Shell EP International hosted twenty-four civil notary law students from Utrecht University in Holland. Their Dubai tour consisted of visits to the major corporations, banks, law firms, the Dubai Stock Exchange and the Dutch Consulate.

The students, hosted by SEPIL, were juniors and graduating seniors, who mostly have internship experience at leading dutch law firms.

The Legal Department at SEPIL gave the Dutch students an overview of Shell legal activities, as well as an overview of the typical work a Shell lawyer can perform in the region.

In addition, Mr. Hans Wolderling, lawyer at SEPIL gave a presentation on Shell’s legal negotiation procedures.

The presentation was followed by an interactive session with the students. In an interview with Al Mahara, Mr. Hans Wolderling commented on the event saying: "Shell is an internationally renowned company, which is well known for its contribution to the education and training of students all over the globe. It was, therefore, a good opportunity for the law students to understand the role of Shell in a greatly developing region such as the Gulf. The event was clearly enjoyed by all".

The Future Centre for Children with Special Needs organised its annual musical performance at the Cultural Foundation.

The cast of the musical play was made up of the children of the centre, whose performance carried a strong message of individuality, self-esteem and acceptance of their abilities.

Shell Abu Dhabi sponsored the event along with the Cultural Foundation.

A PDO project, ‘Qarn Alam Facture Modelling,’ beat four other nominations to win first place in the Gold Award for Excellence 2006 recognition programme.

The Gold Award winning team members were: Fahad Al Hadhrami, Geir Engen, Keith Rawnsley, Kike Beintema, Rick Penney, Riyadh Moosa, Salah Al Dhahab and Sami Al Lawati. Shell owns 34% of PDO.

The EPM Award for Excellence was launched in March 2005 to recognise and publicise the accomplishments of individuals and teams who have achieved significant business results and/or learnings, while working with the Enterprise First mindset.

The Award symbolises the highest level of achievement within the EPM region and is seen as a mechanism to stimulate the sharing and recognition of best practices working towards the common goal of being the partner of choice in the Exploration and Production business. The Silver Award winners were, in alphabetical order:

Air Drilling in Harweel,

PDO Ahmed Al Rahbi, Andy Mellor, Hans Aldewereld, John Grieve and Mark Laws.

Middle East Regional Corporate Identity Programme 2004-2005

Faisal Al Hashar, Sana Bardawil, Kamal Siada, Dave Stuart, Carlos Ibarguen, Hussain Al Mahmoudi.

The team worked in coordination with Judy Everett.

Sweating the Assets, AFPC

Haridas Bhaskaran.

Underbalanced Drilling (UBD) Campaigns, PDO

Hilal Al Esry, Humaid Al Balushi, Ian Davidson, Khalid Al Hosni, Majida Al Kharusi, Moataz Al Riyami, Mohammed Al Jahwari, Nurhalizayati Ibrahim, Rashid Al Wardi, Raymond Corbett, Richard Chia, Salima Al Mahruqi and Walid Eissa.

Congratulations to all the teams!

Huda Al Matroushi, an Intilaaqah Abu Dhabi graduate, owes much of the success in her private business to her own ambition, hard work and talent.

She will readily agree, however, that the Intilaaqah programme has helped her immensely, especially in her plans to grow the business.

The encouragement she received through being awarded first place at the Regional Intilaaqah Awards in Oman in December 2005, in the category of ‘Business Success or Significant Progress’, has also given her a huge boost – the $10,000 prize money has come in handy too! Huda owns and runs “Ancestor’s Heritage”, a furniture design and manufacturing company recreating traditional UAE furniture.

Huda’s love for arts and crafts goes back a long way. Her hobby was carving on melted candles. Her first venture into real business was in 2002 when she opened the first female-only coffee shop in “She Zone Mall” in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, though the venture was very successful, she had to close down due to the closure of the mall itself. Unperturbed, she knew she had learnt a great deal about running a successful business and was ready to forge ahead with a new venture on which she could stamp her personality.

Talking about the philosophy behind ‘Ancestor’s Heritage’, Huda says, “As individuals and as a community, how we see ourselves is largely rooted in the past. Memories, both individual and collective, help us preserve the past and connect us to places and to other people.

The objects and traditions that preserve these memories, to be passed down from generation to generation, are referred to as cultural heritage and this is the driving force behind my venturing into the world of traditional furniture-making.” Huda initially started her business on a small scale.

She did much of the art and crafts work at home after working hours, making give-away items for her friends. When she realised that people had a real interest in her heritage items, she was encouraged to set up her own business which, in her opinion, is benefiting her both professionally and culturally by bring a new vitality to the traditional life that the younger generation are beginning to forget.

The real challenge Huda faces is balancing her different roles; a businesswoman, a dedicated employee, a member of the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council, and a proud mother of five. It is a challenge that she happily faces everyday.

Shell Abu Dhabi, along with project partners Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI), Ernst & Young (E&Y) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), recently celebrated the renewal of the Intilaaqah programme’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a further 3 year term.

Speaking at the signing in the Shell Abu Dhabi offices, Dr Mohamed Defrawi, Managing Director of Shell Abu Dhabi, said, “ We are extremely pleased with the progress made over the last three years.

This is wholly due to the cooperation of our partners and the calibre of the candidates. We look forward to another three years success”.

As a platform to showcase ‘green energy’ technologies, Shell Abu Dhabi joined forces with UK Trade and Investment, International Business Wales and the Emirates Environmental Group through sponsorship of the ‘Green Energy Seminar’ introducing new, innovative and exciting technology in the renewable energy sector.

Over 80 delegates at the half-day Seminar in May listened to notable speakers including HE Richard Makepeace, British Ambassador to the UAE, HE Dr Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi, UAE Minister for Environment and Water and the Right Honourable Rhodri Morgan, MP, First Minister for Wales.

Rhodri Morgan led a delegation of renewable energy researchers and innovators from Welsh Universities and companies.

Dr David Westerman, Shell Abu Dhabi’s Deputy Managing Director, also speaking at the Seminar, focused on Shell’s activities in the field of renewable energy saying: “Today, less than 1% of global energy comes from renewable energy sources. The future must and will be different.

Shell is committed to investing capital and manpower to enable renewable energy to become a vital and significant part of the world's energy mix.”

Two senior Shell Group experts delivered key addresses at the 14th annual Middle East Petroleum & Gas Conference (MPGC), which took place at the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, at the beginning of May. The Shellsponsored conference was held under the theme, "Tight supplies, uncertain demand and competition for resources – challenges for the Middle East”.

Andrew Vaughan, Shell Exploration & Production’s Vice President, Technical, for the Middle East, Caspian and South Asia, addressed a plenary panel session on ‘The Upstream Outlook’ and said: “…the Middle East clearly has a pivotal role to play in continuing to meet the world's growing demand for energy - but the nature of that role is changing.”

He went on to say: “The challenges ahead are different from those we have handled to date, and the capabilities of all those involved have changed radically over the last decade.

As a scientist and engineer, I believe that we will meet these challenges through technology, but not through technology alone. It will be through the application and integration of technologies, and how people work together globally and locally that will deliver sustainable growth.”

Martin Trachsel, VP Middle East – Gulf, Shell International Gas and Power Limited, addressed the Middle East Gas and LNG Roundtable panel session on the second day of the conference, speaking on "A New Gas Era - Opportunities and Challenges for the Middle East".

Shell sees gas overtaking oil in importance as a global fuel by 2025, and demand for LNG growing by 8 – 10 per cent per year.

Martin said: “This gives gas major resource holders, many of which are in the Middle East, enormous opportunities and huge responsibilities.”

In collaboration with Shell Abu Dhabi, the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) organised the 2nd ‘Engineering Excellence’ forum in April.

The forum is an HCT initiative designed to give engineers the opportunity to meet with international and local specialists to discuss technical developments in the power and energy sectors, ways to meet the growing global demand for energy and to share best practices.

Dr Nigel Devereux, Shell Global Solutions’ Energise Business Group Manager & Project Adviser, drew upon his 22 years experience in the oil and gas industry to address the forum on “Best practices in maintenance & operation to optimise energy consumption in industry.”

Speaking about the event, Dr Devereux said, “I was very pleased to be able to share Shell’s experience in the area of operational efficiency improvement.

The audience showed a keen interest in the issues and a commitment to learning which was impressive. It bodes well for the future of HCT and its students in shaping the exciting engineering challenges ahead”.

The forum, which was also attended by Dr Mohamed Defrawi, Managing Director of Shell Abu Dhabi and Peter Verhulst, Shell GSI Services Manager, will be hosted annually by HCT as a community project aimed at promoting interaction between engineers from the UAE and other GCC countries for the continuous improvement of the engineering industry in the region.

In addition, Shell Abu Dhabi provided support sponsorship to the UAE Educational IT Challenge, an international competition enjoying wide participation from students, teachers and educational organisations in the UAE and, for the first time, including projects from other GCC countries.

Under the patronage of HE Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, this unique challenge is a partnership between the HCT, Ministry of Education, Zayed University, UAE University, secondary schools and Etisalat rewarding the best educational IT projects.

The Challenge culminated in an awards ceremony held in April where finalists also showcased their projects.

Global Outpost Services, the network of independent Outpost teams located around the world, hosted their biennial conference in Houston, Texas, in April of this year.

The UAE was represented by Dianne Thorstensen, Outpost focal point for Shell Abu Dhabi, with Gail Ashdown and Marja de Reus attending on behalf of Shell offices in Dubai.

‘Building a Shared Vision’, the theme of this year’s conference, looked at the diversity within the network, how to utilise this diversity and other tools to enhance the Outpost services globally.

Understanding the role of the network as a part of Shell was also included. John Hoffmeister, US Country Chairman, opened the conference talking about the importance of the ‘Enterprise First’ culture within Shell and addressing business issues such as the requirement for “more upstream and more profitable downstream.”

Other keynote speakers included Mary Catherine Bateson, writer and cultural anthropologist and Lady Moody Stuart, Board member of the Archive Centre, who looked back on Outpost’s ten-year history.

Simon Armstrong, Director of Global Outpost Services, also discussed the services available to Outpost teams from The Hague, and HR managers endeavoured to find out what they can do to better support the services offered by Outpost teams around the world. The UAE Outpost team’s booth distributed publications and displayed posters and pictures of the UAE.

Speaking about the event, Dianne commented, “It was an inspiring event, providing me with the opportunity to meet the faces behind the emails and share ideas and best practices.” Marja added, “ I came away keen to implement changes to better help our clients in the UAE.”

Shell Aviation highlighted its entire portfolio of bitumens, Aero Shell lubricants and aviation fuels for the airline and aviation industry at the 6th Airport Build & Supply Exhibition, held under the patronage of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation during the month of June.

The range of Shell products on display at the show included aviation gasoline, aviation turbine fuels and specialist power boost fluids. Shell Aviation supplies fuel and aviation products to around 20,000 aircraft at over 800 airports around the world on daily basis.

In response to the global focus on resource conservation and the alternative energy sector, the Government of Abu Dhabi announced the partners of the "Masdar" initiative, which was launched in March. Shell was named as one of the anchor partners of the initiative.

The "Masdar" initiative focuses on the development and commercialisation of advanced and innovative technologies in renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon management and monetization, water usage and desalination.

The initiative comprises an Innovation Centre to support the demonstration, commercialisation and adoption of sustainable energy technologies; a World-class Institute offering specialist graduate programmes in renewable energy and sustainability, in partnership with leading international universities and research institutes; a Clean Development Company focused on CO2/GHG (green house gas), and clean development mechanism solutions as provided by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change; and a Special Economic Zone tailored to hosting institutions which will invest in development and delivery of renewable energy technologies and products.

Following the announcement of the initiative partners, His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, announced that a four square kilometre piece of land will be granted as the campus for the intiative and its associated infrastructure. He also announced the provision of US$ 100 million for the creation of a clean technology fund to coinvest with private sector partners in domestic and foreign companies focused on emerging technologies.

HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in his speech after the briefing: "Abu Dhabi is a global leader in the production of energy and the "Masdar" initiative is a natural product of that position. The calibre of the Initiative’s anchor partners is testament to the potential of the opportunity. Importantly the initiative has the potential to contribute to the transformation of Abu Dhabi from a consumer to an exporter of technology".

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Malcom Brinded, Shell Executive Director Exploration and Production, said: "I am much impressed by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar initiative to develop innovative and sustainable energy technologies, which will underpin the development of globally leading expertise and industries.

Shell believes that addressing the global environmental and social issues of energy production goes hand in hand with tackling the more immediate technical and commercial challenges – and Masdar clearly has the potential to be an important contributor to that vision.

We look forward to continuing to work with Abu Dhabi as it looks to supply growing energy demand and also seek environmentally sustainable solutions".