Gas Flare at Shell European HQ at profit announcement

international | anti-capitalism | news report Saturday May 05, 2007 01:30 by IT READER - Shell profits better than expected

Quarterly profits up again

Shell has announced its quarterly profits of 6,900,000,000 US dollars are better than expected. Companies don't get this successful by being nice, of course, so here's a brief video showing some of the energy giant's activities around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU_3zt-qWIo

Gas Flare at Shell HQ

Shell's next AGM is at the Hague on May 15th next.

Activists from around the world will gather to confront the company.

In a protest yesterday at Shell's HQ, the reality of gas flaring in the Niger Delta was brought home to the company's workers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Po7d3ra-rA

In this country, the company has supported by the Fianna Fáil party in the scandalous robbery of Ireland's natural resources, as well as the destroying the Erris environment while putting the health and safety of the people there at risk.
Fine Gael has broadly supported the government line.

Only the Greens and Sinn Féin, and some members of the Labour Party, have any chance of influencing the next government to stand up to Shell, since the SP and the independents have ruled themselves out of coalition.

Many people will use their vote on May 24th in the general election to punish the pro-Shell political parties.

Mayo Sinn Fein Cllr Gerry Murray has recently discovered that Fergus Cahill of the Irish Offshore Lobby Group has wriiten to every TD in an effort to stop local councils around the country from following Mayo's lead and passing motions calling for the renegotiation of the deal which allows Ireland's resources to be taken without any lasting benefit for the people of Ireland.

Speaking after attending a session of the Environmental Protection Agency’s oral hearing in Belmullet, Cllr Murray said:

“Shell, Statoil and others in the oil and gas industry are clearly worried that the message is getting through to the public that the Irish people should and could benefit far more from the resources found in our own coastal waters,” Cllr Murray said.

“They have tasked their agents to try and counter the overwhelming case put forward by Sinn Féin and others that this government and its predecessors capitulated to the multinationals and deprived the Irish people of much needed revenue – revenue that could have been used to fund our health and education systems and real infrastructural development in the west of Ireland.

“Shell and their friends in this Government know that any deal negotiated can be revisited. I recently brought information into the public domain on how the Democratic Party in the US pushed through legislation enabling that government to increase the revenue take from oil and gas finds. It can be done. Sinn Féin are committed to renegotiating terms on previous, current and potential finds in Irish waters.