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“We can’t wait too long,” said Peter Voser, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch/Shell Plc. “It’s two minutes before midnight.”

By Simon Kennedy and Simone Meier – Jan 25, 2012 12:52 PM GMT

Europe must show more resolve to fix the debt crisis as officials race to draft rules governing the euro and bridge widening difference over how to keep Greece’s finances afloat, said delegates at the World Economic Forum.

“We can’t wait too long,” said Peter Voser, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch/Shell Plc. “It’s two minutes before midnight.”

Executives and officials are meeting in Davos, Switzerland as bond markets show signs of stabilizing after the European Central Bank last month pumped three-year emergency funding into a banking system that was in danger of seizing up. At the same time, governments, investors and the International Monetary Fund are split on how to restructure Greek debt less than two months before a potential default.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said today that Greece’s “public creditors” will have to participate with investors. Two people familiar with the stance of the ECB’s Governing Council said the central bank is opposed.

“There has to be a lot more work done,” David Rubenstein, the co-founder of private-equity firm Carlyle Group, said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland.

Davos attendees will hear from German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 5:25 p.m. local time when she delivers the forum’s opening speech. ECB President Mario Draghi will be in town on Jan. 27.

All Clear?

Delegates warned it’s too soon to sound the all clear on Europe even after the ECB’s decision to pump emergency cash into the banking system staved off a bond market rout in the region.

The ECB’s measures “have relieved the liquidity problems of European banks but didn’t cure the financing disadvantages highly indebted countries suffer,” billionaire investor George Soros told reporters in Davos today. “Half a solution isn’t enough.”

The views dovetail with the findings of a Bloomberg Global Poll, conducted Jan. 23-24. Almost half of respondents identified the euro area as one of the worst to invest in and 67 percent predicted the crisis will deepen. Draghi nevertheless won plaudits with 70 percent saying they had a favorable view of him.

“I’m convinced he’ll do whatever is necessary to fend off the crisis,” Urs Rohner, chairman of Credit Suisse Group, said in an interview.

Greek Snag

Europe’s drive to end the crisis has hit a snag as governments and investors struggle to reach an accord over how to cut Greece’s debt levels. European officials are demanding that private bondholders take deeper losses, while banks argue that all holders of Greek debt, both public and private, should contribute. Failure to reach agreement could mean Greece will struggle to make a bond payment on March 20.

“No one wants to be the only one feeling the pain,” said John Veihmeyer, chief executive for the Americas at KPMG, the global accounting and professional services firm.

The ECB began buying Greek bonds in May 2010 and Barclays Capital estimates it now holds about 36 billion euros ($46.6 billion) worth of bonds.

Some observers in Davos say leaders are refusing to grasp more dramatic measures.

“This year is decisive for making decisions,” said German Gref, chief executive officer of OAO Sberbank (SBER03), Russia’s largest bank. “It would be considerably more rational for Greece to quit the eurozone. For Greece it will mean a gradual accelerating of its economy, restoring its competitiveness.”

Merkel Speech

Delegates will listen to Merkel’s speech for any sign she’s shifted her stance on euro bonds to help out the region’s most indebted countries as Europe pushes ahead with her plan to lock in stricter debt and deficit limits.

While Merkel said that joint euro-area bonds “are no solution to the current crisis” in an interview published today with European newspapers including Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, she reiterated that European countries might consider “more joint liability once we have achieved much deeper integration,” according to an e-mailed transcript.

“We took an important step by discussing reasons of the crisis in an honest manner,” German Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview. “A single currency means a joint budget discipline. That has been accepted. In the medium to long term, confidence in Europe will only be re-established if we prove that we’re competitive.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Simon Kennedy in Davos, Switzerland at skennedy4@bloomberg.net Simone Meier in Davos, Switzerland at smeier@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Fraher at jfraher@bloomberg.net

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By Barbara Powell – Jan 13, 2012 1:22 PM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and leaders of the union representing workers at 69 U.S. oil refineries will begin negotiating a new three-year labor contract Jan. 17 to avoid a work stoppage that could disrupt plant operations.

The current contract between oil refiners and 30,000 members of the United Steel Workers expires Jan. 31. The last contract negotiations in January 2009 were settled after 12 days of talks that stalled as the union tried and failed to win safety improvements.

The union will make a similar demand at next week’s talks, according to Gary Beevers, a USW vice president and the union’s lead negotiator. The union hasn’t struck since 1980, when a work stoppage lasted three months. A strike would affect almost two- thirds of U.S. refining capacity, according to the USW.

“The most important objective is to get enforceable health and safety language into the contract,” Lynne Baker, a spokeswoman for the union in Nashville, Tennessee, said yesterday in an interview. “Our proposal will help the industry do a better job.”

Shell, negotiating on behalf of the companies, and union leaders, including Beevers, will meet in Austin, Texas, to hammer out terms. Any deal is subject to approval by refiners and pipeline operators before becoming the national pattern they use in negotiating local union contracts.

“Shell is optimistic that a mutually satisfactory agreement can be negotiated with the USW,” Kayla Macke, a spokeswoman for Shell, said yesterday in an e-mail.

Previous Agreement

In 2009, the union accepted higher wages while relenting on new safety provisions. The three-year labor agreement included 3 percent annual raises and a $2,500 bonus for workers.

“I think the union will be able to achieve some increase in wages because the oil companies have been making money although they will make the argument that many of the refineries have been losing money,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston.

Contracts between the companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Valero Energy Corp. (VLO), and the local USW members must incorporate the terms of the national agreement, Baker said.

The majority of local contracts expire Jan. 31 and most of the rest later in the winter and spring.

Valero Energy Corp. has 13 U.S. refineries, of which five have union representation, Bill Day, a spokesman in San Antonio, said. Four of those five have contracts that expire between the end of January and April 23, he said. He declined to comment on negotiations, saying Valero had a “gentlemen’s agreement” with the union to not comment publicly on the talks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Barbara J. Powell in Dallas at bpowell4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

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By Nariman Gizitdinov – Jan 11, 2012 6:00 PM GMT

The Kazakh government is considering a request from Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and other partners to raise the budget for the first phase of the Kashagan oil project by 20 percent to $46 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The international oil companies, which include Eni SpA (ENI) and Total SA (FP), will bear the extra cost themselves, the person said, declining to be identified as the information isn’t public. Kazakhstan’s state energy company, which also has a stake, will reimburse them with barrels of oil for its share once output starts, he said.

Kashagan, once touted as the world’s biggest discovery in four decades, has been plagued by cost overruns and delays over the past decade. An early estimate of $24 billion for the first phase was revised up to $38.6 billion. The venture underestimated the cost of building artificial islands for equipment and to house workers in a region that’s frozen almost half the year, while construction expenses also surged.

Shell, Exxon, Eni and Total each hold a 16.8 percent stake in the field, as does state-owned KazMunaiGaz National Co., according to the website of the North Caspian Operating Co., or NCOC, which manages the project. ConocoPhillips holds 8.4 percent and Japan’s Inpex Corp. (1605) has 7.56 percent.

The costs and schedule of the field’s development are “currently being considered” with the government after a review was carried out, NCOC said in an e-mailed statement.

KazMunaiGaz referred questions to Kazakhstan’s (OLPDKAZA) Oil and Gas Ministry, which didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment. Shell declined to comment, as did Eni and Total. Charlie Engelmann, an Exxon spokesman based in Irving, Texas, directed a request for comments to the project’s joint operator.

The Caspian Sea field will produce 370,000 to 450,000 barrels of oil a day in the first phase, which may double in the second phase in 2018 or 2019, Deputy Oil Minister Lyazzat Kiinov said last month.

Production is slated to begin in June 2013 “at the latest,” Deputy Oil Minister Lyazzat Kiinov said last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

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By John Buckley

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc chief Peter Voser said the potential for shale gas development in Europe is limited by the region’s regulations and its dense population.

Shell expects expansion in shale and tight gas — which is locked in rock that’s difficult and expensive to break — in North America, China and Australia, and has signed a deal in Ukraine, the chief executive officer said in an interview in Shell Venster, the company’s Dutch-language personnel magazine.

“We are looking further at possibilities in Europe, but the development of shale gas there will be limited as a result of regulation, legislation, high population density and the challenge of obtaining permits,” he said in the interview.

Shell, based in The Hague, applied for permits to drill for oil in Arctic regions this year and next, he said. “We have all the permits we need but we have a long way to go before we start drilling. The emphasis is on Alaska and to a certain extent Greenland, and in Russia some possibilities may arise.”

The company said in September it agreed to invest as much as $800 million to explore for oil, natural gas and shale gas in Ukraine. Shell will cooperate with Ukraine’s Ukrgasvydobuvannia to explore six license areas covering about 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) in the Kharkiv region. Drilling of the first deep exploration well would begin this year, it said.

–With assistance from Eduard Gismatullin in London. Editors: Tony Barrett, Randall Hackley

To contact the reporter on this story: John Buckley in Amsterdam at johnbuckley@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

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JANUARY 10, 2012, 6:10 P.M. ET

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)-Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN) Tuesday reported an emissions event caused by a leak in overhead piping at the company’s joint-venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas.

In a filing to Texas state environmental regulators, the company said the emissions were routed to the appropriate safety flare system and that refinery personnel depressured and isolated the leak from the Debenzenizer 1 column in just over 10 minutes.

The Debenzenizer and Hydrotreater 2 were listed as sources of the emissions.

It is not clear whether the event had an impact on production at the 327,000-barrels-a-day refinery that Shell Oil, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, operates in partnership with PMI Norteamerica S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.

-By Rose Marton-Vitale; Dow Jones Newswires, 201-264-4185, rose.marton@dowjones.com

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RELATED ARTICLES

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Forbes: Shell refineries settle with government: Associated Press, 03.31.2010, 02:40 PM EDT

Extract: ST. ROSE, La. — Two Shell chemical companies have agreed to install $6 million in pollution reduction equipment at two petroleum refineries in Louisiana and Alabama and upgrade a terminal in Puerto Rico as part of a Clean Air Act settlement with the federal government. Shell Chemical LP and Shell Chemical Yabucoa, units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC ( RDSA – news – people ), also will pay a combined $3.3 million civil penalty to the federal government, Alabama and Louisiana.

About $193 will go to Louisiana organizations for environmental education, teacher workshops and emergency operations. The new pollution control equipment will be installed at Shell Chemical refineries in St. Rose, La., and Saraland, Ala. The settlement was announced Wednesday by the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

NASDAQ: Shell To Pay $9.5 Million In Settling Clean Air Act Allegations: Mar 31, 2010 | 3:00PM

Extract: DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN) has agreed to pay $3.5 million in penalties and spend an estimated $6 million to install pollution-reduction equipments at three U.S. refineries to reduce harmful air emissions. The equipment is intended to cut output of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by more than 1,450 tons a year at the facilities in Louisiana, Alabama and Puerto Rico. Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno said the settlement is an example of businesses’ effort to comply with government environmental regulations. “We will continue to work with industry to achieve compliance under the Clean Air Act to remove harmful pollution from the air we breathe,” she added. -By Jodi Xu, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3037; jodi.xu@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-31-101334ET Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Los Angeles Times: Shell refineries reach Clean Air Act settlements: By Associated Press March 31, 2010 | 12:02 p.m.

Extract: ST. ROSE, La. (AP) — Two Shell chemical companies have agreed to install $6 million in pollution reduction equipment at two petroleum refineries in Louisiana and Alabama and upgrade a terminal in Puerto Rico as part of a Clean Air Act settlement with the federal government. Shell Chemical LP and Shell Chemical Yabucoa, units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, also will pay a combined $3.3 million civil penalty to the federal government, Alabama and Louisiana. About $193,000 will go to Louisiana organizations for environmental education, teacher workshops and emergency operations. The new pollution control equipment will be installed at Shell Chemical refineries in St. Rose, La., and Saraland, Ala. The settlement was announced Wednesday by the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Unauthorised venting and flaring of gas by Shell in USA

Extract: On 5 August 2003, the United States Department of Justice announced ^[19] that Shell Oil Company had agreed to pay $49 million USD “to settle claims under the False Claims Act and various administrative provisions relating to its unauthorized venting and flaring of gas…” at its Auger platform, located some 150 miles (240 km) off the coast of Louisiana and at other Shell facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. The settlement also resolved claims that Shell had failed to properly report, or pay royalties on the vented and flared gas. This was the third case settled by Shell Oil Company in the period 1999 to 2003 alleging that it had underpaid royalties owed to the United States. In 2000, Shell agreed to pay $56 million to settle claims that it undervalued gas produced from federal leases. Shell paid $110 million in 2001 to settle ^[20] US Department of Justice claims that it undervalued crude oil extracted from federal lands.

Shell Reports ‘Unplanned’ Flaring At Martinez Refinery: 26 February 2011

The Associated Press January 9, 2012, 2:45PM ET

AMSTERDAM

A joint venture between Shell and Exxon says it has successfully drilled a significant new onshore natural gas field in the Netherlands.

Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV says in a statement the field contains 4 billion cubic meters of gas, about enough to supply 2.5 million households for a year. Production is due to begin this summer, the company says.

The Metslawier-zuid well, 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) deep, is located near the city of Dokkum, 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Amsterdam.

Most Dutch natural gas reserves are stored in a single field in the province of Groningen. But 40 percent comes from smaller fields on land and offshore, such as the field announced Monday.

The Dutch state owns a 40 percent stake in Metslawier-zuid.

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By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo – Jan 3, 2012 5:25 PM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) shut oil flows of 70,000 barrels a day from the Nembe Creek Trunkline in Nigeria due to a leak caused by the theft of crude.

The pipeline, which supplies the Bonny export terminal, was halted Dec. 24. Shell is working on completing repairs before the end of the month.

“What is really worrying about this leak is that it happened on a facility which was commissioned in October 2009 to replace an old line which was repeatedly targeted by crude oil thieves,” Tony Attah, Shell’s vice president in charge of health, safety and environment, said today in an e-mailed statement.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and the fifth- biggest source of U.S. imports. Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Total SA and Eni SpA run joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. that pump about 90 percent of the country’s crude.

More than 200 barrels of crude that leaked after oil thieves installed two valves near a manifold on the pipeline have been cleared up, Shell said.

Europe’s largest oil company shut its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga field last month after it leaked less than 40,000 barrels in the country’s worst offshore spill in more than a decade.

Shell on Sept. 26 said it shut 25,000 barrels a day of crude from its Imo River field because of oil theft. The company on Aug. 23 declared force majeure, a legal clause that allows it to miss scheduled deliveries for circumstances beyond its control, on its Bonny Light crude exports after multiple pipeline incidents. The company shut its Adibawa pipeline on Aug. 22 after saboteurs cut crude lines, causing spills.

Attacks by armed groups targeting the oil industry cut more than 28 percent of Nigeria’s crude output from 2006 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Attacks subsided after thousands of militants campaigning for more local control of the delta’s energy resources accepted a government amnesty and disarmed in 2009.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

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By Joe Carroll

Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — A surge in U.S. natural-gas production from shale rock is spurring states to compete for companies to produce chemicals from the fuel, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are vying to attract a plant that will turn gas into ethylene proposed by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Journal reported today. Shell intends to announce a site early next year, the newspaper said. Ethylene is a building block of plastics and other materials used to make pipes, paint and antifreeze.

Plentiful domestic gas supplies have depressed prices, attracting chemical, fertilizer and steel manufacturers to construct new U.S. plants and reopen shuttered mills in what was a high-priced market a few years ago, the newspaper said.

West Virginia’s legislature passed a bill this month establishing regulations for drilling into shale formations, a process known as hydraulic fracturing that involves pumping high-pressure water, sand and chemicals into the ground to shatter rocks and allow gas to flow, the Journal said, citing Keith Burdette, the state’s commerce secretary. The legislation should dispel any uncertainty about West Virginia’s ability to provide a “reliable supply” of gas, the paper quoted Burdette as saying.

Nucor Corp. is spending $750 million to build a steel mill in Louisiana, an investment that wouldn’t have been feasible without the plunge in gas prices, the newspaper said, citing Nucor Chief Executive Officer Dan DiMicco.

CF Industries Holdings Inc., which makes fertilizer from gas-derived ingredients, plans to spend $1 billion to $1.5 billion over several years to expand its North American plants, the newspaper said. Low gas prices also have reduced electricity costs in some regions where generators burn gas, prompting Brazil’s Santana Textiles to build a $180 million denim plant in Edinburg, Texas, the Journal said.

–Editors: Jasmina Kelemen, Will Wade

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Carroll in Chicago at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net

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By Mike Harrison – Dec 24, 2011 7:56 AM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) said oil that leaked from its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga field in Nigeria “continues to thin.”

“Surveillance and aerial photos show the spill is breaking up into patches surrounded by clear water,” Shell said in a statement on its website. “The spill remains offshore. We continue to monitor its movement using satellite imagery and vessels in the zone.”

Bonga, located 75 miles off Nigeria’s coastline, pumps about 10 percent of the West African nation’s oil.

Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, said Dec. 22 as much as half of the crude that leaked from the Bonga installation has dissipated through natural dispersion and evaporation.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mike Harrison at mharrison5@bloomberg.net

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By Eduard Gismatullin and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo – Dec 23, 2011 9:13 AM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, confirmed the source of what could be Nigeria’s worst offshore spill in more than a decade to a leak in a flexible export line to a tanker.

Cleanup operations continued to the leak in the line between the tanker and production facility, The Hague-based Shell said in an update on its website. The company shut its 200,000 barrel-a-day Bonga offshore field after it leaked less than 40,000 barrels earlier this week.

“The sheen has thinned considerably due to a combination of natural factors and dispersant application, and in places is breaking up, all of which should aid further dissipation,” Mutiu Sunmonu, Shell’s chairman for Nigeria, said in the statement late yesterday.

The Anglo-Dutch company deployed five ships to spray dispersants and brought experts in to fight the spill. Bonga, Nigeria’s first deepwater discovery, produces almost 10 percent of the country’s crude, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast.

The leak could be the country’s worst since a January 1998 Exxon Mobil Corp. spill dumped an estimated 40,000 barrels into the sea from the Idoho platform on the southeastern coast, with slicks reported as far west as Lagos.

Shell had planned to export five cargoes of 1 million barrels each of Bonga crude a month from December to February, loading programs obtained by Bloomberg News show.

The damaged export line was isolated three days ago and the facility remains closed.

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

To contact the reporters on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net

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