Posts under ‘Australia’

NOVEMBER 2, 2011, 4:52 A.M. ET

By DAVID WINNING And DAVID FICKLING

SYDNEY—Australia’s foreign-investment watchdog has pushed back by up to 90 days a decision on the takeover of coal-seam-gas developer Bow Energy Ltd. by a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and PetroChina Co.

In a government notice to parliament, the Foreign Investment Review Board said it needed more time to decide whether to approve the 535 million Australian dollar (US$557 million) deal, which would enable Shell and PetroChina’s Arrow Energy venture to expand its proposed gas-export facility in Queensland state.

Such delays are unusual: Around 95% of FIRB decisions are made within a 30-day period set out in law, and so-called interim orders extending the process by 90 days were made just twice during the year ending June 2010, the latest period for which figures are available.

But Arrow said the decision was procedural, to allow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to complete its review of the deal, due Nov. 24.

“This allows FIRB to defer its decision until the ACCC has completed its review of any competition implications of the transaction,” Arrow said in an emailed statement.

Companies facing such procedural hurdles typically withdraw their FIRB applications and resubmit them later, but that would restart the 30-day clock—and so risk the timetable on the takeover deal. It calls for approval by shareholders and an Australian court in mid-to-late December, according to an announcement Monday from Bow.

Bow’s board has unanimously recommended investors vote in favor of the A$1.52-a-share (US$1.58) offer, and Shell said in September that it expected the transaction to be implemented in January.

Coal-seam gas—methane trapped far below the Earth’s surface—is one of the world’s hottest energy plays. More than A$20 billion was spent in 2008 on coal-seam-gas deals in Australia alone, by companies including Shell, ConocoPhillips and BG Group PLC of the U.K.

In August, Arrow Energy awarded preliminary engineering and design contracts for an export facility at Curtis Island, near Gladstone, producing an initial eight million metric tons of liquefied natuaral gas a year. Acquiring Bow Energy would allow the venture potentially to expand the annual output capacity of each of the facility’s two processing units, known as trains, to 4.6 million tons of LNG.

Write to David Winning at david.winning@dowjones.com and David Fickling at david.fickling@dowjones.com

SOURCE ARTICLE

Devjyot Ghoshal

Energy-hungry Asia will remain the major growth driver for Shell, though the region’s appetite may diminish slightly next year owing to global uncertainties, the Dutch oil and gas major’s chief executive officer, Peter Voser, said on Monday.

“I think Asia-Pacific for us is the key growth region. We see a lot of growth, and, hopefully, enough growth, that can actually drive the worldwide economy coming out of Asia-Pacific,” Voser said on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week.

“That’s where huge parts of our investment actually go; into Asia or into upstream projects, for example, (from) where the gas finally will go to Asia,” he said.

Shell’s major projects in the region include the deep-water Gumusut field in Malaysia and the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals project in Singapore, the company’s largest petrochemicals investment globally. The company also has a presence in Brunei, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.

And, while Shell will look to scale up operations within Asia to meet growing demand here, it will also invest elsewhere, including in state-of-the-art equipment, to ensure the supply-side is well bolstered.

“We have recently taken a final investment decision on new technology called ‘Floating LNG’, which will actually allow us to develop smaller gas fields off-shore, have a smaller footprint, and then deliver the LNG to the hungry Asian markets,” Voser said.

Earlier this year, Shell announced it would build the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas facility that can produce gas from offshore fields and liquefy it onboard by cooling, at an estimated cost of $11.5 billion. It is likely to be moored 200 km off the Australian coast on completion.

“That’s a ship which we are building. It is 485 metres long, 70 metres wide and 600,000 tonnes heavy with a lot of technology from Shell in it. We are the first, and only one, to drive this. We look at this as one of the drivers for our growth aspiration in Asia-Pacific,” he said.

At the same time, Shell will continue to grow its LNG business in India, while also expanding its retail operations in the country. “I think India with its economy and population will be key in the growth of energy demand in the future… For Shell, India is a very important country. We are quite clearly focused on bringing gas into India,” he said.

Shell, in partnership with France’s Total, operates the 3.6-million tonnes per annum LNG terminal at Hazira, which consists of a storage and re-gasification terminal along with port facilities. “We are very pleased with the Hazira terminal that we have, which is our main entry into India and that capacity is used a lot,” he said, adding that the company would push for long-term LNG contracts.

The oil and gas major, which acquired a marketing licence in 2004 to set-up 2,000 fuel retail stations, also expects its retail arms to grow.

“As far as I know, we are still the only IOC (international oil company) with a marketing license and, therefore, we are growing our consumer business in India. The pace of that (growth) will depend on how fast we can acquire land, plots, etc. but also on how the overall energy policy of the Indian government will work. I think I have seen very positive signs in that direction,” he said.

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MARK WILLIAMSON

28 Oct 2011

ROYAL Dutch Shell said it would curb investment in Europe where it expects the economy to stagnate, but made clear it would still spend in the North Sea.

Announcing bumper profits driven by high oil prices, the oil and gas giant said it will shift a growing share of its investment to places like Qatar, where the launch of huge projects will underpin growth for years.

Noting that Shell only devotes 15% of its investment to Europe, chief financial officer Simon Henry said the continent’s share will shrink amid concerns about the fallout from the debt crisis.

The day after European ministers finally agreed a plan to try to stabilise the eurozone, Mr Henry indicated Shell executives have been unimpressed by the response to the problems.

He told reporters: “Europe’s macroeconomic position can only recover and the sovereign debt crisis can only be addressed through underlying economic growth. We do not see the EU creating the conditions for that – in fact quite the opposite.

“Most moves by the [European] Commission one way or another tend to almost directly or indirectly reduce the competitiveness of European industry.”

Mr Henry said Shell had identified plenty of global opportunities to put its money to good use, including developing 20 major projects in countries such as Canada and Australia that will underpin growth for years. However, Shell still sees scope to invest in the North Sea.

Mr Henry noted Shell recently confirmed it will invest in the £4.5 billion BP-led Clair Ridge project west of Shetland, among the 20 growth projects he cited.

Earlier this year Shell approved plans for the £3bn redevelopment of the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, also west of Shetland.

In May, Shell’s chief executive Peter Voser told The Herald that it could remain in the North Sea for decades.

However, the firm told the Government that tax hikes in the Budget could jeopardise investment in smaller projects.

Shell said it will continue to dispose of non-core assets, although at a slower pace than in the past two years. Shell has already raised $6.2bn (£3.9bn) against a target of $5bn.

Richard Griffith, an oil and gas analyst at Evolution Securities, said Shell’s third quarter results showed the company is in a “sweet spot”.

Stripping out the effect of changes in inventories, the company doubled third quarter profits to $7.2bn, from $3.5bn in the same period last year.

Shell benefited from a 48% rise in oil prices – partly caused by unrest in the Middle East and Africa. Production increased by 2% annually, excluding asset sales, to 3.01 million barrels oil equivalent daily.

Upstream earnings increased 58% annually, to $5.4bn. Profits in the downstream business, which includes forecourt sales increased by 25% to $1.8bn.

Asked what respite Shell would provide to hard-pressed motorists, Mr Henry said: “We do a good job in getting the lowest cost fuel to customers. The Government is probably the first people you should call.”

Mr Henry said the Government takes two-thirds of the price of a litre, adding: “It is a volume business on which we make a very small margin.”

Mr Henry said Shell could not use the profits from its upstream business to subsidise the downstream.

The company announced an unchanged third quarter dividend of $0.42 per ordinary share.

Shares in Royal Dutch Shell closed up 27p at £22.80.

SOURCE ARTICLE

By Eduard Gismatullin – Oct 27, 2011 8:25 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, said third-quarter profit doubled as energy prices rose and it ramped up projects from Qatar to Canada.

Net income increased to $7 billion from $3.5 billion a year earlier, The Hague-based Shell said today in a statement. Excluding one-time items and inventory changes, earnings beat analyst estimates.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser is seeking to boost output with a $100 billion investment plan through 2014, including the Pearl gas-to-liquids and Qatargas 4 liquefied natural-gas projects and an upgrade at an oil-sands project in Alberta. Shell has sold about $6.2 billion of assets this year, exceeding a $5 billion target.

“We are making good progress against our targets, to deliver a more competitive performance,” Voser said in the statement.

Adjusted earnings of $7 billion compared with the $6.6 billion mean estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Shell’s Class A shares in London rose as much as 2.6 percent and were at 2,305 pence as of 8:08 a.m. local time. The stock is up 7.7 percent this year.

Earlier this week, BP Plc also reported profit that beat analyst estimates and increased an asset sales target by 50 percent to $45 billion. Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest energy producer, said today that output rose for the first quarter in five as earnings fell on higher taxes. Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. oil company, will report results later today.

LNG Sales

LNG sales volumes increased 12 percent to 4.76 million tons from the year-earlier quarter, Shell said.

Overall production fell 2 percent to 3.012 million barrels of oil equivalent a day. New fields contributed about 270,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Shell’s cash flow benefited from a 33 percent gain in U.K. gas futures and a 46 percent increase in Brent oil prices from the year-earlier quarter.

Shell received its first contribution from a $12 billion biofuels joint venture with Cosan SA Industria & Comercio in Brazil, it said today. It was involved in two exploration discoveries in French Guiana and Australia. Shell also secured new exploration projects in the Americas, Tanzania and New Zealand.

Of the 31 analysts that cover Shell, 24 recommend buying the shares and seven have ‘hold’ ratings.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

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EXTRACT FROM RELATED ARTICLE: Now that it is out in the open, the story in The Sunday Chronicle is actually very damaging for Shell…

(Is Shell Trying To Muscle Into InterOil’s LNG Project?)

Sunday September 25, 2011

THE O’Neill-Namah government has moved into damage control mode for the second LNG project development in Gulf Province.

Meetings are to be scheduled over the next seven days to avert sending out a potentially damaging sovereign risk signal to the foreign investment community. The move will also distance the government from the stigma of a potentially corrupt inducement money totalling $US100 million promised by a multi-national company to shaft the second LNG developer.

The second LNG developer is Liquid Niugini Gas Limited, a joint venture entity jointly owned by InterOil and its partner Pacific LNG Limited.

The $US100 million offer is payable after dilution of InterOil’s project equity, cancellations of InterOil’s project agreement with the State signed in December 2009 and the company’s present PRL-15 over Elk/Antelope and dispossession of its exploration acres in Gulf Province.

The offer was made in writing on April 21 this year by Shell Exploration Company BV to investment bankers – Lazard Freres based in Paris and to New York-based Ambata Capital Partners – who were appointed by Petromin PNG Holdings Limited to act for them. Petromin is the custodial nominee company appointed by the State to hold the State’s 20.5 per cent equity in the second LNG project.

The state has still to exercise its right to acquire 22.5 per cent equity in the Gulf LNG project in accordance with provisions of Section 165 of the Oil and Gas Act.

The need for damage control arose following disagreement between InterOil and Petromin over operator-ship of the project. Petromin – through Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma and his department – has been actively lobbying to have Shell Exploration Company BV imposed on InterOil as operator of the Gulf LNG Project. InterOil does not accept the deal.

InterOil contends that Shell cannot have it easy. According to industry sources Shell has spent no exploration dollars in the lead up to the second LNG project and is being manipulatively allowed through the back-door by Petromin to meddle in and delay the project development by four years to 2015 with first LNG cargo envisioned in 2018.

The position of the O’Neill-Namah government as stated by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill since taking up office has been to develop the two LNG projects together and for new and returning foreign investors to follow the laws of PNG and come through the “front door” to invest in PNG.

By operation of the project agreement between InterOil and the State, the appointment of an operator is not necessary until a final investment decision (FID) is made. InterOil has been working towards reaching FID by the end of this year. Petromin seeks to dispossess InterOil of its 4.6 million exploration acres in the Gulf of Papua under PPLs 236, 237 and 238.

Petromin has schemed “Project Zebra”under which it has mounted a hostile takeover or dilution bid of InterOil’s LNG project equity position as a condition of Shell’s engagement as Gulf LNG project operator.

The scheme was hatched by Petromin in March this year which Petromin maintains was purportedly at the direction of displaced Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and Minister Duma.

Persons close to the former Prime Minister say Sir Michael was never consulted by Petromin for authority to seek an operator for InterOil’s LNG project.

InterOil as explorer and discoverer of the substantial Elk and Antelope natural gas and condensate reservoirs have been placed in a less than winning position after spending millions of exploration dollars over 15 years.

Last month Shell signed a strategic partnership agreement with Petromin to pursue oil and gas exploration and development interests in PNG including the bid by Shell to acquire 50.4 per cent of a vertically integrated and fully aligned unincorporated LNG joint venture.

RELATED “SEEKING ALPHA” ARTICLE: Is Shell Trying To Muscle Into InterOil’s LNG Project?

EXTRACT: Now that it is out in the open, the story in The Sunday Chronicle is actually very damaging for Shell…

74 page July 2011 document leaked to us – The Future of Shell’s Clyde Refinery

By James Paton

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Arrow Energy Ltd., owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co., agreed to buy Bow Energy Ltd. after sweetening its offer to A$535 million ($516 million), gaining resources for a natural gas project in Australia.

The coal-seam gas explorer and producer in Queensland state increased its cash offer to A$1.52 a share from A$1.48, Brisbane-based Bow said in a statement today. That’s 72 percent more than the stock’s price of 88.5 cents in Sydney trading before Arrow made its initial offer on Aug. 22.

Arrow plans the fourth liquefied natural gas venture in Queensland to meet rising Asian demand for the fuel, following approvals for more than $50 billion in developments led by BG Group Plc, Santos Ltd. and ConocoPhillips. The acquisition may allow Arrow to expand output at the venture’s first two units, or trains, by as much as 15 percent, the company said today.

“These big LNG project developers will need more gas” to underpin additional processing units, Ivor Ries, an analyst at E.L. & C. Baillieu Stockbroking Ltd., said by telephone today from Melbourne. “We’ll see more consolidation.”

Bow rose 0.3 percent to A$1.465 at 4:10 p.m. in Sydney. Bow has gained 66 percent since Aug. 19 on the Australian stock exchange, before Brisbane-based Arrow made its initial offer.

‘Good Deal’

The Arrow accord values Bow at about 16 cents a gigajoule of proven, probable and possible reserves, compared with an average of about 50 cents a gigajoule for Australian coal-seam gas transactions over the past two years, Andrew Williams, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Melbourne, said by phone.

“This is a very good deal for Arrow,” Williams said.

The Arrow LNG venture may cost more than $20 billion to develop, Deutsche Bank AG estimated in a Sept. 23 report. Bow had been the subject of takeover speculation since Santos, Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer, agreed in July to pay about A$730 million to buy the shares in coal-seam gas explorer Eastern Star Gas Ltd. it didn’t already own.

“Our project is proceeding quite nicely on our existing reserves,” Andrew Faulkner, Arrow’s chief executive officer, said in a phone interview today. The transaction provides “the opportunity to take that project to the next level, to expand the train size and to strengthen our reserves base,” he said.

The Bow deal may allow Arrow to expand the size of each of the first two LNG processing units on Curtis Island to as much as 4.6 million metric tons of the fuel a year from the current plan of 4 million tons a year, Faulkner said. Arrow is on track to make a final investment decision in late 2013, he said.

‘Superior Bid’

Bow’s board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of the proposal in the absence of a “superior” bid, according to the statement. The accord is subject to regulatory approvals in Australia and China, and Bow shareholders are due to vote on the deal in December, the companies said in separate statements.

Bow said it is being advised by Bank of America Corp. and Wilson HTM Investment Group, while Arrow said it named JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a financial adviser.

The offer “absolutely reflects the underlying value of Bow’s assets and resources,” Arrow’s Faulkner said in the interview. “The price acknowledges the volatility and the technical and commercial uncertainties that are out there.”

The coal-seam gas industry on the east coast of Australia “must repair damage and rebuild the trust” of communities amid criticism from environmental groups who say the drilling of wells may contaminate water supplies, Elaine Prior, a Citigroup Inc. analyst in Sydney, said in a Sept. 21 report.

–Editors: Keith Gosman, Amit Prakash

To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

SOURCE ARTICLE

By James Paton – Aug 22, 2011 8:09 AM GMT+0100

Arrow Energy Ltd., owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and PetroChina Co., offered about A$520 million ($540 million) for Bow Energy Ltd. (BOW), seeking more resources to underpin a proposed liquefied natural gas project in Australia.

Arrow, a coal-seam gas explorer and producer in Queensland state, offered A$1.48 a share in cash, Brisbane-based Bow said today in a statement. That’s 67 percent more than Bow’s price of 88.5 cents in Sydney trading on Aug. 19. The shares surged 60 percent today to A$1.415 at the 4:10 p.m. close.

The bid “does significantly undervalue the stock compared with where we think it should be,” said Andrew Williams, a Melbourne-based oil and gas analyst at RBC Capital Markets, who has a price target of A$1.75 on Bow’s shares. “It still leaves scope for upside and more play to come.”

Arrow plans a fourth LNG venture on Queensland’s Curtis Island, following approvals for more than $50 billion in rival developments led by BG Group Plc (BG/), Santos Ltd. (STO) and ConocoPhillips (COP) to meet rising demand in Asia. Bow has been the subject of takeover speculation since Santos, Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer, agreed last month to pay about A$730 million to buy the shares in Eastern Star Gas Ltd. (ESG) it didn’t already own.

Bow has been in talks to supply gas to the companies developing the LNG projects in Queensland as it targets a more than fivefold gain in reserves by next year, Chief Executive Officer John De Stefani said in an Aug. 3 interview. Bow increased its proven and probable reserves to 238 petajoules last month and aims to reach 1,250 petajoules in 2012, enough gas to support an LNG plant producing 1 million metric tons of the fuel annually over 20 years, De Stefani said.

‘LNG Opportunity’

The offer values Bow at about 6 Australian cents a gigajoule of gas reserves that may be recoverable, 33 percent less than the price Santos agreed to pay for Eastern Star and the amount Shell and PetroChina paid last year for Arrow, John Young, a Melbourne-based analyst at Wilson HTM Investment Group, estimated today. Those deals valued the targets at 9 cents a gigajoule, he said.

“Bow is still working to demonstrate conversion to 2P reserves,” from proven, probable and possible reserves, “whereas Arrow and Eastern Star were probably more advanced,” Young said, adding he thinks a rival bid is unlikely.

Dart Energy Ltd. (DTE), a Sydney-listed company developing coal bed methane resources in countries including Australia, rose 6.7 percent to 56 cents in Sydney, the most in four months. Exoma Energy Ltd. (EXE), a natural gas explorer in Queensland, climbed 21 percent to 14.5 cents in Sydney, the most since July 1.

A transaction with Bow would help Arrow increase the size of its first two LNG processing units, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Faulkner said today in a statement. Arrow initially plans to produce 4 million tons of LNG a year from each of the first two units, the company said this month.

‘Complementary’ Businesses

Shell is “quite happy” to wait to develop the Arrow LNG project as costs to develop ventures rise, Peter Voser, chief executive officer of The Hague-based company, told analysts in July. Arrow expects a final investment decision to proceed with its development in late 2013, Faulkner said in June.

“Shell’s public statements indicate that they didn’t mind being last, and they were willing to wait,” RBC’s Williams said. “Now it looks as though they may want to accelerate it. It’s a clear signal there is an LNG opportunity out there.”

Bow recommends that shareholders take no action at this stage, the company said in the statement.

“It makes sense for both companies to explore business opportunities given the proximity of both companies’ coal-seam gas assets and the complementary nature of our businesses,” Arrow’s Faulkner said. “Arrow has the technical capability, capital resources and guaranteed market that may assist Bow Energy realize the potential of its assets.”

Conoco and Sydney-based partner Origin Energy Ltd. (ORG) last month approved the first phase of a $20 billion project in Queensland. Santos said in January its venture would cost $16 billion, while BG in October said it would invest $15 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

SOURCE ARTICLE

By Eduard Gismatullin – Jul 28, 2011 8:47 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s biggest oil company, said second-quarter earnings almost doubled on higher oil prices and project startups in Qatar and Canada.

Net income rose to $8.66 billion from $4.39 billion a year earlier, The Hague-based Shell said today in a statement. Excluding one-time items and inventory changes, profit matched analyst estimates.

“The cash generation in the company was already quite strong and they proved it again this quarter,” said Dimitri Willems, who helps manage about 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion) at Kempen Capital Management in Amsterdam. Cash flow from operations rose 43 percent to $12.3 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser, who sold about $4 billion of “non-core” assets in the first half, is seeking to boost production with a $100 billion investment plan through 2014. Shell started the Pearl gas-to-liquids and Qatargas 4 liquefied natural-gas ventures in the Middle East this year. It also expanded an oil-sands project in Canada’s Alberta region.

“The first half of 2011 saw the successful startup of three of the largest-scale projects anywhere in our industry today,” Voser said in the statement. “The ramp-up of our new projects should drive our financial performance in the coming quarters.”

Statoil, Repsol

BP Plc (BP/), Shell’s smaller rival, earlier this week reported profit that missed analyst estimates following field disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico. Statoil ASA, Norway’s largest oil company, and Repsol YPF SA of Spain both reported earnings today that beat estimates. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the largest U.S. oil company, is scheduled to release earnings later today.

Adjusted earnings at Shell came in at $6.6 billion, in line with the mean estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Shell’s Class A shares traded in London fell 0.5 percent to 2,253 pence as of 8:20 a.m. local time. The stock is up 5.3 percent this year.

The startups in Qatar and Canada will contribute in excess of 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day at their peak, according to Voser.

Shell carried out work at its refineries in Canada, the U.S., the Netherlands, Malaysia and Singapore this year. As a result, refining availability fell to 90 percent in the second quarter from 94 percent last year.

‘Resilient Performance’

“Maintenance activities and weak industry refining margins masked a resilient performance from oil products marketing and chemicals,” the CEO said.

Production fell 2 percent to 3.046 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter, mainly because of asset sales. Shell plans to increase daily output to 3.7 million barrels in 2014. LNG sales rose 24 percent to 4.8 million tons in the latest quarter.

Brent crude futures, the benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s crude, were on average 48 percent higher in the second quarter compared with the year-earlier period. U.K. natural-gas prices were 58 percent higher.

In Mexico, Shell agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in an LNG import terminal at Altamira for about $200 million. It also completed the disposal of assets in Chile and the Dominican Republic for about $700 million in total.

Prelude Floating LNG

Shell is expanding in Australia after agreeing in May to invest as much as $12.6 billion in the Prelude floating LNG project. Earlier this month, it agreed to join Japan’s Inpex Corp. in a floating LNG project off Indonesia.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Shell started the Cardamom field development last month. In May, the company warned that its oil and gas production may be curbed by 50,000 barrels a day in the Gulf because of delays in receiving drilling permits following the Macondo crude spill last year.

Shell completed a $1.8 billion Texas gas field sale to Occidental Petroleum Corp. this year and also disposed of stakes in Canada, Pakistan and the U.K. This month it agreed to sell assets in Brazil.

Last month, Shell concluded the creation of a $12 billion biofuel joint venture with Cosan SA Industria & Comercio in Brazil. The partners plan to make transport fuel from wheat stalks and sugar-cane bagasse, a sugar industry waste product, in anticipation that the share of renewable energy in fuel will double in the next 10 years.

In Malaysia, Shell together with ConocoPhillips and Petroliam Nasional Bhd. agreed to invest in the offshore Sabah Gas Kebabangan project, which will pump 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

SOURCE ARTICLE

By JULIA WERDIGIER: July 28, 2011

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest oil company in Europe, said on Thursday that its profit almost doubled in the second quarter on higher oil prices and as new oil and gas projects came on stream.

Profit rose to $8.7 billion in the April-through June period, from $4.4 billion in the same period last year, Shell said in a statement. Production fell 2 percent after Shell sold some assets and because of delays in drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We have made important progress with new production in 2011, and the ramp-up of our new projects should drive our financial performance in the coming quarters,” the Shell chief executive Peter Voser said in the statement.

Shell started two projects in the first half in Qatar and expanded its Canadian oil sands operation. The Qatargas 4 liquefied natural gas project is now at full capacity and the new Pearl gas to liquids operation started, Shell said.

The three projects are expected to contribute more than 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in peak production, the company said.

Shell invested $8 billion in the first half and reiterated it aims to invest at least $100 billion in new energy supplies until 2014. Among its investments are liquefied natural gas projects in Australia and Indonesia. Shell also sold $4 billion of assets in the first half of this year to reduce its costs.

BP reported a profit of $5.6 billion in the second quarter on Tuesday after a loss in the same period last year, but said oil and gas production fell as it sold some assets and continued to be affected by the Gulf of Mexico rig explosion a year ago.

Oil and gas production at Shell dropped to 3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 3.1 million barrels in the second quarter of last year. Shell sold its stake in a deep-water subsalt exploration block off Brazil’s coast earlier this month and completed the sale of a group of gas fields in South Texas to Occidental Petroleum for $1.8 billion in January. It also sold assets in Britain and Canada.

Exxon Mobil was expected to report earnings later on Thursday.

NEW YORK TIMES WEBSITE ARTICLE

By Ben Sharples and James Paton – Jul 27, 2011 7:19 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, will halt refining operations at its Clyde plant in Sydney before mid-2013 and convert the facility into a fuel-import terminal.

The plant, which processes about 79,000 barrels a day of crude oil and employs 310 people, is no longer regionally competitive against Asian “mega-refineries,” the Hague-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. The plan was initially announced in April.

Shell said in March it intends to reduce global refining and marketing costs by $1 billion by the end of next year as it seeks to accelerate production growth through 2014. The company, which also operates a second refinery at Geelong in Victoria state, acquired Clyde in 1928 and the plant supplies about 40 percent of Sydney’s petroleum needs.

“Shell must evolve as it strives to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market,” Andrew Smith, vice president of the company’s Australian downstream unit, said on a conference call. “Australia is a growth center for Shell’s global business, particularly in liquefied natural gas, and the company is set to become one of the largest investors” in the country.

Shell said in May it expects to invest about $30 billion in Australian oil and natural gas developments during the next five years. The company that month approved the Prelude floating LNG venture off the coast of northwest Australia.

Carbon Tax

The plan to end oil refining wasn’t prompted by Australia’s proposed tax on carbon emissions, Shell said. Australia expects to make about 500 polluters pay A$23 a ton for their emissions from next year, before switching to a cap-and-trade system in 2015, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said this month.

There are seven oil refineries in Australia, with others operated by BP Plc (BP/), Caltex Australia Ltd. (CTX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)

“Asian refining capacity is increasing, and it will have an impact on the Australian refining industry, but I’m not going to crystal ball gaze on margins,” Smith said. The conversion of Clyde into an import facility won’t impact fuel prices, he said.

Profits from turning crude into fuels such as gasoline and diesel are unlikely to increase as new capacity outweighs demand, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in a June report.

OMV AG (OMV), central Europe’s largest oil company, said in May it started to close its 70,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Romania and turn it into a crude and fuel terminal.

LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) also said that month it was seeking a buyer for its 105,000 barrel-a-day Berre plant in southern France.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net; James Paton in Sydney at jpaton4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net; Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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