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OGONI HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH BUREAU INAUGURATED

Feb 6th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Human Rights Watch Bureau Director – Chief Superintendent of Police, Chief Yaesu Neebee.

As part of a broader civil society mechanism to protect and defend every Ogoni person – child, man and woman against doctrines, policies and practices that infringe human rights and fundamental freedoms in Nigeria, MOSOP President/Spokesman, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo today February 3, 2012 inaugurated the Ogoni Human Rights Watch Bureau in Bori, Ogoni.

Headed by a retired Chief Superintendent of the Nigeria Police Force, Chief Yaesu Neebee as Bureau Director, and assisted by a retired Assistant Superintendent of Nigeria Police, ASP Lucky Nuataa, the body collaborating with two law firms in Nigeria, is to independently document human rights situation at the village or city level in a fair, impartial and competent manner.

Already, 17 city representatives have been recruited by MOSOP secretariat to coordinate activities at village level as grassroots monitors, while each village or city has 14 days to set up a grassroots center.

Former Chair Person of the 2010 Ogoni Referendum Committee, Ms. Christiana Nwiko is to serve as secretary of the Human Rights Bureau.

An oversight body – Ogoni Human Rights Board headed by Pastor Nelson Diginee, an experience activist minister is to work with representatives of Council of Ogoni Churches, Federation of Ogoni Women Association, National Youth Council of Ogoni, Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers Association and the Ogoni Farmers Council as members. Other board members include representatives of the Ogoni Teachers Union and the Ogoni Technical
Association.

A number of Ogoni lawyers with offices in Ogoni and one law firm in Port Harcourt are to jointly provide pro-bono services. The Board is open to cooperation with other human rights institutions and groups in the effort to initiate follow-up measures on actionable reports presented by the Bureau.

The Bureau will cover all human rights issues and cooperate with MOSOP Peace and Security Council to end illegal and random land survey by Nigerian armed security forces.

In his message, Diigbo charged the body to act without fear or favor, and appealed to institutions and organizations, domestic and international that are genuinely interested in supporting human rights work in Ogoni to liaise with the Ogoni Human Rights Watch Bureau since it is a grassroots oriented body.

The Bureau Director, Retired CSP Neebee is a dedicated Community leader, and currently, a member of Gbam Bo-Ue Community Chiefs and Elders Peace Council in the Babbe Kingdom of Ogoni.

While in the Nigeria Police Force, he had served in many capacities, including as a trainer for International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Human Rights in professional Policing Concepts, a lecturer and directing staff at the Police Training School, Nonwa in Rivers State.

He attended train-the-trainer course at the Central Planning and Training Unit Staff College, Jos. He was appointed to serve as the police officer in charge of Human Rights in Eleme Division in Rivers State, where he introduced enforcement of human rights as part of policing duties.

In his new role, CSP Neebee also has responsibility to plan and implement train-the-trainers programme for grassroots human rights assistants and build a respectful relationship between the Ogoni people and the security forces in matters concerning human rights.

The Human Rights Watch Bureau is a significant aspect of continual effort to structure and build institutions for Ogoni Central Indigenous Authority (OCIA).

Hon. Dum Ade John Budam

MOSOP Secretary General


AP Interview: Shell hopeful for Arctic drilling

Feb 5th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By DAN JOLING
Associated Press

Published: February 5th, 2012 08:59 AM
Last Modified: February 5th, 2012 09:04 AM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – It’s the billion-dollar question in Alaska for 2012: Will this be the year Shell Oil begins large-scale offshore exploratory drilling in Arctic waters?

Two months into 2012, the oil giant is beyond the lead time it said it needed to assemble the flotilla of support vessels that must accompany drill ships to leases in the to the remote Chukchi and Beaufort seas. But Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby remains hopeful drilling can begin when Arctic Ocean ice melts this summer, even as he awaits a green light from regulators.

“There is clearly more certainty with the regulatory process than we’ve had in previous years,” Slaiby said in an interview.

President Obama in July created an interagency working group to coordinate energy development in Alaska. Discussions with Shell have been fruitful, Slaiby said.

“There’s a lot of questions coming back from the regulators: How does this work, when will you have this in place? What are your competencies? How do you ensure it will work? This is stuff we had all thought out,” Slaiby said. “It was not like it is new stuff, or somebody was coming back with something we hadn’t thought about. But they are clearly now front and center in asking questions and in really doing the things that the public demands.”

Alaska’s elected officials are banking on offshore development to maintain Alaska’s petroleum-based economy. Environmentalists fighting to protect marine mammals have contested every permit application, claiming oil companies can’t clean up spills in ice-choked oceans. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in the wake of the BP oil disaster, pledged “utmost caution” in Arctic offshore drilling, to the frustration of Shell, which has spent upward of $4 billion on Arctic offshore development.

The federal government estimates Arctic Ocean outer continental shelf reserves at 26.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Diminished production on Alaska’s North Slope has lowered flow in the trans-Alaska pipeline to less than a third of its capacity.

Shell hopes to provide a source to fill it, and has made progress.

The company cleared a hurdle last month when the Appeals Board of the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed an air permit for one of Shell’s drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, which had blocked 2011 drilling. Shell hopes to use the drill ship in the Chukchi Sea.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in December approved Shell’s exploration plan for the Chukchi – with a major caveat. Shell must stop drilling into hydrocarbon zones 38 days before ice is likely to move in, roughly Sept. 24, to have time to fix a wellhead blowout.

Shell contends the chance of a blowout is minimal and that its cleanup preparations can address any spill. It is trying to reverse the 38-day restriction but will move ahead with drilling if it can’t.

“Look, you have 105 days,” Slaiby said. “Thirty-eight days is a large factor in 105 days. But it looks like we’ll have to take a bit of measure of inefficiency unless we’re successful in challenging it,”

Shell has other hurdles to clear. The company could hear this month whether the Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement will sign off on its spill response plan, the focus of environmental groups that contend oil companies have not demonstrated they can clean up a spill 1,000 miles from the nearest Coast Guard base and from infrastructure – ports, major runways, even warehouses and hotels – that is available elsewhere.

Shell continues to make its case that it has an effective cleanup plan in place with response vessels standing by and additional support from resources staged at Prudhoe Bay and elsewhere.

“It’s been a process where we’ve not had to significantly change what we’ve done, but we’ve had to put in a lot more explanation of how it’s doing,” Slaiby said.

Well control will include a “capping stack” that can be lowered onto a well as BP did to stem the Macondo blowout. It’s being fabricated in Louisiana and will be tested in Washington or Alaska waters before drilling begins, Slaiby said.

“We’re going to have that ready to go,” Slaiby said. “It will be tested. It will meet with all of the BOEM, BSEE, requirements. We’re going to have it offshore with us. It will actually be resident on one of our anchor handlers, with a lifting frame and ready to be deployed.”

Shell is awaiting a decision on an appeal of the EPA’s air permits for its other drill ship, the Kulluk, which it hopes to use for exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea.

Environmental and Alaska Native groups have challenged Shell’s exploration plan in the Beaufort. Arguments in the case are scheduled for March.

Shell is constructing an ice-hardy spill containment barge in Seattle. The Kulluk has been undergoing upgrades in dry dock since last summer, including replacement of engines to make them compliant with air standards. The Noble Discover is finishing up a well in New Zealand before it will make the trip to the West Coast for modifications.

Environmental groups have challenged the lease sale that allowed the 2008 sale of leases in the Chukchi. A federal judge in Anchorage ruled that the former Minerals Management Service had not followed environmental requirements before the sale. He’s now considering corrections made by the Interior Department. A negative outcome, Slaiby conceded, could block Chukchi drilling.

Slaiby remains optimistic about progress in the regulatory process. Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Hayes, the chairman of the interagency group on Alaska energy, has done a good job assembling various agencies to “kick the tires” on the project to make sure it was put together properly.

“I think the end result is pretty good,” Slaiby said.

SOURCE ARTICLE

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser on a Swiss roll…

Feb 5th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Introduction by John Donovan

It seems timely, in view of recent postings on our Shell Blog, to republish an article about Shell CEO Peter Voser authored by retired Royal Dutch Shell Executive, Paddy Briggs (right). It was first published on 27 July 2009. Paddy is currently a Member Nominated Trustee of the Shell Contributory Pension Fund.

On a Swiss roll…

By Paddy Briggs

Here’s the story. You are a Swiss accountant with a proven record of ruthlessness and synthetic business acumen. You are comfortable with numbers – that’s what you do – but you know little about the minutiae of the oil business. How can you be – you are not an “oil man” you are a “dollars man”. By guile, good fortune and the Peter Principle you find yourself at the helm of one of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies. You know that you will struggle with the difficult things – like creating an organisation that finds, develops, transports, refines and markets hydrocarbons. You know nothing at all about the oil and gas chain from exploration to consumption. You’ve never really worked in it – other than seeing spreadsheets which show you how much it costs. But you are now in charge. So what you do is retreat to the familiar world of numbers. That world where there is certainty – where something that costs “$100m” is only supportable if an adequate ROACE is assured. And where, even though future earnings are always, by definition, unpredictable you find a way of getting bogus certainty where there is none. By appointing more accountants and listening to them.null

And then there is the term over which you plan to steer the business. Everyone knows that the genetics of the oil business are very long term. To find oil (which costs money) and to develop that oil (which costs more) is within the special competences of Shell – always has been. But to harvest the oil and the gas and to generate the income streams you have to be patient. But how can you be patient if you want to show how macho and “profit-focused” you are? Cut, cut, cut. It’s what I do. And immediately the bottom line benefits. Never mind that in five or ten years we won’t have any new discoveries. Never mind that in a decade or so the reserves cupboard will be bare. I’ll be on a seven figure pension by then like Mark and Phil and Jeroen before me. Ha!

Shell pledges to spend, spend, spend – but gamble leaves City cold

Feb 4th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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The Times: 3 February 2012

Tim Webb Energy Editor

Ambitious plans to boost growth will cost too much and knock Shell off its top spot, the City warned yesterday. Unveiling disappointing results, the Anglo-Dutch oil group further unnerved investors when it said it planned to spend even more heavily on new oil and gas projects.

Analysts said that Shell would make lower returns from the huge outlays, leaving less room to raise its dividend significantly. The company, which has outperformed its rivals over the past 18 months, would struggle to maintain its position at the front of the pack, they added.

Despite having ratcheted up spending in recent years, Shell missed its production target in 2011. Profits of $4.8 billion in the fourth quarter were 18 per cent higher than last year, mainly because of record oil prices, but about 6 per cent lower than forecast.

Shares in Shell dropped by more than2 per cent in early trading, but recovered to close down 1.2 per cent at £22.97.

Stuart Joyner, analyst at Investec, said that Shell was having to spend “more for less” with the rising investment bringing in lower returns.

He predicted that analysts would slash their profit forecasts for the company and added that Shell’s earnings this year were likely to be flat, particularly after it booked a $287 million loss from its downstream refining and marketing division. This was after a fire at its Singapore refinery wiped $200 million off the bottom line and because of an industry-wide collapse in refining margins in the fourth quarter.

Analysts at Citigroup said Peter Voser, the chief executive, had failed to convince investors that the group could make the best investments to continue its recent run of stellar growth.

“After significant sector and market outperformance over the last 18months, we viewed further outperformance as dependent on management convincing that the company can continue to reinvest more profitably than peers,” they wrote. “The new medium-term strategy fails to offer that differentiated story.” Even Shell’s modest dividend rise – its first for three years – disappointed as it was less than expected.

Mr Voser admitted at the results presentation that Shell’s profits have fluctuated wildly in recent years because of seesawing oil and gas prices and are likely to continue to do so. ‘We are in a world where volatility has increased,” he said. He unveiled a new target to increase cashflow of $136 billion between 2008 and 2011 by up to 50 per cent over the next four years. He said that Shell would produce 4 million barrels of oil a day by 2018, a 20 per cent increase on current levels.

This year Shell will produce more gas than oil for the first time. It already produces more liquefied natural gas than any other oil company. The company will spend about $6 billion this year on developing its shale oil and gas projects, particularly in North America. Some $1 billion of this will go on producing oil and other liquids from shale rock, mainly at its giant Eagle Ford field in Texas.

The value of Shell’s shale gas assets was underlined yesterday when PetroChina bought a 20 per cent stake, thought to be worth $1 billion, in the company’s Groundbirch assets in Canada.

Europe is too emotional about fracking, says Shell chief

Feb 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Tom Bawden: Friday 03 February 2012

Shell’s chief executive, Peter Voser, called on Europe for a less “emotional” response to fracking, as he outlined plans to accelerate the oil giant’s use of the controversial technology used to release hydrocarbons from rocks.

Mr Voser said Shell would invest $6bn (£3.8bn) to appraise, explore and develop gas and oil reserves contained in rocks this year, as it looked to significantly expand the volume of hydrocarbons it produces.

About $3bn of the total will be invested developing sites in North America, which contain gas in shale and other rocks that is released by blasting a mixture of water, chemicals and sand into them at high pressure.

“I think it’s a very emotional discussion in Europe, it’s not very factual. We need to get back to analysis … . They should not take fast and emotional decisions,” Mr Voser said.

Fracking has been steadily gaining momentum in the US in the past decade, dramatically reducing gas prices but generating a stream of accusations that it contaminates groundwater supplies.

Gas and oil companies are now turning their attention to Europe, where the industry is just starting out. In the UK, the sole fracking site, near Blackpool, has been closed for the past few months, pending a government review of the practice, after it was found to have caused earthquakes in the area.

Although Shell does not currently frack for oil or gas in the rocks of Europe and is focusing most of its attention on North America, it has acquired “acreage” in Germany, the Ukraine and Turkey.

Mr Voser said he does not expect fracking in Europe to become anything like as big as in North America, in part because the continent is more densely populated.

Mr Voser was speaking after Shell announced a 34 per cent jump in profits for 2011 to $28.6bn (£18.1bn) as high oil prices helped to push up sales by 28 per cent to $470.1bn.

PA

SOURCE ARTICLE

RELATED REUTERS ARTICLE

Avoiding fracking earthquakes: expensive venture

By Edward McAllister

NEW YORK | Tue Jan 3, 2012 6:50pm EST

(Reuters) – With mounting evidence linking hundreds of small earthquakes from Oklahoma to Ohio to the energy industry’s growing use of fracking technology, scientists say there is one way to minimize risks of even minor temblors.

Only, it costs about $10 million a pop.

FULL REUTERS ARTICLE

Shell reminds us of the moral bankruptcy of the corporate elite

Feb 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By STEVE HAWKES, Business Editor: Published: 3 February 2012

SHELL is coining it as pump prices soar — after yesterday unveiling an £18BILLION profits bonanza.

The oil giant sparked outrage by boasting it raked in almost £2.2million an HOUR last year.

Hard-up motorists — now facing forecourt prices that are almost back to record levels — were left fuming.

Almost all of the 54 per cent surge in profits was down to the rocketing price of crude.

Shell, which also benefited from rising gas prices, insisted it barely made a penny at the pumps. But the RAC’s Adrian Tink raged: “Motorists understandably feel they are being taken for a ride when they see figures like these. We understand they don’t make a large amount at the pump but they make a lot of money when the oil price is going up.

“That’s the reason petrol is going up too. Motorists feel they are getting the thin end of the wedge.”

The bumper profits come as diesel hovers just below the all-time high it hit last May — 143p per litre. Unions were aghast after the grasping multinational last month scrapped its final salary pension scheme for new recruits, claiming it was too expensive.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, said: “Shell reminds us of the moral bankruptcy of the corporate elite.”

SOURCE ARTICLE

MyView by STEVE HAWKES

SHELL’S success is good for Britain as tax goes to the Treasury and dividends flow into our pension funds.

But something is not working.

Shell has made a packet because of the surge in energy prices on a global scale — blamed for sending UK fuel and gas bills through the roof.

It’s time to square the circle.

SUN EDITORIAL 2 February 2012: Shell shocked

IT’S the same old depressing story on petrol prices.

Shell’s annual profits hit £18billion – but it says it cannot do anything about pump prices at record levels.

Really? How about using a fraction of the £7billion paid to shareholders to ease the burden on customers?

Boss Peter Voser promises massive investments over the next few years that will “benefit everyone”.

Everyone who’s a Shell executive or shareholder, presumably. Millions of motorists cannot afford to drive.

And that’s because fuel firms are taking them for a ride.

Shell fears it could be driven out of the UK over North Sea taxes

Feb 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Shell warned the government not to tax it out of the UK, as it sketched out ambitious growth plans alongside an underwhelming set of results.

Chief executive Peter Voser said the Anglo-Dutch oil company was aiming to pump 4bn barrels of oil per day (bpd) by 2017, compared to 3.2bn today.

Net spending will rise from £15bn to £19bn this year as it chases its goal, although most of the difference will come from fewer asset sales, with actual investment set to rise by a more modest £1bn to £21bn.

Fourth-quarter profits fell 4pc to £4.1bn, taking the gloss off a 54pc rise in annual income to £20bn, thanks to high oil prices. The markets were less than impressed, either by Shell’s growth plans or its recent performance, sending the stock down 3.5p to 2265p.

Voser issued a coded warning to George Osborne not to tax Shell out of investing in Britain, after the Chancellor unveiled a £10bn, five year North Sea tax grab last year. ‘We hope we’ll get enough investment incentives in terms of tax structures so that we can actually keep the oil and gas industry alive here,’ he said.

He also predicted more closures of European refining operations after Swiss firm Petroplus collapsed, threatening UK supplies from the Coryton refinery in Essex. ‘I think we’ll see just a few big refineries surviving in the long term.’

But Europe currently has 6m bpd of surplus capacity, he added. Shell’s own downstream operation – effectively refining and marketing – slumped to quarterly losses of £176m, compared to a £305m profit last year.

Shell has been retrenching from both the UK and downstream of late, selling its Stanlow refinery to India’s Essar.

Chief financial officer Simon Henry said 80pc of future investment would focus on upstream – exploration and production – with 60pc of that sum to be spent in Australia and North America.

Much of that will come from environmentally controversial ‘shale gas’, with £3.8bn earmarked for exploration.

The company will also spend 35pc more on exploring for oil and gas, as well as investing in new sources of liquefied natural gas and chemicals.

Dividends are expected to rise marginally from the first quarter of 2012, up 1 cent to $0.43.

SOURCE ARTICLE

Oil price could fall to $70 in 2012 amid volatility, Shell warns

Feb 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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Oil prices could fall to $70 a barrel during 2012, from current levels above $110, as high volatility in the economy and energy markets becomes “a fact of life”, Royal Dutch Shell executives said.

By Emily Gosden: 3 February 2012

The oil giant unveiled its 2011 results on Thursday, with a 54pc jump in full-year profits to $28.6bn (£18.1bn).

High oil prices helped to compensate for a tough fourth quarter in which Shell reported a loss in its ‘downstream’ refining and marketing division.

Shell’s chief executive, Peter Voser, outlined an aggressive long-term growth strategy, focused on ‘upstream’ exploration and production. He said the strategy would help Shell ride out volatility and increase cash flow by up to 50pc over the next four years. It would spend $30bn in 2012, with more than 60 projects under construction and in design.

“The global economy and energy markets are likely to see continued high volatility,” he said, due to a combination of robust structural growth and “unprecedented geopolitical events” such as the Japanese earthquake, eurozone crisis and the Arab spring.

“Both volatile macro and volatile earnings are now a fact of life for our industry,” he said. “We deal with this by staying focused on longer-term trends.”

Mr Voser said Shell used “conservative ranges” in its assumptions about oil prices to assess risk when planning projects, to ensure they break even – even if prices fall. “We plan inside a $50-$90 range for oil,” he said.

Discussing the $50-$90 planning range, Simon Henry, Shell’s chief financial officer, told analysts: “I’m not sure we see it right at the bottom of that one over the next 12 months, but we could certainly see it in the middle of that range,” he said.

However, Mr Henry said that the company’s target of up to 50pc cashflow growth in the next four years was based on oil remaining above $80.

“Our cash flow from operations was $136bn for 2008-2011, over the four year period during which the average oil price was $87,” he said. “In the next four years we are expecting cash flow from operations to be 30pc to 50pc higher than that, around $175-$200bn in four years, assuming $80-$100 Brent oil prices.”

Shell’s results were slightly below expectations, which had already been lowered recently as the extent of the downturn in the refining industry became apparent.

Fourth quarter earnings for 2011 on a current cost of supply (CCS) basis – the oil industry’s preferred measure that strips out inventory value changes – were $6.46bn, down 11pc on the previous quarter, but up 13pc on the same quarter in 2010. It saw a $278m loss in downstream in the quarter, compared with a $482m profit in the same period of 2010.

Mr Voser said: “Our fourth quarter results were impacted by a sharp downturn in industry refining margins and North American natural gas prices.”

Shell said it planned a dividend for the first quarter of 2012 of $0.43 a share, up 2pc on the first quarter of 2011 but below some expectations.

It also said it had sold a 20pc stake in a Canadian shale gas project to PetroChina, in a deal estimated to be worth $1bn. Shares closed down 28.5p at £22.97.

SOURCE ARTICLE (WITH COMMENTS)

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Shell to sell 24% stake in Woodside

Feb 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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The share price of oil and gas firm Woodside dipped on Friday after oil major Shell announced it would sell its stake in the Australian company.

3rd February 2012

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The share price of oil and gas firm Woodside dipped on Friday after oil major Shell announced it would sell its stake in the Australian company.

Royal Dutch Shell CFO Simon Henry said overnight that its 24.27% stake in Woodside no longer fitted the company’s long-term plans, and would be sold when the time and price was right.

The oil and gas major said that divestments were expected to reach between $2-billion and $3-billion in 2012.

In its upstream portfolio, Shell was expecting some 250 000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of asset sales and licence expiries over the 2012/17 timeframe, and assuming that these impacts played out, oil and gas production was expected to average some four-million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2017/18, an increase of some 25% from the 2011 levels of 3.2-mllion barrels of oil a day.

Shell reported that during 2012, the company would invest some $30-billion in capital, of which around 60% would be spent in North America and Australia.

CEO Peter Voser said that the company’s strategy was innovative and competitive, with its improving financial position creating an opportunity to increase both its dividends and its investment levels.

“We have worked hard to generate a strong pipeline of investment opportunities for Shell, and we put the emphasis firmly on a competitive financial performance. Shell’s investment programme creates cash flow growth, which in turn funds our dividends,” said Voser.

“All of this is supported by efficiency gains from our continuous improvement programmes where the opportunity set runs to billions of dollars for Shell.”

Woodside fell to A$33.85 a share, from Thursday’s closing price of A$34.15 a share. By late afternoon, the stock traded at A$34.09 apiece.

Edited by: Mariaan Webb

Never Say Never Again

Feb 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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John

An incomplete but nonetheless informative summary of historic catastrophic offshore events…might be of interest to your readers…

LINK TO FILE: NeverSayNeverAgain

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