Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it was planning a return to robust growth in oil and gas production after seven years of decline and unveiled strong reserves additions that should underpin longer-term growth aims.
Europe’s largest oil company by market value said it was targeting output of 3.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2012, up from 3.15 million last year — equivalent to an annual growth rate of 3.5 percent.
Italian rival Eni said on Friday it aimed to grow output by 2.5 percent per annum to 2013, while European No. 2 BP PLC is targeting annual growth of 1 to 2 percent.
Chief executive Peter Voser said higher output would allow Shell to boost cashflow sharply and become cashflow neutral by 2012. Shell also aims to grow output beyond 2012, although Voser said he had dropped a 2 to 3 percent long-term growth target.
Shell is looking to the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico, tight gas assets in North America and liquefied natural gas and coal seam gas in Australia to support its longer-term aims.
As part of this strategy, Shell and PetroChina hope to agree a joint US$3 billion takeover of Arrow Energy Ltd and Shell said talks with the Australian coal seam gas company were ongoing.
The company said that last year it added new reserves equivalent to almost three times the amount of oil and gas it pumped.
Its reserves replacement rate of 288 percent compares with levels of 133 percent at industry leader Exxon Mobil and 129 percent at BP.
High-cost, infrastructure-led projects, such as Shell’s US$18 billion to US$19 billion gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar and multibillion dollar oil sands projects in Canada, would in future only supplement the exploration effort, Voser said
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique