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July, 2013:

Nigeria: Senate Committee Summons Halliburton, Shell, Others Over Abuse of Labour Laws

 The Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity has summoned Halliburton, Shell and other oil giants along with notable construction companies over alleged abuse of expatriate regulations and other labour laws.

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The Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity has summoned Halliburton, Shell and other oil giants along with notable construction companies over alleged abuse of expatriate regulations and other labour laws.

According to the committee, which said it discovered the perceived abuse at the weekend, the erring companies are to appear before the committee to explain why they have failed to comply with labour laws.

The committee, which threatened that any company found culpable of the alleged abuse would be punished, added that over 60 per cent of major construction companies and oil giants in the country have refused to comply with labour laws. 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 to Chevron Move Offshore as Nigerian Risks Mount: Energy

At Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (RDSA) compound in the Nigerian city of Warri, the gate is locked, the grounds are empty and grass has overgrown since Europe’s biggest oil company closed its operations in March after more than 40 years.

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At Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (RDSA) compound in the Nigerian city of Warri, the gate is locked, the grounds are empty and grass has overgrown since Europe’s biggest oil company closed its operations in March after more than 40 years.

After Warri saw some of the nation’s worst unrest in two decades, Shell has sold land-based fields that pumped about 400,000 barrels a day in the 1990s, valued at $1.2 billion a month at today’s crude prices, and is buying fields offshore. 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.

Our role in the $1.09b Malabu Oil mess, by Shell

Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) is in the centre of the Malabu Oil deal, for which it is being investigated by the British police. The Nation has obtained documents filed at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

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Posted by: Yusuf Alli

The controversy over the $1.092, 040,000 Malabu Oil deal continues with one of the parties, Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) opening up on how it acquired 40 per percent equity in Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 in 2000.

The company insisted that it followed due process and consulted with relevant officials in the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

It also claimed that it received verbal assurances from the then Vice-President Atiku Abubakar that there was no objection from the Federal Government to Shell acquiring an interest in OPL 245. 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.

Calif city declares emergency over Shell Oil contamination

Screen Shot 2013-03-22 at 15.49.49LOS ANGELES—The city of Carson declared a local emergency in a bid to spark faster cleanup of oil-tainted soil beneath hundreds of homes that residents say is a health danger. The council resolution said explosive methane and carcinogenic benzene are present under 285 homes that were built in the 1960s atop a former Shell tank farm. Waste petroleum was discovered beneath the housing tract five years ago. Residents and the city have filed several lawsuits against Shell, alleging the contamination has caused cancer and other illnesses as well as hurt property values.

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LOS ANGELES—The city of Carson declared a local emergency in a bid to spark faster cleanup of oil-tainted soil beneath hundreds of homes that residents say is a health danger. ).

The council resolution said explosive methane and carcinogenic benzene are present under 285 homes that were built in the 1960s atop a former Shell tank farm. Waste petroleum was discovered beneath the housing tract five years ago.

Residents and the city have filed several lawsuits against Shell, alleging the contamination has caused cancer and other illnesses as well as hurt property values. 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.

United States: Defamation Claims Increase Costs of Cooperation with Government Investigations

Screen Shot 2013-03-21 at 23.08.19Following the 2010 settlements, a former employee sued Shell for defamation, claiming that Shell’s written report falsely stated that he recommended reimbursement to contractors for payments that he knew were bribes. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Shell, finding that Shell had an absolute privilege (i.e., immunity) for the statements it made to DOJ. The Texas court of appeals reversed that finding on June 24, 2013, holding that Shell’s written report was covered by only a conditional privilege. Consequently, Shell is not immune from suit if the former employee can show that Shell’s actions were motivated by malice.

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Last Updated: July 26 2013

Article by J. Patrick Rowan

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Disclosing the results of a company’s internal investigation to government investigators is always fraught with potential problems. The most obvious is the danger of waiving attorney-client privilege and work product protections that would otherwise shield the internal investigation from discovery in parallel litigation. But another less-heralded danger is the risk of defamation claims by employees identified through the investigation as having participated in illegal activity. The risk associated with such claims was on display in a recent ruling by a Texas court of appeals, which held that Shell Oil Company was entitled to only a conditional privilege, and not “immunity,” for statements it made in a written report to the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding alleged violations of the FCPA. 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.

Gulf of Mexico oil spill still dragging BP down

THE Gulf of Mexico oil spill will continue to cast its shadow over BP’s second-quarter results this week, leaving the door open for Shell to win the latest head-to-head tussle ­between the two rivals.

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by PETER RANSCOMBE

THE Gulf of Mexico oil spill will continue to cast its shadow over BP’s second-quarter results this week, leaving the door open for Shell to win the latest head-to-head tussle ­between the two rivals.

BP is likely to set aside more cash to help pay for the damage caused in 2010, when an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on the Macondo well killed 11 workers and caused the United States’ worst oil spill.

Last week’s pictures of the fire on Walter Oil & Gas’s Hercules rig in the Gulf of Mexico will have brought back memories of the disaster for Louisiana residents. 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.

Warning Over ‘Risky’ Drilling In The Arctic

MPs point to problems Shell has encountered in the Arctic in the past year and reiterate calls for a ‘sanctuary’ in the area.

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Saturday 27 July 2013

The Government has been accused of “complacently standing by” while oil and gas drilling starts in the Arctic despite the risks to the environment.

Companies such as Shell are not yet able to demonstrate they could clean up an oil spill in the harsh but pristine conditions of the Arctic, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said.

And a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that only a third of proved reserves of fossil fuels can be burnt before 2050 if global temperatures are to be kept from rising by more than 2C, widely regarded as the threshold for “dangerous” climate change. 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 returns to the Arctic to conduct sonar work

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July 27th 11:57 am | Carey Restino

Shell, which largely pulled out of the Arctic following a calamitous 2012 drilling season, is continuing its efforts with a geophysical survey of the ocean floor off the coast off Wainwright.

In a story first covered by KTUU TV, Shell’s plans to conduct sonar work in the Chukchi Sea this year. The company plans to examine the sea floor for ice gouges in several locations, documents submitted to the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Management explain. The surveys are continuations of similar programs conducted by Shell in the Beaufort Sea beginning in 2006 and in the Chukchi Sea in 2008, Shell writes in its activity notice to the agency. 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.

Alfred Donovan 1917 – 2013 RIP

Screen Shot 2013-07-27 at 18.49.33My father, Alfred Donovan, passed away earlier today in Colchester Essex, after a short illness.  “Don”, as he was known to friends and family, served in the UK Regular Army – Royal Corp of Signals (Royal Berkshire Regiment) – for 12 years. From December 1933 until March 1946 he served in the UK, Palestine, Egypt and India, and he fought in the Burma campaign in World War 2. He was a successful businessman operating a chain of garages in East London for many years, before co-founding the sales promotion agency Don Marketing, which had many blue chip clients, including Guinness, Whitbread, BP, Conoco and Royal Dutch Shell. Nearly 10 years ago he was the co-founder of this website. He was everything that anyone would wish their father to be. 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.

American Homes Contaminated by Shell Chemicals

Screen Shot 2013-07-20 at 12.11.46Homes sitting atop a former Shell Oil tank farm are left contaminated with oil chemicals: City officials have partnered with 285 homeowners in the city of Carson, CA to expedite a cleanup of an oil contamination, which has led to lawsuits involving cancer, skin rashes and tumors in the Carousel housing tract, which sits on top of a former Shell Oil tank farm. The oil contamination has been a problem in Carousel since 2008 when tests revealed that the soil beneath these homes contained high levels of benzene and petroleum. In addition to the extraordinarily high benzene levels, the soil has also tested positive for dangerously high levels of methane, leading some environmental experts to fear a massive fireball at Carousel should the gasses ever make it to the surface.

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Written by Shannen Hill Sentinel Intern generalinfo@lasentinel.net: Published on Friday, 26 July 2013

Homes sitting atop a former Shell Oil tank farm are left contaminated with oil chemicals

City officials have partnered with 285 homeowners in the city of Carson, CA to expedite a cleanup of an oil contamination, which has led to lawsuits involving cancer, skin rashes and tumors in the Carousel housing tract, which sits on top of a former Shell Oil tank farm.

The oil contamination has been a problem in Carousel since 2008 when tests revealed that the soil beneath these homes contained high levels of benzene and petroleum. In addition to the extraordinarily high benzene levels, the soil has also tested positive for dangerously high levels of methane, leading some environmental experts to fear a massive fireball at Carousel should the gasses ever make it to the surface. 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.

HOT AIR IN NIGERIA OVER MASSIVE BONGA OIL SPILL

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Port Harcourt : Nigeria | Jul 25, 2013 at 4:38 PM PDT

By

PROCEEDINGS at an environmental training workshop and capacity building for civil society groups on offshore oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria and , Its Impact on lives and livelihoods, was characterized with some hot exchanges between pro and anti-establishment groups in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital in Southern Nigeria, on Thursday.

Leading the controversial debate on Growing Offshore Oil Exploration and Production, Livelihoods, Environment and Civil Society in Nigeria, Dr. Fidelis Allen of Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) at the event that was organized by Environmental Rights Action (ERA) said offshore oil exploration was not attractive in Nigeria before 1999 but has been growing after that time. 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.

Nigeria: Slippery Justice for Victims of Oil Spills

Screen Shot 2012-11-27 at 12.12.54The first lawsuit against Shell outside Nigeria took 13 years to be heard in court. It was filed in 1996 by the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an author and activist, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that gives non-U.S. citizens the right to file lawsuits in U.S. courts for violations of international law committed outside the U.S. Although Shell settled out of court in 2009 and agreed to pay the Saro-Wiwa family $15.5 million, it denied the charges that included complicity in human rights abuses and inhumane treatment of the Ogoni people.

In a stunning and dramatic legal ruling that echoed from the serene court chambers in the Netherlands to the heart of rural Niger Delta in Nigeria, the District Court of The Hague dismissed all but one of the lawsuits brought against Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company, by a group of farmers seeking compensation for the environmental damage caused by the company.

The lawsuit was filed in 2008 by four fishermen and farmers accusing Shell of ruining their livelihoods through environmental degradation. The claims centred on oil spills that occurred between 2004 and 2007 at the Ibibio-I oil well in the village of Ikot Ada Udo in Akwa Ibom State. 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 hires for Arctic Offshore

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Oil Patch Insider: Shell hires for Arctic Offshore

Although media attention on Shell’s problems with its Alaska Arctic exploration program and the deferral of similar programs by ConocoPhillips and Statoil has tended to question the oil companies’ continuing commitment to the Arctic offshore, a recent half-page advertisement by Shell in the Anchorage Daily News would seem to imply that the company’s Alaska program is still alive and well. The advertisement, seeking job applications from “engineering and technical professionals,” says that Shell is seeking to fill immediate vacancies based in Anchorage. Those vacancies include positions such as a marine contracts manager, an ice management lead, well engineers and well supervisors, the advertisement says. 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.

Halliburton Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence After Gulf Spill

“It’s another bad day for Halliburton and a very good day for BP,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer. Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to destruction of critical evidence after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.

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Halliburton Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence After Gulf Spill

By : A version of this article appeared in print on July 26, 2013, on page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Halliburton Will Admit Destroying Data on Spill.

HOUSTON — Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to destruction of critical evidence after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.

The oil services company said it would pay the maximum allowable fine of $200,000 and will be subject to three years of probation. It will also continue its cooperation in the government’s criminal investigation. Separately, Halliburton made a voluntary contribution of $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. 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.

Louisiana agency sues big oil firms for hurting wetlands

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Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:36pm EDT

(Reuters) – A Louisiana agency sued 97 oil companies – including BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp , Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc – in state court on Wednesday for allegedly damaging hundreds of miles of sensitive wetlands by cutting through them with pipelines and transportation canals.

Governor Bobby Jindal quickly accused the agency of overreach and said the filing should be withdrawn.

The suit demands the oil industry pay for or remediate environmental damages stemming from decades of work that allegedly caused erosion and hurt coastal wetlands – which experts say serve as critical buffers during floods and higher ocean swells from hurricanes, like the 2005 Katrina disaster. 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.

IRISH FARMER ARRESTED FOR OPPOSING SHELL CORRIB

Screen Shot 2013-03-29 at 17.00.32Gerry Bourke has opposed the imposition of the Corrib Gas project in his village over the past decade and has previously spoken out regarding the occupation of the area by Shell and IRMS security. Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington stated “Gerry Bourke was part of the Shell to Sea delegation which met the UN Human Rights Defenders Special Rapporteur Mrs Sekaggya last year; Mrs Sekaggya’s report delivered to the UN earlier this year was critical of the Shell/Corrib policing methods and made specific recommendations thereto. Alan Shatter and the party of ‘law and order’ chose to ignore these recommendations and so Shell and the police continue to operate here as they do in Nigeria.”

News release – Issued by Shell to Sea
Thursday 25th July 2013

AUGHOOSE FARMER ARRESTED FOR OPPOSING SHELL

Early yesterday morning, Mayo farmer Gerry Bourke was arrested by Gardaí  at his home in Aughoose, Co. Mayo.  He was held for 6 hours at Belmullet Garda station before being charged with criminal damage and trespass at Shell’s tunneling compound at Aughoose.

Mr Bourke was questioned by Garda Hugh Egan, who was previously recorded joking about raping female anti-Shell campaigners in 2011.  Garda Egan was briefly moved to Castlebar in the immediate aftermath of the recording being made public, however he remains actively involved in policing Corrib protests. [1] 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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