By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Ali Sheikholeslami – Sep 30, 2010 6:30 PM GMT+0100

Total SA of France, Statoil ASA of Norway, Italy’s Eni SpA and the Netherlands’ Royal Dutch Shell Plc have “pledged to end their investments in Iran’s energy sector,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said.

Steinberg said the pledge means the companies are “eligible” to avoid U.S. sanctions. “These companies have provided assurances they will stop or are taking significant verifiable steps to stop their activity in Iran and have provided assurances not to undertake new energy-related activities in Iran that may be sanctionable,” he told reporters in Washington.

The U.S. also announced that it is imposing sanctions on an Iranian energy-trading company operating in Switzerland. The action was taken against Lausanne-based Naftiran Intertrade Co., also known as Nico. The company is involved in the trading of oil and refined products and seeks to invest in energy projects, according to its website. read more

By Eduard Gismatullin – Sep 29, 2010 10

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, plans to invest about $40 billion in the Americas through 2014 to boost production by 40 percent.

Shell’s oil and gas output in the region may reach 1 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the period, The Hague-based company said in a statement.

Operations in the Americas have the potential to generate over $10 billion in cash flow in 2012, Simon Henry, the chief financial officer at Shell, said in a video interview posted on the Internet. It’s “a very good position to be in, very much fits our global ambition for financial growth and the strategy to allocate more capital” to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development region. read more

Daily Telegraph

When BP became a sponsor of the US Olympics team for London’s 2012 games in February, Tony Hayward could have been forgiven for thinking he deserved a pat on the back, if not quite a medal.

By Richard Blackden
Published: 6:00AM BST 30 Sep 2010

Tony Hayward’s fate was sealed as the scale of the disaster emerged, though the public-relations gaffes did not help Photo: Getty Images

Five years on from the explosion at its Texas City refinery, the company had recovered its position in the country where people consume more oil than anywhere else.

The chief executive of Britain’s biggest energy company had made the Gulf of Mexico central to hitting BP’s aggressive production targets. The Tiber discovery in September 2009 had seen the drilling of a well to a record 35,000 feet, and the Gulf’s deep waters were a stage for BP to do what the company had long believed distinguished it from rivals: find oil and gas in places no one else could. Hayward also liked the US, describing to an audience in Houston the special American traits of being “can-do, adventurous and optimistic”. read more

By Eduard Gismatullin – Sep 30, 2010

Regal Petroleum Plc, the U.K. explorer focusing on natural-gas projects in Ukraine, fell to the lowest share price on record after Chief Executive Officer David Greer quit and as gas wells failed to stabilize output.

Regal dropped as much as 31 percent to 18.25 pence in London trading, the lowest price since Sept. 27, 2002. The stock was at 21 pence at 10:03 a.m. local time, valuing the company at 66.86 million pounds ($106 million). The shares have fallen about 80 percent in the last year. read more

"The outlook for deep water remains positive, despite the current drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico," the Dutch oil giant said in a prepared statement.

Calgary-based Nexen Inc. and its partner Royal Dutch Shell PLC are trumpeting a major oil find in the Gulf of Mexico, a discovery that will serve as a test of feared regulatory gridlock in the prolific oil-producing region.

By Ed Crooks in New York Published: September 29 2010

Royal Dutch Shell is planning a rapid expansion of its North American business to raise production by 40 per cent to 1m barrels equivalent per day in 2014, including gas, Canadian oil sands and deepwater oil.

The strategy, announced in Canada on Tuesday, is part of Europe’s largest oil company’s plan to meet its “aspiration” of producing 3.7m barrels per day in 2014, compared with 3.15m last year.

One of its announcements included approval for a deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico where BP is a junior partner. read more

In the two months before the UN voted through its fourth set of sanctions, on 9 June, affecting finance, insurance and shipping sectors, Shell's trading company, Satsco, spent at least $778m on Iranian crude, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

By Joe Carroll – Sep 28, 2010

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest energy company, gave final approval to an investment in an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell, based in The Hague, said in a PR Newswire statement that the Mars B platform will pump the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of crude a day when it begins output sometime after 2014. The dollar amount of the investment was not disclosed.

Shell owns a 71.5 percent stake in Mars B and will operate the platform, according to the statement. BP Plc of London also owns an interest in the project. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–The Brazilian unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSB, RDSA.LN, RDSB.LN) discovered oil in the Santos Basin during the company’s first exploration attempt in the region famous for its deepwater discoveries, the company said Tuesday.

Shell Brasil’s first well in the BM-S-54 block showed indications of hydrocarbons, the company said in a statement emailed to Dow Jones Newswires. Earlier Tuesday, the discovery was also published on the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency’s website. read more

Sept. 28, 2010, 3:50 p.m. EDT

CALGARY, Canada, September 28, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) reconfirmed strong momentum in its businesses in the Americas for a group of shareholders and analysts today, visiting Upstream assets in Canada. Shell’s oil & gas production in the region could reach 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2014, an increase of some 40% on current levels, subject to the pace of investment, which could be some $40 billion for the 2011-14 period. read more

Sept. 28, 2010, 2:35 p.m. EDT

NEW YORK, Sep 28, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) today condemned Royal Dutch Shell for increasing its business with Iran. Rather than complying with the spirit of U.S. and EU law, Royal Dutch Shell over the summer conducted over a billion dollars’ worth of trade in crude oil. The U.S. sanctions that President Obama signed into law in July are targeted directly at Iran’s oil industry. The Guardian broke the news of Shell’s business in Tuesday’s newspaper. read more

By John Donovan

I am in possession of authentic Shell internal emails revealing that Shell prepared contingency plans out of concern at the prospect of a boycott of Shell in the USA, arising from Shell’s treachery in dealing with Iran.

The emails are available to the news media on request to john@shellnews.net

Royal Dutch Shell is still trading with the fanatical Iranian regime despite: –

*Iran’s avowed intent to become a nuclear power…

*Sanctions imposed on Iran…

*Iranian threats to eliminate Israel… read more

BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 13 – 28 October 2010

Risteard Ó Domhnaill’s compelling and deeply moving documentary follows a campaign trying to prevent Shell lay a pipeline in county Mayo.

When it was discovered that there was a reserve of 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas 80km off the west coast of Ireland, a consortium led by Shell developed plans to lay a pipeline into County Mayo, through the village of Rossport. Without having been consulted in the planning process, the small farming and fishing community objected, fearing the risk of environmental damage, and understandably keen to protect their land, fishing grounds and, indeed, their very way of life. Risteard Ó Domhnaill’s compelling, moving film followed the campaign against Shell over four years. There are disturbing scenes of Irish Garda being deployed to remove protestors and drag people to jail; and implications that the Irish government is backing Shell, motivated by economic greed. Tension mounts when the protestors disagree on the best way to take Shell on, and individuals feel compelled to take increasingly more desperate action. Ultimately, The Pipe serves as a stirring tribute to the brave men and women fighting for their rights, and standing up to a corporate giant. Yet there’s poignancy, too, as its inhabitants accept, whether Shell stay or go, Rossport will never be the same again. read more

CBS News.com

September 28, 2010 6:28 AM

While its competitors bowed to international pressure against trade with Iran, the U.K.-registered oil giant Shell increased its purchase of crude from the isolated regime over the summer, according to a report in Tuesday’s Guardian.

The British broadsheet says it obtained confidential documents revealing that Shell paid Iran at least $1.5 billion for crude oil in the summer months alone, as competitors including BP halted orders from the Islamic Republic.

Iran is under strict economic and military embargoes implemented by the United Nations Security Council and many countries unilaterally, including, of course, the United States.

Shell’s only response to the Guardian’s report was to insist that the purchase of Iranian crude in no way violates any sanctions.

The importation of oil from Iran has not been banned by the sanctions currently in place, but most large petroleum companies have voluntarily stopped purchasing from the nation. read more

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote) has bought $1.5 billion worth of crude oil from the National Iranian Oil Company (NOIC), Britain’s Guardian newspaper said, citing sensitive trading documents.

The newspaper said the UK-registered company this summer stepped up its orders of Iranian oil while other major buyers — including BP (BP.L: Quote) and India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.BO: Quote) — halted orders following U.N.-imposed sanctions in June in reaction to Iran’s uranium enrichment programme.

Wide-ranging international sanctions implemented in June and July have excluded crude oil sales, but Western-allied powers have increased political pressure on countries to trade less with Iran. read more