April 29, 2011

LONDON, April 29 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell suggested it might pull out of developments in the North Sea because of a tax increase imposed by the British government, a director said.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne imposed a duty on oil and gas producers in an effort to take advantage of massive oil profits reported by international energy companies.

Oil and gas developers posted record first quarter profits as energy prices soar in response to global economic recovery, a weak U.S. dollar and unrest in some of the Middle East’s largest oil-producing nations. read more

SHELL is slashing investment in the North Sea over a Budget Day tax hike – despite making £1.9million an hour.

The giant yesterday revealed the rise meant it was now “uneconomic” to develop smaller UK oil and gas fields.

Shell’s quarterly profits were up forty per cent and totalled £4.1billion.

Chief finance officer Simon Henry said the group would only invest in two new projects. Other work has gone. He said: “The irony is we were just beginning to look at what opportunities there were in the North Sea again. We hadn’t worked up the projects yet and that work now stops.” read more

He said that Shell had taken a $60 million hit in the first quarter of this year on the extra tax levy on North Sea production and would face a further $150m impact over the rest of 2011. There will be another $400m charge in 2012.

In addition, reduced tax breaks for decommissioning rigs was likely to lead to another charge of up to $500m.

“It’s a fact of the business we are in. Not just governments but suppliers look for a share of higher revenues,” Henry said.

He added that big Shell interests in the North Sea, such as the Clair and Schiehallion fields to the west of Shetland that are operated by BP, were unlikely to be affected by the tax raid. read more

mark williamson

29 Apr 2011

THE chief financial officer of Royal Dutch Shell has warned , the surprise hike in tax on North Sea profits will hit investment in the area, after the company unveiled a 30% leap in profits on the back of surging oil prices.

Simon Henry said the hike, announced by George Osborne’s had already impacted on planning. and it may result in the company investing much less in future than it would have done.

His criticism comes in the wake of similar warnings from other big firms. read more

One of the most striking features of the oil industry in recent times has been the divergent fortunes of Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

The past two years has seen Shell outperform the All-Share index by 7pc, while BP has under-performed by 58pc.

Results on Thursday from Shell once again underlined the companies’ differences, such as profitability and prospects, which are driving investor sentiment.

BP has well-publicised problems that explain its recent under-performance, such as uncertainty over its future in Russia and the shock of last year’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico’s Macondo area, which left 11 workers dead. read more

Shell remains interested in a merger – if the terms and conditions are right…

By Hugo Duncan
Last updated at 10:42 PM on 28th April 2011

In the battle of the UK super majors, the first leg of 2011 belongs to Shell by a considerable margin, said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers, yesterday.

It is easy to see why. While BP is plagued by the toxic legacy of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and troubles in Russia, Royal Dutch Shell powers on.

Shell put its beleaguered arch-rival firmly in the shade yesterday with a 41 per cent rise in first quarter profits to £4.1billion. Just 24 hours earlier, BP revealed that its profits for the period dropped 2 per cent to £3.3billion. And that is not all. read more

APRIL 29, 2011

By ANDREW PEAPLE

Royal Dutch Shell‘s bump in the road has sure flattened out.

The oil company’s first-quarter earnings were up 53% on a disappointing last quarter of 2010, thanks to high oil prices and improved liquefied-natural-gas sales in Asia and Europe. Stronger cash flow may have some investors pressing for higher dividends. Shell should resist, for now.

Like BP, which reported on Wednesday, Shell has been shedding unwanted assets, leading to output shortfalls. Its production fell 3% year on year. But, also like BP, Shell’s results were boosted by higher downstream profits, which doubled year on year thanks to sharply wider refining margins. read more

DAN JOLING, Associated Press: Published 04:10 p.m., Wednesday, April 27, 2011

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The federal agency overseeing offshore drilling in Alaska says a worst-case scenario for a blowout in the Chukchi Sea lease area could put more than 58 million gallons of oil into Arctic waters.

That’s far more than the major leaseholder in the Chukchi, Shell Oil, says it could handle under its response plan.

A memo prepared by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement says a blowout worst-case scenario could discharge nearly 2.6 million gallons per day initially. read more

APRIL 28, 2011 3:15 A.M. ET

By Alexis Flynn Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) Thursday posted a consensus-beating 30% rise in adjusted profit for the first quarter, as high oil prices, upstream production growth and continued cost-cutting all combined to good effect.

“We continue to make good progress in implementing our strategy, improving near-term performance, delivering a new wave of production growth, and maturing the next generation of growth options for shareholders,” said Chief Executive Peter Voser. read more

By Brian Swint – Apr 28, 2011 8:50 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s biggest oil company, said profit rose 30 percent in the first quarter as crude prices gained and refining earnings doubled.

Excluding one-time items and inventory changes, Shell earned $6.3 billion compared with $4.8 billion a year earlier. Analysts expected $6.2 billion, according to the mean of nine estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Production slipped 3 percent to 3.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day and was in line with last year’s output once asset sales are excluded. read more

Washington (Platts)–26Apr2011/533 pm EDT/2133 GMT

Shell’s president for US operations on Tuesday called talk of exporting shale gas premature, at least politically.

“I think we finish that realization process and then have the political debate about whether exporting some of that energy is something we allow to happen or not.” read more

By Kim Chipman – Apr 26, 2011 9:05 PM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is being blocked from offshore oil and gas exploration in Alaska by the “irresponsible” delays of federal regulators, said the company’s U.S. president, Marvin Odum.

Shell, based in The Hague, has spent more than $2 billion for hundreds of drilling leases in Alaska since 2005, and has invested $1.5 billion on an exploration program that exceeds current regulatory requirements, Odum said.

“Despite our most intense efforts, we have yet to drill a single well,” Odum said today at a conference in Washington. read more

By John Donovan

We have received the latest installment of Shell internal communications relating to this website and its owners. The information has been supplied in response to a Subject Access Request to Shell under the Data Protection Act.

As always, there is some information which Shell would not want put into the public domain.

For example, further evidence of Shell leaning on newspaper publishers in relation to this website. Our regular visitors may recall that Shell was determined to kill a half page Sunday Times article about our exploits. The headline mentioned that our intervention in Sakhalin2 had cost Shell £11 BILLION (over $17 billion USA). This time we have evidence of Shell’s intent to lean on the Financial Times because of irritation that it mentioned our website in an FT article. Shell self-evidently has no regard for freedom of the press. read more

Energy in America: EPA Rules Force Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans

By Dan Springer: Published April 25, 2011

Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. The move has angered some in Congress and triggered a flurry of legislation aimed at stripping the EPA of its oil drilling oversight.

Shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. Shell Vice President Pete Slaiby says obtaining similar air permits for a drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico would take about 45 days. He’s especially frustrated over the appeal board’s suggestion that the Arctic drill would somehow be hazardous for the people who live in the area. “We think the issues were really not major,” Slaiby said, “and clearly not impactful for the communities we work in.” read more