Royal Dutch Shell plc .com Rotating Header Image

Posts from ‘May, 2010’

Shell Alaska offshore drilling put on hold

THE NEW YORK TIMES Obama to Extend Drilling Moratorium By PETER BAKER and ANAHAD O’CONNOR May 27, 2010 WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to announce Thursday that he is extending the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells for six more months and will delay or cancel specific projects off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia and [...]

BP Skimped on Safety Before Blast

BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Oil Well Before Blast By IAN URBINA: Published May 26, 2010 WASHINGTON — Several days before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, BP officials chose, partly for financial reasons, to use a type of casing for the well that the company knew was the riskier of two options, according to [...]

Democrats and environmentalists push to kill Shell’s Arctic drilling project

Interior secretary due to give final approvals to Alaska exploration despite intense pressure from Congress and environmental groups Suzanne Goldenberg 26 May 2010 23.12 BST Shell is planning a drilling project in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the northern coast of Alaska. Photograph: Delphine Star/Getty Images The Obama administration is coming under intense pressure from [...]

Shell Arctic Drilling Leases to Be Reviewed by U.S.

“There are 1,700 employees within the Minerals Management Service” Salazar said. “Most of the employees at MMS are good public servants. There are bad apples within the organization. People have been reprimanded. People have been turned over for prosecution. We will have zero tolerance with respect to ethical lapses.” 26, 2010, 2:17 PM EDT By [...]

In the Arctic, another oil spill looming

Published: May 26, 2010 at 3:08 PM By STEFAN NICOLA, UPI Europe Correspondent BERLIN, May 26 (UPI) — Will Royal Dutch Shell do to the Arctic what BP did to the Gulf of Mexico? That’s the question troubling environmental experts across the globe ever since the Dutch minerals giant Shell announced its plan to begin [...]

U.S. Makes Case for Drilling, But With Tougher Rules

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BY SIOBHAN HUGHES MAY 26, 2010 WASHINGTON—U.S. House lawmakers applied pressure to the Interior Department from all sides Wednesday over a Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as the Obama administration maintained that tighter regulation would allow offshore energy development to remain part of the country’s mix. The lobbying, in a House [...]

Shell drilling Alaska offshore: Much older drilling equipment than BP and less scruples

EMAIL TO THE O’REILLY FACTOR, AT FOX NEWS, FROM JOHN DONOVAN Dear Bill Shell, another foreign owned oil company, is pushing hard to commence drilling for oil in offshore Alaska. Your American viewers will be alarmed to know that the oil rig in question, the The Frontier Discoverer, is an ancient vessel overdue at the [...]

James Carville On Obama’s Response to Oil Spill

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQuXxlyAo74

The Arctic After the Gulf

THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL There is an important way for President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to show they are absorbing the lessons of the gulf oil spill and to reaffirm their pledge to proceed cautiously with offshore drilling in the future. That is to withhold the permits Shell Oil needs to proceed [...]

Shell Arctic Drill Rig The Frontier Discoverer Overdue for Breakers Yard

“45 year old vessels were not built to the same standards as current vessels, and do not incorporate the same safety or environmental features. 45 year old equipment is not as reliable as current equipment. Most rigs of this age have long since gone to the breaker’s yard.” COMMENT ON SHELL BLOG  ON THE REASSURANCE LETTER [...]

Letter from: Shell Oil Company, Marvin E. Odum, President, One Shell Plaza, P.O. Box 2463, Houston, TX

From: Shell Oil Company, Marvin E. Odum, President, One Shell Plaza, P.O. Box 2463, Houston, TX 772522463 May 14, 2010 To: S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, 1849 C Street, NW, United States Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Washington, DC 20240 Dear Director Birnbaum, I am writing in response to your letter of May 6, 2010 [...]

BP Faces Bleaker Prospects If ‘Top Kill’ Fails to Stanch Spill

Partly thanks to fears about the size of the final bill, BP now trades at a 20% discount to its rival, Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Inspector General’s Inquiry Faults Regulators

NEW YORK TIMES A version of this article appeared in print on May 25, 2010, on page A16 of the New York edition. By IAN URBINA WASHINGTON — Federal regulators responsible for oversight of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico allowed industry officials several years ago to fill in their own inspection reports in pencil [...]

Regulators Accepted Gifts From Oil Industry, Report Says

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By STEPHEN POWER WASHINGTON—Employees of a federal agency that regulates offshore drilling—including some whose duties included inspecting offshore oil rigs—accepted sporting-event tickets, lunches and other gifts from oil- and natural-gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to a new report by the Interior Department’s inspector general. The report—which [...]

Offshore drilling here to stay, but changes coming

FILE – In this March 29, 2010 file photo, a drill pipe extends through the moon pool at the center of the Discoverer Inspiration where Chevron is drilling an exploration well into Moccasin Prospect in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Regulators are likely to make permitting, inspections and equipment requirements for rigs more stringent. Lawmakers [...]