HOUSTON | Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:35pm GMT

Oct 31 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is “very interested” in onshore U.S. shale oil, but the company is focusing on less developed plays to bypass the pricey competitive rush for more established acreage, the head of Shell’s Americas operations said on Monday.

Marvin Odum told Reuters in an interview that oil majors likely will move into shale oil plays faster than they did during the natural gas shale boom.

He also said he expected the Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas pipeline to be approved despite opposition and that Shell’s joint-venture Motiva Enterprises’ refinery in Port Arthur will be well positioned to process heavy Canadian crude transported in the line. read more

Malcolm Brinded, the Shell boss who backed AJL

By John Donovan

During the discovery process of high court litigation several years ago, I stumbled across evidence in Shell’s own internal documents of a rigged contract tender process involving several Shell executives, led by AJL, a then Shell National Promotions executive.

I was in the process of suing Shell in the High Court for the fourth time (Shell had already settled the first three cases) when I found the amazing array of evidence in discovery documents supplied by Shell.

All of the cases involved the same Shell executive, AJL. read more

From pages 42 & 43 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

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

In May 2005, Shell signed an agreement to start a joint venture with the Libyan National Oil Corporation. The joint venture would revamp and expand the existing liquified natural gas (LNG) Plant at Marsa el-Brega on the Libyan coast. It would also explore for gas and subsequently develop five areas totalling 20,000 square kilometres located in the heart of Libya’s Sirte Basin. Shell was committed to invest USD 637 million in the first phase of the joint venture.

Already in March 2004, Malcolm Brinded, head of exploration and production at Shell, stated: “We were in Libya in the Fifties and we were in Libya in the Eighties for an exploration programme, but for this one we came back in 2001 and so this is the culmination of discussions over that.” International sanctions on Libya were lifted in 2003 and 2004. Thus, Shell had been fishing for contracts from Gaddafi a long time before international sanctions were lifted. read more

31 October 2011

CALGARY — What should have been business as usual in the Netherlands turned tragic this weekend, as a missing Shell Canada employee has turned up dead.

Barry Maguire, a general manager of design engineering for Shell, was found by the sea early Sunday.

A spokesman for the company confirmed Sunday evening Maguire of Calgary who had died while on a business trip.

He had been reported missing Thursday.

“We understand from the police in the Netherlands that the body of the employee, who previously had been reported missing, was found earlier (Sunday),” spokesman Stephen Doolan said. read more

Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:07am GMT

Oct 31 (Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) expects prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia to continue rising and refining margins to stay under pressure in 2012, its chief executive said on Monday.

“LNG prices are rising and we see this continuing,” Peter Voser told Reuters on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW).

Shell is working on new supply sources and that could influence prices in the longer term. The oil major has bought a marine terminal on Canada’s Pacific Coast as a possible site to export LNG to Asia. read more

Following the demise of his friend Gaddafi, Royal Dutch Shell Executive Director Malcolm Brinded (center figure in photo immediately above) has turned his attention to the Chinese government. Jia Qinglin (Front, R same photo), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), listens to the introduction of a senior manager as he visits the research and development center of Royal Dutch Shell in The Hague, the Netherlands, Oct. 28, 2011. (Xinhua/Li Tao) read more

MARK WILLIAMSON

28 Oct 2011

ROYAL Dutch Shell said it would curb investment in Europe where it expects the economy to stagnate, but made clear it would still spend in the North Sea.

Announcing bumper profits driven by high oil prices, the oil and gas giant said it will shift a growing share of its investment to places like Qatar, where the launch of huge projects will underpin growth for years.

Noting that Shell only devotes 15% of its investment to Europe, chief financial officer Simon Henry said the continent’s share will shrink amid concerns about the fallout from the debt crisis. read more

By David Cralk: Friday October 28,2011

OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell unveiled a doubling in profits ­yesterday thanks to higher prices as it vowed to slash European investment because of economic fears.

Chief executive Peter Voser said the group was making good progress as it reported third-quarter profits of $7.2billion (£4.5billion) for the period to the end of September up from £2.1billion last time.

It said oil prices, often soaring above $100 a barrel and new projects particularly in Canada and Qatar, had been the main drivers offsetting a 2 per cent dip in production to 3million barrels a day after a ramp up in asset sales such as its SDHp Norwegian gas pipelines. read more

By STEVE HAWKES, Business Editor: Friday 28 October 2011

*£12.5bn cash in the bank

*90,000 staff around the world

*3m output in millions of barrels a day

SOARING oil and gas prices have sent profits surging to £49million a day at SHELL.

The energy giant made a whopping £4.5billion over the three months to October — DOUBLE the same period a year ago.

Yesterday’s figures come as drivers are being forced off the road by soaring petrol prices as the cost of oil hits record highs.

AA chiefs claim a quarter of motorists are cutting back.

AA president Edmund King said motorists “will not be pleased” to see oil giants making a killing.

But he insisted many now blame the Chancellor more than oil companies for the huge prices they pay at the pump. read more

The oil giant handles budgets and projects of a size that would daunt nation states. The difference is that it need answer to no one … and it’s running a huge surplus

Posted by Terry Macalister Thursday 27 October 2011 13.08 BST The Guardian

What European leader would not want to swap places with Shell boss Peter Voser? He has just doubled the company’s profits in the third quarter, amassed $30bn (£18.7bn) of cash over the last nine months and is now buying back shares at the rate of $800m every three months for want to anything better to do with the money.

Voser has the advantage of having everything to gain from higher energy prices. The social and political fallout from rising fuel poverty and mutinous motorists rarely touches the parallel universe that is Shell Centre in London. read more

Commission says new laws needed to prevent another Deepwater Horizon, as Shell and Exxon reveal massive profits

• Terry Macalister
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 October 2011 13.34 BST

The European commission has warned that the likelihood of a Deepwater Horizon-type accident in the North Sea remains “unacceptably high” as it outlined new laws to counter the danger.

The moves have angered the UK government and offshore oil industry while threatening to put a brake on some of the huge profits declared by big North Sea operators Shell and ExxonMobil.

Brussels officials defended their plans to in effect seize overall control of North Sea regulation from the British authorities. read more

Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:09am EDT

* Port Arthur refinery will be 600,000 bpd

* Will be deep conversion plant

* Refinery to process wide variety of crude oils

NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The expansion of the Motiva Port Arthur, Texas refinery is 90 percent complete and start-up procedures are slated to begin in the first half of next year, Shell officials said on Thursday.