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March 24th, 2014:

Shell undergoing massive sell off to fix its balance sheet

Screen Shot 2014-02-18 at 18.34.00Extracts from an article poublished Monday 24 March 2014 by MarketWatch under the headline: Ghana’s Jubilee Points to Best Offshore Acreage in the World

LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / March 24, 2014 / The oil industry hasn’t started off 2014 with a bang. The oil majors – ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP – all posted disappointing fourth quarter numbers. Shell in particular is undergoing a massive sell off to fix its balance sheet. Why are these companies struggling, and why all the gloom in the oil sector? Higher costs are the major reason. The oil majors are not looking all that great in terms of an investment opportunity. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

BP and Shell peril on the Russian front

Screen Shot 2014-01-30 at 00.47.49“While BP is the biggest of Britain’s oil giants exposed to Russia, it is not alone. Royal Dutch Shell has a stake in the huge Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the Psacific coast of Russia, and is also working with gas giant Gazprom to drill for oil in the Russian Arttic shelf. The ulimate fear is that Russia will repatriate western companies’ assets…”

By John Donovan

The Sunday Times published an article yesterday by John Collingridge under the headline: “BP’s peril on the Russian front”

The article is focused on BP and warns of the risk to its Russian investments arising from Putin’s annexation of Crimea – principally BP’s tie-up with Rosneft.

However, the article points out that Royal Dutch Shell also has grounds  for concern – in Shell’s case over its reduced stake in the Sakhalin 2 project and its joint plans with Gazprom oil exploration in the Russian Arctic shelf. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Exxon’s ‘Bromance’ With The Kremlin

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 23.56.16Extracts from a Forbes article by Christopher Helman published on 20 March 2014 under the headline:Will Exxon’s ‘Bromance’ With The Kremlin Help Keep Putin In Check?

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson has a good relationship with Vladimir Putin. If you do a Google image search for the two men, you’ll see a dozen shots of them together, looking in each others’ eyes, smiling, laughing, shaking hands. They have a lot in common. Both men run autocratic, secretive, oil-based, global operations. And they like each other enough that they’ve joined forces in perhaps the biggest joint venture in the global oil industry. Exxon’s landmark 2011 joint venture with Kremlin-controlled Rosneft calls for upwards of $500 billion in investment over the coming decades. The companies are planning an offshore drilling campaign in Russia’s frozen Chukchi Sea… read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s disastrous tax dodge

Screen Shot 2014-03-24 at 09.17.21

Photo Courtesy Mark Meyer / Greenpeace

Extracts from an article by Jim Paulin, Dutch Harbor Fisherman, published 23 March 2014 by AlaskaDispatch under the headline: Southwest Alaska municipalities want bigger share of oil royalties 

Impacts are already being felt from the arrival of Royal Dutch Shell in Alaska. The arctic-class oil rig Kulluk grounded in the Kodiak archipelago New Year’s Eve, as the rig left on a schedule designed to avoid a potential tax bill of $6 million in Unalaska, raising serious concerns of damage to the environment. None of those fears were realized in that incident, though it clearly showed the potential for harm. The cost to Shell in responding to the near-disaster makes $6 million seem small by comparison. In addition, Alaska’s government says the rig is exempt from local taxes because it wasn’t drilling in state waters, which extend up to three miles from shore. Shell has suspended exploration this year, to give it time to fix its drill rigs. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell sees ‘minor’ impact in higher U.S. gas exports to Europe

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Extract from a Reuters article by Meeyoung Cho published Monday 24 March 2014

GOYANG, South Korea (Reuters) – Growing interest in sending more U.S. natural gas to Europe does not hold a big threat for Asian gas markets, although such exports would help improve spot market liquidity for the super-chilled form of the fuel, a Shell executive said on Monday. Tension over the future of Ukraine is prompting the European Union and United States to look at deepening their economic ties. Europe is hoping to tap the abundant energy resources of its key ally to reduce dependence on Russia, which feeds a bulk of the region’s gas demand. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Will an Emboldened Russia Hurt Shell and Chevron?

Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 17.39.57Extracts from an article by Reuben Brewer published on 23 March 2014 by The Motley Fool under the headline: Will an Emboldened Russia Hurt This Major Industry?

Russia is a complex beast and is often hard for Western nations to understand. The latest bit of world drama that the country has caused is, effectively, making Crimea part of Mother Russia again. It’s a move that could lead to sanctions against this giant, natural resource-rich nation. This whole event could cause more pain than you may expect in the international oil and gas space. Chevron inked a $10 billion deal with Ukraine to explore for shale gas in late 2013. Royal Dutch Shell made a similarly sized agreement with the country in early 2013. Both deals have 50-year terms. Clearly, Russia taking over part of Ukraine is a less than auspicious start to these deals, which have another five decades or so left to go. Shell isn’t sitting pat; the company pulled out of talks over an offshore gas drilling deal early this year. While that helps to reduce the company’s exposure to a region in turmoil, the 50 year shale drilling contract keeps Shell on the firing line. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Exxon Valdez oil spill, 25 years later, offers lessons

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 09.31.18Extracts from an article published 22 March 2014 by USA Today

(USA TODAY) – Twenty-five years ago Monday, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Alaska, causing what was then the largest U.S. oil spill in history. Its accident is refocusing questions about the risks of new Arctic oil drilling efforts by several countries, notably Russia. U.S. companies, notably Shell in 2012, have encountered technical setbacks in their forays into offshore drilling in the Arctic, but that’s not stopping other countries from moving forward. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.