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To: energyplay who wrote (29731)	3/17/2003 4:48:14 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

The UK saved from joining the Third World by the North Sea oil, see the ghost approaching again as it has to comtemplate a future without North Sea oil. Hence the jumping on into Bush's bandwagon. The day will come when Norway, will have to do everything Sweden did over 20 years and it is not going to be pleasant! Shell to cut jobs as it abandons old assets By Carola Hoyos in London Published: March 16 2003 20:30 \| Last Updated: March 16 2003 20:30 Royal Dutch/Shell is on Monday expected to announce it is cutting as much as a third of its North Sea offshore workforce as the energy group abandons older assets for higher returns elsewhere. The company is expected to make redundant between 200 and 500 of the 1,600 Shell employees and contractors who provide a range of services, including engineering and maintenance, at the company's offshore operations. The decision follows Shell's review of its offshore business in the declining North Sea, to the east of the British Isles. "There will be an announcement tomorrow and there will be job reductions," Justin Everard, a company official said on Sunday,though he would not specify the number of jobs at risk. Like its rival BP, Shell has moved away from measuring its success by oil production growth. Instead analysts are again focusing on the return the companies are able to squeeze out of their assets - a move that has already led to the sales of some maturing oil fields in the North Sea. Most notably, BP sold its Forties field, which produces 10 per cent of the oil it yielded at the peak of its production, to Apache, the US independent. Shell is under similar pressure to improve its return on average capital employed, which last year fell to below its target range of 13 per cent to 15 per cent. Adding to the woes in the North Sea was the decision last year by Gordon Brown, the UK finance minister, to increase the corporation tax on North Sea oil companies from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. The UK Offshore Operators Association, which represents 30 North Sea oil companies, estimated the decision could prompt as many as 50,000 job redundancies and could cut spending by oil companies by as much as a fifth. Shell and BP were quick to criticise Mr Brown's decision. Shell began its business review of its offshore operations in the North Sea last autumn. Its aim was to reduce its costs after having already realised many of the synergies from its acquisition last year of Enterprise Oil, the UK independent. Union officials in the North Sea have already begun to voice their concerns over the safety implications of the job cuts by oil companies such as Shell and BP. Meanwhile, health and safety officials are keeping an eye on the safety standards of offshore platforms as companies shift focus and investment away from older fields in the North Sea towards newer developments in west Africa and the Caspian.