The Anglo-Dutch giant has never disclosed Prelude’s capital cost or start-up date

Peter Klinger: October 13, 2015

Just a year out from market expectations of first gas, Royal Dutch Shell is giving nothing away about the pace of progress at its revolutionary Prelude floating LNG operation.

Shell has sent out its regular update of the mega-project, which comprises construction of the industry-changing floating processing plant in Samsung’s Geoje shipyard in South Korea and a gas-condensate well and subsea pipeline network in the Browse Basin off the Kimberley.

Shell’s update said the second-last module had been installed on the Prelude floater, while in the Browse Basin the focus was on installing flow lines and pipeline end terminations. read more

The projected spend of €250m on the controversial project this year will lead to the overall costs exceeding €3.6bn. This is more than four times the original estimate of €800m for the project, which is 12 years behind its original projected completion time of 2003.

Áine Ryan: TUESDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2015

Penultimate permission granted by EPA

ALMOST two decades after its discovery, the Corrib Gas field  has been given its penultimate permission, an industrial emissions licence, by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The final statutory permission for the €3.6bn project is expected to be issued very soon by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Alex White, clearing the way for the gas to flow from the Bellanaboy refinery.   read more

BY ANTONIA JUHASZ / OCTOBER 13, 2015

Earlier this month, Shell’s tumultuous Arctic drilling campaign came to an abrupt and costly end. In a written statement, the company announced the cessation of its offshore Alaska activities “for the foreseeable future”—at a loss of billions of dollars. This both stunned and thrilled critics, many of whom worried that the seven-year effort to stop Shell was dead in July, when the Obama administration approved the company’s permits to drill. read more

The arrest of Nigeria’s glamorous former oil minister suggests it is, says Clementine Wallop

13 October 2015

Like many others, I was sceptical when in July, Prime Minister David Cameron said in a speech in Singapore he was planning to crack down on corrupt foreigners who own luxury properties in London and use the capital as a place to launder dirty cash.

It’s easy to say that ‘the UK must not become a safe haven for corrupt money from around the world,’ but rather harder to act on, especially given the intricate networks of shell companies through which many of these properties are owned, and given the number of properties bought legitimately with money that has a less troubling provenance. read more

Benoît Faucon in London: Oct. 12, 2015 

U.S., U.K. act quickly at behest of Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May on a pledge to stamp out corruption; ex-oil minister detained in London

London police this month briefly detained Nigeria’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke. 

Following a summer meeting in Washington between British and American investigators, London police on Oct. 2 raided a luxurious home near Regent’s Park. There they briefly detained Dieziani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s oil minister from 2010 to 2015.

Hours later, her neighbors in Nigeria watched as scores of cops searched her house: 

One of Africa’s most prominent politicians, Mrs. Alison-Madueke and her associates are suspected of bribery, corruption and laundering money through British and U.S. banks. She has previously denied those allegations and police haven’t charged her with anything. read more

Laurel Andrews: October 12, 2015

Two weeks after announcing the end of its Arctic offshore oil exploration program, Royal Dutch Shell’s Noble Discoverer drillship left Dutch Harbor Monday afternoon, the last planned stop in Alaska as it heads to the Pacific Northwest.

The company’s second drilling rig that had arrived in Alaska this summer, the Transocean Polar Pioneer, is close behind.

The Noble Discoverer arrived in Dutch Harbor Sunday, said Shell Alaska spokesperson Megan Baldino. During the stop, both rigs had a crew change and resupply of fuel and groceries. read more

By IAN AUSTEN: OCT. 12, 2015

FORT McMURRAY, Alberta — At a camp for oil workers here, a collection of 16 three-story buildings that once housed 2,000 workers sits empty. A parking lot at a neighboring camp is now dotted with abandoned cars. With oil prices falling precipitously, capital-intensive projects rooted in the heavy crude mined from Alberta’s oil sands are losing money, contributing to the loss of about 35,000 energy industry jobs across the province.

Yet Alberta Highway 63, the major artery connecting Northern Alberta’s oil sands with the rest of the country, still buzzes with traffic. Tractor-trailers hauling loads that resemble rolling petrochemical plants parade past fleets of buses used to shuttle workers. Most vehicles carry “buggy whips” — bright orange pennants attached to tall spring-loaded wands — to help prevent them from being run over by the 1.6-million-pound dump trucks used in the oil sands mines. read more

Published at 12:01AM, October 13 2015

Royal Dutch Shell is selling two assets in the North Sea as the big energy companies respond to high production costs and a slump in crude prices by turning their backs on the basin.

Shell’s stake in the Gannet field, a complex of ageing oil production platforms and pipelines 110 miles east of Aberdeen, is being marketed to potential buyers, industry sources told The Times. The Anglo-Dutch group is also looking to sell off its 26 per cent stake in Triton… (FULL ARTICLE) read more