Iraq opened its giant oilfields to foreign firms on Monday, putting British and U.S. companies in pole position five years after U.S.-led troops invaded the country to oust Saddam Hussein.

Shell chief says making progress on Iraq deal

Shell’s Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer attends the opening day of the 19th World Petroleum Congress in Madrid, June 30, 2008.

REUTERS/Susana Vera

MADRID (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is making progress in talks on a deal to invest in Iraq’s oil and gas industry, but is unsure when a contract will be agreed, Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer said on Monday.

Van der Veer told a press conference at the World Petroleum Congress he hoped a deal could be concluded in weeks rather than months, but said on specific timing: “I don’t have a clue.” read more

"No Shell flow station, including Oloma, was attacked over the weekend," said Precious Okolobo, a spokesman for Shell in Nigeria.

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Unidentified gunmen attacked an oil- pumping facility run by the Nigerian unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, killing at least five people, the Guardian reported, citing military spokesmen.

Global economy faces deep slowdown and deflation threat, BIS warns

The Dutch pension fund for oil group Shell, Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds, one of the largest corporate schemes in the Netherlands, is overhauling its ethical policies and has sold out of one company that makes landmines. The Shell fund said in documents posted on its website that it had “broadened its existing corporate governance policy to include social and environmental aspects of business management”.

James Schlesinger, the first U.S. energy secretary, has said for decades that when it comes to energy policy, the U.S. toggles between complacency and panic.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC is heading up a test venture in Hawaii to turn oil-rich algae into fuel. If the process is found commercially viable, the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate could build algae-processing plants elsewhere.

Betting that in a few years algae will be ready for prime time, companies ranging from start-ups like GreenFire Energy of Salt Lake City to energy giants such as ChevronCorp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are investing in projects aimed at finding an economical way to turn algae into fuel.

Some suggested that the international oil companies such as ExxonMobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell would have to change their business model to become more like service companies if they were to prosper.

Shell sent shockwaves through the offshore market recently, when it pulled out of the London Array, a proposed development in the Thames estuary. Shell cited cost issues and said it could get a better return by investing in onshore wind assets in the US. Mr Cooper says that Shell's decision raised doubts over the economics of offshore wind.

When news first broke late last year of the discovery of potentially massive deposits of oil and natural gas off the Brazilian coast, Dilma Rousseff, chief of staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a former energy minister, predicted Brazil would soon become "a new Saudi Arabia"

Production at Kashagan, one of the world's biggest oilfields, has been postponed by two years to 2013, Kazakhstan said at the weekend.

Shell and BP are also exploring the possibilities of second-generation biofuels, the latter in partnership with the chemicals company DuPont.

With prices skyrocketing and supply fears growing, energy ministers from the world's major producing nations and multinational oil company heads face unprecedented challenges at this year's World Petroleum Congress.

At a time of spiraling oil prices, the no-bid contracts, in a country with some of the world’s largest untapped fields and potential for vast profits, are a rare prize to the industry. The contracts are expected to be awarded Monday to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron, as well as to several smaller oil companies.