Shell Exploration & Production company provides Mars TLP production update

Shell Exploration & Production Company announced today that the Mars Tension Leg Platform (TLP), which was heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is currently producing 190,000 barrels (gross) of oil equivalent per day, which is a 20 percent increase over pre-Katrina rates. As announced on May 22, the Mars TLP resumed production ahead of schedule and was producing slightly above its pre-Katrina rates in July.

Estimates placed the Mars platform in Katrina’s eye for about four hours, absorbing 80-foot waves and wind gusts exceeding 200 mph. The Mars TLP floating structure and wells survived the extreme Katrina weather conditions, but the platform drilling rig and some major elements of the topsides production equipment were heavily damaged.

“Many of the talented individuals who have restored this important asset were dealing with their own personal recovery, yet they never wavered in their commitment to help Shell restore its operations and increase America’s energy production,” said Marvin Odum, Executive Vice President, EP Americas.

In repairing Mars, Shell accomplished work unprecedented in the oil and gas industry. It took three months of preparation and planning to successfully lift and remove the damaged Mars platform rig in two pieces from its awkward, toppled position on the platform deck. Lifting the toppled drilling rig structure was an industry first. It takes a major engineering feat to lift a 670 ton tangled steel structure from a web of knotted facilities and processing equipment. Another first was repairing the oil and gas pipelines 3,000 feet below the water’s surface, utilizing the Shell Deepwater Repair Kit. Being able to repair the pipelines on the seafloor meant repairs were finished much earlier than using a traditional method.

Repairing the platform involved a workforce of 500 people and represented more than one million man-hours. During this time there were no recordable injuries.

Shell Oil Company, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America’s leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell, a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, employing approximately 109,000 people and operating in more than 140 countries and territories.

Disclaimer statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements, that are subject to risk factors associated with the oil, gas, power, chemicals and renewables business. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, but may be affected by a variety of variables which could cause actual results, trends or reserves replacement to differ materially, including, but not limited to: price fluctuations, actual demand, currency fluctuations, drilling and production results, reserve estimates, loss of market, industry competition, environmental risks, physical risks, risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets and the successful negotiation and consummation of transactions, the risk of doing business in developing countries, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and region

s, political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates.

Please refer to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2005 (as amended) for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect the Shell Group’s businesses. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any member of the Shell Group undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or other information.

Cautionary Note to US Investors

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 presentation, such as "expected producible resources" and "amount of reserves we expect to produce", that the SEC’s guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC.