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March 14th, 2014:

Shell casts doubt on Chevron’s Gorgon gas field start date

Extract from a BusinessDay article by Angela Macdonald-Smith published 15 March 2014

Royal Dutch Shell has cast doubt on the start-up schedule for Chevron’s $US54 billion ($59.6 billion) Gorgon liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia, signalling it expects production to begin in 2016, at least six months after Chevron’s official start-up date.

Shell – which has a 25 per cent stake in the huge venture, Australia’s largest single resources investment – classified Gorgon in a presentation released overnight as a project starting up in ”2016-2018”. Only this week, Chevron restated its timing of mid-2015. read more

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Seplat Sees No Oil Theft in Nigeria, Where Shell Lost $1 Billion

Extracts from a Bloomberg article by

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Seplat Petroleum Development Co., the Nigerian oil producer raising $500 million from investors, said it had “absolutely no” theft in Nigeria, where Royal Dutch Shell Plc lost almost $1 billion due to sabotage in 2013. Seplat in July 2010 bought three licenses from Shell onshore Niger Delta, which had been idled for about 18 months, and is bidding for stakes in two more, said Chairman A.B.C. Orjiako. The company developed the “Seplat model” of engagement with communities by hiring locals to provide services and oilfield security, he said. “We haven’t employed the thieves and criminals, but we made things difficult for them to operate in the area,” Orjiako said in a phone interview March 11. “Today we are very happy to see that Seplat has absolutely no incidents or disruptions due to community unrest.” read more

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Peter Voser regrets on unconventional oil and gas

Screen Shot 2014-03-14 at 11.20.35

Peter Voser said the failure of Royal Dutch Shell’s huge bet on US shale was a big regret of his time as chief executive of the company. Shell has invested at least $24bn in so-called unconventional oil and gas in North America. But it is a bet that has yet to pay off. “Unconventionals did not exactly play out as planned,” Mr Voser said.

From an oil industry expert: Unconventional Oil and Gas

The following is an extract from an article by Guy Chazan published on 6 October 2013 by the Financial Times under the headline: “Peter Voser says he regrets Shell’s huge bet on US shale

Peter Voser said the failure of Royal Dutch Shell’s huge bet on US shale was a big regret of his time as chief executive of the company. Shell has invested at least $24bn in so-called unconventional oil and gas in North America. But it is a bet that has yet to pay off. Its North American upstream business has struggled to turn a profit and in August Shell announced a strategic review of its US shale portfolio after taking a $2.1bn impairment. “Unconventionals did not exactly play out as planned,” Mr Voser said. read more

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

The scandal of Corporate bonuses, and why they continue:

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Screen Shot 2014-01-03 at 14.32.05Extract from an informative article by former Royal Dutch Shell senior executive, Paddy Briggs, published 27 Feb 2014

Seven-figure bonuses are common across the corporate world – at the very top of course! Here, for example, is what “The Guardian” reported about the remuneration of Peter Voser the then top man in Shell just under a year ago:

“Royal Dutch Shell Chief executive Peter Voser received a €3.3m (£2.8m) cash bonus in 2012, a year in which the Anglo-Dutch oil group reported a fall in profits from $28.6bn to $27bn. The bonus took his total salary package to €5.1m, down from €5.2m the previous year.” read more

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

Ben Van Beurden’s plans overshadowed by Peter Voser’s £22m pay deal

Screen Shot 2014-01-03 at 14.32.05Extracts from an article by ROB DAVIES published on 14 March 2014 by The Daily Mail newspaper under the headline: “Shell boss Ben Van Beurden’s plans for the company are overshadowed by former boss Peter Voser’s £22m pay deal”

Shell boss Ben van Beurden’s grand plan to spruce up the oil giant has been overshadowed by criticism of his predecessor’s £22million two-year pay deal. The Dutchman set out a blueprint that will see Shell shrink its North American shale operations and improve efficiency by focusing on individual projects and businesses. But some investors seized on the fact that former boss Peter Voser earned £22million over two years – including a £1.5million bonus for 2013, a year that ended with the group’s first profit warning in a decade. One veteran City fund manager said: ‘Van Beurden said the 2013 performance was not what he expects from Shell. That begs the question of why any bonus was paid at all.’ read more

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

Shell cuts spending in U.S. to lower shale exposure

Screen Shot 2014-03-14 at 00.25.04Extracts from a Reuters article by Karolin Schaps and Dmitry Zhdannikov published 13 March 2014

LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell will cut spending by a fifth and lay off staff at its American exploration and production business, the company said on Thursday, in another sign that oil majors are struggling to profit from the booming U.S. shale sector. The spending cuts announced on Thursday follow Shell’s decision in January to suspend its controversial Arctic drilling programme and pledge to cut capital expenditure and streamline operations worldwide after the company’s least profitable fourth quarter in five years. “I don’t think it is a matter of trying to reinvent the company in a fundamentally different way; it is a matter of tackling some of the issues that we know need tackling,” van Beurden told journalists on a conference call after Thursday’s strategy update. read more

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

Shell Cuts Americas Spending by 20%, Extends Refinery Sales

Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer. Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Ben van Beurden, CEO Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Extracts from an article by Eduard Gismatullin published on 13 March 2014 by Bloomberg News

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) plans to lower spending in the Americas by a fifth as Europe’s largest oil producer focuses on more profitable operations. It’s “not acceptable” that Shell, now deploying about 36 percent or $80 billion of its capital in North America, has been losing money, Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said.

Van Beurden has pledged to shrink spending costs this year and speed up asset sales including refineries after The Hague-based company issued its first profit warning in a decade. He also scrapped targets for cash flow, delayed drilling off Alaska and promised to restructure shale operations in North America. read more

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

Shell Trying To Tighten Grip On Its American Oil

Extracts from an article published 13 March 2014 by investing.com

Screen Shot 2013-12-22 at 19.09.52By Meagan Clark – Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden said Thursday that a tighter grip on its Upstreams Americas business will be integral to its plan to grow cash flow and improve returns. Shell is cutting spending in 2014 by 20 percent compared to 2013 and redirecting onshore investment in Upstream Americas to the lowest cost gas acreage with the best integration potential and to exploration in liquids-rich shales.  So far this year, Shell has sold $4.5 billion in assets as part of its 2014-2015 $15 billion asset-shedding program. read more

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