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August 5th, 2015:

‘It’s just too big a prize’: Why Shell sticks to Chukchi plans, despite obstacles

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Ann Pickard

Ann Pickard

Alaska Dispatch News: August 5, 2015

Despite tumbling oil prices, rising costs, legal woes, heated political opposition and a series of missteps and misadventures, Royal Dutch Shell is pushing forward with its plan to drill for oil in the offshore regions of Alaska’s remote Chukchi Sea.

Why?

In a wide-ranging narrative, Bloomberg Business details the company’s struggles in Alaska’s Arctic waters, and why it decided, after intense deliberation, to continue efforts to develop the Chukchi prospect. 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 given OK to take 21 days to cap a deep well oil blowout off N.S. coast

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Screen Shot 2015-07-31 at 19.22.09By Zachary Markan, CBC News Posted: Aug 05, 2015

Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq has signed off on Shell Canada’s plan for dealing with a potential deep-well blowout on the Shelburne Basin.

Under its Well Containment Plan, Shell says it can have a primary capping stack in place within 12 to 21 days after a blowout.

Aglukkaq signed off on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s environmental assessment of the Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Drilling Project on June 15. 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.

Chevron Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell Plc & Other Oil Co.s Have Lost $1.3 Trillion Since Last Year

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By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN: Aug 5, 2015

As the global benchmark of crude, Brent currently hovers around $50 per barrel. Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry has lost $1.30 trillion of its value this year, and this eroded value equals the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of Mexico. The combined market capitalization of 157 listed oil and exploration and production (E&P) companies in North America has dropped from $3.80 trillion last June to around $2.50 trillion this July, marking a decline of 34.20%.

The crude prices have dropped more than 50% since last June, as they fell from $114 to around $50. The declining oil prices have forced oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), Total SA (ADR) (NYSE:TOT), and BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) to cut their spending, as BP has started testing projects that will give it a profit of $60 per barrel. Total keeps the price outlook at $70, while Shell keeps it at between $70-110. 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.

Ross Hunter – a curious choice to count the beans at Royal Dutch Shell Plc?

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Screen Shot 2015-08-05 at 13.36.51Strange article in the Prufrock column of The Sunday Times published 2nd August 2015

KEEPING the books for a £200bn behemoth is an endlessly taxing task. Just ask Simon Henry, Royal Dutch Spell’s finance director, who last week unveiled a plunge in profits of almost 40%.

Thankfully, he can call on exemplary advice to help keep track of Shell’s petrodollars. The company’s chief auditor is Ross Hunter at PwC – a man with an interesting past. According to the accounting firm’s website, Hunter helped Nat Rothschild’s Bumi in its “transition from a cash shell to a leading Indonesia-based thermal coal group”. 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.

Inside Shell’s Extreme Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic

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by Paul Barrett and Benjamin Elgin: 5 August 2015: BLOOMBERG.COM

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Protesters near the Polar Pioneer.: Photographer: Keri Coles/Greenpeace

Ann Pickard

Ann Pickard – Shell VP Arctic Drilling

In a windowless conference room in Anchorage, a dozen Royal Dutch Shell employees report on the highest-profile oil project in the multinational’s vast global portfolio. Warmed by mid-July temperatures, Arctic ice in the Chukchi Sea, northwest of the Alaskan mainland, is receding. Storms are easing; helicopter flights will soon resume. Underwater volcanoes—yes, volcanoes—are dormant. “That’s good news for us,” Ann Pickard, Shell’s top executive for the Arctic, whispers to a visitor. 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 Dividend Pledge: Solid Or Empty Promise?

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One cannot but admire CEO Ben van Beurden for his courage…

August 4, 2015

Summary

  • Royal Dutch Shell is dead serious about protecting future dividend payments. CEO Van Beurden committed himself to paying attractive dividends in the next two years.
  • Although I am impressed by Shell’s massive cost reduction plans and the slash in investments, I believe the dividends are still not fully covered by future cash flows.
  • However, Shell’s strong balance sheet and the expected sale of non-core assets provide ample room for the company to keep distributing juicy dividends in the (near) future.

One cannot but admire CEO Ben van Beurden for his courage. Amidst the biggest oil crisis since the early seventies, the CEO is very clear about Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) dividend intentions.

In a short clip on the company’s website, Van Beurden states that Shell is “committed to its dividend policy.” In an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO even calls dividends an “iconic aspect in Shell’s proposition to investors.”

Those are not just empty words. To my knowledge, the company did something that it has never done before: given a strong guidance for the next seven quarterly dividend payments. Despite the “challenging market conditions,” Shell intends to pay a total dividend of $1.88 per share this year ($3.76 per share for the ADR). The company even expects to distribute at least $1.88 per share next 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.

Russia Stakes New Claim to Expanse in the Arctic

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By ANDREW E. KRAMER AUG. 4, 2015

MOSCOW — Russia formally staked a claim on Tuesday to a vast area of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole.

If the United Nations committee that arbitrates sea boundaries accepts Russia’s claim, the waters will be subject to Moscow’s oversight on economic matters, including fishing and oil and gas drilling, though Russia will not have full sovereignty.

Under a 1982 United Nations convention, the Law of the Sea, a nation may claim an exclusive economic zone over the continental shelf abutting its shores. If the shelf extends far out to sea, so can the boundaries of the zone. The claim Russia lodged on Tuesday contends that the shelf extends far north of the Eurasian land mass, out under the planet’s northern ice cap. 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.

Oil Companies Spending Cuts Unlikely to Be Enough

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Screen Shot 2015-08-04 at 23.11.09LONDON–The world’s biggest oil company’s have vowed to bring down the costs of big projects in the face of slumping oil prices, but the unrelenting price weakness–with crude below $50 a barrel–suggests they could have to dig deeper still.

In the past year, as oil prices plunged 60% from highs of $114 in 2014, U.K. energy giant BP PLC began testing new projects for profitability around $60 a barrel, down from $80 a barrel last year. Its Anglo-Dutch rival Royal Dutch Shell is testing projects at prices as low as $50 a barrel, though its overall price outlook is between $70 and $110 a barrel. 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.