SOUTH AFRICA: Royal Dutch Shell says it's considering "new realities" of refining which may affect the oil major's future investment plans, World Petroleum Congress, Johannesburg

Record ID: 344451

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Royal Dutch Shell says it's considering "new realities" of refining which may affect the oil major's future investment plans, World Petroleum Congress, Johannesburg
  • Date: 30th September 2005
  • Summary: DELEGATES AROUND THE CONFERENCE CENTRE (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Industry,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA9E19AQBGIX7OCMMDO524K346Y
  • Story Text: Royal Dutch Shell Plc <RDSa.L> said on Thursday the world faced a shortage of refining capacity, which may affect the oil major's future investment plans, although he did not say whether it would build a refinery itself. Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer told Reuters in an interview that new refineries needed to be built. "De-bottlenecking and brownfields will not be enough," he said, referring to traditional techniques of squeezing more capacity from and of expanding existing refineries. Van der Veer, a former refinery manager, declined to say whether Shell <RDSb.L> would consider building a new refinery itself or in conjunction with Kuwait, which is seeking a partner to build a new refinery in the U.S. He said, however, "We are normal businessmen, and indeed the outlook for refining is looking better than, say, five years ago, so you have to take the new realities on your radar screen. "That takes a bit of time, but we are practical and we do whatever is appropriate for Shell," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in South Africa. Van der Veer said he was optimistic that new government initiatives would reduce future strife in Africa's top oil producer, Nigeria, where Shell and other operators have seen their oil production operations interrupted by unrest, which flared up again last week. "What is different now compared to some years ago is that the Nigerian government is very serious about the unrest and there are now programmes in place that work better than in the past to get money back to the provinces where the oil is produced," he said. "We see developments which are positive. It is too early to see if that will lead to less unrest."

    INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES OIL INDUSTRY
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register