Posts on ‘June 5th, 2015’

Chris Matthews/Fortune

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart calls for divestment in fossil-fuel companies

When the oilmen themselves are arguing for stronger action to fight climate change, it’s probably time to start acting.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, the former chairman of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, said that the lack of progress the world has made on climate change is, “distressing,” and that it was “rational” for investors to start divesting their money from companies that extract fossil fuels, according to a report in The Guardian.

According to the paper, “His striking remarks are the most supportive of divestment made by any senior figure in the fossil fuel business.” read more

Article by Nathan Vardi: Forbes Staff: Friday 5 June 2015

To the surprise of nobody, Saudi Arabia and the other OPEC member states decided in Vienna on Friday to maintain production targets of 30 million barrels a day, making sure the world remains flooded with oil. The fact that OPEC—particularly the core countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates—have refused to play their traditional stabilizing role and cut oil production makes it less likely that oil prices will rebound to the $115 a barrel level that was reached about one year ago. read more

Article by Isis Almeida published 5 June 2015 by Bloomberg.com

A proposed reduction in natural gas output at Groningen in the Netherlands, Europe’s biggest field, will probably be limited by the nation’s ability to convert imported fuel into the right quality for domestic use, GasTerra BV said.

Groningen production needs to be about 33 billion cubic meters a year during a cold winter, given the nation’s ability to transform imported high-calorific gas into low-calorific fuel used by Dutch households, according to Chief Executive Officer Gertjan Lankhorst. The company is the sole marketer of the field’s output. read more

Rose Hackman in New York: Friday 5 June 2015 

Royal Dutch Shell’s plans for exploratory drilling in the US Arctic this summer will involve the harassment of whales and seals by the thousands, an application document filed by Shell to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reveals.

Most notably, Shell estimates its Arctic activities will expose more than 2,500 bowhead whales, more than 2,500 gray whales and more than 50,000 ringed seals to continuous sounds and pulsed sounds, deemed damaging enough to constitute harassment.

FULL ARTICLE read more

Schoonebeek – The Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM) – a Shell/Exxon joint venture – announced today that oil production on the fields near Schoonebeek have been shut down due to pipeline damage.

The pipeline that transports dirty production water (for injection in empty gas-fields in Twente) has been corroded in many places and is leaking.

The salty water is released during the extraction of oil and is drained via the pipeline to the Twente. 

The pipe has diameter of 50 cm at a depth of 1.70 meters and has been in operation since 2011.  read more

The market is having one of its periodic anxiety attacks about Big Oil. 

BG deal disguises a hole in Shell’s financial projections and the dividend is not sustainable.

Shell shares have slumped by 14%.

sort of yield may not come again.

FULL FT ARTICLE:  5 June 2015 (WITH WORKING LINKS)

Article by  BusinessInsider.in published 5 June 2015 under the headline:

Coming up! The Shell IT Centre Bengaluru

Global energy giant Shell has chosen Bengaluru for setting up its largest captive unit or global offshore delivery centre. The unit would provide more than 5,000 jobs in the Silicon Valley.

As per an Economic Times report, the new in-house global information technology centre, The Shell IT Centre Bengaluru, would be used to provide IT services to Shell’s businesses including upstream oil and gas production, marketing and other projects.

“The company has a large IT set-up in Malaysia, US and UK and will be moving all its global IT jobs to Bengaluru,” said two people in direct knowledge of the development. read more

Jun. 4, 2015 3:15 PM ET

Will China’s Ministry Of Commerce Block Shell-BG Deal?

Summary

• Shell-BG deal is likely to face most scrutiny in China.
• MOFCOM is likely to approve the merger with conditions.
• These conditions could involve both structural and behavioral remedies.

Ever since Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) announced to acquire BG Group’s (OTCPK:BRGXF) natural gas assets and deep-water oil fields in a $70 billion deal, there have been concerns that the deal may be delayed, if not blocked, due to prolonged scrutiny from regulators around the world. While the deal could face potential hurdles in EU, Australia, China, and Brazil, I think it is unlikely to be blocked by any country. However, I think China is likely to raise majority of the concerns and therefore, I’m going to focus on China in this article. read more

Shell’s former chair calls fossil fuel divestment ‘rational’

By Steve Hargreaves: 4 June 2015

The former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell said selling oil stocks is a “rational” response to the failure of the oil industry to take meaningful action on climate change.

He is the latest to lend support to the growing campaign for investors to dump shares of fossil fuel companies.

“Divestment is a rational approach,” Mark Moody-Stuart was quoted by the Guardian as saying during a recent dinner in London. “If you think your money can be used somewhere else, you should switch it. Selective divestment or portfolio-switching is actually what investors should be doing.” read more