Shell successfully completes Athabasca Oil Sands Project maintenance

The turnaround at Shell Canada's Muskeg River Mine and Scotford Upgrader has come to a successful close with both operations now officially back online.

CALGARY, June 7 /CNW/ - "This was a huge undertaking for Shell and we are proud of what the teams at our heavy oil sites accomplished," said Shell Executive Vice President Heavy Oil, John Abbott.

A turnaround is a maintenance, inspection and repair activity that enables large scale operating facilities to continue operating safely, reliably and efficiently for years at a time. Depending on the size and complexity of the facility, major turnarounds generally occur every three to four years. The Muskeg River Mine and Scotford Upgrader, which started operation in late 2003, had their first large turnaround in 2006.

"The complexity of safely and efficiently managing such a large scope of work between two distinct but integrated facilities is a major undertaking," said Abbott, adding that about 4,500 contractors from all major skills and trades were required for the work.

Planning for the event had been underway since early 2007. Maintenance work was completed in just over two months, on time and within budget. Several important projects were completed during the shutdown, including replacing more than 250 valves at the Upgrader, as well as replacing the surge feed conveyor belt and installing new feed wells for the Primary Separation Cells at Muskeg River Mine. In addition, the shutdown allowed for the commissioning of a new 42-inch pipeline between Muskeg River Mine and Scotford ahead of the start-up of our 100,000 barrels per day expansion project which is scheduled to be fully online in early 2011.

Shell's customers were unaffected by the shutdown having been informed well in advance as part of the planning process and made arrangements during the outage period, which began in March of 2010.

Shell Canada Energy is 60% owner with Chevron Canada Limited (20%) and Marathon Oil Sands L.P. (20%) of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), including the Muskeg River Mine and Scotford Upgrader, with a capacity of 155,000 barrels per day.

    
    Shell in Canada
    ---------------
    

Shell has been operating in Canada since 1911 and employs approximately 8,000 people across the country. A leading manufacturer, distributor and marketer of refined petroleum products, Shell produces natural gas, natural gas liquids and bitumen, and is Canada's largest producer of sulphur. Shell is one of Canada's oil sands developers and operates the Athabasca Oil Sands Project on behalf of the joint venture partners. For further information, visit: www.shell.ca

    
    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 and territories 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. For further information, visit: www.shell.com

    
    MRM-Scotford Turnaround Project Facts:
    --------------------------------------
    

Muskeg River Mine -

- 2,000 contractors from all 10 provinces working for 45 contracting

companies

- All major skills and trades represented, such as pipefitters,

scaffolders, electricians and boilermakers

- It took 5 months to set up the 8500 km of scaffolding, weighing in at

12 million pounds

- 53 cranes, the biggest lifting 600 tonnes

Scotford Upgrader -

- 2,500 contractors from across Canada.

- All major skills and trades represented, including ironworkers,

welders, boilermakers, pipefitters, electricians, crane operators,

bricklayers, scaffolders

- 870,000 pieces of scaffolding

- 67 cranes ranging from 9 ton to 500 ton

    
    Editor's Note:
    --------------
    

Photographs of maintenance work at both Muskeg River Mine and Scotford Upgrader are available through Shell Canada Media Relations.

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 Shell'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 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 factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2009 (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, June 7, 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 may have used 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.

/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited members of the media/

For further information: Enquiries: Shell Canada, Media Relations, [phone], [email protected]