Shell Exploration And Production Is Returning To New Orleans

New Orleans - Shell Exploration & Production announced that it is committed to returning to New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath hit New Orleans in August, Shell has been working out of temporary work locations in Robert and Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Houston, Texas. From these transitional offices, Shell has worked to maintain business continuity, implement repair and recovery plans for damaged offshore facilities, restore Gulf of Mexico production, and assist employees with personal recovery. These efforts will soon be returning to permanent offices in New Orleans, assuming the city is fully restored and able to support full operating needs.

"We expect to have a substantial number of currently displaced New Orleans Shell employees back home and back at work in the city we cherish early next year and expect almost all to return in the Q1/Q2 timeframe," said Marvin Odum, Executive Vice President - EP Americas.

The exact timing of Shell's return to New Orleans will be based on a number of factors, including availability of public services and maintaining short-term business continuity. After Hurricane Katrina, Shell quickly accounted for all its 1474 exploration and production staff that live in the New Orleans area and surrounding regions. All employees were safe, although many were heavily impacted by the storm and have dispersed around the country.

Frank Glaviano, Vice President for Shell's Production Operations in the Americas Region, praised employees for "their resourcefulness during these difficult times; we are very proud of them."

Glaviano, a New Orleans native from the lower 9th Ward, said, "Like the city and the region, we will be stronger as a result of what we have all been through. The Gulf of Mexico and our New Orleans area base of operations were important to us prior to August 29th, and Katrina hasn't changed that."

"The success of the area's rebuilding effort is critically important to the long-term viability of the Gulf Coast, and will allow us to continue to be an important part of the business and social fabric of this community," Odum commented. "We have offered to assist the Governor and Mayor by making available some of the best minds in the world to assist with a successful, transparent and integrated rebuilding program that will help New Orleans."

SOURCE: Shell Exploration & Production Company