Posts from ‘September, 2011’

“A prohibition notice was served on Shell July 1 over hydrocarbon release issues on the Brent C platform. The rig is currently ‘shut in’…

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)–The U.K. offshore regulator issued Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) with two warnings in July for safety incidents at its aged Brent Charlie platform in the North Sea, the Health and Safety Executive website showed Wednesday.

One of the warnings is a more serious prohibition notice, which indicates there is an elevated risk of injury, while the other is an improvement notice, which gives an operator a period of time to correct a potential risk.

“A prohibition notice was served on Shell July 1 over hydrocarbon release issues on the Brent C platform. The rig is currently ‘shut in’, which means it has complied with the prohibition notice ordering activity to stop,” an HSE spokesperson told Dow Jones Newswires.

The 35-year old platform is located 145 kilometers north east of Unst. Production on the Brent field has continued to decline in recent years and many of the aging installations are due to be decomissioned in a few years. From 2000 to 2010, production on the whole Brent oil field dropped 91%.

The Brent field has four large platforms, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta.

A Shell spokesman wasn’t immediately able to detail the incident that resulted in the prohibition notice.

-By Alexis Flynn and James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires, +44 207 842 9471, alexis.flynn@dowjones.com

SOURCE

From pages 17, 18 & 19 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

The report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Author: Albert ten Kate: May 2011.

A Shell pesticide factory

For a decade or more, beginning in 1977, Shell produced organochlorine pesticides (aldrin, dieldrin, endrin etc.) and other pesticides at a plant located near Paulínia, about 125 kilometres north-west of São Paulo, Brazil. The plant covered approximately 40 hectares.78 Due to its severe health impacts, by 1990 the use of aldrin and dieldrin was totally banned in the USA and Brazil.

After negotiations starting in 1993, in 1995 Shell sold the Paulínia facility to the companies American Cyanimid and BASF. A sales condition was that Shell would assume legal responsibility for the pollution at the site. In 2000, BASF took full ownership of the facility.79 In 2002, BASF shut it down the facility after a ban by the Brazilian Ministry of Labour, in view of existing contamination and serious risks to human health.

Pollution at the factory site

There have been many cases of pollution at the factory site: − Between 1998 and 1985 three leaks in a waste-water storage tank were officially reported. − Over the years, CETESB (São Paulo State Environmental Protection Agency) had issued three warnings that the plant’s incinerator was not operating within acceptable standards. − March 2001, the Justice Department listened to the testimony of a former company employee, Antonio de Marco Rasteiro. He confirmed the existence of four clandestine landfills inside the plant area, and accused Shell of dumping ash from its incinerator and waste from its manufacturing process in these landfills. He also confirmed that Shell’s incinerator sold its services to third parties, for example to DuPont. He also reported that drums with toxic wastes were buried in other areas inside the plant.

Pollution spreading across farmlands

Later, several studies of the area revealed that the contamination had moved into the groundwater under the farms located between the plant and the Atibaia River. For example, in February 2001, the Dutch environmental consulting company Haskoning/Iwaco, hired by Shell, produced a technical report with soil and groundwater analysis in nine sites located in the farms near the industrial site. Levels of contamination by dieldrin as high as 17 parts per billion (ppb) in soil and 0.47 ppb in water were found. The water contamination levels were higher than the levels allowed by Brazilian law (Administrative Rules 36/1990 and 1469/2000 – Ministry of Health – Highest Permissible Level: 0,03 ppb of dieldrin). However, no decontamination work had begun in the area. In February 2001, Shell admitted that it had contaminated the groundwater and sections of the nearby community, and was ordered by CETESB to begin a clean-up.

Pollution creating severe health problems

Both aldrin and dieldrin are highly toxic to humans, the target organs being the central nervous system and the liver.83 A report at the request of the Paulínia local government, produced by August 2001, showed that 156 of the 181 examined residents living near the factory had some degree of contamination from metals or pesticides which could result in various cancers, liver disorders, or neurological problems. Shell dismissed the Paulínia report, saying it used very low thresholds to measure contamination compared with those recommended by the World Health Organization. Shell also claimed its own tests showed no human contamination. “If there is proof of contamination with the products that we handled there, we will assume the responsibility immediately, which is our policy worldwide,” said Jose Cardoso, a Shell manager in Brazil. “But so far, there is no data indicating that.”84 Maria Lucia Braz Pinheiro, vice president of Shell- Quimica for Latin America, described the report as “another report with technical inconsistencies and lacking a scientific base.”

In a doctoral dissertation approved in February 2005, an analysis was made on the existing health data from a group of 62 former Shell/Cyanamid/BASF workers. Three cases of thyroid cancer were confirmed. The author concluded that the incidence of thyroid cancer among the estimated 1,120 workers of Shell/Cyanamid/BASF was 166 times greater than the incidence in the male population of Campinas, a county within Sao Paulo state. The chance of finding three cases of thyroid cancer out of a random selection of 1,120 men living in Campinas would be less than 1 out of 1,000,000.

At the beginning of 2009, it became publicly known that the Center for Excellence in Occupational Health (Cerest) of Campinas had examined 69 former employees of Shell / Cyanamid / BASF. Ten malignant cases of cancer to the prostate and thyroid were diagnosed. There was also a case of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS, formerly known as “preleukemia”). There were 34 cardiovascular diseases, of which 21 related to hypertensive heart diseases. There were also an unspecified number of liver diseases. In 30 cases there was a prevalence of repetitive strain injury (RSI). In total 56 ex-workers had serious problems with reproductive organs and the urinary system, with prostate disorders, changes in fertility and impotence.

August 2010: Shell/BASF ordered to pay severe fine

In 2007, the public prosecutor Ministério Público do Trabalho (MPT) filed a case to ensure funds for health treatment of former employees, along with compensation for damages. The Association of Workers Exposed to Chemical Substances (ATESQ) and another union of workers had also filed a case against Shell and BASF. ATESQ was created by Antonio de Marco Rasteiro, a former employee of the Shell/BASF plant in Paulínia. He worked there for 21 years. In his role as ATESQ Coordinator, Mr Rasteiro has led the struggle of nearly a thousand former workers. In November 2009, he won the International Health & Safety Award of the American Public Health Association.

In August 2010, a Brazilian court (Tribunal Regional do Trabalho de Campinas) ruled that Shell and BASF should assume responsibility for the medical treatment of all former employees of the Paulínia facility, and pay a total of 1.1 billion Brazilian Real (about EUR 490 million89) in connection with the More than 1,000 former employees of the companies were covered by the court order, and also the children of employees who were born during or after services and independent contractors.

Some extracts from the court ruling in August 2010: − “Workers were constantly exposed to harmful substances in water and air, without any use of protective clothing. This exposure took place during and after work, during breaks, in the vicinity of the site, as well as through the use of water on site. Therefore, the simplistic explanation of Shell that the presence of harmful substances in the bodies of the workers do not constitute evidence of intoxication is unacceptable”

− “(…) Although it is not certain that all employees will develop diseases such as cancer, it is not excluded. Certainly it has been determined that among the employees exposed to the pollutants, cancer occurs much more frequently than normal.” − “(…) The most shocking is that the accused companies, especially Shell, were since 1970 fully aware of the harmful effects of substances used by them. After the production was banned in the U.S., Shell coolly moved its plant to Paulínia. BASF also has not taken precautionary measures: it was aware of the pollution at the site, which was already raised and well known in Paulínia. Nevertheless, BASF located itself in the same place, in the full knowledge that this place was not appropriate, with the result that its employees were exposed to obvious risks”.

Shell and BASF appealing

Soon after the court order in August 2010, Shell and BASF announced that they would appeal the decision. “We expect that the Brazilian courts at a higher level will eventually establish that we were not responsible for alleged health impacts and other claims”, a Shell spokesman told press agency Reuters.

Jennifer Moore-Braun, a spokeswoman for Basf told press agency Bloomberg: “We are of the opinion that the environmental damage was caused by Shell, and we will appeal the decision.” Shell was quoted saying: “We are convinced there is no link between our operations and injury to people’s health based on blood tests of local residents, medical assessments of former workers and expert medical opinions.”93 In April 2011, the Tribunal Regional do Trabalho de Campinas denied an appeal filed by Shell and BASF against the decision, and maintained the sentence. Shell and BASF may appeal the decision at the Superior Labour Court (TST) in Brasilia.

THE COMPLETE 73 PAGE REPORT (with reference sources)

This article should be read in conjunction with a related article published earlier this month:

Brazilian Indians demand Shell leave their land

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE September 13, 2011

Survival has received reports that truckloads of armed men are violently driving Brazil’s Guarani from their land, leaving them in fear of their lives.

Guarani anthropologist Tonico Benites told Survival, ‘People’s lives are in imminent danger. A child could die at any moment.’

Benites reported that his uncle was left blind in one eye following a recent attack on the Guarani communities of Pyelito Kuê and M’barakai, south of the Brazilian Amazon.

Those caught up in the violence have described how they were forced to run to safety after their huts were set alight, clothes burnt and families threatened.

One Guarani man recounted, ‘Small lamps and torches were flashing in all directions, and the children and elderly people could not run. There are tears in my eyes as I write this. We have almost no more hope of surviving in this Brazil’.

Gunmen are reported to have blocked roads, destroyed a bridge that provided access to the Indians’ camp, and surrounded the Guarani, preventing food and medical supplies from reaching them.

This is one of a series of attacks on these Guarani since the beginning of August 2011. It follows attempts by the Indians to reclaim their ancestral land, which was seized by ranchers in the 1970s and has been occupied ever since.

The Guarani also faced persecution in 2003 and 2009 when they made similar moves to reoccupy their land.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said, ‘It’s shocking that the Guarani should be repeatedly persecuted for attempting to return to land that is rightfully their own. The Brazilian government needs to act swiftly before more innocent lives are lost.’

Brazil’s government has condemned the violence. Survival has written to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calling for urgent measures to be taken to protect the Guarani, and to Brazil’s Ministry of Justice, urging that Guarani land is mapped out and protected, as set out in Brazil’s own constitution.

SOURCE

For more information and images, please contact Chloe Corbin:

T (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504543367
E c.corbin@survivalinternational.org
W http://www.survivalinternational.org/

In the US:

Christina Chauvenet
T (+1) 202 525 6972
E cc@survivalinternational.org

By John Donovan

On Friday I sent an email to Mr Michiel Brandjes (right), Company Secretary & General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. It had a subject – “Gannet Oil Spill: Document Authenticity” – but no content.  It was sent by mistake.

It prompted the subsequent self-explanatory email correspondence.

EMAIL RESPONSE FROM MR MICHIEL BRANDJES, COMPANY SECRETARY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

From: michiel.brandjes@shell.com
Date: 12 September 2011 08:00:54 GMT+01:00
To: john@shellnews.net
Subject: RE: Gannet Oil Spill: Document Authenticity

Registered office: Shell Centre London SE1 7NA UK
Place of registration and number: England 4366849
Correspondence address: PO Box 162, 2501 AN  The Hague,
The Netherlands

—–Original Message—–
From: John Donovan [mailto:john@shellnews.net]
Sent: vrijdag 9 september 2011 17:38
To: Brandjes, Michiel CM RDS-LSC
Subject: Gannet Oil Spill: Document Authenticity

Dear Mr Brandjes

ENDS

REPLY BY JOHN DONOVAN

From: John Donovan <john@shellnews.net>
Date: 12 September 2011 16:29:25 GMT+01:00
To: michiel.brandjes@shell.com
Subject: Re: Gannet Oil Spill: Document Authenticity

In view of the following paragraph of your email dated 22 December 2009, I am never sure whether we will receive a response from you:

It is in my DNA indeed to respond to all and everything as appropriate. However, while that is the starting position please note that I can not be held to always respond to everything as a Company Secretary. There are messages which do not call for a response or not by me, there are matters in which a further response can not serve any purpose, and there are persons with whom I do not or no longer communicate for justified reasons. I intend to continue to help genuine third parties whom you refer to me and do not fall in the earlier mentioned categories.

It is not quite as mind-bending as the explanation by Donald Rumsfeld of known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

For the record, we do still receive email meant for Shell every day.

As per your standing request, I weed out what I consider to be junk mail, which appropriately is mainly from China.  Much of it is addressed to my father, probably because he is perceived, perhaps because of his WSJ image displayed on our website, as being the supreme leader at Royal Dutch Shell. We direct enquiries about “Shell” lottery scams to the Shell Fraud/Scam Alert on your website. All job applications/CV’s which arrive from around the world are directed to the appropriate page on your website.

John Donovan

CORRESPONDENCE ENDS

The reward for Tullow’s approach is clear. Since 2004, Tullow’s share price has risen by almost 1,500%. Over the same period, Shell’s share price has grown 61% and BP’s has fallen more than 15%.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

By James Herron

It’s become accepted wisdom in the oil industry that the once-great corporate giants like Shell, BP or ExxonMobil face an inevitable decline as they are shut out of the richest pickings by the state-backed giants of the Middle East, Russia and China.

But the astonishing run of oil discoveries by relative minnow, Tullow Oil, shows that a little imagination could do a lot to shake Big Oil out of its torpor.

In the space of four years, Tullow has led the charge to open up three significant new oil basins containing billions of barrels of reserves. First, offshore Ghana in 2007, then in Uganda in 2008 and finally offshore French Guiana in South America announced today.

This success has come not from luck, but from an entrepreneurial spirit, imaginative strategy and nimble decision making that is a stark contrast to the lumbering giants that dominate the industry.

Tullow built itself up slowly in the 1990s, but really came of age in the previous decade with a pair of acquisitions of smaller oil companies–Energy Africa in 2004 and Hardman Resources 2006.

Most takeovers made by major oil companies in that decade were intended to bulk up revenues and production, profit from corporate synergies. The motivation was simply to be bigger and more powerful.

Tullow’s takeovers were more about opportunity than scale. It gained some oil production, but more important was the access it got to the vast and largely unexplored areas that have underscored its recent success.

It was a high risk strategy that paid off.

Tullow has also been nimble. After its first major discovery offshore Ghana, Tullow and its partners moved fast, bringing the Jubilee field online within three-and-a-half years. That is impressive in a country that had no existing oil industry.

It does not have a perfect record though. Tullow got bogged down for more than a year in a long and arduous debate with the government of Uganda about how to proceed with the development of oil discoveries there. But it moves quickly by oil industry standards.

Finally, Tullow has shown imagination. After spotting that its Jubilee field shared similar geological properties to licenses in other countries, Tullow and its partners quickly focused their resources drilling there. More success followed.

It even chased its favorite oil play from Ghana to the far side of the Atlantic Ocean in French Guiana, to where 100 million years of plate tectonics had dragged one half of the oil basin that contained Jubilee.

How can Big Oil emulate this kind of entrepreneurial spirit? They could start by looking at their own people and figuring out ways to liberate their talents. Many of Tullow’s top executives are refugees from major oil companies who sought out a bigger challenge in a less bureaucratic working environment.

Exploration Director Angus McCoss, who presided over Tullow’s run of success with the drill bit, spent 20 years working for Shell. Chief Financial Officer Ian Springett worked at BP for 23 years.

They are led by an entrepreneur, not an engineer–Tullow CEO Aidan Heavey who quit his job as a chartered accountant in 1985 to acquire his first oil fields in Africa.

The reward for Tullow’s approach is clear. Since 2004, Tullow’s share price has risen by almost 1,500%. Over the same period, Shell’s share price has grown 61% and BP’s has fallen more than 15%.

SOURCE ARTICLE

By Blanche Gatt – Sep 12, 2011 7:57 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will propose Royal Dutch Shell Plc expand cooperation with state-run OAO Gazprom during the first visit by a U.K. prime minister in six years, as the leader seeks to improve relations between the countries.

Separately, South Rub Al Khali Co., a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Arabian Oil Co., named a chief executive to run the company that explores for natural gas in Saudi Arabia. The stock slumped 2.1 percent to 2,017.5 pence.

To contact the reporter on this story: Blanche Gatt in London at bgatt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

SOURCE ARTICLE

Mr Campbell insisted it is only a matter of time before there is another major tragedy in the North Sea. He said: “According to public domain data there were 85 gas releases and 443 dangerous occurrences last year. If you are getting 85 gas leaks that’s one and a half, or two, leaks a week. The probability of an undesirable event is very high.”

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

By John Donovan

The Sunday Express has today published an article under the headline: “Rusting rigs spark fears of oil tragedy” (above newspaper article) and “SCOTTISH OIL RIGS IN DIRE STRAITS” (online version).

The newspaper approached us for assistance and we were happy to supply extensive information, including the revealing letter we obtained from the Health & Safety Executive that is mentioned in the article.

We also put the Sunday Express journalist Paula Murray into contact with Bill Campbell, the retired HSE Group Auditor of Shell International to led the safety audit team on Shell North Sea platforms in 1999 which exposed a “Touch F*** All” maintenance culture with bodged repairs and falsified safety records. A more recent report (in 2008) by upstreamonline revealed that even the oil rig lifeboats were not seaworthy.

Shell management actions on North Sea employee safety appear to be completely different to its approach on the Pearl Gas-to-liquids project in Qatar, which apparently has an exemplary safety record. Is it because North Sea operations are viewed as rapidly becoming past history, whereas Pearl is seen as the money-spinning future?

If so, it is unfortunate and dangerous  for employees and contractors working offshore for Shell in the North Sea.

If, God forbid, there is a major disaster on a Shell North Sea facility, relevant Shell senior managers will find themselves in an unenviable position after ignoring so many alarm bells rang so loudly and incessantly by Bill Campbell since 1999.

The video taken last month shows an offshore worker hammering a hole through the floor of one of the platforms, sending chunks of the metal frame tumbling into the North Sea hundreds of feet below.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Express has also obtained a damning letter from the Health and Safety Executive following a summer inspection that found a 15,000-hour backlog in essential maintenance on one rig alone.

In it officials warn of the danger of some of the structure falling down “as the integrity worsens”.

Some rigs are being forced to use scaffolding to support failing hand railings and boards on the worst affected walkways to prevent workers falling through rusting metalwork.

Experts say that about half of the oil and gas platforms operating off the east coast of Scotland have already exceeded their “best before” dates, some by as much as 20 years, leading to fears of a major catastrophe.

Now the emergence of the footage from the undisclosed rig has sparked fresh demands for the safety of operations in the North Sea to be urgently reviewed.

Bill Campbell, former Group Auditor for Shell International and now a safety campaigner, said: “The useful life of any mechanical man-made structure can only be reached if maintained and inspected throughout its life.

“But the dominant failure characteristic for offshore installations is age-related. This footage testing the gratings was taken some weeks ago and shows what we already know.”

Mr Campbell added that he believed many rig workers are “blissfully unaware of the risks they are taking”.

More than 23 years have passed since 168 men died following an explosion on the Piper Alpha platform that also left 61 workers injured.

In the last 12 months there have been hundreds of dangerous incidents offshore with improvement notices handed out to various companies.

Last month Royal Dutch Shell battled an oil leak some 120 miles from Aberdeen in the biggest incident in a decade that saw more than 200 tonnes of oil spill into the sea.

The Sunday Express has obtained a report from the Health and Safety Executive of an inspection on Shell’s Brent C platform in July, which reveals “areas of the installation are suffering from severe corrosion”. Officials also point out that “redundant equipment did not appear to be inspected or  maintained and there is a risk that some aspects may pose a dropped object threat as integrity worsens”.

In a letter to Shell, Fraser Easton, HM Principal Inspector of Health and Safety, said he found a “significant maintenance backlog” exceeding 15,000 hours and demanded assurances that lives were not at risk.

Mr Campbell insisted it is only a matter of time before there is another major tragedy in the North Sea. He said: “According to public domain data there were 85 gas releases and 443 dangerous occurrences last year. If you are getting 85 gas leaks that’s one and a half, or two, leaks a week. The probability of an undesirable event is very high.”

But industry representative Oil & Gas UK, which organised a safety summit earlier this month, insisted the HSE’s most recent statistics show the number of major and significant gas leaks is already going down.

Robert Paterson, health and safety director, said: “The offshore industry invests significant funds, time and energy to ensure that its installations remain in a safe condition. All safety-critical systems on every North Sea platform are subject to regular and rigorous inspections.”

SOURCE ARTICLE

PDF Version of article

RELATED RECENT ARTICLES, MOST OF WHICH REFER TO BILL CAMPBELL

Leaked Shell Sigma3 document may hold clue to cause of Gannet oil spill: RoyalDutchShellPlc.com

Former Shell chairman James Smith to lead deregulation of UK oil and gas industry: Telegraph

UK Offshore Regulator Mulls Naming North Sea Spill Offenders: Dow Jones Newswires

Warning North Sea oil platforms could be near collapse: STV

Shell defends reporting of North Sea oil spill: The Guardian

Shell’s North Sea Reputation sunk by severe corrosion: Sunday Times/RoyalDutchShellPlc.com

Investigation into leak at Shell’s North Sea platform to get under way news: domain-b.com

No wonder bits are falling off the Shell Brent Platforms

Oil spill investigation begins as Shell plugs North Sea leak: The Guardian

Oil production in North Sea scrutinized: UPI

Halt Shell projects in North Sea, says WWF: The Press & Journal

Investigation gets under way as Shell plugs North Sea oil leak: Telegraph

Revealed: Shell’s poor safety record in the UK: Herald Scotland

Shell could face fines over Gannet oil spill: Telegraph

Shell’s Touch Fuck All culture on North Sea Platforms

By The Associated Press September 9, 2011, 4:14PM ET

The Shell oil company on Friday confirmed that a deepwater drill has discovered oil about 90 miles offshore French Guiana.

The company cautioned that it is still early in evaluating the well but said it was pleased by the initial results. Shell described the well as the first deepwater well offshore French Guiana, in northeastern South America.

The well, called GM-ES-1, is being drilled in water that is about 6,500 feet deep. So far it has drilled to a depth of nearly 19,000 feet, the company said.

Royal Dutch Shell plc, based in the Netherlands, bought a stake in the French Guiana drilling project in 2009. The joint venture is operated by London-based Tullow Oil plc.

SOURCE

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN), Friday confirmed that it has made solid progress in starting up three world-class oil & gas projects in 2011, which at peak will add some 400,000 barrels oil equivalent, and is on track to deliver its strategic targets for 50-80% growth in cash flow from operations from 2009 to 2012.

MAIN FACTS:

-Shell’s three-year strategic plan, outlined in 2010, is building the foundations for profitable growth for shareholders in the future.

-The company is improving near-term competitive performance, and delivering a new wave of production growth.

-Shell’s decision to maintain investment in new projects in the 2009 downturn is driving growth in the company.

-In Canada oil sands, the company has progressed with ramping-up of the expansion project at its Scotford Upgrader, and ASOP-1 recently reached its full production level of 100,000 barrels per day.

-In Qatar, the Qatargas 4 LNG project reached production plateau earlier this year. Ramp up of Train 1 of the Pearl GTL project continues to make good progress, with Train 2 on track for start-up before year- end, as planned.

-These three projects, representing some $30 billion of investment, underpin our targets for financial and production growth to 2012.

-The company is on track to deliver strategic targets for 50-80% growth in cash flow from operations from 2009 to 2012, driven by cost savings, operating performance, and an 11% increase in oil & gas production from one of the most substantial portfolios of new oil & gas projects in the industry Friday.

-Building on this growth, the company has launched 14 further Upstream projects so far in 2010-11, which have a expected peak production of some 400,000 barrels oil equivalent per day for Shell in the medium term, and underpinning the company’s longer-term growth potential.

-In Downstream, as the company completes a major phase of asset sales, it is consolidating this reshaped portfolio, focusing on operating performance, and investing in selective growth, for example recently forming the Ra??zen biofuels and marketing joint venture in Brazil.

-The scale and integration of projects such as Pearl GTL, Ra??zen biofuels and Prelude floating LNG are a solid platform to create long term value for shareholders.

-Shares at 1315 GMT down 10 pence, or 0.5%, at GBP20.49, valuing the company at GBP74.19 billion.

-By Razak Musah Baba, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9275; razak.baba@dowjones.com

SOURCE ARTICLE

By John Donovan

We are in possession of a 30 page plus Sigma3 document prepared for Shell U.K. Exploration and Production in relation to Gannet. It may hold a clue to the cause of the recent Shell Gannet oil spill into the North Sea, the largest for a decade.

Sigma3 is a consortium comprising Amec, Petroleum Services Network and Wood Group, which maintains Shell’s North Sea platforms.

According to Shell:

“Sigma 3 team is based inside the Shell organisation gives us a seamless alignment and insight into the real problems being addressed daily in keeping the assets running safely and efficiently.”

“Supporting Shell’s assets in the Central and Northern North Sea, the new organisation brought to the table a formidable mix of skills and technology in the key areas of engineering, construction, maintenance, major capital projects and support services, as well as a diverse supply chain of more than 200 materials and services contractors.”

Naturally there will be some concern that the document has fallen into our hands.

RELATED ARTICLE

Shell’s North Sea Reputation sunk by severe corrosion:

“The drip, drip, drip of negative information has been every bit as corrosive to the company’s reputation as the oil leaking from its pipe. It was not until a week after the oil was first spotted that the company apologised.”