Category: Shell

KidZania Manila and its Industry Partners Set the Wheels in Motion for Empowered Play

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The global leader in children’s educational entertainment, KidZania, is bringing the ultimate role playing experience to the Philippines this 2015. To-date, over 40 of the country’s most respected brands have signed up to help bring this indoor play city to life as KidZania Manila’s Industry Partners – working towards the common goal of giving kids fun as they gain life skills that will help them learn how to build a better world.

KidZania Manila introduced and paid tribute to its growing community of Industry Partners during an event held at the Hotel InterContinental Manila. Over 100 officials representing the different partner brands, along with members of the media and other guests, were in attendance, as they celebrated the wonderful play experience in store for Filipino kids.

Immersive, interactive role play rooted in real-life activities and establishments is at the core of the KidZania experience. And that is where Industry Partners support the experience: with their expertise in their respective industries, these brands help bring realism to the kid-sized city, providing children with truly engaging activities and skills that they can use in real life.

Incorporating knowledge and expertise shared by Industry Partners, educators develop KidZania Manila’s role play activities to ensure that the play city complements classroom learning, focusing on key areas such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, confidence, and collaboration.

Making Learning More Fun
At KidZania Manila, kids can be anything they want to be, with over 100 role playing activities to choose from. Inside almost 9,000 square meters of play space built just for them — the play city provides kids with the ultimate role playing environment. Through realistic establishments ranging from industrial, retail, cultural, and utility services, kids can experience hands-on what it takes to run a city.

Kids can learn traffic regulations and vehicle operations, and apply for their own driver’s license at the Driving School (A-1 Driving), operate the gas pump as well as learn about car maintenance and safety at the Gas Station (Shell), or make their own automobile design and be car engineers at the Honda Car Design and Dealership and Honda Car Assembly stations.

“The best way to educate the children of today is by learning through play,” said A-1 Driving Assistant Vice President Aljun C. Garcia. “This generation will keep our roads safe because of what they’ll learn from A-1 Driving at KidZania Manila.”
According to Honda Cars Philippines President and General Manager Toshio Kuwahara, the company is happy to be a part of the KidZania Manila community that drives children to learn and have fun. “Together, we share the joy of leading children to roads of endless possibilities,” he added.

“Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation is proud to partner with the play city in preparing the Filipino youth for the big world,” said the company’s President and Chairman Edgar Chua. “We look forward to stimulating the minds and seeing smiles on the faces of the kids who visit the KidZania Shell station.”

A city where kids rule—where they can imagine and actually get to experience what they want to be when they grow up—this is KidZania Manila.

Shell announces Malaysia deep-water gas discovery

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Shell  announced an exploration discovery offshore Malaysia. The successful ‘Rosmari-1’ well is located 135 kilometres offshore in Block SK318, and was drilled to a total depth of 2,123 metres.

The well encountered more than 450 metres of gas column. With further exploration planned, the finding is a positive indicator of the gas potential in an area of strategic interest for Shell.

“Rosmari-1 is a testament to our ability to successfully drill and build understanding of new geology within our existing exploration heartlands, adding value to our existing assets in Malaysia,” said Andy Brown, Director Shell Upstream International. “We are expanding and rejuvenating heartlands across our exploration portfolio, including in Brunei, Australia and the Gulf of Mexico.”

“This adds to Shell’s sequence of recent exploration successes in Malaysia, with these discoveries expanding the company’s heartlands positions,” said Iain Lo, Chairman Shell Malaysia.

Block SK318 is Shell operated with an 85% interest, with the remaining 15% held by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd.

Fuelling livelihood and rehabilitation

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Shell Social Investment Manager Jackie Ampil and Pilipinas Shell Foundation Executive Director Edgar Veron Cruz turn over a Php2-million check donation for the procurement of 133 fishing boats to San Antonio Formation and Enhancement Center Executive Director Teresa Chan and Vice President Enrique Sola.

Shell companies in the Philippines (SciP) continues to provide support to the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) through valuable livelihood assistance for the rehabilitation of affected families, and mobilisation of SciP-wide volunteerism activities.

The social investment arm of Shell, the Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. (PSFI), collaborated with the San Antonio Formation and Enhancement Centre (SAFEC) to facilitate a rehabilitation programme for the affected fishermen of Barangay Macatunao in the municipality of Concepion, Iloilo. Shell donated Php 2 million to help the affected fishermen get back to their feet through the procurement of 133 fishing boats. This is Shell’s contribution to SAFEC’s “Adopt-a-Fisherman” project which aims to donate 9,000 boats to registered fishermen in Northern Iloilo.

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133 new fishing boats were recently turned over to residents of Brgy. Macatunao in Concepcion, Iloilo as part of Shell’s continuing support for rehabilitation of the area affected by Typhoon Yolanda last year

Aside from the boats, Shell also provided 160 solar lamps for use of the fishermen, the barangay day care centre, and the community church. The solar lamps comprise the initial batch of 2,000 Stiftung solar lamps Shell has procured for distribution to Typhoon Yolanda survivors, as part of its advocacy of developing new energy sources and providing energy access to far-flung areas.

A total of 380 family packs assembled from in-kind donations collected and repacked by Shell volunteers were also distributed.

“It’s a big help, because our resources are limited,” said SAFEC executive director Teresa Chan of the partnership between the non-profit organisation and Shell. “Once the fishermen have their fishing boats, it’s going to be sustainable. That’s all they want, to have their fishing boats back, so they can start rebuilding their lives.”

SAFEC also values the support of the power, energy and gas technology leader in strengthening their credibility and capability to carry out projects and partnerships, and engaging more people to support their cause.

“This project aligns with what Shell is trying to do—restoring what was lost, which is the people’s livelihood,” affirmed Roberto Kanapi, vice president for communication of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation. “We hope that we can all move forward, and in a small way, Shell can help in rehabilitation.”

Resilience and Partnership in the Face of Tragedy

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Last November, the devastating typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) slashed across the Eastern Visayas region, impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. In succeeding days, we witnessed how our people struggled with severe water and food shortages as they were cut off from power, which could have made the relief operations much easier.

By Edgar O. Chua
Chairman, Shell companies in the Philippines

As the Philippines grapples with the myriad challenges of rebuilding, it should perhaps take cognizance of the tight links between energy, water, and food—the EWF nexus – the significance of which was glaringly shown in the Leyte devastation.

The Energy-Water-Food connection may not seem apparent to some of us, but that does not negate the fact that it is omnipresent. It takes 140 liters of water to produce that cup of coffee that now sits on your desk. A glass of wine uses up 120 liters of water, while a kilo of beef requires a staggering 15,500 liters of water to produce. For every calorie of food we consume, five calories of fossil fuel energy are used in the supply chain, on average, globally. And that rises to 40 calories for high-end produce like beef.

The tight links between food, water and energy is inescapable. Water is needed for almost all forms of energy production; energy is needed to transport and treat water; and producing food requires both energy and water.

Unfortunately, the Energy-Water-Food Nexus has come under tremendous stress in the past few years, and will continue to do so in the coming decades, as populations grow, cities urbanize, and prosperity increases, putting even more pressure on the world’s fast dwindling resources.

As it is, the world is headed towards a serious resource shortfall if it does not take drastic action. For example, if current water consumption trends continue, the world could face a 40% shortfall between global freshwater demand and supply from current sources by 2030. At the same time, it has been estimated that there will be 50% growth in food needs, with demand for beef increasing by more than 80%, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile Oxfam has recently estimated that these stresses could lead to the doubling of food prices by 2030. (Ironically, it is estimated that food waste alone in Europe and the USA could feed 1.5 billion people.) And in 2050, our planet could be home to 9 billion people, which is the equivalent of adding another China and another India to the world. Imagine its impact on the world’s resources.

Needless to say, the EWF Stress Nexus will be a significant factor in the quality of life in the coming decades, and its effects will be felt everywhere, whether in the form of water shortages, sky-high food prices, and a more crowded, dirtier planet. If global leaders do not act now, it would be to the detriment of the next generation who may have far less options than we have now.

We at Shell recognize the dynamic complexity of the nexus, and that it requires additional strategic thinking and collaboration between and among strategic partners especially when these are in the context of rebuilding and rehabilitation. We believe that when looking at the most central and influential issues in the EWF nexus, investment and knowledge intensive innovation will be key factors that will lead to long-lasting solutions.

To achieve a sustainable future, a strong partnership between public and private sectors has become imperative. We need to integrate the technological and commercial expertise of the private sector with the expertise in regulatory economics of the public sector.

It is therefore very timely that Shell recently hosted the POWERING PROGRESS TOGETHER (PPT) forum in Manila. A global, multi-sectoral platform for debate and collaboration that was first conducted in Rotterdam in 2012, the PPT addressed dynamics within the EWF ‘Stress Nexus’ and their implications for the environment and global economy.

This forum brought together Filipino and international thought leaders and experts from business, academia and civil society for an interactive brainstorm on the world’s growing energy, water, food and climate challenges. Through these conversations, short, medium and long term projects have been identified which Shell hopes to follow through via partnerships and collaboration that would help toward addressing the EWF challenges and rebuilding the Philippines.