Posts Tagged ‘Shell’

So why has Shell Oil Co. remained an active member of this important organization?

A former Shell employee ran into an incredible story about an oil and gas field in Morocco. Five years ago he approached the owner of a small American oil company, Mike Gustin, for possible participation in the development of the field. Mike told him that a combination of Saudis accused of sponsoring Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 suicide pilots, in combination with the Moroccan royal family was trying to squeeze him out of his discovery and his exploration licences.

REUTERS

Shell oil sands costs rise again, partner says

* Athabasca oil sands expansion’s costs rise to $14.3 bln

CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 25 (Reuters) – The cost of a 100,000-barrel-per-day expansion of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (RDSa.L) Athabasca oil sands project has climbed to $14.3 billion, Chevron Corp (CVX.N), one of its partners, said in a filing.

The new estimate amounts to $600 million more than the estimate provided by Chevron a year earlier.

Chevron, which hold a 20 percent stake in the oil sands mining and upgrading project, said the expansion will boost output to 255,000 barrels per day.

The cost of completing the project has steadily climbed well beyond Shell 2006 estimate of between C$10 billion and C$12.8 billion ($9.4 billion to $12 billion). Just a year ago, Chevron pegged the cost of the project at $13.7 billion.

A spokesman for Shell declined to confirm Chevron’s estimate.

Over the years, cost overruns have been widespread for the massive projects needed to tap the oil sands, the largest crude reserves outside the Middle East.

However, rival producers in the region said costs have fallen during the past year, mostly because of reduced labor costs. As most projects were rejigged, delayed or canceled because of the financial crisis, the squeeze on a limited pool of skilled labor has eased.

Chevron’s filing did not say why it had boosted its cost estimate for the project.

Shell owns 60 percent of Athabasca, with Chevron and Marathon Oil Corp (MRO.N) each holding 20 percent. The project includes an oil sands mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta, and an upgrading refinery near Edmonton. ($1=$1.06 Canadian)

(Reporting by Scott Haggett)

REUTERS ARTICLE

DENVER (AP) — Shell Oil Co. said Tuesday it is abandoning its quest for water rights from a northwest Colorado river to develop oil shale production, citing delays in the project due to the global economic downturn.

As a result of Shell’s actions, Colorado residents can breathe a little easier and the Yampa River lives to flow another year. ”

The Irish Times – Thursday, February 18, 2010

LORNA SIGGINS Marine Correspondent

SHELL EP Ireland has confirmed that work on several key aspects of the Corrib gas project will not now take place this year.

The company told The Irish Times yesterday that the decision was taken for “operational and community reasons”.

It will undertake further work on the offshore pipeline this year, but intends to take an “integrated approach” to the offshore/onshore dimension next year, when it hopes that “permitting processes” will be “further advanced”.

In a letter to stakeholders issued by Shell managing director Terry Nolan, he says that the laying of the 84m umbilical, which provides the link between the Ballinaboy terminal and the Corrib field for remote control of subsea gas production facilities, will be postponed until next year.

The company explained yesterday that the umbilical laying would have involved re-establishing a works site at the Glengad landfall.

“In the past this has been a site where tensions have arisen during works. Having no works site there in 2010 will, it is hoped, minimise the exposure of the local community to such potential tensions,” its communications adviser Colin Joyce said.

The Corrib gas partners are awaiting a final decision from An Bord Pleanála on the onshore pipeline and have sought an extension to May 31st to provide further information on their application under the Strategic Infrastructure Act. Last November, An Bord Pleanála found that up to half of the proposed new onshore pipeline route was “unacceptable” on safety grounds, due to proximity to housing.

It suggested that the developers explore another route, up the Sruwaddacon estuary, but the company has said it is satisfied that the current proposed route meets all international safety standards.

In recent correspondence with An Bord Pleanála, Shell consultants RPS have queried aspects of the Bord Pleanála finding.

The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources chief technical officer Bob Hanna also criticised the decision, arguing that it was based “solely on consequence” with no attention given to mitigating measures. Mr Hanna has intimated that the planning board’s approach may establish a “precedent” which could have “the effect of prohibiting all significant infrastructure developments”.

Mr Hanna’s intervention has been criticised by Shell to Sea in Mayo, which also held a protest outside Castlerea prison yesterday in support of fisherman Pat O’Donnell. Mr O’Donnell was given a seven-month sentence last week for his part in surrounding a Garda car during a cavalcade in September 2008 and a separate public order offence at Glengad.

Mr O’Donnell’s boat was sunk in Broadhaven Bay last year in controversial circumstances, ahead of offshore pipeline laying. “Pat O’Donnell and his family have become only the latest victims of abuse as a result of the Corrib gas project,”community group Pobal Chill Chomáin has said.

SOURCE ARTICLE

Costs for containing and cleaning up soil and groundwater alone are likely to run into the “tens of millions,” Small said. Motiva Enterprises, a joint venture of Shell and Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, is responsible for most of the groundwater cleanup.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch government approved a pilot project Wednesday to pump carbon dioxide into depleted gas fields beneath a town of 43,000 people as a way of reducing emissions blamed for global warming.

Tullow to sell stakes in South American and Ugandan prospects

Tullow Oil has sold a third of its licence off French Guiana to Shell, and also plans to dispose of half its interest in the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda.

Tullow said it had identified a number of leads in the Guiana licence, and said the participation of Shell was an endorsement of the prospect. Shell has the option to acquire another 12% and Tullow also hopes to farm out further equity to another party before the end of the year. Analysts have put a value of £140m on the block.

FULL ARTICLE

The Laval convenience-store chain announced yesterday that one of its wholly owned subsidiaries is expected to reach an agreement by the end of this year to create a joint venture with Shell Oil Products U.S. to operate about 100 stores in the Chicago metropolitan area.