HOUSTON Dec 21 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said on Tuesday that there was no fire at its joint-venture Motiva Enterprises LLC 235,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Convent, Louisiana, on Monday.

A Shell spokesman said a unit that helps production of transportation fuels “experienced an upset resulting in a flare, loud noises and odors. The situation was quickly brought under control and the refinery is running normally.”

A report filed late Monday with the U.S. National Response Center had said a caller reported that the refinery was on fire. It was followed by another report that said there was flaring due to a process upset.

(Reporting by Kristen Hays)

SOURCE ARTICLE

Tue Dec 21, 2010 1:17pm GMT

* Essar makes bid, given deadline to make firm offer

* Shell will withdraw plant from sale if no deal

* Shell continues to withdraw from European refining

By Tom Bergin

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has told employees at its Stanlow refinery that India’s Essar group has made a “credible” bid for the plant, a union official said.

A Shell spokesman confirmed that the Anglo-Dutch oil giant was in talks with Essar and had given the group until the end of February to come up with a firm bid.

“If by then we cannot get the right value for the assets and do the right deal, they will be withdrawn from sale,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement.

“We are not considering closure or conversion into a terminal,” he added.

Shell is reducing its involvement in refining, especially in Europe, to invest more money upstream in more lucrative oil and gas production.

With many refineries on the block in Europe, prices have come off the levels seen a few years ago but Stanlow could still be worth several hundred million dollars, analysts said.

India’s Energy Group controls two energy-focussed units, London-listed Essar Energy and India-listed Essar Oil. It was unclear which unit was bidding for the refinery.

Essar Energy was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Hans Peters)

© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved

REUTERS ARTICLE

By Ben Lefebvre: DECEMBER 21, 2010 8:26 AM ET

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)–Motiva Enterprises LLC reported Monday a fire at its 235,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Convent, Louisiana, according to a government filing made public Tuesday.

The cause of the fire wasn’t given. The company didn’t immediately return calls.

Motiva operates the eastern and southeastern U.S. refining and marketing businesses of Shell Oil and Saudi Aramco.

-By Ben Lefebvre, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9201; ben.lefebvre@dowjones.com

SOURCE

We would like to wish all of the good folk at Royal Dutch Shell and the people who visit and kindly contribute to this website a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

From Alfred and John Donovan

U.K. Judge Throws Curveball in BAE Agreement

By Dionne Searcey: DECEMBER 20, 2010

Bringing closure to foreign-corruption cases has generally become a formulaic process.

The company pays a bribe overseas, law enforcement finds out, the two sides reach some kind of a settlement deal, a judge approves it, and everyone goes their separate ways. Any deviation from this pattern tends to generate headlines.

But a judge in the U.K. on Monday threw a wrench into the Serious Fraud Office’s plans for winding down the long and tangled corruption investigation into British defense contractor BAE Systems. Click here for the FT story.

BAE and the SFO had reached an agreement that the company would plead guilty not to a bribery charge, but to a less serious charge that it failed to account for $12.4 million in payments to Tanzania-based businessman Shailesh Vithlani.

But the judge said that — contrary to claims by both the Serious Fraud Office and BAE — it looked as if the company had funneled money to Vithlani who had then bribed Tanzanian officials to win a radar contract, the story said.

The SFO has not alleged corruption and BAE has always denied it.

According to the FT story, the judge said BAE “didn’t want to know how much money would be paid and to whom. They just wanted the job done. Hear no evil and speak no evil, and so on.” The judge said he wasn’t prepared to sentence BAE without clarification of what the money was used for.

The judge is slated to determine BAE’s fine tomorrow. BAE says it is awaiting the outcome and welcomes the opportunity to put the case behind it.

In the U.K., the BAE case has dragged on for about seven years and cost millions to investigate.

In March, BAE pleaded guilty to misleading the U.S. government about the steps it took to comply with an antibribery law.

As part of a plea agreement, BAE admitted that it made payments to intermediaries even though there was a “high probability” some of the money would be used to curry favor with foreign governments that granted defense contracts. DOJ had launched its probe in July 2007.

According to court filings, BAE had used secretive offshore entities and shell companies, and its efforts to conceal where payments were going, in 1999 transactions to lease fighter jets to Hungary and the Czech Republic. Justice’s probe also concerned payments in Saudi Arabia.

WSJ ARTICLE

SEE: SHELL INVOLVEMENT WITH SAUDI REGIME IN AL-YAMAMAH OIL FOR ARMS SCANDAL

Shell Oil Manager on gifts (bribes) given to Shell employees by vendors:

“And yes John, there are acceptable levels of gifts, and if you do not think there are then you are living in la la land.”

FURTHER COMMENT BY A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF SHELL OIL USA

When I was at Shell Research many years ago I was in a position of evaluating vendor services and making recommendations about those services to the rest of the company.

The two biggest companies I dealt with were, of course, Schlumberger and Halliburton. My work required access to proprietary material from both companies so it was absolutely imperative that the relationships were kept completely professional.

As such, I would not allow these guys to buy me so much as a bottle of Coke. Nor would I buy their people so much as a Coke. When you are in such a position you can not play favorites and you cannot get ‘cozy’ with any particular vendor or with any of their people. It is inevitable that you do develop ‘professional’ relationships with your contacts in these companies, but they must be kept ‘professional’. I essentially followed the ethical standards of conduct of the US Navy’s Naval Reactor Program Office in my dealings with the vendors, which I was familiar with.

Unfortunately, that is not how the vast majority of engineers in Shell operate, nor is it company policy, which it should be. But people are fond of their ‘freebees’ and ‘G&C’. Management gets their share of goodies as well. And this is how the system gets corrupted. Everyone ‘plays’ to their advantage. Management plays games with reserve bookings to boost performance bonuses, and on it goes.

In the Federal government the ethical rules of conduct are quite strict, and under those rules the majority of Shell personnel would be facing disciplinary termination or even criminal prosecution for their conduct and relationships with vendors. Sad but true.

COMMENT ADDED BY JOHN DONOVAN

It was a posting by “USCITIZEN”, a regular long term contributor to our “Shell Blog” who is in a managerial position and is ferociously loyal to Shell Oil, which sparked the recent and above comment from another regular contributor, a former employee of the same company, whose identity, exceptional ingenuity and related US government connections, will be well known to Shell.

USCITIZEN genuinely takes the view – read what he has said for yourself – that gifts from vendors are perfectly acceptable and seems to consider them an entitlement.

Extract from a recent posting by “USCITIZEN”

“And yes John, there are acceptable levels of gifts, and if you do not think there are then you are living in la la land.”

More proof of a deeply ingrained culture of corruption at Shell Oil USA.

Although we try to make it plain that this is not the official Royal Dutch Shell Plc website, it is evident from this email, received earlier today, that we need to try harder.

To spare any embarrassment, the senders name and email address have been removed.

Firstly; what the hell is going on with the swashtica ( spelt wrong I know) on your home page and then contact us page shows hitler- whats that all about ?

My main reason for contacting shell is this- I have been travelling and mainly living in Eastern Europe for past 2 years and used my car for most trips all over Europe and back to the UK.

I always try to use shell for obvious reasons but you need to know something that is affecting and will seriously affect your business/reputation if you do nothing about it and that is- what your employees are putting into your fuel- mainly the diesel.

If you have not got a clue then be aware- very aware- as you have cost me over £2000 on an engine repair that I can prove if I want to- as I have all the parts etc- and have taken diesel samples from a number of your garages- tested them in a UK lab- and the results are startling to say the least.

I use SHELL because  I am british etc and dont expect you guys to follow the likes of Lukoil ( I have tested these also)- I hope you understand what I mean here !!!!!!

Please take this seriously as I will be- as I am a registered IFA in the UK and I need to be placated in the correct manner or I will be like a dog with a bone and not let this rest- please believe me on this.

I am mainly talking about Bulgaria and Romania and you are mainly causing problems to common rail diesel engines of which a couple of petrol stations such as EKO and Rompetrol are playing ball by not using so much shit in their fuels but the rest like you are taking the piss.

Sorry about my descent into swearing there but I am very angry and therefore please do not underestimate my intentions. I have the back up of not only tests but mechanics,lawyers and I.T. professionals who are clients of mine who would love to get their hands on the info. I have picked up over past 12 months.

Yours in anticipation

ps; I do not need to do this but go and test your diesel at Shumen, Bulgaria and we will go from there- its a bloody disgrace- that is costing your good name. Dont forget that the fuel from Burgas has been certificated as perfect and then when it is transported……….. the idiots get to work !!

COMMENT FROM A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF SHELL OIL USA

That email from the irate British motorist gave me a good belly laugh. What the Hell IS going on ????  Will RD Shell management kindly explain ???? And by the way, Shell’s diesel fuel sucks !!!! Hello, Hello ???? Is anyone minding the store at RD Shell ?????  Does anyone at RD Shell care ????

This fellow should switch to vegetable oil. I am certain it would work better.

It is clear now that your ‘unique’ banner is causing confusion and consternation amongst the general public of the WORLD. Clearly, you are a major PR nightmare for RD Shell.

And what are those ‘geniuses’ in RD Shell management doing about it ? Sucking their thumbs, picking their noses, and scratching their backsides from what I can tell. Where is all that legal intellectual horse power they pay a small  fortune for annually ??

Life is so unfair, and those ‘gentlemen’ (I use that word loosely) seem to be at a loss at what to do about all of this. Got a suggestion – Clean up your frigging act !!!! Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this would solve their problem.

RELATED ARTICLES

Shell FuelSave reminiscent of Formula Shell debacle: 23 July 2010

Shell gasoline debacles: 24 July 2010

You know that slightly vulgar Q&A ?

Question: “Why do dogs lick their balls?”

Answer: “Because they can”.

Its pretty much a metaphor for the corporate world for much of the  time:

Q:  “Why do bankers pay themselves large bonuses?”

A: “Because they can.”

– and so on.

It is the “Because they can” imperative which helps us understand why heating oil costs have gone up by 50%  or more in recent times (see graph):

Oil is often the only choice for many in rural areas without connections to the Natural Gas grid. It is usually Kerosene and sometimes Gas Oil – both middle distillates from the refining process. Because the rates of duty applicable to heating oil (as compared to road fuel) are minor there should usually be a close correlation between the ex-refinery cost of the oil and the crude oil price. In August (the low point on the graph) heating oil cost  domestic customers 40p a litre. Today it is as much as 70p a litre – a rise of up to 75% . Over that same period the price of crude oil  has gone from $76 a barrel to $86 a barrel – a rise of only 13%. British consumers pay for their heating oil in Sterling so we have to allow for the change in the £/$ exchange rate when making comparisons. In Sterling terms the price of crude oil per barrel has gone from £48.5 to £54.8 – still only a rise of 13%.

So what is going on? The body which represents the industry is the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers and they have issued a statement here:

STATEMENT REGARDING THE SUPPLY AND PRICING OF HEATING OIL DECEMBER 2010

Cutting through the obfuscation in this statement to the truth there is not one iota of doubt that heating oil suppliers are profiteering massively from the present situation. It is true that there will have been some minor extra costs associated with sourcing some supplies from less than optimal sources – in some cases. But in the main a Heating Oil supplier will source his products at Spot product prices on world oil market prices – and these prices are substantially driven by the Crude Oil price. His other costs (primarily distribution) are a much more modest part of the final customer price.

In contrast to the regulated prices of the gas and electricity industries there is no regulation on the price of heating oil. This price is determined then, apart from by changes in supply and distribution costs as above, by consumer supply and demand. If it is a sellers’ market (which it is at the moment) then the price goes up – and up! Heating Oil contractors are taking advantage of the cold weather and customers’ urgent need for oil by hiking the price as far as it will go – the law of the jungle. There is no competition so the market has no effect – they are all laughing all the way to the bank!

Who should step in? Well Government of course. But there is also a case for Refiners to pay a more active role. There is no reason why Shell, Esso and the other refinery operators should not take a position and encourage their distributor customers, in the public interest,  to accept reasonable margins rather than the windfall returns that they are presently enjoying.

BY A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF SHELL OIL USA

When I worked for Shell USA years ago we had an incident with one of our major supplies of oil field services. As it happened the VP of marketing complained to our Shell VP in New Orleans about the fact that their service reps kept handing out free tickets to ball games, took the engineers out to dinner, etc., but that they weren’t ‘getting any’ business. This particular vendor marketing VP thought that Shell’s engineering staff were taking advantage of them (which they were) and they wanted some business in return for all the ‘favors’, etc., they had done for the staff.

Well, that particular VP at Shell was rather incensed at being ‘shaken down’ for business like that so he banned the acceptance of vendor ‘gifts and gratuities’ except under special circumstance. That ban lasted only until he was transferred about six months later. After that the vendor gift ‘shake down’ went on as usual.

In the field, on drilling rigs, it was not uncommon for the vendors to hand out hunting rifles, color TV’s, stereos, etc., to the company foreman in return for a site well services contract. We even had a case where one fellow was given a vintage Ford Mustang convertible. Senior management thought that was a bit much and after much consideration reluctantly fired that fellow, but less expensive gifts were still allowed.

When I worked overseas Shell Pecten in country management (Shell USA’s overseas division) always complained about not being allowed to ‘grease the palms’ of the necessary local authorities ‘sufficiently’ to get things done in a timely fashion. Some of the internal Shell memos were extremely interesting in this regard.

I even had some idiot vendor send me a 30 lb Alaska King salmon packed in ice one time. It was left on my front door step in Houston,TX one hot August day. I was gone out of town for a week. When I came back the stench that I was greeted with from that maggot ridden fish was utterly incredible. Needless to say the retarded fool that sent it to me, hoping to ‘curry favor’ for a big well services contract, got the a** chewing of a life time. As did his supervisor and his supervisor’s supervisor. These people were rather unhappy with my attitude. It is the thought that counts, right? Needless to say, their clumsy efforts proved futile, and this made them even unhappier.

‘Graft and corruption’, G&C as it is called, was and undoubtedly is still a way of life at Shell. From my experience at Shell I can tell you that Shell was and clearly still is a company that suffers from corruption at virtually every level.

RELATED ARTICLE: SEX, DRUGS & CORRUPTION IN USA SPONSORED BY SHELL

*CORPORATE TERRORISM AGAINST A FORMER SHELL EMPLOYEE
*ROYAL DUTCH SHELL NAZI SECRETS EXPOSED
*INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT: GALE NORTON, SHELL SCANDAL
*Shell employee guinea pigs in study of carcinogenic properties
*1000′s of Shell workers asked to reapply for their own jobs
*SEX, DRUGS & CORRUPTION IN USA SPONSORED BY SHELL
*ROYAL DUTCH SHELL NIGERIAN CORRUPTION SCANDAL
*WIKILEAKS: SHELL EMBEDDED SPIES IN NIGERIAN GOV
*Shell embedded spies in governments of Nigeria, Dubai and Iraq
*PDF ORIGINAL ARTICLE SHELL EMBEDDED SPIES IN NIGERIA
*SHELL SETTLES CLAIM FOR MURDER & TORTURE IN NIGERIA
*SHELL COMPLICITY IN NIGERIAN MURDER OF CIVILIANS
*UNLOVEABLE SHELL, THE GODDESS OF OIL (NIGERIA +)
*CLEAN-UP FOR NIGER DELTA AND SHELL’S REPUTATION
*Shell fueled Nigerian violence by paying rival militant gangs
*SHELL CHIEF HAD A PRIVATE ARMY (IN NIGERIA)
*SHELL PAYS $10 MILLION CORRUPTION FINE TO NIGERIANS
*SHELL ACCEPTS LIABILITY FOR TWO OIL SPILLS IN NIGERIA
*NIGER DELTA CRISIS THREATENED SHELL’S GLOBAL BRAND
*SHELL GLOBAL SPYING ON ITS OWN EMPLOYEES
*DEATH THREATS AGAINST SHELL WHISTLEBLOWERS?
*Irish Police investigate death threats to Shell whistleblowers
*SHELL “TOUCH F*** ALL” OIL RIG SAFETY CULTURE
*PAYBACK TIME FOR CORPORATE VILLAINS?
*SHELL HIDES ITS TRADING WITH FANATICAL IRANIAN REGIME
*SHELL HID TRADING IN IRAQ OIL IN VIOLATION OF EMBARGO
*SHELL IN BED WITH GADDAFI, STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM
*SHELL INVOLVEMENT IN AL-YAMAMAH OIL FOR ARMS SCANDAL
*ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WORLDS LARGEST “SPECULATOR”
*Shell accused of supporting Syrian regime
*Whistleblower accuses Shell of psychological torture
*Blood for oil? (The invasion of Iraq)
*Why is Shell still present and operating in Syria?
*SHELL EVEN DEFRAUDED ITS OWN SHAREHOLDERS
*IRREGULARITIES IN A SHELL TENDER PROCESS

SHELL IN NIGERIA

Shell’s horrendous track record in Nigeria includes embedding spies in the Nigerian government; paying rival militant gangs; engaging in corruption (not only in Nigeria); arming police spies; undercover activity using a private spy firm (Hakluyt) and associating Shell with murder and human rights abuses. Consequently questions inevitably arise about the background of the militants responsible for the attacks referred to in this article. Has Shell any financial connection with them currently, or in the past? Shell has such a shameful record in Nigeria, including plunder and pollution on an epic scale, that it has even considered ditching the Shell global brand name. Such a radical move would also distance the company from its Nazi past.

Royal Dutch Shell GUILTY of Mass Murder.

How Shell infiltrated Nigeria

The Military Beast -- Royal Dutch Shell

Controversy over Shell Corrib Gas Project in Ireland