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For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.LONDON, Aug. 30 — One of the largest oil companies in the world, Royal Dutch/Shell, has promised to avoid exploring or drilling on sites that carry the United Nation's World Heritage designation. It is the first energy company to make such a promise. Shell's decision comes a week after the International Council on Mining and Metals, a group of the world's 15 largest mining companies, said it would stop exploring or mining on World Heritage sites. Taken together, the commitments are a "big step forward," said Dr. Mechtild Rossler, director of European...

British oil giants BP and Shell are poised to start selling oil from Iraq after success in a tendering process. The two groups are understood to be among four firms worldwide chosen to buy shipments of crude from Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) in the second such tendering process since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The two firms, which were both unsuccessful in the previous round, confirmed today that they had each been awarded a cargo of two million barrels of crude in the process which was completed yesterday. A Shell spokesman was unable to confirm whether the oil...

Camarillo, California - Shell Solar will introduce two new lines of monocrystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules in Europe starting this Autumn. According to the company, each new offering will have a power output capacity six percent higher than its predecessors despite the surface areas remaining unchanged. The greater power output is the result of a change in design. Whereas the solar cells in the lines being replaced have rounded corners, those in the new modules are almost square. The unoccupied spaces between the cells are smaller so that the end-user obtains more power for the area covered. The new modules...

SHIZUOKA -- A collector of dud shells who was seriously hurt when a number of his cherished possessions exploded earlier this month has died, police said Wednesday. Noritaka Katsumata, 43, had been hospitalized since last Saturday after both his legs were broken in the accident. He died of massive organ failure Tuesday night. The explosion occurred inside a hut belonging to the Katsumata family in Gotenba, Shizuoka Prefecture, seriously injuring the 43-year-old truck driver. Investigators recovered 212 shells and 242 spent rifle bullets from the wrecked hut. Seventy-three of the shells were duds but still contained live explosives. It is...

Energy giants begin tapping Sakhalin's vast oil and gas reserves 16 minutes ago Add Business - AFP to My Yahoo! CHAYVO BAY, Russia, May 4 (AFP) - Against a backdrop of wintry tundra and the grey-blue hues of a frozen sea, a huge blue tower rises from a beach on the northeast coast of the Russian island of Sakhalin. On a brief flight by helicopter, the compact mass of an oil platform looms up amid the pristine white ice floes. AFP Photo Related Quotes DJIANASDAQ^SPC 8582.681502.88930.08 +128.43+30.32+13.78 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   The drilling rig on...

The US is preparing to install an American chairman on a planned management team of the Iraqi oil industry, providing further ammunition to critics who have questioned the Bush administration's agenda in the Middle East. The administration is planning to structure the potentially vast Iraqi oil industry like a US corporation, with a chairman and chief executive and a 15-strong board of international advisers. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, it has lined up the former chief executive of the US division of Royal Dutch/Shell, Philip Carroll, to take the job of chairman. Large scale decisions on...

The United States will next week appoint a former head of Shell Oil to run Iraq's oil industry, it was reported today. "The US Government is setting up Iraq's oil industry to run much like an American corporation, with a chief executive and management team vetted by US officials who would answer to a multinational board of advisers," the Wall Street Journal Europe reported.The advisory board would be chaired by Philip J Carroll, a former chief executive of Shell Oil, the US unit of the Dutch-British oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell, the newspaper reported.Mr Carroll would work closely with an Iraqi...

The Iraqis gained some propaganda mileage Tuesday from the US tank shell that hit the media center at Hotel Palestine in Baghdad, killing two TV cameramen and injuring two more journalists. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources have discovered that the shell did not come from a US tank. The explosion that hurt the correspondents occurred on an upper floor and was rigged and planted by Iraqi military intelligence. To avoid a row with the press corps covering the war and nip the incident in the bud, the US command assumed responsibility and apologized before it went any further. This is unlikely to...

The numbers add up: Oil the factor for war on Iraq It is indeed interesting to note the differing views on the looming oil war in Iraq. I would term this as an "oil war" because I do not see any other justifications to call this as war o­n terrorism, WMD (weapons of mass destruction) or Saddam's human rights violations. As of October 2002, Iraq has an estimated at 112.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, along with roughly 220 billion barrels of probable and possible resources. Oil experts believe that Iraq's true resource potential may be far greater...

Air Liquide announced today it has signed a contract to supply Shell Oil Products, US, Anacortes, Washington refinery site with hydrogen. The new production facility for Shell is the sixth new hydrogen plant that Air Liquide has signed for various customers worldwide, since 2001 demonstrating Air Liquide’s success in the growing hydrogen market. Hydrogen’s increasing demand is largely driven by the need for refiners to comply with new environmental regulations being progressively introduced in the US and in Europe. The oil refining industry uses hydrogen to reduce the sulfur content in automotive fuels and thus in engine emissions. The unit...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 October 3 V838 Mon: Mystery Star Credit: Lisa Crause (Univ. Cape Town), Warrick Lawson (Australian Defence Force Academy) Explanation: A leading candidate for the most mysterious star found in recent times is variable star V838 Monocerotis. At a distance of about 8,000 light-years, V838 Mon was discovered to be in outburst in January of this year. Initially thought to be a familiar type of classical nova, astronomers...

<p>NOGLIKI, Russia -- Sakhalin Island has long been celebrated in Russia for its salmon streams and shallow ocean waters full of cod, crab and herring -- a bounty for fishermen and for endangered gray whales. Now it's about to become more famous for its oil.</p>