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April 29th, 2010:

Shell refuses to comment on Oklahoma oil royalties fraud

“As you surmise, we will not be commenting.  As always, you cannot take our silence to mean that we agree with any of your conclusions.”: Richard Wiseman, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc 29 April 2010

NANCY FULLER HEBBLE AND OTHERS vs SHELL OIL CO.

On 13 April 2010, Shell filed an “APPELLANTS’ MOTION TO SUSPEND EFFECTIVENESS OF MANDATE“. It relates to the 18 December, 2009 decision by the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals affirming a judgment on a jury verdict in the Hebble v Shell royalties fraud case.

The jury awarded the Plaintiffs/Appellees $750,708 in principal, $12,455,208 in pre-judgment interest, and $53,625,000 in punitive damages.

The mandate is the instrument used by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to signal that they are finished with the case.  Shell asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to suspend the effectiveness of the mandate so that the plaintiffs would not collect on the judgment pending a ruling by the United States Supreme Court. 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.

Royal Dutch Shell Delays Oil Sands Expansion, Globe Reports

April 29 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc has put plans to expand operations in Alberta’s oil sands on hold for at least five years, the Globe and Mail reported, citing Marvin Odum, the company’s Americas head.

Costs to build in the oil sands have increased, prompting the company to delay any decisions to expand its Athabasca Oil Sands project until at least the second half of the decade, the newspaper said.

Royal Dutch will instead focus on increasing production at existing facilities, planning to produce a further 30,000 to 80,000 barrels a day, Odum told the Globe.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sean B. Pasternak in Toronto at [email protected].

Last Updated: April 29, 2010 07:10 EDT

Bloomberg.com Article
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’s profit gusher not as productive as it looks

ft.com

By Andrwe Hill Published: April 28 2010 22:54

Profits are like oil: great resources to have, but greater still when converted into hard cash. Royal Dutch Shell pumped out more oil and gas and made a decent fist of improving profits in the first quarter. Its cash conversion rate, however, was horrid. The Anglo-Dutch oil major burnt through $1.3bn (£847m); that followed a $4.5bn cash burn the previous quarter.

Drilling for oil is clearly a licence to sink money.

BP’s pay safety catch

BP executive directors are rightly focusing on the immediate human and environmental aftermath of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. But they have an added spur to deal with the incident as efficiently, cleanly and safely as possible. Two weeks ago, BP shareholders voted to tighten the conditions on executive directors’ annual bonuses. From this year, one-third will be paid in deferred shares, which could be clawed back if there has been “a material deterioration” in safety and environmental measures, or “major incidents [reveal] underlying weaknesses in safety and environmental management” in the following three years. How much BP’s top team expect to be paid will not affect how they handle the tragedy of Deepwater Horizon. But how they handle it may yet affect how much they are paid. 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.

Big banks, Shell blast CFTC position limit plan

“Royal Dutch Shell is the only major oil company objecting to the plan by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to limit speculative positions in U.S. oil and gas futures. In view of its track record of market manipulation, including false reporting, fictitious sales, fictitious trades and manipulation of natural gas prices, the attempt to block regulation is predicable by the predatory oil giant which has no shame.”

REUTERS

Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON

Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:43pm ED

(Reuters) – The biggest Wall Street energy traders and top producers filed fierce last-minute objections to a proposed plan to limit speculative positions in U.S. oil and gas futures, hoping to halt a crackdown that has been lauded by consumers but decried by market participants.

In letters to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Wednesday, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and BlackRock Inc joined others in saying the proposal to set a hard cap on the number of contracts any single party can hold would hurt hedgers and lead to a loss of liquidity. 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 JOINS CLEAN-UP EFFORT FOR BP SPILL

Financial Times

Multinational petroleum company Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has dispatched six boats to assist in cleaning up the oil spill caused by last week’s fatal accident aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The rig had been drilling a well for BP (BP.L) in the Gulf of Mexico — an area Shell deems “very important”, with three new exploration wells identifying reserves that could amount to 350 million barrels. News of Shell’s assistance came as the group reported a 60 percent rise in underlying post-tax profits, with earnings per share up 48 percent at 80 cents. 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.

FIRE AND ICE: Shell and BP’s hunt for offshore oil in Alaska

“An ugly and growing oil leak associated with the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico last week has raised questions… providing new leverage to environmentalists and North Slope residents…”

Alaska Dispatch

Craig Medred and Jill Burke

Apr 28, 2010

Since the Arctic whaling days of the 1850s, profits on oil from Alaska’s north have fattened the wallets of the global merchant class. The source of the oil changed with the times, but it has continued to flow to the benefit of both commerce and government.

arctic-drill-intro-2 Photos by U.S. Coast Guard and Stephen Nowers Wednesday: Will the Gulf oil spill slow offshore plans in Alaska’s Arctic? Coming Friday: How do you clean up oil in sea ice?

The crude that replaced whale oil set the stage for a boom that ran, with some ups and downs, from the mid-1970s into the 21st century. Oil production on the North Slope peaked in 1988, with about 2 million barrels a day. That boom is fading now, the volume of oil running through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline falling to about 675,000 per day. And yet many believe there are vast new oil riches waiting just offshore beneath the waters once roamed by the Nantucket whalers — if companies are allowed access, and if they can find a way to get the oil out without harming the 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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