August, 2007:

Media Credit: Sam Shumaker
Shell President John Hofmeister speaks to a standing-room only crowd in the Student Union Memorial yesterday on the future of energy security and affordability in the United States.

Oil Co. president appeals to enter global warming sentiment
By: Claire Conrad
Issue date: 8/31/07 
 
John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil, spoke about energy security in the United States and fielded questions from a standing room-only crowd in the Kiva Room of the Student Union Memorial Center yesterday afternoon. read more

Aug 31, 2007 2:23:00 PM MST
 
VANCOUVER (CP) _ Native protesters blocking a coalbed methane project in northern B.C. can continue their blockade this weekend.

Shell Canada applied for a B.C. Supreme Court injunction to stop the blockade but the case has been adjourned indefinitely.

The company can bring its application forward again but only in Prince Rupert or Terrace, closer to the area the natives want to protect.

More than 100 people, including environmentalist David Suzuki, gathered outside the Vancouver courthouse to voice their opposition to the coalbed methane project. read more

Western Canada Wilderness Committee
Aug 31, 2007 15:08 ET

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – Aug. 31, 2007) – First Nations and concerned citizens in Vancouver and Smithers today say Royal Dutch Shell’s delay of legal action against the Sacred Headwaters blockaders shows Shell is concerned about growing opposition.

Members of the Tahltan First Nation are blockading Shell’s coalbed methane project in the Sacred Headwaters, the birthplace of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers. Shell was to appear in Vancouver court today to request an injunction that would allow them to have the blockaders arrested. read more

Ariz. shortchanged by the heat; activists pursue fairer fill-ups
Ryan Randazzo
Aug. 31, 2007 12:00 AM

Each time drivers fill their fuel tanks in Arizona’s simmering summers, they likely see $1 or more evaporate.

Because gasoline expands in the heat, that’s the estimated dollar amount of energy they purchase but they never receive.

Nobody serves hotter gas than stations in the Arizona desert, and after more than a year of discussion, debate over the issue is beginning to boil.

The state Department of Weights and Measures is taking fuel temperatures at gas stations and considering voluntary temperature compensation, while consumer advocates are pushing aggressively for changes. read more

XOM Blocked at Russia’s Sakhalin

Posted on Aug. 31, 2007
By Pavel Romanov and Michael J. Economides

Exxon Mobil may be the world’s largest corporation, but it is no match for Russia’s “Energy Strategy” – the plan rolled out in 2002 by Putin’s government.

The central concept of the Russian Energy Strategy is simply re-nationalization, and the policy’s foundation is state control of the oil and gas sectors. Yukos, Sibneft, Shell, BP, Russneft, and Exxon Mobil have all lost control over their Russian energy assets, or are in the process of losing it. read more

DAVID EBNER
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
August 31, 2007 at 7:00 AM EDT

After three decades working for Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Clive Mather arrived in Calgary as the new CEO of Shell Canada in 2004. He quickly okayed a $12.8-billion expansion of Shell’s oil sands facilities and bought BlackRock Ventures Inc. for $2.4 billion. But Mather also called for action on global warming. In June, at age 59, he stepped down and returned to Surrey in England after Royal Dutch Shell bought the 22% of Shell Canada it didn’t already own for $8.7 billion. read more

By Toby Shute – August 31, 2007
 
I’ve given PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) plenty of virtual ink around here lately, but it’s not the only exciting Chinese E&P story. CNOOC (NYSE: CEO), as a pure play on upstream offshore oil & gas activity, is also an interesting name, and with the release of the firm’s first-half results, I have occasion to dive into the company’s operations.

First-half production rose 4.5% to just more than 470,000 BOE per day. This growth, which slightly outpaced PetroChina’s pump-up, came entirely from natural gas — oil production was essentially flat. Oil prices, on the other hand, were decisively down, and that cut into revenues by roughly 7%. After factoring in higher exploration and operating expenses, as well as a windfall profit tax, net profit came in 11% lower than last year. read more

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) – OMV AG said it is “fundamentally” interested in looking at any oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) licenses for the British Isles that are offered up for sale, including any from Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Shell recently said it is offering interested parties the opportunity to acquire equity by funding work programmes in five of its gas and oil licenses in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Faroe Islands, including the William oil prospect and the Dooish gas condensate. Shell said that participation offers will be due on Oct 15. read more

LEIGHTON KEITH
[email protected] – Taranaki | Saturday, 1 September 2007

New Plymouth business owner Greg Barley is boycotting Shell and urges all Taranaki residents to follow suit.

Mr Barley cancelled his petrol accounts with Shell in protest over the petrol company’s treatment of Gordon and Karen Mace, the owners of Junction Service Station at Awakino.

“Mr heart goes out to this hard-working family, who have put so much into their business and built up the asset value, only to be kicked in the guts by Shell,” he said. read more

Friday, August 31, 2007, #165 (1432)

Shell is ramping down its involvement in Azerbaijan, writes the news agency Regnum, as the global oil company hands most of its share in the undeveloped Inam project to South Korea.

On August 28, Seoul officials announced that South Korea’s National Oil Company signed an agreement with Shell in July to buy out 20 percent of Shell’s 25 percent stake in the BP-led project.

The state-owned Korean company says they’re waiting on confirmation from BP, the Azerbaijani government, and Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR. read more

Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:53AM IST 
By Hiral Vora

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Global oil majors such as Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corp are ready to pour billions of dollars into India’s energy sector — but only if the government stops meddling and allows private firms to sell gas at market prices.

New Delhi is set to approve a price formula for Reliance Industries Ltd’s natural gas, according to local media, but any move to raise prices faces opposition from the politically influential power and fertiliser sectors, which consume three-quarters of the gas produced in India. read more

Kazakhstan is piling pressure on the consortium led by Italy’s Eni developing the 11.3bn bl Kashagan field in the Caspian, threatening to suspend the project completely.

The move appears designed to back up government demands for compensation, following revisions to the timetable and budget for development of the world’s biggest oil find in 30 years. Kazakhstan’s environment ministry has warned that work at Kashagan could be suspended. “We already have grounds to believe that the operator is not observing the requirements of Kazakhstan’s environmental legislation,” says environment minister Nurlan Iskakov. read more

09:33 PM MST on Thursday, August 30, 2007
By Delane Cleveland, Fox 11 News

Delane Cleveland’s report Millions of Americans plan to travel this Labor Day weekend, but high gas prices may have a say in how far some people go.

Today, the president of the nation’s largest energy companies tells us why gas prices are so high.

Oil companies have earned record profits over recent years while Americans had to pay more at the pump. Nevertheless, Shell Oil Company President John Hofmeister says that is all due to supply and demand. read more

On Kashagan Oil Project
By GREGORY L. WHITE
August 31, 2007 9:23 a.m.

MOSCOW — The government of Kazakhstan expects compensation for what it sees as “tens of billions of dollars” of economic harm due to massive cost overruns and delays at the Kashagan oil project, led by Italy’s Eni SpA, a government official said Friday.

In a telephone interview, Deputy Finance Minister Daulet Ergozhin said Kazakh authorities are looking for more than just financial compensation from Eni and its partners, however. Mr. Ergozhin said Kazakh authorities want to see changes to the structure of the deal that would ensure smooth implementation in the future. read more

By Sonja Franklin

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, will be fined $48,825 for workplace safety violations at a refinery in Wilmington, California after a fire, said the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The fines are for five violations that occurred during a fire six months ago. Shell violated an injury and illness prevention program, procedures for safe machinery and equipment maintenance as well as for the safe management of acutely hazardous materials, said Kate McGuire, a spokeswoman for the Administration’s branch in California, also known as Cal/OSHA. read more

In mid September a small group of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company employees will set off from Okha, the most northern town on Sakhalin Island, to cycle to Yuzhno, approximately 1200 kilometres to the south. Big deal, you might say, but wait a minute: they plan to do it in 10 days, on small tracks and on every condition of non-metalled road surface known to man.

The route will take the team down from Okha to Nogliki, to the Sakhalin Energy Onshore Processing Facility (OPF), and then across to the west of the island, through some pretty hairy country, back onto the main road (dirt track), and then out again to the west down almost as far as Kholmsk, and then finally home to Yuzhno, where they will be showered with Champagne and promised a life of fame and fortune. To the best of their knowledge, this has never been attempted before. read more