EXCLUSIVE: TV chef who previously campaigned for green causes is facing a major backlash
The TV chef has launched Jamie Oliver deli by Shell (Image: PA)
Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.
Jamie Oliver has sparked fresh fury after trying to defend his £5million food-to-go deal with Shell.
The TV chef, 43, yesterday launched his range for the oil giant, despite campaigning for action on climate change.
He said he had “thought a lot” before agreeing to it, adding: “There are pitfalls working for any client, they all have their own baggage.”
But campaigners hit out at his reasoning, which comes after Jamie told of a cash crisis at his company.
Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.read more
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Buoyed by concluding a big pay raise for steel workers last month, a United Steelworkers union top negotiator squares off on Wednesday against oil companies seeking to win a 24 percent wage hike for 30,000 refinery and chemical employees.
The stakes are high for the union and oil industry, which scored big profits last year from refining and chemicals. The talks are the first since 2015 when a stalemate led to rolling strikes that sent more than 7,000 workers off their jobs at 12 U.S. refineries and three chemical plants.read more
Jamie Oliver has defended his decision to sign a reported £5 million deal with Royal Dutch Shell despite years of campaigning for action on climate change. The television chef said that he had anticipated the accusations of hypocrisy that he has faced since news leaked of his agreement to design a range of deli food for the oil major’s British petrol stations. Oliver said that he had “thought a lot” before signing the deal, but had reached the conclusion that “there are pitfalls working for any client and they all have their own baggage”. He argued that the partnership “was absolutely worth it” if it meant that people had access to better-quality food. The chef, who was named an “environmental champion” by the UN Environment…read more
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM are considering a joint bid for Dutch energy company Eneco [ENECO.UL], which analysts estimate to be worth around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion).
The 53 municipalities that own Eneco, which is heavily invested in sustainable energy projects, said in December they will sell it via an auction later this year.
Shell and PGGM, who gave no financial details, said they were looking for “a long term commitment” with Eneco, which is expected to appeal to energy companies that want to increase their exposure to renewable energy production.read more
Who Killed Henry?: The book title arises from the fact that in 1937, Shell Director for Europe Henry van der Waerden was found dead in mysterious circumstances after receiving a threat from members of the Nazi movement. This was after he had failed to respond favourably to intense pressure from Deterding and the Nazis to do their bidding.
By John Donovan
I was recently contacted by Henry van Buuren, the grandson of Henry van der Waerden, an engineer who held a high-level position at Shell under Sir Henri Deterding.read more
A truce was reached in a dispute over a natural gas pipeline in western Canada, easing tensions for now as government leaders remain wary of intervening on the side of either the company or indigenous protesters.
Hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia reached a tentative deal with police late Wednesday to effectively allow work to resume on part of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $31 billion gas export project.
Coastal GasLink workers will be able to access a bridge that had been barricaded, so long as a nearby protest camp isn’t dismantled, the Canadian Press reported, citing comments from one of the chiefs. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said Wednesday there had been a resolution. “This is how this is supposed to work,” he told a town hall event in the Pacific coast province.read more
A UK renewable energy company, Anesco will work with Shell on a battery storage project at the site.
Anesco will provide the design, procurement, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the utility scale system.
Anesco executive chairman, Steve Shine siad: “We are delighted to be partnering with Shell New Energies on this exciting new project in the storage sector.
“It marks another significant milestone for us at Anesco. We have fully complied with Shell’s high standards of quality and safety and that is a massive compliment to the Anesco team.”read more
Jan. 9, 2019 11:58 AM ET| By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
The Dutch High Court says it will consider demands on Jan. 17 seeking an immediate end to gas production from the Groningen field, after the government said it would cut output gradually.
The High Court says it received 26 objections to the plan, expressing concerns about seismic risks caused by drilling and demanding an urgent halt in production.
Analysts say the court is unlikely to grant an immediate halt because the Netherlands still depends on Groningen gas for a significant part of its energy supply.read more
Shell Canada is testing the waters to sell its Sarnia-Lambton refinery.
The fossil fuel giant that’s operated since 1963 at the 77,000 barrel-per-day Sarnia Manufacturing Centre in Corunna announced Wednesday it’s been looking to find a buyer for the refinery, chemical plant, and Sarnia distribution terminal – as well as another distribution terminal in Hamilton and Shell’s 45 per cent stake in the Sun Canadian Pipeline – for about a year, said spokesperson Olwen Gover.read more
Shell buys out Total’s 26% stake in Hazira LNG and Port
By Rachita Prasad: ET Bureau: Updated: Jan 09, 2019, 03.01 PM ISTRoyal Dutch Shell has completed the acquisition of Gujarat-based Hazira LNG and Port Ventures from French energy major Total Gaz Electricité Holdings, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Shell Gas, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, acquired 26% equity interest in the Hazira LNG and Port from Total, to complete the acquisition. We did not disclose the financial consideration for the deal.
“The move allows Shell to build an integrated gas value chain: supply from its global LNG portfolio, regasification at the Hazira facility, and downstream customer sales. It further enables Shell to contribute towards India’s long-term need for more and cleaner energy solutions,” Shell said in the statement.read more
Ben van Beurden has marked five years as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell by giving a “wide-ranging interview” on climate change, his leadership style and “Shell’s biggest financial transformation” — an interview given to, erm, Royal Dutch Shell’s website. But rest assured, the oil group’s in-house journalists weren’t letting their boss off lightly. The transcript published yesterday features such hard-hitting questions as: “Who do you turn to for advice and support?” (answer: his wife, Stacey); “What are you most proud of when you look back at 2018?”; and “Why is trust so important for Shell?” A real zinger, that one.read more
By Patrick Donahue: 7 January 2019, 17:00 GMT Updated on 8 January 2019, 10:10 GMT
Merkel coalition lawmakers become more critical of Nord Stream
Mood shift may place pressure on government to shift stance
Support in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition for a major new Russian gas pipeline is slipping as frustration with the Kremlin’s brinkmanship grows and pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump starts to bite.
Nord Stream 2, an $11 billion project that will double the natural gas supply under the Baltic Sea to Germany, faces growing skepticism among German officials who had previously defended it against criticism from Trump and some European Union allies, according to senior lawmakers. The shift could translate into pressure on Merkel’s government to back down on the controversial pipeline and possibly delay its implementation.read more
Shell’s Pulau Bukom industrial site in western Singapore. (Photo: AFP)
(Updated: )
SINGAPORE: Oil giant Shell has been fined S$400,000 for a fire which broke out at a petroleum refinery on Pulau Bukom in 2015, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Tuesday (Jan 8).
The fire left six workers injured, including two with critical injuries after they suffered 50 per cent and 70 per cent burns.
On Aug 21, 2015, two groups of workers were simultaneously conducting maintenance and project works on a crude distillation unit at the refinery, said the ministry.read more
Shell has taken a positive FID on a massive 14 mpta LNG project in Western Canada.
Several companies have abandoned this effort due to opposition and low gas prices.
We review the scenario ahead of Shell going forward.
Introduction
Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has the strongest position in LNG of any Super Major oil company. On the whole, we think this is a perfect direction in which to take a legacy oil company like Shell. The energy mix that runs the world is changing, and strong companies must adapt to stay strong. We’ve have written about this in a number of articles. These are set to free status so you can go into more depth on Shell. For the most part, we think Shell is doing that.read more
Marissa Luck, Houston Chronicle: Monday, Jan 7, 2019
The Gulf Coast has become home of one the largest producers of a common plastic: Shell fired up its fourth alpha olefins unit at its chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, the company said Monday.
The multi-billion dollar expansion adds 425,000 metric tons per a year in capacity to the chemical manufacturing site, bringing its total alpha olefin production up at Geismar to more than 1.3 million metric tons per a year. That makes it the largest alpha olefins producing site in the world, the company said.read more
Singapore — Shell will load the first condensate cargo from Australia’s Prelude FLNG project at end January, according to shipping reports and sources Thursday.
The condensate will be loaded in a 80,000 mt clip over January 31 to February 2, shipping reports showed.
A vessel has not been fixed for the cargo, and shipbrokers said Shell began looking for an Aframax tanker to load the cargo Thursday.
Shell did not immediately respond to an email query seeking comment.
The destination of the cargo is unclear, though trade sources have said that the oil major will likely use the cargo within its own network of splitters and refineries.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says China has awarded it a license to independently trade oil products in the country’s domestic wholesale oil market, allowing it to carry out purchases and sales of oil products for its customers in the Chinese market.
“The wholesale business of refined products has long been dominated by Chinese national oil companies and is typically reserved for Chinese companies,” says Kang Wu, head of S&P Global Platts Asia analytics. “The latest license to a wholly-owned foreign company is unique and set to increase the competitiveness of the wholesale market in China.”read more
Jan 2nd, 2019
by John Donovan.
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Shell’s wind development division considers Britain, including the North Sea, to be a key offshore market: ARTERRA/UIG/GETTY IMAGES
Royal Dutch Shell is considering bidding for rights to develop offshore wind farms in British waters as the Anglo-Dutch oil major seeks to re-enter the UK sector after a ten-year absence.
Dorine Bosman, Shell’s vice-president of wind development, said that the company was interested in seabed leases that are due to be awarded this year by the Crown Estate.read more
The £456m sale includes Shell’s interest in the Maui, Pohokura, and Tank Farm assets, and operatorship of the Great South Basin venture, which was subject to a separate agreement.
Shell said the deal was part of the firm’s effort to simplify its portfolio.
The company also confirmed that employees of Shell Taranaki and Shell NZ 2011 are now part of OMV New Zealand.
Zoe Yujnovich, Shell’s vice president in Australia and New Zealand, said: “We are proud of having worked in New Zealand for more than 100 years and completion of the sale to OMV marks an important milestone in the company’s history.read more
Dec 27th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dec. 27 (UPI) — Shell Argentina, which two months ago sold a refinery and fuel stations, said Thursday it will move to develop unconventional oil fields in the Vaca Muerta basin, aiming at 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2025.
The decision includes developing the Sierras Blancas, Cruz de Lorena and Coiron Amargo southwest blocks, the company told UPI in a statement sent by email on Thursday.
“Vaca Muerta makes up an important part of our global shale portfolio and we see substantial long-term growth potential there,” said Andy Brown, Shell Global Upstream Director.read more
When an activist shareholder group last year launched a campaign to force Royal Dutch Shell to set hard targets for cutting carbon emissions, just 6 per cent of those eligible to vote backed the plan. Yet within months Shell had announced an “ambition” to halve its carbon footprint by 2050… This December it pledged to set firm short-term emissions targets from 2020 that will be tied to executive pay. “If we don’t meet them there will be consequences to my salary and others,” said Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive. FULL FT ARTICLEread more
Shell plans to increase the annual amount of money it invests in renewable energy to US$4 billion, the supermajor’s head of gas and new energy, Maarten Wetselaar told The Guardian in an interview.
The figure is double the maximum current annual investment Shell has allocated for cleaner energy initiatives but the increase will only materialize if these initial investments prove to make financial sense.
“I would like my current business to be financially credible enough for not only the company, but shareholders, to want to double it and look at more,” Wetselaar told The Guardian.read more
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it has begun output at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility in Australia, the world’s largest floating production structure and the last of a wave of eight LNG projects built in the country over the last decade.
Though the project started up later and cost more than originally estimated, it is expected to further cement Australia’s lead as the world’s biggest LNG exporter, after the country took the crown in November.read more
REVVY, STEADY, GO: The Shell Recharge initiative is being brought to Scotland after it met with great success south of the border
Energy giant Shell has announced it is throwing its weight behind renewable energy in Scotland with the introduction of three electric charge points at locations around the country.
Charging docks will be placed at service stations in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dunblane in a move which rolls out an already well established initiative, Shell Recharge, north of the border following its success in England. Jane Lindsay-Green, Shell UK future fuels manager, said the sites were chosen because of their proximity to main driving routes, and where there is an opportunity to reach more EV drivers.read more
Dec 21st, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell’s giant Prelude floating LNG vessel is edging closer to production as the accommodation vessel that housed up to 750 workers over the year moves away to allow the final stages of start-up to occur.
The Posh Arcadia accommodation vessel sailed to a station about 6km north of Prelude on Thursday morning, according to vessel tracking website MarineTraffic.
A Shell spokeswoman said the company continued to prepare Prelude for operations. “We expect to see production around the end of the year,” she said.read more
Royal Dutch Shell has boosted its expansion into the offshore wind sector with two deals to establish a significant position in the nascent US industry.
The Anglo-Dutch energy group has splashed out $175 million over the past week on the rights to develop hundreds of turbines in the waters off New Jersey and Massachusetts, which could power more than 1.5 million homes.
Dorine Bosman, vice-president for wind development at Shell, below, said its expertise from developing offshore oil and gas fields should help it to compete against established offshore wind players to secure subsidy contracts needed for the proposed wind farms to go ahead.read more
Dec 20th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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19 December 2018
(Reuters) – EDF Renewables North America said on Wednesday it had formed a joint venture with oil and gas firm Royal Dutch Shell plc’s (RDSa.AS) new energies division to co-develop a lease area for offshore wind energy in New Jersey.
The area, spread over 183,353 acres and located off the coast of Atlantic City, has the potential to produce about 2,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy, EDF said in a statement.
The Trump administration is streamlining permits for offshore wind industry and carving out new areas for leasing to boost domestic energy production and jobs.read more
Dec 20th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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December 20, 2018
MUMBAI: Royal Dutch Shell Plc has picked up 49% stake in Cleantech Solar, a Southeast Asia and India-focused solar energy systems developer, for $100 million in what could be the British energy giant’s first investment in the alternate energy space in Asia.
The transaction is expected to get concluded in January 2019, the two companies said on Wednesday. Headquartered in Singapore, Cleantech Solar owns and operates more than 120 solar power plants across Southeast Asia, representing ove ..read more
Dec 18th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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By Sara Castellanos:
Royal Dutch Shell PLC is testing how artificial intelligence-enabled drones could help prevent costly maintenance problems on expensive equipment while improving worker safety, said Jay Crotts, the oil company’s executive vice president and global chief information officer.
Beginning early next year, the company will deploy several drones in a proof-of-concept project at the Shell Technology Center in Houston, which encompasses 1.2 million square feet and 44 buildings of laboratory and office space.read more
Dec 18th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dec. 18, 2018 7:06 AM ET
Summary
Enormous reductions in development costs have made new upstream oil projects in the US Gulf of Mexico quite economical.
Royal Dutch Shell plc expects the Vito field to break even in a low pricing environment.
Commentary on where these cost reductions are coming from, with an eye on third-party pricing deflation in the offshore space.
Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is investing in upstream projects that are capable of earning a decent return in most oil pricing environments. The US Gulf of Mexico is one of the energy giant’s core upstream plays for this reason. In May 2018, Royal Dutch Shell plc reached first-oil at the Kaikias project in the Gulf of Mexico a year ahead of schedule. Reducing the Kaikias project’s total development costs by 30% allowed Royal Dutch Shell plc to announce that it will break even on that endeavor when realizing just $30 per barrel of oil sold. Next year, the Appomattox development in the US GoM is expected to reach first-oil and Royal Dutch Shell plc has already achieved major cost savings at that project. Farther out, the Vito development in the US GoM is expected to achieve first-oil by 2021. Let’s dig in.read more
Dec 18th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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China signaled its openness for business with a raft of deals that’ll give oil majors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc new opportunities to develop fields in partnership with the nation’s biggest offshore explorer.
China National Offshore Oil Corp. said in Beijing on Tuesday that it had inked oil and gas accords with nine firms. The signing ceremony followed President Xi Jinping’s address to party cadres marking 40 years of reform and broadly underlining the nation’s commitment to global trade.
The agreements cover 64,000 square kilometers in the Pearl River basin, to a depth of up to 3,000 meters. In addition to the Netherlands-based Shell, France’s Total SA and U.S.-based Chevron Corp. were also awarded parcels. All three majors hold existing production sharing contracts with CNOOC. The other firms involved are: ConocoPhillips, Equinor ASA, Husky Energy Inc., Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co., Roc Oil Co., and SK Innovation Co.read more
Shell is in talks to acquire Endeavor Energy Resources for US$8 billion, Bloomberg reports, citing sources close to the negotiations. Earlier, Shell was not the only suitor, with Exxon, Conoco, and Chevron also reportedly interested in the acquisition but not enough to pursue it.
The value of the deal Bloomberg’s sources mentioned is half the sum Endeavor was believed to be able to score when it announced earlier this year that it was selling. The talks with Shell are still at an early stage, and it is uncertain whether a deal will be agreed, especially since the founder of Endeavor, Autry Stephens, has insisted that he keeps a substantial part of the company’s mineral rights after the sale, if a sale takes place.read more
Dec 18th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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By Neal Baker: 18th December 2018
JAMIE Oliver has been slammed after agreeing a £5million business deal with oil giant Shell – despite his green campaigning.
The TV chef has been hired to revamp the food offering at Shell service stations.
It comes after his business empire lost £20million last year, forcing him to close a further 12 of his 37 remaining Jamie’s Italian restaurants and making 600 staff redundant.
But his latest venture has been heavily criticised, leading to accusations he is “not taking seriously” the threat of climate change.read more
Jamie Oliver has agreed a £5million tie-up with Shell – despite his green campaigning.
The TV chef’s £5million deal with the oil giant comes after his business empire lost £20million last year – and despite years of him campaigning for action on climate change.
The arrangement will see him update food at Shell service stations.
Labour’s Anna McMorrin, who is on the Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee, said the move sent out the wrong message given that “he has a lot of support from young people”.
The Cardiff North MP, who visited the Arctic recently to see the ravages of global warming first-hand, said: “ Climate change is the major issue facing all of us.read more
Dec 14th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: December 14 2018, 12:01am
Nigeria is suing Royal Dutch Shell and Eni for $1.1 billion that it claims it missed out on as a result of alleged corruption in a 2011oil deal. The country said that it had lodged the claim in the High Court in London against the companies to recoup payments they made for an offshore oil exploration block. It alleges that the oil majors knew that much of the $1.3 billion they had paid to the Nigerian government to secure ownership of the OPL 245 licence ultimately would be paid in bribes. The allegations are already the subject of criminal proceedings in Italy and Nigeria. Both Shell and Eni deny any wrongdoing. Shell is an Anglo-Dutch group that employs about 80,000 people in more than… Want to read more?read more
Dec 14th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Almost a year on from raids that led to over a dozen arrests, including of several former employees of the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, charge sheets state that around 340,000 tonnes of gasoil were stolen from the oil major’s Pulau Bukom site in Singapore. Some of the incidents date back to 2014.
Smokes rises out of chimneys from a Shell oil refinery on Pulau Bukom, five kilometres to the south of the main island of Singapore on January 13, 2015.
Around $150 million worth of oil was stolen from Shell’s biggest global refinery over several years, Singapore court documents reviewed by Reuters show, far more than reported when police first revealed the heist earlier this year.
Almost a year on from raids that led to over a dozen arrests, including of several former employees of the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, charge sheets state that around 340,000 tonnes of gasoil were stolen from the oil major’s Pulau Bukom site in Singapore, in incidents dating back to 2014.read more
Dec 12th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dec 12, 2018
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Talks about a possible asset swap deal between Royal Dutch Shell and Gazprom have been suspended, Kommersant business daily reported on Wednesday, citing Cederic Cremers, head of Shell’s business in Russia.
The memorandum on the possible asset swap was signed in 2015 and was seen as a coup for Gazprom at a time when many Western companies were reducing their exposure to Russia because of Western sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Cremers also told the newspaper that the plans for the expansion of Sakhalin-2 plant, which produces 11 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, hinge on the outcome of the talks with the Sakhalin-1 consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp and Rosneft about gas supplies.read more
The Shearwater platform will serve newly-sanctioned projects like Fram and Arran, as well as the nearby Columbus field.
However, Jack Allardyce from Cantor Fitzgerald, highlighted that it could be host to other discoveries such as Jackdaw, which have been “mired in development purgatory”.
Shell holds a 74% stake in Jackdaw, which was discovered in 2005 and is thought to be capable of producing more than 100million barrels of oil equivalent.
The hub expansion is the operator’s seventh investment decision in the UK North Sea, showing the “ongoing commitment” to the region.read more
Dec 11th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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While it is true that Royal Dutch Shell gave shareholder activists on climate an early Christmas present, agreeing to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 per cent by 2035 and 50 per cent by 2050 ( FT View, December 7), a closer look reveals that the commitment is a cynical game.
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A small amount of crude oil belonging to Royal Dutch Shell Plc leaked during a ship-to-ship oil transfer in Brazilian waters last month, the company confirmed to Reuters on Monday.
About 200 milliliters of crude were released on Nov. 30 during the maneuver, which was halted after the drip was detected, Shell said, adding that authorities were notified and the incident left no trace of oil in the sea.
However, a letter obtained by Reuters and sent to Brazilian environmental regulator Ibama by chartering firm Triaina Agencia Maritima said “drops of oil spilled into the ocean” and that the small quantity could not be measured.read more
Dec 10th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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DECEMBER 10, 2018 / 12:28 PM
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it would expand the Shearwater gas hub in the British North Sea, its seventh project to get the green light in the aging basin this year.
The project, a joint venture with Exxon Mobil and BP, will include a modification of the Shearwater platform to allow production and processing of wet gas as well as the construction of a 23 mile (37 kilometre) pipeline from the Fulmar Gas Line (FGL) to Shearwater, Shell said in a statement.read more
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australia overtook Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time in November, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed on Monday.
The surge in Australian exports follows the start up of a number of export projects in the country over the past three years, most recently the Ichthys project offshore its northern coast.
In November, Australia loaded 6.5 million tonnes of LNG for exports while Qatar exported over 6.2 million tonnes, the data showed.read more
Dec 10th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dutch group Follow This may also target Exxon Mobil, Chevron
Resolutions ask companies to align business with Paris accord
The activists who rankled Royal Dutch Shell Plc by filing climate-change resolutions for three straight years now are targeting other oil majors.
Follow This, a Dutch group that accumulates shares in oil companies in order to press them over greenhouse gas emissions, has filed another resolution against Shell for 2019. It also filed its first resolution against BP Plc and may target Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in the same way.
The group, led by former journalist Mark van Baal, has been a source of frustration for Shell management, even though its resolutions have gone down to defeat. Van Baal stood up at the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s May 2018 shareholder meeting and said Shell was misleading its investors by saying it was on track to meet global climate targets, prompting CEO Ben van Beurden to angrily retort that wasn’t the case.read more
Dec 8th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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7 December 2018
Dow Chemical Co and Shell Oil Co have been hit with a lawsuit by the city of Arcadia, California accusing the companies of contaminating the city’s drinking water with a toxic chemical found in pesticides the companies once made.
Filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, the lawsuit said the companies knew or should have known that the chemical, known as 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP is toxic and renders drinking water unsafe.
The companies still manufactured and marketed pesticides containing the chemical for years, the lawsuit said.read more
Dec 6th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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DECEMBER 5, 2018
MILAN (Reuters) – The Russian government has asked Italy to be “reasonable” over a Russian citizen caught up in a Nigerian graft case in Milan and drop the charges against him, according to legal documents seen by Reuters.
Ednan Tofik ogly Agaev, a former Russian ambassador in Colombia, is charged with international corruption in a case revolving around the 2011 purchase by oil majors Eni and Shell of Nigeria’s OPL 245 oilfield.
Milan prosecutors allege bribes totalling around $1.1 billion (£862.4 million) were paid to win the licence to explore the field.read more
Climate Concerns Are Pushing Oil Majors to Look Beyond Fossil Fuels 15 Jan 2019 18:44 Science & Technology In 2016, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, started a historic plunge into new businesses.
The British-Dutch-controlled company began spending $2 billion a year on joint ventures that had little or nothing to do …
A fifth of FTSE 100 firms set to lose CEOs to retirement when Britain… 25 Dec 2018 08:30 Proactive Investors Almost a fifth of bosses at FTSE 100 firms could be planning for retirement in the next five years following the appointment of more leaders aged 60 and over since the 2007/08 financial crisis.
There are 19 FTSE 100 chief executives in their 60s, of …
Shell is tying executive pay to carbon emissions. Here’s why it could create real impact 14 Dec 2018 19:35 KBZK Bozeman News At a time when governments are struggling to find broad and economically workable responses to climate change, Royal Dutch Shell announced in early December that it would tie executive compensation to short-term carbon emissions targets in 2020. Whether …
Big coal wants you to pay to fix its problem 12 Dec 2018 03:48 The Sydney Morning Herald Even so, companies including the mining giants Glencore and BHP Billiton as well as oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and Total have been emboldened in their push by a United Nations report showing CCS is critical to containing global warming.
"It's …
Big coal wants consumers to pay for fixing its pollution problem 11 Dec 2018 15:56 Engineering News Some of the world’s biggest fossil-fuel producers are calling on taxpayers to help them kick their pollution habit.
The world’s biggest oil, natural gas and mining companies are stepping up their campaign to deploy carbon capture and storage, or CCS, as …
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ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC FAT CAT CEO, BEN VAN BEURDEN, PAID $30 MILLION IN 2014
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SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders. (JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?
Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.
January 15, 2019
Who Killed Henry?: The book title arises from the fact that in 1937, Shell Director for Europe Henry van der Waerden was found dead in mysterious circumstances after receiving a threat from members of the Nazi movement. This was after he had failed to respond favourably to intense pressure from Deterding and the Nazis to do their bidding.
Jan. 9, 2019 11:58 AM ET
Ben van Beurden has marked five years as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell by giving a “wide-ranging interview” on climate change, his leadership style and “Shell’s biggest financial transformation” — an interview given to, erm, Royal Dutch Shell’s website. But rest assured, the oil group’s in-house journalists weren’t letting their boss off lightly. The transcript published yesterday features such hard-hitting questions as: “Who do you turn to for advice and support?” (answer: his wife, Stacey); “What are you most proud of when you look back at 2018?”; and “Why is trust so important for Shell?” A real zinger, that one.
By Patrick Donahue: 7 January 2019, 17:00 GMT 
Ben van Beurden Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg
The boss of oil giant Shell has admitted he is “still unhappy” with the firm’s safety performance, despite pledging a redoubling of efforts in 2018.
Shell’s wind development division considers Britain, including the North Sea, to be a key offshore market: ARTERRA/UIG/GETTY IMAGES
Royal Dutch Shell is considering bidding for rights to develop offshore wind farms in British waters as the Anglo-Dutch oil major seeks to re-enter the UK sector after a ten-year absence.
Spreadsheet-analysing investors in control of trillion-dollar funds are forcing polluters to change
REVVY, STEADY, GO: The Shell Recharge initiative is being brought to Scotland after it met with great success south of the border
By Neal Baker: 
Smokes rises out of chimneys from a Shell oil refinery on Pulau Bukom, five kilometres to the south of the main island of Singapore on January 13, 2015. 
The gas is coming from the Shearwater platform
Australia will further cement its top position as the final new project in the pipeline, Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude, comes online by next year.
7 December 2018
DECEMBER 5, 2018
Head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
