6 December 2009

From a leaked Shell email: More Shell Appointments under Voser Restructuring 5 December 2009

EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH LAWYER REPRESENTING ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP AND ALL ITS EMPLOYEES: 3 December 2009

More Shell reorganization appointments leaked to John Donovan: 2 December 2009

Shell critic says oil major targeting his website: 2 December 2009

Latest leaked Shell appointments list arising from restructuring: 1 December 2009

John Donovan email correspondence with Shell lawyers 28 Nov 2009

Leaked Shell Email: Downsteam-One Director Andrew Manley leaves Shell: 27 November 2009

Total farce of Shell Managed Open Resourcing: 24 November 2009

LEAKED SHELL MOTIVA EMAIL 24 NOV 2009: Norco Personnel Announcement

SHELL SPIN ON PEARL GTL BUDGET: 23 November 2009

Stanlow Refinery Sale: Union warns Essar Oil of dispute with Shell: 21 November 2009

Letter from Shell International Limited to John Donovan: 19 November 2009

Stanlow Refinery Sale: Sadly Shell has revealed its true colours: 18 November 2009

How much longer will Shell CIO Alan Matula last?: 18 November 2009

Shell jobs restructuring:You cannot believe how total the mess is – Shell insider: 17 November 2009

al-Yamamah corruption scandal: a taboo subject for Shell: 15 November 2009

Email from John Donovan to Gavin White, Shell International Limited: 15 November 2009

LEAFLETS GIVEN TO SHELL EMPLOYEES AT SHELL CENTRE OCTOBER 2009

Shell Stanlow Refinery in terminal decline with large job losses?” 11 November 2009

Shell apologises for Poppy Appeal shambles: 9 November 2009

Shell surrenders after PoppyCockup: 9 November 2009

Shell shoots itself in both feet on Remembrance Day: 8 November 2009

SHELL IT ‘IDENTITY CRISIS’: 8 November 2009

Outrage as top arms dealer plans “ethics” lecture: 5 November 2009

ENERTAG PATENTS: MORE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL IP CHICANERY?: 4 November 2009

KUWAIT, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Kuwait has an “alternative” investor for its joint venture China refinery with Sinopec (600028.SS) if Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) pulled out from the project, the country’s oil minister said on Sunday.

Iraq has the third-largest proven crude reserves in the world, but the country remains perilous; it suffers from chronic corruption and acrimonious politics that have prevented the passing of new laws to regulate the sector. European firms made a strong showing. Royal Dutch Shell, Italy’s Eni, British Petroleum and Norway’s Statoil got deals.

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and OAO Lukoil will join BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. among Iraq’s top oil producers based on their pledges in winning bids this weekend as the country auctioned 28 percent of its crude assets.

By John Donovan (left)

After being described in a recent Reuters article as a prominent Shell critic, it seemed sensible to check out on Google how other Shell critics have fared. Are there any risks involved, other than the obvious – litigation?

The Google results are not reassuring.

The headline of one article says “Shell critic’s boat sunk off Rossport“. Pat O’Donnell, an outspoken critic of the Shell Corrib gas pipeline project in Ireland, claimed that his fishing boat was boarded by a group of four masked armed men who scuttled the vessel. O’Donnell said that he was in fear of his life. Fortunately I don’t have a boat.

Other vocal critics of the Corrib pipeline e.g. the “Rossport Five”, were thrown in jail at the behest of Shell.

After Anita Roddick’s Body Shop and Greenpeace criticized Shell, both became the targets of undercover dirty tricks operations commissioned and paid for by Shell (as reported in The Sunday Times article: “MI6 Firm Spied on Green Groups”).

What happened to another “prominent critic” of Shell – Ken Saro-Wiwa – is even more worrying. A New York Times  article with the headline “Shell to settle Abuse Case for $15.5” reports:

The announcement caps a protracted legal battle that began shortly after the death of the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995. Mr. Saro-Wiwa, Shell’s most prominent critic at the time in Nigeria, was hanged by that country’s military regime after protesting the company’s environmental practices in the oil-rich delta, especially in his native Ogoni region. Shell continued Monday to deny any role in the death. It called the settlement a “humanitarian gesture”…

Under the circumstances, my father and I will be watching out for further Shell cloak and dagger activity directed at us, as well as at Shell’s own employees.

The government of President Umaru Yar’Adua said this week that Nigeria’s leader, undergoing treatment for a heart condition in Saudi Arabia, was responding to treatment, addressing weeks of speculation about his health. “It is only his doctor that can determine or say when he will come back,” Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters. The news left many foreign firms here, including U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, in limbo as key oil licenses are set to expire.

This drilling will take place in a sensitive ecosystem, home to one-tenth of the world’s polar bears, who are already suffering and dying as a result of climate change. What will happen to them if there’s an oil spill? Shell can’t prove that it can clean up a spill in the extreme weather conditions of the Arctic Ocean.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

December 11, 2009

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Essar Oil Ltd. (500134.BY) aims to agree terms for the purchase of three European refineries from Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) before Christmas, two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

Shell and Essar aimed to conclude negotiations by Nov. 30, but had to extend that deadline. Progress toward a deal has been slower than expected and there is still some due diligence work to complete, said one person. A price for the transaction isn’t yet agreed, the person added.

Indian firm Essar is still waiting to get all of its financing in place for what is likely to be an all-cash deal, the person said.

Essar is in talks to buy Shell’s Stanlow refinery in the U.K. and the Heide and Harburg plants in Germany.

Shell plans to sell off about 15% of its global refining capacity, or about 600,000 barrels a day of capacity, in the next three years as part of its restructuring program aimed at increasing profitability and efficiency. It agreed in September to sell its fuel and lubricant businesses in Greece for about EUR260 million.

Company Web sites: www.shell.com; www.essar.com

-By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com (Sunil Raghu in New Delhi contributed to this article.)

SOURCE ARTICLE

December 11, 2009 By The Associated Press SINAN SALAHEDDIN (Associated Press Writer)

BAGHDAD (AP) — A consortium led by European oil giant Shell has won the rights to develop Iraq’s giant Majnoon oil field, an almost 13 billion barrel behemoth that is the largest on offer in the country’s second international oil auction.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said Friday that Shell and Malaysia’s state-run oil company, Petronas, beat out another consortium grouping France’s…

Full article link (subscription)

REUTERS

BAGHDAD, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and partner Petronas of Malaysia won a deal to develop Iraq’s super-giant Majnoon oilfield on Friday, said Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, in the country’s second bidding round since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

The companies proposed a per-barrel fee of $1.39 and a plateau production target of 1.8 million barrels per day, (bpd) compared to a current level of 46,000 bpd.

France’s Total (TOTF.PA) had also bid for the Majnoon field, which has estimated reserves of 12.6 billion barrels of oil.

(Reporting by Missy Ryan and Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley)

REUTERS ARTICLE