Shell and QinetiQ to Deploy Game-changing Fiber-Optic Sensing System

HOUSTON, July 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Shell (NYSE: RDSA) and QinetiQ (FTSE: QQ.L) today announced a collaboration to exploit QinetiQ's OptaSense® fiber-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems to optimise the development of oil and gas fields. The technology will bring about the ability to use standard telecom fiber-optic cable to detect, discriminate and locate acoustic events during wellbore operations far beyond what is currently available. This will allow improvements in design and execution enabling improved recoveries and lower costs.

The collaboration agreement is a culmination of 18 months of working together on the technology through several successful field trials in Canada. Shell intends to deploy this optical sensing system – based on QinetiQ's existing OptaSense® DAS technology – initially in onshore field development and exploration. Allowing interference-free operation, OptaSense® should overcome some of the challenges faced by conventional systems. The technology has the potential to deliver significant value in the near term, and, because of its wide potential application area, it will also enable longer-term improvements to the management of assets across the life cycle, from exploration to operations. It will be most beneficial to businesses with a heavy investment in hydraulic fracturing (unconventional gas exploration and development) and those with a focus on well and reservoir surveillance.

"Shell technologists were the first to recognize the potential breakthrough innovation of applying QinetiQ's DAS technology currently used for onshore pipeline monitoring during the first field trial in February 2009," said Jeroen Regtien, Vice President, Hydrocarbon Recovery R&D at Shell. "This is another demonstration of how Shell seeks to deliver integrated technology solutions based on proprietary and third-party technologies quickly and efficiently. Given that most of this technology is in existence today in the defence and security industries, we anticipate a relatively low development risk and expect to deploy the first system soon."

"The application of OptaSense to wellbore monitoring is another game changer in our industry. QinetiQ is pleased to have secured the confidence of Shell, a technology and business leader, to collaborate on this important development," says Magnus McEwen-King, Managing Director of QinetiQ's OptaSense business, the entity that developed the DAS system for application in the oil and gas industry. "Oil and gas are getting harder and more expensive to find and extract. Enabling our clients to access real-time, enhanced information from the reservoir will improve well completion and performance. Superior data will help realise the full potential of both Shell and QinetiQ's acoustic expertise, real-time processing and imaging technology."

As part of this Joint Development Agreement, QinetiQ and Shell research scientists will work in several laboratories in the UK, the Netherlands and the US as well as performing field tests in Canada and the US before rolling out the technology in a commercial setting.

Royal Dutch Shell plc

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 100 countries with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of Liquefied Natural Gas and Gas to Liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects including wind and solar power. For further information, visit www.shell.com

About QinetiQ

A FTSE250 company, QinetiQ uses its domain knowledge to provide technical advice to customers in the global aerospace, defence and security markets. QinetiQ's unique position enables it to be a trusted partner to government organisations, predominantly in the UK and the US, including defence departments,  intelligence services and security agencies. QinetiQ employs over 13,000 people across the Group and in the year to 31 March 2010, QinetiQ's revenue was 1,6bn pounds Sterling. Leo Quinn was appointed Chief Executive Officer in November 2009. For information about OptaSense please go to www.OptaSense.com.

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this press release refer to companies in which Royal Dutch Shell either directly or indirectly has control, by having either a majority of the voting rights or the right to exercise a controlling influence. The companies in which Shell has significant influence but not control are referred to as "associated companies" or "associates" and companies in which Shell has joint control are referred to as "jointly controlled entities". In this press release, associates and jointly controlled entities are also referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect (for example, through our 34% shareholding in Woodside Petroleum Ltd.) ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''will'', ''seek'', ''target'', ''risks'', ''goals'', ''should'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this press release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for the Group's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserve estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2008 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These factors also should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release, March 31, 2010. Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.  

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms in this press release that SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

SOURCE Shell Oil Company

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