Shell diverting LNG to Japan to help offset energy supply drop; lifts oil output targets

AMSTERDAM - Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Tuesday it plans to divert liquefied natural gas and fuel oil to Japan to help replace energy sources damaged in last week's earthquake and tsunami.

Shell, Europe's largest publicly listed oil company, also said it planned to boost its oil production to 3.7 million barrels per day by 2014, with CEO Peter Voser vowing that a "wave of new production" will continue.

Voser said Shell's refining assets in Japan were not damaged in Friday's disaster but it was too early to say how much assistance the government wants and Shell can give. Major LNG companies need to cooperate on rerouting planned shipments and it is not clear how much capacity in Japan can be used to generate electricity from LNG.

The country may in the meantime use fuel oil or crude oil power plants that are only slightly damaged. Voser said LNG diversions could lead to price increases in Europe in the short term.

Shell is not planning for scenarios in which global demand or prices for oil and gas decline on a long-term basis. Growing populations, improving living standards and a lag in investment mean that energy prices are still headed up, Voser said.

Shell's new output target compared with production in 2010 of just 3.34 million barrels of oil and equivalents, which was up from 3.14 million in 2009 thanks to heavy investments in places such as Russia's Sakhalin Island and offshore Qatar, both LNG projects.

Voser said Shell had made mistakes around the turn of the century, when it was pumping more than 4 million barrels of oil per day, not so much because of the major accounting scandal it suffered - in which managers were caught overestimating proven reserves - but instead because executives at the time hadn't spent enough on new capacity.

He warned an oil company can cut costs too far and enter a shrinking phase with limited investment and financing options. That won't happen on his watch, he told reporters during an exposition on the company's strategic plans for the coming year and beyond.

"We're 'back' now, and I can tell you we are not going back to where we were 10 years ago," he said.

Shell's annual report released Tuesday said the company added more to proved reserves than it pumped in 2010, and now has more than 14 billion barrels of proved reserves - enough for an estimated 11 years of operations.

Voser said the company plans $100 billion in capital spending in 2011-2014 to continue growing.

The company cited a list of 20 projects under construction and another 30 under consideration that will take it through 2020.

Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry gave a quick breakdown of some planned investments, including $5 billion into heavy oil projects in places like Canada and Oman, $12 billion in "tight" gas and oil exploration in the U.S. and Brazil, and $20 billion each into deep water development projects and integrated gas facilities.

The company is planning for oil prices of $60-$80 - well below current rates - and said the company would be able to support investment plans of $25-$27 billion per year and still maintain $10 billion in annual dividend payouts with oil at $50 per barrel.

In February Shell reported full year 2010 net profit of $20.1 billion, up from $12.5 billion in 2009, as production rose, inventory values increased, and refining operations improved.

Voser said the company plans to cut $1 billion in costs from its "downstream," or refining and chemicals operations this year, though employment will remain about flat companywide at around 93,000, after 7,000 jobs were cut last year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Documents indicate heavy use of dispersants in gulf oil spill

While the BP well was still gushing, the Obama administration issued an order that limited the spreading of controversial dispersant chemicals on the Gulf of Mexico's surface. Their use, officials said, should be restricted to "rare cases."

But in reality, federal documents show, the use of dispersants wasn't rare at all.

Despite the order -- and concerns about the environmental effects of the dispersants -- the Coast Guard granted requests to use them 74 times over 54 days, and to use them on the surface and deep underwater at the well site. The Coast Guard approved every request submitted by BP or local Coast Guard commanders in Houma, La., although in some cases it reduced the amount of the chemicals they could use, according to an analysis of the documents prepared by the office of Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).

The documents indicate that "these exemptions are in no way a 'rare' occurrence, and have allowed surface application of the dispersant to occur virtually every day since the directive was issued," Markey wrote in a letter dated Aug. 1 to retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen, the government's point man on the spill. Markey chairs the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Some of them dealt with separate dispersant applications on the same day. Markey said it appeared that the order "has become more of a meaningless paperwork exercise" than a real attempt to curb use of the dispersants.

In an interview Saturday, Allen defended the decisions to grant the waivers, saying that overall use of dispersants declined sharply after that May 26 order to limit their use. The total use of dispersants underwater and on the surface declined about 72 percent from its peak, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Allen said that on some days the amount of oil on the surface justified a "tactical" decision, by on-scene Coast Guard commanders, to spray some dispersants.

"There's a dynamic tension that goes on when you're managing an incident that has no precedent," Allen said. "You establish general rules and guidelines, but knowing that the people on scene have the information" means trusting them to make decisions, he said.

In the end, Allen said: "You can quibble on the semantics related to 'rare.' I like to focus on the effects we achieved" by dispersing the oil. Officials have said that, in the days since the gusher was stopped, thick sheets of oil have nearly disappeared from the gulf's surface.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson conceded that there had been "frustration in the field" from EPA officials about the waivers. But Jackson said it was partly alleviated June 22, nearly a month after the order was issued, when Coast Guard officials began giving the EPA a greater role in the discussions over whether to approve dispersant use.

"EPA may not have concurred with every single waiver," Jackson said. But, she said, the Coast Guard had the ultimate say: "The final decision-making rests with the federal on-scene coordinator. That's where the judgment, the ultimate decision-making ability, had to lie."

The dispersants -- variants of a Nalco product called Corexit -- break up the oil, acting like a detergent on kitchen grease. They are intended to keep the oil from reaching shore in large sheets and to make it easier for microbes to consume the oil underwater.

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Crisis in Egypt spurs fears of impact on global economy

Political turbulence in Egypt is casting a pall on world financial markets, driving up the prices of crude oil and food and creating new risks for the shaky world economy in the months ahead.

Oil prices on Monday reached their highest levels since 2008, and investors sold off both stocks and bonds of many developing nations, particularly in the Middle East. Those shifts came despite few signs that the Egyptian turmoil is having much direct impact on the world economy. Egyptian economic output is about the same size as that of Alabama, and while the country controls a crucial shipping channel, the Suez Canal, that key connector between Europe and Asia has so far remained open.

But the turbulence on financial markets shows how political upheaval in one place - first Tunisia, now Egypt - can set off hard-to-predict reverberations around the world, possibly undermining the global economic recovery. In this case, investors are most concerned that other Muslim nations, particularly those with autocratic leadership and vast oil reserves, will soon see their ruling regimes threatened as well.

"What's going on in Egypt has again reminded us that the world economy is not out of the woods, and that things we do not anticipate can have a significant negative effect on global markets and risk sentiment," said Rachel Ziemba, a senior analyst with Roubini Global Economics.

The economists' and investors' fear is that political developments could disrupt oil exports from Saudi Arabia or other nations, even temporarily. The price of oil rose to $92.19 on Monday, its highest level since October 2008, and up from $85.64 on Thursday, as investors priced in the higher probability of an interruption in oil supplies.

"There's not a huge risk to oil supplies from Egypt directly, but that could change if dissent spreads to other oil-exporting nations," Ziemba said. "The big issue is that the economic grievances present in Egypt are there across the Middle East. Will they spark unrest in the same way? It's hard to predict."

An analysis by economic consulting firm IHS Global Insight shows that every $10.70 increase in the price of crude oil, if sustained, would add 25 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States and lead to 270,000 fewer jobs being created over the course of a year.

If political turmoil spreads further, it could undermine the confidence of investors in developing economies, which have been playing an increasingly important role. In recent years, investors have come to view developing nations as a potential source of high returns and relatively low risk, leading to a flood of investment into both major economies like China as well as "frontier" markets like those in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Now you have Tunisia, and Egypt and everybody is going to be a bit jittery. People will think twice. Stability can be a real mirage, as we have seen," said Todd Moss, vice president at the Center for Global Development.

Developments in Egypt could still prove encouraging. A smooth transition to a new government could pave the way toward further economic reforms. So far, Egypt has been adopting these reforms fitfully.

But this outcome is by no means assured. Egypt's last revolution, half a century ago, produced the widespread nationalization of private property under former president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Until the country's direction becomes clear, investors and business executives may move to the sidelines.

Moody's on Monday downgraded the country's investment standing, which will make it more expensive for Egypt to borrow money. Its stock market remains closed after dropping 16 percent in a day, and its $30 billion in foreign reserves could be stretched if the central bank decides it is necessary to try to prop up the value of a falling Egyptian pound.

International organizations also were trying to monitor more urgent concerns, such as whether the country has adequate supplies of wheat and other staples in reserve in the event that the current political paralysis continues. Egypt is heavily dependent on imports for these crucial products.

The greatest threat posed by Egypt's troubles for the global economy - absent a spread of popular revolt to other nations in the Middle East or beyond - is the disruption of shipping through the Suez Canal. But analysts are optimistic the canal will remain open, regardless of the fate of Hosni Mubarak's regime.

The Egyptian military "is aware of the importance of ensuring the smooth operation of the Suez Canal, which is not only a vital source of Egypt's foreign currency receipts, but also ensures the supply/movement of crude oil," said Ashraf Laidi, chief market strategist of CMC Markets in London.

irwinn@washpost.com schneiderh@washpost.com

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BP, Transocean, Halliburton blamed by presidential Gulf oil spill commission

The presidential oil spill commission on Wednesday blamed the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year on "missteps and oversights" by oil giant BP, rig owner Transocean and contractor Halliburton, saying those errors were "rooted in systemic failures" and could happen again.

The commission said that the April 20 blowout at BP's Macondo well was not inevitable, but rather a failure of management in which officials from all three firms ignored critical warning signs and failed to take precautions that might have delayed the completion of the well but also might have averted the environmental disaster.

In a chapter released from the final report due out next week, the commission said: "The blowout was not the product of a series of aberrational decisions made by rogue industry or government officials that could not have been anticipated or expected to occur again. Rather, the root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur."

The document provided a detailed account of the missteps that led to the spill, but most of the details have been revealed in other reports or investigations so far. It recounts fateful decisions by all three major corporate actors, including the failure to use enough centralizers to keep the pipe in the middle of the well, choices about the type of steel pipe used, and failure to heed or share test results suggesting that the cement used to seal the well could fail.

In the case of the failure to use enough centralizers, the report said that "the evidence to date does not unequivocally establish whether" that was a "direct cause" of the blowout, but the commission said that it "illuminates the flaws in BP's management and design procedures, as well as poor communication between BP and Halliburton."

The commission report also cited a Dec. 23, 2009, North Sea incident on one of Transocean's rigs, which the commission said was an "eerily similar near-miss" to what happened at the Macondo well. Though Transocean told the commission the incident was irrelevant, the commission said, "The basic facts of both incidents are the same. Had the rig crew been adequately informed of the prior event and trained on its lessons, events at Macondo may have unfolded very differently."

William K. Reilly, co-chairman of the commission appointed by President Obama, said that the commission had concluded that the blowout reflected "a more pervasive problem" within the oil industry.

"Given the documented failings of both Transocean and Halliburton, both of which serve the offshore industry in virtually every ocean, I reluctantly conclude we have a system-wide problem," Reilly said.

Former senator and commission co-chair Bob Graham stressed the failure of regulators. He said, "The Macondo blowout was the product of several individual missteps and oversights by BP, Halliburton and Transocean, which government regulators lacked the authority, the necessary resources and the technical expertise to prevent."

The Interior Department issued a statement saying that it has "already identified, acknowledged, and spent months working aggressively to reform" offshore drilling. It said it would "continue to make the changes necessary to restore the American people's confidence in the safety and environmental soundness of oil and gas drilling and production on the Outer Continental Shelf."

Last May, President Obama appointed Reilly and Graham to oversee the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and gave them a January 2011 deadline to submit a report. Unlike Congress, the Justice Department or other probes, the oil spill commission lacked subpoena power but still sought to uncover the reasons for the disaster. It also criticized federal regulators and some Obama administration members for their response to the spill.

But the most detailed descriptions in the chapter released Wednesday were of communications and decisions by BP, Transocean and Halliburton.

"The immediate cause of the Macondo blowout was a failure to contain hydrocarbon pressures in the well," the report said. "Three things could have contained those pressures: the cement at the bottom of the well, the mud in the well and in the riser, and the blowout preventer. But mistakes and failures to appreciate risk compromised each of those potential barriers, steadily depriving the rig crew of safeguards until the blowout was inevitable and, at the very end, uncontrollable."

The report highlighted a series of decisions that led to time-saving and cost-saving measures when alternatives were available. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said the report showed "that the underlying profits-over-safety pathology may be in temporary remission, but not fully cured."

The report said, "Most of the mistakes and oversights at Macondo can be traced back to a single overarching failure - a failure of management."

BP said it supports the commission's efforts and "is working with regulators and the industry to ensure that the lessons learned from Macondo lead to improvements in operations and contractor services in deepwater drilling." It said that it has already "instituted significant changes designed to further strengthen safety and risk management."

Transocean, meanwhile, sought to place blame with BP and regulators. "Consistent with industry standards, the procedures being conducted in the final hours were crafted and directed by BP engineers and approved in advance by federal regulators," the company said in a statement. "Based on the limited information made available to them, the Transocean crew took appropriate actions to gain control of the well. They were well trained and considered to be among the best in the business."

Halliburton issued a statement sharply criticizing the presidential commission and BP. It blamed BP for failing to run a cement bond log test, which it called "the only means to test the integrity of the cement bond." It said "had BP properly interpreted the negative tests, the tests would have revealed any problems with the cement job." The company also reiterated disputes about the commission's description of February and April lab tests of cement mixtures as failures, and asserted that Halliburton's engineer on the Deepwater Horizon rig had received notice of satisfactory test results. Halliburton also accused the commission of having "selectively omitted information we provided to them."

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RamSmash 2.2.3.2014d

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PowerCryptor Encryption Suite 1.01

Password protect your files and folders. PowerCryptor is advanced and easy to use encryption software. It allows you to password protects your documents, photos, music, videos and other. Just right-click on file or folder in windows explorer and choose Encrypt.

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