A Money-Saving Plan for the Spring Break Clan

HOUSTON, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Student spring breaks are rapidly approaching, making this the time to plan that much-needed, often wallet-draining vacation.(1) Whether friends or families are looking to head to the slopes for spring skiing or south to lounge on the beach, Jonni McCoy, budgeting expert and Shell spokesperson, has road travel tips to help create a memorable spring break experience without breaking the bank.

Entertain the kids. Nothing makes a trip longer than choruses of "are we there yet?" Instead of buying expensive hand-held games, research fun facts and pictures of things that can be found en route and print the findings to create personalized road trip activity books. Compete in a round of the classic guessing game, "I Spy," or head to the library and check out radio drama series, audio books, and some music that everyone can enjoy.

Seek out unusual sights. As an alternative to pricier tourist sites, explore sites off the beaten path. Making fun stops along the way will keep the clan excited about the trip. Visit http://www.roadsideamerica.com for suggestions to customize any journey. For example, a trip could include a stop at the Meteor Crater in Arizona and dinosaur tracks at the Grand Canyon.

Watch driving habits to stretch the fuel. Practice a few gasoline-saving tips, such as:

    * Replace dirty or clogged air filters. Replacing a dirty or clogged air
      filter with a clean one can improve gasoline mileage by as much as 10
      percent. Your car's air filter can protect your engine from impurities.
    * Use cruise control on major roads and in free-flowing traffic.
    * Avoid idling.  When the car idles, you get zero miles per gallon.
    * Avoid higher speeds. Gasoline mileage usually decreases when driving at
      speeds over 60 mph.

Save on special attraction tickets. Don't pay full price for theme parks and activities. Contact the hotel or resort destination and ask if they sell discount tickets or packages. It's often possible to purchase discounted tickets on a park's Web site. For example, a ticket ordered in advance on Disney's Web site could be up to $50 less than one purchased at the gate.(2)

Collect coupons. The week before the trip, go through the Sunday newspaper and stock up on coupons. Make sure to cut them out for grocery stores, tourist attractions and restaurants en route. At the end of the trip, calculate how much money these coupons actually saved you on your spring vacation.

Don't empty the wallet to fill the tank. Credit cards offer a simple way to pay for things quickly, but using a rebate credit card means earning rewards with every swipe. Consider these savings: Shell sent two passionate expert scientists on a 5,000 mile road trip with nothing but a car and the Shell Platinum MasterCard(R) from Citi(R) Cards. They used the card to pay for all of their hotel, food, and Shell gasoline purchases, earning 5 percent rebates when filling their tank at Shell and 1 percent rebates on all other purchases. During the trip, the experts earned an average of three fill-ups (based on a 13 gallon fill-up) of Shell gasoline. To calculate your potential savings, visit http://www.877myshell.com.

Keep an eye open for hotel savings. When planning the trip, frequently check online for specials on hotels. New savings and specials pop up every day. When selecting a hotel, choose one that offers extras geared toward your group's tastes like a pool, complimentary meals, membership discounts or specials for children. Also, check for local hostels to book a room for the spring break clan or share with other travelers.

Pack a snack. Snack costs can rack up fast, so stock a cooler ahead of time with snacks and sodas from discount grocery stores. Pick up inexpensive snacks and beverages in economy sizes rather than individual serving sizes. Pick a park or campsite and enjoy a scenic group picnic, free of cost.

Avoid drive-throughs. Make meals more fun by stopping at locally owned restaurants. Many home-style restaurants provide early bird specials where larger meals are available at a low cost. Take a break from the main roads for even cheaper meals, such as food at local street festivals.

Shell Oil Products US, a subsidiary of Shell Oil Company, is a leader in the refining, transportation and marketing of fuels, and has a network of approximately 6,100 branded gasoline stations in the Western United States. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group [NYSE: RDS.A and NYSE: RDS.B]. For more information, please visit http://www.shell.com. Motiva Enterprises LLC refines and markets branded products through more than 8,100 branded stations in the Eastern and Southern United States. Shell Oil Company is a 50 percent owner of Motiva Enterprises LLC, along with Saudi Refining, Inc.

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com or http://www.citi.com.

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 recategorization of reserves, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, 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, 2006 (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.

    (1) About.com,
http://studenttravel.about.com/od/springbrea1/f/when_spring_bre.htm
    (2) About.com,
http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/cadisneyland/a/discounttickets.htm