Shell is the operator with a 50% share with partners Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) holding 35% and India’s ONGC Campos Ltda. 15%.
Click to continue reading “Shell – First million barrels of oil from ultra-deep water off Brazil”
News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Shell is the operator with a 50% share with partners Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) holding 35% and India’s ONGC Campos Ltda. 15%.
Click to continue reading “Shell – First million barrels of oil from ultra-deep water off Brazil”

By Carola Hoyos in London
Published: August 17 2009 20:29 | Last updated: August 17 2009 20:29
Essar, the Indian conglomerate, has bid for three European Royal Dutch Shell refineries on sale as part of the Anglo-Dutch oil group’s restructuring of its downstream operations.
The disposals by Shell are part of its strategy to rid itself of smaller refineries in favour of investing in large, integrated complexes, such as those in Port Arthur, Texas and Rotterdam. The package is valued at about £1.5bn ($2.4bn).
Refinery sales have been controversial because of the potential of large job losses.
Shell had the best record of the major companies for declaring the sources of its biofuel. It said that it did not use any palm oil last year because it could not find any from a sustainable source. Luis Scoffone, vice-president for biofuels, said that Shell could have met its biofuel obligation more cheaply if it had bought palm oil.
Click to continue reading “Oil giants destroy rainforests to make palm oil diesel for motorists”
Arrow and Shell have both said previously that they’ve held talks about Arrow selling more gas to Shell. It would hardly be surprising if a potential takeover transaction came up in conversation.
Click to continue reading “Arrow Energy Has Talks On Possible Takeover”

By Bill Campbell (above), retired HSE Group Auditor, Shell International
On the subject of the integrity of Royal Dutch Shell Chairman, Jorma Ollila, raised by former Shell executive, Paddy Briggs, the information below was copied to Nokia yesterday, it should be self explanatory, if Nokia do not act they could find themselves guilty by association:
The attached information explains why Royal Dutch Shell along with the UK Oil Industry Health and Safety Regulator the HSE are currently being investigated by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Scotland.
Mr Ollila is very much aware of this and can explain the details.
I raised these matters a long time ago (in 2007) with Ollila at the time he joined Shell, and his reply is also attached.
The reply from Ollila so contradicts the facts determined by the prosecutors in their ongoing investigation that it puts Ollila in personal jeopardy as being complicit in covering up alleged criminal offences.
You need to bring this to the attention of your Board.
Ollila has committed his organisation in RDS to co-operate with the investigation by the CPS and the Police.
I have for some weeks been asking Ollila to issue a statement that he now accepts that the press releases made by Shell in June 2006 were false and misleading, ignored the findings of their own internal investigation, and were highly defamatory to me.
He has refused to do this although this repeated failure supports my case put to the CPS and Grampian Region (Aberdeenshire) Police that Ollila be considered complicit in the covering up of criminal offences by his Executive Directors, what is termed as an *accessory after the fact. That is usually defined as – whoever, knowing that an offence has been committed, receives, relieves, comforts or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial or punishment, is an accessory after the fact; one who knowing a felony to have been committed by another, receives, relieves, comforts, or assists the felon in order to hinder the felon’s apprehension, trial, or punishment
This has implications to the good reputation of Nokia because Ollila is in simple terms your employee, an employee who sits at the pinnacle of the governance process not only of Shell but of Nokia, and a fellow not shy at being critical of the wrongdoing of others.
I note your Values, Code of Conduct etc etc as per your web site and all I would ask of Nokia in this matter is to honour your public statements.
The best way to get to the crux of all this unholy mess is simply to ask Ollila would he be prepared to reiterate the statements made on his behalf and that of the RDS board, see attached letter in 2007? I think you will find he would not.
Is he prepared in any way, shape or form to defend his reputation by taking action against me for defamation? Surely he would do this if they were of no substance. Again the answer I am sure will be no.
So the longer Ollila pontificates the more deeply into the mire he is engulfed and this will have implications for Nokia if you do not make any efforts to protect your reputation.
Perhaps your Board can get Ollila to look at this more objectively and help him to comprehend that it is not just his reputation that is at risk, not just that of RDS also, but through association Nokia.
Bill Campbell
Further email to Nokia from Bill Campbell sent 5 August 2009
http://royaldutchshellplc.com/
Correspondence and articles in this website are picked up regularly by Industry watchers and investment groups, note the comments about Ollila made by me and others, if you wish to reduce the risks to your reputation you need to act timeously
Bill Cambpell
Traders saw the logic in such a move. Not only would a bid for Heritage boost Shell’s reserves, it would help it recover some ground against BP, whose consortium last month won the rights to develop Iraq’s biggest oilfield.
Click to continue reading “Royal Dutch Shell rumoured to be interested in gatecrashing merger”
Despite Shell’s state permits, the environmental groups found more than 1,000 occasions from 2003-06 when emissions exceeded hourly limits, which are meant to protect the public from acute, short-term harm. On three dates, records showed, Shell emitted more toxic compounds in a single day than its permits allowed in an entire year
Click to continue reading “Shell pollution at Deer Park Refinery”
Scandinavia is one of the most secularised corners of the world and by reputation one of the most rational. So I was astonished last week to hear the Finnish chairman of Royal Dutch Shell (and of Nokia) Jorma Ollila, say that the world’s energy crisis would not be solved unless everyone turned off the lights when they left an empty room.
Click to continue reading “Only faith can solve the energy crisis”
The Associated Press
Monday, June 8, 2009; 5:19 PM
NEW YORK — Royal Dutch Shell agreed to a $15.5 million settlement Monday to end a lawsuit alleging that the oil giant was complicit in the executions of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and other civilians by Nigeria’s former military regime.
Shell, which continues to operate in Nigeria, said it agreed to settle the lawsuit in hopes aiding the “process of reconciliation.” But Europe’s largest oil company acknowledged no wrongdoing in the 1995 hanging deaths of six people, including poet Ken Saro-Wiwa.
“This gesture also acknowledges that, even though Shell had no part in the violence that took place, the plaintiffs and others have suffered,” Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s Executive Director Exploration & Production, said in a statement.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York claimed Shell colluded with the country’s former military government to silence environmental and human rights activists in the country’s Ogoni region. The oil-rich district sits in the southern part of Nigeria and is roughly the size of San Antonio. Shell started operating there in 1958.
The primary complaint against Shell focused on activities by the company’s subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.
The lawsuit said in the 1990s, Shell officials helped furnish Nigerian police with weapons, participated in security sweeps of the area, and asked government troops to shoot villagers protesting the construction of a pipeline that later leaked oil.
The plaintiffs also say Shell helped the government capture and hang Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Saturday Doobee, Felix Nuate, Daniel Gbokoo and Dr. Barinem Kiobel on Nov. 10, 1995.
Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, led rallies against Shell. He blamed the company for myriad oil spills and gas fires in the Ogoni region.
“I think he would be happy with this,” Wiwa’s 40-year-old son, Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., said in a telephone interview from London. Though Shell denied any wrongdoing, “the fact that they would have to settle is a victory for us.”
Besides compensating the families, the money from Shell will pay for years of legal fees. And a large chunk of the settlement – roughly half – will create a trust that will invest in social programs in the country including educational endowments, agricultural development, support for small enterprise and adult literacy programs.
Altogether, the settlement will have a negligible affect on Shell’s shareholders, amounting to less than one-hundredth of a percent of Shell’s annual revenue. It’s comparable to the annual cost of renting one of the supertankers that Shell uses to deliver Nigerian oil to other countries.
“Is it enough to bring back the lives of our clients? Obviously not,” said Jenny Green, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York who helped file the lawsuit in 1996.
But Green said it will send a message to Shell and other multinationals that operate in developing countries.
“You can’t commit human rights violations as a part of doing business,” she said. “A corporation can’t act with impunity. And we think there is accountability in this settlement.”
Ralph Steinhardt, a George Washington professor of international law, said he doesn’t think Shell got off easy with the settlement.
“It’s not the size of the company that’s the right measure here,” Steinhardt said. “At the end of the day, it’s to get some acknowledgment of the plaintiffs and their suffering and the role of the company.”
The Shell settlement ends one of several legal battles brought against energy companies by indigenous peoples where they operate.
Villagers in Indonesia are suing Exxon Mobil, claiming it employed guards who kidnapped, tortured and murdered civilians. Chevron awaits a potential $27 billion judgment in Ecuador stemming from a dispute over its role in environmental damages in the Amazon rain forest.
At least one additional lawsuit alleging human rights abuses by Shell in Nigeria is pending in U.S. District Court in New York.
Fourteen years after the Nigerian activists were hanged, Wiwa said he thinks Shell has started to acknowledge that it needs a “social license” to operate in a foreign countries. For example, the company has agreed to pay for a study of environmental damage that drilling has caused the Ogoni region.
“They have a long way to go,” he said. “But at least they realize some of their actions can come back to haunt them as we saw in New York.”

BusinessDay
Private equity funds are expected to take a healthy interest in Shell’s New Zealand asset sell up, The Australian Financial Review reported.
Shell has put its so-called downstream businesses on the block which include 230 petrol stations, aviation and marine fuel, bitumen, chemical, supply and distribution businesses plus a 17 per cent stake in New Zealand Refining and a quarter stake of FlyBuys operator, Loyalty New Zealand.
The AFR reported that Shell’s adviser UBS was putting a financing package together for bidders, which would provide clarity about the terms on which a lending syndicate was willing to roll over debt.
Trade buyers were also expected to keep a close eye on the sale, the AFR said, which is yet to formally begin.
Caltex is considered a likely bidder for Shell’s New Zealand retailing operations and its 17 per cent stake in New Zealand’s only refinery, the New Zealand Refining Company. The AFR reported that this would enable Caltex to raise its share of the New Zealand market by 27 percent and replicate its Australian discount petrol alliance with Woolworths, which has a petrol loyalty relationship in New Zealand with Shell.
The Australian retailer offers customers of its Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown supermarkets 4 cents a litre off fuel at participating Shell and Gull stations in New Zealand.