Posts from ‘May, 2011’

Five big oil companies, including BP and Shell, are in trouble with the German regulator for over-charging drivers at petrol stations.

Petrol has become a contentious issue for households across Europe as prices at the pump have risen in line with the soaring oil price above $120 per barrel.

The German cartel regulator accused BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Total of running an “oligopoly” with a stranglehold on 65pc of the market.

The findings, which were vigorously denied by the oil companies, could not come at a more sensitive time for motorists and fuel retailers.

Petrol has become a contentious issue for households across Europe as prices at the pump have risen in line with the soaring oil price above $120 per barrel.

Oil has since gone down by $10 a barrel this month, but this led to only a 0.5p drop in the average price of a litre of petrol in the UK – when the AA calculates the drop should be more like 4p. read more

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo – May 26, 2011 9:11 AM GMT+0100

Nigeria’s oil output will boom if a government amnesty for fighters in the oil-producing Niger River Delta persists, Vanguard said, citing Mutiu Sunmonu, the managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria.

Shell now has access to offshore oilfields and facilities and can clean-up oil spills in areas which were previously inaccessible because of militant activities, the Lagos-based newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at [email protected]. read more

Royal Dutch Shell has begun talks with Rosneft on “potential exploration” in the Arctic – the week after BP’s flagship deal with the Russian state oil company collapsed.

BP and Rosneft announced a £10bn share swap and Arctic exploration deal at a high-profile ceremony flanked by politicians and dignitaries in January this year. Photo: ALAMY

Peter Voser, the chief executive of Shell, was last night in Moscow for meetings with Russian deputy prime minister Igor Sechin, intensifying speculation that Rosneft is prepared to replace BP with another company.

The Russian government said the meeting focused on Shell’s current projects off Sakhalin Island, which may be extended, and the potential development of Arctic oil fields held by Rosneft.

Eduard Khudainatov Rosneft’s chief executive, was also present at the talks, placing Shell in pole position among analysts to become the Kremlin’s new foreign oil partner. read more

May 25, 2011 12:40 P.M. ET

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSB) Chief Executive Peter Voser met Russia’s top energy official Wednesday to discuss joint projects on Russia’s Arctic shelf, the Black Sea and Sakhalin-3, but said the company won’t seek to swap shares with state oil champion OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS).

The meeting between Voser and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who oversees the oil and gas sector, came two days after Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said he doesn’t expect state-controlled oil giant OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and BP PLC (BP) to revive their strategic alliance after it was blocked by BP’s existing Russian partners, a group of Soviet-born billionaires known as AAR. read more

By: The Canadian Press Posted: 05/24/2011 9:54 PM

PINCHER CREEK, Alta. – A small group has blocked access to a sour gas well site in southwestern Alberta.

The province’s Energy Resources Conservation Board approved the Shell project in March and drilling was supposed to start last week in the Castle wilderness area just north of Waterton National Park.

Residents appealed the decision, saying drilling will disrupt core grizzly bear habitat.

Opponents say Shell (TSX:SHC) should wait for the Alberta Court of Appeal to rule on an appeal of the board’s approval before it starts drilling. read more

Royal Dutch Shell will shut its Caspian office for the giant Kashagan oil field at the end of this month, effectively putting the crucial £30bn ($50bn) project on ice for at least two years.

Staff at Shell Development Kashagan in Atyrau have been laid off or relocated and the office closes on May 30. Photo: ALAMY

The move followed the Kazakh government’s decision to reject a new lower-cost design for the crucial main development phase of the oilfield which has the potential to produce more than 1m barrels a day.

Staff at Shell Development Kashagan in Atyrau, a port on Kazakhstan’s Caspian coast, have been laid off or relocated over the past few weeks, and on May 30, the office will be closed.

The move follows a warning from Karim Massimov, Kazakhstan’s prime minister, that the project would not go ahead unless the disagreements on cost were overcome. read more

By Eduard Gismatullin
Bloomberg News May 24, 2011

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, is examining plans to bring legal challenges over possible losses after last year’s Macondo oil spill, the worst in U.S. history.

“I am considering, but only considering,” Peter Rees, a legal director at Shell, said today at an International Bar Association’s webcast. “Before launching any form of action or deciding not to launch any form of action you need to gather as much information as you can.” read more

By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst, BBC News

Gas is a natural by-product of shale rock

A Commons committee has urged ministers to support plans for controversial shale gas drilling in the UK.

The energy select committee said environmental problems associated with it in the US could be overcome by tight regulation and good industry practice.

But the MPs said the UK government would need to be vigilant to ensure the technology did not pollute water or produce excessive greenhouse emissions.

Environmentalists said MPs should have called for a moratorium on shale gas. read more

May 24, 2011

By BEN CASSELMAN

WAFRA, Kuwait—The Arabian Peninsula has fueled the global economy with oil for five decades. How long it can continue to do so hinges on projects like one unfolding here in the desert sands along the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border.

Saudi Arabia became the world’s top oil producer by tapping its vast reserves of easy-to-drill, high-quality light oil. But as demand for energy grows and fields of “easy oil” around the world start to dry up, the Saudis are turning to a much tougher source: the billions of barrels of heavy oil trapped beneath the desert. read more

From pages 17, 18 & 19 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

The report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Author: Albert ten Kate: May 2011.

A Shell pesticide factory

For a decade or more, beginning in 1977, Shell produced organochlorine pesticides (aldrin, dieldrin, endrin etc.) and other pesticides at a plant located near Pauli?nia, about 125 kilometres north-west of Sa?o Paulo, Brazil. The plant covered approximately 40 hectares.78 Due to its severe health impacts, by 1990 the use of aldrin and dieldrin was totally banned in the USA and Brazil.

After negotiations starting in 1993, in 1995 Shell sold the Pauli?nia facility to the companies American Cyanimid and BASF. A sales condition was that Shell would assume legal responsibility for the pollution at the site. In 2000, BASF took full ownership of the facility.79 In 2002, BASF shut it down the facility after a ban by the Brazilian Ministry of Labour, in view of existing contamination and serious risks to human health. read more

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell has been hit with a safety order from the Norwegian authorities following an investigation into a well incident on the Draugen platform in December last year.

Aleya Begum 23 May 2011 11:44 GMT

The Petroleum Safety Authority said today its investigation of the incident identified several serious breaches of the regulations.

“The non-conformities are related to inadequate management, inadequate risk assessment, inadequate well barriers, inadequate well barrier sketches, inadequate well control, and inadequate daily reporting of drilling and well activities,” said the PSA.

The incident occurred during a wireline operation to replace a gas lift valve in well 6407/9-A-01. The operation resulted in the subsurface safety valve becoming stuck in the Xmas tree, blocking the upper mast valve, and leaving only one barrier against a potential leak. read more

By John Donovan

Mr Justice Eady is the High Court Judge accused of being responsible for “bringing in a privacy law by the back door with a series of “arrogant and amoral” judgments…“

Personally, I have fond memories of Mr Justice Eady. Royal Dutch Shell may take a different view.

On 18th April 1998 I was surprised to learn from Rachel Oldroyd, a reporter from the “Financial Mail On Sunday”, that Shell had issued a press statement that clearly inferred that previous claims I had brought against the oil giant were bogus, thus repeating a libel of March 1995 , which Shell had already settled at some considerable cost to Shell shareholders. read more

May 23, 2011 8:52 A.M. ET

By JAMES HERRON

LONDON—Royal Dutch Shell PLC has been rapped by Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority for a maintenance error on an oil well that had “major accident potential” and risked an oil leak.

The incident occurred Dec. 4, 2010 on Norway’s Draugen field, which produces around 50,000 barrels of oil a day, the PSA said on its website Monday. An operation to replace a subsurface gas valve went wrong, the device became stuck inside and blocked the operation of another piece of machinery called a Christmas Tree, which sits atop the wellhead, it said. read more

upstreamonline: In-depth revision ordered at Brent Charlie following major gas leaks

The UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has taken the rare step of ordering a thorough safety review at Shell’s Brent Charlie platform following two major gas leaks.

ROB WATTS London  06 May 2011 01:53 GMT

The HSE has told Shell to submit a revised safety case for the Brent Charlie platform after gas was detected on its topsides following leaks on 12 January this year and 27 September 2010, Upstream can reveal.

Shell, which took the decision itself to close the platform after the January incident, has been battling for some time to resolve technically complex issues related to the venting of gas from inside one the platform’s huge concrete legs — Column 1 (C1) — and dispersing it effectively away from the platform. read more

The recent WikiLeaks revelations have exposed the high level of influence, infiltration and intelligence-gathering that global oil companies have in resource-rich nations in Africa, specifically Shell’s role in Nigeria. Shell gained information on all aspects of Nigeria’s oil business.

Leaked US diplomatic cables from last year, carried by a number of international newspapers and magazines, show that Royal Dutch Shell – among the major oil producers in Nigeria – have infiltrated key Nigerian ministries and have been using links to US officials to gain information on rival oil companies in the country, and the movements and objectives of militants in the Niger Delta region.

Shell’s level of penetration into the governmental structure of Nigeria – one of the world’s largest oil exporters – have given the company access to politicians and decision-makers at the highest level, providing it with insider knowledge of all movements and negotiations within those ministries. read more

By John Donovan

In June 2009 we reported that a Shell Nigeria insider had disclosed to us that senior colleagues had a commercial relationship with militant leaders of gangs carrying out attacks on Shell employees, pipelines and installations. We established that the source was authentic. Indeed, to our surprise we discovered that The Financial Times had already confirmed the basics of our source’s allegations (see “Shell gives Nigerian work to Militant companies”).

There were two possible interpretations. read more