Posts from ‘December, 2009’

However, the 800-mile project, — spearheaded by Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil — jumped a major hurdle late Wednesday.

This just in from Shell online…

Change to Daily Dilbert cartoon

Please note:

As of January 1, 2010, Daily Dilbert is no longer available on the Shell Online homepage itself. Instead, those wishing to access the cartoon can do so by visiting the external site www.dilbert.com.

Although polls have shown that Dilbert has been one of the most popular elements of the Shell Online homepage, repeated user feedback has also revealed that some users have difficulties understanding the language in the cartoon or are uncomfortable with the topics covered and sense of humour. read more

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal Communications Decency Act gives the site immunity from liability for libel based on posts by users. The ruling upholds a decision issued last year by U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria, Va.

Financial Times

By Hugh Williamson

Published: December 30 2009 22:06

It is dusk in London and Amnesty International has mobilised hundreds of protesters in its campaign against Shell’s allegedly damaging business practices in the Niger Delta. They march in a snake formation, some carrying flaming torches, others a replica pipeline on their shoulders. Their aim is to draw attention to huge oil spills and gas flaring that, they say, are ruining the health and livelihood of many in this troubled corner of Nigeria. read more

Shell gas flaring in the Niger Delta. The practice has proved controversial. Photograph: Pius Otomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

Shell must face Friends of the Earth Nigeria claim in Netherlands

Shell disappointed at Hague court ruling on Oruma oil spill compensation case

Terry Macalister
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 December 2009 22.00 GMT

A judge in the Netherlands has opened the door to a potential avalanche of legal cases against Shell over environmental degradation said to be caused by its oil operations in the Niger Delta.

The oil group expressed “disappointment” tonight that a court in The Hague had agreed to allow Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four local Nigerian farmers to bring a compensation case in its backyard for the first time. read more

Russia, holder of the world’s biggest gas reserves, in February inaugurated an LNG plant on Sakhalin Island, entering Asia Pacific markets after relying on pipelines to Europe for decades. The $22 billion Sakhalin-2 project began year-round oil exports in December last year after previously being limited to seasonal shipments because of ice. Sakhalin-2 partners, who include Royal Dutch Shell Plc, had planned to send 55 LNG tankers from the plant this year. Gazprom owns 50 percent plus one share of Sakhalin Energy, while Shell owns 27.5 percent, Mitsui & Co. 12.5 percent and Mitsubishi Corp. 10 percent.

AMSTERDAM, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and its Nigerian unit will face compensation demands in a Dutch court for alleged damage caused by oil spills in Nigeria after the court ruled on Wednesday it was competent to handle the cases.

AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)- A Dutch court Wednesday said it has jurisdiction to rule on alleged oil spills by Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RDSB) subsidiary in Nigeria, a ruling which could set a legal precedent for multinationals in the Netherlands.

Documents released by Royal Dutch Shell Plc under the Data Protection Act to John Donovan, a prominent critic of the world’s largest oil company, show that Shell does not deny that his intervention in the Sakhalin2 project in Russia cost Shell billions – according to the Sunday Times – $22 billion.

Shell internal correspondence from December 2006 to March 2007 reveal that Shell was concerned that:

“…the Sunday Times has picked up the Sakhalin/drilling leaked e-mail story from Donovan’s website, They are responding with agree Os and As that have been used previously with the Guardian, but are first trying to kill the story by pointing out that is old news – slim chance that this will work.” read more

QUOTE FROM ROYAL DUTCH SHELL CEO PETER VOSER IN A COMMENT TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: “I was very positively surprised by how you kept your eyes on the operational performance — on the day-to-day job you had to do — while going through the uncertainties of the last few months…”

Introduction by John Donovan: Printed below is a syndicated Bloomberg article published by the Houston Chronicle containing the above quote. It must rank as Grade A BS on a par with Shell Ethics and Compliance Chief, Richard Wiseman, making an anti-corruption speech, when in fact he has a track record of supporting and encouraging corruption, deceit and predatory IP theft by Shell managers. read more

Equilon Enterprises LLC, d.b.a. Shell Oil Products US, and tied to Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) is also listed as a top holder with 19.95% of the company prior to this offering.

Pensions&Investments

Md. drops Shell holdings over Iran

December 28, 2009, 12:01 AM ET

Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, Baltimore, divested more than 1 million shares of common stock valued at more than $38.3 million and $3.5 million in bonds of Royal Dutch Shell and its affiliates because the company does business in Iran, the $31.8 billion system announced earlier this month.

The action is the result of a state law enacted last year that requires the system to consider divesting investments in companies that do business in Iran or Sudan and have no plans to cut those operations. read more

By John Donovan

Extracts from a current Reuters report…

Iraqi and Iranian forces are dug in on either side of a disputed inactive oil well in the sensitive border area, with Iraqis vowing to fight if necessary to fend off another occupation of the well by Iranian soldiers.

The seizure of the well, which Iraq says is part of its Fakka oilfield in southeast Maysan province, triggered protests from the government in Baghdad and caused a rise in prices on jittery world oil markets.

The Iranian forces have since pulled back, but Iraq says they are still on its territory, stirring echoes of the border dispute that led to the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, in which about 1 million people died. read more

Shell Asset Management Co., the manager of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s various pension funds, has taken its stake in hybrid electric power company Enova Systems to almost 20% following a $10 million capital raising exercise.

Nigeria, whose population of about 140 million people makes it Africa’s most populous country, is almost evenly split between the mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian south. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said Dec. 19 it attacked a pipeline in the southern oil region used by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp.

Extract from a Shell internal email regarding our article: “An email to Bill O’Reilly at Fox News: Shell’s treachery in Iran“ read more