Foreign Oil Updates: Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (RDS.A)’s Deal, TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (TOT)’s Urals Crude, Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (PBR) & Brazilian President

Editor’s Note: Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR), BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP)

Royal Dutch Shell Signs Deal To Explore Ukrainian Gas Field (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty)
Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell has signed a deal with Ukraine to explore for natural gas in Ukraine’s Yuzovska deposit. Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavitskyy said on September 12 that Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) and Ukrainian company Nadra Yuzovskaya signed the deal, which calls for the Anglo-Dutch company to spend some $500 million on surveying at the field with an expected additional $10 billion to be spent in developing the site and infrastructure.

Total SA (ADR) (NYSE:TOT)

Total Offers Urals Crude; Jubilee Field to Shut for Maintenance (Bloomberg)
TOTAL S.A. (ADR) (NYSE:TOT) failed to sell Russian Urals blend in the Mediterranean at a lower differential than yesterday. BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) withdrew its bid for North Sea Forties crude. Total failed to sell 80,000 metric tons of Urals for Sept. 26 to Sept. 30 loading at 10 cents a barrel less than Dated Brent on a delivered basis to Augusta, Italy, the survey showed. This compares with a trade yesterday at a 5-cent discount.

Royal Dutch Shell plc: Appointment of John Abbott as Downstream Director (PR Newswire)
Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) (the ‘Company’) today announces the appointment of John Abbott as Downstream Director with effect from October 1, 2013. In his new role, Mr Abbott will become a member of the Company’s Executive Committee and will take over from Ben van Beurden who, as previously announced, becomes Chief Executive Officer with effect from January 1, 2014. John is a British national and currently Executive Vice President Manufacturing, responsible for some 30 oil refineries and petrochemicals plants world-wide.

Presidents of Brazil and Petrobras visited conversion works of FPSO P-74, destined to pre-salt (PreSalt.com News)
The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, and the president of Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR), Maria das Gracas Silva Foster, visited on Wednesday (11/9), the Inhaúma Shipyard in Rio de Janeiro. Visited the conversion works of FPSO P-74, the first platform to go to the area of Onerous Rigths Transfer of the Pre-Salt, operated by Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR). Conversion activities of the hull of P-74 includes the inspection of steel plates, the complete replacement of original equipment, and the manufacture and installation of 13 tons of new structures for the placement of modules, production lines and new system anchoring, among others.

Shell’s $13 bln China refinery project shelved (www.worldbulletin.net)
An 8.3 billion pound ($13 billion) project to build a refinery and petrochemical plant in eastern China involving Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) has been shelved after losing political support, the Telegraph newspaper reported, citing sources. The plant in the eastern city of Taizhou — a tie-up with Chinese state-backed oil firm China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Gulf energy giant Qatar Petroleum — would have refined 20 million tonnes of crude and produced 1.2 million tonnes of ethylene a year. Construction had been due to start last year.

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