Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2012 Open for Registration

HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On your mark. Get set. Go. The sixth annual Shell Eco-marathon Americas 2012 is now open for registration to students across North and South America. This super-mileage challenge, created by Shell, is designed to inspire student innovation and develop future technologies that represent game-changing fuel efficiency and transportation performance. The challenge builds on recent government announcements such as the historic U.S. fuel standard for cars and light trucks, which will bring fuel efficiency to 54.6 miles per gallon by 2025. To help meet the growing energy demand and reduce future CO2 emissions, Shell Eco-marathon challenges participants to design, build, and test vehicles to go the farthest distance using the least amount of energy.

From March 29 through April 1, 2012, the challenge will again take place on the streets of downtown Houston, the energy capital of the world. Shell Eco-marathon is held globally in a variety of locations and provides engineers of tomorrow the opportunity to put their energy efficiency ideas to the test.

Last year's Shell Eco-marathon Americas' winner in the Prototype class, Universite Laval from Quebec, Canada, achieved an astonishing 2,564 miles per gallon, beating their performance from the year before by 77 mpg. And in the UrbanConcept class, the team from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La. took First Prize by achieving a best run of 646.7 mpg.

"Every year, our team looks forward to the school year starting so that we can begin planning, designing and building vehicles for Shell Eco-marathon Americas," said Dan Ritter from Mater Dei High School. "What started as a small group of boys getting together after school to build a car has turned into a 25 member student club with four vehicles and a team working all school year to get ready. To say we get excited about Shell Eco-marathon season would be an understatement!"

Student teams are encouraged to participate in one or both of the "Prototype" and "UrbanConcept" classes in Shell Eco-marathon. The "Prototype" class invites student teams to enter futuristic prototypes -- streamlined vehicles focused on maximizing fuel efficiency through innovative design elements, such as drag reduction. The "UrbanConcept" class focuses on more "roadworthy" fuel-efficient vehicles. Aimed at meeting the real-life needs of drivers, these vehicles are closer in appearance to the higher-mileage cars seen on roads today. In the Americas event for both classes, teams can use a range of seven official energy sources -- including fuels such as diesel and gasoline as well as alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ethanol, FAME, solar and battery electric.

"With the recent increase in CAFE standards, Shell Eco-marathon highlights what future generations can help to achieve," said Mark Singer, Global Project Manager. "As energy demand increases globally, the challenge continues to be a timely and relevant project for students to help find solutions that positively impact how we use and think about energy."

Interested teams are invited to sign-up for a chance to stake their claim in next year's challenge! For more information on all 2012 events across the globe, including official rules, instructions for registration and details on prizes, please visit the Shell Eco-marathon website at www.shell.com/ecomarathon.  

Shell Eco-marathon began in 1939 at a Shell research laboratory in the United States as a friendly wager between scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicle. The winner of that contest barely achieved 50 mpg (21 km/l), and from these humble origins, a more organized competition evolved. In 1985 in France, Shell Eco-marathon as we know it today was born. In April 2007, Shell Eco-marathon Americas event was launched in the United States, and in 2010, the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in Malaysia.  

About Shell Oil Company

Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with 93,000 employees in more than 90 countries. We deliver a diverse range of energy solutions and petrochemicals to customers worldwide. These include transporting and trading oil and gas, marketing natural gas, producing and selling fuel for ships and planes, generating electricity and providing energy efficiency advice.

We also produce and sell petrochemical building blocks to industrial customers globally, and we are investing in making renewable and lower-carbon energy sources competitive for large-scale use. In the U.S., we operate in 50 states and employ more than 20,000 people delivering energy in a responsible manner.

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, September 1, 2011.  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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