Bloomberg) — Oil and gas companies worldwide have raised $171 billion of debt from the loan and bond markets since March after the coronavirus pandemic hit demand for fuel.
The $171 billion tally is equivalent to the volume of bonds sold for the industry in the whole year of 2019. The debt pile is set to grow further with almost $120 billion of borrowings due by the end of the year that will need to be either repaid or refinanced. Of that amount, $43 billion is in bonds and $76 billion in loans.read more
Shell, XOM to seek arbitration against Netherlands: report
May 29, 2020
Shell and ExxonMobil will file an arbitration claim against the Netherlands government over compensation for the early closure of gas field, according to Global Arbitration Review (GAR).
The companies operate the Groningen gas field through NAM — a 50-50 Dutch joint venture. Production from the onshore gas field causes earthquakes affecting local communities, which has prompted the government to shut it down early.
NAM is working with the Dutch government and other stakeholders to fulfill its obligations to residents of the area, which include compensation for damage caused by the earthquakes.read more
Oil majors including Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA are scrambling to cope with coronavirus outbreaks among their workers that could threaten the profitability of some of their largest projects.
Merchants (MRCH) fund manager Simon Gergel has cut the investment trust’s stake in Shell (RDSB) by a third in response to the oil company’s historic move to slash its dividend last month.
The Anglo-Dutch company cut its quarterly dividend by two thirds from 47 to 16 US cents at the end of April, as the coronavirus crisis precipitated the first such move since the second world war.
Shell’s decision shocked income fund managers two days after rival BP (BP) had chosen to maintain its own dividend. However, Gergel reiterated his view that the company’s changing plans were as much of a challenge to the investment case as the loss of income.read more
As the price of a Brent barrel is trading at nearly half of what it was at the beginning of the year, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A) is planning on offering some staff voluntary severance, according to Bloomberg sources.
In a note to its staff, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said that the Dutch oil major was working to become leaner and more resilient, according to the Bloomberg sources who saw the correspondence.read more
May 18th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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OPL 245: How Italian Prosecutors Hid Vital Information from Judge
By Davidson Iriekpen:
Facts have emerged that the lead Italian prosecutor in the criminal case involving Shell and ENI over the OPL 245 affair, Dr. Fabio De Pasquale, concealed a significant material fact from the Milanese court concerning the former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, THISDAY has learnt.
In the transcripts of the hearing with Criminal Proceeding No. 54772/13 RGNR, the prosecution witness, Ferri Alessandro, had told the court that Adoke owned the property at No. 271, Cadastral Zone A06 Maitama, Abuja, for which he had collected a mortgage of N300 million from Unity Bank in 2011.read more
A controversial license transfer deal between Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Pieridae Energy (OTC:PTOAF) over aging assets in Alberta that failed to win approval from the province’s energy regulator say they will try again.
The regulator yesterday refused to allow licenses for sour gas wells, pipelines and other facilities to be transferred to Pieridae Energy from Shell Canada, saying the deal appeared to reduce Shell’s responsibility for cleaning up the sites, adding that the extent of contamination at the hundreds of facilities is unknown.
Shell says it will look for a way to transfer the licenses to Pieridae and keep the cleanup liabilities.
May 15th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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The regulator said the Nord Stream 2 consortium – which also includes Uniper, Wintershall-Dea, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV and Engie – did not qualify for an exemption…
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s energy regulator on Friday declined to grant a waiver of European Union gas directives to the operators of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, dealing a fresh blow to the project to carry gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
Nord Stream 2, designed by Russia’s Gazprom to increase direct shipments to Europe, is far behind schedule and has faced political opposition from Washington, as well as from Ukraine and Poland through whose territory Russian gas is shipped to consumers in western Europe.read more
May 15th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Malabu Oil Block: ex-minister Orubebe’s wife quizzed over N360m deals
MAY 15, 2020
From Yusuf Alli, Abuja
Former Niger Delta Affairs Minister Godsday Orubebe’s wife Maureen, has been grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a N500 million deal linked to the $1.092 billion Malabu Oil Block scandal.
Mrs. Orubebe is also being investigated for alleged money laundering.
She was alleged to have bought three assets from the company of one of the suspects on trial over the Malabu Oil Block Settlement Agreement.
The assets were alleged to be part of those which over $523 million (out of $1.06b) was used for.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says all conditions have been met for the final investment decision on a new liquefied natural gas processing unit at Nigeria LNG, including a formal commitment from the groups expected to provide financing for the project.
Nigeria LNG is a joint venture, with 49% owned by Nigerian National Petroleum, 26% by Shell, 15% by Total (NYSE:TOT) and 10% by Eni (NYSE:E).
Once operational, the new unit Train 7 will add 8M metric tons/year of capacity to the Bonny Island facility, taking the total to ~30M mt/year.read more
CALGARY — Alberta’s energy regulator has cited clean-up concerns in blocking the sale of sour gas wells, pipelines and other facilities from an energy giant to a much smaller company.
In a decision released Thursday, the regulator said Calgary-based Pieridae Energy’s attempted purchase of the southern Alberta assets from Shell Canada goes against the intent of environmental laws.
The issue was seen as a test case of the regulator’s determination to avoid clean-up costs for energy facilities falling to the taxpayer.read more
May 15th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Shell adding more workers to Beaver County construction site
By: Paul J. Gough – Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times Updated: May 14, 2020 – 5:13 PM
BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals is planning to reintroduce more workers to its Beaver County construction site, which had been temporarily shut down in March over Covid-19 safety concerns.
Several weeks ago, Shell began to add more workers from the 300 or so that had remained there for security and other approved purposes even after the construction had been temporarily halted. It now has 800 workers there as it adds employees, but it’s a small portion of the 7,000 or so it had two months ago.read more
May 13th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Sakhalin-2 LNG postpones part of maintenance to 2021 -source
13/05/2020
Russia’s Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant will postpone some annual maintenance work to 2021 due to logistic difficulties over the spread of the coronavirus, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday.
Russia’s second-largest LNG plant after Novatek-led Yamal LNG had initially planned to complete the work this summer.
However, the source said the maintenance would be done gradually, at one of two lines and start in June. The first stage of the maintenance would last about a month, the source said.read more
It has been an interesting week. On the morning of May 6, I held a press conference in West Block before the weekly in-person session of Parliament opened. I spoke about how virtual Parliament is working, and Green recommendations to make it work better.
When we got to questions, the first one was CBC’s Julie Van Dusen. She asked about a possible bailout to Big Oil. And I explained that the evidence was coming in thick and fast that oil’s day was done. And she zeroed in on: “Are you saying oil is dead?”read more
May 11th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Big Oil Earnings Battered By Virus, But Worst is Yet to Come
Laura Hurst: May 11 2020, 4:31 AM
EXTRACTS
(Bloomberg) — Big Oil emerged from first-quarter earnings battered and bruised, but things are only going to get uglier.
Major oil and gas producers from Norway to the U.S. saw profit plunge in the opening three months of the year. Exxon Mobil Corp. reported its first loss in over 30 years, Royal Dutch Shell Plc cut its dividend for the first time since the Second World War.
Big Oil’s generous dividends have long been its main attraction to investors. But thanks to Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden they are no longer sacrosanct, after he slashed his company’s payout by two thirds. read more
May 7th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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AMSTERDAM, May 7 (Reuters) – Shell Netherlands said on Thursday it bid in a tender last week to build a 760 MW wind farm off the Dutch coast, and it hopes to couple it with a large new hydrogen plant it would build in Rotterdam.
The Dutch subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell said it had entered a bid in the Hollandse Kust Noord tender, together with a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi.
Other known bidders in the tender, the latest in a series of such auctions by the Dutch government, include Orsted of Denmark.read more
May 6th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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By Matthew Green: MAY 6, 2020
LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) – Britain’s advertising watchdog has ruled Royal Dutch Shell’s ad campaign on petrol pumps promising customers they can “drive carbon neutral” is acceptable, following complaints.
The Anglo-Dutch oil major said in October it would become the first petrol retailer in Britain to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from customers’ fuel purchases at its service stations at no extra cost by backing forestry schemes.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said in March it had launched an investigation into an accompanying advertising campaign after receiving complaints from people who thought it was misleading given the role of oil in climate change.read more
Exxon posted its first quarterly loss in more than 30 years. But even as debt mounts and questions arise about peak oil demand, the oil supermajor nevertheless vowed to protect its dividend while also aiming to grow indefinitely into the future. Exxon lost $610 million in the first quarter, down from a profit of $2.4 billion a year earlier. Worse, the period only included a few weeks of oil prices at catastrophically low levels. As a result, the second quarter is bound to lead dramatically worse numbers.read more
After months of a deep and harrowing slide, fuel demand across the world is finally starting to sputter back to life. Traffic data, pipeline flows, and sales at gas stations in the Texas City of San Antonio, Beijing, and Barcelona all suggest that the oil demand slump may have already bottomed out. But don’t rush to pop the champagne corks just yet. Indications so far are that the road to full recovery is going to be harder than climbing out of a subterranean pit, with many oil traders predicting that it might be a year or more before demand returns to pre-crisis levels.read more
LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) – The ongoing transition to low-carbon energy sources may accelerate as economies recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis, the head of oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday.
Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said while Shell was not ringfencing its low-carbon Integrated Gas and New Energies division from spending cuts to weather the crisis, those businesses would be shielded from the worst of the reductions.
“Where possible, we try to spare (New Energies) a little bit and that is basically because we still believe that there is an energy transition underway which may even pick up speed in the recovery phase of this crisis and we want to be well positioned for it,” he said after Shell announced first-quarter results.read more
(Bloomberg) — Negative oil prices, ships dawdling at sea with unwanted cargoes, and traders getting creative about where to stash oil. The next chapter in the oil crisis is now inevitable: great swathes of the petroleum industry are about to start shutting down.
The economic impact of the coronavirus has ripped through the oil industry in dramatic phases. First it destroyed demand as lockdowns shut factories and kept drivers at home. Then storage started filling up and traders resorted to ocean-going tankers to store crude in the hope of better prices ahead.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A+0.9%) and Eni (E-0.8%) say the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its inquiry into their 2011 acquisition of the OPL 245 oil block offshore Nigeria.
The two companies are still on trial in Italy over allegations they bought OPL 245 knowing most of the $1.3B price would go to agents and middlemen in bribes.
Separately, Eni says CEO Claudio Descalzi and all senior managers will defer the collection of half of their 2020 long-term incentive plans until 2021, part of the company’s measures to reduce investment and operating costs.
For Descalzi, the deferral is equivalent to €735K, 15% of his total remuneration or 46% of his fixed remuneration.
Also, an agreement between Eni, Spanish gas firm Naturgy Energy and the Egyptian government to resolve a series of disputes over a shuttered gas plant in northern Egypt reportedly has fallen through.
The deal had been due to end Naturgy’s business interests in Egypt and dissolve a joint venture between Naturgy and Eni, while Eni and some Egyptian firms would have increased their holdings in the Damietta plant. SOURCE
Apr 18th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell paid the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s most powerful lobbying group, at least $12.5 million in 2019, the oil giant revealed.
Driving the news: The tally, which Shell tells Axios is consistent with recent years, shows up in a report Shell published yesterday on its trade group memberships.
Why it matters: The report, posted the same day Shell announced new climate pledges, provides a look at how much a major oil company pays to be part of various associations.read more
Apr 16th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to eliminate all net emissions from its own operations and the bulk of greenhouse gases from fuel it sells to customers by 2050.
The energy giant is following in the footsteps of its peers BP Plc and Repsol SA, which have already set similar targets. Shell’s move indicates that, despite the turmoil caused in the industry by the coronavirus, major oil and gas companies aren’t abandoning the transition to cleaner energy.read more
Apr 14th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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SINGAPORE, April 14 (Reuters) – GCL Oil& Natural Gas Co Ltd has entered a framework agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to explore setting up a joint venture based in eastern China to market and trade liquefied natural gas (LNG), the privately owned Chinese company said on Tuesday.
The proposed JV would secure LNG supplies from Shell and market the fuel to a receiving terminal which GCL is planning in Jiangsu province, GCL said in a statement.
A Shell spokeswoman confirmed the agreement.read more
Apr 13th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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APRIL 13, 2020 / 7:53 AM /
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Shell has, in an unusual move, offered liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for loading from 2021 onwards for a period of at least five years through a tender, three traders said on Monday.
The firm has issued a five-year strip tender offering four cargoes a year from 2021 onwards with an option to extend for another five years, two of them said.
The tender closes on May 18, they added.
The cargoes are likely for loading from Australia, one of them said.read more
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s greenhouse gas emissions declined in 2019 to their lowest in four years, according to data provided by the energy company.
At the same time, burning of unused natural gas in Shell’s upstream oil and gas operations, a process known as flaring, rose last year by 13.5%, the data showed.
The increase in flaring was due mostly to an “unanticipated spike” in flaring during the start-up of the giant offshore Prelude liquefied natural gas plant in Australia, it said.read more
Apr 8th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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8 April 2020
ROYAL Dutch Shell received around $110 million (£87m) more back from the UK Government in respect of its oil and gas exploration and production activity than it paid in taxes last year, the company has revealed.
In a report on the payments it made to governments in 2019 the oil giant disclosed that it received tax rebates in respect of its UK North Sea business totalling $116 million. These dwarfed the $6.5m that the company paid in fees.
The report highlights the value of the tax relief provided to firms in respect of the costs of decommissioning North Sea facilities.read more
— Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s greenhouse gas emissions edged lower last year due to asset sales, while the amount of natural gas burned off wastefully from its facilities — known as flaring — increased.
Shell’s direct emissions fell to 70 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019 from 71 million a year earlier, it said Tuesday in a report. That’s the lowest since 2016.
“The main reasons for the decrease were divestments (for example, in Argentina, Canada, Iraq, Malaysia, Norway and the U.K.),” the report said. “These decreases were partly offset by the startup of the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility in Australia.”read more
The gas giant Gazprom is no longer in the spotlight after the US Treasury sanctioned Rosneft, the Russian national oil company, most probably triggering the collapse of the OPEC+ agreement and bringing about an unexpectedly low pricing environment for March 2020 within both the oil and gas segments. Having launched Power of Siberia to China, Gazprom is now intent on bringing Nord Stream-2 online before the end of the year, moving its own pipe-laying vessel from the Russian Far East to the Baltic region to deliver on all its major promises from the 2010s. Yet there is one project that has had significant problems starting up, combining in itself all the deficiencies of modern-day Russia.read more
(RTTNews) – Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS-B, RDSB.L, RDSA.L, RDS-A) Tuesday said it expects to record post-tax impairment charges in the range of $400 million to $800 million for the first quarter, based on changes to oil price outlook for 2020.
In its first-quarter trading update, the company said it expects Integrated Gas production to be between 920 and 970 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be between 8.8 and 9.2 million tonnes.
In the Upstream, production for the quarter is expected to be between 2,650 and 2,720 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.read more
* Energy Transfer delays FID from late 2020 to early 2021
* Shell relinquishes 50% stake amid spending cuts
* Decision comes after collapse in oil prices
By Ron Bousso and Shradha Singh
March 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc pulled out of a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant under development in Louisiana following the recent crash in oil and natural gas prices that has forced the company to make deep spending cuts.
Energy Transfer LP, which was developing the project with Shell, said it remains focused on the commercial development of Lake Charles and is working toward making an early 2021 final investment decision (FID) to build the plant.read more
The parliamentary pension fund for MPs is still investing in fossil fuels despite parliament declaring a climate emergency, new figures show.
The fund is still heavily invested in Shell (£8m) and BP (£4.4m) despite over 350 current and former MPs backing a campaign to set a good example by diverting cash elsewhere.
MPs have however welcomed news in the fund’s latest filings that it is increasingly shifting its cash towards renewable energy – with five per cent of investments going to the green sector for the first time.read more
Mar 23rd, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.L) has announced plans to cut costs, slash planned spending, and abandon a share buyback, as businesses look to hold on to cash in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Shell said on Monday it would cut operating costs by up to $4bn over the next 12 months and reduce planned spending by $5bn in 2020. The company is also abandoning a planned $1bn share buyback.
Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, said the cash conservation measures were driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to a slump in demand for oil as the global economy grinds to a halt, and the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.read more
Mar 19th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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MARCH 18, 2020 / 8:41 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSA.L will temporarily suspend construction activities on a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker being constructed along the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, amid concerns about coronavirus spreading, the company said in a statement late Wednesday.
Some local officials have called for construction to be stopped to limit the potential spread of the novel coronavirus, due to the large number of workers on the project.read more
Mar 18th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Ron Bousso, Stephanie Kelly, Laura Sanicola: MARCH 18, 2020
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major oil companies including BP and Shell are preparing to store jet fuel at sea as the coronavirus outbreak disrupts airline activity globally, while refiners are shifting to diesel because of the poor margins associated with jet fuel production.
Jet fuel demand has cratered as airlines suspend flights due to the coronavirus, which has infected more than 204,000 people and killed 8,710, prompting travel restrictions from governments around the world, including the United States. Market participants and refiners have had to scramble to adjust to incredibly low prices.
Gulf Coast jet cash prices were at 26.50 cents per gallon below futures, the lowest seasonally since at least 2011, the earliest data available, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Robert Campbell, head of oil products at consultancy Energy Aspects, estimates that demand for jet is down more than 20 percent from normal levels of about 8 million barrels per day.read more
Canada’s C$40 billion ($30 billion) inaugural natural gas export project on the west coast has remained on schedule despite the global Covid-19 outbreak, project managers said in an update.
The executives overseeing the Royal Dutch Shell plc-led LNG Canada project said the British Columbia (BC) construction labor force of more than 2,000 had so far remained sealed against the pandemic. Crews of 1,200 building the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal’s supply pipeline, Coastal GasLink (CGL), had also to date evaded the pandemic.read more
Global oil giants are facing ever-increasing public pressure and higher levels of scrutiny over their responsibility to curb harmful greenhouse emissions. Yet, in the sprawling oilfields of Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota, an industry-old practice of burning off unwanted natural gas has refused to die.
The burning off (flaring), as well as the intentional release (venting) of natural gas, is proving to be a black eye that Permian producers just can’t get rid of.read more
Mar 13th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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LONDON: Shell Energy Europe Limited, the energy marketing and trading division of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed a multi-year supply deal for power from a battery storage project in southwest England, the company said on Monday.
The 100-megawatt (MW) powerstorage project is backed by China Huaneng Group and Chinese sovereign wealth fund CNIC, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
The two 50-MW batteries will enable Shell Energy Europe and its subsidiary Limejump to use renewable power in the area, the firm said.read more
Mar 12th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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12-Mar-2020
Royal Dutch Shell plc published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended December 31, 2019. The 2019 Annual Report and Accounts can be downloaded from www.shell.com/annualreport.
In compliance with 9.6.1 of the Listing Rules, on March 12, 2020, a copy of the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts was submitted to the National Storage Mechanism. This document will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM.
Printed copies of the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts will be available from April 16, 2020, and can be requested, free of charge, at www.shell.com/annualreport.read more
Mar 12th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Jonathan Saul, Ron Bousso: MARCH 11, 2020
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is in talks to charter at least three supertankers to store crude oil at sea as traders brace for a sharp rise in global stocks after OPEC and its allies abandoned a production cut deal, shipping sources said on Wednesday.
Shell has provisionally booked three 2 million barrel vessels, known as very large crude carriers (VLCCs), for storage options for at least three months, the sources said.
A Shell spokeswoman declined to comment.
Once the charters were fully negotiated, or fixed, they would be the first tankers to be used for floating storage after the recent fall in oil prices. [O/R]
The shipping sources said at least one of the vessels had an option to store oil in the United States.
Oil prices and the broader crude market pricing structure collapsed in recent days after OPEC and other major producing nations ended an output cut deal.read more
Mar 9th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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The humongous amount represents the punitive measures slammed on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited for devastating the community and its environs and ecosystem with oil spillage.
By Akin Akinwale: 8 March 2020
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has made a garnishee order compelling the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay the people of Ejama Community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State a total sum of N182.7 billion. The amount is to be deducted from the account of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. in the custody of the CBN.
Lawyers to Ejama community told THISDAY last night they have since served the CBN the garnishee order absolute.
The humongous amount represents the punitive measures slammed on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited for devastating the community and its environs and ecosystem with oil spillage.read more
Mar 9th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Hopes that Canada could turn into a gas export powerhouse seem to be waning fast.
The current climate for energy investments in the country and the global market for liquefied natural gas are a far cry from October 2018, when a Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led group announced plans to build a massive LNG terminal on British Columbia’s coast and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed the project as “a vote of confidence” in Canada.
The latest sign of disenchantment came this week as a C$9 billion ($6.7 billion) LNG project in Quebec lost a large potential investor, which the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. identified as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. That follows announcements last year that Chevron Corp. is planning to sell its 50% stake in an LNG project in British Columbia, and its partner in the venture is seeking to trim its stake as well.read more
Mar 7th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Oil majors including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are facing uphill battles to convince U.S. courts to enforce multi-billion dollar arbitration awards they secured against Nigeria’s state oil company.
The companies accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. of taking more crude than it was entitled to under four deals that were signed in 1993 to incentivise them to develop deep offshore blocks. Those projects today account for about 30% of the country’s 2 million barrels of daily output.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it will seek to sell two U.S. refineries, in Alabama and Washington state, the latest step in the drive by European oil majors to reduce their refining footprints.
The Mobile, Ala., facility has a crude capacity of 79K bbl/day and is oriented toward chemicals.
A sale of the Puget Sound refinery in Anacortes, Wash., with a 145K bbl/day processing capacity, would limit Shell’s U.S. refining presence to the Gulf Coast, where its two main facilities are the Convent and Norco refineries in Louisiana.read more
Mar 5th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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New York, NY—The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), a global non-profit organization that advances dispute prevention and resolution practices and solutions, announced that Kimberly R. Phillips, General Counsel, Global Litigation, for Shell Oil Company has joined its Board of Directors. She was confirmed at a Board Meeting that took place just prior to CPR’s Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida in late February.
Kimberly is a seasoned legal professional with experience in both the private law firm and corporate legal environments. In her current General Counsel role, she leads a team of 125 lawyers and legal professionals, sitting in 14 countries, who are responsible for managing Shell’s disputes across the globe. She sits on the Global Legal Leadership Team and she also supports a Shell subsidiary business as a Board Director.read more
Shell & Turcas Petroleum company is facing a TL 2.7 million fine by Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) over making limited fuel delivery before price rises, the authority announced Thursday.
An investigation was launched into the company over its limited fuel supply to petrol stations and an initiative to manipulate prices initially in Sept. 17, 2019.
The regulator stressed then that no distribution company, regardless of its name, will be allowed to manipulate and victimize customers over fuel prices set in free-market conditions, adding that it will not hesitate to take the necessary steps regarding such moves that disrupt market activities.read more
Bringing about the energy transition needs to make “economic sense” and be socially and environmentally sustainable, according to Shell’s chief technology officer.
Yuri Sebregts, the top scientist for the energy giant, said long-term solutions need to be “investible” and the move to a lower-carbon energy system “cannot happen based entirely on goodwill-funded developments”.
The Shell boss, speaking to EV at the Baker Hughes conference in Florence last month, said Shell’s near-term goals are to invest $2-3 billion annually on development of low-carbon technologies which could make an 8-12% return on investment and later be scaled up.read more
Mar 3rd, 2020
by John Donovan.
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MARCH 2, 2020 / 5:02 PM
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Somalia has agreed an initial roadmap with a Shell/Exxon joint venture to explore and develop potential offshore oil and gas reserves, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said on Monday.
“I am delighted we have agreed an initial roadmap with the Shell/Exxon joint venture. This gives us confidence in (the)ability to further explore any offshore hydrocarbon potential,” minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed said in a statement.read more
Is crude oil dead? 29 May 2020 11:41 Caymanian Compass It was a historic day in the oil world, 20 April 2020. My email and phone were flooded with messages and texts from friends and colleagues alike, all asking the same question:
“How can we lose money buying oil right now?”
Curiosity had spiked as US oil …
Is the Shell share price worth buying? 27 May 2020 17:18 Stock Investing Advice The income part of my portfolio has been taking a hit this last month or so, there’s no getting around it. While I feel that share price declines because of Covid-19 are for the most part likely to bounce back, income is always less certain. So I was …
Oil and Gas CEOs Reaffirm Climate Action Focus 27 May 2020 12:50 Rigzone Chief executive officers of leading global oil and gas companies on Tuesday issued an open letter reiterating their commitment to addressing climate change and facilitating actions that lower the energy industry’s carbon intensity.
Under the auspices of a …
CEOs of oil majors commit to climate mission 27 May 2020 08:48 Trade Arabia The CEOs of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) have reiterated their resolve to continue with their mission to act collectively in combating the climate challenge and to accelerate the global response to the risk of climate change.
In an open …
Shell Planning Voluntary Job Losses 21 May 2020 18:53 Rigzone (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc will use measures including voluntary severance for staff to bolster its finances as the coronavirus pandemic batters profits, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
In a note to staff, Chief Executive …
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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?
Bloomberg News: Jacqueline Poh: May 29, 2020: 10:51 AM EDT
Shell, XOM to seek arbitration against Netherlands: report
Merchants (
Shell, Pieridae to try again after Alberta regulator blocks license transfers
Alberta Energy Regulator blocks sale of Shell assets over clean-up concerns
13/05/2020
By 
By 
SINGAPORE, April 14 (Reuters) – GCL Oil& Natural Gas Co Ltd has entered a framework agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to explore setting up a joint venture based in eastern China to market and trade liquefied natural gas (LNG), the privately owned Chinese company said on Tuesday.
Ron Bousso
ROYAL Dutch Shell received around $110 million (£87m) more back from the UK Government in respect of its oil and gas exploration and production activity than it paid in taxes last year, the company has revealed.
Bloomberg News
RTTNews.com 
UPDATE 2-Shell pulls out of U.S. Lake Charles LNG project, Energy Transfer delays FID
Shares in Shell and BP still part of the scheme
By 
Jonathan Saul
Shell to explore sale of two U.S. refineries
BY DAILY SABAH: ISTANBUL 
MARCH 2, 2020 / 5:02 PM
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:
