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December 31st, 2014:

Shell BP Mega Merger: Fact, or extremely well informed conjecture?

It was this article, followed by the oil price crash, which led to the growing speculation about a Shell BP Mega Merger.

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By a confidential contributor.

Shell BP Mega Merger: Fact, or extremely well informed conjecture?

…its a typical dark, smoke-filled room where two teams of senior people – top echelon, Board level types, not the operational guys who run organizations these days – are discussing a thorny problem. The structure of the industry is changing: the mega-mergers of the 1990s, which brought BP to scale, saw ExxonMobil become the world’s biggest company and made Chevron and Texaco join hands are almost forgotten and a new world order has emerged. The state oil companies from the resurgent Russian and nascent Chinese super-powers now sit at the head of the negotiating table and the rules of the game are changing. Some of the world’s oldest and largest IOCs are no longer big enough to compete and its time, according to the bankers and consultants, for a ‘game changer’. Unless there a bold move is made, the under-funded pension pots and comfy Board appointments – not to mention more than one Royal family investment portfolio – are all at considerable risk. People are worried. 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.

Real chance BP and Shell will merge

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 12.29.57Extracts from an article by David Taylor published by The Motley Fool on New Years Eve 2014 under the headline:

“Is It Safe To Stick With BP plc And Royal Dutch Shell plc, Or Should I Get Out?”

Royal Dutch Shell has five undeveloped projects in total (Carmon Creek, Bosi, Gato Do Mato, Bonga, Yucatan and Athabasca). They all require an oil price of at least US$95 per barrel to break-even. So yes, it’s not looking good on that front. Morgan Stanley says the price of oil could fall to as low as US$43 per barrel; …if the price falls further, there’s a real chance BP and Shell will merge, creating a potentially exciting 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.

Former Shell exec Mark Carne in firing line again

The Guardian newspaper has published an article about the rail travel fiasco in the UK at Christmas.

Network Rail bosses could face grilling over Christmas chaos

Extract

Senior executives at Network Rail are likely to be summoned to Westminster to explain the engineering overruns that caused chaos for Christmas travellers over the weekend.

Mark Carne (above right), the chief executive of Network Rail, is once again in the firing line. He has been on holiday over the Christmas period leaving the rail travelling public to suffer from his incompetence, for which he is to receive a bonus of up to £135,000. 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.

CEO Ben van Beurden finally endorses Shell Business Principles

Screen Shot 2014-12-05 at 14.22.12By John Donovan

After our long campaign for Ben van Beurden, the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, to sign Shell’s statement of General Business Principles, he has at last got round to doing so.

I do not know what the reluctance was about, or why it took a year of cajoling on our part, in a succession of articles, for him to finally sign on the dotted line endorsing the document.

The long delay raises questions about the priorities of RDS senior management and their commitment to upholding the claimed principles and values.  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.

The Fate of BP

Screen Shot 2014-10-28 at 12.29.57…if prices remain in the region of $60 per barrel, then the current scenario would be retained for a longer period of time, exposing it to takeover bids. Also, if Royal Dutch does indeed takeover BP, it could work out well for both companies.

Extracts from an article published by GuruFocus.com on 30 Dec 2014 under the headline:

British Petroleum Is A Buying Opportunity To Explore With “Sudden Dips” 

British Petroleum remains a buy, despite being a size lower than some of its competitors mentioned above. Its market capital of £74.6 billion ($116.5 billion) is dwarfed in terms of Royal Dutch Shells £208 billion ($323.85 billion), which might put it at risk considering the strategic issues at hand. With the uncertainly looming over the entire industry, experts feel that the company might be unsafe as a medium term investment, but there are clues to express otherwise.

According to sources like Forbes and IB-Times, Royal Dutch could be in the race to bid for some of the British oil major’s assets, which might sweep ion a new wave of optimism, putting in a position of a being a “buy” company. But since no confirmation has yet come through, there isn’t a credible source of attributing optimism for a price rise for BP shares on an immediate basis. 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 Plans To Boost Ethanol Production In Brazil

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How Royal Dutch Shell Intends To Boost Ethanol Production In Brazil

Bidness Etc looks at the progress Shell is making in the joint-venture with with Cosan Limited to boost ethanol production in Brazil over the next ten years

By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN
Published: Dec 30, 2014 at 7:19 am EST

The joint-venture between Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) and Cosan Limited(USA) (NYSE:CZZ), called Raizen, plans to spend nearly $1 billion on building ethanol production facilities to increase its biofuel output by 50%, according to the Financial Times (FT).

Cosan Limited intends to build eight ethanol plants over the next ten years, for an estimated cost of $930 million (2.5 billion reais). The plants will produce cellulosic ethanol fuel using sugarcane waste as its primary raw material, the most efficient source of biofuel. The first of eight plants was completed last week, and has an annual capacity of 40 million liters. After the completion of all plants, the company expects biofuel output to increase 50%. 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.