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April, 2014:

Shell Oil Boss Marvin Odum Should Resign after Alaskan Debacle

Screen Shot 2014-04-04 at 18.33.20Now we have further confirmation that Shell was trying to dodge a multimillion tax bill. This time confirmation comes from the findings of an investigation by the Coast Guard division of US Homeland Security. There are going to be more Royal Dutch Shell executives looking for alternative employment… And Marvin Odum, Shell’s boss in the USA, should be top of the list.

By John Donovan

After Shell’s Arctic ambitions hit the rocks at the end of December 2012, Shell initially conceded that the ill-fated Kulluk drilling rig had left port under tow to avoid taxes.

Shell then backtracked. Shell’s chief executive Peter Voser rejected accusations that tax issues were a factor in the move.

We subsequently had confirmation from one of the honest people at Shell, Sean Churchfield, its operations manager in Alaska, that the first admission was correct. The Kulluk had indeed left port in order to avoid “millions” in annual state taxes. 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 seeks urgency on Alaskan litigation

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 09.31.18Extracts from an article by Alan Bailey of Petroleum News published week of April 06, 2014 under the headline: Shell seeks urgency: Asks court to accept BSEE proposal in Chukchi Sea lease sale appeal case

In an April 2 filing submitted to the federal District Court in Alaska Shell said that it opposes any delay in resolving an appeal against the 2008 Chukchi Sea lease sale in which the company purchased leases.“Because the Arctic drilling season is so short, every day of it counts,” Shell told the court. Shell said that it had already lost the 2014 Chukchi Sea drilling season as a result of the appeal and that the company had begun planning for the 2015 season “in the event the agency (BSEE) re-affirms the sale.” 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 ignored safety warnings ‘partly to avoid tax’, says US Coast Guard

theguardian.com,

Screen Shot 2014-04-04 at 17.31.53

Damning allegations are made in the report into how Shell came to allow the Kulluk to run aground in December 2012. Photograph: PA3 Jon Klingenberg/AP

Shell has been accused by the US Coast Guard of ignoring safety warnings and moving one of its drill ships in the US Arctic, partly in a bid to avoid paying extra taxes.

The damning allegation is contained in an official 152-page report by the US Coast Guard into how the Anglo-Dutch oil group came to allow the Kulluk to run aground in December 2012.

Shell has recently been forced to shelve any plans to drill in the Beaufort Sea again this summer after a federal appeal court ruled the US authorities had failed to properly consider the potential risks. 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 Rushed Rig to Arctic Sea to Avoid Alaska Tax: U.S.

Screen Shot 2014-04-04 at 09.49.25 published Apr 4, 2014 5:00 AM GMT+0100 by Bloomberg News

A desire to avoid millions of dollars in Alaska state taxes played a role in Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s decision to move a drilling rig, which later broke free from a tow boat and ran aground on an uninhabited island in Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a report.

Shell had decided to move the Kulluk drill rig to Seattle for repairs because it might have been subject to a state property tax had it remained in Alaska waters beyond Jan. 1, 2013, according to the report released yesterday that offered eight recommendations to improve safety. 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 was underprepared for ill-fated tow across Gulf of Alaska

Extracts from an article by Suzanna Caldwell published April 3, 2014 by AlaskaDispatch under the Screen Shot 2014-04-04 at 09.24.01headline: Coast Guard report shows Shell was underprepared for ill-fated tow across Gulf of Alaska

A Coast Guard report released Thursday shows that while a series of events ultimately led to the grounding of a drilling rig designed to drill in the Arctic, an “inadequate assessment and management of risks” was the biggest cause of the Kulluk grounding.

The findings in the 152-page report conclude that while bad weather in the Gulf of Alaska was the primary cause of the grounding, “ineffective” risk management and application of towing measures from Shell and Edison Chouest contributed to the grounding. 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.

Alan Shatter rejects Corrib policing probe

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Screen Shot 2013-03-29 at 17.00.32Extracts from an article by Gordon Deegan published Friday 4 April 2014 by The Irish Examiner

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has rejected fresh calls for an independent inquiry into the Garda policing operation of the €3.4bn Shell Corrib gas project in north Co Mayo. Last week, South African archbishop Desmond Tutu and former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday called for an “urgent and comprehensive” independent inquiry into the policing of the Corrib gas project. Mr Shatter said: “I do not see a necessity for an independent inquiry into the policing operation in north Co Mayo.” He said the total cost of policing protests against the Shell Corrib plan “has now reached in excess of €16m”. 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.

Poor Management and Tax Dodging Led to Kulluk Grounding

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 09.31.18Article by RACHEL D’ORO Associated Press published 4 April 2014 by ABC NEWS under the headline: “Report: Poor Management Led to Shell Grounding”

A Coast Guard report says poor risk assessment and management were factors that led to the grounding of a Shell oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Alaska in 2012.

The report released Thursday also says Alaska’s tax laws influenced the decision to tow the Kulluk to Seattle. Royal Dutch Shell PLC believed the drill vessel would have qualified as taxable property on Jan. 1, 2013, if it was still in Alaska waters.

The Kulluk broke away from its tow vessel in late December 2012 and ran aground four days later on Sitkalidak Island, near Kodiak. 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.

Kashagan oil field: Stuck between ‘a widow maker’ and ‘a rotating bomb’

Western oil majors struggling to restart production at one of the world’s biggest offshore oilfields in Kazakhstan have found that whole kilometres of pipeline are defective, two people recently returned from the $50 billion project say. Oil company investigators have yet to announce conclusions about what went wrong at Kashagan in October, when onshore pipes carrying corrosive gases sprang leaks and brought offshore production in the Caspian Sea to a halt a month after start-up. Last month, infuriated Kazakh officials slapped a $737 million ecological damage fine on the consortium, which includes Eni, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, and Kazakh state-run KazMunaiGas. 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 Prelude: Tales of the Unexpected – When the party ended with a bang!

Screen Shot 2014-04-03 at 00.47.46Tales of the Unexpected – When the party ended with a bang!: 3rd in a series of articles by Bill Campbell (right), retired HSE Group Auditor, Shell International, about safety issues relating to the Shell Prelude FLNG project

Screen Shot 2014-04-02 at 18.10.18

Thus methane-air explosions are unpredictable, and by definition unpredictable events take you by surprise and can occur when you least expect them, and often when you are least prepared.  And unfortunately, from time to time, these unpredictable events can have catastrophic consequences as history tells us.

By Bill Campbell

LNG is natural gas (methane) refrigerated, the chilling process eventually turning the gas into a liquid shrinking its volume by 600  times. As we are aware from elementary physics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, so the whole economic model of the use and transportation of LNG worldwide, which really started in the 50’s and is due to exponentially expand in the next decade, is that the heat energy contained in one metre cubed of the liquid equates to six hundred metres cubed of methane.  So the physical characteristics of liquified natural gas is what makes it economically viable in its transportation over in some cases many thousands of miles from its source to where it will be used when converted again into its natural state.  But it’s this conversion that can make it so dangerous should it spill or leak into the atmosphere accidentally. 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.

FT: Shell receives 100-plus serious bids for its Nigerian onshore stake

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Article published on 2 April 2014 by Seeking Alpha

Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) plan to sell much of its onshore Nigerian production has been met with skepticism – with oil stealing rife in the Niger delta, who would buy? – but FT reports Shell has received more than 100 serious bids for its 30% stake in five blocks valued at $3B-$5B. A clean exit from the delta woes would be an early win for new CEO Ben van Beurden, whose ascent was aided by the massive oil theft that contributed to January’s profit warning. 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.

Asian Gas Demand Spawns Floating Superfactories

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Extract from an article by

The concept of a floating gas factory is so far untested. Alain Poincheval, project director for Prelude at Technip said… the vessel is being designed for the harshest environmental conditions at sea including Class 5 cyclones. Prelude, which is being built by Samsung Heavy Industries, is expected to finish construction by the first half of 2016 and industry estimates put the project cost at roughly $11 billion-$12 billion. Despite the unproven technology, a number of other FLNG projects are already under development. 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: banishing delta blues

Screen Shot 2012-02-06 at 08.45.02Extract from an article by Jonathan Guthrie published 2 April 2014 by the Financial Times

Extracting Shell neatly from the delta acreages would be an early win for new chief executive Ben van Beurden. Oil theft contributed to the profit warning in January that marked his accession. Longstanding animosity to Shell feeds the problem. Government violence against Nigerians hostile to oil majors culminated in the execution of playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.

FULL ARTICLE

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 Appoints New Executive VP of Global Fuel Retail

Screen Shot 2014-04-02 at 17.14.26Extract from an article published 2 April 2014 by publics.bg

Shell announced that Istvan Kapitany will assume the position of Executive Vice President of Global Fuel Retail. Mr Kapitany will thus manage the largest one brand global fuel retail network comprising over 43,000 commercial units in more than 70 countries. Shell gas stations employ around 500,000 people around the world and service more than 10 million customers per day.

FULL ARTICLE

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’s LNG fuel retreat

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Extract from an article published by LNG Industry on 2 April 2014 under the headline: Lessons from Shell’s LNG fuel retreat

On 26th March, just after Shell cancelled the 300 000 tpa Jumping Pound, Alberta, project, the company announced it would also abandon its two remaining 250 000 gall. /d LNG projects in Louisiana, and Ontario.

FULL ARTICLE

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.

Norway Warns Oil Companies Against ‘Unacceptable’ Project Delays

Screen Shot 2014-02-13 at 00.32.08Extract from an article by

Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, warned companies that “unacceptable” delays to offshore projects risk damaging the goodwill they currently enjoy from the government. Oil companies from Statoil ASA (STL) to Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) are cutting investment plans as they grapple with rising costs and falling returns amid stagnating energy prices. 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’s Mr Fixit hammers home a message of capital discipline

Screen Shot 2014-04-02 at 16.52.08Extract from a highly informative article by Guy Chazan published on 1 April 2014 by The Financial Times

Late last year, for example, Shell decided not to proceed with a multibillion-dollar plant on the US Gulf Coast that would have converted gas into synthetic diesel. Unusually, it canned the project before it had even carried out the basic design work. Mr van Beurden says that is the shape of things to come.

FULL ARTICLE

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 turns to Asian suppliers in US shale race

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

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

Extract from an article by Guy Chazan and James Wilson published by The Financial Times on 1 April 2014

Royal Dutch Shell has said it will deploy more Chinese equipment at its struggling US shale business – becoming the latest natural resources company to try to reduce costs by switching to cheaper Asian suppliers. Mr van Beurden, who took the reins at Shell in January, said one of his biggest challenges was to turn around the company’s North American shale business.

FULL ARTICLE

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 turning to Asian suppliers

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Extract from an articled published on 1 April 2014 by Seeking Alpha under the headline: Shell turning to Asian suppliers, underscoring threat to Caterpillar, Joy Global

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it will use more Chinese equipment at its struggling U.S. shale business, becoming the latest natural resources company to try to reduce costs by switching to cheaper Asian suppliers. Shell’s shift to lower-cost Chinese manufacturers underscores the potential threat to western industrial equipment makers such as Caterpillar (CAT) and Joy Global (JOY) from their competitors in emerging markets. 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.

Peter Rees refuses to comment on circumstances of exit from Shell

Peter Rees QC

Peter Rees QC

Extract from an article by Kate Beioley published by THE LAWYER on 1 April 2014 under the headline: Coming out of his Shell: Peter Rees on leaving “the best job in law”

General counsel at Shell – “the best job in law” according to Peter Rees QC. So what prompted the silk to stand down two years ahead of schedule in November 2013? Rees refuses to comment on the exact process leading to his departure…

FULL ARTICLE

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.

Kashagan aka Cash All Gone

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 23.56.16Extracts from an article by Rupert Hargreaves published by The Motley Fool on Mar 31st 2014 under the headline: ExxonMobil Is Spending Plenty but Growth Is Just Around the Corner

The Kashagan field is the largest oil discovery in 40 years, and the project to develop the field has required so much investment and expertise that a consortium of oil majors has been required to develop it. The consortium includes Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell , Italy’s Eni , and France’s Total. Kashagan is not just one of the world’s largest oil fields, but it has also turned into one of the most complex and expensive oil projects ever. From an initial cost estimate of $57 billion for the life of the project, its development is now expected to cost a staggering $136 billion over its lifetime — that’s 138% more than originally planned. Exxon and Shell each have just under a 17% stake in the project, amounting to almost $650 billion in revenues each over the life of the project. 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 Oil sued for allegedly firing woman on maternity leave

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Extract from an article by Annie Cosby published 31 March 2014 by The Southeast Texas Legal Journal

Nicole L. Ryder filed a lawsuit March 21 in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston Division) against Shell Oil Co. and Shell Exploration & Production Co., citing violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act.  According to the complaint, Ryder began employment with Shell in June 2008.  In August 2011, Ryder entered a Restricted Cash Agreement to Serve with Shell. 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.

How a Giant Kazakh Oil Project Went Awry

Extracts from a highly informative Wall Street Journal article by , and

…the project has been plagued by budget blowouts, engineering missteps and management disputes extending from offshore roughnecks to top government and corporate leaders. Miles of leaky pipeline make up what is arguably the world’s most expensive plumbing problem. The project is years late, more than $30 billion over budget and now halted indefinitely. 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.