Posted on November 3, 2015 | By Collin Eaton

HOUSTON — Shell has found another $1 billion in costs it could shake free after it buys BG Group, company officials said Tuesday, partly in response to critics of the huge acquisition Shell announced when crude was more expensive in the spring.

The cuts would mean more job losses on top of the 7,500 in layoffs Shell has announced this year, but officials declined to say how many jobs would be affected or lost.

The value of Shell’s original $70 billion offer for the British gas producer, which is known for its prized Brazilian deep-water fields and its big liquefied natural gas business, fell to $56 billion a month ago and edged back up to about $60 billion as Shell’s share price and crude prices have fallen. Shell had proposed to pay for the deal mostly with shares. read more

Sean Farrell: Tuesday 3 November 2015 12.43 GMT

Investors have been nervous about Shell’s purchase of BG since it was announced in April. At the time, Shell suggested oil prices would recover to $90 a barrel by 2020. However, they have fallen from $115 a barrel last year to less than $50 and are predicted to stay low for some time.

FULL ARTICLE

Associated Press: Nov. 3, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden says the company will reflect on its decision to consider drilling off the coast of Alaska but voiced his regret that the prospect couldn’t be made to work out.

Van Beurden told reporters Tuesday as Shell updated its strategy that it would examine the decision to pursue offshore drilling in Arctic waters. Shell reported a third-quarter loss of $7.4 billion last week as it re-organized and cancelled projects, including drilling in Alaska amid sharp drops in the price of oil. read more

Rakteem Katakey: November 3, 2015: Bloomberg.com

• Raises estimates of savings after combination to $3.5 billion

• Gas business becomes stand-alone unit under Maarten Wetselaar

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its record takeover of BG Group Plc will still deliver value to investors even in a prolonged oil-industry downturn and reshaped its business in preparation for the acquisition.

Europe’s biggest oil company will save an addition $1 billion in operating costs from the combination with BG, bringing the total estimate of synergies from the deal to $3.5 billion, Shell said in a statement on Tuesday. The takeover will still add to the company’s earnings per share and cash flow from operations even after the outlook for Brent crude prices to 2018 dropped by $10 to $15 a barrel since the deal was announced in April. read more

The collapse in oil prices over the past year has raised concerns among some investors that Shell may have overpaid for BG and the group has been seeking to turn round this shareholder scepticism.

FULL FT ARTICLE

Maarten Wetselaar, Integrated Gas Director, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands, November 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —

Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”, NYSE: RDS.A, NYSE: RDS.B)) today announces the appointment of Maarten Wetselaar Integrated Gas Director with effect from January 1st, 2016.

Integrated Gas in Shell has grown into a business that generated $11 billion of cash flow per year average over the last three years, compared to $2 billion in 2009. Integrated Gas is now being established as stand-alone organisation in Shell, reflecting both its enlarged scale and investment potential. In this new role, Maarten will become a member of the Executive Committee of Shell. read more

By STANLEY REED: NOV. 3, 2015

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that its planned acquisition of BG Group, the British oil and gas producer, would lead to major cost-cutting opportunities as well as sales of oil and gas properties.

As it prepares to complete the deal, expected early next year, Shell also said that it intended to carve out its own liquefied natural gas and related fuels unit into a separate business called Integrated Gas. One reason Shell agreed in April to buy BG for nearly $70 billion was to gain a world-leading position in producing and trading liquefied natural gas, known as L.N.G. read more

Commodities | Tue Nov 3, 2015 10:17am GMT

** BG Group and Shell outperform the FTSE 100 in the wake of Shell’s recommitment to its planned $70 bln takeover of its smaller rival

** Shell announces plans for further benefits & cost cuts aimed at making deal work with oil at mid-$60s/barrel & says it now expects synergies to increase by $1 bln to $3.5 bln for combination

** BG up 1.3 pct, 3rd top gainer on FTSE-100 with c.40 pct of its 30-day avg volume traded through in first 2 hrs read more

Rakteem Katakey: November 3, 2015: Bloomberg.com

• Maarten Wetselaar to lead stand-alone Integrated Gas business

• Marvin Odum to lead new Unconventional Resources unit

Royal Dutch Shell Plc announced organizational changes in its business as it prepares for its biggest ever takeover amid what it expects to be a prolonged downturn in oil prices.

Europe’s biggest oil company will run its natural gas business as a “stand-alone organization” led by Maarten Wetselaar, who will become integrated gas director and a member of the executive committee, Shell said in a statement on Tuesday. Marvin Odum, currently director of the company’s Upstream Americas unit, will lead a new Unconventional Resources unit, including heavy oil and shale activities in the Americas. read more

3 November 2015, 00:08 UTC

Claims by oil giant Shell that it has cleaned up heavily polluted areas of the Niger Delta are blatantly false, Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) said in a new report published today.

Clean it up: Shell’s false claims about oil spills in the Niger Delta documents ongoing contamination at four oil spill sites that Shell said it had cleaned up years ago. The report is being published to mark the 20th anniversary of the execution, on 10 November 1995, of the environmental activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who campaigned tirelessly against the damage caused by the oil industry in the Niger Delta. read more

Abandoned fishing boats in Ogoniland Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images

Chris Kay: November 3, 2015: Bloomberg.com

• Nigerian regulator incorrectly said spill sites clean
• Shell says oil theft, illegal refining a persistent challenge

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has failed to clean up four oil-spill sites in the crude-producing Niger River delta, three of which an under-resourced Nigerian regulator dealing with leakages said had been decontaminated, Amnesty International said in a report on Tuesday.

At Shell’s Bomu Well 11, Amnesty researchers found blackened soil and oil layers on the water 45 years after a spill took place, despite the company saying it cleaned the area in 1975 and 2012. At the three other sites, certified as clean by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, or NOSDRA, researchers also found soil and water contaminated close to where people lived, the rights group said. read more

John Vidal: Tuesday 3 November 2015 00.01 GMT read more

Jennifer A. Dlouhy | Houston Chronicle: November 2, 2015

WASHINGTON — Shell is walking away from oil exploration in Arctic waters north of Alaska, but it isn’t ready to close the door completely.

Disappointing results from a critical test well at the company’s Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, combined with the high costs of developing the region and an “unpredictable regulatory environment,” have prompted Royal Dutch Shell to cease Alaska offshore exploration “for the foreseeable future,” CEO Ben van Beurden told reporters Thursday. read more

LONDON, November 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —

NOT FOR RELEASE, PRESENTATION, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISIDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION.  

• Competitive underlying performance in low oil prices – planning for prolonged downturn 
• Both net investment and dividends have been covered by operating cash flow over the last year to Q3 2015, when oil prices have averaged $60 per barrel 
• Delivering our commitments to reduce costs and spending – $11 billion reduction in 2015 
• Reorganisation of Shell upstream increases accountability for performance and aligns us to deliver on the strategy  
• Further analysis and Shell’s integration planning for the recommended combination with BG has enabled us to identify a $1 billion (40%) increase in pre-tax synergies to $3.5 billion 
• BG transaction on track for completion in early 2016, leading to a simpler and more profitable Shell  

Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) (NYSE: RDS.A)(NYSE: RDS.B) today presents a strategic update to shareholders and investors in London. Speaking at the presentation, Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden will say:

“Low oil prices are driving significant changes in our industry. I am determined that Shell will be at the forefront of that, and emerge as a more focused and more competitive company as a result.” read more

Tue Nov 3, 2015 3:02am EST: LONDON

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) on Tuesday again sought to assuage investor concerns over its planned $70 billion takeover of BG Group (BG.L) as it announced plans for further synergies and cost cuts aimed at making the deal work with oil prices in the mid-$60s a barrel.

The Anglo-Dutch group, which hopes to complete the deal early next year, said it now expected synergies to increase by $1 billion to $3.5 billion for the combination which will make Shell a leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and offshore oil production in Brazil. read more