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August, 2012:

Lawsuit for Release of Key Arctic Offshore Safety Data

Press Release

For Immediate Release:  August 30, 2012

Contact:  Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337

Lawsuit for Release of Key Arctic Offshore Safety Data

Testing Results for New Blowout Capping System Sought

“Crucial” safety data on response to an offshore oil rig blowout in icy Arctic waters has not been released as required by law, according to a federal suit filed today by PEER.  The unreleased testing data would shed some light on whether there could be a repeat of the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico from the first wells to be drilled this summer on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Shuts-In Nigeria Pipeline To Nembe Creek Flow Station

By Obafemi Oredein: Published August 31, 2012: Dow Jones Newswires

IBADAN, Nigeria –Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSB.LN) Nigerian unit has closed off a pipeline into the Nembe Creek-2 flow station after a leak was discovered two days ago, a company spokesman said Friday.

The leak was observed on the flowline Wednesday, and booms quickly deplored to stop the spread of any spilled oil, said Precious Okolobo, a spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd., the Anglo-Dutch firm’s local joint venture. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell can start drill prep in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press: 31 August 2012

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC has been given a permit to begin preparation work at exploratory drilling sites in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast while it awaits certification for its oil spill response barge, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday.

“We are allowing certain limited preparatory activities that we know can be done in a safe manner,” he said in a teleconference with reporters. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

U.S. to allow Shell to begin prep work for drilling in Arctic

WASHINGTON | Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:10pm EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will be allowed to begin some “limited” drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, the U.S. government said on Thursday, as the company struggled to keep its Arctic exploration plans this year alive.

The U.S. Interior Department said Shell will be permitted to begin preparatory work in the Chukchi, but cannot tap areas containing oil until the government certifies its oil spill containment system.

Shell’s long-delayed $4.5 billion effort to drill for Arctic oil looked close to fruition this year but the company has run into snags. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Feds give Shell green light to launch Arctic drilling

Posted August 30, 2012 by Jennifer A. Dlouhy

The Obama administration on Thursday agreed to immediately allow Shell to launch drilling in Arctic waters, even though a critical oil spill containment barge is still a two-week trek away.

Administration officials stressed that the company would only be allowed to begin initial site work and drilling, without penetrating underground oil reservoirs until that emergency equipment has won Coast Guard certification and is on site.

But environmentalists accused the White House of bending over backwards to satisfy Shell and oil drilling advocates in an election year. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Exxon, Shell Said Seeking Control of $46 Billion Kashagan Field

By Nariman Gizitdinov on August 30, 2012

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) are seeking bigger stakes in the Kashagan oil field and operating control before starting to expand the $46 billion project, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Exxon and Shell also want Kazakhstan’s government to extend the production-sharing agreement for 20 years before investing more in the Caspian Sea field, touted as the world’s biggest discovery in four decades when found, the people said, declining to be identified as the talks are confidential. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

U.S. To Allow Shell To Do ‘Preparatory’ Activities in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea

By Ryan Tracy: August 30, 2012

WASHINGTON–The U.S. Interior Department said Thursday it will allow Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN) to do ” preparatory” work on an oil well in the Chukchi Sea while still holding back on a final permit for drilling deep enough to find oil.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the company still has to meet “many outstanding requirements” before it can drill into rock formations that hold oil, but that the agency felt it was safe to allow the company to begin work on the well. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Causes Earthquakes in the Netherlands

FROM OUR AUGUST 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

BLOOMBERG: Shell Causes Earthquakes in the Netherlands

“Northern Netherlands Trembles as Gas Extraction Triggers Quakes: The entire area is sinking…”

Posted 30 August 2005

Northern Netherlands Trembles as Gas Extraction Triggers Quakes Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) — Arie de Langen says he never thought he’d have to worry about earthquakes in his northern Dutch village of Sappemeer.

Quakes were unheard of and homes in the dozens of towns and villages that dot the region were built with wooden frames and beamed roofs. Then a venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s No. 2 oil company, and Exxon Mobil Corp. began extracting natural gas in the region, triggering land shifts. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Retired Shell engineer played central role in reserves scandal

FROM OUR AUGUST 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

Financial Times: Retired Shell engineer played central role

“the company had been engaged in accounting manoeuvres since 1997-98, including a flawed internal audit function”; “Shell had engaged as [group reserves auditor] a retired Shell petroleum engineer – who worked only part time and was provided with limited resources and no staff – to audit its vast worldwide operations.”

By Adrian Michaels in New York and Carola Hoyos and Andrew Parker in London

Posted 30 August 2004

US and UK regulators on Tuesday went several steps further than Royal Dutch/Shell in their dissection of what went wrong.

The Anglo-Dutch oil group had already presented the main findings of an internal investigation in April into its reserves debacle.

That report heavily criticised dismissed senior executives – Walter van de Vijver, the former head of exploration, and Sir Philip Watts, former chairman. But it had less to say on how the company had been engaged in accounting manoeuvres since 1997-98, including a flawed internal audit function. The US’s Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK’s Financial Services Authority delve into the origin of the problems. “ read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Carson neighborhood calls on Shell to take action on underground oil

Elex Michaelson

CARSON, Calif. (KABC) — An environmental controversy surfaces again in Carson, where the city is locked in a legal battle with an oil giant.

Residents say oil and chemicals are oozing up again from the ground in their neighborhoods. AT&T crews came to look at a phone line and what they found underground was oil, just a few feet below the surface of the Carousel Tract neighborhood.

“I was speechless. I didn’t even know what to say because the oil was just oozing out of the sides of this hole,” said resident Barbara Post. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Africa Gas Rush Imperils $100 Billion in Australian LNG

By Eduard Gismatullin and James Paton on August 29, 2012

The discovery along Africa’s east coast of the world’s biggest gas finds in a decade threatens to undo investment plans on the other side of the Indian Ocean.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), BG Group Plc (BG/) of the U.K. and France’s Total SA (FP) may scale back projects to build liquefied natural gas export plants in Australia and switch to Tanzania and Mozambique, where the new prospects lie and will cost about half as much, according to Jefferies International Ltd.

The LNG boom in Australia, where $180 billion of planned investment was set to make gas the country’s fastest-growing export over the next five years, risks losing strength as labor and material shortages force up building costs. As energy companies consider the next $100 billion of projects, a switch to East Africa would hold back Australia’s market share in China and India, where energy consumption is forecast rise more than 60 percent by 2030. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Russia: Shell-Shocked From U.S. Shale Over Shtokman

Matthew Hulbert  By Matthew Hulbert, Contributor

8/29/2012

It’s been coming for a long time, but Gazprom has finally canned its 3.9tcm Shtokman gas development in the Barents Sea. France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil can breathe a collective sigh of relief as Gazprom’s triumvirate partners, ducking out of an increasingly expensive $20bn Arctic development. But as far as Russian Inc. is concerned, this is a strategic shocker. Far from dictating global LNG dynamics as the ‘swing producer’, Moscow is going to be kicked from pillar to post trying to set prices in Europe, and far more importantly, in Asia. That applies not only to liquid molecules, but pipeline gas as well. The reality of this hasn’t fully dawned on President Putin yet. When it does, expect the Kremlin to go for the quickest political fix it has to hand: The 63bcm South Stream pipeline specifically designed to stitch up South East European markets as the target of choice. Pathetic politics, but a sure sign of where Russia’s limited regional ambitions now rest. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

In Arctic, Greenpeace picks new fight with old foe

By Karl Ritter on August 29, 2012

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Global warming has ignited a rush to exploit Arctic resources — and Greenpeace is determined to thwart that stampede.

Employing the same daredevil tactics it has used against nuclear testing or commercial whaling, the environmental group is now dead-set on preventing oil companies from profiting from global warming by drilling for oil near the Arctic’s shrinking ice cap.

The campaign took off in May 2010, when oil was still gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, Greenpeace was startled by reports that a small Scottish energy firm was proceeding with plans to drill for oil and gas in iceberg-laden waters off western Greenland. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell: A shell game on drilling Arctic waters

By Joel Connelly: August 28, 2012

Shell Oil is asking the federal government to prolong the season for its exploratory drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea by at least two weeks, and to start work before a spill containment barge arrives in Arctic waters from its retrofit in Bellingham.

The oil giant has shelled out $4.5 billion on its planned drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, faced a year’s delay due to the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster, and is now planning just two exploratory wells instead of five.

Scientists from Shell predict that ice in the Chukchi Sea won’t be a factor until mid-November, weeks past the current September 24 deadline, the Anchorage Daily News reported. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

High Stakes for Shell in Alaska

Shell’s containment barge waits to drill exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska. Associated Press:

August 28, 2012

Oil companies are used to being hostages to fortune. Pumping crude out of the world’s volatile hotspots and undertaking prospecting in deep waters mean firms like Royal Dutch Shell are old hands at juggling risks.

But in taking on the Arctic — in some ways the final frontier of oil exploration — is Shell biting off more than it can chew?

Shell has placed big bets on its controversial U.S. Arctic oil exploration plans and its success there is an important part of its quest to find new hydrocarbon reserves. Shell has already spent around $4.5 billion to drill in the Arctic, becoming the first company in several years to explore for oil there. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell seeks extension of Alaska Chukchi drill season

Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:59pm GMT

* Company hampered by logistics

* Needs to make progress soon to beat Arctic ice

* Working toward first Chukchi drilling in two decades

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is seeking permission to extend its Arctic drilling season as it struggles with the logistics of exploring untapped oil reserves beneath icy waters off Alaska.

The oil giant, which so far has spent $4.5 billion on its Alaska exploration program, is seeking to drill the first wells in two decades in the remote Chukchi Sea, which sits between Alaska and Siberia. The effort is being closely watched by the energy industry. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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