Shell sponsors an international waterbird survey at Barr Al Hikman
Mar 30, 2016
Shell Development Oman recently helped sponsor an international waterbird survey at Barr Al Hikman. The survey was conducted by Wetlands International, a environmental partner of Shell.
MUSCAT, OMAN --- In line with its ongoing commitment towards the environment and sustainable development in Oman, Shell Development Oman recently helped sponsor an international waterbird survey at Barr Al Hikman. The survey was conducted by Wetlands International, a environmental partner of Shell, between 20 January and 3 February 2016.
Wetlands International revealed the results of this survey in a technical engagement session held at Shell Development Oman’s office in the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), Environment Society of Oman (ESO), Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Shell Oman Marketing Company (SOM), as well as other industry and interest groups. During the two-week survey, Wetlands International group of experts were able to count over half a million waterbirds. The outcomes of this survey reinforce the global importance of Barr al Hikman, including providing a critical habitat for the Great Knot, an endangered species with populations under increased threat.
Speaking at the engagement session, Ward Hagemeijer, the project lead, stated “Barr Al Hikman is one of the 25 most important sites in the African Eurasian flyway zone that qualifies as a critical site for more than 28 waterbird species like waders, gulls and terns. What is also truly unique about the counting survey we recently conducted, is that it provides important clues about trends in an otherwise poorly monitored flyway. Among the most interesting findings was the fact that about 10% of the world population of Crab Plover, a species largely restricted to the Arabian Sea region, were counted in Barr Al Hikman.”
In January, Wetlands International launched a year-long campaign “Let’s make it count” in partnership with its national and International Waterbird Census (IWC) partners, volunteers, governments, corporates and others to mark the 50th count of the census. With this campaign, Wetlands International hopes to increase the number of important wetland sites covered by the annual count, ensure the latest and most up-to-date information about waterbirds is available to support conservation action worldwide and promote effective conservation action to be taken at critically important sites along all flyways.
This initiative comes after previous successful partnerships between Shell and the Environment Society of Oman that aimed to contribute to the preservation of Oman’s environment. Similar initiatives supported by Shell in the past include the launch of an environment curriculum (in partnership with the Ministry of Education) and the sponsorship of the Chief Scientist of British Schools Exploring Society’s expedition to Oman, the Global Flyway Network in Barr Al Hikman, a series of books about the environment, including “Birds in Oman” and “Whales and Dolphins of Arabia” and a study about Egyptian Vultures in partnership with ESO.
Commenting on this initiative, Chris Breeze, Shell’s Country Chairman in Oman, stated: “Shell Development Oman is pleased to support Wetlands International on their recent visit to Oman to conduct a waterbird census at Barr Al Hikman, a globally important and ecological rich wetland and a proposed Ramsar site located in the south east coast of Oman. Wetlands International provides a vital source of information for the conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds around the world and Shell is proud to contribute to gaining a better understanding of the important role that wetlands play in our environment here in Oman and across the globe.”
For media enquiries:
Ms. Salima Al-Masroori
Media Relations Manager, Shell Development Oman
Email: S.Al-Masroori@shell.com
Notes to Editors:
ABOUT SHELL IN OMAN
Shell is active in Oman across the oil and gas industry and is involved in joint venture and independent activities ranging from research and development, exploration and production to trading and retail. Shell also implements extensive social investment programmes that contribute to the sustainable development of the country.
Shell Development Oman LLC provides a central point for co-ordination of all Shell activities and interests in the Sultanate of Oman.
A dedicated Shell Representative office was established in 2002, creating for the first time in Oman a Shell identity independent from the different joint venture companies in which Shell has been proud to participate over many years.
Led by the Shell County Chairman for Oman, the Representative Office undertook the dual role of representing Shell and acted as a long-standing corporate citizen of the Sultanate by providing a conduit for a broad range of social investment schemes, including the successful Intilaaqah programme.
The broad range of activities undertaken by the office from social investment through to learning and technology sharing continually grew and to enable Shell to further expand its efforts to support the development objectives of the Sultanate, the Representative Office was transitioned to a limited liability company on 1 March 2008. This change continues to show our long-term commitment to the sustainable development of Oman.
Shell Development Oman LLC continues the dual role of representing Shell and contributing to the sustainable development of Oman (as the previous Representative Office did).
Cautionary Note
The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal 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 over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to “joint ventures” and “joint operations” respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as “associates”. The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect 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’’, ‘‘goals’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘objectives’’, ‘‘outlook’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘probably’’, ‘‘project’’, ‘‘risks’’, “schedule”, ‘‘seek’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘target’’, ‘‘will’’ 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 Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves 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 regulatory measures addressing climate change; (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 risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell’s 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements contained in this press release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release 12 April 2016. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc 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.
We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this press release that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our 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.