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Speedboat attack on Nigeria rig Last week gunmen attacked another platform kidnapping staff Gunmen using speedboats have clashed with Nigerian soldiers as they attacked an oil platform operated by Shell in the Niger Delta. A Shell spokesman said five workers were injured in the attack on the Benisede oil station in Bayelsa state. There are unconfirmed reports that some soldiers defending the platform and gunmen died in the attack. On Wednesday gunmen kidnapped four foreign workers from another Shell oil rig in the Niger delta region. The hostages, who are still being held, come from the UK, the US, Honduras...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Thirty-two privately operated Venezuelan oilfields returned to state control Sunday with the start of the new year, the government said. At midnight Dec. 31, a deadline expired for all private companies with contracts to independently pump oil to agree to joint ventures that will give Venezuela's state oil company majority control. The 32 operating agreements were signed between 1990 and 1997, when Venezuela's petroleum industry was open to private and foreign capital. The objective at the time - when the price of crude was below $10 US a barrel - was to increase production at low-priority...

LAGOS, Dec. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to halt oil exports in Nigeria following a pipeline fire that is still blazing in the country's oil-producing Niger Delta region, a company spokesman said on Thursday. "We have declared a force majeure. That means we could not load crude oil from the Bonny Terminal until we restart operation again," a Shell spokesman told Xinhua by telephone. "Today, we will try to fight the fire and commence repairs of the pipeline to see what production we can restore," he said. Shell had closed two oilfields and a flow station...

Chairman of the Shell companies in Iran, Yves Merer, said here Sunday the Anglo-Dutch oil giant would make an investment worth billions of dollars in the Islamic Republic's industry. Merer, who talked to Fars News Agency, added the demand for energy, including oil, would soar in the future but oil prices would keep fluctuating. He reiterated, The Shell will inject billions of dollars into Iran's industry if the country pays more heed to investment. The Shell Companies Group has allotted some 15 billion dollars for development of complicated oilfields across the world. The task is faced with two main problems...

Dutch oil giant Shell is fishing for an ambitious new oil and gas development in Bristol Bay, a remote corner of Alaska that once booted out the oil companies. The plan would involve installing offshore production platforms in the bay's fish-rich waters -- which are now off-limits to drillers -- and piping natural gas across the rugged Alaska Peninsula to a new processing plant and tanker port on the Gulf of Alaska. ... Two to four platforms might go northwest of Nelson Lagoon, he said, producing gas that would be super chilled into liquefied natural gas, or LNG, for shipment...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shell Oil Co (RDSa.L) said on Sunday the 227,000 barrels per day Motiva refinery at Norco Louisiana could restart by the middle of next week. Norco was one of the eight refineries shut by deadly Hurricane Katrina. "Repair work continues at the Motiva Norco refinery," Shell said in a statement. Shell said the Motiva convent refinery in Louisiana restarted and would be brought to full capacity over the several days.

When oil prices last touched record highs - actually, after adjusting for inflation we're not there yet, but given the effects of Hurricane Katrina, we probably will be soon - politicians' response was more hype than hope. Oil shale in Colorado! Tar sands in Alberta! OPEC be damned! Remember the Carter-era Synfuels Corp. debacle? It was a response to the '70s energy shortages, closed down in 1985 after accomplishing essentially nothing at great expense, which is pretty much a description of what usually happens when the government tries to take over something that the private sector can do better. Private...

When oil prices last touched record highs - actually, after adjusting for inflation we're not there yet, but given the effects of Hurricane Katrina, we probably will be soon - politicians' response was more hype than hope. Oil shale in Colorado! Tar sands in Alberta! OPEC be damned! Remember the Carter-era Synfuels Corp. debacle? It was a response to the '70s energy shortages, closed down in 1985 after accomplishing essentially nothing at great expense, which is pretty much a description of what usually happens when the government tries to take over something that the private sector can do better. Private...

When oil prices last touched record highs - actually, after adjusting for inflation we're not there yet, but given the effects of Hurricane Katrina, we probably will be soon - politicians' response was more hype than hope. Oil shale in Colorado! Tar sands in Alberta! OPEC be damned! Remember the Carter-era Synfuels Corp. debacle? It was a response to the '70s energy shortages, closed down in 1985 after accomplishing essentially nothing at great expense, which is pretty much a description of what usually happens when the government tries to take over something that the private sector can do better. Private...

As a commercial diver for the past 15 years, Mark Atkinson said he has worked numerous times in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic Ocean. But his recent work about 100 miles out in the gulf off Caillou oil field along the Louisiana coast might well become his most memorable project since he helped to secure a 24-inch pipeline that pumps 175,000 barrels of oil daily. Contracted by Hilcorp Energy Service for Shell Oil Co. pipelines and facilities, Atkinson and three other divers from DiveCon LLC, of Harvey, La., began a pipeline installation project Aug. 21 as...

From: Reuters From correspondents in Mexico SHELL Oil said it began producing crude oil and natural gas from its Cougar and Enchilada units in the Gulf of Mexico. "Today we began producing from our Cougar and Enchilada assets in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Yellowhammer Gas Processing Plant, in Mobile Bay, Alabama, is now operating," the company said in a statement. Shell did not elaborate on production levels. The Enchilada unit, about 300 kilometres southwest of New Orleans, has a peak daily production from its two platforms of 32,800 barrels of crude and 52 million cubic metres of gas,...

After leaving the state in 1998, the company has returned and hopes to join BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil as a major player in Alaska. Shell this year made its intentions clear by spending more than $44 million for 84 offshore leases in the Beaufort Sea. Company officials say that is just the beginning. "Alaska is a great and vast land. It is for people who think big ... and that's what we're doing," said Chandler Wilhelm, the company's Alaska Exploration manager, at an open house Tuesday at Shell's new offices in midtown Anchorage. ... Annell Bay, Shell's regional vice president...

An American Traitor: Guilty As Charged By Henry Mark Holzer and Erika HolzerFrontPageMagazine.com | June 10, 2005For three decades Jane Fonda obfuscated, distorted and lied about virtually everything connected with her wartime trip to North Vietnam: her motive, her acts, her intent, and her contribution to the Communists’ war effort.  With the aid of clever handlers, she so successfully suppressed and spun her conduct in Hanoi that many Americans didn’t know what she had done there, and, more important, the legal significance. Three years ago, our book, “Aid and Comfort”: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam (McFarland & Co.), laid bare...

President tells Argentines to boycott Shell.... Lefist leader wants his nation to blame Shell Oil for higher gasoline prices. I guess he does not want to pay what China and India are willing to pay. Oh boo hoo! see article at: http://www.reuters.co.uk/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=687753

LOS ANGELES -- Shell Oil Co. has agreed to delay the planned closure of a Southern California oil refinery that produces 2 percent of the state's gasoline to allow more time to find a buyer and negotiate a sale, state officials said Friday. "I'm extremely pleased with Shell's decision," state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement. "It's a welcome show of cooperation with our effort to keep open this refinery, which is crucial to helping protect California drivers from even higher gas prices than they already pay." Lockyer's announcement came after a state-hired consultant questioned Shell's decision to...

By ALAN SAYRE, AP Business Writer NEW ORLEANS - Just before the heavy-driving Memorial Day weekend, more than 500 Shell and Texaco stations in the South have stopped selling gasoline because of high sulfur levels that can ruin vehicle fuel gauges and make an empty tank appear full. The damage done by the bad gasoline could cause some drivers to run out of gas unexpectedly. Also, car owners may have to replace their fuel gauges — a repair job that can easily cost $400 to $600. The tainted gasoline originated at the Motiva Enterprises refinery in Norco, La., according to...

NEW ORLEANS - Just before the heavy-driving Memorial Day weekend, Shell Oil has stopped the sale of gasoline at more than 500 of its stations in the South because of high levels of sulfur that can damage vehicle fuel gauges and make an empty tank appear full. The damage done by the bad gasoline could cause some drivers to run out of gas unexpectedly. Also, car owners may have to replace their fuel gauges — a repair job that can easily cost $400 to $600. The tainted gasoline originated at the Motiva Enterprises refinery in Norco, La., according to Shell....

NEW YORK - Roughly 600 Shell and Texaco gasoline stations in parts of Florida and Louisiana temporarily halted their sales after customers complained the gasoline damaged their fuel gauge sensors, Shell Oil said today. "We've asked our Shell and affiliated Texaco branded stations that were affected to stop selling gasoline due to elevated levels of sulfur in the fuel," said a Shell spokeswoman. Gasoline with excess sulfur can damage fuel gauges, leaving drivers vulnerable to running out of gas without warning, she said. This could prove inconvenient for motorists planning to get away for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend --...

PEMEX (Petróleos Mexicanos) is the world's fifth-largest oil company. It is protected from competition in Mexico, where it enjoys a legal monopoly on the exploration, processing and sale of petroleum. And its privileged status in national mythology affords it a certain immunity from criticism. PEMEX is also in deep trouble. It's heavily-indebted and unable to provide the capital necessary to locate and exploit Mexico's oil deposits. Energy Minister Felipe Calderon recently announced that, without more investment, Mexico's known reserves could be depleted within 13 years. This wasn't the future envisioned by President Lazaro Cardenas, who expelled the foreign oil...

HOUSTON Oil multinational Royal Dutch-Shell said yesterday that it was cutting 2800 jobs in its information technology (IT) division over three years, but insisted that the cutbacks were not related to the scandal over its reserves. Jobs in Britain, the Netherlands and the US, where Shell employs about 9300 people in IT, would be affected, with some work being outsourced to India and Malaysia. Shell hopes to save about 850m. Shell spokeswoman Lisa Givert said the move was part of an overall revamping of the IT operations, now concentrated in the UK, the Netherlands and the US, which had been...