September 10th, 2015:
Shell exits Prince’s climate group in row over Arctic oil
Shell leaves climate project it helped set up amid Arctic drilling row
Shell has been forced to leave a Prince of Wales climate change project which it helped found after a row over the oil company’s controversial drilling programme in the Arctic. The departure from the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leader Group is another embarrassing setback for the oil and gas company, which has been battling to preserve its reputation in the face of a vociferous and growing campaign against its operations in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska. Greenpeace said the Anglo-Dutch group was rapidly becoming a pariah in the business world.
Groningen gas production challenged in Dutch court
THE HAGUE, SEPT 10 | BY TOBY STERLING
(Reuters) – A Dutch high court on Thursday began hearing complaints from groups seeking to reduce or stop gas production at the Groningen gas field, Europe’s largest, to reduce the danger of earthquakes.
No date has been set for a ruling by the Council of State, but a court official said it would likely come in late autumn.
Work at Groningen has become increasingly controversial as earthquakes linked to it have become more intense, causing billions of euros of damage to buildings.
No physical injuries have been reported from the quakes, the largest of which was 3.6 on the Richter scale, but the country’s Safety Board in February determined that the government had systematically underestimated the danger to citizens.
Riled Locals Fight Output From Europe’s Largest Gas Field
Groningen gas field produces 61 percent of Dutch fuel
Complainants say gas extraction has caused earthquakes
By Kelly Gilblom: BLOOMBERG.COM: Sept 10, 2015
A Dutch court is set to hear arguments that production from Europe’s largest natural gas field should be suspended because of earthquakes linked to extraction.
The Netherlands has progressively cut the amount of gas won from the Groningen field in the north amid protests over the tremors, with the Economy Ministry in June slashing this year’s output cap by 29 percent. The Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State will hear about 40 appeals from local political parties, environmental organizations and individuals against production from the area on Thursday, and possibly Friday, before making a final ruling in October or November.
Shell CEO says only ‘something cataclysmic’ could stop BG deal
Sep 9 2015, 14:43 ET | By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) CEO Ben van Beurden has told investors privately that only “something cataclysmic” – i.e., “if people stopped using energy” – could derail the company’s planned takeover of BG Group (OTCPK:BRGXF, OTCQX:BRGYY), WSJ reports.
The episode is among the latest attempts by top Shell execs to sell investors worried that the deal may fall through; BG shares trade at a discount to the Shell cash and share offer, concerns that Australian and Chinese regulators could set high hurdles and, more broadly, that the persistently low oil prices could yet lead Shell to rethink the merger are dampening sentiment.
Shell bringing world’s deepest floating oil production vessel to Gulf of Mexico
By Jennifer Larino, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: 9 Sept 2015
Royal Dutch Shell has launched its first floating oil production, storage and offloading vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. The facility will operate in 9,500 feet of water, making it the deepest of its kind in the world.
The vessel — named Turritella after a genus of sea snails with a long conical, spiraled shell — is part of the company’s multibillion-dollar Stones development about 200 miles southwest of New Orleans in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The facility is expected to start operations in early 2016.