May 22--Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corp. are joining the Twitterati.

The Netherlands-based oil giant's U.S. arm, Shell Oil Co., aims to share 2009 hurricane season updates via Twitter in addition to e-mail and regular postings on its Web site. Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., plans to do the same with a Twitter account it already uses for company news.

Shell spokeswoman Darci Sinclair said the company's hurricane-related messages likely will point users to the Web site, given the 140-character limit on the messages called Tweets.

So far, it doesn't appear other Gulf of Mexico producers have embraced the social networking phenomenon to help spread the word about evacuations, production shutdowns and other effects of hurricanes on offshore and onshore operations.

"We haven't reached a conclusion quite yet, but it doesn't hurt to try it out and see how it goes," said Guy Cantwell, spokesman for Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor. ConocoPhillips also may consider it, spokeswoman Kristi DesJarlais said.

Bill Day, spokesman for Valero Energy, the nation's largest refiner with plants along the Gulf Coast that can face shutdowns as hurricanes come ashore, said simply, "No, we're pretty old school."

Similar sentiments emerged from BP -- "No current plans to join the Twitterati," spokesman Ronnie Chappell said -- from Exxon Mobil Corp. and from independents Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Devon Energy and Apache Corp.

Shell typically issues detailed, repeated updates on its storm-related Web site in the lead-up and aftermath of hurricanes. Other producers, refiners and pipeline operators do the same, though some limit details.â?¨

kristen.hays@chron.com

-----

To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Houston Chronicle

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:RDS, NYSE:CVX, NYSE:RIG, NYSE:COP, NYSE:VLO, NYSE:XOM, NYSE:APC, NYSE:DVN, NYSE:APA,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.